Let's Hang Out!

Let’s Hang Out!

Papers flew in the air, as China fell upon his desk in a huff of frustration. So much work to do! As usual his boss just lumps everything onto him—go figure, aru! It’s not just the sign-and-go stuff either—he had speeches to look over and meetings to file and UGGGHH!! China rammed his head on the desk again. He was never going to get this done. Not unless he took a few pots of America’s dreaded coffee and pulled an all-nighter, again…

The desk phone rang, and China flicked a few papers aside and picked up the receiver. He didn’t even have time to greet them before the caller said rather loudly “Hi hi, Yao-Yao!” with a giggle. China sighed. “Russia! Why are you calling me?”

“I’m calling to let you know I’m coming over now!” The smile was audible in his voice.

“Wait wait wait aru” China rested his forehead in his hand. “You’re coming over? Just like that? No warning or—“

“This is your warning!” Russia giggled. China could see him doubling over on the chair, then sitting upright again.

“What if—“ China began, getting louder, but he was interrupted by the line going dead. He growled and threw the receiver back to its base. It missed, of course, but China was too frustrated to go get it now.

^-^-^-^-^


Russia entered the foyer, humming lightheartedly. Just as he opened the closet door, however, he was thrust back by something jumping out. He yelped, but then realized it was, of all people—

“Nii-san!” Belarus cried, bunching up his sweater in her fists.

“B-Belarus! A-Are you—“

“Where are you going now?” She yelled, tears building.

“I-I’m visiting Yao-Yao today, w-why?” He said carefully. She shook him a bit, getting more and more upset. “Why do you use his name? Why not mine?” She yelled, getting up. “Don’t you love me, Brother?!” She crossed her arms tightly as Russia quickly stood up. “Y-Yes Belarus, of course I love you! You’re my litter sister—“

“And that’s all I’ll ever be! I hate you, Brother! I hate you!” Suddenly Belarus ran upstairs, crying and slamming the door to her room. Oh, boy, looks like he’ll have some sort of mess to deal with later. Russia hummed, just as the phone rang. Oh good, a reason to forget all this! Russia picked up the  receiver carefully. “Daaa~?”

“I have work piled up to the ceiling, aru! I have no time to mess around!” China’s voice rang through Russia’s ears. He giggled and shrugged. “Oh, that’s too bad, da? I will help you to make time!” Russia could hear China groan loudly as he put the receiver back.

^-^-^-^-^


“Helloo!” Russia waved as he let himself into the office. China glanced up from his paperwork. “You’ve got to be kidding me…” He said under his breath.

“Nyet. No joke~” Russia sang, standing in the middle of the paper-strewn room. They were silent, China scribbling away and Russia watching him. After a while China waved the paper to another pile. Noticing Russia still standing, he sighed. “Why don’t you sit down—“ He said, pointing to a chair by the wall. He stopped when he noticed that it too was stacked high with work. Russia began to walk over to it, oblivious. “Oh, thank you!”

“A—Wait a minute!” China sprung up. “Don’t sit there, aru!” He rolled his swivel chair around to the front of the desk. “Sit here.” He said, kneeling back on the floor. Russia cocked his head. “But Yao-Yao should sit.” China shook his head, signing and placing the paper in the pile. “Guests should always have preference.” He said simply, adding to himself “Welcome or not.” Russia sat, hands in his lap, and smiled. “Ah, thank you!” He sat up straight, watching China, who grumbled a “You’re welcome” and continued to ignore the Russian.

An hour went by, and things started to get boring. All China did was push papers—not very fun to watch at all. Russia looked around. Certainly Yao-Yao had something fun in his office. Eventually he spied a spiral bound notebook. Russia had a pen in his pocket—maybe he could make Yao-Yao a pretty sunflower picture! Maybe that would lift his spirits. He got up and walked over. The book was on the bottom of a pile of documents—but no big deal! China looked up, just in time to see Russia pull out the book.

“Wait!” China sprung up, but it was too late—the book was already in Russia’s hands. Down went the pile, as if in slow motion, and it hit a nearby pile, which also went down and hit another pile. Around the room towers fell like dominoes and documents flew in the air like snow flurries. China angrily stomped around the desk. “What are you doing, aru?!” Russia stood there, book in hand, looking like a deer caught in headlights. He took a small step back and slipped on the papers littering the floor. The Russian fell to the floor with a THUMP, taking China with him. “Aiyaaa!” China screeched, and faceplanted onto Russia. They laid there a moment, in the flurry of legal documents. Slowly, slowly, China sat up, and Russia followed. The taller man looked on, concerned for the smaller. Suddenly the door burst open. China’s boss took one look at the room and immediately flew into a rage. “Just what is going on here?! Yao! Where it that speech I had you look over? Is all this work done?!” China sighed, looking exasperated.

“Nevermind! I’ll get the secretary to do it!” All of a sudden China’s boss stormed away, slamming the door behind him. Again, silence. China slumped over and sighed. Russia hummed, then perked up and said “Why don’t we go get ice cream? Ice cream makes everything better, da!” China stayed silent, then suddenly slammed the floor with both palms. “Fine!” He yelled, getting up. “Fine! Let’s go get ice cream, he said!” He tosses his hands up in the air and walked out the door. “Let’s go get ice cream!”

^-^-^-^-^


The leaves crunched as the pair made their way to the shopping center. It wasn’t quite winter yet, but all the frost made the leaves extra crispy. They stayed silent most of the time, China still fuming with his hands studded in his coat pockets. Russia idled about, taking in everything they passed with childish wonder. Personally he loved China’s house—everything was so small and cute!

“Come on” China grumbled, taking a detour into the park. Russia quickly followed, and the two made quick time down a small path. Russia smiled at the scene. Everything down here was so cute! And there was so much natural beauty at Yao-Yao’s house too—“Aiyaaa!” China suddenly grabbed Russia’s sleeve, and the two went down. The taller man cushioned his fall with his hands, and quickly took a look around. “What happened?...” He wondered aloud, eyes resting on China. Said Asian had faceplanted onto the pavement, and just stayed there in defeat. “Something tripped us, aru…” Came the muffled reply. Russia made a move to stand, but something held his foot back. Upon closer in section, a thread of tripwire was looped around his boot. He hummed, then unwrapped the wire and stood. All of a sudden a shrill “Nii-saaan!” came from behind, and Russia turned around just in time to see Belarus rush out of the park. “What is going on?” China moaned, still not making any effort to move. “I will check, da?” Russia replied as he jogged back down the path.

At the gates Russia stopped. He heard a sigh, and peeked around the corner to find Lithuania crumpled against the fence, his head bowed. “Lithuania?” He said, stepping out. “Aha! Fancy meeting you here, da?” The brunette looked up quickly, then chuckled and blushed sheepishly. “O-Oh! Hello, Mr Russia! I… I had no idea you’d be here either!” They smiled awkwardly for a moment. Russia bent down and grabbed Lithuania’s hand. “Why don’t you stand up little one—“

“A-A-Oww! Owowowowow!!” Lithuania moaned, snatching back his hand to nurse it. Russia raised an eyebrow, as the brunette staggered and got up. “Ah…I supposed you want to know…” He said, looking off to the side. “I… wanted to bring Miss Belarus somewhere today…I had everything planned—“

“You tried to date her again.”

“Ah…y-yes.” Lithuania blushed. “I saw her following you, and so I followed her. When she stopped here I figures this would be my change, but when I tried to ask her she broke my wrist and ran away…” Russia hummed. “You do know, Lithuania…” He said in a low voice, reaching out his hand. “E-Eep!” Lithuania cringed, shivering as he waited for the inevitable. Russia pat the brunette’s head, continuing cheerfully “That I admire your efforts! You should go see a doctor now!” Lithuania stood there a moment, as Russia continued petting him. He managed to squeak out “Really?...”

“Da~!” The Russian nodded and pointed down the road. “A good doctor is down there, but I don’t think he speaks English! Good luck!” He turned away, nodding his head from side to side happily. “B-But Mr Russia!” Lithuania cried out. “C-Could you perhaps help me? I-I mean I did—“

“Nope! ♥” Russia replied, and skipped back into the park.

^-^-^-^-^


A little bell jingled as the pair walked into the ice cream shop. “About time, aru…” China grumbled, shuffling up to the counter with Russia. A distinct boing boing was heard, and form the back emerged Ukraine with a smile on her face. “Hello! How may I help you today?” She greeted, walking up to the front counter. “Sestra?” Russia smiled. “You work here?”

“Yes! I just started a few days ago!” She smiled as well, clasping her hands in front of her. “Things are really looking up for me now! I’ll finally have the money to pay my little brother back!” Russia looked off to the side. “W-We’re past that, Sestra… Years past that…”

“What can I get for you two?” Ukraine smiled, rocking her hands. “I don’t care…” China sighed. Things just keep getting better and better, huh? “Oh!” Ukraine clapped her hands. “We have a new special, the Fudge Boat! It’s a chocolate lover’s paradise!”

“Ooh, sounds good, right Yao-Yao?” Russia said, nudging China softly. The Asian shrugged. “I suppose, aru.”

“Two Fudge Boats, coming right up~!” She swiveled on her feet and went to the fridge, but paused a moment. She tentatively got out two metal ice cream dishes, and paused again. Mumbling to herself, she got out the chocolate sauce and poured a thick layer in each dish. She sprinkled some chocolate chips on top, then stopped. She muttered something like “Can’t be right…” and got new dishes, placing the others in the sink. China raised an eyebrow. “Does she even know what she’s doing, aru?...” He whispered, a sweatdrop forming. Ukraine went to grab the whipped cream, though it was empty. She made a face and took out a new one, though she struggled to open it. No amount of twisting and pulling would get it open. She resorted to hitting it on the edge of the counter softly at first, but she gained strength. Hit, hit, hit SPURT—the top flew off and a bit of air sputtered from the nozzle. “Ahh!” Startled, Ukraine jolted back, and the can flew into the chocolate sauce and chips. Everything clattered to the floor, and in no time there was a chocolate lagoon in the middle of the floor. “Ahhh, oh nooo…!!” Ukraine cried, hands on her face in shame. Russia and China watched on in dismay as Ukraine’s boss appeared form the back and screeched “What in the name of Davy Jones’ locker is going on out here?!” Suddenly he slipped on the chocolate spill and landed on his back. Ukraine started crying loudly, and ran into the back shouting “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry everyone!”

“Oh, Sestra…” Russia said, chuckling awkwardly as China smacked his forehead.

^-^-^-^-^


It was significantly late at night by the time the two made it back to the park. China was still fuming, so much that Russia half expected smoke to come out his ears. Russia sighed. “It’s too bad things didn’t go as planned today, da?”

“Oh, absolutely!” China snapped, walking ahead. “I was supposed to have everything done by tonight, but nooo, aru! You had to come over and drag me out, getting me in trouble with everyone we met, and my work still isn’t done!” He flopped down on a bench and threw his head back. Russia sat next to him tentatively, also looking up. “Oh” he said, pointing upwards. “Look. Three stars in a row. That’s a constellation, da?” China huffed and opened his eyes. “That’s Orion, aru. The hunter.”

“And what about that one?”

“That’s… the Seven Sisters. They look like a ‘Y’.”

“Oh oh! There’s the Big Dipper! You see it, right Yao-Yao?”

“Yes, aru… Wait, then isn’t that one Taurus?”

“Oh, yes it is! I remember!”

“I see…” China looked at the sky, his eyes glazed over. “There sure are a lot of stars out tonight…” Russia nodded. “It’s a very clear night.” They admired the stars a moment, neither speaking a word. Then China sat up. “…I suppose today wasn’t so bad, aru.”

“Hm?” Russia turned to him. “I mean” He continued. “Things went wrong all day, and I have a lot of work left to do… but I haven’t spent time with you in ages, aru.” He turned to Russia and smiled softly. “If you didn’t drag me out today, I don’t think I would have ever made time just to, ah” He bend his fingers in air quotes “ ‘hang out’ as you young people say.” Russia smiled as well. “I am glad you liked it, Yao-Yao.”

“W-Well I never said I liked it…” China said quickly. “Next time” Russia continued. “We’ll finish our work first, and then have fun, da?”

“Sounds good…” China said, and chuckled.