Chapter 4

(Russia's POV)

Russia woke up to the sound of pots banging together. Annoyed, he sat up and saw Ukraine standing at the entrance to his room. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and was clearly trying to tick Russia off. Grabbing a pillow off his bed, he hurled it at his noisy brother. Ukraine immediately stopped and looked in Russia's direction.

" Look who's finally awake! Good morning, sleepyhead!" He said teasingly.

"Shut up" Russia growled playfully. Ukraine smiled and left.

Russia yawned. He vaguely remembered dreaming about walking vodka. Strange. Russia tried to remember what he was supposed to do today. Something important. He figured he would remember after he got dressed. He felt the need to dress slightly nicer, so he grabbed a cozy, navy blue sweater and some jeans. Even after he got dressed, he still couldn't remember what he needed to do. He sighed and decided that he would figure it out later. As he grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs, his planner tumbled out of his backpack. It had flipped itself to a set of numbers and a semi-decent drawing. Everything finally clicked: he was supposed to talk to the new kid today! Suddenly more hyped up, he grabbed his planner and ran downstairs.

He ran into the kitchen. His father was busy making eggs and waffles for breakfast. He smiled warmly at his eldest son.

"Someone's excited today" Soviet said.

Russia's youngest sister, Belarus, came into the kitchen.

" That's because he's excited to see his girlfriend!" She said.

" I don't have a girlfriend!" He said. She was talking about Japan, who was going to come and ring the doorbell any time now. They were definitely just friends.

Russia grabbed a waffle and ate as quickly as he could, staring daggers at Belarus from across the room. She smiled mischievously and stuck her tongue out at him. He simply shook his head and finished the waffle. The doorbell rang just as Russia put his plate in the sink.

Russia opened the door to see Japan. She greeted him with a happy tail swish. Saying goodbye to his siblings and father, he went outside and walked beside Japan. He slowly started to plan out how he was going to say hello to the smaller country. He could feel mild panic setting in.

"Japan, you will be there, right?"

"What do you me- oh yeah! Yes, of course!"

Russia sighed and tried to calm his nerves. Who knew something as simple as saying "hi" could be so nerve-wrecking? All he could do was hope that he wasn't too frightening. They came up to the school and walked in. The warmth was relieving. It had been a cool morning, even for early fall. Russia heard someone calling his name. Sadly, he recognized the voice.

"Hey Russ!~" America said.

"Hi" Russia muttered. He motioned to Japan, and they walked out of the commons and towards the lockers. America followed behind.

"Hey Russ, you wanna meet up after school?"

Russia was annoyed. America really didn't know when to give people space and leave them alone. Luckily for him, Japan knew exactly how to get people off his back. Turning to face America, she fluffed out her tail, lowered her ears, and hissed threateningly. America yelped and ran in the other direction.

"Thanks for that" Russia said.

"Don't mention it. Now, where is this guy's locker?"

Russia grabbed his planner from his backpack and flipped to the page with the new kid's locker number on it. Russia and Japan had reached the hallway where the boy's locker was when Russia stopped suddenly.

"What's the matter?" Japan asked. She followed his eyes and knew. The boy was already at his locker. The original plan was for Russia to just show Japan where his locker was, but that wasn't possible without interaction. Japan patted Russia on the back.

"Don't be nervous. You'll be just fine."

Russia nodded but said nothing. He took a deep breath before approaching the country. He seemed to be organizing his things. Russia came up from behind and gently tapped him on the shoulder. The poor boy was so startled that he yelped and dropped his stuff on the ground. It made such a ruckus that every country turned to look. Some giggled and snickered, and others made remarks Russia couldn't hear. Russia saw the poor country's face turn bright red, and he ran past him and Japan and off down the corridor. Japan came up to Russia, and he turned to her frantically.

"What do I do now?" Russia said in dismay. He was really worried that he had screwed up his chances of being friends. Japan simply face palmed herself.

"Grab his stuff. We're going to find him."

°∆°∆°∆

Russia and Japan found him in the bathroom. Luckily he didn't seem like he had been crying. He saw them come in and nervously pressed himself against the wall. Russia walked in ahead of Japan and went over to him. He crouched down and squatted in front of the nervous country.

" Sorry if I frightened you. Here, you dropped your things."

Russia handed him his stuff. The smaller country relaxed a bit and took his stuff from Russia.

"T-thank you" he stuttered.

"My name's Russia" Russia introduced himself. He was trying to be as gentle and approachable as possible. " What's your name?"

"G-Germany" Germany replied shyly.

Russia smiled at him and stood up. He offered Germany his hand. After a short hesitation, Germany took his hand. Russia pulled him onto his feet. Russia smiled at Germany again, and this time Germany gave him a small smile in return. Russia was for sure he was mistaken, but he thought he saw fangs in the German's smile. Their eyes met for a moment. Russia's dark, brown eyes met Germany's white, almost pupil-less eyes. While inspecting the smaller country's face, he thought he could make out what seemed to be..a black eye over one of his eyes? He actually saw several hints of bruises on Germany's face. There was even a reddish, hand-print-like mark on one of his checks. Had someone slapped him?

"Hey, are you okay?" Russia asked. He saw Germany's eyes widen in fright. "You seem to have-"

"Y-yes, I'm fine!" He said in a slight panic. Russia didn't want to stress him too much, so he asked no further questions.

"I-I have to go now. Thank you for returning my things." Germany said before hurrying off to class. Russia watched him go.

Japan had been waiting outside the men's restroom. She flicked her tail hopefully.

"How'd it go?"

"Okay, I think. At least he's seen my face and knows who I am."

"Yeah, he probably won't forget you with the way you scared him!"

This was true. Russia still felt really guilty for scaring Germany. He didn't mean to, of course, but he didn't feel like he had apologized enough. He hoped they would be able to still develop a friendship.

"So, what's next?" Japan asked.

After thinking about it for a moment, Russia had an idea.

"I'll invite him to lunch tomorrow!" He said after a moment.

"Are you gonna go up to him again?"

"No...I'll slip a note in his locker instead."

"Okay! You should invite him to eat on the roof!

"But what will you do?"

"I'll see if he has any friends. Maybe we can learn more about him that way."

"Sounds like a plan."

°∆°∆°∆

When Russia got home that day, he went up to his room. He found a piece of paper and a pen. He began to write in his best handwriting:

"Hey! Meet me outside for lunch today! -Russia"

Russia crumpled it up. He thought that it sounded too demanding. He tried again.

" Hello! Can you meet me outside at lunch? Your friend, Russia"

This one was somehow worse. After a few more failed attempts, he finally settled on one:

Hey! Can you meet me outside for lunch today? I want to get to know you better!-Russia".

Russia gazed at the note in his had for a moment. He quietly hoped that Germany would get the note and accept his invitation. He seemed really shy. He had zoned out so much that he hadn't seen Ukraine creep in. In a flash, the note was out of Russia's hands and in his younger brother's.

"Ooh, is this a note to your girlfriend?" He asked teasingly.

" I don't have a girlfriend! Besides, it can't be to Japan because we eat outside together all the time!"

Ukraine thought about this. It was true, they were always eating together.

" Oooh! Does that mean you have a crush?"

Russia's felt his face heat up. He couldn't keep himself from blushing.

"Aha! I'm soo telling Dad!" Ukraine ran down the towards Soviet's room. Russia's legs were much longer than his brother's. He grabbed Ukraine, threw him over his shoulder, and walked back up the stairs with him. He set him down and stood in the doorway.

" You CAN'T tell Dad about this!"

"Why not?" Ukraine said naughtily.

"Ukraine please!" Russia begged.

"Hmm...if you really want to keep it a secret, I need to know gender!"

"Fine...it's a boy."

Ukraine smirked, but didn't tell.

" Good luck, Russia!" He said before handing back the note and leaving.

Russia sighed. He could only hope that Germany would meet with him.

(Hope you all enjoy this chapter! If you'll notice, there are no bolds or italics. This is because I'm writing this chapter online, without the Wattpad mobile app. I can type and post, but not do anything fancy with the text itself. Please don't be too annoyed, this will be fixed after the weekend! Enjoy the story for now!

Edit: I have all the Bolds/ Italics fixed now!

Story word count: 1,522 words