Hetalia A-Z Challenge

Immature

Characters: Lithuania and America

Rating: K

A/N: I made cookies today and this idea came to my mind. It worked out perfectly because I had been in need of an 'I' fiction. Ah, and it makes me so happy! I can't believe it took me all the way until 'I' to finally write a fiction about one of my OTPs. I wonder if my bias shows. . Oh well. I had fun writing and I hope you have fun reading.


Tying the apron behind his back, Lithuania read through the recipe again and surveyed the ingredients he had gathered on the kitchen counter. Today he was going to make cookies.

Since he came to live with and work for America, Lithuania had taken up the task of cooking meals among other things. He had been used to cooking at Russia's house, but once he arrived in America the kitchen had confused him. There were new gizmos and gadgets that he couldn't make heads or tails of at first. Now he maneuvered the kitchen with ease and grace and he preheated the gas oven to the temperature set forth in the recipe book.

Baking cookies was another thing that he had to stumble through at first. The sweet treat wasn't exactly something he had made often before and when America first suggested that he bake some, Lithuania was struck dumb. Since his first attempt, he had gotten better and swifter. He barely needed the recipe book anymore thanks to the frequent cries for dessert from his host, but he had it open just to be sure he wasn't forgetting anything.

Lithuania stirred the ingredients together with a large wooden spoon before scooping the dough out onto the cookie sheet. Then into the oven they went for ten minutes, which Lithuania set on the small kitchen timer. The timer clicked softly as the device counted down the time until the cookies were done and provided monotonous background noise as Lithuania set about cleaning the kitchen. He did not, however, wash out the wooden spoon or the bowl he had used to mix the ingredients in. That was a mistake he had made during his first attempt at cookies. Now he knew that in America's house, when making cookies, you did not wash the spoon of the raw cookie dough. Instead Lithuania called out, "America!"

In less than a minute the younger nation bound into the kitchen, smelling the air comically as if the scent had a hold on him by the nose like it did in the nation's cartoons. It didn't take long for America to spot the dough covered spoon in his underling's hand. He smiled brightly, a sight Lithuania cherished and that caused him to smile too. Lithuania held out the spoon and America quickly took it and started licking it carefully so as not to lose any of the sticky dough to the floor. The young nation wandered about the kitchen, sniffing at the oven and reached a hand to open it up so he could peek inside the warm chamber. "They'll take longer to cook if you do that," Lithuania chided in a teasing manner as he watched. America frowned, spoon clenched between his teeth as his tongue slipped in an out around the spoon. The face made Lithuania chuckle softly. Leaving the cookies to bake properly, America moved to the counter where he found the mixing bowl. Taking the spoon out of his mouth he used it to scrape against the sides of the bowl. When that no longer worked he abandoned the spoon all together and started using his fingers to get at the miniscule bits of cookie dough still clinging to the bottom of the bowl. Watching, Lithuania almost expected the American to put the bowl over his head and start licking it directly.

Finally, America had finished, cleansing the spoon and the bowl of as much of the cookie dough as he could and brought them over to the sink. "It tastes good!" He complimented flashing his ever present smile in Lithuania's direction. The smile was so bright, so honest, that Lithuania was still affected by it even after living with the man for all this time. He hadn't been used to seeing such smiles when living under Russia's control so that being around America's smile all the time was unreal. Everything about living in America was unreal to him. It felt almost like a dream and at times he feared that he would wake up and once again find himself in the cold, brutal lands of Russia, but every day when he woke up it was to the sunshine of America's smile.

Running the water in the sink, Lithuania rinsed the spoon and the bowl to remove the final traces of cookie dough and then placed them into one of the many electrical machines he had been confused at the purpose of when he first arrived. This one was a dish washer. He paused and marveled at how much faster and efficient this made doing the dishes.

Watching him work the machine, America grinned and noted, "You've gotten use to it now, looks like."

Lithuania smiled back, his cheeks already hurting from smiling too much, but he couldn't help it when around America. "Yes. This and the oven and all the other machines you have in your kitchen."

"You want to try driving the car next?" America grinned and Lithuania grew pale at the thought. His face caused America to laugh aloud. "Nah, it's fine. You don't have to, but I'm sure you could. You're pretty smart." This time Lithuania blushed at the compliment and turned away, busying himself with wiping down the counter for the second time now. America watched him work for a few moments before turning his attention to the small timer near the oven and asked impatiently, "How much longer?"

Lithuania laughed at how childish America got at times and he reminded himself that despite America's fast growing power he was still very young. Glancing at the timer himself, he answered, "Just a few more minutes, America." To which America responded by whining and shuffling closer to the timer. "Time won't move faster just because you will it to." Lithuania stopped scrubbing at the counter and watched as the American stared intently at the small timer.

Then all of a sudden the impatient nation picked up the timer and moved the hand closer to zero. "Hah! Who says I can't make time move faster?" Lithuania nearly laughed out loud, but managed to stifle it to be nothing more than a soft chuckle. Then a clear single note rang out as the timer ended in America's hands. Despite America's tampering with the timer, Lithuania knew that there was still a minute or two left before the cookies were completely done and he mentally kept track of the remaining time. Meanwhile America showed Lithuania the timer and insisted that the cookies were ready to be eaten now. Lithuania just shook his head, but smiled. "Come on, Lithuania. I'm starving here! I want to eat the cookies now!"

"If you're starving then should I start on dinner, then?" Lithuania asked, knowing fully well that America wasn't 'starving.' America didn't know the meaning of 'starving' and yet he had no problem tossing the word around almost on a daily basis.

"No," the nation pouted, "but I still want those cookies."

"Patience, America. Good things come to those that wait." Lithuania started moving across the kitchen at a slow pace and opened a drawer. He removed a pair of oven mittens and slowly pulled them over his hands. Then he lingered for a moment before closing the drawer carefully and inching his way leisurely across the kitchen to the oven while America had started to literally bounce up and down in anticipation.

Lithuania turned off the oven and then opened the door before reaching inside and removing the steaming tray of sweets. Before he could even set the tray on the top of the oven to cool America's hand shot out and snatched up a cookie. Quickly following that was a yelp of pain and the cookie fell to the floor. "America. They're hot. The cookies need to cool down first." Setting the tray down, Lithuania removed his oven mittens and tossed them lightly onto a nearby countertop as he turned to face the foolish young nation. "Now let me see. Did you burn yourself?"

America was waving his hand around back and forth through the air, pausing frequently to blow on it or suck on his fingers. Lithuania held the other's wrist in his hand and examined the burn. It wasn't too bad and all the jumping around America was doing was exaggerated. Suddenly a new idea distracted America from the previous pain and he used his uninjured hand to steal one of the oven mittens Lithuania had just discarded. Pulling it over his hand he once again reached for a cookie. Lithuania rolled his eyes and smiled, "And what will you do when you go to eat it? Your tongue will be burned just as bad if not worse. Just let them cool off for a few minutes and then they'll be ready to eat."

This had apparently not occurred to the American, despite a similar conversation taking place every time Lithuania made cookies, and he reluctantly removed the mitten and set it down next to its twin back on the counter. Lithuania swiftly swept them both away and was about to return them to their place in the kitchen when he changed his mind. Pulling one over his hand he bent down and used it to pick up the broken cookie that America had dropped. After tossing the lost treat out, Lithuania then returned the mittens to their place. Finally he turned to face America again to make sure he would not burn himself any more. Keeping an eye on the other, Lithuania opened another drawer and pulled out a spatula which he then used to move the cookies off the tray and onto a rack to help them cool faster. America watched the process with hungry eyes. Once that was done, Lithuania set the spatula in the sink and washed it off quickly.

When he turned around he found that one of the cookies was already missing from the rack and America had a face that reminded Toris of the saying 'the cat who swallowed the canary.' Knowing he was caught, America shrugged his shoulders and said, "They've cooled down enough." Lithuania laughed which made America smile. "You should laugh more often. It will make you live longer."

That caught Lithuania off guard and he suddenly looked startled at America. "Oh," was all he could reply. Laughing wasn't something he was used to doing. He laughed when he was still a child and when he played with Poland as a kid, but since his earliest days he had not laughed much at all. Now, America was making it so easy to laugh again despite it all. America was making everything easy and Lithuania felt so comfortable here. He smiled his own bright smile and said, "Thank you."

"Hm? For what?" America inquired as he carefully took another cookie. The dough might have cooled down but the chocolate was still melted and quite hot to the touch.

Shaking his head, Lithuania crossed the kitchen and opened up a cabinet, taking down a pair of glasses. He set them down and then moved to the refrigerator and took out some milk which he poured in equal amounts in each glass. After returning the milk to the fridge, he handed America one of the glasses he just poured. Eyeing the steaming cookies, Lithuania decided to wait a little longer before he chanced burning his fingers.

"These are delicious!" America moaned through a mouthful after shoving an entire cookie into his mouth.

Lithuania just smiled. America was so immature, mostly due to his young age, and he acted as if he still didn't understand the true horrors of the world despite having already participated in a handful of wars. He was still pure and optimistic and not cynical like most of the older nations. That's what Lithuania liked most about America. His whole personality, everything about him, was so bright. To Lithuania, America was the sunshine that brightened his dark world, piercing through even the thickest and darkest clouds. For that, Lithuania was thankful.