Drawing Circles In The Night

Chapter Four

"Phew, that was close…"

They shut the school doors behind them and watched the heavy fire-regulation slabs of metal. A few moments later the padlocks slowly cranked into place. Yep, World Academy was definitely tight on security.

A long time ago, way before the USA had started attending the school, nations had had a lot more freedom in their comings and goings. But as wars passed and alliances built up and broke away, so did the rules.

Nations were allowed to go where they pleased during normal hours, but being out after curfew was a big no-no. He and Canada had almost gotten locked out once. The more northern American country had gotten caught up in showing him some pretty cool and useful plants that he'd been growing in the campus greenhouse.

Now that he thought about it, he didn't really remember much about that night. Except the colours.

The United States shrugged and sighed, leaning his back on the doors. He smoothed his fingers through his dishevelled golden hair.

Russia was staring at him.

Suddenly there was a weird squirming feeling in his stomach. The tip of his nose twitched.

"Okay look man…" America's eyes darted left and right in an edgy movement. "I don't like you, got it?"

Russia looked a bit surprised. "I know that. You've made it very clear." He smiled and his eyes were closed in a blissfully unaware expression.

Russia plodded forward a little.

The younger nation smiled too wide, the corners of his mouth tight with a disturbed twitch.

BANG!

America nearly jumped out of his cowboy boots as the front doors rocked and shuddered behind him.

"What the hell?" He whipped around.

"Let us in!" Prussia banged on the door again.

So that was what that crazy Russia had been smiling at.

"Hey Pluto." America grinned. "It's a great night for some astronomy, isn't it?"

A freaky moaning that sounded like a ghoul or goblin came from the second door and America jumped back, stepping on Russia's feet and bumping his back into him. The taller nation reached up and steadied the blonde. America bit his lip, justifying Russia's little action as necessary since ghosts where about.

France's face wiggled into view, the shadows casting his features into ugliness. "États-Unis, Russie, let us in!"

America let out a laugh and then stage-whispered, "Russia, that ghost is speaking in a language I don't understand!"

"Be happy," Russia told him with a quiet cheerfulness. "If you start to understand ghosts, it means you've died." He looked down at the bespectacled nation, and the United States was very, very aware of the large hands gently holding his shoulders.

Russia's mouth quirked up at the side. "You're not dead yet."

"Yeah, over your dead body." America jeered and pulled away.

"Like Romeo and Juliet." Russia replied, a tinge of silly happiness flitting through his words. The younger nation couldn't figure out if that tone meant he was genuinely making parallels or being creepy on purpose. Probably both.

"Did my heart love till now?" The Russian speaking nation wondered aloud, his voice lilting over the quote.

Russia was from a parallel universe alright. He shuddered.

"Pleeease," Spain chimed in from the other side of the locked doors. "Help us out!"

The trio of annoying European countries groaned and banged on the doors. "Helllpp!"

"Now why would all three of you guys be out past curfew?" America asked innocently while crunching into his apple pie. He balled up the now-empty McDonald's bag and tossed it at the window. It bounced off the dismayed faces there.

The bird on Prussia's head cheeped angrily.

"What were you all doing?" America asked with scrutinizing eyes.

"What do you think?" France winked. "I would love to hear your… fantasies about it."

Britain popped out from behind the three, bringing up the eyebrow quota for the night.

"Bloody hell. Just open the lock with your super strength and never you mind about the going-ons of the big boys in this school." His face held a beautifully crafted uppity smirk. "It's none of your beeswax anyway, United States."

America growled low in his throat. "Big boys…?"

"You're not part of the student council or the kink club, so it has nothing to do with you." Spain explained and the other Europeans stared at him in outrage.

"Shut him up!" Eyebrows screamed and both Prussia and France slapped hands over their brunette friend's mouth.

"I'm not embarrassed," Russia finally inputted. "But your club of adult nature does not interest me much."

Prussia made a face. "We're not interested in seeing your two full moons either!" He spared America a longer look. "And in your case, it's a very full moon. Kesesese…"

"Astronomical fat jokes?" The United States asked unhelpfully, his hand surreptitiously tugging on the tiny golden cross around his neck. "Come on!"

The countries on the other side of the doors snickered loudly. "Ass-tronomical…!" Spain snorted in glee.

The golden blond nation threw up his hands in exasperation even as he tried to look like he wasn't twisting around to see his own butt. Turned out that was a really hard thing to do. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Russia shake off whatever happy stupor that had been causing him to stare off into space.

The Russian speaking nation shrugged and took out his pipe – where the hell had he been hiding that thing? – France, Spain, Prussia and Britain all stared in horror as he jammed it through the door handles.

"The moon is not full tonight," Russia said cheerfully tapping on the glass like the countries were cute animals at a pet store. "But the temperature is supposed to be a beautiful -15˚C soon." He laughed happily as the other Europeans began banging on the door anew.

"Fsem spokoinai nochee!" He wished them good night and turned to continue towards the dormitories. America followed him in disbelief and also little bit of awe.

"America!" Britain called out, but the two science partners were already halfway down the dark hall. "Don't leave me out here with these cretins!"

Britain rattled the handle while trying to fight off the angry trio with his loafer-clad foot. It was well and truly locked.

"Americaaaahhh!"

"You can be kinda a bastard, you know that?" America said as they re-entered the dorms.

"I was just playing with them. If it gets too cold for their weak bodies to handle, removing their clothes and sharing body heat is a method I'm sure they would be more than happy to employ." Russia smiled down at him and the younger nation shifted his glasses, trying to distract from the fact his cheeks had flushed.

"Don't tell me you were planning to break off the locks."

"No." America smirked widely, relishing in the look on those perverted countries' faces. But then he was agreeing with Russia.

He quickly rethought his satisfaction and frowned. "Buuut, it's the principal of the thing. A hero should have saved them!"

"And good Samaritans worth saving are usually locked out past curfew because of their 'Big Boy' extracurricular activities, right?" Russia raised his eyebrows and bit his lip, only just containing his delight.

America could swear he was actually cracking a joke, with sarcasm – and that was just plain strange. He shook his head and let out a short breathy laugh at the madness.

They walked down the dormitory halls in relative comfort. Most countries were either studying or hanging out in their rooms after curfew, but it was a Friday. That meant the whole world was up to no good.

America ran a hand through his hair. "Can't be a hero to everyone I guess." He chuckled. "That's what God is for!"

Beside him, the other country sounded suspiciously like he was trying to smother some kolkolkols. America elbowed him in the side.

"Well, it's a good thing you're my hero tonight." Russia said simply, touching the place where the elbow had gotten him.

America stopped walking and Russia stopped with him.

The younger nation took a few more steps and Russia did the same.

He stopped.

Russia did too.

America bit the side of his lip to stop from smiling at the sheer insanity. "I'm not going back to your icebox!" He spoke very loudly on purpose so Russia could understand without him having to specifically say what he wanted. He grabbed the older nation's arm to steer him into the North American dorm direction.

"I told you this was gonna be a one night thing." America continued with a determined slant of his eyes. A roguish grin overcame his features as Russia came along willingly.

"And the night continues." Russia spoke lowly, as if it meant something.

America unlocked his door and then hunkered down as if he were about to enter a wild jungle. Russia studied him with blatant curiosity as the golden blonde stuck out his foot and kicked out. He then slashed his arm and a pile of clothes cluttered to the ground, almost smothering the young nation.

Russia reached out and flicked the light.

"Aw man," America griped, peeling off an old t-shirt from his head. "You took the fun out of it."

He pile-drived his way through a stack of empty soda cans and pulled his industrial strength vacuum cleaner out from under his head.

"Are you cleaning for me?" Russia asked, amused and taking in the very American décor.

"Nope," America made a face. He switched on the vacuum to its most powerful setting and then lifted it to vacuum the… wall.

He silently mouthed the numbers, "Three…Two… One…"

Loud banging came from his neighbour and Russia jumped in surprise.

"TURN THAT DAMNED THING OFF YOU FATASS!" Cuba pounded on the wall and screamed.

The United States laughed heartily and continued to vacuum.

Russia sweatdropped. He took a seat on the bed and a brilliant smile of indulgence overcame his face. "This is so comfortable. Ahhh~" He sighed with a large sunshiny grin. "Ahhhh~~"

They heard the cigar-smoking nation open and shut his door with a bang. America turned off his neighbourly-annoyance machine.

He waited exactly ten seconds before switching walls and starting up the appliance again. Angry cries came from Canada's room.

"HAHAHA." The bespectacled nation wiped a happy tear from the corner of his eye and then tossed the vacuum away into the recesses of his clothing pile. "That cheers me up, every damn time. Russia," He pointed with renewed Hollywood vigour, "Off my bed. That's where I work."

Russia got up with a little regret at leaving the downy bed written on his face. He immediately went to the desk where action figures of all types littered the surface.

"Since you let me write our whole report while suffering from blasting A/C and then TOSSED it…" America turned on his television with a small click and sighed in happiness.

"You get to do the same thing! Write us our report! Then I'll check it over and if it's not good enough, I'll throw it out!" He smacked the remote control into his palm a few times for emphasis. "On this team we only go for gold Russia!"

"I'll continue where I left off then," Russia agreed, pulling out his notebook from before from who knows where. The United States watched him out of the corner of his eye, the sliver that Texas didn't cover. It was a little bit blurry, but he saw the older nation actually dive into work without much of a fuss.

He raised an eyebrow and nodded in approval, liberty and freedom always won in the end. America shrugged and pulled up MTV.

A loud yawn filled the dorm room.

America stretched and licked the inside of his mouth to try and get that cotton feeling out. He blinked blearily. The TV was still on but the volume was much lower than he remembered it had been.

A creepy humming sound wafted into his ear. It sounded like a lullaby.

He sat up abruptly, the crick in his back from the other night flaring up once more. "What the…"

America slowly, oh-so-slowly, turned his head.

Russia was smiling, seated next to the bed on the desk chair with his socked feet up on the mattress and his hand in a bowl of popcorn.

"…"

They stared at each other.

Russia opened his mouth.

America's lip twitched. "Don't… say… a word."

Russia popped a piece of popcorn in and then made a zipping motion overtop his lips. A wide close-lipped smile stretched his cheeks up and he crunched the lone kernel. The Russian speaking nation looked positively delighted.

Texas was sliding down America's nose but he couldn't even drag a finger up to fix it. "Were you…" He paused, his eyes darting around wildly. "Were you watching me sleep?"

Russia just closed his eyes and happily chewed until the tiny morsel of food was gone. "With this much junk food in your room, it is now very obvious to me why you are harassed for your substantial weight."

"Gfff-" America choked on some unintelligible word and his face turned an unattractive colour. His jaw worked up and down in a funny dance with no sound. No way were the thoughts that had been conjured in his brain going to squeeze their way past his mind to mouth barrier.

He squint his eye and pursed his lips. "What time is it?"

"Approximately two in the morning." America let out a silent relieved breath, just a few hours. "I was watching your television." Russia finally explained. "But letting you make that goldfish face was more interesting."

"UGH, no wonder you have no friends!" America flopped onto his back and half-glared upside at the other nation. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it was rude to stare?"

"Most times when I'm staring…" Russia leaned forward and dropped a few kernels of popcorn over the younger blonde's head, as if he was feeding fish. America's mouth automatically opened and mowed through the food.

"…It's at people's backs." Russia finished and dusted his hand off on America's blanket.

The last crunch America took was strangely tasteless as he watched Russia wheel back to the desk.

"Hey…" He rolled over on the mattress and righted his glasses. Russia cut a pretty funny figure, being so large and trying to use the tiny clean space on the corner of the cluttered desk.

"Why do you spy on all the other countries anyway?" The young nation stuffed a pillow under his chin to prop himself up. "You'd think you would have something better to do! Don't you have some great Russian pastimes you could be freezing your nuts off with?"

"If by 'spy' you mean 'attend classes,'" Russia tapped his chin with his pen. "The reason is simple. Russia must collect and understand all the culture and history of the countries he will become one with."

"That ain't never going to work." America announced loudly and tossed his pillow at Russia's head.

The older nation pulled the fluffy pillow away from his face and peeked out from its edge, tiny creases at the sides of his eyes.

"Your double negative let's me introduce the idea that with all my knowledge I might one day be a teacher at World Academy."

America was stumped. "Wait, what?"

If Russia could sparkle like France, he probably would have right at that moment. "And when that day comes, I'll combine all countries together into the same classroom and then there will only be one— Russian class."

He tilted his head, a slightly longer piece of hair falling across his cheek. "I might even teach you something, United States."

End Chapter Four