Russia wiped his forehead for maybe the thousandth time today. Just getting out of the car to walk up to a house was a challenge in this heat.

It still perplexed him that his sister would come here of all places. Not only was it brutally hot, but this place was weird. There was a strange flag, not like any he's ever seen, and all over the place were seemingly random objects. Whoever owns this house has a strange hobby.

Russia passed by a strange booth with a large doll thing in it. Next to it were clear instructions that he should stay here until someone comes out to greet him, like he had time to wait for that.

He walked through the property toward the house, knocking on the door with a heavy hand. A few seconds passed before a man came out, wearing a military uniform adorned with medals and a sash with the same strange flag.

The man was equally confused to find a large man wearing a thick coat and a scarf, towering in the doorway and smiling down at him.

"Sir if you want to enter Molossia you need to wait at the entrance with a passport," the man informed Russia.

Russia raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at the man. "Passport? Who is having a passport for their house?"

"This isn't a house, this is the Republic of Molossia," the man announced proudly.

Russia only got more confused, this wasn't a nation he was aware of. "Sestra, zachem tebe syuda priyekhat'?"

The man suddenly perked up in realization, remembering all the times his nation would talk about someone with this exact same appearance and language.

"Wait are you... Russia?" He asked. Russia was actually surprised a human recognized him. "You are knowing of me?"

"Yes, my nation talks about you all the time. Though he doesn't seem to like you very much."

'America?'

"He always refers to you as a commie, no matter how many times I tell him otherwise."

'Definitely America.'

"So why is the personification of Russia on my doorstep?" The man wondered.

That brought Russia back onto course with his mission. "I am here looking for my sestra. I was noted that she had been here sometime yesterday."

"Your what?"

"Sister," Russia elaborated, cringing at such an English pronunciation rolling off his tongue.

"Really? I'm sorry but I don't remember that. If it did happen it must've been when I was out shopping," the man explained.

"Well someone must have seen her, I doubt she did the walking onto your property with no one home," Russia argued.

The man just kept apologizing and saying he didn't know, it was getting on Russia's nerves. With the blazing sun on his back and this annoying American giving him nothing to work with, he could feel himself about to lose it.

One more apology and- "I'm sorry about your missing sister but I have no clue where she is." The man then began turning to walk back inside, making Russia's eye twitch in rage.

He grabbed the man by the neck and pulled him out of the doorway, slamming him into the wall and lifting him up until his feet were dangling off the ground.

The man clawed at the large hand on his throat, desperately trying to get it off and run away, but it wouldn't budge. He looked back at Russia in fear, his childish grin being replaced by a firm line and dark purple eyes that burned into the man's soul.

"Tell me, how many people live here?" Russia asked in a cold tone that shook the man to his core.

"T-T-Thirty three," the man stuttered out, his legs squirming and kicking to get free.

"You expect me to be believing that 32 Americans are in that tiny house, and didn't hear, see, or speak to a Belarusian girl?" Russia questioned while squeezing a little harder.

The man squirmed more and took in a strained breath so he could answer. "No one said anything when I got home, I figured that nothing happened while I was gone."

Russia squeezed even harder, making the man beat and pull on his arm in desperation. "So you haven't asked anyone?"

The man slowly shook his head in defeat, fully expecting this to be his final moments. Russia abruptly let go and dropped the man to the ground, watching as he gasped and coughed to get the air into his lungs.

"So here is what you are going to do. You go in that house of yours, talk to everyone and be gathering of all the information you can. And if you don't bring me anything I can be using..." he trailed off as he pulled out his pipe, placing it under the man's chin and raising their head to look up at him. "Let's just be saying that you will have a lot of new vacancies."

The man turned white at the horrifying glower and pulsating aura of the Russian, before fumbling to get up and run inside.

Russia tucked his pipe back in his pocket and walked around to find a more shady spot to wait in.

He found a nice area to the side of the house, with a large wall he can lean against and cool down.

While leaning against it, he found strange rings of splintered wood on either sides of his shoulders.

'Did the walls get shot with a cannon?' He thought to himself. He did see that small cannon in the yard earlier.

Then again, his sister was here at one point. She could've been over here in the shade punching the wall or something, though if she were angry why would she even be here in the first place?

Russia didn't think too hard on it, opting to relax for awhile.

About ten minutes later he heard the man come outside again, so he walked out of the shade and back to the front of the house.

"Well? I am the very much hopeful you brought me good news," Russia stated menacingly, despite the large grin present on his face.

"Y-Yes. Some of the citizens saw a girl in a white sundress wandering around the back of the property."

Sundresses weren't something she usually wore, only very rarely on hot days. This is the desert though, so it's plausible she wore it in necessity.

"Anything else? What was she sounding like?" Russia asked, or rather interrogated based on the tone of his voice.

"None of the citizens could hear her very well, but a few of them recalled hearing giggling."

Russia narrowed his eyes at the man. "Giggling? My sestra doesn't... giggle."

The man nearly fainted under the Russian's judging gaze. "That's just what I was told, s-sir."

"Alright... I suppose. Had anyone been seeing where they went?"

"They said she went north, in one of those big luxury RVs," the man described, bringing up more questions in Russia. Though none of which he thought the man could answer.

His menacing look disappeared under his large smile and childish laugh. "Much thanks for your help. I'll be going now." 'Stupid American pigs!'

He spun around and pranced to a large black limo, guarded by two men in black suits and black glasses. The man nervously waved to them before going back into his house.

The men waited for Russia to enter the limo before they got in too and took off down the road.

"Anywhere specific sir?" The driver requested. "Head north for now," Russia instructed. "And be keeping an eye out for any RVs. She's not alone."

As they drove down the road, Russia messed with a small monitor to make a FaceTime call with the President of Belarus.

"Russia, have you had any luck finding Belarus? I need her help with my re-election," the president asked in Russian.

"I was going to ask you that. I assume you have not had contact with her then?" Russia responded also in his own language.

"Nyet, she is refusing all of my calls," the president complained. "Have you tried calling?"

"Nyet," Russia answered. The president paused and looked at Russia in angry bewilderment. "Well why not?! She would never deny a call from you."

"Personal reasons. It is why I am searching in the first place," Russia explained.

"You can deal with personal stuff later, I am dealing with the future of a country," the president hit back while slamming a fist against his desk.

Russia frowned and fiddled with a remote in his hand. "And I am dealing with the future relations of three. So let me resolve this in my own way, and I can assure you that she will be back before your election."

The president agreed with the plan and hung up to let Russia get on with his search.

(The next day)

Alfred had taken over driving again, and Natalya was awake and sitting next to him. Molossia was... well he was doing whatever Molossia does, which consisted of texting the micronation group chat and eating a tube of cookie dough like a banana.

After calming herself down with about fourteen hours of sleep and a pound of chocolate, Natalya was finally in the right mindset to begin asking Alfred the important questions. Why is Molossia so weird?

"Hey Alffffuck America?" She asked while stumbling over her words. He struggled to stifle a laugh as he looked over at her. "Excuse me?"

"Nevermind!" She grumbled in immense embarrassment.

"You know you can call me Alfred in front of Molossia, he really doesn't care," Alfred explained to her.

Natalya rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. "And embarrass myself, no thanks."

Alfred furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't think I understand."

"Of course you don't moron. I'm not going to call you by your name when you and Molossia call each other by your nation names. That would be foolish of me."

"It's not that we don't call each other by human names, it's that I literally can't," Alfred stated. Now it was Natalya's turn to be lost.

"He doesn't have a name. He wants to pick one out but can't decide. I thought Mason or something would be cool, but he doesn't want me picking for him."

"But then why does he refer to you as America?" Natalya wondered.

"The same reason you don't want to call me Alfred. It would be weird if he called me that while I called him Molossia."

"Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense," she agreed.

"Exactly, so feel free to call me Alfred all you want. Or maybe come up with some cool nicknames?" He wondered.

"Nyet," she refused. He tried to sway her with the puppy dog eyes again, but she looked away. He attempted to gain her attention by poking her in the side again, but she grabbed his hand and turned to him with the darkest look he's ever seen. "Never again."

He yanked his hand away and put it on the steering wheel. "Ok, boundaries. Got it."

For the next few minutes he avoided all eye contact with her, though when he finally glanced at her she was still staring back at him with a disapproving gaze.

How could he get himself out of this situation. 'Uh... uhhhhhhhhhh. Oh wait!'

"So what were you going to ask me before? Y'know, before I sidetracked you and stuff."

She stopped looking at him as she tried to remember. "Oh yeah, I was wondering what exactly Molossia is to you. Is he like a brother, or more like your son?"

"A son? I don't think I'm cut out to be a father," he admitted. "Seems like we agree on something," she mumbled.

"You say something?" He asked.

"Nyet."

"Oh."

"..."

". . . . . We just assumed we were cousins or something like that. Honestly we're not even sure if we're related."

"You should figure that out. Also, could you answer two more questions?" She asked.

"Sure."

"You said he was an unofficial member of the "Awesome Trio," as you called it, but why? Is it because he's not a real nation?"

"I am!" Molossia yelled.

"It's actually because he hates Prussia," Alfred explained.

Natalya raised one of her eyebrows. "Why? I mean, I get why anyone would hate Prussia, but why him?"

Alfred chuckled and scratched his head. "It's because they're at war."

That actually surprised her. "How? One's a micronation and the other doesn't exist."

"Not quite. Molossia declared war on East Germany back when that existed, and even today there's still a piece of it left in Cuba. The only problem is that no one lives there anymore so Molossia can't end the war."

"And that damn Prussian refuses to sign a peace treaty. Bastard likes to hang it over my head!" Molossia complained.

"You guys are too weird," Natalya huffed with a shake of her head. "Also what's that dog thing?" She wondered while pointing at the strange animal that was sitting in the middle of the floor.

Alfred laughed hard at her disturbed face. "No one knows."

"I know what it is! It's a dog, that's it!" Molossia shouted angrily.

"Oh really, then what breed is it?" Alfred asked him.

Molossia was about to speak, but suddenly paused and grumbled to himself.

"Yip yip yip!" The dog? barked.

"Exactly, they just don't understand," Molossia agreed with his pet.

Natalya stared blankly at the two as they began talking with each other. She eventually laid back in her seat and rubbed her head. "They can talk to each other."

"So can Mattie. Though Kumajiro can speak English... and maybe French."

"Right. That little bear you fell asleep on a couple meetings ago," she recalled. Funny how she can remember him but not Canada.

"Exactly. Ooh, speaking of Mattie and Kumajiro..." he trailed off while pointing to a large white arch.

On top of the arch were two flags, the U.S. and Canadian flags. Under the U.S. flag there was writing, which stated "Children of A Common Mother."

Then on the other side of the arch and under the Canadian flag, it's quote was "Brethren Dwelling Together In Unity."

"Welcome to Canada!" Alfred greeted happily.

Natalya wasn't paying attention to him, still staring at the arch that was getting farther and farther in the distance. "Those quotes are a little on the nose, don't you think?"

Alfred shrugged. "Well yeah, but it's not like anyone knows that the U.S. and Canada are actual brothers."

They continued driving for a moment, before they stopped at border customs and Alfred began digging in his wallet for the necessary information.

As the rows of cars slowly moved through the toll booths... emphasis on the slowly... Alfred had finally reached one of them, and in the small box there was a middle-aged man who seemed to recognize him.

"Hi Alfred, you here to see your brother again?" He wondered. "Sup Dave, and no I'm actually here on vacation," Alfred corrected while handing Dave the information.

Dave smiled while inspecting all the documents. "That sounds like fun. Where to?"

"I'm taking a road trip to Alaska. Me and two of my friends are going to go hike up the largest mountain in the U.S."

Dave shook his head and laughed while handing Alfred his stuff back. "Good luck with that."

"I will! Bye now," Alfred waved as he drove away. Natalya looked at him weirdly, making him slightly uncomfortable. "What?"

"You know that man?" She questioned. Alfred nodded. "Yeah, I see him sometimes when there are world meetings or I'm visiting Mattie in Vancouver. He's really friendly."

Natalya looked at him solemnly. "Alfred you really shouldn't be friends with humans. You know what happens."

Alfred grimly nodded. "I know, it's just... difficult not to. . . Besides, I only am really friends with people that are middle-aged or older."

Natalya frowned as she tried to rack her head around his logic. "That makes no sense, you'll just see them die quicker."

Alfred rubbed the back of his neck and gave a dry laugh. "That's actually the whole point."

"...Do you hate yourself or something?" Natalya asked, mildly disturbed.

"No... yeah no it's just, I guess I sorta bond with older people because... I know that even if I were mortal they would be long gone before I was..." he finished with a quiet, defeated sigh.

"Wow, that's... dark."

Alfred looked off into nothingness with a sullen gaze. "Almost everything is when dealing with the concept of mortality."

"Dude, that's heavy. Mind if I quote that?!" Molossia requested. That helped to relieve the somber mood, though it was a little jarring.

"Sure dude, you going emo or something?" Alfred joked, shocking Natalya since he looked sad about a second ago.

Molossia turned his head and angrily bit the inside of his cheek. "No. It's just a cool quote is all."

Alfred laughed his usual loud laugh, weirding out Natalya even more. How was he able to flip his mood like that?

"Speaking of heavy, you guys wanna listen to some heavy metal? Or maybe just some normal rock music?" Alfred asked.

"Yes!" Molossia replied.

"Nyet," Natalya calmly stated.

"Alright cool," Alfred responded while taking out his phone and plugging it into the aux, then put it on the rock music playlist he's listened to thousands of times.

Natalya grumbled over not being heard, though with Molossia here she should realize already that she can't contend with the volume of two Americans.

Alfred rapidly strummed an air guitar as the first song began playing, Through the Fire and Flames. It was a nice starter song, since it was so well-known and catchy. An absolute banger some would call it.

Molossia joined in on the air strumming, even beginning to quietly sing the lyrics to himself. Natalya on the other hand was unmoving and staring at Alfred with a permanently annoyed expression.

She could admit that it was impressive on the guitarist's part, but that didn't mean she was any less angry with Alfred for ignoring her like that.

Alfred paid her no mind and continued his strumming for the whole song, hitting the imaginary strings right on key. Obviously he must've practiced on his real guitar.

When the song finally ended, Natalya was about to speak up to yell at him, but was interrupted as the next song instantly began.

It was Bohemian Rhapsody, followed back to back by Chop Suey, Psychosocial, then a couple songs from AC/DC, Daft Punk, and some meme songs because why not?

Natalya remained angry and tight-lipped (mostly because she knows all of the songs being played and that filled her with shame), until one final song came up, and it was a song she knew well. It was Smells Like Teen Spirit, a song she absolutely loves. She's listened to it maybe a hundred or so times, and knows all of the lyrics like scripture. It was a struggle not to begin singing along, and Alfred wasn't helping as he bursted out into song without a care in the world.

She crossed her arms and rolled her head to the side to look away from him. 'That annoying bastard is too loud! Can't he just shut up and enjoy the song like a normal person?!' She thought, though she eventually found herself quietly humming to the song.

Her humming acted as a serenade to herself, calming her of her previous anger toward the obnoxious American as she focused solely on the pleasant music.

It sounded as if even that was quieting down, leaving her humming as the only noise that remained.

She hummed for a while longer, bobbing and turning her head the smallest bit to the quiet rhythm. On one of her turns, she caught sight of Alfred's hand from the corner of her eye. It was on the volume dial and had turned it almost all the way down.

Natalya's humming and nodding slowed as she followed the hand up to the arm, then up to Alfred's face. Her eyes widened to near impossible proportions when she found Alfred staring back at her with a face full of childlike wonder.

Her face began growing warm when she realized he had been watching her the whole time... or at least in glances since he is driving simultaneously.

He pointed at her and was about to say something, but Natalya didn't want to hear any of it. "P-Pay attention to the road! D-Dumbass!"

"Chill, I've got it," he calmly assured, deflecting her attempt at steering away from what he was going to say to her.

"So you like that song, huh?" He asked with a smirk. Natalya lowered her head in shame, gripping her hands hard to the seat in both anger toward Alfred and herself for getting caught.

"Yeah, so can you stop talking and turn it up again?" Molossia called out, thinking he was the one being addressed.

"Sure thing!" Alfred agreed as he turned the music back up. He looked back at Natalya, who still had her head down and was seething in rage.

He leaned over and nudged her with his elbow, receiving a death glare in return. "You don't have to be so embarrassed all the time. We're friends, remember? Besides, there's nothing to be embarrassed about anyway, I already know you're totally into rock music."

Natalya looked away from him, red in the face with a large vein in the center of her forehead. "Fuck you and everything you stand for, I am not."

Alfred was still smirking as he pulled up his phone. "Let's test that theory."

Natalya raised an eyebrow and turned to him, observing as he secretively did something on his phone with one hand, while using the other to steer. What she wouldn't give to have a cop pull over this asshole.

What she didn't see was Alfred pulling up a separate music playlist, which were all Eurovision songs. He liked listening to what the other nations had to offer, but he mostly had it because he was jealous that they all had a competition together while he wasn't allowed. But for some reason Australia was. He always liked to hang that over Alfred and Matthew's heads.

After a while of scrolling through the multitude of songs, he finally landed on the perfect one. No way Natalya wouldn't rock out to it.

He pressed play and set the phone down, smiling in great anticipation for it to load. The smile only served to unnerve Natalya.

After a few seconds the song finally began to play, startling Natalya out of her anger at the very first note. She looked over at Alfred in a fluster, meanwhile he was tapping his hand on the steering wheel to the beat and mumbling the lyrics.

She tried reaching for the phone, but Alfred snatched it up and moved it to his other side. "Alfred turn that off!" She pleaded while reaching out for the phone.

"No can do, we're jamming out whether you like it or not," he refused. "We're about to hit the chorus anyway."

"Seriously, turn it off," she demanded with a deep pink rapidly enveloping her face.

Alfred ignored her and began singing louder, all the way up to the chorus.

I love Belarus, got it deep inside.

I love Belarus, feel it in my mind.

And I wanna see the sun, shining from above.

You will always be the one, I can't get enough!

He sang while poking her a few times in the cheek. Rather than being angry like she usually would be, she was stuck staring at the ground with an extremely rare bashfulness.

I love Belarus, got it deep inside.

I love Belarus, feel it in my mind.

And I wanna see the sun, shining from above.

And I'm gonna every day, give you all my love!

"Come on Nat, sing with me!" He cheered while wrapping an arm over her shoulders, as he proceeded to move himself and her from side to side in some strange forced dance.

At this point she had her head in her hands, hiding the redness from him, only growing worse as he sang more and more.

By the time the song ended, Natalya had gotten out from under Alfred's arm and was tucked into the fetal position.

"Come ooooon," Alfred whined. "Is singing seriously that embarrassing? I know my awesome singing voice may be intimidating but I'm sure yours is pretty good as well."

From behind her legs, Natalya shook her head and thought, 'that's not the problem idiot, you can't just sing something like that to me! My own goddamn song!'

"Dude, what was that? That was really catchy," Molossia called out from the couch.

"What do you think?" Alfred replied with a laugh. "I... oh yeah," Molossia realized.

'These oblivious fools! Were they even paying attention to the lyrics?' She wondered while peering at Alfred from behind her fingers. She couldn't even look at him without getting that same tight feeling in her chest.

"You know, you European countries may have some cool tunes, but I'm pretty sure I've got all of you beat when it comes to patriotic songs," Alfred boasted while selecting a different song.

As the song began playing, Molossia gasped and jumped off the couch to run to the cockpit.

America... America...

Both Molossia and Alfred then began singing their song, which would totally wipe the floor in any Eurovision contest.

America, FUCK YEAH!

Comin' again to save the motherfuckin' day yeah!

America, FUCK YEAH!

Freedom is the only way yeah!

Their loud antics helped distract Natalya for a little while, so she couldn't really complain. It was probably best to let them continue.

Terrorists your game is through, 'cause now you have to answer to...

America, FUCK YEAH!

So lick my butt and suck on my balls! America, FUCK YEAH!

Whatcha gonna do when we come for you now?

It's the dream that we all share... It's the hope for tomorrow!

FUCK YEAH!

They both took in a deep breath and grinned at each other for the best part, which Natalya found slightly humorous.

McDonald's, fuck yeah!

Walmart, fuck yeah!

The GAP, fuck yeah!

Baseball, fuck yeah!

The NFL, fuck yeah!

Rock and roll, fuck yeah!

The internet, fuck yeah!

Slavery, fuck yeah!

"Wait, shit no!" Alfred screamed.

FUCK YEAH!

"Natalya!" Alfred called out.

She rolled her eyes and lifted a fist. "Fuck yeah."

Alfred gave her a warm smile and a wink, bringing up an uncomfortable feeling of her heart skipping a beat and more blood rushing to her face.

Starbucks, fuck yeah!

Disney world, fuck yeah!

Porno, fuck yeah!

Valium, fuck yeah!

Reeboks, fuck yeah!

Fake tits, fuck yeah!

Sushi, fuck yeah!

Taco Bell, fuck yeah!

Rodeos, fuck yeah!

Bed Bath and Beyond, fuck yeah?

Liberty, fuck yeah!

Wax lips, fuck yeah!

The Alamo, fuck yeah!

Band-aids, fuck yeah!

Las Vegas, fuck yeah!

Christmas, fuck yeah!

Immigrants, fuck yeah!

Popeye, fuck yeah!

Democrats, fuck yeah!

Republicans, fuck yeah? (fuck yeah!)

Sportsmanship, fuck yeah?

Books...

"Fuck yeah!" Alfred and Molossia screamed. At this point their throats were completely destroyed from yelling, so Molossia left briefly to go fetch some water.

"That was... interesting," Natalya "complimented." It was a little loud for her taste, but still somewhat enjoyable.

"Yeah, sorry to break it to you but my song was way better," Alfred claimed proudly.

Natalya nodded. "Well of course. I can't expect someone like you to sing one of my songs well." She then brought out a knife and pressed it hard against his neck, her whole expression flipping like a switch.

"So don't you ever, not ever sing that song again. Frankly, don't sing any of my songs. If it's made in Belarus or has Belarus in the lyrics, you don't even read or think it, understand?"

Alfred looked down at the knife cautiously, but was surprisingly calm as he slightly pushed it away with a finger. "K dudette, just don't swing that around while I'm driving."

Natalya released the knife from his neck and went back to her normal self, just as Molossia came back with the water. He could still feel the lingering tension, but shrugged it off as nothing and handed Alfred his drink.

(Later that night)

Natalya was having a lot of trouble sleeping. She was beyond embarrassment, and the fact that Alfred was bringing out such a reaction made her mad. Nothing she did could put her to sleep, as she repeatedly thought up a whole scenario in which she beat him up for it.

With no sleep in sight, she decided to act upon her thoughts as she stood up and left the bedroom.

Once outside, she walked forward and found Alfred, sleeping face down on the couch. She tiptoed further and crouched down in front of his face, which looked as peaceful as a baby. It pissed her off.

Slowly she pulled out a knife and lightly dragged her fingers along its edge, contemplating the violence she was about to inflict. Could she do it? Sure Alfred deserved it, but would that risk him being mad at her for a long time? She didn't want another argument like the one at the mountain.

Maybe if she did it cleanly he would die instantly. Then he wouldn't think anything in the slightest when he healed and woke up the next morning.

She lifted the knife to above his temple and wrapped both hands around the hilt, then slowly raised it before bringing it down.

"What are you doing?" A terse voice whispered to her, interrupting her right as the knife was about to come in contact with his skull.

She slowly turned to the source of the noise, finding Molossia looking down at her in anger, but with none of the bravado he usually displays.

Natalya set the knife back down and put her head on her knees while staring at Alfred's face. "Isn't it obvious? I'm getting back at him for embarrassing me."

Molossia frowned deeply and balled his fist. "You're seriously trying to kill America because he sang some stupid song?"

Natalya leered at him, damaging his already crumbling confidence. "It's not just some "stupid song," it's a song about me, and how much my people love me. And Alfred of all people sang that to me. I don't want to hear that from him."

"Oh no, a boy said they love you. Poor you," Molossia whined sarcastically.

Natalya gritted her teeth and glared at the floor. "I don't want him to be the one to tell me that. He's a gluttonous, obnoxious, arrogant, disgusting American. He annoys me at every waking moment, and can never seem to understand when he's making me uncomfortable. Why am I even surprised? He's just as oblivious as he is stupid."

Molossia stared blankly at her as she continued ranting, growing sad at all the insults she was throwing at someone who claimed they were friends.

"Y'know, I think you grossly misunderstand your friendship with America," he butt in, stopping her tirade as she looked at him in angry confusion. "What the hell is there to understand?"

Molossia rolled his eyes and scoffed. "You are America's friend." Natalya lowered her eyebrows and spread her arms wide. "So? So what?"

Molossia grumbled to himself before speaking up. "It's not really my place to say, but you need to understand that it is very hard for America to make friends. You seem to forget that he didn't truly join the world until after WWII, he's been almost completely alone for centuries.

So because of that flaw, he cherishes the few friends he can make, regularly letting them know he loves them without seeing anything wrong with it. Because he honestly does love and care for them... even that damn Prussian, and for whatever reason, you.

So stop freaking the fuck out thinking he's confessing his love for you, because he doesn't like you like that and never will. Trust me, he will never love someone like you. And from now on, try to actually act like his friend, before you break his heart and get your ass thrown out again."

With that scolding over, he turned and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door and leaving Natalya alone with Alfred once again. Though if looking close enough you could see him still watching through the crack of the door, making sure no knives were coming close to Alfred.

Natalya stared at Alfred for a long while, beginning to think. 'Could Alfred really be that lonely? Is he just this loud and attention-seeking out of desperation?'

It was the complete opposite of her approach to not be alone, but ironically they ended up with the same result. Both were lonely.

She could only stare at Alfred in wonder. 'Is that another reason he's friends with humans?'

She slowly dragged herself along the floor to get closer to him, continuing to stare before bringing a hand up to flick him in the forehead.

He snapped awake and clutched his head. "Ah, son of a bitch!" He opened one of his eyes to see what had caused that, blinking in confusion when he saw the eyes of Natalya looking blankly at him.

"Nat? What was that for?!" He whined while still rubbing his head.

"You embarrassed me. Fucking dickweed," she insulted, though she didn't look that angry for some reason.

"Damn, I already promised not to sing any more songs about you," he said wearily while rubbing his eyes.

Natalya continued watching him silently as he finished rubbing his eyes to look at her. They looked at each other for a good fifteen seconds before Alfred finally asked, "so are you going to beat me up, or can I go back to sleep?"

"I'm too tired," she admitted. "Then what are you doing, just staring at me?" He wondered.

"I guess so," she shrugged. Alfred was beyond confused. First she flicks him, looks like she's about to attack him, then is just sitting here looking at him.

After a little longer his eyes began to close, succumbing to sleep once again. But just as quickly as he fell asleep he was woken up again with another flick to his head.

He grumbled and sat up fully, growing slightly ticked with his sleep being interrupted. But just as he got up Natalya did too and took a seat right next to him.

"Umm, can I help you?" He asked. She remained silent and curled her legs up onto the couch as well.

She looked over at him and asked a single question, "do you like me?"

Alfred was bewildered at the random question, but gave her a large and tired smile. "Of course, you're one of my best friends."

She nodded and looked forward for about a minute, then flopped over onto her side while still curled into a ball. It startled Alfred, but when she stretched out a little bit and yawned, he realized she was just tired.

He scooched over to the other end of the couch and laid down as well, a few minutes passing in awkward silence until he could hear the faint and slow breathing of Natalya as she slept.

Just then, the bathroom door opened and a cloud of steam rolled out. Molossia then came out, rubbing his damp hair with a towel.

He paused and looked over at the couch, seeing Natalya sprawled out and Alfred laying on the other side.

Molossia pointed at her, and Alfred just shrugged, neither knew what the hell was happening. Though Molossia had a pretty good idea.

Actually, with Natalya sleeping out here, that meant the bedroom was free. Molossia grinned proudly and marched away to the room, jumping on the bed and spreading out on the squishy mattress.

Finally. All according to plan.

Sestra, zachem tebe syuda priyekhat'? - Sestra, why on Earth would you come here?