Belarus stirred awake as she heard a muffled ringtone sounding off near her ear. She opened her eyes and looked to her left, finding the noise to be coming from her dress folded on top of a dresser.
Without even acknowledging that she wasn't wearing her dress, she sifted through it and pulled out her phone, seeing that the contact calling her was none other than her brother. She was about to reject the phone call, but then she thought about why he might be calling her.
'It's probably just him and sestra wondering where I am, but maybe... he's calling to tell me he has left China and will be mine forever!'
The optimism got the best of her as she answered the call and pressed the phone to her ear.
"Sestra, are you there?" Russia asked.
"Da," Belarus excitedly responded. Ukraine pushed Russia out of the way and screamed into the phone, "Bozhe miy sestra where are you? I'm so sorry, I should have went looking for you. Are you alright?!"
Belarus held the phone away from her ear as her sister continued to shout into it. As Ukraine rambled on, Belarus finally realized her clothing situation and looked down to find a large gray t-shirt with an American flag on her chest. 'Of course.'
Belarus moved the phone back to her ear, hearing the incoherent screeching again. "Sestra," she said, but Ukraine continued to shout.
"Sestra." She said again, but once again her sister persisted.
"Sestra!" Belarus yelled back, finally fed up with the shouting. Ukraine quieted down to let her sister speak. "I'm fine, I just stayed... at a different hotel," Belarus lied, embarrassed of needing help from America of all people.
"Oh, ok then, as long as you are safe," Ukraine said. Belarus rolled her eyes at those words, "I'm an adult sestra, and a nation, I don't need to be protected."
"I know, but you are the so young," Ukraine argued as she crossed her arms and rested them on the table.
As the two sisters continued their conversation, Russia decided it was probably time to go. As he was about to leave however, Belarus spoke into the phone, "can I speak to big brother?"
Ukraine turned to Russia and stared at him. When he didn't move, she gestured for him to sit at the table. Again, he didn't move.
She then grabbed his phone and tossed it to him before sprinting out of the room. Russia dived for his phone and caught it right before it hit the ground, but when he stood back up, he was alone.
"Big brother are you alright?" Belarus asked, worried about the commotion she was hearing. Russia turned off speakerphone and put the phone up to his ear. "Da I am the fine."
"That's good," she sighed in relief.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Have you left China yet?" she asked. Russia sighed in annoyance, he knew this was coming. "Nyet."
"Then leave him," she demanded. "No," Russia answered flatly. Belarus clenched her phone tightly, coming dangerously close to shattering it in her hand.
"Do it, we are destined to be together, not you and him," she ordered again. Russia shivered as he felt the dark aura pouring out of the phone, but did his best to stay strong.
"I-I don't want to be with you, you are my sestra, we are related," he stated. Belarus clenched her hand a little harder, cracking the phone screen.
"Why won't you just accept my love?!" She pleaded. Russia pinched the bridge of his nose and began speaking, "sestra, I— "No! No more excuses!" Belarus interrupted as she stood up from her bed.
"Can't you understand that I'm doing this for you? So you won't be lonely anymore? You complain all the time about being lonely and people being scared of you, but when you actually have someone that wants to be around you, you just.. just... leave them." As she finished the tirade, she slumped onto the ground as it all hit her at once.
A couple minutes went by as Russia registered the words before he finally spoke, "I greatly appreciate your concern for me after all these years, but you are not needing to do that anymore, I am no longer the lonely."
Belarus went dead silent as Russia "boasted" about his new partner, her eyes burning as the emotions crept their way to the surface. Russia was interrupted as Belarus let out a defeated laugh.
"You still don't get it, so you?" She laughed. Russia raised an eyebrow but remained quiet. "I wanted us to be one so we could both be happy, so neither of us were lonely... But you're right... you don't need me to do this for you anymore. Goodbye... Russia."
Before Russia could respond, Belarus crushed the phone in her hand and threw it across the room. She then flopped onto her side and curled into a ball, before tears started downpouring from her face.
Russia was struck silent, Belarus had never called him Russia. It's always been "big brother, big brother Russia, Roiyssa, Ivan, Vanya", or "my love," but never Russia.
After hearing that the conversation had ended, Ukraine exited from the room she hid in and walked up behind the frozen Russia.
"Soooo... how did it go?" She asked curiously. Her curiosity turned to fear as Russia slowly turned around to reveal a single tear rolling down his face. "Bad."
America stood on the other side of the bedroom door, listening silently to her as she broke out into muffled sniffs and sobs. He wanted to help her in some way, but he felt like barging into her room was not the way to do it.
After some thinking, he walked away from the door with the perfect plan. If he could cheer her up last time with candy, then maybe some other food would do the same.
He took out his phone and looked up Belarusian breakfast food, eventually coming across something called draniki. A potato pancake? Seems easy enough.
He then headed off to the kitchen, prepared to make the ultimate cheering up breakfast.
Meanwhile, Belarus had been interrupted from her crying session with a great need to go to the bathroom. As she finished and started walking back from the bathroom to go hide in her room, she stopped when she smelled something delicious. It was so familiar to her, and even in her depressed state she couldn't help but be drawn to figure out if the food was what she thought it was.
As she crept to the railing of the stairs, she peered over to find America in the kitchen constantly looking between his phone and whatever he was making.
She couldn't see what it was since his body was in the way, but she got a pretty good idea when she noticed a bunch of peeled potato skins on the counter next to him.
She slowly descended the stairs and walked to the kitchen. When she got behind him, she looked over his shoulder to find out what he was making, her eyes growing as big as saucers when she noticed the bowl full of shredded potato and onion.
As America read the recipe off his phone, he simultaneously reached out for a carton of eggs, but they were just out of his reach. Belarus grabbed the box and moved it over to where his hand was. Without even noticing the change in distance, America grabbed two of them and brought them back to the bowl.
Belarus stared at him attentively, making sure he didn't mess anything up. If he was going to be making her breakfast, then it was going to be perfect.
As America mixed all of the ingredients together, he began grabbing small balls of it and flattening them into patties before placing them into a pan of hot oil. A couple minutes later, he transferred the crispy, golden-brown patties to a plate.
Satisfied with the result, he picked up the plate and turned around to bring them to the damsel in distress. "Ahh!" He screamed (definitely not like a girl) when he found Belarus right in front of him. The scare made him jump and almost drop the plate, in which both nations reacted by clutching onto it.
Both of them froze when they felt each other's hands touching under the plate. After a second, Belarus came to her senses and took the plate from America before silently speed walking to the nearby table.
America still stood in place, stunned at the incident. 'That's twice in the past 24 hours.' After a couple more seconds, America finally moved over to where Belarus was sitting.
Belarus ignored him and continued to eat her breakfast, impressing America with how fast she was scarfing them down. When she didn't take the time to even chew, he started to get worried. "Whoa, ok... you should probably slow down."
Belarus ignored him and started eating faster. "That's enough," he said as he struggled to pull her hand away from her mouth.
Belarus tried to grab more food, but America refused to let her go. "Stop. Stress eating isn't going to help."
Belarus swallowed the food in her mouth and stared at him in seething rage. "What would you know? I'm not stressed I— you know what, I actually am, because there's a gross pig touching me!" She yelled as she thrashed her arm around to get out of his grip.
Belarus succeeded in loosening his grip, but her squirming resulted in her falling off her chair. America tried to help her up, but Belarus pushed him away before grabbing the plate of food and storming up the stairs to her room.
America sighed to himself as he slouched against the couch, but sat back up when Belarus stormed back over to the railing of the stairs. "Did you undress me in my sleep?!" She screeched, just now remembering that she wasn't wearing her normal clothes.
"No, I sent you to the bathroom to change," he answered, blushing as he thought about the undressing he did do. Belarus raised one of her knives above her head. "I don't remember that."
America raised his hands in surrender as he explained himself. "You were still half-asleep, you fell asleep again on the toilet while putting on the shirt, I swear."
Belarus lowered the knife, remembering something like that happening, though it was pretty fuzzy. "That better be the truth," she grumbled as she walked back to her room and slammed the door shut.
She sat on her bed and held the plate of draniki up, ready to dig into it again. As she was about to put one in her mouth, she slowed down and took a bite from it instead. 'I guess eating fast doesn't let me enjoy the flavor,' She thought.
America took the time to get his own breakfast. Instead of taking the time to prepare a whole meal like Belarus, he just stuck to cereal.
'China and Russia? I thought he was terrified of Russia,' he thought. 'Once this whole Belarus thing blows over I'm sooo picking on those two.'
As he ate his cereal, Belarus walked down the stairs now in her dress again. She then went to the kitchen sink and put the empty plate in it.
"Was that enough food?" America asked. Belarus nodded to him before walking back to her bedroom. A little later, she quietly came down the stairs again as America was watching tv. America turned his head to her and gave her a curious look, "what's up?"
Belarus stayed silent as she walked over and sat on the other end of the couch. "Man, you're such a stick in the mud," America sighed as he leaned against the arm of the couch. Belarus passed an angry glance to him before turning her attention back to the tv.
America decided to just stay quiet, she was upset enough with the whole Russia thing. As the minutes went by though, he found it increasingly difficult to remain silent.
"So, uhhh... later today I'm going back to my main house. Are you coming with, or am I getting you a flight back home?" He asked.
"I'm coming with," Belarus answered immediately. America gave her a huge smile as he sat up straight. "Sweet, so we'll be leaving at noon."
America relaxed again as he started thinking about all the stuff they would do. "Oh... you've never met Tony have you? You'll definitely have to meet him, he's awesome. You also get your own room, and we can go shopping, and go on hikes, and plant flowers, and..."
As America rambled on, Belarus rubbed her temple as a headache started coming on. 'Dear god this was a mistake. Why didn't I just say no? I can just stay in my own country and away from Russia.'
Belarus looked over at America who was still listing off things. He looked so childish, with his innocent smile and eyes full of joy and stars.
"You are such a child," Belarus huffed to herself. "Huh?" America asked in confusion as he stopped talking and looked at her. "I said that you are a child. You act so immature all the time, you're supposed to be a superpower. Why don't you act like you did when we fought the other day? You were plenty serious then."
America kept his mouth in a small frown as he thought hard about what to say. After a minute, he finally spoke up as he shrugged. "I dunno, I just want to act my age I guess."
Belarus deadpanned at that explanation. "You can't be serious." America awkwardly laughed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Um... sorry?"
"What do you mean act your age? You're nineteen, that's an adult," Belarus argued, strangely upset about this topic. "You're hiding something, aren't you?"
America looked even more confused. "Why would I hide why I act "childish"?"
Belarus put her hands on her hips and stared at him suspiciously. "I don't know, why would you?" America stared blankly at her while she looked back at him with an analyzing gaze.
Eventually he gave in and let out an annoyed "fine", much to Belarus' excitement. "Back when I was a colony I grew up really fast, probably from all the different countries coming to and fighting over my land. That happened to Mattie too, but at a much slower rate since he was mainly occupied by France until the end of the French and Indian War."
Belarus was delighted by that much better explanation, while on the other hand, America seemed indifferent if not a little annoyed.
America then stood up and began walking away to start packing up. As he walked up the stairs to his room, that taunting voice came back, 'she gave ya a good scare there, hopefully dat was good enough for her to believe.'
"Shut the hell up," America hissed as he marched to his room and slammed the door behind him.
As America packed up his stuff, Belarus sat patiently at the couch emotionlessly watching a horror movie. 'That blood looks so fake.'
Belarus must have lost track along the way, because about 2 and a half movies later, America came down the stairs with 5 bags of luggage. "You ready to go?"
Belarus turned around to look at where the noise came from, before nodding and standing up to follow him. As she walked outside, she found an Uber waiting for them on the driveway. As America and the driver put the luggage in the trunk of the car, Belarus opened one of the doors and got in the back seat.
When the two finished, they got into the driver and passenger seat and pulled out onto the road. "I take it you're going to the airport?" the driver asked.
"Yup," America answered as he started texting Tony about their arrival. The driver then looked up at the rear-view mirror to glance at Belarus as she stared out the window.
"So where are you and your girlfriend headed?" The driver asked. America's eyes widened before dropping his phone and reaching out to the driver, stopping Belarus' hand right before her knife plunged into the poor guy's neck.
The driver broke out into a cold sweat as he glanced over at the two, finding a serious America and a pissed off Belarus with a knife a centimeter away from giving him a tracheotomy.
America pushed her arm back, to which Belarus tried to thrust forward again, but he wasn't budging. "She's not my girlfriend, and for your own safety you should probably not refer to us as friends either," America whispered.
The driver nodded and decided to just stay silent for the rest of the car ride. After making sure that Belarus wasn't going to fillet their driver, America cautiously let go of her hand and picked up his phone.
The rest of the car ride was spent in awkward silence, but it was much more preferable than crashing because of a dead driver.
As they arrived to the airport, America made sure to tip the guy twice as much for losing a couple years off his life.
America hurried through the airport as Belarus straggled behind, wondering why they weren't going to the line with the other people. The two eventually arrived at a separate security terminal that had almost no one there.
America then gave all his bags to TSA to check before walking back to Belarus. "Hopefully this will only take a minute," America said as he crossed his arms.
"Jeez, I hate TSA, always takes forever y'know?" He said as he tried to strike up a conversation. Belarus remained silent, just wanting to get on the plane as soon as possible.
"God you're such a party pooper," he teased as he leaned an arm on the top of her head. Belarus looked up at him with a glare, but he looked down at her with a smug grin.
"There's that famous glare, I haven't seen that in what, about 20 minutes?" He joked. Belarus was about to shout at him, but then they were both called over by TSA.
America took the luggage, and after the two showed security their cards proving that they were "special" government officials, they were able to keep their weapons with them.
As they walked out onto the runway, Belarus spotted a small jet in a nearby hanger. "Is that our plane?" She asked.
"Yup," America confirmed as they got closer to it. When they entered the plane, Belarus took in the interior before realizing there was no one on board. "Where's the pilot?"
America smiled at her before pointing a thumb at himself, "you're looking at them." Belarus visibly paled as she realized that this idiot was serious. "Absolutely not, you will crash and kill us both."
"First of all, we cannot die, and second, I was there when the first plane was built," he said as he walked to the cockpit. Belarus wanted to object, but he was already turning on the plane, so she just sat down and hoped for the best.
As America pulled out of the hanger, Belarus shut her eyes as she braced for an explosion. When she finally opened her eyes, however, she was surprised to find that they were in the air.
"You should believe in me more!" He yelled from the cockpit. She crossed her arms and angrily huffed. "Whatever. Where are we even going anyway?"
"The great ol' state of Virginia!" He shouted in excitement. She couldn't remember where it was specifically, but knew it was close to Washington D.C. because of the multiple world meetings that have taken place there.
"How long is it going to take to get there?" She asked. America took a second to think about it, "maybe an hour?"
"Terrific," Belarus said sarcastically as she looked around for something to sate the impending hour of boredom.
The only thing in the plane was America's luggage, so she walked over and began looking through them.
The first one was full of clothes, so she moved it to the side since it didn't provide anything fun. The second one seemed to be full of random stuff, which intrigued her.
She dug through the stuff, eventually uncovering a plastic bag at the bottom of the suitcase. She opened the bag, revealing a ton of candy.
After looking through the rest of the suitcases and finding nothing, she just sat on the ground and ate candy as she tried to think of something to do.
After a second, she grabbed the suitcase full of clothes again and opened it. She then took out one of the shirts as well as one of her knives, then began cutting holes on it.
'This is what he gets for all the times he's annoyed me in the past day,' she thought as she moved on to the next article of clothing.
An hour and a half later, the plane finally landed at the airport. At this point, she had successfully gone through half his clothes.
They then put them back in the suitcase and closed it, before hiding the empty candy bag and pieces of clothes.
America walked out of the cockpit to see Belarus standing next to his luggage. "What are you doing?" He asked. Belarus realized she looked very suspicious, so she quickly thought up an excuse.
"You were taking too long, now hurry up," she said as she tossed one of the suitcases to him. America caught it and set it on the floor. "Chill out, we aren't in a rush for anything."
"Whatever, let's just go already," she said as she walked off the plane. America grabbed the rest of the suitcases and exited the plane after her.
As they went through TSA again, Belarus grabbed her card again and handed it to them. America did the same, but when he gave the card to a TSA woman, she whispered to him, "you should probably think about buying some new clothes."
"Huh?" America asked, completely confused. 'Does she not like my clothes?'
America took his luggage back and walked through security, Belarus following him. "If there is another Uber out there I'm going to stab them... then stab you," she threatened.
"Don't worry, I got something much better," he said as he happily ran to the exit. As Belarus followed him out, she saw America putting his luggage in the trunk and back seat of a very expensive looking sports car.
She walked over to him as he finished and went to the driver's seat. "Is this your car?" She asked, somewhat surprised that America had good taste.
"Yup, she's my baby," he said as he slapped a hand on the hood, but instantly removed it and frantically checked for a dent. Belarus shook her head as she walked over to the passenger side of the car and got in.
"Fucking bastard bitch!" A voice said from behind her. Belarus turned around to come face to face with a short, red-eyed creature staring at her.
"America what is that... thing?" She asked as she pointed at it. America leaned his head into the car and looked at where she was pointing.
"Oh, that's just Tony," he stated nonchalantly. Belarus looked between America and Tony a couple times before looking at America. "What is he?"
"I'm what you humans call an alien... You insensitive bitch!" Tony yelled. Belarus spun around and glared at him, "what did you just call me?!"
"Ok, both of you just calm down... ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ," America nervously requested, but it fell on deaf ears. Tony and Belarus stared each other down for a long time, the tension unnerving America more.
Eventually Belarus turned back around and crossed her arms as she slouched in her seat. America took the opportunity to begin driving before another fight broke out.
"..."
"Bitch fucker," Tony mumbled under his breath.
"I'll kill you you little shit!" Belarus screamed as she took out a knife and tried to jump in the backseat. Tony moved out of her reach and flipped her off, which just made her angrier.
"What are you two doing?!" America yelled, before getting kicked in the face by one of her Mary Jane shoes, causing him to swerve a little. "Ahh! Son of a- Hey! If either of you damage this car I'm throwing you both out and you can walk home!"
Belarus instantly stopped and reluctantly moved back to her seat. She wanted to skin that little gray rat, but then she would be lost in the middle of a city full of American pigs.
For the next half an hour, the car ride was left in complete silence, besides the occasional "fucking slavic bastard" or "I want to see what color you bleed."
America made a turn and started driving down a long, straight gravel driveway with parallel rows of giant oak and willow trees on each side.
The trees blocked Belarus' view, but behind them she could make out hints of something golden. As they came to a clearing, Belarus realized that the mysterious gold was actually massive fields of golden wheat.
She looked back in front of her at the sound of a gate opening, her jaw dropping at the sight. In front of her was a giant brick plantation house with white pillars surrounding the entire front of it, all behind a large fountain surrounded by a cobblestone roundabout and large shrubbery.
America turned to the right side and drove around, allowing Tony and Belarus to get out right in front of the house. The two stepped out, and Tony ran up to and disappeared inside the house. Belarus stayed, too amazed at the house to chase him down.
America laughed to himself at her awestruck expression before driving away on a small path that cut through the shrubbery. A couple minutes later, America came back to find Belarus inspecting the fountain. "Pretty cool, right?"
Belarus turned around to America before looking back at the fountain. "Da."
"Well come on, let's get you a room first then I'll give you the full tour," he said as he began marching to the front doors. Belarus looked away from the fountain and followed him up the stairs.
"Welcome to the awesomest house you'll ever see!" America announced as he swung the huge wooden doors open. As they walked inside, Belarus took in the foyer with its two sets of curved stairs going to the second floor. Arched doorways on both sides and between the stairs split off into more rooms with even more doorways.
"Alright, now if you would just look over here," America said as he moved and pointed at a map on the wall. "This is a map of the second floor of the house. And you get to write your name on whichever room you want."
He then took a pen that was hooked onto the map and held it out to her. "That's alright, you just pick for me," she said as she nudged his hand away.
He pushed his hand forward again. "Come on, it's fun! Even Romano enjoyed it, you know... until he had to start doing chores."
Belarus grabbed the pen from him... knowing he wasn't going to let up until she did... and moved to the map.
Most of the rooms were empty, but some had names written on them. Some more faded than others, showing just how long ago they had moved in.
The list went like this:
The Hero: Master Bedroom
Canada: 1-A
Tony: 4-A
(Redacted): 2-A
South Motherfucking Italy: 1-B
Lithuania: 11-A
The Superhero: 7-B
'Someone scribbled out their name, I wonder why. And the superhero? Who besides America calls themselves that?' She thought as she wrote her name on a random room.
America leaned his head down next to her and looked at what she picked. "5-A huh? That's one of the only ones with a balcony, good choice."
"It was random," she responded.
"Well then you have good luck then," America complimented as he began walking to the stairs. Belarus set the pen down and followed him up the stairs, discovering that the stairs winded all the way around and combined to create a flight that goes up to a third floor.
America looped around to the backside of the stairs, showing the second row of doors labeled 1-A - 11-A. He then took out a key hooked on the first door and unlocked it.
America opened it and the two walked in, the sun lighting up the large room through the glass doors that led to the balcony. Belarus moved out from behind America and inspected the room.
"This will do," she said.
"Cool so just get yourself situated... even though you don't really have anything to put away... then come back down to the main room so we can start this tour," America said as he set the key on top of her dresser.
As he turned around to leave, he stopped and turned to her again. "I know you've already heard this before, but since you're staying with me again... you can call me Alfred."
Bozhe miy - My God