Never Left

Chapter 2

Originally published on: April 18, 2020

America's POV

I sat in the kennel, ignoring the food and water they had set out for me. I just wanted to get out of here and tell my family that I was okay. Tell Russia that I was okay. Before I was a dog I always felt  bad that the dogs had to be confined to such small spaces, unable to freely play around. The constant barks and howls always made me sad because I knew I couldn't help them. Now all of the sound was just like static. I came here yesterday.

I could hear the staff opening the shelter. At first it was still relatively quiet, but after an hour or two there were more people. I looked over to the dog in the kennel across from me and started to read the little bio that had all the info about him for any possible adopters.

His name was 'Strauss' and he was an Australian Shepard & Labrador retriever mix. Five months old. I sighed and walked over to the bed that the shelter had provided. I wondered if there was a way to get me back to my human form. Speaking of, how did I even become a dog? I'm sure I should be dead right now. If I did die what was the purpose of me coming back as a dog? I can't exactly run a country like this. I wonder how the government is doing, I'm sure that the UN has discussed what will come of it. I hope nothing too terrible. I perked my ears at a familiar voice.

"I-is that?" I looked over my shoulder to see Russia looking around at all the dogs. I leaped up and towards him, pawing at the glass in between us.

"Russia! Russia it's me!" I tried to get his attention but I was drowned out by the other dogs. I didn't go unnoticed though. One of the Shelter workers looked over at me with a surprised expression. She walked over to me, this seemed to catch Russia's attention. He looked at her.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked, oh how I missed that voice. But I could tell he didn't want to be here, odd, why was he here anyway?

"I haven't seen him look interested in anything until you showed up. Is he your dog?" She asked. Russia shook his head.

"I haven't had a dog since I was a kid." He kept his eyes on me as he talked to the woman. I barked again and pawed at the glass.

"Huh, well he sure seems to like you. You want me to bring him out so you can get to know him?" She asked taking her gaze off me and looking to Russia.

"Doesn't hurt to try, so sure." He said.

As soon as I could I ran towards Russia, jumping up on him. The woman laughed as I bombarded him. He seemed to push me away.

"Ack! Off boy, off!" He said pushing me away. I stood there, looking into his eyes. Surely he'd figure it out eventually right?

"Don't you remember me?" I said, but to him it must just seem like I was barking at him because he winced. It was an awkward silence for a moment as I slowly approached and nudged his hand with my muzzle, trying to get him to pet me. He slowly reached behind me ear and started to scratch. I could feel my tail start to wag. I watched as Russia started to smile, a real smile. We kept eye contact for a little while until he looked over to the woman and nodded.

— — —

Russia looked over at the white dog he had just adopted. He had bought a red leather collar he thought looked nice and other things that were necessary to take care of a dog. He walked over to his car, the new dog on the other end of the leash. Russia fumbled around in his pocket for his car keys and unlocked the doors. He opened the backseat and waited for the white dog to jump in. But instead it just looked over to him.

"What are you looking at me for? Get in!" He said, motioning for the large dog to get into the car, but instead it just stared at him. The two stared at each other for a little while until the dog let out a dissatisfied huff and jumped into the car. Russia rolled his eyes.

"Dear lord, was it that hard?" He said as he got into the drivers seat. While Russia was starting the car America put his paws on the armrest and slowly inched forwards towards the passengers seat. Russia looked at him.

"Umm, excuse me where do you think you're going?" He asked, trying not to let out a little laugh as the dog stared at him and proceeded to inch towards the passengers seat. Russia just rolled his eyes and let the white dog jump into the front of the car to sit next to him.

"Well I suppose you are going to need a name." He said as he started to drive home. America looked at him, wondering what would happen next. There were a lot of possibilities. He could try to get Russia to guess 'America', he could live with whatever Russia decided to call him, so many possible outcomes.

"Hmm, well I could name you something Russian. I could name you something that..." Russia paused. He took a deep breath and bottled up the emotions, he knew it was bad but if he cried too much his vision would get blurry and that's not a good thing to be driving with. "I could name you something that America would have wanted." The name pained him. He just wanted to see his lover again.

The white dog's ears perked at the name. Russia noticed and thought back to a conversation they had while trying to fall asleep once.

"Ruski?" Ame asked.

"Yes Meri?" Russia responded, keeping his eyes closed as his lover buried their face into his chest.

"Can we get a dog?" Ame said, hoping that Russia would say yes.

"No." Russia responded bluntly. This made Ame frown.

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because we aren't home enough." Russia said. "It would be cruel to leave them at home all day and be gone so often. Plus dogs are a lot of work, who would feed it, who would take it on walks, who would pick up poop and take care of other accidents." Russia explained.

"I would feed it, I would water it, I would make sure it doesn't have accidents, I could do all those things!" Ame whined, Russia smiled as his boyfriend tried to convince him.

"It's still a no."

"Ugh, is It because you don't want to have to share my love~?"

"..."

"Hah! I knew it! Is Ruski jealous~?" Ame teased. Russia just sighed.

"Meri, go to sleep." Russia said, sounding exhausted. It was silent for a moment before Ame started to talk again.

"Ya wanna know what I would name it?" He asked, smiled as he imagined him and Russia walking a dog in the park.

"What?"

"Chips."

"Why Chips?"

"After the dog from WWII. I saw them once, they were pretty adorable. Didn't get a chance to meet them." Ame said. Russia smiled.

"Okay, well I'll keep that in mind. Now go to sleep." He said, tightening his grip on the smaller.

"Ok fine, goodnight Ruski, I love you."

"Night Meri, I love you."

Russia smiled as he recalled the memory.

"How does Chips sound?" The dog perked it's ears, making Russia smile.

"Chips it is then."

— — — — —

Have a lovely day. :)