Stars and Moonflowers in Our Garden(Rusame)

Chapter Five: Messages and Free-time

Russia smiled, sitting by the window as his cat, Anatoly batted at the hair covering his eyes. He'd asked father if he could take a walk tonight, and he'd said yes. So before he went out, he was giving Anatoly attention. Anatoly was preening at the attention and purring quite loudly. Soon, the cat purred himself into a sleep, so Russia moved away slowly. Soon, he had left his room and was walking to a spot near the Chamomile flowers. He sat on a bench near them, and smiled, watching as the shadows grew longer. 

Soon, he saw someone walk over to the Chamomile flowers. The gardener was earlier than usual. It was not even an hour after sunset! Not that he minded, it meant he'd be able to get more sleep. He watched as they went to check the Chamomile flowers, and they picked up the letter. He heard them chuckle, he assumed as they read how he'd addressed them. 

He heard them slowly open the envelope, and then unfold the letter. They didn't speak, but quietly read for a few moments. He heard them fold it back up and put it in the envelope. He saw them put it in their bag, and then finish checking on the flowers. He hoped this meant they'd respond. 

He smiled at the thought then got up, quietly walking back up to his room. He was careful to quietly open and close the door to his room. 

He fell asleep quickly after getting in bed. 

He woke up early, the sun was slowly rising, and he was up. It was 6:46. Father didn't have to wake him today! 

He chuckled to himself and got out of bed. He got dressed, throwing on his Ushanka, a pair of black shorts, and a yellow sweater. He didn't bother with his hair today, leaving it down. He hummed as he walked out of his room, today was another Free day. He had a couple hours until he could pop into America's office, as he didn't feel like hanging out in the library today. 

America said he didn't mind, but he found himself unsure about whether he should believe that or not. He'd know after seeing his reaction in a few hours. 

Eating with his family had been interesting the night before. His father had apparently noticed him slip into America's office, and teased him a little about it. It was early, and breakfast never got anyone to speak. His siblings were still waking up, and his dad was content to just let them wake up. 

Breakfast was quiet as per usual, though father had seemed surprised he was awake so early. He'd gotten a pat on the head before he was allowed to leave. 

He didn't say where he was going, but his dad definitely had seen him head in the direction of the medical wing of the castle. America wasn't the sole healer, but was the only one who was responsible for the royal family and injuries from guards of the royal family. 

The other healers were there to care for everyone else, though it was obvious America invited the other healers to send more severe injuries to him, or that was his best guess. Maybe the other patients he saw were friends? 

Russia shook those thoughts from his head, it wasn't his business, so he shouldn't question it. 

He walked into America's office, careful to be quiet. 

America still heard him and looked up, then smiled. 

Russia smiled a bit in return, happy to see that maybe America had meant it and that the invitation was genuine. 

"So, what are you up to?" Russia asked, he couldn't help it, America was writing pretty quickly. 

"Someone wrote me a letter, I wanted to finish my response to him. I didn't last night, so I'm going to now. I wanted to send it on my way here this morning, but I didn't finish it last night." America responded, dipping his quill back into the inkwell. 

Russia hummed, finding himself curious of who'd written the healer a letter. Though, he decided he'd leave America to finish his writing before he tried to start a conversation. 

After a few minutes, he heard America put the cap on his inkwell, then put the quill down. A minute after that, he heard America fold up the paper and put it in the envelope. 

Then America came back out and went back to what he was doing the day before. What he was doing, Russia wasn't sure. However, it was nice to watch him do it, even if he didn't know what it was. 

America started to hum to himself a bit. 

"You ate breakfast this morning, right?" America asked, looking up from his sorting. 

"Yeah, I did." He said, smiling. "I was actually up early this morning." 

"That's good to hear! I was worried about that yesterday. I hope you are in the habit of getting proper rest, and eating properly." America said as he took a few things over to a drawer. 

America seemed to not mind his presence, and seemed happy to talk to him. 

He smiled at that thought, then watched as America grabbed more things from the table to sort through. 

"Oh, if you don't mind, pass a message on to your father, Soviet. Tell him to drop by, I have a couple status reports to hand over." America said. That thought seemed to come out of nowhere. 

Russia shrugged and smiled. "I will, anything else?" 

"Please tell him to leave me and my gay panic alone. He probably won't listen, but it's worth a shot." America said, lightly shrugging. He held a vial with purple liquid in his right hand, and a package of something else in the other. 

Russia hummed a bit to himself, mentally noting to bring this up to his dad later. 

America seemed to be a bit calmer and more loose than many described him. He had an air of confidence that definitely came from years of experience. This brought a question to Russia's mind. 

"How old are you?" He impulsively asked. 

America jumped a bit, and his hair poofed up, like a cat's fur would when spooked. That was a bit funny and cute. 

"Ah, I didn't mean to be rude-" Russia said, only to be cut off. 

"I'm 24, same as you. Sorry about that reaction, you just surprised me." America said, lightly smoothing his poofed up hair. 

Russia found himself a bit shocked, America acted a lot more like a 30 year old, but he looked 18. But that was mostly due to how short he was, he was ~1.5(~5') meters or somewhere around there.