As the days went on, and the protests continued with increasing force and noise, the nations used the remaining time stuck inside just to hang out and talk. It was actually kind of nice.
The only one not talking to someone else was Natalya, as Alfred was off with Canada, her brother was "stalking" China, which she couldn't be mad about as she was doing the same thing with Alfred, and her sister was off with Hungary and Liechtenstein probably talking about revealing dresses again.
She looked around at the empty meeting table in boredom, or almost empty as Greece was slouched forward in his chair with his face buried in a cat's fluffy belly. Whether he was asleep or simply laying on the cat was unknown, but either way he was too occupied to talk to, not that she wanted to.
Maybe she could find some women to talk to, they were certainly more tolerable than the men.
So she got up and left the room, scanning the hallways for someone, anyone decent to talk to. On one turn she noticed Alfred down the hall talking with the rest of the FACE family, so she slowed her walk to nearly a tip toe.
England was looking annoyed as always, while France was giving the two North Americans a frustrated stare. "Why 'aven't you two boys grown in your beards yet? You share zhe brows of a French royal, surely you 'ave zhe stubbed jawlines of one as well."
The sudden question caught the two younger nations by surprise as they looked between each other then back at France. "Cut us some slack dude, we're only nineteen," Alfred responded. "At least we weren't cursed with Iggy brows that absorbed all our body hair."
"You're taking the piss, I have plenty of body hair!" England proclaimed loudly, which made Natalya shudder in disgust, but not nearly as much as what she heard next.
"Ohonhonhonhon. We both know zhat's not true mon ami," France teased with a flirting wink. The North American twins cringed at what that meant.
"What are you implying frog?" England wondered with a suspicious look. France smirked and scratched his chin. "You remember zhe first Olympics, oui?"
England stumbled back as his whole face turned red. "I did not agree to that, you're the crazy bastard that showed up in your damn birthday suit! Just be happy Switzerland didn't shoot your arse!"
"It wouldn't 'ave been 'ard, both of you got quite zhe good look at it," France continued while blowing a kiss.
That had been the breaking point for Alfred, who had started screaming while covering his ears. "Aaaah! Get a room!"
England turned to Alfred and crossed his arms. "It's because of you this entire conversation is happening you damn prat!"
Natalya wasn't sure what that meant, but she could tell it was an insult of some kind, so that extremely pissed her off.
England paused in his ranting as he felt something chilling him to the bone. Glancing over to his left, he jumped a little when he noticed Natalya slowly walking past with a savage look to her face.
The other three followed his gaze and noticed her walk by as well, giving their own levels of fright. "Dude, what did you do to piss her off?" Alfred asked as he watched her leave.
"I don't know. She hates me regularly but this is something else," England sighed as he scratched his head nervously.
As the other two comforted him, Alfred continued watching with a small frown until she was out of view. Something about this didn't sit right.
She stormed down a few more corridors, trying her hardest to soothe her rage. It took everything she had not to kill them, she hates that man with every fiber of her being. She already disliked England because of Russia's rivalry with him, but now she absolutely loathed him.
Always insulting Alfred, making him feel like shit. Now all she wants to do is rip off those ridiculous caterpillars for eyebrows, shove them down his throat, and watch him choke on them.
When she assumed she was far enough from the group, she slumped to the ground and brought her knees to her chin.
'Why must this take so long? I'm struggling to get alone time with majo kachannie, and in the meantime he's getting harassed by those good for nothing bastards!'
She sighed and hid her head behind her knees. Her usual bouts of extreme obsession were usually ended by chasing Russia until he got away, but she couldn't do that anymore, so now she was just bottling it up. If she didn't find a solution soon, she knew she was going to blow up and do something she would regret.
'I just need... something, the smallest bit of his attention. I want to talk to him, hear his voice, see his smile...' she daydreamed with a small smile of her own. The love-struck nation leaned her head on a hand as she imagined all that she would do with her new beloved.
Her lovely thoughts were interrupted as she heard muffled voices coming from one of the nearby rooms. She wasn't really that interested in what they were saying, but also couldn't help but listen.
Inside the room sat most of the ASEAN group, except China of course, having separate conversations about each other's current events and whatever else came to mind.
The most vocal of them were Taiwan and Hong Kong, who had some choice words for the old nation.
"Another crackdown on my protestors. Teach is too controlling!" Hong Kong ranted. Taiwan nodded in agreement and crossed her arms. "Tell me about it, I'm already worried about an invasion, and it doesn't help now that he's building islands all over the South China Sea."
Philippines glanced up from his phone momentarily to look at the fuming nations. "How do you think I feel? They're closest to me."
"Don't forget about me. He's building in both of our sea claims," Vietnam butted in. South Korea slid in out of nowhere and wrapped his arm around her. "You're one to talk, being a commie just like big brother China. Hey, did you know that Korea invented capitalism? Da-ze!"
Vietnam removed his arm from her and frowned at him. "We all know that's not true. Also, you say I'm one to talk but you're the one with the hyper obsession with him."
"Yeah yeah, whatever," Korea mumbled with a roll of his eyes. He slowly turned his attention to the other nations before a smile grew on his face. "Yo Philippines, wanna take a selfie with me?"
"Of course," they responded as they stood up to get closer. Vietnam squeaked in fear and dove off the couch to get away from the camera. After the picture was taken she shot her head up and glared at Korea. "You did that on purpose!"
He chuckled evilly and crossed a leg over the other. "You think so low of me." His smirk was wiped off his face as Vietnam tackled him and began beating him with a boat paddle that had appeared out of nowhere.
With the loud screaming and hitting distracting him, Malaysia paused his conversation with Singapore to look back at the other members of the ASEAN group. "Come on is that really necessary? Can't we all just get along?"
"Sorry we can't be as harmonious as you, but we've got real beef with big brother," Korea said as he did his best to dodge the incoming blows.
"Why aren't you upset? His islands are close to you as well," Vietnam pointed out as she paused her beat down. Malaysia smiled and answered calmly. "Because I know he means no harm. So as long as he doesn't hurt any sea cucumbers I'll leave him to his own business."
Hong Kong stared down at his phone, wondering if he should show the rest what he had witnessed China do. On one hand he was an absolute sucker for gossip, South Korea and Taiwan would get an absolute kick out of it, and if he showed the Philippines then things would spread like wildfire as it would certainly be something with the potential to become viral. But on the other hand, what would be the repercussions of this? China would definitely be furious, and probably end up pressing down further on the people of Hong Kong. There's also the fact that Russia would most likely try hunting him down, which didn't sound pleasant in the slightest.
Deciding it wasn't the right time, he put his phone away. When the time is right he will show the whole world, and it will be hilarious.
"Why are we even having this conversation in the first place? You guys do know we all are friendly with America, right?" Philippines reminded them. "If something happened he would just kick China's ass."
"Yes, but there's only so much his 7th fleet can do to protect us if teach were to invade," Hong Kong noted. It was sad but true. With him so small and bordering China, there is a great chance he would be swallowed whole before the fleet could get there to help defend and evacuate.
"I'm sure we could all hold him off until America could bring his main force," Taiwan reassured her friend.
"Yeah, or worst case scenario he's taking too long so we have Vietnam go all Princess Leia and say, "help us America, you're my only hope," Korea added while clasping his hands together and batting his eyelashes flirtatiously. "That should get his hero blood pumping."
Vietnam looked at him strangely. "Why me? Couldn't you, Taiwan, or Philippines do it just the same?"
"We could, but he would come much faster if he knew his little damsel was in distress," he taunted.
"What are you saying?" She wondered, growing skeptical with his tone. "I'm saying that you... have feelings for him," he replied smugly.
At this point Natalya's interest had peaked, so she was now intently watching them through the cracks in the door. But once she heard those cursed words she began to subconsciously drag her nails into the door and the carpeted floor.
Luckily the other nations appeared too distracted to notice the scratching noises. Though the claw marks in the wood and rips in the carpet would definitely get their attention once they left.
"What?! I don't... I don't like him like that!!!" Vietnam cried out as she felt her face go white hot.
"Don't pretend we don't see how you two act around each other. You're all friendly one moment and then nervous the next," Korea pointed out, which ticked Vietnam off.
"We're nervous because we have complicated and somber history," she defended with a twinge of anger in her voice. "If that's the case for me liking him then you and Philippines should be obsessed, you both have longer histories with him than I do."
"But they aren't cute like you," Taiwan pointed out. "C-Cute?!?! I'm not..." she trailed off as she was overcome with embarrassment.
Philippines chuckled quietly at the other's bashfulness. "I wouldn't say being cute is the reason, but you and America were way closer than the rest of us. The circumstances that brought America to South Korea were exactly the same, yet we can all tell it's different with you."
At hearing Philippines' quiet and honest attitude compared to South Korea's teasing, Vietnam finally calmed down, enough to give a proper explanation.
"Yes, I did have... f-feelings... for him. For a time. I'm certain he felt the same, but before anything could happen between us he had to leave. After that I became communist and things fizzled out from there. We reestablished friendly ties again later, but as far as we're concerned friends is where it will stay."
"You better keep your word on that, because from what I've heard relations between Taiwan and America have increased pretty substantially in the past few years," Hong Kong pointed out. "Wouldn't want you getting jealous."
Vietnam raised an eyebrow at the young girl, who was blushing like crazy and flailing her arms around. "I-I-It's not like that, he doesn't even recognize me as a real country."
She then began to play with her long wandering strand of hair to desperately calm down.
"He says that because of that one-China policy or whatever, but I'm know he thinks otherwise," Philippines said. Turning his attention back to Vietnam, he continued. "You remember that virus China accidentally gave to Japan and got the Olympics canceled because of it?"
Vietnam nodded, well aware of how worried her citizens were, as they bordered China.
"Well as it turns out, the people of Taiwan were getting their hands on some vaccines just in case things got bad, but when they started struggling the U.S. decided to help out. They gave Taiwan two and a half million vaccines, three times the pledged amount, and that's also on top of the million something Japan gave Taiwan previously."
Taiwan smiled fondly. "It was really nice of those two, even when knowing it would upset China."
"Give it a few years, America will give you the Vietnam treatment for sure," Korea said as he scratched at his head. "I'm kinda jealous."
"Don't be gross, she's far too young," Vietnam stated with a huff. Taiwan gawked at her friend in absolute shock. "Am not!"
"Maybe not back at your place, but for America you have to be a little older," Vietnam clarified. Behind her she could hear South Korea whisper to Hong Kong, "if I knew she would get jealous so quickly I would've made a bet."
Vietnam frowned and turned slightly to face the Korean. "I'm not jealous, just realistic. The age of consent in the U.S. is eighteen."
"Actually the majority of the states have it at sixteen," Philippines butt in, to which he got an eye roll in return.
"That doesn't count. I'm referring to his federal government, which is what he listens to, and they say eighteen so it's eighteen. If she wants to go after America when she's older then go right ahead, I'm simply pointing out that it's impossible now as he is obligated to turn her down."
Outside the room Natalya got to her feet and curled her fingers around one of the knives under her dress. 'Those bitches are so dead, thinking they can come anywhere close to my love!'
But as she was about to storm in and do damage, the sound of footsteps nearing her location forced her to stop and look at who was coming.
A few seconds later she was hit with a wave of excitement as she saw Alfred turn the corner and speed walk over to her with a grin. "Hey I was just looking for you."
She put her hands together in front of her and looked up at him joyously. He was slightly jarred at this, but decided to continue. "I couldn't help but notice that you seem really tense. The protests are really getting to you, huh?"
"Oh um... da," she answered after finally dragging herself down from her love trance and back to her normal self. "What are you even doing here?" She asked.
"France and Iggy started fighting so I slipped away," he told her with a laugh. "Anyway I was wondering if you wanted to go get a drink and talk. It could help you relax."
On the inside Natalya felt her heart skip about a billion beats. 'Did he just ask me out for drinks? Like a date?!' She immediately became lightheaded while her legs turned into jelly.
'No, no he's just trying to be nice. Calm down.' On the outside she gave Alfred a pleased grin and then a nod. "Da, I would like that, it will certainly help with the headache. But I doubt anything will be open with all those protestors."
Alfred was puzzled at what she meant. "But I was just in the break room. Also I'm pretty sure we would know if anyone got inside."
Natalya was just as confused as him, until she realized the misunderstanding, making her heart drop. "Oh, of course..."
Alfred narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure out why she looked so disappointed, before widening when he had finally caught on. "Wait, you meant like, outside or something right? Yeah we can totally do that too, but it'll have to wait until after the week is over, as Iggy will just hunt me down again if I leave."
That seemed to work in brightening her mood once again, though she was also a little annoyed that England was being such a cockblocking nuisance.
Content with their future plans, they both began walking away toward the break room, but Alfred momentarily stopped as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Looking down at the floor, he saw the numerous scratches covering the ground and door. 'Man, she must be really tense.'
"I'm not lying, nothing happened between us," a muffled voice came from behind the door. Alfred couldn't understand what was being said, but it certainly gained his attention.
"I didn't sleep with him, stop being so gross!"
"Come on, you're telling me you haven't once thought about what they're packing?"
"No, now shut up! Taiwan doesn't need to hear this."
"You know, I once heard that Florida is over half the size of Vietnam. That must've been one crazy night."
"I don't have to deal with this harassment, I'm leaving!" Alfred stood still as he heard footsteps quickly nearing the door, then as it swung open he looked down to see Vietnam, who was pissed off and extremely red in the face.
The girl froze and slowly began to raise her head up, her eyes bulging out in horror as she saw the perplexed face of America looking back down at hers.
As Alfred opened his mouth to speak it was blotted out by Vietnam's blood curdling scream. Then she swung the door closed on his face and locked it, hiding herself in the room which was now erupting into laughter.
Alfred couldn't move, his brain struggling to process what just happened. That was until Natalya brought him back to reality. "Are you coming or not?"
Alfred blinked a few times before nodding. "Yeah... yeah let's go."
After the final days of the "meetings" had passed, all the nations were escorted home, everyone except Alfred.
Natalya and her family stood at the lobby entrance to the building, as they prepared to leave without her.
"Are you sure you are not wanting to come home?" Russia asked, sad she would be gone so soon after coming back.
"I have to help my government deal with this, but I'll be home soon I promise," Natalya assured as they embraced in a strong hug. Afterwords she repeated the hug with Ukraine, then as she let go she gave one last goodbye before turning and leaving.
Walking back through the building, she reentered the meeting room to find Alfred leaning back in a chair with his feet kicked up onto the table.
Raising his head to look at her, his bored expression disappeared under a large smile as he jumped to his feet. "About time. I was starting to think you ditched me. Ready to go?"
Natalya looked outside a nearby window to the street below, watching as Russia's car pulled out of the parking lot and was escorted through the sea of protestors. "Da, I found some places near the outskirts of the city that are open."
"Sweet!" He cheered while marching away. Natalya rolled her eyes with a chuckle as she caught up with him and walked outside. While there were thousands of people crowding the streets, being a fellow Belarusian accompanied by a happy-go-lucky American basically created a safety bubble around them, so they had a very easy time sifting their way through and making it to the emptier parts of the city.
Alfred stared up and around in amazement at the city. "You know, I've never actually explored Minsk like this. The farthest I've gotten is probably that McDonald's a little way from the meeting building." Natalya felt a little bad, not only because she made him leave in the past since she hated him, but also because of what was happening now. "Sorry your first time has to be during all this mess."
"It's not all bad," he responded as his eyes followed a group of girls walking past them, all carrying different flags. One was the red and white one, another was completely red with the coat of arms in the middle, and the third was an American flag.
Alfred smiled and turned his head to watch them go. Natalya turned as well and witnessed as his flag flowed majestically in the wind alongside hers. 'I guess things could be worse.'
"Hey, I don't mean to offend, but are you an American?" A voice called out in Belarusian. Both nations looked ahead and down at a pretty girl standing in front of Alfred. Natalya scowled at her with a predatory glint in her eyes. 'Things are worse.'
Alfred was genuinely shocked with how open this stranger was to talk with him. Granted, his people do that, but it just seemed so strange coming from a person whose personification is so not like that.
"Um, yeah. How did you know?" He wondered, switching to Belarusian himself. The girl laughed nervously and rubbed her head. "Sorry if I'm being rude but to me you look like the embodiment of an American. And the way you were looking at the flag I just figured."
Alfred laughed as well and gave her a bright Hollywood smile. "You've got a keen eye. So what can I help you with?"
The girl's attitude instantly flipped from joyous to serious. "So I was doing some research and found that the U.S. has the second most amount of Belarusians behind Belarus itself. If one were to emigrate there, where would be the best places to go?"
Alfred raised his eyebrows and glanced over at Natalya, who had an unreadable expression on her face. Turning back to the girl his face became saddened. "You want to leave?"
The girl jumped slightly, as if hurt by the accusation. "N-No of course not. I just know some people who are considering it if things get bad, and they wanted to make sure they were going somewhere safe."
That definitely worked in stroking his ego as a hero. "Then I would suggest some of the big cities like New York City, parts of New Jersey, LA, or some of the other big Great Lake cities. I'm pretty sure some of them have whole Belarusian communities."
"Really? I'll keep that in mind, thank you," she said with a happy nod. Alfred nodded back and put his hands on his hips. "Of course, what's a hero for?"
That made the girl giggle some more, which made Natalya even angrier. As the girl opened her mouth to speak suddenly a group of people called out for her.
"Oh, guess I have to go, thank you again," she said as she sped away with one last wave. Alfred returned with a thumbs up then went back to walking. "See? Things could be way worse."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever," Natalya mumbled as she crossed her arms. Noticing how upset she was, Alfred gave her a supportive pat on the back and a comforting smile. "Come on, everything will be alright. It's not like all your people are going to leave."
Flinching lightly at his touch, she looked away from him to hide how warm she felt. "I know, but it's still troubling." He comforted her further by slowly rubbing her back, making the hair stand up on her neck. This was definitely teasing.
Slowly they made their way to the spot, in which Alfred was a little disappointed to find it was a bar. He was kind of hoping for something calm and quiet like a cafe, to help with her headache. But then again where are you going to find an open cafe this late at night?
So with no good alternative Alfred followed after Natalya into the bar, both mentally agreeing to switch to English if they started talking about nations or anything.
The first thing that caught his attention when he entered was the loud rock music, which made him turn and look at Natalya with a smirk, earning him a slap on the arm. "Wipe that smile off your face." He just shrugged it off and followed her through the bar and to an empty table.
Not even a minute later a woman came over and stood in front of the table with a clipboard in her hand. "So what do you two kids want?"
"Show me your vodka menu," Natalya demanded, to which the waitress didn't waste a second in slapping the menu down on the table. "And what about you young man?" She asked as she turned to Alfred.
"Um... do you have soda?" He asked. That got him some weird looks around the room, but the waitress nodded and gave them their options.
After they placed their orders the waitress began walking away, only to be stopped as Alfred spoke up. "Wait what kind of snacks do you have?"
She smiled kindly as she turned back toward him. "Actually we're a restaurant and bar, so we can do full meals if you wish."
Alfred's empty stomach rumbled loudly as she said that, loud enough for her to hear. "I'll bring over a menu," she laughed before turning and walking away.
After they were gone Natalya faced Alfred with a confused look. "Why didn't you get alcohol? It's legal here."
Alfred shrugged and rubbed his neck. "I don't know, I just don't really drink." Natalya didn't believe that for a second. "You seemed pretty familiar with the bottle back on your birthday. If you don't drink then how did you drink so much moonshine and whiskey?"
Again, Alfred shrugged. "That's just my metabolism. If I didn't have that I would probably be knocked out after a single drink."
He seemed oddly quiet on the subject, which she found strange. From what she remembers there wasn't really anything he said about alcohol in his journal, except for a single entry about prohibition but that was lighthearted. Maybe he really did just find it gross.
She decided to leave it for now, he might loosen up more after getting some food in his stomach.
After a little bit the waitress came back with their drinks and a menu for Alfred, his eyes sparkling as he saw that burgers were an option. "I'll take five burgers and extra fries!"
The waitress stared wide-eyed for a few moments before forcing a smile and nodding as she took the menu back. Natalya sighed and gave Alfred an 'are you serious?' look.
"What? I'm eating light, I don't want to freak her out," he defended. "I think it's a little too late for that," Natalya muttered before downing the extra large shot.
As Alfred got his dinner and instantly began massacring it, Natalya continued her questioning. "So why don't you drink? It's not just because of the age limit, right?"
Alfred swallowed a mouthful of burger and tilted his head in thought. "It's kinda a mix of things: prohibition, the age limit, some just tasting straight up gross, but also how I grew up. I remember seeing what it did to Iggy, I never wanted to end up like that, it just always seemed like a miserable time."
Natalya seemed to nod in understanding, which Alfred found really ironic. "Funny how I'm getting an alcohol talk from the drunk capital of the world."
"Actually we got beat out by Moldova this year," she pointed out just as a waiter came by and refilled her glass, only for her to empty it just as fast.
Alfred observed as the drinking cycle repeated until the waiter decided to give her the whole bottle. "Are you sure vodka is the best thing to ease a headache? You're just gonna get hungover."
She waved him off as she lowered the bottle and wiped her mouth. "Vodka is always the perfect remedy. When you're sad, angry, bored, nervous, in pain... the list goes on."
"Ok...? Just slow down a little," he pleaded. Seeing his worried expression she agreed and pushed the bottle away. She's supposed to be calming down and spending time with him, but instead she immediately went to drinking her pain and jealousy away.
"Want some fries?" He offered as he pushed his plate to her end of the table. She shook her head and politely pushed it back. "No thank you. I ate earlier."
He shrugged and picked up another burger. "Your loss." Though the second he started eating he caught sight of a slender hand reaching forward and grabbing a single fry. Following it as it rose to her mouth, he saw as she adorably looked away while silently munching on it. How can someone make a scowl look so unbelievably cute?
Alfred smiled behind his burger while sneaking peeks at her as she went back for more. He could stand to let the fries go.
More time passed and Alfred's empty plate was taken away, though he was a little weirded out that he hadn't received the bill yet. "So do I pay now or...?"
"Oh don't worry about it, it's all on the tab. We'll pay when we leave," Natalya informed. "You really don't go to bars, huh?"
He shook his head and gave a short laugh. "The closest I get is when Iggy drunk texts me asking to come pick him up."
Starting to grow a little tipsy, Natalya couldn't hide her anger as well, so Alfred could very easily pick up on it.
"So what's your deal with Iggy? I noticed for the past month or so you've been glaring daggers into him anytime you see him."
She was a little alarmed that he had noticed that, but she also had some extra confidence thanks to the alcohol, so she wasn't afraid to answer.
"I've always hated that big-browed bastard. He's constantly preventing big brother from claiming what's rightfully his, and is always bitching about whatever minor inconvenience he's facing. But more recently I've noticed how much he treats you like shit."
That last part certainly caught his attention. "Uhhh, what do you mean?" She rolled her eyes, knowing he already knew what she meant. "The insults. Anytime you two are around each other he's always calling you an idiot."
"But don't you too?" He reminded her, which just about broke her heart. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to—" she started to apologize, only for Alfred to stop her with a wave of his hand. "Chill out, I know you don't mean it. You know, unless I'm actually doing something dumb."
That calmed her down slightly, but she still felt bad. "Thanks for caring about me, but you don't have to worry. I'm sure Iggy doesn't mean it either, it's just tough love, you know?" He said with a reassuring smile, though she could clearly see how strained it was. It was obvious he didn't believe in what he was saying.
There was an extremely long moment of awkwardness before Alfred spoke up. "So I know I already kinda asked on the phone, but how's things with your family?"
"Good, things are getting much better with big brother. It's nice to finally be able to talk and be around them without them running away. . . Too bad a lot of his time is preoccupied with you know who."
Alfred nodded and took a sip of his drink. "The one who shall not be named." Natalya didn't seem to get the joke as she continued ranting. "I hate that little man so much, if it weren't for my brother's sake I would punch that disgusting pest back to 2000 BC. I swear, between him and those two fucking German bastards, I don't know who I despise more."
Alfred remained silent as he allowed her to vent, just so she could get all of her stress out. Nearly twenty minutes went by uninterrupted as she poured out all her pent up anger.
Eventually the vodka began to catch up with her, though it was barely enough to get her even close to drunk so she was already ordering more.
As she came back over with a whole new bottle, she finally took notice of how dry her throat was. "Sorry, I kind of went on a tangent there."
Alfred didn't seem at all bothered by it. "Don't worry about it, if it relaxes you then rant as long as you want."
She almost accepted the offer, but eventually decided against it. "I think I've ranted myself out. If I continue any longer I will probably lose my voice."
Pouring out some vodka into a glass, she sat back down and looked over at him. "So what about you? Anybody you particularly hate?"
Alfred was a little disgruntled at that. "Hate? I don't hate anyone." Natalya raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. "Seriously? But what about those that hurt you? 9/11? England? Surely you hate my brother."
"I never held 9/11 against Afghanistan. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda were groups within the country. Even now I'm still fighting with him against the Taliban, obviously as he listens to his government and the government is against the group as well. Iggy is... well it's super complicated but I can't hate him. He is my biggest ally after all... well him or Mattie. And your brother? Yeah he pisses me off a lot but I don't exactly hate him. More so he's just a good rival. I don't think I could find it in myself to truly hate any nation."
"I have no clue how you can still have such an innocent outlook on the world, it's baffling," Natalya said softly, mesmerized by those sparkling blue eyes of his.
"Well I'm still pretty young," he laughed with a light blush. Natalya took another shot before responding. "That is true, but Germany is over 100 years younger than America, so why aren't they like you?"
"Probably because he has to live with being the country responsible for one of the greatest human tragedies in all of existence," he stated seriously, before instantly flipping back to cute and innocent as he placed a straw in his mouth and took an extra loud slurp of soda.
"Da, I suppose that would take away one's innocence," she agreed, her voice hollow. She couldn't help but be reminded of how that had happened to her. She's physically the same age as Alfred, and from what she read in his journal he's somewhat older than previously believed. But with so much death and war throughout her life, she feels hundreds of years older than him. She could barely remember a time when she had a normal childhood, too much of it was buried away behind times of trauma.
Natalya pulled herself away from her thoughts and looked down at her empty shot glass. She hates getting lost in her head, it always reminds her of something she blocked off for a reason, which only serves to make her feel bad about herself.
Looking back up to across the table, her and Alfred exchanged quick, polite smiles. She'll open up and let out those memories when she's ready, and hopefully sharing her pain with the one she loves will finally give her some closure.
As she opened her mouth to speak, she was suddenly interrupted as the rock music died down and the bar owner spoke up. "Ladies and gentlemen if I'll have your attention."
The two nations turned, as well as everyone in the room, to the excited owner as they walked over and stood on a stage. "We have some very special guests, so please welcome our beautiful dancers for the night!"
As the owner moved out of the way a dozen scantily clad women walked out onto the stage, sending the bar into a outburst of whoops and hollers. The women were all wearing dark lace bras and panties, matching high heels, and some unique accessories like fishnets or garters.
Natalya grumbled and turned back to her table, seeing Alfred looking at her in confusion. "Are they strippers?" He whispered, as if scared of offending them.
"No, they're just dancers. Many bars in Minsk do that," she explained, which relieved him a little bit. As he watched the girls dance, he brought up his soda and began drinking the rest of it.
'Good lord. Could ya imagine doll face movin' like dat?' Dixie thought out loud, making Alfred's brain start to morph the dancing women into Natalya. His eyes shot out of his head as he sputtered and accidentally inhaled some soda, causing him to start hacking and coughing.
Natalya scooted over to the other side of the table and started rubbing his back. "Are you ok?" Alfred nodded and gave her a thumbs up as he coughed into his arm.
'Dude, seriously?' He thought as he got the rest of the fluid out of his lungs. 'Wut's da big deal? We both like her.'
'But we agreed we weren't gonna go after her.'
'We're not, but dat doesn't mean we can't dream. Ya don't seem ta have any problem wit dat.'
That brought Alfred's attention down to the tightness in his pants, only angering him more. 'Fuck. Off.'
'C'mon, do ya really not like da thought of her dancin' in nothin' but her underwear and garters? Swayin' those hips around, bendin' over every once in a while, maybe even gettin' closer so she can grind on...' Dixie paused as Alfred finished off his drink and started pouring himself some vodka.
'Aww seriously? I was just kiddin' ya y'know, do ya really have ta resort ta booze?'
'Sadly yes, as you don't seem to know when to shut the hell up.'
"What happened to you not drinking?" Natalya asked, to which Alfred replied, "it's gonna be a long night, and at the rate you're going it's going to take forever to get drunk. I might as well enjoy it and join in."
Natalya smirked as she took the bottle from him and filled her own glass. "Let's make this a challenge then. Your metabolism vs my alcohol tolerance. May the best drunk win."
The two raised their glasses to cheer before they drank, which nearly killed Alfred as he had a much larger cup.
After he wasn't suffering anymore or clawing at his throat, Natalya decided to talk. "You better get ready, my country is known for their vodka so after this I'm getting the best they have. Also don't use that big ass glass anymore, that's cheating."
So after he swapped out for a shot glass the two got back to their competition. For hours they drank, getting increasingly more wasted along with everyone else in the bar.
"Have I evur told ya dat ya have like, da cutest laugh on da whole planet?" Alfred asked while leaning forward on the table toward her.
She giggled slightly in flattered embarrassment, which only proved his point as his heart sped up.
"Probably, u really seem ta like ta point doze things out," she responded as she looked down at her shot glass and started dragging her finger along its rim. "But I wudn't mind if ya did it moor."
The two traded a few more not so subtle flirts, until they were interrupted as one of the dancers who was walking by noticed Alfred's accent, even while he was speaking in English. "Oh my God, are you an American? We rarely ever see you guys here. Are you here because of the protests?"
Alfred was still very surprised that people here could so easily figure out what he was, usually he's mistaken for British or some other type of European.
"Umm... Yea? But I'm not here fur da protests, dat wuz justa coincidence," he responded as he switched to Belarusian. This attracted the attention of a few other dancers, who decided to check out the foreigner, annoying many others who were having a fun time talking and dancing with them.
They basically made a circle of half naked women around Alfred, which made him a little uneasy, and Natalya furious.
"Has anyone told you your accent is super sexy?" One of the girls asked while leaning over his seat. "No? I didn't think I had an accent," he shrugged.
Another that was standing to his side stepped closer and bent down next to him. "So what is someone like you doing in Minsk? Enjoying the sights?"
Even through her drunken haze Natalya could tell the dancer was coming onto him, though Alfred appeared none the wiser. "I'm actually here on wurk business, but decided ta stay fur a while ta hang out wit my friend."
The girls seemed to completely ignore who he was referring to, as they all had their backs to their own personification. "Want to come dance with us? We would love to show you how us Belarusians can move."
Fed up with this disgusting situation, Natalya dove forward and wrapped herself around Alfred's waist, glaring dangerously at each and every one of these vultures. "He's got all da attention he needs right here thank u very much."
While the girls didn't take too kindly to this intruder, something within them felt like this girl was someone to be respected, so they decided to leave. But not before saying goodbye to Alfred and throwing Natalya some dirty looks.
'Dat's da second group of gurls dat swarmed him. Fuck's sake!' She thought while watching the crowd go back to the dance floor.
"N-Nat? You can let go of me now," Alfred said in a voice only a little above a whisper. Seeing what she was doing she untangled herself from him and went back to her seat at the speed of light. "L-Let us continue!" She shouted before shutting herself up with another shot.
More time passed and they were as drunk as a skunk and... uhhh... whatever rhymes with skunk. They don't remember, they're too drunk.
Natalya gasped as a particular song began playing, so she ran over to Alfred and started tugging on his arm. "Alfred dis iz one 'f muh favurite songs. C'me dance wit meeee!"
"But I'm 'n da middle 'f a match, cannit wait?" He argued while standing at a table where beer pong was taking place.
"But da song's playin' now!!!" She whined, trying to pull off her best pouty face. Even though she wasn't good at it Alfred couldn't say no, so he just sighed and turned back to the table. "I'll c'll dis a forfeit. Enjoy dat munni." And with that he drank all the remaining cups before letting himself be dragged off to the dance floor.
'I thought ya hated people, Y ar ya dancin' in front 'f dem?' He asked as they stopped moving. "Dey're all wast'd. No way dey'll r'member dis," she explained as she started dancing.
At first Alfred didn't really do anything, just let Natalya hold his hand as she spun and jumped around him. But as he started getting into it he joined in the dancing, or more accurately stumbling with grace.
On one turn the two bumped into each other, causing Natalya to stumble forward and crash face first into Alfred's chest. On instinct she reached up and clutched to his shoulders to keep himself from falling, meanwhile he put his hands on her waist to hoist her back up.
"Wooaaah. Calm down dere cr'zy lady," he joked while looking down at her. Slowly she raised herself up and removed her head from his chest to look back up at him.
As bright blue locked with violet it felt like the entire world had stopped. The music had become silent and the partygoers had stopped moving, all they could hear and see now was their quiet breaths and each other's colorful eyes.
Natalya was the first to look away, starting time once again as she tucked an unkept strand of hair behind her ear and tried to keep her eyes off his chest. "Thank u fur da save, hero."
Alfred blinked a few times before coming out of his trance. "U-Um, yup no probl'm. Anytime." The two remained pressed against each other for a moment, wishing it could last longer without becoming awkward.
Just as they were about to pull away the song changed to something slower, still within the same genre as the previous songs but just calm enough for slow dancing to be appropriate.
With an excuse to stay near, Natalya put her arms back up onto Alfred's shoulders and set her head against his chest.
Alfred smiled softly as he pulled her closer and slowly started to dance with her. Letting out a long relieved breath, he held her body tighter as they rhythmically swayed their bodies from left to right, following along to the beat of the song.
Eventually Alfred lowered his head and placed his cheek on top of her head as he closed his eyes. While seemingly content on the outside, inside he kept trying to remind himself that this can't progress further. . . he's so fucked.
A few minutes later the song was ending and so was the moment, so the two raised their heads and looked into each other's eyes one last time. Neither was smiling or cracking jokes, just staring, wondering, what next?
Both began to steadily lean in toward each other, Natalya closing her eyes and pursing her lips as she prepared for the moment she's waited for for so long. Alfred followed along, a second away from closing the distance when...
'STOP!!!' Dixie yelled, causing Alfred to snap his head up and dodge the kiss as he switched it up into a hug.
Natalya's eyes shot open as she felt nothing but air, seeing that her head was now next to his. Her lips dropped into a sad frown as she accepted the hug. She was so close.
'What?!' Alfred screamed in his head, extremely pissed that the moment was ruined.
'Wut happened ta not goin' after her?'
'I... I don't know, shut up!'
'Ya can't just kiss her like dat.'
'Y not?!'
'Because she's blackout drunk. It's basically takin' advantage of her.'
'Well I...' Alfred sighed as he let Natalya go. Deep down he knew Dixie was right, even if he's just as drunk it doesn't make it right. Damn Dixie always having to be a gentleman.
'Y ar ya nice ta me wen she's around?'
'Because I like her too. If I have ta be nice ta ya in order ta do wut's best fer her, den dat's a sacrifice I'm willin' ta make.'
'...I hate u.'
Looking back down at Natalya, he felt really bad for disappointing her. She looked like a wounded animal and that made his heart ache.
Desperate to make her happy again, he poked her cheek, then the other one, then smushed her whole face with his hands.
"Wut do ya th'nk yur doin'?" She wondered while struggling to speak. Alfred laughed loudly and pinched her cheeks. "How c'n a gurl dat 'lways luks so grumpy have sucha squishy face?"
Natalya gripped her dress in her fingers and angrily stared at her feet with a red face, which was once again being smushed between his hands. "I'm not... squ'shy."
A couple hours later the night was officially over as the nations stumbled out of the bar. Natalya was cheered up, Alfred won his money back in beer pong, and both were intoxicated beyond belief.
"Wh're iz yur... yur home?" He asked as he leaned against her. She pushed him up a little and pointed where she thought was forward. "Duuhh— d-dat way... dat way."
They walked a little further, crossing an intersection and passing a large building. Alfred raised his head up to see shining purple lights, causing him to teeter and fall back, Natalya catching him last second.
"Wooooaaah. Luk at doze lights! Dey ar so pr'tty. Da same coluuur az yur eyez. Man p'rple eyez ar so weird. How duz... how duz dat ev'n happ'n?"
Natalya shook her head and laughed while tripping over her own feet, nearly launching her face first into the sidewalk. "I uh... I don't... no clue."
"Well it'z strange. Yur broski makes it sup'r creeeepy, but u? U-U-U make it luk pr'tty. God yu're like, soooooo goddamn fukin' purdy!" He cried out as he hugged her tight. She rubbed his back and blushed uncontrollably as he pressed the side of their faces together.
Their little bonding moment was interrupted as out from the shadows a man marched out and stood in front of them. "What are two young kids like you doing out here so late?"
"We s'r, ar gettin' drunk," Alfred said with utmost confidence, making Natalya snort and cover her mouth. "But we ar alr'dy drunk."
The man simply grinned as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade, pointing it at the two. "Let's make this quick. Give me your wallets and I let you live."
Expecting them to cower in fear, he was bewildered when he saw them not react at all. They didn't even flinch, even if he waved it super close to their faces. "What the hell is wrong with you people?!"
Alfred rolled his eyes and put and arm around Natalya. "Pleeze, muh friend here duz dat like, once a... like uhhh, a week."
"How drunk are you? Listen, if you don't give me your wallets, I'm gonna kill both of you. Starting with your little girlfriend here," the man threatened.
Alfred let go of Natalya as they turned and looked at each other wide-eyed, then both burst out into hysterical laughter.
The man could only stare, baffled as these two very young adults were leaning on each other for support and laughing their heads off while being mugged.
"Oh muh God, dat iz sooo rich! C'n ya say dat again wh'le I record?" Alfred requested as he pulled out his phone and pointed the camera at the guy.
The guy gritted his teeth and grabbed the phone while trusting forward with his knife, stabbing it into Alfred's stomach. Natalya gasped and stared down at the knife, which gave the man the distraction he needed to take the phone and slip away.
In a brief moment of soberness Natalya dashed forward and punched the man as hard as she could, causing them to crumple to the ground in a limp heap. That's going to be one killer headache when he comes to.
"Oh shizz, he jus got anni- annial— annihilated," Alfred laughed, not even noticing the knife poking out of his stomach.
Turning back around, Natalya took Alfred by the hand and pulled him along. "Let's get ya home. Stay close ta me."
Alfred snickered as he walked next to her and clutched her hand, while using his other hand to flick her nose. "Don't w'rry yur puuurdy l'ttle face."
Eventually she was able to find her way home, in which the second she stepped through the door she sped off to grab the first aid kid. That left Alfred alone to explore her house. It was far smaller, but something about it was so homey. Probably because there wasn't a billion empty rooms no one would live in.
Taking a seat on her couch, he blearily looked around at the living room. He could get used to living here. He spun around as he suddenly heard a loud crash come from somewhere else in the house.
"Ar ya 'lright?!" He called out. A second later he could hear footsteps getting louder and doors slamming open. "Yup, jus really fukin' drunk!" She yelled back before bursting into the living room.
"Get 'ff da couch, I don't wantya bleedin' on it," she demanded as she sat on the floor in front of him. Alfred slowly slid off the couch and slumped onto the floor only a few inches in front of her.
Quickly she got to work removing the knife and patching him up, not even allowing herself to relish in touching his body again.
"Alfie ya big dummy. Wut wuld ya ev'r do w'thout me?" She chastised, slurring his name.
Without a second to think he responded with the first thing that came to mind, not even noticing what she called him. "Get h'rt again so ya come back."
At the same time they raised their heads and stared at each other in surprise. Natalya narrowed her eyes at him. "Wut did ya— did ya jus getta sense 'f déjà vu?" Alfred interrupted.
They both stared for a little while longer, until Natalya looked away and cleaned up the mess she made.
After scurrying off to put the first aid kit back where she found it, she returned and hoisted Alfred up to his feet.
She delicately led him upstairs and to the bedroom, but as they entered the room Alfred turned around and tried going back downstairs. "U really don't hafta g've me da bed. I'm fine wit da couch."
"Nyet, yur 'njured. Now get in da bed," she argued. Alfred gripped hard to the door frame, preventing her from moving him further. "Honestly, it'z fine."
"Get in da fuckin' bed!" She demanded, stopping him from arguing any further. As she walked him over and set him down, Alfred began to think to himself. 'Jeez... dat gave me da weirdest boner.'
Fairly quickly he was dozing off, with Natalya close by to "watch over him." As he finally fell asleep Natalya left temporarily to get on some pajamas, then returned and tucked herself in with him.
'He's finally in muh bed. If only he k'ssed me earlier dis wuld've been da best day ev'r,' she thought as she hugged him tightly, quickly joining him in sleep.
Sleep wasn't the only thing she would be joining him in. In the dream world the two nations would be dreaming, or rather, remembering something they shared. Something they had long since forgotten under centuries of time and as a side effect of repressing bad memories.
Their first time meeting.
Mon Ami - My friend
Majo Kachannie - My love