Ideal Home II Countryhumans AU [USSR x UK]

C H A P T E R 17: Island Of Hospice

[ Warning: Suicide mentions. But you already prolly expected that- ]

" Hey... "

" Kid, wake up... "

" Oh lord, Yani... "

" .... "

" ...Bayani! "

Bayani gasped as he snapped his eyes open. His heart skipped a beat as he did so. He blinked a couple times before the blurriness fading and being able to get a clear view of the familiar figure looming over him. It was Uncle Sealand.

Sealand exhaled as he began to smile a little. "Shi- Oh, blimey, I thought you really died or somethin'..." He uttered as Bayani slowly sat up. He wasn't in the water anymore, that's for sure. He's also... He doesn't have any clothes, except for a very big and comfy towel wrapped around him. Sitting up, he found himself on a rather comfortable couch. His yellow eyes scanned around the room; small, cream-coloured walls, hardwood floors.... The living room he's in is rather small and is kitchen-adjacent. To the side, there was a small set of stairs that led to what seemed to be a loft of sorts. It seems there was a small bed up there and a desk with a bunch of textbooks used in World Academy and other stationery supplies. And most importantly, a shit ton of garbage recycled into little furniture pieces and what not. It was the worse house one could have, but it's enough. It was cozy and livable enough.  "...U-Uncle Sealand?" The boy questioned, rather befuddled. "Is this your house?"

Sealand awkwardly chuckled. "Yeah.. My own lil' paradise as I'd like to call it." He answered, heaving a deep sigh of relief as he gave Bayani a ginger head pat. "Thought I lost ya, bud." He said, walking over to the small kitchen. "You're pretty cold, aren't cha? Want some hot cocoa?"

"Y-Yeah... Sure." Bayani answered. Sealand then prepared it for him. Is he in Heaven? He thought Heaven would be a bit more... Heavenly ? Y'know, glorious and majestic! Well, not to discriminate Uncle Sealand's little shack, this is still clearly nothing glorious nor majestic. Bayani pondered for a moment, feeling his head hurt and finding himself crawling up into a ball, gripping more on the towel around his body as he shivered a little. "Am I dead?" He piped up. Sealand walked over to him and gingerly handed him the fresh mug of hot cocoa. "Well, you almost were." Bayani frowned at that answer. His suicide attempt was unsuccessful, and while that is meant to be a good thing, to him - it is not. Sealand continued, "Was out looking for random scrap I could collect, but then I found you instead."

Bayani supposes that maybe Uncle Sealand saving him wasn't so bad. He likes Uncle Sealand. He's a fun guy. He ended up just staying silent and peacefully sipping his hot cocoa. As he did so, Sealand walked over to a drawer and a bunch of boxes. He scavenged around, mumbling to himself, as he was surely having a bit of trouble finding what the hell that is that he was hoping to get there. While he was doing that, Bayani pondered about his suicide attempt and if he should do it again. Second time's the charm, right? He doesn't want to overstay his welcome despite the amount of selfless hospitality his uncle is showing him right now. If he's not going to throw himself out, Sealand eventually will, right? That's how it always goes. 

"Here." Although before he could fully make any plan of sorts, Sealand has came back to him with what he was looking for earlier in his hands, successfully breaking Bayani out of his suicidal thoughts. Bayani looked up to see some neatly folded clothes. "Your jumper was really dirty so I threw it in the laundry for now. You could wear this instead in the meantime." Said Sealand. Bayani nodded and took the clothes, thanking him for it. A small smirk was on Sealand's face. It was if there was a reason why he wanted Bayani to wear it, but Bayani didn't think anything of it. After he finished up his hot cocoa, Sealand let him change in the small bathroom. He wore the outfit and walked out to show Sealand. Said man couldn't help but start giggling at the sight. Bayani wondered why, but it was sure made to clear to him with a brief explanation. Sealand showed Bayani an old picture of when he was younger. It seems that Bayani became a victim of his uncle's hand-me-downs. The outfit was the old light blue sailour outfit Britain had bought for Sealand when he was younger. And to complete the look, Sealand also put on the sailor beret on him - the one with the little ribbon straps to complete the look. 

Sealand enjoyed poking fun at Bayani and him wearing the hand-me-down. Bayani though seemed to enjoy wearing it too. He says it's very comfy. Another thing that Bayani wanted to point out though, is the teddy bear in the picture. It looks exactly like Mr Snugglemuffins. And so, he pointed it out. "Oh, her?" Sealand pipes up. Her? 

Sealand took off from the couch in which they were just lounging on and headed up the stairs and back down again after a brief moment. Coming back down, he held the teddy bear from the picture. A little pale and weird-looking but that just came with age of the toy. She still looked very well gussied up. Sealand surely took care of her after all these years. He sat back down and showed Bayani the teddy bear. "This is Ms Cuddlecookies," He said. Bayani was rather dumbfounded to meet Ms Cuddlecookies. Sealand asked about who introduced him to Mr Snugglemuffins. When Bayani said that it was Britain, then there really was no surprise there. Both teddy bears came from him, and secretly, a lot of others, including America, has their own teddy bear friend with similar name variants to Mr Snugglemuffins and Ms Cuddlecookies. Sealand was sure that even his ex-wife France, and Soviet, has their own teddy bears too. Sure they don't bring it up much due to most likely embarrassment, but Sealand is sure that they still keep the teddy bears around somewhere. It may not seem like it, but Britain is definitely a child at heart, and giving soft and cuddle teddy bears with quirky names is just his thing. No person in his whole family will ever go empty-handed. Everyone has a teddy bear; whether they already threw it away or not. One may say that it sounds like Britain's colonizing the world again with the power of quirky-named teddy bears. 

Throughout the night, the two ended up bonding with one another and for a short time, Bayani was distracted and fixated more on being with Uncle Sealand. He lives alone on this little island he calls his home. It isn't much but he's somewhat content with it for the meantime. 

And it was surely enough to be an island of hospice.