Fake (Hetalia: FrUkUs)

.30.

The following day, at eleven in the morning, I was running frantically around the house yelling things like, "I'm late!", "Where are my shoes?", "shouldn't have stayed up so late", and "If you and Francis hadn't", followed by lots of rambling.

I was an hour late getting to the airport, and had two missed calls from Ivan. Finally, Arthur and Francis pushed me out the door, promising they'd clean up before I came back. I nodded in a half-listening manner before running out the door with a weak wave to the both of them.

I drummed my fingers impatiently against the steering wheel as I drove to the airport. I turned the music up in a failed attempt to distract me from my growing anxiety.

I got stuck in mid-morning traffic and tried my hardest to not slam my head into my car horn as I pulled to a stop in the road.

There was no way this could be happening! I was already late-... I dropped my head against the wheel. This was not how I wanted Ivan's return, and Chun-Yan's visit, to America to start. I had just resolved myself to call them to explain what happened, when my phone went off.

I turned down the music and picked up my phone, swallowing hard as I read the caller ID.

"Hello?" I asked tentatively.

There was faint laughing from the other line and then someone spoke over it.

"Hello, Alfred."

"Chun-Yan? I swear I'm on my way right now. Things came up last night and I ended up over sleeping-"

"Alfred," She cut me off before I began rambling, "It's alright. These things happen."

"Y-Yeah," I sighed. "Hey, one question," I inched forward slowly in traffic before coming to another stop, "Why are you calling from Ivan's phone?"

"Oh," there was a pause, which allowed me to hear the laughter again, "He's a little busy laughing at your appearance at the moment."

I blinked, before pulling my phone away from my ear in order to look at it. What? I asked her. Someone knocked on my window and I yelped.

I turned and saw, in person, a smiling Chun-Yan.

"Hello, Alfred!"

I dropped my phone as I put my car in park, in the middle of the heavily trafficked road, and then opened my door.

"How-"

"We took a cab," She motioned behind her to where Ivan was talking through a car window with a cabbie, who looked visibly shaken before popping the trunk.

"Spasibo," He smiled as he turned around to retrieve their things however, when his eyes met Alfred's he stopped. His violet eyes widened as his smile slowly fell, and his eyes ran over Alfred's body, as if unbelieving of what he was seeing.

Alfred gulped in nervousness.

Ivan had changed a lot in the past five years. He was taller, obviously, and his features had matured in all of the right ways, yet, something was off about his smile. It was... cynical. It made it seem as if he found things amusing; as if everything was just a broken form of amusement. His eyes seemed a bit hurt.

And then he was laughing. And that laugh was exactly as I remembered it to be.

He laughed with his entire body. His shoulders shaking under his heavy coat, and he hid his face in his hands to hide, I knew from experience, the goofy and adorable way his eye would screw shut and the way his cheeks would turn red. But, covering his face didn't stop his laughter from being heard. That too, was just as I remembered, even if his voice had lowered in maturity. It came from his chest, deep and loud, and was the happiest thing I'd ever heard.

Yes, this was the same boy, the same Ivan, I had known in the eighth grade.

And it made my heart flutter.

"I-"

"You look so ridiculous, " He got out between laughs. Chun-Yan had already retrieved their bags and put them in the trunk of my car, how did she get it open? I looked at him for a moment and then at myself.

These were the clothes I wore yesterday, so they were a bit rumpled, but otherwise were fine. I realized, embarrassingly, that I was wearing two different shoes, and I turned quickly to check my reflection. I had a shitty case of bed head.

"Shut up," I huffed, crossing my arms.

"I'm only teasing," He said as he wiped a tears from his eye. Yeah, definitely just teasing. He took a few steps forwards so he was only a foot away from me.

"I'm happy to see you, Fredka." I couldn't stop a shiver from going down my spine as he said my name. It had been so long since we had actually spoken together, face to face. Since he had called my name like that.

I couldn't stop myself as I flung my arms around his shoulders, goddamn he really was tall! and buried my face in his chest.

"I missed you too, Vanya." I didn't miss the shiver that traveled through his too warm coat. He held me back and I sighed as j relaxed against him.

Yes, I had never realized how much I actually missed him.

"Okay, that's enough gay for one day!" Chun-Yan got between us, pushing us apart, and Ivan rolled his eyes.

"Ch-"

"I wanna hug Alfie, too!"

~

Once they were back at my house, it was to my dismay to find that my two partners had left. They hadn't even left a note. They did do as they promised and cleaned up the mess from the night before at least.

When I walked into the kitchen I heard the telltale sound of claws on floorboards and then a series of loud thunderous, and high yapping, barks as Poofy and Princess ran into the room and tackled me over.

"Poo-" I was cut off as the dog began barking very loudly, obviously having noticed the two strangers. Princess was much less of a threat and was more preoccupied at sniffing at Chun-Yan who knelt down to pet her. Poofy let out a threatening growl and I jumped up.

"Foster!" I yelled over the dogs pouts. Poofy's ears went straight before falling flat. His tale went between his legs, but he wouldn't look at me. "Outside!" I said in a stiff tone. I walked over and picked up Princess, who looked up at me and allowed her tongue to hang out the side of her mouth in excitement, and then pointed to the back door, now meeting the dogs eyes. "Outside," He was told again. The dog bowed it's head and went to the door, standing in wait for me to open it.

When I did, the dog was back to his normal self and charged into the snowy backyard. Princess barked happily and jumped out after him, though she disappeared into a large snow bank, requiring Poofy to dig her out. Ivan remained passive through all of this, and Chun-Yan only pouted over the small dog being taken.

"You got new dogs," Ivan remarked as I closed the door.

"Yeah..." I trailed off, rolling my eyes at the end. "They're just as playful, loving, and annoying as I remember."

"I'm surprised," Ivan nodded, "I never thought you'd get another."

Kuma, the family dog that had died just before Ivan had transferred in in the eighth grade, had actually been a gift to Mattie. The idea of getting another dog afterwards always saddened the rest of the family, so it never happened. And then one thing lead to another, and it was off the table completely.

"Well, it wasn't my idea," I told him as I turned around, "but, I'm glad we got 'em."

"I"m surprised your mother let you."

I didn't answer and the conversation went stale.

I cleared his throat. "I'll show you to your room," I said, and they grabbed their bags, Ivan insisting to carry them all and Chun-Yan hitting him in the arm before lifting up one of the smaller bags. "You don't mind sharing a bed do you?" I teased.

"-"

"Ew." Was all Chun-Yan said before walking away up the stairs. Ivan and I sat in silence, waiting.

"Where am I going!"

We both laughed.