"And here we are, finally back home," Alfred announced to the weary nations. All three others perked up and stared out at the large house with its big pillars and beautiful fountain, though Peter had trouble as he was nearly passed out.
Parking right out front, they all exited the RV and walked to the door. Molossia went ahead as he was dying to get in a bed, after days of sharing a couch with two others. Natalya hung back with Alfred, who was carrying the sleepy Peter over his shoulder.
"Peter seems familiar with this place, but I don't remember seeing his name on the room map. Why is that?" She questioned.
"He only visits for about a week or two each year. A lot of the time I'm either somewhere else or he simply isn't around often enough to need a room. I just let him sleep wherever," Alfred answered.
They walked into the house and up the stairs, entering the nearest bedroom so Alfred could set Peter down. Natalya leaned against the door frame and observed Alfred as he put the micronation to bed.
Once they were fast asleep, Alfred turned to leave and paused as he stared back at her. "What?" He asked in suspicion.
"Come on, there's no way Peter isn't your son," she stated while moving away to walk further down the hall.
"Trust me, he isn't. Technically speaking he's my younger brother, even though we aren't really related," Alfred clarified as the two stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"Right. Either way I'm surprised how well you take care of them. For someone who says they aren't father material you appear to be quite competent," she complimented. Alfred only shook his head in denial.
"Im not too sure about that... but you did a pretty good job of scolding me when I nearly got everyone killed, and when I made the snow dick. Guess that means you would make an awesome mother."
Natalya felt her chest grow heavy at the praise, but kept cool as she crossed her arms and held herself in a distinguished manner. "But of course, look who you're talking to."
Alfred snickered softly. "I know... anyway I should probably go to bed, got a busy day tomorrow."
"I suppose I will as well, goodnight Alfred," she said as she turned to go to her room. Alfred grinned and nodded. "You too."
Once she was in her room, Alfred finally turned in for the night, collapsing onto his bed with a satisfying *pomf.*
He's missed this for so long. Slowly and lazily, he wiggled his way up to his pillow while shedding a few layers of clothing.
Though as he began drifting off to sleep he grumbled as he remembered he had yet to brush his teeth. After considerable effort he stood up and walked to the bathroom. He couldn't let his perfect hero smile be ruined.
The next day, he woke up extra early to take the RV back into the rental at the town, then went to the store and bought some sunflower seeds, finally finishing the trip by running all the way back home.
Without stopping for a break, he switched into some proper overalls, put on some sunscreen, and went out into the fields to begin the long de-weeding process.
As he toiled in the fields, the other three were chilling out in the nice, air-conditioned house. Molossia and Peter were in Molossia's room FaceTiming the other micronations or something, Natalya couldn't make it out.
Tony was building something in the science room, though she didn't even want to know what it was.
Unlike them she had nothing to do, she was just lounging around in the living room. Without that notebook there were no time warps, so she was left feeling every painstaking minute go by.
She could play video games, but she's not a gamer like Alfred. She can only go a few hours before that too becomes boring, or rage inducing.
TV is another option, but American shows are too bizarre for her. Reality shows? The most superficial, nothing content she has ever seen. Ironic given it's name.
The news could work, then again it was all so centered around U.S. politics she probably wouldn't find much enjoyment out of it.
Right now all she found herself doing was staring out the window at Alfred in the distance. She couldn't even plant the sunflowers yet because he had the seed packet and the tools with him.
Maybe she could go outside and watch him more closely, though it's also hot out there. Alfred's balcony might be close enough to an outlet to get a fan hooked up. Or she could find an umbrella to attach to the small table.
Wandering around to a nearby supply closet, she found an extra fan inside, took it up to Alfred's room, and placed it next to her as she sat down to watch him.
After hours of work with zero breaks, Alfred had finally had enough and paused for a break, planting the end of the shovel in the ground and leaning one hand on it while using the other to wipe his sweaty forehead.
He loves tending to crops and having his own sustainable food source, but having to de-weed all the time was miserable. He just wanted to be back in the cold house with his friends.
While looking up at his house desiring to lay on a couch and have some ice-cold lemonade, he suddenly noticed Natalya staring at him from his balcony.
He tipped his hat up to get a better view and waved awkwardly to her, to which she waved back with a single flick of her hand.
Weird, why is she watching him, isn't there way cooler things to do inside? Like literally, she hates hot weather she should be inside where it's colder.
The two just stared at each other for a while, until Alfred's break was over and he had to get back to work. They got through another quarter of the field before finally realizing the problem. 'Shit, I forgot about the seeds. She's probably so pissed.'
Not wanting to keep her waiting any longer, he sped up for the final section and hastily journeyed his way back through the field to the house.
He tossed everything next to an empty flower bed and turned to get her, but found her already standing in front of him. "How did you get down here so fast?"
She ignored him and walked over to the farming equipment, picking up a shovel and holding out her hand to him. "Give me the seeds."
Still caught up on her seemingly superhuman speed, he took a while to snap back to reality. "Uhhh, shouldn't you wear something else? This is dirty business."
"I'm more than aware, most of my country is based around agriculture," she explained while sticking her arm out straighter. "I know what I'm doing."
He dug the seed packet out of his pocket and dropped them into her hand, who in turn spun around and began loosening the soil for preparation.
She expertly worked the ground and in no time had made it perfect to plant seeds in, already having an opened bag of fertilizer nearby.
Opening the packet, she dumped some seeds into her hands and started placing them one by one into the small holes she made.
Alfred was feeling pretty left out watching her do everything herself, so he got down on his knees and began filling in the holes. Then once that was over they worked together to cover it all in fertilizer and water it well.
They took a few steps back and looked upon their work. "Just give it a few weeks and they'll be kicking it like there's no tomorrow," he said.
"Are they annuals or perennials?" She asked. He blanked for a few seconds before picking up on what she meant. "Aren't perennials the ones that come back? Because if so then that's what I got."
They stared on for a few moments longer until Alfred remembered he had other stuff to do, so both of them went back inside the comfort of the house.
Alfred had little time to enjoy the coldness as he marched to his room, switched into his normal clothes, and entered his study where he would remain for the rest of the day.
Natalya was actually a little disappointed, she had hoped Alfred would be done and could hang out with her for a bit.
Usually at her house she was completely fine with doing nothing all day, but that's because that was the normal. Here at Alfred's where everything was sporadic and she saw something new almost everyday, not doing anything was horribly boring.
So for the rest of the day she wandered about, both inside and outside. She laid on the hammock for a while, threw a couple knives at targets, drove around in his tank, and even attempted to move the tungsten barbell. She could get it about an inch off the ground before losing her grip.
She pulled out her phone and checked the time, gasping in horrified surprise when she found only twenty minutes had passed. How is that even possible, is she in an opposite time warp now?
As a last ditch effort to do something, anything to pass the time, she walked off. She had no clue to where, but it was somewhere and that was enough.
Pretty soon she found herself entering the forest, coming out into the other side an hour later into a different part of the blue flower field. She hadn't entered it last time, but now that she was in it she could feel the sacredness of it.
Slowly she walked around until she saw the lone tree in the distance, marching over to it while doing her best to avoid crushing the flowers.
Once she had reached the destination, she sat down in front of the tree right next to Davie's grave. With how old the tombstone was, she bet this tree wasn't here when he was buried.
For a while she sat and relaxed in the shade, but was jarred out of it when a small boy suddenly ran out of the flowers and toward the tree with a trail of blue petals following behind in the wind. It took her a second to see that the kid was blue and somewhat translucent. A ghost.
The kid took a seat on top of their grave, the blue petals spiraling above until they slowed down and landed perfectly in front of the tombstone.
He looked over at Natalya, but grew extremely startled when he found her staring directly at him, not through him. In a flash of light he had returned to his original form, the old man Natalya had seen watching over Alfred.
"You can see me?" Davie asked in surprise. Despite his low voice and heavy British accent making him sound permanently monotone.
She nodded in confirmation. "Da, I can see dead people, though you Americans are much easier to see than others. Always having to be the center of attention, even after death."
Davie didn't know how to react, he was still surprised he was talking to a living person for the first time in over 200 years. Eventually he was able to gather his words. "You must be that young lady Alfie was telling me about, Belarus right?"
Heat pooled in her face when hearing Alfred had been talking about her. "Da... and you're Davie, the one the flowers are for."
"How do you know about that?" He asked in wonder. Did Alfred tell her? "That's not important," she shut him down.
Well if that wasn't suspicious as hell. "So... what business do you have in my flower field?"
"Alfred is too busy with paperwork to hang out, so now I'm bored," she told him, to which he completely understood.
"He is a busy one. Every time he visits me he complains about having to work. Things were so much simpler back when I was a kid."
She hummed in agreement while putting her chin on her knees. "I thought he was supposed to be a lazy bastard."
Davie only smiled and brushed some flowers with his hand. "You've got so much more to learn about Alfie."
She only sat silently while continuing to overlook the field. There's not much to ask the old man that she doesn't already know.
After seeing she was done talking to him, Davie got up and strolled over to his house. Natalya watched him go, but didn't follow, she would rather stay and daydream.
She shifted around so she was laying on the ground, put her hands on the back of her head, and closed her eyes.
It didn't take long for her to drum up some random scene in her head, but some unintentional tiredness crept in and began distorting the daydream out of her control.
In her dream she was walking the streets of Boston, a street she knew well... and hated. Only a few seconds of walking and she was standing right in front of the hotel. The hotel she caught Russia and China in.
She was just lucid enough to know something was horribly wrong, so she sped away down the street, only to find herself back in front of the hotel. All she did was grumble and run away again, but it just looped her around once more.
So instead she stood in place. Maybe if she did that there wouldn't be any chance of seeing what she knew the dream was leading her to.
It worked... for about five minutes. At some point she must've stopped lucid dreaming because all of the sudden she was walking into the hotel with no complaint.
As she walked through the halls and up the stairs, she saw all of the classic dream sequences of bizarre, not pertaining to the story randomness.
At one flight of stairs she passed Germany doing push-ups while trying to dodge tomatoes Romano was throwing at him from a crate.
In a room in one of the halls she found England in a full suit and top hat, with even bigger eyebrows, sipping out of a massive teacup. He could fit his whole head inside if he wanted to. Across from him sat Francis, who was slowly eating an infinitely long baguette while completely naked... except for a big rose that was covering his groin.
Down a hallway of about twenty turns there was another flight of stairs, which went up for another hundred or so flights. Did she take drugs before sleeping?
Not wanting to walk up all of those, she turned around to look for an elevator, which conveniently appeared right before her. Though when it opened she began having second thoughts.
Inside there was Molossia, who was tiny and getting a piggyback ride by Peter, who was riding a giant version of Molossia's dog thing. To the right (or Peter's left) was Prussia who was completely covered in glitter and laughing hysterically.
There was Latvia in the corner, who was acting normal, but with his tiny height he was completely hidden.
Finally there was Estonia, who was holding a strange white blob. Natalya stepped into the elevator and pressed a random button. As the doors closed the white blob grew a pair of legs and stood next to her.
She only glanced for half a second before trying to focus on other things. The elevator music turned out to be German Sparkle Party... no wonder that Prussian was laughing like an idiot.
Looking at the elevator she saw there was thousands of buttons. Why did her brain have to do this to her?
Slowly the others in the elevator began leaving. First Prussia, who left when Gilbird grabbed him by the wrist and flew off. Then Latvia, who got off on an empty floor. Peter took the dog and Molossia onto a floor full of micronations.
That just left Estonia and the weird blob thing. Looking closer, she could see it had what looked almost like glasses and a weirdly curved cat mouth.
She accidentally looked for too long because it turned fully to her. "Don't look so scared, whore."
To say she was confused was an understatement of the century, she couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. This... blob was able to speak, it could shapeshift, it looked and sounded like Alfred. What the hell is she even looking at?
While absolutely bewildered, she was also furious at what it said. "What the hell did you just call me?!" She screamed while unsheathing a knife.
Suddenly a skinny arm and hand shot out from its side and flipped her off. "Fuck you!" That sent her over the edge as she thrusted the knife forward, only for the blob to shoot lasers out of its eyes and turn the knife into dust.
For a moment she had to stop and look at her hand in wonder as she held the pile of dust. Wiping her hand on her leg, she pulled out another knife and chucked it.
This time the blob opened its mouth and closed down on the knife. Natalya stared wide-eyed as she watched it chew on the knife like it was nothing. "Mother... fucker."
As it swallowed the knife it sprouted a pair of wings that fluttered, while simultaneously their legs shrunk back into their body. It hovered for a moment before turning around and landing back in Estonia's hands.
"What. Are you?" She asked, thoroughly mortified by this point. The thing only smiled at her while the doors opened and Estonia began walking out. "Don't worry about it brah, I'm American!"
Before she could respond the door closed again and she was on her way to her floor. While on her way up she passed by a few more floors of weirdness, but none could come close to what she was about to witness.
After what felt like an eternity she had reached the door to the room where she found Russia and China. As she was about to grab the doorknob she suddenly paused as she heard giggling inside.
"Cut it out. You're such a tease!" The voice playfully whined. Natalya could make out that it was a feminine voice, and heavily accented. It was definitely China.
Against her best wishes her dream self thought there was nothing wrong with entering, so she grabbed it and flung it open fully expecting to see the same make out session as last time.
Instead, she came to find that it was actually Alfred with his head in the crook of Vietnam's neck as he laid on top of her.
All she could do was stand there and watch. She wasn't devastated like she would be if she saw Russia again, but something about it still rubbed her the wrong way.
Alfred had that ridiculous waist cloth and tie on, though Vietnam didn't seem to mind as she tugged on the tie to close the distance between their faces.
Natalya frowned immensely as the two deepened their kiss, but no matter what she did she couldn't look away.
This is a really small semi-smut section. Nothing really happens so if you don't want to read about foreplay then just look for the "END" at the end of the section if you want to skip.
Alfred moved back to Vietnam's neck and sucked on it hard, marking her milky white skin with a dark red hicky. She bit her lip and moaned quietly, occupying herself with removing his tie in order to properly grope his chest.
As the kisses trailed down to her collarbone, which was exposed due to her partially ripped open áo dài, he glided his hands over her exposed mounds and fondled them with his strong hands.
Vietnam dipped her head back in pleasure as jolts of electricity shot through his fingertips and into her chest. He upped the ante by pinching one of her buds, giving it a few playful tugs that made Vietnam gasp. That gasp turned to low groans and heavy breathing as he continued toying with it, while nipping and licking at the other one.
Her back arched as he gave a final hard pull on both of them, then moved his hands to her waist as he moved down to seize another kiss on her tender pink lips.
"And the nations wonder why I went crazy when your country went red. How could I live knowing the commie had this?"
Vietnam smiled softly and gave him a chaste kiss on the neck. "Don't worry, he will never take this from you. Now... show me specifically what you were so upset to lose."
Pulling away from him, she raised her arms above her head and spread her legs with a lecherous gaze. Alfred smirked at the challenge and grabbed her chin with a hand, smashing their lips together as he slipped his tongue into her mouth.
Her eyes fluttered as his tongue explored everything around her own, clouding her mind with lust. All resistance to his forcefulness crumbled, her privates tingling in hopeful anticipation at the thought of being ravaged by the superpower.
Alfred slowly dragged his fingers down her stomach, making her body quiver at the contact. "I told you to stop teasing me," she mewled. Alfred chuckled and gave her another kiss. "Now that's not fun at all. Besides, if you hold off a little bit I promise it will feel far better."
She pouted but eventually stopped complaining. Only then did Alfred begin moving his hand again, extremely slowly, until it was under her dress. She held her breath while staring at his arm, willing it to move forward and press against her sodden panties.
She grinned in victory as he began doing just that, but that dropped into a devastated frown as he stopped. Looking up at his face, she found him staring off somewhere to the left.
Following his gaze she turned as well, her eyes hardening into a glare as she saw the one person who could threaten her chances with Alfred, Natalya.
END
Now with both nations looking at her, Natalya really wanted to leave. How is she supposed to explain why she's here?
"I never took you for the perverted type Nat, though with how much you stalk Russia you probably see all sorts of freaky stuff," Alfred joked as both him and Vietnam got to their feet and neared her.
Natalya sat still as Vietnam circled behind her with a judgmental sneer, while Alfred stood tall only a few inches in front of her. His chest is so large and manly and was so close to her face. It looked hard as a rock, and even in the dream world she could smell the salty, sweaty musk coming from it.
Despite the sudden urge to grab them, and her reddened face doing a horrible job of hiding how enamored she was with them, she backed away. Vietnam assisted by grabbing her shoulders and pushing her away.
What she didn't expect was for Alfred to suddenly appear where she was thrown, catching her in his arms and pressing her to his body.
Her arms flew up on instinct when she was pushed, so now she had her hands and face all smushed into Alfred's chest. It was just as firm as she thought.
By this point her whole face was so hot she must've been steaming, though it only got hotter as Alfred began running his hands along her back and hair.
She moved her head up to look at him, but turned away bashfully when she saw he was looking directly at her. "I-I should go," she excused.
"I agree, she's a creepy pervert anyway," Vietnam insulted while pulling on Natalya's arm to get her away.
Alfred frowned and let go of Natalya to put his hands on his hips. "And do what? Hate to break it to you but if you're looking for Russia and China they aren't here." It's like he couldn't even hear Vietnam anymore.
"I can see that, I'll look somewhere else," Natalya uttered out while turning to leave, but stopped when Vietnam was there blocking her path.
She went stiff as a board when she heard Alfred walk closer and stop behind her. "If you stayed that would make me really happy. I don't want to be alone."
Knowing fully well she would regret it, she turned around to look back at Alfred and his bulging pecs. "What about Vietnam?"
Alfred didn't say a word, and that's when she realized Vietnam had vanished. They were alone.
"I can see how much you've been staring at them... and now you have them all to yourself," he whispered seductively while flexing his pecs at her. She gawked at the hypnotic dance shamelessly, not even protesting as he closed the distance once again and pressed her small body to his.
The two stared at each other for a while, and only then did Alfred's smile finally drop as he slowly leaned down toward her. Her lips quivered in hesitation, but as his soft lips got closer she began pursing her own.
They both closed their eyes as Alfred put a finger on her chin and raised her head up to his, and as they neared she began to feel the heat of his tiny breaths against her mouth. She was so close.
"Young lady?"
"Did you say something?" She asked him, not even bothering to open her eyes or move away from his mouth.
"I didn't say anything," he responded. She shuttered at the warmth and wrapped her hands around his neck to prevent him from moving away.
"Young Lady?" The voice asked again.
Natalya's eyebrows twinged in annoyance. "Ok what the hell?!" She opened her eyes and looked up at Alfred, who was looking at her like she was crazy.
"Belarus!" It yelled a third time, alarming her as Alfred's mouth never moved. "What..?"
Suddenly it all came crashing down on her that she was dreaming, snapping her awake as the next thing she knew she was looking up at Davie's face.
She shot up and looked out into nothingness, remembering her dream. It felt so real... and so gross. She gagged as she thought about it. 'Alfred? Vietnam? What the hell is wrong with my mind?'
"Good, I was beginning to think you would never wake up," Davie joked. Once Natalya was finally out of her own head... and lowered the temperature in her face by a few degrees... she got to her feet and looked around at the moonlit field. "What time is it?"
Davie looked up at the sky and moon as he mumbled to himself, then gave her the answer that it was somewhere around 11:00 p.m.
Quickly she began trying to leave, but Davie stopped her. "I wouldn't go out there if I were you, there's all sorts of dangerous creatures. You can stay at my house if you want."
Natalya gave it a thought but assured him she would be fine, as she sped away into the forest. Now alone again, she began talking to herself about what happened.
"Why did I nap in the first place? I wasn't even tired. . . And America? Why was I fine with what he was doing?"
She stopped talking as she heard a crunch somewhere out in the woods. She looked around the forest, trying to adjust her eyes and focus in on anything, but when she couldn't detect anything unusual she continued on.
"And Vietnam? Please, Alfred may be a fool but even he has standards."
For the next hour she complained about and questioned her bizarre dream. Mostly as she was mad at herself for fantasizing about Alfred.
Every once in a while she would hear a strange noise around her. Something scurrying up a tree, crunching sticks and leaves, a quiet growl. None of it scared her of course, but it would be beneficial to her if she knew what exactly was crawling around.
A couple more minutes later she was at the tree line, with the lights of the house in the distance. As she was beginning to stroll out of the woods whale dude suddenly made a strange noise. It was the same noise he made after hearing that scream... from the woods.
Instinctively Natalya pulled out a knife, just as something grabbed her arm and dragged its razor sharp nails through it. Natalya screeched in pain and swiped her knife into the darkness, connecting it with something soft.
The thing unhanded her arm and let out a piercing shriek, then bounded off into the darkness. Natalya looked on dumbfounded, but was quickly brought back to the pain in her arm.
She gripped it tightly as she started trudging through the yard. Hot liquid was pouring out of her arm at an alarming rate, though until she got in a bright area she wouldn't be able to see the extent of the damage very well.
By the time she opened the door and got inside, the world was spinning around her. She was losing blood way too fast.
Luckily she entered the kitchen, so finding the first aid kit Alfred used before was very easy. Pulling up the shredded sleeve, she counted five deep lines wrapping three-fourths of the way around her arm. Even through her vertigo she could realize how strange that was, four long gashes going parallel with a smaller fifth one some distance away from the others.
After washing it under the sink and pouring an ungodly amount of peroxide on it, she tightly wrapped it in bandages. With it properly patched up she sat on the floor to catch her breath, frowning at the rips in her dress. Whatever that thing was was going to pay. One day.
When she thought she was well enough to move she got up, put away the first aid kit, and washed away the large trail of blood from the sink to the outside door.
Then with great difficulty she wobbled her way up the stairs, but halfway up a wave of nausea hit her, sending her falling over and slamming into the wall.
Her breathing was very labored, and her vision looked like static. If she wasn't leaning against the wall already she would be at the bottom of the stairs with her head split open.
It took a lot of effort, but a few deep breaths brought her back to her senses. Now capable of walking again, she stumbled her way up the rest of the stairs to the second floor.
At the top she turned to her room, but her attention was quickly brought to Alfred's. The door was open and she could see his bed was still empty. Was he still in his study? Looking to prove herself wrong, she entered his room and walked over to the study, but when she opened the door she found him face down on the desk and dead asleep.
If she wasn't on the verge of passing out herself she would be more surprised, or worried. Instead she just walked over, wrapped his arms around her neck, and dragged him to bed on her back.
During her struggle to roll him onto the bed she ended up collapsing onto it too. She tried to get back up a few times but the sudden movement jumbled her brain and made the dizziness worse, which made her fall back onto the bed right next to Alfred.
She grumbled to herself and laid down for a while, but when her dizziness didn't let up she rolled on her side and pulled the blanket over both of them. It was too tiring to turn back over, so she was left face to face with Alfred.
For a split second she glanced down at his chest which was visible through the neck hole of his shirt, blushing a little despite the severe loss of blood.
Slowly she moved a hand out and placed it on his chest. She could feel the slow, calming beating of his heart. Just as briefly it was there her hand moved away and hid under the covers, held tightly on the wrist by her other hand.
She looked away from him and cursed herself for the inappropriate behavior. Why was she being so weird? Dreaming of him, touching him while he slept, getting nervous whenever she saw his face. She didn't think she even had the will to look away if he ever gave her the puppy dog eyes again.
For the first time ever she had the thought that maybe she was growing too close with Alfred. They were friends already, but it felt like it was spiraling out of control.
She didn't like how comfortable she was around him, or how she thought it was ok to express her emotions freely, or today when she was immensely bored because she wasn't with him. She's become too reliant on him.
In her mind she was arguing with herself over the implications this had. Sure she didn't enjoy how this annoying imbecile was the only one she could fully trust and expect to care for her, but something kept assuring her that she needed it.
She never had a real friend before, and no matter how annoying she says he is she cannot afford to lose that. Like she confessed before, if he was gone she would be completely alone.
He's also arguably treated her the best out of everyone she's known, and is the single nation out of 194 others that isn't horrified of her.
Something within her wasn't afraid to admit that he was her hero, this childish wannabe actually did become a hero. A hero that brought her out of that cold alley and to his home, a hero that literally swept her off her feet to carry her away from danger, a hero that has invested nearly two months with her and her alone to build her up and mend her shattered heart.
Natalya sighed to herself as she felt all discomfort toward him vanish, knowing now that there was no going back from their friendship.
Looking at him once again she dragged herself closer and rested her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around his back tightly and closing her eyes in content.
Russia usually squirmed and cried in his sleep whenever she got anywhere close, but Alfred seemed to welcome the extra warmth readily as he wrapped his arms around her own back and rubbed his cheek against the top of her head. "Fuzzy teddy bear," he mumbled.
Natalya smiled a wide smile while snuggling deeper into him. "I'm not a stuffed animal, damn idiot."