People Fall in Love all the Time

Man, This Party is Shit

To put it simply, there was definitely a tension in the other car. The only ones unaffected by the air was North Korea, Greenland, and Antarctica. South and Japan were in the front, looking into the rearview at the second row, where America and and Russia sat next to each other.

Of course North Korea would refuse to sit next to America.

South met Japan's frantic look with a wince. She motioned her head and eyes to the two behind them, trying to day, This is awkward as hell! Say something!'

"Soooo..." he started, "Russia! Uh, what is it that you're doing nowadays? I haven't seen you in, uh...well, since high school."

"I--"

"Russia does work in construction" North Korea interrupted, "he does the welding."

"Oh? That's pretty cool!"

"Mhm," Russia hummed, "Ms. Lynn's classes did not go to waste. Not what I imagined doing, but it is not so bad."

"Oh man, I remember Ms. Lynn. I didn't have her, but I met her during the teacher versus senior baseball game. And of course, when we had that bet on who would win TAG."

America, chin in his hand and leaning on the window, glanced at Russia from his peripheral, expression unchanging. He turned when Antarctica tapped husband shoulder to sign to him.

"Yeah, that's the one I told you about."

Antarctica brightened and smiled as he signed more excitedly.

America snickered and said to Russia, "Tica says that he would have expected you to win."
America leaned back in his seat and patted Antarctica's hand, "I thought so too, my dear Tica. But alas, our dear ole Rus couldn't hack it, and cost us our money."

"Your brother was insane."

"Canada's really competitive, dude."

"Ugh, it sucked," South complained, "I was out the first night."

"You broke into my house," Russia deadpanned.

"I mean, you still got me, so what's your problem!?"

"You broke. Into. My house."

"Oh come on, all I did was climb into your window!"

North Korea scoffed at her brother, "figures you would be so dumb as to get caught trying to sneak up on someone."

"Hey!"

"Although I will admit," North said, eyeing her boyfriend, "I don't know much about Canada myself, but I also would have expected you to win."

"Thank you," Russia said, "I guess it's true that a loss will haunt you forever then."

"Aw c'mon, you had fun, didn't you?" America said as he had Russia a grin and a elbow nudge.

Japan smiled at SK, who gave a things up, back.

"Yes, I did, but do you all have to keep bringing that up? It's..." Russia averted his eyes to the floor, "embarrassing to think about."

America, who was staring right at him, was able to see the blue on his cheeks darken from a light blush.

Oh, America suddenly remembered, right. When he lost, we were...

America also blushed and quickly shifted closer to the door, staring out the window.

Japan was thrown by the sudden shift, but said nothing.

What just happened?! They were just smiling and talking like normal a moment ago!

She huffed and tried to think of something.

"Ame-kun, when did you learn sign language?"

"Uh, I learned from Tica, during college. He taught me ASL when we weren't agonizing over our environmental class projects."

"That's so cool!"

"Yeah, Tica knows a lot of different sign languages*, so if you're ever interested, you can ask him about it."

"I will! Hm, so, Tica-kun, how did your u and Greenland meet, if I may ask?"

'We were neighbors, so we just always knew each other, since our childhood.'

"We've known each other since we were kids, we were neighbors," Greenland translated.

"Awww, you two are so cute," Japan gushed.

Antarctica beamed a grin and cuddled into his boyfriend's side, who leaned into the affection.

Russia suddenly asked America, "I hear from Kiwi that you had a podcast, is that true?"

America raised a brow when Russia referred to his sister so casually, even using her nickname, but didn't mention it.  He instead shrugged, "Uh, yeah, I did. It started out as a bit of a way for me to help myself fall asleep and mellow out, cause I would ramble about whatever was on my mind. It turned into a whole thing and I just continued doing it."

"It sounds nice. Do your u still do it?"

"Yeah, because I enjoy it, but also because I think it serves a purpose. Some people on my campus who listened to it would come up to me and tell me how it really helps them relax after a long day. Some used it as background noise when they worked or other things, and others just really enjoyed hearing me talk. I guess I have a nice voice."

Russia hummed and nodded, "It is nice. Very good for such a thing like the radio."

"Yeah. My schedule is supposed to be every Friday, so when we arrive in Wyoming, I'll be able to start another episode."

"I'd love to hear it."

"Well if you have the app for it, you can listen to it. It's called 'Why are we up Tonight?'"

"I will definitely be doing that," Russia said.

America felt embarrassed, if he really meant that. Naturally, there was something awkward about meeting up with your ex after several years, despite their relationship having ended on sudden but otherwise not-so-bad terms.

NK pointed out the window and said, "oh fuck, what are those stupid things called again? Russia, what is it? What is 소(so)? South, what is 소 again?"

"Cows, North. They're cows."

NK "aha'ed" and pointed at her sibling, "That's them! 소! Cows! There are cows!"

Indeed there were. Everyone stared out the window as maybe twenty or so brown cows were scattered about the grass on the side of the road, lazily grazing. The only thing keeping the cows from wandering into said road was a three foot high barbed wire fence. Everyone except South - although he did spare a look - peered put the window to watch them as they rolled on by. And as quick as it happened, the moment was over.

~~~
A/N: Antarctica knows several different sign languages, including American, Russian, Australian, New Zealand, French, and others. Basically, any country who has land in Antarctica, he would know their sign language.
Ngl I'm not sure where I was going with this chapter, but I just wanted to maybe cut some of the tension between Russia and America, since I know a lot of you are doing for some real RusAme moments already. Heheh, would be a shame if I messed it up, huh?