Stars and Moonflowers in Our Garden(Rusame)

Chapter Twenty-four: Cold Tea and Warm Tea

America walked back to his barracks, humming to himself as he did. The first thing he did when back was get Nyx's letter out and put it on his desk. He wanted to take another look at it to decide how to respond.

After rereading it, he took out some paper, his inkwell, and his quill. He then opened the inkwell and dipped his quill in so that he could start writing.

After writing in the little "Dear Nyx", he re-read the letter and responded as best he could to each part. He felt concerned for Nyx, worried that by giving himself a deadline of sorts, might negatively affect him, so he said as much. But he also noted his excitement to meet the other. He hoped it wouldn't make the other disregard his own comfort.

Then he continued to read over what else Nyx had written, responding to all of what he said accordingly. He also added questions about what he'd said out of curiosity.

He didn't notice how the time flew by as he wrote, soon finding himself done with the letter. When he was done with the letter, he found it around the time he'd need to start readying himself to leave.

Well, not exactly, it was when he preferred to get ready to leave. So, he headed into the bathroom of his barracks and turned on the shower. While he waited for it to reach a proper temperature, he stripped himself of the clothes he'd chosen to garden in. They were dirty, he noted to himself, deciding they'd be making it into his next wash.

He hummed a little to himself as he hopped in and started to clean himself. He washed his hair and the rest of his body. He didn't shift, as he wouldn't have to worry about his fur for a little while longer.

Once he was content with his level of cleanliness he hopped out of the shower, turned it off, and started to dry himself. He wrapped his hair then used a different towel to dry the rest of his body. Once his body was dry, he hung up the towel he'd used on the little rack. He then ruffled and messed with the hair under the towel. Once content, he unraveled the towel, and found that his hair was barely even damp. He wasn't yet content with that, so took the towel to it again. He hung the towel up beside the first once he was content. He then walked out of the bathroom and collected everything he'd need for his outfit for the coming day.

He then dressed himself, and grabbed his messenger bag. He slung it over his shoulder and then prepared the envelope for the letter, writing "From Aku, to Nyx". While he waited for the ink to dry, he collected the dirty gardening outfit from his bathroom, putting it in his laundry basket. Then he returned to the letter, and gently folded it, and put it into the envelope. He closed the envelope and decided to eat breakfast then take the long way

He made himself some breakfast, ate, then left. During this, the letter never left his sight, always within his reach.

It made him feel better about it; sure he'd never lost a letter, but he didn't want to make this the first time he did. He almost laughed at himself, holding onto, and keeping a close eye on, the letter made him admittedly feel a little childish.

Once he was done with his meal, he started the walk to his office. He stopped by the Chamomiles and crouched down so that he could put the letter under the flowers. He carefully moved them aside so he could slip the envelope into them. Once it was in the flowers, he moved the flowers back to their original positions, healing the stems of any minor damage he may have caused. Then he got back to standing and trotted back off, continuing to his office happily.

He quite enjoyed these letters, and enjoyed getting to know whoever went by the alias "Nyx". Whoever it was was someone he'd be happy to have as a close friend, someone he'd like to be closer to. But for now, he was content with the letters. He hoped that Nyx was as well.

He shook off the thoughts and continued his walk; now that he'd refocused his thoughts he realized that he was moving faster and growing closer to his office faster.

Soon, he found himself in front of his office. He opened the door and almost immediately noticed the mug on the coffee table. So, he walked over to investigate.

He noticed that it was the tea of the variety he'd recently given Russia. The mug looked mostly full, but it had been drunk from. He thought for a moment, then remembered the sound of something being placed down the other day, this must've been what Russia set down before messing with his hair.

As he remembered that, he felt his face grow hot. He tried to calm himself, and fanned his face as if trying to cool off.

It took himself a bit to compose himself, but he eventually did. He then started to think about what to do with it. He settled on deciding when Russia got there.

Soon enough, he heard someone come into his office, and looked to see who it was. It was Russia, which was pleasant; he was always happy to see the prince around.

So, he happily greeted the other with a smile on his face. "Good morning Russia! How are you?"

Russia smiled a little before speaking. "I'm doing well, how about you?"

"I'm doing great! Thanks for asking." He said with a purr rolling off his tongue, it was almost instinctual when he was happy. He immediately felt himself fluster, but kept the blush off his face. He just hoped Russia hadn't heard it, as it'd be a bit embarrassing.

Thankfully, Russia didn't mention it if he'd noticed. Though, America didn't think he had heard it, as it seemed like something Russia would ask about.

"Did you leave a cup of tea in here yesterday?" America asked after a moment, loosely gesturing to the cup on the coffee table.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry, I didn't realize I did."

America hummed a little before he spoke again. "If you want it, I can use some of my abilities to warm it back up."

"That'd be nice, but don't waste your resources on it-"

Russia cut himself off, assumedly because America had ignored that and already reheated the tea and was handing him the cup.

"Thank you, but you really didn't have to." Russia said, taking the mug gently, before taking a sip.

"Maybe not, but I wanted to!" America happily replied with a smile as he walked back over to his desk.

This was something he didn't do often, his heating magic was extremely weak, he couldn't even produce fire. It also took quite a bit out of him, admittedly. So he reached into his drawer and pulled out a small tray of snacks. He grabbed one of the more energizing ones from the bunch and started to eat it. He knew that it'd keep him from feeling tired.

When he saw that Russia was enjoying the tea, and had a smile on his face, he felt that the temporary loss of energy was well worth it.

He watched as the prince took a seat across from him, in the chair in front of his desk.

America hummed and thought for a moment, admittedly, he also wanted some tea. So instead of taking a seat, he went to making some for himself.

He went with black tea, and found himself comfortable in the silence that filled the room. It wasn't awkward, it was comfortable.

As he thought, the more he realized that he'd failed in not catching feelings for the other in the room. He almost laughed at himself, but didn't.

He felt a little pathetic for hoping that he may have a chance with the other man.