"What the heck?" You say as you look around. Something or someone had been tugging on the sleeve of your jacket, but there wasn't anyone or anything around you. You thought maybe it was your imagination until you heard a funny sound and looked down. "Oh! Hello Toto!" You smiled as the small elephant makes another sound responding to your comment. You lean down and pat him on the head. "If you're here than where's-"
"(Name)? Is that you, ana?" Came a man's voice from somewhere behind you. You look around but all you see is the outside walls of the two buildings on either side of you and a couple of trees further on.
"Thailand? Where are you?" you hear an 'mph!' and then he replies.
"This is, uh… somewhat embarrassing, but I am, uh, stuck."
"Stuck?"
"Back here," You look behind the building on the right and spot something whitish dangling out of a tree. You step closer and it moves.
"Thailand? What are you doing in that tree?" You walk over and look up to find that his tanish-white pants are caught on a branch and the rest of his body is helplessly hanging from it other then one hand that he is trying to use to pull himself up. You think he's just wearing a dark tan shirt at first, but when you step closer, you blush, seeing that he actually isn't wearing a shirt at all! Thailand's voice suddenly brings you back to reality.
"I will explain, if you'll just help me down first, ana."
"Ok-…" Watch This! You think to yourself with a smirk as you easily and swiftly jump up, grab a low-hanging branch, and start quickly climbing up with almost no effort. After safely sitting yourself on the branch where Thailand's pants are caught, you look down to begin freeing the cloth from its captor branch when you start blushing again. Wow… He has a really nice back… You look down and find Thailand's bare back to be quite strong, smooth, and built. You shake your head to get back to work, but even as you start fiddling to get him loose, you still can't help but keep glancing back at his figure in admiration.
"Grab on to a branch and hold on. I'm almost done and I wouldn't want you to end up falling out of the tree." You warn, making sure he has a firm hold on a sturdy branch before getting him loose completely. His body swings so fast that you're almost afraid he'll fly out of the tree instead of fall, but he lands safely on his hands and feet on the ground with a loud 'thud' and turns to look at you with a smile on his face.
"Thank you, ana," He says as he stretches his hand up to help you down.
"I can get down myself, thanks anyways," you say almost proudly as you swiftly and gracefully move back down the tree without flaw. Little do you realize that, while your back is turned, Thailand is secretly blushing at the agility and gracefulness of your body and looking at you with something a little more than admiration.
After landing and walking over to stand in front of Thailand you give him a teasing smile with your hands on your hips and ask "Now how the heck did you end up in that mess anyways?"
"Well I had to get this," He says while holding out a long, rolled up strap of thick leather that seems to be several feet long.
"What is it?" you ask, tilting your head.
"This," He says with a small smile. "Is how I stay on the elephants I ride, ana." At this, you hear Toto make a little trumpet noise behind him that makes you giggle. Suddenly you have a strange look on your face. "What is it (Name)?" He says a bit worried. You do nothing but look at him and then look at Toto and back again with a confused expression. This is all the explaining he needs. "Oh! I don't ride Toto! He's obviously too small. No, I have some other elephants that I train for riding and doing tricks, ana." Looking at him, you can easily see a glint of pride in his eyes.
"Really?"
"Yep! It's pretty late now, but you can come over tomorrow and I can teach you how if you'd like," You don't know what he means at first, but then you notice the darkening red sky and the setting sun in the distance.
"Wow! I didn't realize it was so late!"
"As you Americans say: 'Time flies when you're having fun?'" you smile and giggle before playfully hitting him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, getting you out of a tree was a lot of fun!" you say sarcastically with a wink. But, truth be told, you actually did have fun. You always seem to have fun when Thailand's around.
He blushes a little when you say that, but soon goes back to his happy self and says he'll see you tomorrow before scooping up Toto and waving as he walks away.
~~~~~~~*Next Day*~~~~~~~
You usually don't like waking up early, but today you want to be wide awake and prepared for you're time with Thailand.
You hadn't taken two minutes, after getting home, before finally deciding something you've been wandering about for almost the entire last month.
"Yep," You say to your best friend over the phone(and somewhat to yourself). "It's official. I have a crush on Thailand,"
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Your friend screams almost throwing the phone. "Oh my gosh! You like my brother!" she starts busting out laughing and squealing. She wasn't like this when you first met her, or like it when anyone else was around, but when just you two start talking about stuff like this, she somehow puts on a 'mask' or something that isn't much like her other self.
"Hey! Calm down Vi! I'm not your sister-in-law yet!"
"Yet" Vietnam giggles and you also start bursting out laughing. What can you say? You're a nut!
"(Name), were you looking at his muscles?" She says teasingly. You can just imagine the smirk on her face right about now.
"…Nooooo…"
"Liar!"
"…hmmmmm…"
"What?"
"Well I certainly wasn't imagining him hugging me without his shirt on…"
"*Gasp* (Name)!"
The two of you both have another good, loud laughing fest until you see what time it is.
"Oh my gosh! Vi, I have to go!"
"Ok! Good luck!" you can hear her giggle again before hanging up.
~~~~~~~*One Hour Later*~~~~~~~
You slowly walk up the path to Thailand's house as you begin planning things in your head.
Hmmm… I could tell him- no, I'm not ready for that yet. I could slip a note somewhere, but- Your thoughts are interrupted by a very loud trumpeting noise, thud, and someone's breath being knocked out of them. You start panicking and run the rest of the way up the path and call out Thailand's name in worry.
"I'm fine, ana!" You hear from a few yards away from the house. You reach the spot where the noise had come from to find Thailand laying on the ground rubbing the back of his head and a large elephant waving its head crazily with the long strip of leather Thailand had shown you dangling off its back. The sight of the crazed elephant frightens you and you end up falling backwards on to something big and soft that made an "umph!" noise.
"Huh?" you look behind you to see that you've fallen onto Thailand's stomach! "OH MY GOSH! I'M SO SORRY!" You blush horribly while trying to get off him. You can't seem to get your footing so you look around and spot a tree limb not too far above Thailand's head and decide to use that to help yourself up. Unfortunately, it doesn't go as you plan. You roll over, grab the branch, and start pulling yourself up while Thailand tries to sit up under you, but suddenly you hear a snap and find yourself down on Thailand again…but this time with your face nearly brushing his. "Uhhhhh…Ummm…. I-I'm s-s-s-sorry!" you start apologizing as you realize how horribly you must be blushing now.
You see Thailand staring up at you with a dumfounded face at first, but surprisingly, he starts smiling. "It is fine, ana." He says as he helps to push you up, then gets up himself. It was actually very nice to be so close to you, ana. He thinks to himself without your knowing. "Honestly (Name) It is ok," He assures you after noticing the still horribly embarrassed look on your face. You relax a little, then start busting out laughing out of nowhere. "What?" Asks Thailand curiously. He soon realizes what you are laughing at. The strap that had been on the big elephant was gone and now is visible in a nearby tree with a happily swaying Toto dangling from it while playfully trumpeting away.
"Well Thai, looks like you have another tree to climb!" you say still laughing as you can tell he's probably having a mental face-palm about now.
"Toto! Bad boy!" He calls as he runs over to the tree. It doesn't take the two of you very long to get Toto and the strap down since it was a lower branch. "Well, time for training!" He says after tying-up the first elephant and getting another. You watch in awe as Thailand gently and professionally guides the elephant towards you with the utmost care and are astonished to see him doing so with only taps to its ears and sides and gentle comments. "That's it girl," He finally stops it just inches in front of you and grabs your hand to put it on her trunk.
"What's her name?"
"S¯ængdæd. It means Sunlight in my language. You can call her Sun for short if you like, ana."
"Hello Sun," The elephant replies with a playful nod and you smile. "She's sweet."
"The sweetest for the sweetest, ana." He says it so quiet you can barely hear him.
"What was that?
"Oh nothing. Here, I will show you how to ride now." You blush horribly as he grabs you by the waist and pushes you gently up onto Sun's back.
"Comfortable?"
"Uhhhh…" You're still too dumbstruck to speak.
"You will get used to it soon," He says before you can think of what to say. The next thing you know, Thailand climbs up right behind you and puts your hands on the strap already tied to Sun's back with a loop for a handle. You blush and pretend to look at the ground until it goes away. Then look at Thailand for instructions. "Alright (Name), first things are first."…
~~~~~~~*Four Hours Later*~~~~~~~
"Ow!" You yelp as you try sitting down. You had a wonderful time learning all the basics and history about elephant riding with Thailand, but all that riding made your legs and thighs HORRIBLY sore.
You just start easing yourself onto a heating pad to help your poor muscles when you hear a loud knock on your door. "Coming!" you yell as you strain to pull yourself up and head towards the door. The knocking starts again and you start getting irritated. "I'm coming! Hang on!" You open the door to find Vietnam and another one of your best friends America (whom Vietnam is actually head-over-heals for).
"Hey (Name)!" Says Vietnam as America (or better known to you as Alfred) runs past almost running into you and crashes on your couch.
"Sup (Name), Bro!" You say Hello to your other friend before turning back to Alfred.
"Dude, I'm not a dude," You remind him playfully.
"Ok fine, Bro-et. That better?" You and Vietnam laugh at the crazy American before sitting down yourselves.
"You ok (Name)? You're acting like a sore old lady!"
"That's cause-" You cut him off quickly.
"Don't you dare be a smart-mouth right now Al!" You warn. Turning your attention back to Vietnam, you explain. "It's hard not to be sore when you've been sitting on an elephant's back all day, Vi."
"Speaking of, did anything happen?" She asks trying not to show her other, more excited side with America around. If she did, it would blow her cover as the tough, serious girl, but she still acts more happy around him so he'll still be comfortable around her.
"Nooo…not really…" You say somewhat sarcastically before remembering that Alfred was also listening. Apparently he hadn't been told anything about what was going on with you that day and he instantly started showering you with questions and laughter:
"Elephant ride?! Who? Where'd you go? Did it smell like peanuts?! Was it's name Dumbo? What'd you mean 'Not really'? Is there a dude involved?! Do you have a guy friend you're crushing on? "Who is he? What's he smell like? Can I have ice cream?"
"Woooooooaaah there cowboy! Calm down! No you can't have ice cream, I don't have any, sadly."
"Awww! Darn!" After a few minutes, you tell everything about starting to crush on Thailand to America then tell he and Vietnam both about the day you've had and some of the crazy stuff that had happened to you, which, of course, leads to much teasing and even more questions. After about an hour, you start feeling very tired and look outside the window to see, not only darkness, but a good rain quietly pouring.
"Well you two, you may have to stay the night unless you wanna get soaked." You can see Vietnam blush at the thought of staying around Alfred for a whole night, but he doesn't seem to notice.
"Dude! We can totally have an awesome sleepover party!" He says with his arms waving above his head. You laugh and start to get out of your chair.
"Well I can't actually, because I'm soar and tired and have to get up early again, but you two can I guess. Vi, you remember where the guest room is? Al, There's some sheets in the closet down the hall for you to sleep on the couch. Have fun, but please don't do anything stupid, or mess up my house, or wake me up?" You say the last sentence while mostly looking towards Alfred.
"What are you looking at me for?"
"Oh, no reason," You say while exchanging a look with Vietnam. "Well, 'night everyone!"
"Night (Name)!" Your friends say in unison as you walk slowly up the stairs to your bedroom. To your relief, you only have one disturbance before completely drifting off to sleep while laughing at your friends (apparently Alfred decided to have a tickle fight with Vietnam that made her squeak and smack him before hushing him up and making him go to bed early). You were able to peacefully fall asleep and dream deeply about the days to come with you and Thailand and his elephants.
~~~~~~~*That Morning*~~~~~~~
*Beep! Beep! Beep!* You moan as you weakly try getting your sore legs out of bed, get dressed, and start walking down the stairs to make breakfast. As you pass the guest room, you peak inside the open door and almost start laughing your head off but cover your mouth quickly. I guess Al had I bad nightmare! You chuckle to yourself. There on the bed is Vietnam sleeping with a somewhat irritated look on her face and America with his arms wrapped around her legs and a blanket balled around him while shaking and murmuring in his sleep. Oh Vi, you're gonna have such a big surprise when you wake up! You run into the kitchen and bury your face in your sleeve to laugh at how hilarious the sight will be when she wakes up to discover her crush wrapped around her legs and how America might possibly react (which is never quite certain).
You smile and chuckle to yourself as you start making a nice breakfast for the three of you and before long you hear your friend start waking up. You run to the closet, grab a video camera, and rush to the guest room where you start recording while hiding behind the doorway. It doesn't take long for things to get increasingly hilarious.
"Huh? Hey, Alfred," she says sleepily and starts rubbing her eyes then stops suddenly. "Alfred?" She snaps her head back to the American and her eyes become huge. "ALFRED!" She screams almost kicking him in the face on accident.
"WHAT?! WHERE'D THE FLYING BURGER GO?! TAXI!" America says out of confusion before clumsily falling backwards onto the floor. Unfortunately for Vietnam, he had grabbed her hand when flailing his arms and she ended up falling with him in a mess of hair arms and sheets. You fall to the floor laughing while still getting every bit on video and laugh harder when the two of them start trying to get untangled and keep tripping or getting tangled even more. You can see Vietnam blushing wildly (as you had expected) but then notice that Alfred seems to do the same and you can see him blush more and more every time he accidentally runs into her or they fall on each other. After almost 20 minutes of utter chaos, things finally settle down and now you are being stared at by two messy-haired blushing friends, one with a confused look, and one with an 'I will kill you and shred that video later' look. You leave hurriedly to escape Vietnam's death glare and start preparing everyone's plate as your friends get cleaned-up and dressed. As the three of you eat, with you still chuckling, Vietnam glaring at you, and America scarffing down the food as if nothing happened, you hear someone at the door and go to answer it.
"Thai! I didn't expect you to be here! It's not even time for lessons yet," You say with a slightly surprised look.
"Good morning to you too, ana." He says smiling. You let him in and invite him to have breakfast with you and your other friends. He accepts and you go to make him a plate, Vietnam still glaring at you. "Hello sister!" He says and pinches her cheek playfully. "What is up with the face, ana?"
"She wants to kill me and sell my skin for wallets," You say unable to resist another chuckle.
"What for?" He says with a confused face.
"We had an awkward moment earlier and (Name) got it all on camera, so Vi's upset." Explains Alfred with his mouth still full.
"Al," Vietnam finally says.
"Hmm?"
"Chew your food before talking, it's gross." She says finally giving up the staring and turning back to her own food.
"So What are the two of you doing today, ana?" Asks Thailand with his almost never-ending smile.
"Nothin' really," Says America.
"Same,"
"Hey! Maybe you two can watch me and (Name) train and ride the elephants! And possibly keep Toto from causing trouble like yesterday too,"
"No kidding!" you say with a chuckle, remembering how ornery the little elephant had been.
"That sounds cool!" Says America with a smile (remembering to swallow first this time) "Can I Name one Dumbo?" Thailand looks at him questioningly for a while before you whisper in his ear explaining about the little Disney cartoon from America.
"Well they all have names already, but you can nick-name one I guess, ana."
"YAY!"
"I guess I will too," (You can easily tell she's only coming because of Alfred).
"Ok! If everyone's ready, I've got my ride outside and we can go right now, ana." The four of you finish up and walk outside to find Thailand's "ride" resting beside your house.
"I had a feeling this would happen," You say teasingly as He helps you up onto a huge elephant's back. He apparently had brought two elephants for each of you to ride, but since there are now four of you, he helps a somewhat annoyed Vietnam and totally ecstatic America up on the other one, ties a rope from their elephant to the one you were on, and hops up to sit behind you. Then you're off towards his house on two huge elephants with several neighbors turning to stare. You turn to see how your friends are doing to find Alfred, startled by the sudden movement of the animal, clinging on to Vietnam with his head pressed against her back and a nerves expression on his face, but he soon eases up and Vietnam is able to finally breath again.
~~~~~~~*One Hour Later*~~~~~~~
"Wow! Look at (Name)! She sure learns quick!" Says Alfred with wide eyes as you copy Thailand's movements and coaxing with the creatures almost perfectly. He still has to help you a LOT, after all, it is only your second day, but you are still doing really good with the animals… and Thailand notices too. Everything's going really good, until you hear some commotion coming from America and you, Thailand, and Vietnam turn to see what's going on. "Dudes! I can't find Togo!" he says looking around and underneath a few things.
"You mean Toto, and what?! He was in your lap! How couldn't you notice him getting off your lap!" Says Vietnam. You swear you can see Alfred blush and you hear a mumble coming from him with his eyes averting your friend's before jumping up and declaring to Thailand that he and Vi would find him and not to worry, then grabs her hand and starts dragging her behind him as he runs to the back of the house to go look.
"Well looks like we are alone again, ana." You hear Thailand say, but he sounds awfully close. You turn around and almost bump into him he's so near.
"U-uhhh…"
"Come on (Name), We can keep up our lessons while they look for Toto," He smiles and takes your hand to lead you back to where the other elephants are tied up. You notice that one on the very end is trumpeting and stomping as if it were wild and immediately recognize it as the one that almost hurt Thailand the first day you came over.
"What's up with that one?" You ask and nod your head towards it.
"Oh, an elephant hunter shot him in the ear once, so anything that moves startles him and makes him uneasy." He says with a look of sympathy.
"What's his name?"
"It is P¯hælpen, or "Scar" in my language. I named him that because of the scar he has from his bullet wound." You can easily see the injury that he is talking about and start feeling sorry for the poor animal. "I've tried to tame him," Thailand continues. "But I can't get him to trust me like the others, plus he is very rambunctious when I try to ride him and usually throws me off."
"Huh," You say, an idea forming in your head.
"Well let me see… you haven't tried riding Bluey yet…" He trails off when he realizes you are no longer behind him. He turns to find you, to his horror, walking right towards Scar with gentle coaxing gestures. He starts to run after you but is stopped in shock because Scar remarkably calms down and lets you even pet him! "What?" Thailand says disbelievingly. He doesn't move until he sees you starting to try and climb onto Scar's back to ride him. "(Name)! I wouldn't do that! (Name)! Be careful!" He starts quickly walking towards you and stops a few feet away to avoid scaring the elephant. But even though he didn't spook it, Scar appears to see a shadow or something because he suddenly starts swishing his head crazily and bolts away from the other elephants with you still holding on!
"Thai! Help me!" You scream. Thankfully, the elephant was somewhat slow and Thailand is very fast. He runs past the elephant and starts to climb a tree that's further down the elephant's path. As Scar passes the tree, Thailand grabs you by the arms and yanks you up while Scar runs a little more, then becomes tired and settles again. Just when you think the craziness is over, you hear a cracking noise underneath you and you and Thailand glance at each other in horror as the branch suddenly falls out from beneath you. You weren't very high in the tree, but the two of you still land with a loud thud. Poor Thailand lands first, and you fall right on top of him. Slowly pushing yourself up, you realize that you had landed face-down with your face on his bare chest and you turn a horribly deep red. And then you notice that Thailand is doing the same! You start to get up, but find that his hands are keeping you from doing so by holding your waist. You look at him and see not only an even deeper shade of red, but also a longing look in his eyes that surprises you and makes you blush more.
"(Name)…" He breathes very sweetly.
"Th-Thai…" He takes one hand off your waist and carefully places it on the back of your head before gently bringing you closer to him. You're amazed to feel your lips touch, then slowly close your eyes and smile into the kiss and wrap your arms around him.
"P¯hm r?k khu? (Name)." He whispers in your ear after you break apart.
"I love you too," You smile at each other until you are both startled by a bunch of laughing and hooting almost ruining the moment…almost.
"Hahahaha! (Name)'s gotta boyfriend!" Sings Alfred as he dances around with Toto in his arms. Then you notice Vietnam with a video camera and mentally face-palm.
"Payback!" She yells and waves the camera proudly. "I even got you looking like an idiot on that elephant along with your little kiss with your crush!" She says victoriously.
"Crush?" Thailand asks turning to you.
"Hehehe," You blush and he smiles at you before kissing your cheek. "Well Vi, I guess we both caught each other with our crushes then huh,…" You stop yourself but it's too late. Alfred had stopped dancing and now has wide eyes and a blush covering his face.
"What?!" He says turning towards Vietnam while accidentally dropping Toto.
"Uhhhhhh…."
"Dude! You like me?"
"Ummmm…..Hehe…" She turns to give you a death stare but is instead grabbed into a tight hug by America who is still blushing wildly but now has a huge smile.
"Dude! I've, like, loved for so long! I can't believe this! We should, like, totally be a couple!" He almost screams before planting a big kiss on her lips and shocking her so badly you're afraid she'll pass-out. You and Thailand laugh at the little episode before getting Alfred to let Vietnam breath. You all just realize that it's starting to get late, so Thailand gets two elephants to for you and your friends to ride back to your houses. You enjoy the ride even more than you had before (mostly because Thailand has his head on your shoulder and is hugging you around the waist the hole time. You can just tell that your two friends are flirting and cuddling behind you by the silence only interrupted by a few giggles. You finally get to Alfred's place and are about to go on to Vietnam's before stopping and letting her off At Al's too. (They had decided to hang out some more, which you knew meant they wanted to go kiss each other and cuddle). Thailand stops at your house and helps you down before getting down himself.
"Thank you so much (Name)." He says while stroking your hair.
"For what?"
"For loving me back. You are just so sweet, ana."
"The sweetest for the sweetest," You say teasingly.
"So you actually did hear me the other day," He says chuckling.
"Yep," He puts his arms around your waist again and pulls you into a warm embrace before tilting up your chin and giving you a sweet kiss.
"I will see you tomorrow ch?n s¯wyngam." He says rubbing his nose on yours.
"What does that mean?"
"It means 'my beautiful'." With that he gives you another kiss and you hug him around his neck.
"P¯hm r?k khu? (Name)."
"P¯hm r?k khu? Thai."