Sticky Notes And Trinkets (Rusame)

Overdramatics and High Honors

America stretched, getting out of the chair he'd been sitting in since about eleven last night. He looked at the three finished pins, honestly quite content with them. He hoped Russia would enjoy them. They were Drawing he'd done that he'd made a careful coat of uv resin over a couple drawings he'd done on treated paper. One pin was an Orchard Oriole, a female one. It felt a little silly to give Russia something that blatantly represented himself, but he figured it fit since the other pin was a mountain lion, something that reminded him of Russia. The last pin was the same Oriole and the mountain lion, the Oriole flying around the mountain lion.

He carefully picked them up and arranged them into a small package so that he could insure Russia received the pins undamaged.

He put it in his pocket and grabbed the other gift, a yellow frog plush.

He made his way to the kitchen, putting some bread and putting it in the toaster. While he waited, he grabbed a pen and started writing a note, so his dad wouldn't tear up the town looking for him when he was just going to school early.

"I thought you were right handed-" America heard the tired sounding voice of his brother say.

"Canada, I speak for both Dad and myself when I say this; Shut up, hand is hand"

Canada, being the dramatic hellion he is, heldthe back of his hand to his forehead while say: "Betrayed by My own brother, this a sad day for I. Alexa, play allies or enemies"

"You've been spending too much time with Kiwi! Alexa stop-"

Canada walked away, still pretending like he had been betrayed, acting as though he'd been stabbed.

America shook his head, grabbing his toast and buttering it before finishing the note and walking out of the house to walk to school.

He needed to get there early if he didn't want to get caught, as he'd noticed sometimes Russia rode the bus, and sometimes he was there earlier. And he personally wasn't interested in getting caught.

The walk was a fairly short one, only about twenty minutes.

He looked back at his phone, considering what Gliss had suggested, talking to Russia. He wasn't sure it'd go well, and he couldn't find any signs that Russia would not be hostile towards him, but Russia also hadn't really shown any real signs of dislike towards him since after their first really bad interaction. He didn't feel safe reaching out without proof that Russia was at least okay with his existence, proof he didn't have yet. Proof he might never have.

That thought bothered him, this sort of limbo he was in had never ended well. Not for him, at least. Usually, whoever seemed indifferent to him ended up hating him for one reason or another. He wasn't sure how long this state of limbo would go on for before he reached the likely ending of Russia disliking him.

It wasn't unusual for him. Even if someone was close to him, they sometimes would end up hating him.

He remembered being friends with Dubai, they'd been close, almost best friends. Dubai hadn't minded that his hobbies seemed "feminine", though he did tease him a bit about it. Good things didn't last, something America now knew well. At some point he'd started to have what he thought was a crush at the time. He'd thought even if it'd make things awkward, he would be safe to tell him about it. He'd been dead wrong. He'd started to tell Dubai that he was gay, and before he knew it, his once friend had left him and called him a slur on the way out.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he entered the school. He knew now that what he'd been feeling wasn't a crush, it was just a craving for a closer queer platonic bond with someone he'd perceived as safe. It'd turned out that person wasn't safe, and now that he thought back on it he was glad not to be close to.

Though sometimes, he couldn't help but miss the friend he'd once had. He couldn't help but find a connection between his situation and the song "How to Rest" by The Crane Wives. He found it a little funny, since he quite literally couldn't rest.

He shook his head in an attempt to clear the memories and the dramatic irony of the connection between the song and his life, looking up to find that he was in front of the school already. He headed in and made his way over to Russia's locker, doing a quick check to make sure no one was nearby before he put the carefully wrapped pins in.

He closed the locker and quickly made his way to the library, planning to pick back up where he'd left off in the book that'd been recommended to him. But he paused for a second as he considered that maybe it'd be a good idea to stay to see Russia's reaction. Especially since he wanted to know if Russia enjoyed the gift.

He sighed and looked through his phone, deciding to read a book on his phone while he waited.

After a while he could hear someone's footsteps, so he looked up to see who was coming, seeing that it wasn't Russia, it was his once friend. It was Dubai. He hid himself away fairly quickly, not wanting to be spotted.

Soon enough he heard Dubai walking off, he let out a relieved sigh as he mentally thanked the luck granted to him by the stars. (Or well, that's how he liked to think about it.)

He didn't take himself out of his little hiding spot, not seeing a reason to, as it had a fairly good view of Russia's locker. Plus, it wasn't exactly uncomfortable either. Ultimately it had more benefits than detriments.

It wasn't much longer after Dubai was gone that he saw Russia. He smiled a little as he saw Russia open his locker and retrieve the little pins, admittedly getting a little excited as he saw Russia taking them out of the casing.

Then Russia did something he wasn't at all expecting - taking off his hat (that America distantly recognized as an ushanka) and affixing the pins to it before putting it back on. He flushed a little at that, Russia almost certainly didn't know how high of an honor that kind of thing felt like - especially seeing as this was the third time he'd done it!

The two bracelets he'd made seemed to have become a permanent fixture in Russia's attitude, and he'd yet to see the scarf outside of the day he'd given it to Russia. Which was something he expected, since they were still in a fairly warm fall at the moment.