Title: Out of This World

Prompt: "If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven't done much today." ~Mikhail Gorbachev

Rating: PG

Summary: The Shuttle-Mir Program is off to a great start, and America and Russia make awesome space nerds.

You know, I've started to realize that coming up with good titles is just not a talent of mine.

"Knock knock!" America said when Russia answered the door. His smile nearly split his face in two.

"You saw, then?" Russia asked as he moved aside to let America in. Spring hadn't quite set in yet, and it was still uncomfortably cold in Moscow.

"Of course I saw!" America was bursting with energy, dancing around like a puppy on his first trip to the park. He pulled off his coat all at once and threw his arms around Russia, a little breathless laughter rushing through him.

Russia wouldn't have minded staying like that, really, but America was too excited to be still, and Russia let him go reluctantly.

"Come on, I want to see what they're saying about it." America grabbed his hand and dragged him through the house to the living room, where Russia's TV was still going, showing a repeat of the footage of the space shuttle Atlantis docking on Mir. They ended up sprawled across Russia's couch, comfortable despite the occasional leg or arm dangling off the edge of the cushions.

America frowned a little in concentration as the news gave an overview of the program, showing footage of several space shuttles launching. There were brief biographies of all the cosmonauts and an overview of the training they'd had to undergo prior to entering space. America seemed to be following it pretty well, although when the reporters used colloquialisms or made jokes Russia would explain the phrase to him.

Eventually the news moved on to cover other things, and they both fell silent. America's gaze was fixed on the window, lost in thought. 'Staring into space,' Russia thought to himself, biting back a smile.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

America started. "Eh, I was just—what do you think it's going to be next?"

"Well, they still have some things to work out…"

America shook his head, looking frustrated. "No, not that. I mean... I mean, what do you think we're going to do next? Like, there was exploring the sea, and then it was flying, and now space, so what's next? What comes after this?"

"It might be a little early to worry about that, don't you think?" Russia asked softly, sitting up. "The sky won't run out of stars for you, America."

America gave a short little laugh. "Nah, it's not that I'm worrying about it, really, I just… always like to have a goal in mind, you know? Always something bigger." A thought struck him. "Hey, what about exploring other solar systems? You think we'll be able to do that soon?"

"I don't see why not." Russia studied him, admiring the shine that had suddenly leapt into America's eyes that the prospect. "The only thing we'd have to worry about is time, and you and I have plenty of that."

America's head flopped back onto the couch cushions. "Other planets…" he muttered to himself. Then, louder, "What do you think they'll look like?"

Russia settled back too, his back pressing into a pillow. "They'd have to have some water on them. So…blue? Maybe ice."

"Mmmhm. What if they get water in a different way from us? Like…" America's hands waved in front of him as he explained, "like what if most of the water is trapped beneath the crust of the planet, and only comes out through geysers? That would look cool."

"Maybe something with canyons," Russia suggested, "Millions of years of water running though them and the surface would look like a fingerprint."

"Yeah, awesome!" America frowned suddenly, "We'd have trouble landing on one like that, though."

"We'd just have to be careful," Russia told him, shaking his head. "It could be done."

"And then we could take water samples—"

"Analyze the soil composition—"

"Yeah, yeah! See? We're totally the best astronauts. I bet we could even have space colonies!"

Russia smirked at this last. "You want to make space colonies with me?" he asked teasingly.

It took America a moment or two to get it, but when he did he tossed a pillow at Russia's head. "You know what I meant, you freak."

Well, Russia couldn't just leave that unanswered. The pillow went sailing back. America retaliated by catching it and smacking Russia's leg with it. The scuffle quickly escalated into a full-blown pillow fight. It was only after a solid half-hour of wrestling for control of the available pillows that they decided to call it a draw, and America collapsed on top of Russia in the middle of the pile of ammo.

"Thanks for working with me on this," America told him, head resting on Russia's shoulder. "It's, you know, it's good for us to be doing stuff together. And it's nicer being with just you than with everyone."

Russia laughed a little, fingers brushing absently through America's hair. "Yes, the next step will be interesting," he mused. "But—thank you as well. For—" He looked away, flushing.

"Don't worry about it." America stretched languidly. "Hey, we're gonna do more of this, right? The whole going into space together thing?"

"Of course," Russia assured him, "After all, how else are we going to explore everything?"

The Shuttle-Mir program (1995) involved only America and Russia and was basically a combination of making nice after the end of the Soviet Union and of practicing for the start of the International Space Station.
After the end of the USSR, Russia didn't really have enough money to continue his space program, so America funded a lot of the Shuttle-Mir Program, while Russia provided a lot of equipment, helped train the astronauts, etc.
Wikipedia tells me that while astronauts and cosmonauts are the same thing, Russians in space are generally called cosmonauts, while Americans in space are called astronauts. Politics + media + space stuff = weird.