Chapter 2

Thank you very very very much for the reviews! I can't tell you how happy I am! Also, I meant to post this on Saturday, but I decided to post this early, thanks to my super awesome beta CassiusKillard! This story won't be done without your help!

Please enjoy the story!

Hetalia = Hidekazu Himaruya's

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Smash!

"Nggh..." Alfred blinked for a few moments before he got up slowly. He looked at the fallen alarm clock and laughed at himself, making a note to himself to buy another alarm if he had the money.

Ah. Right. He needed to look for a part-time job before going to college. Although his daddy in England already paid off the college fee and the apartment, Alfred wanted, at least, to be financially independent from his beloved dad.

Yawning, he made his way to the shower. After scrubbing himself clean with chamomile-scented soap and shampoo, he went on a quest to find a breakfast. Usually, he chose Mcd's. But today he chose a small restaurant near his flat.

When he entered the restaurant, he smelled warm blini and milk in the air. This was his second week in Russia, but he had already gotten used to everything, from Russian breakfast to an old drunkard near his apartment.
He walked to the counter to make his order when the door opened again. He took a look at the new customer and his heart skipped a beat.

"Mr. Braginsky?"

The said man looked surprised as Alfred. Then he gave Alfred a smile and walked to the counter to stand beside him.

"Доброе утра. You sleep well?" Ivan asked, while giving Alfred a friendly pat on the back. Alfred smiled as he nodded.

"Good morning to you, too. I slept very well last night, although my alarm decided to be an ass and woke me up from my totally nice sleep. Not to mention it's broken as well," Alfred sighed. "How about you, Mr. Braginsky? Did you sleep well?"

Before Ivan could answer, the cashier cleared his throat, signaling Alfred or Ivan to make an order or go chat somewhere else. Ivan glared at the cashier and Alfred quickly apologized.

"I want bacon and eggs, blini and one coffee with cream. And for him..." Alfred trailed off, looking at Ivan. The taller man smiled and made his order as well. When Alfred made a move to pay, Ivan shooed him to take their tray and go sit, which Alfred refused.

"But I can't-Please, sir, let me pay for this," Alfred pleaded, not really wanting to make this man feel offended or angry since he could blow Alfred's head off with one order to his men.

"This is my treat. Now if you please, go find us a place to sit, да?" Ivan asked calmly. Alfred slumped in defeat and took the tray to sit at a table near the restaurant's window. Ivan joined him shortly. There was an awkward pause.

"So, Mr. Braginsky, do you live around here?" Alfred said, trying to break the silence. Ivan nodded before start cutting his blini. "Da. I live in the Minskaya apartement. Do you know Minskaya?"

"I know it! I live there too! This is totally awesome. But I have never seen you at the apartment," Alfred questioned, while biting at the tip of his bacon, making Ivan stare for a second before going back to eat his blini.
"I have a few houses and apartments. I can never stay too long at one place, because of business," Ivan explained. Alfred nodded while sipping his coffee, accidentally leaving a trace of white cream on his lip.

"Um, you have something-"

"What? Where?"

Ivan sighed and said, "Let me get it."

Before Alfred could protest, he wiped the cream off with a brush of his thumb, making the blue-eyed blonde blush brightly, which looked very cute in Ivan's eyes.

"He-hey! I'm not a child, Mr. Braginsky!" he said, stuttering slightly.

"Call me Ivan," the pale blond said. "After all, I don't think you are much younger than me, da?"

Alfred smiled sweetly. "Call me Alfred, then. How old are you, by the way?"

"I am 26, and you?"

"I'm 22."

"You look very cute for a person your age," Ivan praised, while pinching Alfred on the cheek. God, even his skin was so soft, like a baby's.

Turning even redder at the comment, Alfred caught Ivan's hand with his own. "Hey, stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Treating me like a child."

Ivan didn't respond. Instead, he simply smiled and finished his breakfast. There was another awkward silence. Alfred followed him and finished not too long after. He cleared his throat.
"Um, I think I'm going to go to the Library. Thank you very much for the food, Ivan."

"You're welcome."

Alfred rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay. I guess I'll see you around then. Bye!"

Alfred stood up and started to walk away. Ivan stared at his gold-like hair.
He didn't know why, but he didn't want to let Alfred go just yet. He wanted to chat all day long with the cute blonde. So he stood up abruptly and chased after Alfred.

The young man looked confused as Ivan came up behind him. His glasses went a little blurry because it was snowing outside the restaurant, but he couldn't mistake Ivan's figure.

"What's wrong?" Alfred asked in a worried tone. The taller man shook his head and turned a little red.
"May I join you? I don't have work to do and I don't know what should I do now, so-" Ivan trailed off as Alfred continued to stare at him with that confused look on his face before he giggled.
"Of course you may! You looked very nervous when you said that, you should've seen your face! It's funny." Alfred managed another giggle as he fell to a walk beside Ivan.

They arrived at the library rather quickly, to Ivan's disappointment. Their walk had been wonderfully refreshing, with all the teasing and playful shoves on the shoulder.
When they got inside the library, Ivan shrugged off his coat along with Alfred's and put them at the deposit center.

"So... What would you like to read?" Alfred asked as they walked between random bookshelves. Ivan rubbed his chin then picked up a random book. He brightened when he read the title.

"This is all about sunflowers... I think this would be quite fun to read," Ivan said. Alfred looked at the cover. It had a beautiful sunflower painting on it. Alfred's curiosity started to grow.

"Mind if we read it together? I kinda want to read that too, now..."

Ivan chuckled and grabbed Alfred's hand, connecting their fingers together. He started to drag him off somewhere to sit while ignoring Alfred's protests. A group of girls giggled to themselves as they saw Ivan and Alfred pass by. One of them said something like, 'what a cute couple' and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Alfred blush. By the way, did he mention Alfred's hand was as soft and warm as it looked?
He found a table near an old-looking window. It was quiet around there, so he decided to sit down, bringing Alfred with him. Alfred made a pouty face and it took Ivan all his might to not to kiss the red, pouting lips just then.

"Don't do that again! Did you hear the girls back there? I swear, all Russians are crazy! They think we're a couple! Can you believe it? I mean I don't really mind but..." Alfred trailed off lamely when he noticed the people around them staring.

Ivan chuckled. "I don't mind having a cute American as a boyfriend."

Alfred smacked his arm, but his cheeks turned red. Ivan laughed quietly and opened the forgotten book. They were sitting so close together that Ivan's breath seemed to caress the side of Alfred's face and neck. The blue-eyed blonde's breath hitched when Ivan moved closer to flip the page, his lips almost touching his cheek.

"Is there something wrong, Alfred?" Ivan asked after a few moments, because Alfred was shifting in his own chair uncomfortably. Alfred blushed and stuttered a 'no' before going back to reading, or pretending to.

While Ivan seemed absorbed by the book, Alfred got bored after a while, so he decided to bother Ivan.
"Why do you like sunflowers so much?" Alfred asked. Ivan hesitated for a second.

"Well, I grew up in Russia, obviously, and you can tell how cold and dead it is here. Any source of life and warmth is precious to me," Ivan explained, while fiddling with the end of his scarf. "Once, my older sister made an imitation of a sunflower. She made it from plastic, but it still looked beautiful. After that, I always asked my sister to one day bring me to a place filled with sunflowers, which she did. When we went to Kansas for my father's business, she took me and my younger sister to a field of sunflowers. They looked so beautiful and bright, full of life. Standing gracefully under the sun with their soft-looking petals. Ever since then I fell in love with them."

Ivan's voice was oozing with affection as he smiled fondly at the memory, so much so Alfred couldn't help but smile as well. Ivan looked deeply at Alfred when he continued.

"And... I think you resemble them. So bright and full of life. Beautiful as well." Ivan smirked as Alfred blushed for the sixth time that day. Ivan loved the way his perfect cheeks colored, as well as how he was stuttering. How adorable...

"I'm not a sunflower! Besides, I'm a guy and beautiful is not a word to describe a guy." Alfred puffed out his cheeks as he said that, making Ivan pinch them softly. "Ow! Would you stop that?"

"я не хочу," Ivan said simply.

Alfred frowned. "Hey! Don't tease me in your language just because I don't know very much Russian!"

Ivan laughed and gave Alfred a pat on his back. "You are very amusing, comrade." Alfred gave him a snort.

"Ah, I think it's time for me to go, Alfred," Ivan said, while looking at his Rolex watch. Alfred felt a pang of disappointment before nodded and stood up, followed by Ivan.

Suddenly he remembered what he had decided earlier about the issue of getting a job. Perhaps Ivan could help him! Maybe, just maybe...He might as well give it a try.

"Hey, I'm looking for a job right now. Can you help me find one? I know this sounds so un-awesomely impolite, but you're the one who can help me, since I know nothing about gettin' a job in Russia," Alfred said bluntly.

Ivan rubbed his chin for a few moments as he thought about how to get Alfred a job. They might not be close friends, since they just met yesterday, but Ivan really wanted to help.

"How about you work for my company?"

Alfred's eyes widened.

"Really? You're not joking?" Ivan shook his head. Alfred looked like he wanted to die from excitement, but suddenly his face turned sad. Ivan frowned, not liking the way the beautiful face's expression changed. He embraced Alfred, not noticing the way Alfred's face became even redder.

"What is wrong?" Ivan asked in curious tone, his purple eyes boring into blue ones. Alfred hesitated before answering. "I have never worked before. I probably don't have any of the needed skills."

"You could always be my personal assistant."

Alfred looked at Ivan. Ivan looked back.

"Um, what would I do if I was your personal assistant?"

"Nothing much, you would just sort the documents and write notes when I asked you to, and other things that you will perfectly capable of," Ivan said. Alfred looked at him once more and laughed out loud, making Ivan confused.

He suddenly flung his arms over Ivan's shoulders, clinging at his neck as the sunny man hugged him tightly. "Thanks, man. Aw, I knew there was some kind of connection between us, like a bromance or something. But I feel so happy right now... Can you feel my heartbeat? I swear it's gonna explode at any moment," Alfred mumbled into his shoulder.

Ivan smiled softly as he wrapped his arms around Alfred's slim waist, embracing him tightly. He rested his chin on Alfred's shoulder, inhaling the young man's chamomile scents. "Da. Your heart is beating quite loudly."

Alfred laughed before releasing him slightly, so his hands still resting on Ivan's broad shoulders. Ivan's arms were still wrapped around Alfred's waist, but neither seemed to care. The pale blonde studied Alfred's face, feeling his own heart beat faster in his chest.

"Should I go through the formal shit and shake your hand right now, or-"

"You can start tomorrow. Well not really, but you can come to my office and I will explain things you should know. You will not have to go through that 'formal shit,' as you said, but you will have to bring a few documents," Ivan replied.

Alfred laughed again, not really caring about getting annoyed looks from the people around them and hugged Ivan once more.

"Awesome."

To be continued.

Traslation:

- Доброе утра : Good morning

- я не хочу : I don't want to

-Da : Yes

What do you think? I'm sorry if I made them OOC! Once again, thanks for CassiusKillard! And all of my reviewers! I love you all!

To LolOh : This is it! :D Do you like it?

To Meee : Thank you very much! This is very fun to write! I hope you like it! ;D

I'll send you airmail kisses if you review! XD