Short Story 14: Ao Dai

Themes: Romance, Fluff, Nyo!VietThai (fem!Thai, male!Viet).

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Vietnam glanced at the clock and continued working. Discerning that his girlfriend would reach his house within minutes, he hastened his typing to finish work before her arrival. She had never made him wait before: she would always make a beeline for his car after coming down from her private jet without shopping at the airport. Upon hearing the doorbell, he shut down his laptop and dashed to the front door. Despite being mentally prepared, he still felt electricity run down his spine when she pulled him into a warm embrace.

"I missed you." Her murmurs reached his ears, sweet and sincere, rendering him unable to say anything else besides a stuttering response, "I-I missed you too". They had been in a relationship for months, yet he still found himself behaving like an idiot around her. When he pulled away, he blinked.

"You are wearing ao dai?"

"Are you surprised, ana?" She leaned onto him, her eyes twinkling with bliss.

"Uhm, can I look at you a little bit more?" He mumbled and stepped back to look at her from head to toes. She was wearing a long green ao dai, with the color identical to his usual clothing, but something was amiss– "Wait," He almost had a panic attack as heat gathered on his face. "You… are not wearing pants?"

"Yes. I asked an acquaintance of mine to make an ao dai for me. Is this not a whole ensemble?"

Oh God, he wanted to kill whoever sewed the ao dai for her. Promptly pulling her into the house, he slammed the door shut so that no one could see her in this state. He could only hope that his private driver was the only one who did. The man must have seen an eye candy. As jealousy surged inside him, he thought about firing the man the next day.

"I'm sorry," He said. "I'm sincerely sorry. Your acquaintance should have also given you pants. Ao dai is not the same as Cheongsam. I'll find something for you to wear temporarily."

Vietnam immediately sprinted upstairs to find the appropriate clothing among his clothes. Lending her his used trousers would be impolite. When he managed to find a pair of unused jeans that his secretary had given him as a gift from the week before, he went downstairs and realized that she was peering at the inside of his fridge.

"It must have been a long flight for you. You should have a rest." He said and looked away to give her some privacy to put his trousers on.

"Sweetheart," Thailand ignored him and opened the icebox. She still looked cute in her ao dai and his jeans, weirdly somehow. "You are not eating properly."

"Yeah, sorry." He still felt a bit awkward.

"Stop apologizing." She grinned. "Let me cook you something. In the meantime, go wash the dirty dishes from yesterday. I can see them in the sink."

"I'm sorry." Vietnam scratched his head.

"If you keep being meek like that, your future wife will be hard on you."

"I'm sorry." This time, he smiled at the irony. "I know you won't do that to me."

The subsequent silence made him realize that he had just implied she would be his wife. They had never talked about marriage before. His face warmed. She couldn't have taken it the wrong way, could she?

But the truth was that he would not mind marrying her. Thailand was simple and caring. Perhaps it was the reason why he fell in love with her, even though he still did not have a clue about how she could love a stiff man like him. The day she moved in with him, he would stop being a workaholic and go home sooner than normal. If she had to grapple with too much governmental work, he would help her with the household chores, so that they could cuddle and talk about their day after she had finished. They would be like an ordinary Asian married couple and forget about their responsibilities as countries.

"You know," Thailand suddenly spoke. "I prefer a daughter to a son."

It took him one minute to understand what she meant.

"You mean… your child?"

"Our child, silly." She was laughing now. "If we got married, I would only give you daughters. There would be no boy. Are you okay with that?"

He almost dropped his dishes into the sink. It was the most unexpected answer he could think of. So she consented to…?

"Even if you want ten daughters, I would be okay." He stammered. It felt as if his coherent thoughts had been swept away. "Uhm, actually I'm not sure if I could take care of ten children at once, but whatever floats your boat–"

Before he could finish his sentence, he had felt her arms circling around his waist from behind.

"Great," She chirped. "You promised. Ten. Remember to keep your promise."

Blood rushed from his neck to his ears. He clumsily turned around and hugged her before she could discern that he was blushing madly. He just wanted to hug her forever and tell her that he loved her, but that would be too cheesy. He was afraid of being called cheesy. But he sincerely loved her. He loved her so much that it drove him crazy sometimes. If they got married, he would be the happiest man in the world.

"I'll try my best."

"You don't have to." She rested her head on him. Her soft hair flowed over his shoulder and gave him warm fuzzies inside. "Just be yourself; you'll make a great husband."

He was indeed the happiest man alive right now, even though his stay-at-home date had had started in a weird way.

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A/N:

1. Ao dai is Vietnam's traditional costume, consisting of a long silk dress and a pair of pants. This short fic was inspired by an anecdote I happened to read yesterday: an American activist did not wear trousers the first time she wore ao dai because the one who made it for her forgot the pants. I know nyo!Thailand must be smarter than that, but I wrote this anyways.

2. The ways nyo!Vietnam (male!Vietnam) and Thailand express their love are quite different in my headcanon. Many fans think that Thailand would be a shy and awkward guy around Vietnam. I don't think so. :3 In the episode 103 of the anime, just look at the way Thailand rests peacefully with his elephant as if they are in their own universe. Thailand is a natural feeler. He will love Vietnam in the way he loves his elephant: gentle and caring, but also straightforward and affectionate. In addition, the author has pointed out that Thailand could "counter things with unbelievably tricky diplomacy". One interesting comparison: in history, while Vietnam (Dai Viet) turned her back on Western countries and Myanmar and only retained cordial relationships with Thailand (Siam), Thailand became friendly with America, England, China, Russia and many other powerful countries. Thailand is quite sharp when it comes to relationships. So yeah, he could be nice and warm-hearted, but awkward or shy? Nah.

Meanwhile, nyo!Vietnam is rather stiff and not used to emotions. Therefore, when he is exposed to a loving relationship, emotions will overwhelm him and make him confused. Nyo!Vietnam and Vietnam are similar in this regard.