Stars and Moonflowers in Our Garden(Rusame)

Chapter Twenty-three: Journaled Dreams and Cleaned Cups

"Looking for this?" A voice Russia immediately recognized called out. It came from the direction of his bed. 

So, that's where he looked, finding his father holding up the journal. 

He hoped his father hadn't read the second dream- or either of them. He really hoped his crush on America was something only he knew about right now. But knowing his luck, it wasn't. His father had also likely read at least one of the dreams. He hoped that if his father had read one of them, that it wasn't the second one. 

"Russia, of all the things to write about, why this?" His dad questioned, tossing the journal to him. 

Russia caught it and quickly hid it in the drawer of his bedside table. He responded to the question as he did, not knowing which dream his dad had read. He really hoped he hadn't read both. 

"Dad- Stop- it was a weird dream and I had to process my feelings on it." Russia reasoned, praying that his dad had only read the first one. 

"I wouldn't call that just a weird dream, you dreamed about pinning America to the headboard of your bed and-" His dad stared at him as he started to summarize the second dream. 

Russia flustered and cut his dad off with a yell before he could get to the more flustering part of the dream. 
"DAD STOP-" Russia yelled out, quite flustered. 

Luckily after that, his dad decided to leave him alone, getting up and walking out the room, but before he left, he suggested something. 

"Just talk to him." He said, loud enough for Russia to hear. It sounded like he said something else as well, but what it was, Russia wasn't sure. 

Russia watched as his dad closed the door, leaving him alone. 

He then walked over, looking for the tea that America had brought him the night before. He decided he'd have a cup before going to visit him, as it'd help him calm down. 

So he grabbed a tea bag from the box and went to boil some water. Once it was done, he added some sugar and the tea bag to a mug, in which he poured the boiling water. He didn't want to fall asleep when talking to America. 

He took the mug with him back to his room, starting to sip it once it had cooled enough for it to not burn his tongue. He grabbed the mug that America had brought tea to him the night before, which was still in his room, to return to America. 

After a second, he decided he should wash it before returning it, which meant he was headed back to the kitchen. He got there and placed the semi-full cup of tea off to the side before he washed the other mug from the night before. Once he was done washing it, he dried it and grabbed the cup of tea he'd made earlier. He took a couple more sips from it before he headed back towards America's office. 

Once he was there, he walked in, noting that America seemed to have fallen asleep with his head on the desk. America looked adorable, and he felt tempted to put down the mug from the night before and just pet his hair. It looked really fluffy and soft, and he had very little self restraint. 

He carefully put both mugs down, trying not to wake the healer. Once they were put down, he'd put them on the coffee table, he went over and reached out a hand carefully. He then started to pet the healer's hair, it was fluffy, a little dense, and very soft. 

He heard America make a small noise, indicating he was waking up, so quickly backed off, a bit flustered. He hoped he hadn't woken America up. He would've liked to continue to mess with America's hair, but didn't want to freak him out. 

Once America was awake, he returned the mug, doing so after the other had greeted him. 

He'd noticed the smile on the other's face when he'd greeted him. 

He'd grabbed the mug from the coffee table when he was returning a greeting to America. 

After he returned it to America, he mentioned that he'd washed it. 

America responded to him with "Thank you, but you didn't have to. I could have done it." 

He promptly disagreed with, and voiced that, saying: "I did have to." 

To which the healer responded with "I respectfully disagree with you on that, Russia." 

He responded with a hum, showing he still disagreed, but they were now in an "agree to disagree " type situation. 

After a little bit, Russia noticed America had taken to looking up at him from his spot at his desk. The healer had a gentle smile on his face, and after a small pause, he said something. 

It sounded like the healer had said something along the lines of enjoying something. 

So, a bit confused, Russia tilted his head, unsure if the other had wanted him to understand. He assumed that if America didn't want him to understand, he wouldn't repeat it. So he asked the other to say it again so that he may understand. 

"I really enjoy being around you, I hope you know that." 

Russia paused, almost unsure if he'd heard that correctly. And when he realized he had, his face started to grow hotter so he covered it with his hat. He hoped America hadn't seen that he was blushing. 

Suddenly, he felt two arms wrap around him. Soon he recognized that it was America, hugging him. He slowly uncovered his face, noticing that America wasn't looking up at him after he'd uncovered his face and eyes. He blushed a little and wrapped his arms around America, returning the hug. 

They stayed like that for a while, not a word spoken. But, Russia didn't mind it, enjoying the silence and the hug from the other. 

It felt quite sudden when America looked over and noticed something. He then apologized for something. 

Russia then looked over to see that it was late, and a little past 7. He hummed a little and shook his head, as if to say there was no reason to apologize. 

He smiled a little and petted America's head, taking the chance to mess with America's hair a little more before he went to go and have dinner. 

"See you tomorrow" Russia said, leaving the room after he said that. 

Once he got to the dining room, he and his family had dinner. He felt lucky that the others had a conversation amongst themselves and had not tried to pull him into it. After dinner, no one had bothered him as he walked to his room, his dad opting not to tease him, which was also nice. 

Once in his room, he waited by the window, watching for America to come out and tend to the chamomile flowers. 

He carefully watched and smiled when he saw the other come out early. When he saw America open the letter and start reading it, he got excited. The reactions he saw were so cute to him. The chuckle he heard the healer make was absolutely angelic. He hoped he might hear it again. He liked being the reason the other laughed, and hoped he could be the reason it happened more often. He hoped to see him smile more too. 

He smiled at the thought of that and then went back to his bed. He was excited to see the other the next day, he'd try to show up in his office early, he knew the other's shift started at nine, so that's when he'd show up. 

With that thought, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.