A/N: Hello, all! I don't really know what compelled me to write this little one-shot. It kind of just came to me at around 3 in the morning, so I figured eh, why not write it? Anyway, hope whoever reads it thinks it's at least somewhat cute. :3 -Red

"Russia! Ivan, dude! Are you here?"

Said man in question looked up from his book as the rapping on his door only got louder. At first it was a slow knock with a few seconds' pause inbetween each hit, but when Russia chose to ignore it, the waiting party outside clearly was not happy about that. The knocks came in increased intervals until there was no pause and it was a constant loud banging that echoed throughout the living room.

With a sigh, Russia dog-eared the page of the book he was reading and headed for the door if only to shut up the annoying party waiting outside. He was reaching a very interesting point in his book, hoping he'd be able to shoo the visitor outside quickly so he could get back to it.

He barely opened the door a crack when he found the door being flung open the rest of the way, the man pushing Russia aside in his haste to enter the Russian's room.

Russia narrowed his eyes, not in the mood for the intrusion. "And just who—Alfred?" Violet eyes stared at the blonde in shock, taking in his more than disheveled form. Alfred was breathing heavily, glasses askew and hanging haphazardly from his face. His blonde locks were tousled and his clothes were a dirty mess while his cheeks sported a few good scrapes. "What happened to you?"

It was then that Ivan noticed the bundle of fur curled up tightly in Alfred's arms, shivering. He couldn't tell whether the cat was awake or not, but at the risk of frightening it, he took a slow, easy step toward Alfred to get a better look. "Where did you get a cat?"

Still panting, Alfred gave Ivan his best heroic smile and would have given a thumbs up to the shocked Russian if that didn't mean disturbing the cat. "I totally saved this cat! I was just walking along when out of nowhere, these mutant cat people surrounded me. I told them no way would I agree to their experiments, but they said that they wouldn't stand for that! Personally, I think they just wanted me to come with them to their mothership or whatever—because I think they were totally aliens from another world; they had ears and tails and claws and everything!—so that they could try and clone me or take their DNA for their future children. And I mean, really, I can't say I blame them. Look at me! Who wouldn't want to be like the heroic, strong, and good-looking Alfred Jones? But no way could I let them do that because who knows what they'd try to do with all this strength and awesomeness."

Ivan raised an eyebrow as Alfred started his tale, opening his mouth to interject but was cut off by a shake of the head.

"Wait, I'm not finished yet!"

"Хорошо, хорошо. Please continue," Ivan said, smiling softly. Alfred's tales of his day were always so interesting to listen to as they typically involved some kind of nefarious plot that only his heroic deeds could foil. Where he got the inspiration behind all these tales was beyond Ivan, who assumed it stemmed from the American's love of movies.

Even though the American's stories ended the same way each time, Ivan loved seeing those ocean blue eyes light up as he spoke, his face full of childlike wonder as he went on about that which he adored so much: Heroes and all things heroic. The blonde could go on for hours if Ivan didn't stop him by changing the subject.

"…ke the cat instead! So I said no way can you take the poor defenseless kitty and fought them off, scaring them away and taking this cat with me in case they tried to come back!" Alfred drew in a long breath, finally finished with his story and looked utterly pleased with himself. He half-expected, or hoped, rather, Ivan would smile and praise him for his heroic deeds before chastising him like he usually did about being more careful and other things Alfred didn't always pay attention to. But surprisingly the Russian said nothing, even as Alfred fixed him with a look of bewilderment. Instead Ivan was gazing dreamily at him and Alfred wasn't sure if he was that into his story or he was spacing out. "Hello? Earth to Ivan!"

Ivan blinked, his attention fully focused on Alfred again. "Da?" At least calling out to him did the trick.

Alfred let out a long, dramatic sigh. "Were you even listening to me?"

Chuckling, Ivan closed the gap between them, brushing some of the dirt and rocks out of Alfred's hair. "Of course I was. I always do; you know that."

Alfred grinned, a playful tone to his voice as he spoke. "Yeah? Then what was the last thing I said?"

Ivan returned the smile, gently running his thumb across Alfred's cheek, minding the scrapes and irritated red areas. "I believe you were going to tell me how you really found this cat, da?"

Alfred pouted. "You didn't like my story?" He didn't even give the Russian a chance to answer before his trademark smile was back, followed by a nervous laugh. "Alright, maybe not all of that was true… But I really did rescue the cat! Honest."

Ivan moved to dusting his clothes off, minding the little cat still curled up in Alfred's arms. The golden ball of fur stirred as Ivan moved to his shoulders, fixing its gaze on him. It was a cute little thing, he noticed, smiling. Did anyone own this cat? There were no tags on it that he could see. No collar either. He gave a silent thanks; the cat was just too cute and getting a better look at it, Ivan didn't think he'd want to give it up if someone came looking. Ivan gave a small nod in the cat's direction, pausing only for a second before resuming.

"Rescued her from what, exactly?"

Alfred tilted his head. "How do you know it's a girl? You didn't even look!"

Ivan shrugged. "Just a guess. She looks like she could be a girl! But you are avoiding the question, Alfred."

"But—"

"Нет! No buts."

"But…!"

"Alfred."

"Don't be mad."

Ivan nodded, promising to hear him out and not yell despite what was said. This made him all the more curious, as it could only mean he was involved in something potentially dangerous that would give him cause to worry in the first place. Honestly, that boy was always getting himself into trouble…

"Okay…" Alfred's eyes flitted around to everything in the room as he worked up the courage to say it. That was one of his tell-tale signs that something went bad and Ivan had picked up on it fairly quickly. Taking a deep breath for what seemed to last for ages, the Russian was getting antsy. Ivan was about to say something when, thankfully, Alfred opened his mouth to continue.

"I was on my way to come see you when I noticed the cat. It was crossing the street at the time, but moving really slowly. I thought it was sick or something. Then I saw the car coming and I couldn't let it get hurt if I could do something about it! So without thinking, I ran out into the street and jumped to scoop up the cat, sliding and rolling across the pavement to safety…"

Ivan stared at him for a moment in silence. Alfred did what? Sure, he was a nation and there was no chance of him being killed if he was actually hit by the car, but that didn't make it any less of a stupid and rash decision even if the intentions were good. There was still the potential for him to get severely hurt!

"Ivan…?"

Ivan ran a hand through his silver hair, going off in Russian about whether or not the blonde knew just how dangerous that was, that he could've been hurt, it was a reckless thing to do, but he was glad that Alfred was safe, and so on. Anything that came to his mind he said, not even bothering to filter out the occasional curses. Not that the American could understand anything being said other than his name, anyway. He could only infer the meaning through Ivan's sharp tone and the speed with which he spoke. The words all seemed to jumble together and Alfred wondered for a moment if the Russian was even breathing inbetween each sentence.

To put it simply, Ivan was mad.

Alfred was staring at the Russian, waiting for the slightest pause in his rant so he could cut in. "You said you wouldn't yell! At least if you're going to yell, do it in English so I can argue back!"

Alfred's words hit him like an icy wave of water, waking him up and bringing him back to his senses. "I-I am sorry… It is just…that was such a dangerous thing for you to do even if you had good intentions. I think about it and you could have gotten hurt, and that is the last thing I want. I was surprised. But you were not injured severely and that is what is important." He smiled softly, pressing a gentle kiss to Alfred's forehead, earning him a beaming grin in response.

"And we got a cute cat out of it too! Come on, you can't tell me it isn't freaking adorable." The cat gave a soft meow in response and Alfred lit up even more, pulling it closer to his chest. Ivan couldn't help but smile as the cat was set down gently, taking in its new surroundings. It really was cute, he thought as it walked over to the couch, staring up at it. It was no secret that Ivan liked cute things and Alfred just loved to play on that.

Quick as lightning, Alfred dashed into the kitchen, coming back with a small bowl of milk for the cat. He set it down slowly near Ivan's feet and stood next to him, watching as the cat tentatively strode over to the bowl, sniffing at the strange liquid set before it. They waited in silence until the cat eagerly started lapping up the milk, Alfred moving closer to lean against Ivan's arm.

"So what're we going to name it?"

"Hm…it would have to be something that fits well, da?"

Alfred hummed, crossing his arms in thought. "Goldie? Lucky? Sam? Nova?" Ivan laughed, earning himself an elbow to the side. "Well if you think you can do better…"

Ivan shook his head. "It is not that. Why Nova?"

Alfred pointed down to the cat who paid him no mind as it continued with its meal, tail occasionally waving contentedly. "Look! It's gold and it has orange stripes on its back. I just kind of thought it would fit, you know? Like an explosion of light!"

Ivan gave a soft hum, studying the cat. "It looks more like a little tiger to me, da? Tiger? But I do think of sunlight when I look at it… Light? Sunny?"

"Tiger, huh?" Alfred considered the name for a moment, staring down at the cat. Ivan wondered what he was thinking as he smiled, obviously entertaining himself with his silent thoughts. "That's perfect! He'll be the toughest cat out there. We can tell people he really is a tiger, one successfully miniaturized to see if they'd like living in peoples' homes. Of course, it's a top secret project, so we can't just tell anyone."

Alfred stopped his ramblings as Ivan wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him in closer. "So you like Tiger, then?"

The blonde leaned in so their faces were mere inches apart. "Yeah, I like it a lot." Ivan could feel his breath on his lips and he leaned in to eliminate the space between them, kissing him softly. Alfred's arms instinctively wrapped around Ivan as he closed his eyes, smiling into the kiss.

After a moment, Ivan broke away, meeting those bright blue eyes. "Come, let us get you taken care of."