Chasing Russia: ch. 5

Chapter 5: Under England’s Care-part 3


“…It was just a dream…” you whispered to yourself as you slowly pulled yourself out of the blankets. “You shouldn’t move around, love, you’re still recovering from all that water you drank.” Quickly turning your attention to the figure beside you, your eyes nearly bulged out when within a split second you were seeing the small chibi boy from years ago,

“I-…Ivan…?” you whispered beneath your breath.
The small chibi gave you confused look before speaking again, “What? Uhh…no… My name’s Arthur, love…”

Rubbing your temple you started noticing strong similarities to him and the child in your dream as chibi Ivan slowly started to fade away and was now replaced with a mature looking man garnished with golden blonde locks. “….Arthur?...” you murmured quietly before pushing yourself up and glancing about. The first thing you noticed was the warm glow of the candle stick beside you, it gave off a warm and comforting glow to the low pulsating going on in your head. You brought your attention to the desk behind Arthur; it had a rustic weathered map that looked like he was in the middle of charting out some key locations he was going to check out. By the looks of it you were guessing that you were most likely in the captain’s quarters.

Now completely sitting up in the fluffy bedding you brought your attention back to Arthur, “…..Who…are you exactly..? Actually, how do you know my name?” you stared him down subconsciously, it was one of your lesser traits you couldn’t contain so well but you thought it was a good necessity in this current situation nonetheless.

He just gave you another startled look before standing up from his previous position next to the bed and patted himself down, “I was given orders from my King to come escort the nation ________ on her way to my country, but when we were on our way over we just so happened to spot your ship headed on a direct course for a giant reef….why no one on your ship tried to avoid it is beyond me, but when we were going past I spotted you flying off your ship…So I suppose you could say I saved you from what would have been a watery death…” he smirked.

You just looked down at your hands avoiding his emerald eyes and absorbed every word, “…Then….I’m guessing….you’re England aren’t you?” you said a matter of factly.
England straightened up and bowed like the gentleman he was, outstretching a hand to you, “Arthur Kirkland, or more so known as Great Britain m’lady…”

XXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx------------Tea w/Scones Time Skip-----------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXX

You had been on board England’s ship for nearly a week and it was seriously starting to get underneath your skin, you were a very mobile nation and loved big open spaces to move around, but being cooped up on a ship, no matter how spacious and lovely Britain’s ship was, it wasn’t enough, that’s why you never really liked sailing or oceans to begin with, your eyes needed to see more than just vast blue endless ocean and blue or grey skies and the typical seagull now and then. It just wasn’t enough. You’d wandered into your quarters and looked through the various books England had lent you, some were dictionaries and thesauruses (you’d only go through those when you were ultra-bored, but you liked reading them), others were some spell books and various creature catalogs, but then you spotted something new.

It was a simple hardback book that felt really heavy in your hands, looking about it you soon realized that it wasn’t titled anywhere you could see and even the words looked like they were hand written. You took another glance at it and decided to skim it a bit, but as you went through it you found it to be quite interesting and quickly caught your interest. Lounging on your rocking hammock you swayed your leg back and forth as you read through the first couple of pages, completely absorbed in the tales of romance, knightly-hood, scandals, betrayal, and slight smut (these parts made you blush and you would have to peak around the room to make sure you weren’t being watched.) You were pretty much halfway through the thick book by the time it was noon and while you were reading you heard a knock at your door and you subconsciously let out a hum of approval nose-deep into the book.

Arthur walked in and had a plate full of what looked to be scorched versions of scones in his hands, he walked up to you a smile plastered on his face as he heard you rocking in the hammock. “________, I’ve brought you some scones, they got a little seared on the edges but I assure you that they’re still quite y—“ his smile dropped from his face as he noticed the book you were reading as the plate fell from his hands and he quickly snatched the book from your hands,

“W-W-WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY JOURNAL?!!!”

You stared at his flushed features and felt yourself pout slightly at the fact that he’d snatched the book away from you at one of the good parts, but then it clicked…’Wait…did he just say…j-..journal..?!’ you quickly felt a flush burn at your skin at the realization that you’d been reading his life story laid out on paper for the last nine hours. The two of you stayed planted in your spots unmoving until you saw the plate of half-burned scones on the ground, “A-…umm…S-scones?” You squeaked out quietly, but enough for the Brit to hear. Arthur frowned even more before huffing in powdered-red frustration.

XXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--------Chibi England Pout Time Skip-------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXX

Finishing your second scone you glanced over to Arthur who refused to look at you the whole time you two were eating, you could still see the faint flush apparent on his cheeks and couldn’t help but think it was somewhat cute in a way. Though you doubt that you weren’t doing any better with your blush either. However something caught you off guard as you saw a page slightly sticking out of the thick journal. It was a scene you hadn’t read before and it was towards the end of the journal, like it was a new entry or something of the sort. Taking a closer look without seeming too suspicious you read the small passages,

It’s the seventh day I’ve spent with _______ and I must say, she’s quite the bit of fresh air if I say so myself. Though she has been quite fidgety these last couple of days, I must seem like such an unbearable bore to her….STUPID-STUPID-STUPID!!!
Why can’t I do a better job at entertaining her?! I remember what her boss had told me in that letter about her not liking the ocean and what not, but it couldn’t possibly be THAT bad! Well… last night I decided to look through some of my old catalogs and What luck! We’re headed straight for a course of Dolphins Pass, there’s bound to be a lovely view of the Merpeople from a safe distance. If that doesn’t put a smile on her face, I don’t know what will…

I was about to take my leave when I’d happened to drop my quill by her bed, but as I was reaching down to pick it up I was just ever so slightly pushed by Uni and I ended up falling on top on _______, I’m rather lucky she didn’t wake, really, that girl sleeps like a rock.

Uni just laughed at me but what I found strange was that I didn’t really mind too much, and before I knew it, I found myself pressing my lips to hers…
They were really soft…

After quickly reading through the last couple of words your face was practically as red as a berry and in a hurry you turned back around and ended up spilling your tea. “Bloody Hell, _______! Do be careful would you!” cried Arthur from across from you.
As he started wiping up your little mishap he slowly inched closer, trying to reach over on your edge, but having trouble, he simply grunted in frustration before plopping himself up and walking over to you, his face grew close to yours as he wiped up the spilt tea. Your cheeks were still a burning ember while he was doing this and you found yourself scooting back some to give each other room. “I’m…s-sorry….” You apologized quietly, not used to saying such words, after all in your rebellious streak you weren’t too close to using words that held such emotions to them, like love, sorry, hate…they were just not stuff you dealt with and would rather stick to passive phrases as a well-used substitute. But you just looked away from Arthur, unsure how exactly to confront him.

Arthur just grunted quietly but spoke up nonetheless, “…It’s fairly alright, love… but be more careful next time, I only have so many of these doilies.” He whispered the last part, emerald green eyes glued downward to the handkerchief in his hand. You just sat in your chair staring at his demeanor till he quickly erected himself and turned to you, in quite an elegant fashion actually.

“Actually….________, I—“

But before he could finish one of the crew members shouted from atop the mast that they had arrived in Great Britain. Arthur visibly deflated almost instantly and rubbed at his temple, flush with both embarrassment and frustration, “…Well love…it seems we’ve arrived…”
   


-------To be continued------