The Twelve Days of Christmas

THE SIXTH DAY

Requested by: SnapeLovesMe

Prompt: It’s Christmas and the Baltics are left alone in Russia’s house while he's off with Yao. They have a sweet evening with cocoa and sex to comfort one another. EstoniaxLithuaniaxLatvia three-way.

                It was rare for the young Baltics to have an evening alone together, let alone a holiday such as Christmas., but Ivan had been invited to the warmer south to spend the winter in his Chinese lover’s bed and for once the Russian seemed willing to leave his political woes behind and take a much-needed vacation.  Without Ivan there to discover their indiscretion, Eduard had no qualms about giving into Raivis’s budding sexual needs and make love to him and Toris in the living room before a roaring fire.

                So few and far between were these moments.  Perhaps if life remained this peaceful and quiet the Estonian wouldn’t feel the weight of the world on his shoulders more often than not and Toris wouldn’t be shooting him a disapproving frown as the Estonian set his cocoa aside and instead lit a post-coital cigarette.

                “I thought you quit.”

                “I lied.”

                “Smoking is a disgusting habit, Eduard.”  But Toris accepted the cigarette when the younger boy offered it to him.  Eduard watched his Lithuanian lover hug a blanket around his waist as the brunette ran one hand through his hair while the other held the lit cigarette to his lips and drew the minted smoke into his lungs.  “Will you still be here when Ivan returns?”

                “Probably not.”

“You can’t leave!” Raivis chimed in, reaching for the cigarette in Toris’s fingers but the older teen held it high above his head where the youngest could not reach.  “It’s difficult, yes, but you can’t leave us, Eduard.  Ivan would go after you.  You know he will.”

Eduard snorted.

“That would make him a hopeless hypocrite.  Why support Gorbachev or perestroika if he doesn’t actually want to see an ounce of change?  Why even give us the option to regulate production on state levels if he doesn’t mean for us to actually have any freedom?”

“So you think glasnost gives you the right to leave him?”

“I think it gives me the right to discuss my reservations with Soviet policies in an open forum and if necessary, yes.  It’s my right to explore other options.”

“…What the hell are you guys talking about?”

  Toris sighed but finally handed the cigarette to Raivis, drawing the boy into his arms to retain their earlier warmth through nude contact.

“Gorbachev has been talking about reforming the economy through perestroika, running things a little more locally where it makes sense.  Some people even believe that he intends to take us towards a market economy.”

Eduard snorted.

“That’d have Stalin rolling in his grave.”

“Perhaps,” the Lithuanian agreed softly.  “But we can’t keep living the way we are now and Gorbachev is a good man.  He really does have some new ideas that give me a lot of hope.”

“Glasnost is a joke.”

“Maybe or maybe not.  It’s been a long time since we’ve had freedoms like these.  Maybe there is a future for us that isn’t nearly so bleak as the past.”

“And maybe my allies enjoy being beaten down daily by a tyrannical overlord that only pretends to do what’s in our best interests.  Open your eyes, Toris.  Sticking around isn’t going to change things for the better.  We need to get out while we still can or Russiawill just keep squeezing until we have nothing left to give.  You know what happens to collapsed countries.  You KNOW what happens when a government fails.”

“What happens?”

Both Eduard and Toris looked at little Raivis, the youngest puffing lightly on his cigarette before Eduard reached out to pluck it from the protesting teen’s lips to take another long draw of the sweet smoke into his lungs.  Raivis was naïve but Toris seemed to get the idea and hopefully the Lithuanian would come to his senses before it was too late.

“…Collapsed states are a breeding ground for terrorism and corruption.”

“Exactly.  I’m not going to stick around long enough to discover just how crazy Alfred Jones can get if the American starts thinking Sadam’s got a stash of weapons in my backyard.”

“Now you’re just being paranoid.”

“For your sake I hope to god that’s true, Toris.  And for Raivis’s sake.”

The Lithuanian hugged Raivis closer to his chest but no longer wanted to meet the Estonian teen’s gaze.  Eduard was right, after all.  Sooner or later Ivan’s world would crumble, he just prayed that he and his allies could claim their freedom before that time or else risk being buried in the rubble.