Tears of a sunflower

Chapter 29

        When you awoke at around 10, a note was on your bedside table.  ‘Dear (F/N), you fell asleep in the car last night. I needed to check on my house so I tucked you in. I hope you don’t mind. If you would please call me when you wake up that would be quite nice. I hope your sleep was well and we can talk soon. Sincerely, the happiest man ever, Ivan.'

        You smiled at the sweet note and stretched, wrist jingling with your new bracelet. You opened the locket, gazing at the picture of Ivan and traced the engraving with your finger. So it really had happened, this was proof. You picked up your cell and checked your messages, 13 missed calls and a text message, all from Russia.

          This worried you; he never called that many times. You checked the text, it read ‘Please call me, something bad happened. And check the date. Ivan <3.’

        You checked the date, shit it was April 1st. You should have guessed that this would happen. You pressed one on your speed dial, calling Russia. He picked up on the first ring. “Privet Sunflower, did you sleep well?”

“Yes, now how bad is the prank? And do I need to inspect my house for bugs or anything?”

"It’s pretty bad, and go see if you got a package. You will understand, Da?”

          You ran downstairs and opened the front door, phone still in your hand. On your porch was a box, addressed to you. “Yes I got one; can I open it without it exploding?”

        “Da, it’s not alive or dangerous. Although it will likely be embarrassing.”  You put the phone on speaker and picked up the box, feeling how light it was. You set it down and cut it open, careful not to mess up the contents. Inside was a letter, on top of some clothing. You grabbed the letter and read it aloud “Dear (F/N), in the April fool’s day tradition, you have to wear the outfit in this box to the plaza today or the enclosed picture will be spread to the internet. Have a nice day.”

         “Mine was more or less the same, how bad is your photo?”  Ivan asked. You pulled out said photo and gasped, it was a photo of your secret Pikachu cosplay. You had never told anyone about it since you thought it looked silly on you. “It’s bad, really bad. I have to go get ready, I’ll talk to you later Vanya, I heart you.”

You hung up, embarrassed. You set down the photo and began looking out the outfit you would have to wear. Inside the box was an oversized sweater, Uggs, and Russian flag underwear. No pants of any sort. You hurriedly put it on and got in your car. The sweater barely covered the underwear and you constantly had to tug it down.  When you arrived at the plaza you saw many different countries in funny outfits.

China was hiding in a tree, in a dress with long slits up the sides. You walked around and talked to England for a while, he was fairly sure France was behind this. Sadly for him his outfit was a short pink nurse’s dress. All of a sudden you felt eyes on you and turned around, not seeing anything.

You decided to investigate further, you were right by the manhole cover when it lifted, scaring the hell out of you. “Holy shit, is someone down there?”

You knelt down and peered into the space between the cover and the ground. Purple eyes stared back at you, blinking once. You tilted your head to the side and asked “Ivan, is that you?”

“Da, im embarrassed. Will you come in here please, its dry.” You lifted up the cover and climbed down. He was right; it was strangely dry and nice smelling for a sewer. In the dim light you saw Russia leaning up against the wall, cheeks flushed. You stood on your toes and kissed him, not even noticing his strange outfit. After a moment you broke and he took in your outfit.