New Move (a Lithuania Story)

"And the knight can move his piece in an 'L', like this. See? You knocked out my pawn."

Toris gently knocked his own piece off the bored with[Name]'s piece.

"Um...OK?" She was trying to be a good student! But she didn't know how you could remember how all of the pieces moved!

"You look confused [Name]. Do you want me to explain how they move again?" Toris looked at her face with concern.

"Look, Toris, I appreciate that you wanted to teach me and how patient you're being, but I think I'm going to stick with checkers." She shot her friend a guilty look, "It's not that you're a bad teacher!" She quickly added, "Chess just isn't my thing! Sorry..."

He laughed, "You don't have to apologize. You're at least a better chess partner than Poland is..."

[Name] rolled her eyes, "Well, that's not saying much. What did he do last time. Throw up the board in anger?"

Toris got quiet, "No, he just...threw the pieces around a bit...He's not as bad as you think though!"

It was now [Name]'s turn to laugh, "Whatever you say! You know, the only reason I try to tolerate him is because I'm friends with you."

Toris busied himself with putting away the chess set, blushing and avoiding eye contact, "Y-Yeah..."

But she didn't respond. He looked up curiously only to see that his friend was staring at him intently.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

"...hold on." She hopped out of her chair and ran around to the other side of the table. Toris turned his head to see what she was up to, but she ran behind him and turned his head forcefully to face the front, "Hold still! I wanna try something!"

He felt his hair being pulled back by her hands, but felt a few of the front strands fall beside his face. She gently yanked his head back by the hair she held and looked at him head-on.

"Um...w-what are you doing [Name]?" Their faces were so close...

Her face changed to one of examination to a bright smile, "You look really good with a ponytail Toris! You should wear your hair like this more often! I bet you'd be a total ladies man~" She smirked at her joke.

"I doubt it...I don't really pay attention to that kind of thing anyway." He knew she was just teasing, but he couldn't help but get flustered.

"Well that's just selfish. I think you shouldn't keep yourself from woman-kind." She let go of his hair to make dramatic gestures.

He laughed as he stood up to put the box away, "You're ridiculous..."

"I know~ But I don't think you'd be friends with me if I wasn't."

As she finished her sentence, her phone rang, "Hey...I'm over at Toris' place... Alright I'll be home in five minutes... Bye."

She ended the call and bounded to the door, putting on her coat, hat and mittens on the way, "See ya later Toris! Next meeting?"

"Y-Yeah...I'll be sitting by Russia...as usual."

Her shoulders drooped as she ran over to hug him, "Poor thing...if you ever need a place to stay, my door is open.” She ended the hug and gave him a brave smile, "Don't be stubborn and not ask for help. Otherwise I'd have to yell at you. Got it?"

He smiled shyly and gave a joking, "Yes ma'am."

She smiled a bit brighter as she walked back to the door with a quick, "See ya!" and closed the door, leaving the room silent.

Toris turned to put the box on the shelf where it belonged. He caught a glimse of himself in a hallway mirror and stopped walking. He looked at himself as he pulled his hair up in a ponytail, like she did earlier. With some of his hair hanging down to frame his face.

He hadn't worn his hair like this in a while. Not since battles that took place long ago. And then, he only did it so his hair wouldn't get caught on anything. It was never really a fashion statement.

France wore his hair like this all the time though, and he seemed to do well with relationships.

Maybe he'd try it. For the next meeting...

~

By: thebluestchu

Word count: 713