Ha ha, update! I'd like to thank Peter is Pan, ninjafox369, Dethfck, and Eternally Me for reviewing! You guys made me laugh!

So anyway, Hong Kong is in this chapter. I named him Li Jinjing, since he doesn't have a name (it means 'upright gold mirror', at least that's what the internet said). Also, this is FULL of so much Russia/America fluff in the first half that I wanted to vomit kittens.

To say that Alfred was afraid of the dark would be saying inaccurate. Alfred was, by no means, afraid of the dark. No, what Alfred feared were ghosts.

He could never understand why his friends and family made fun of his extreme fear of ghosts. After all, ghosts just seemed to defy logic. They couldn't be killed by normal means, as they were already dead. They could go through solid objects, but in some cases still be able to pick things up and move them, or even injure a living person. They could change the temperature of a room, they could be invisible, no amount of science could properly explain them, and they could, in essence, be found anywhere in the world.

It scared the shit out of Alfred.

So, sitting alone in a darkened hospital room with shadows lurking in the corners and under the bed bothered the American a bit. What bothered him more was that since he was in a hospital, there was no doubt that someone, somewhere, had died in the building and their spirit could be wandering the rooms.

Alfred drew a shaky breath and put his glasses back on, unable to go to sleep. He got up and gingerly made his way to his personal belongings. He dug through his clothes and found his cell phone. The American smiled slightly that he had been able to find it. He hurried back to his bed and dialed his brother's phone number only to be sorely disappointed when his personal belongings started to play Matthew's ring tone.

"Damn it, he forgot it here," Alfred mumbled. He decided that he would try to give his friends a call, hoping that someone would pick up. Starting with the A's…

***

Ivan growled in irritation as his phone rang. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was a bright and sunny two in the morning, which meant it was actually dark out so it really wasn't all that bright or sunny. The Russian let out a string of Russian curses, promising to punch whoever the hell would dare call his house so late and wake him up.

"'ullo?" He hissed into the receiver. There was a short moment of silence before the person on the other answered.

"…Hello, Ivan? It's Alfred," the American said quietly. Ivan wasn't sure if he should be concerned or if he should be pissed off.

"Why are you calling me so late, gyeroy?" Ivan asked, sounding annoyed and about as tired as he felt, which was really tired.

Alfred paused again before sighing in defeat. "I tried getting a hold of Mattie, but he left his phone here, and I tried calling my friends but they're phones are either off or they're not answering or they hung up on me. So far, you haven't hung up on me, so I guess I'll have to settle with you," he said.

Ivan glared at the phone, hoping that Alfred could just feel its intensity from where he was at. "…How about I hang up now?" Ivan asked with spite.

"No!" Alfred yelped, startling Ivan. The younger coughed awkwardly. "Er, sorry. It's just that you're the only person I can talk to, so…please don't hang up," he asked in a pathetic voice.

Ivan sighed, beaten by the American's tone. "Alright, I won't hang up. But why do you need to talk to someone anyway? Shouldn't you be asleep? I know I was," the Russian murmured and yawned to emphasis his point.

Alfred sighed and didn't answer right away, but when he did, he sounded a bit uncomfortable. "I can't sleep. I just keep expecting a ghost to just come out of thin air and attack me or something."

Ivan furrowed his brows. "…Ghost?" He asked and the younger gave a dramatic sigh.

"Yes, ghost. I don't like ghosts very much, and hospitals could just be crawling with them," Alfred said crossly.

The Russian contemplated this for a moment before he smiled wickedly, even though Alfred couldn't see him. "Don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts, gyeroy. They aren't even real," he said, highly amused.

"…Sh-shut up. Being afraid of ghosts is better than being afraid of my younger sibling," Alfred shot back heatedly.

When Ivan didn't respond after the first minute or so, Alfred spoke up. "Are you still there!? I didn't mean it, don't hang up on me Ivan," he said, almost pleading.

Ivan snorted. "I'm not going to hang up on you. Yet. But I can honestly say that I don't think I can keep the phone on all night long," the Russian said.

Alfred seemed to contemplate it before sighing. "Then…then can you at least stay on until I fall asleep?" He mumbled, sounding particularly embarrassed.

Ivan chuckled. "Of course, only I don't really know what to talk about," he said, amusement painting his voice.

A silence descended upon them in which Alfred made nervous grunts and Ivan started to fall asleep a little.

"You're falling asleep!" Alfred accused suddenly. Ivan made a sound of agreement and Alfred whined. "Well don't! Find a way to stay up until I fall asleep!" The American demanded.

The Russian snorted in annoyance, but racked his tired mind for some way to appease the American, which would hopefully shut him up. "…Alright, I have an idea, so just be quiet and listen," Ivan ordered.

When he was sure that Alfred wasn't going to say something stupid and interrupt him, Ivan started to do something crazy and completely out of his character. He started to sing.

"Polyushko-pole, polyushko, shiroko pole. Edut po polyu geroi, eh, da krasnoj armii geroi."

Ivan paused, waiting for Alfred's reaction. When the American gave a slight hum, Ivan decided that he'd continue.

"Devushki plachut, devushkam sevodnya grustno, milyj nadolgo uehal, eh, da milyj v armiyu uehal. Devushki, glyan'te, glyan'te na dorogu nashu, v'yotsya dal'nyaya doroga, eh, da razvesyolaya doroga. Tol'ko mi vidim, vidim mi seduyu tuchu, vrazh'ya zloba iz-za lesa, eh, da vrazh'ya zloba, slovno tucha."

Ivan paused again. He was sorely disappointed to hear Alfred mutter a very small "Go on", but at the same time, he was strangely pleased because the American wasn't being his annoying self or complaining that he couldn't understand anything Ivan was saying.

"Eh, devushki, glyan'te, mi vraga prinyat' gotovy, nashi koni bystronogi, eh, da nashi tanki bystrokhodny. Eh, pust' zhe v kolkhoze druzhnaya kipit rabota, mi dozorney sevodnya, eh, da mi sevodnya chasovye."

Ivan finished the song, waiting for Alfred to make some rude comment or something. When it didn't come, the Russian frowned then realized he could hear snoring from the other end. Alfred had fallen asleep.

The Russian smiled then quickly hung up, resisting the urge to violently destroy the phone which woke him up at two in the morning only for him to have to sing lullabies to idiotic Americans. Ivan vowed that he would never speak of this again and if Alfred ever brought it up, Ivan would punch him in the face.

***

Natalia knew that she couldn't touch the American swine known as Alfred F. Jones herself. Sure, she could technically touch him, but at the same time she risked too much by messing with him herself. If her brother really did have some sort of (obviously mislead) feelings for Alfred and she maimed and/or killed him, there was a chance that Ivan would hate her.

And Natalia would sooner die than have Ivan hate her.

So with that in mind, she had to find a way to get Alfred out of the picture without actually doing it herself. Luckily, she'd heard some pretty promising rumors around school about one mister Li Jinjing.

Li Jinjing was a transfer student from Hong Kong who never said anything and had the emotional amplitude of a potato. Rumor had it that Li had a thing for fireworks and explosives; in other words, he was a bit of a pyro. Another rumor was that he was the son of the leader of the Chinese mafia.

When lunch rolled around, Natalia approached the Asian who was eating by himself. She sat down in front of him and he glanced up with what might have been considered a questioning look.

Natalia stared back. "Is it true that you have power within the Chinese mafia?" She asked, getting straight to the point.

Li stared at her, but didn't reply. Natalia narrowed her eyes, but had a strange feeling in the back of her mind. It was almost like Li was telling her it depended on who was asking and why.

She decided to go with this strange feeling. "You see, I have a job that I would like done. I can pay for it," she stated.

Li looked from her to his plate of uneaten food then back to her. 'What can you pay and what needs to be done?'

Natalia's lips twitched. Of course she wasn't sure if that was really what Li was thinking, but for some reason she knew that's what he was asking. "I'd much rather know what price you'd place on my job. You see, I want this…American swine gone. I don't care if he gets run out of town or if he ends up dead in a ditch, I just want him gone. What price would you place on it?"

Li fiddled his thumbs. 'I like how you think. Just get me a box of fireworks and I'll take care of the rest.'

Natalia smirked. "Good. I'm glad we have reached this agreement."

Oh dear! Natalia is getting the mafia involved! And Hong Kong totally has telepathy, at least I think he does. Oh, and Korea and China will appear sometime in the future. Don't lose faith in their motorcycle-sidecar combo!

The song Ivan sang was a pretty famous song, "Polyushke Pole" which has different versions done by different people. Thanks chronoskitty for suggesting it! I personally love this song. Oh, and I found the lyrics on the internet, so hopefully lyricwiki didn't lie to me.

Review please~