4Prompt- Mail sent to wrong address- Human AU
WARNING: Foul Language and slight OOC-ness to characters (I insert my own head-canons to my writing.)
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this fanwork. They belong to Hidekez Himaruya, the creator of the webcomic and manga "Hetalia"
Natalya sighed slightly as she heard the doorbell ring. She was in the middle of reading 'Murder on the Orient Express' and honestly, she did not feel like stopping to go see who the hell was ringing the damn bell. Who stops in the middle of a chapter!? No one. Especially when there was just one of the greatest plot twists in history, or at least in the books Natalya had read recently. 'Its probably some stupid advertisement shit.' She thought to herself, scowling at the French words on the page. For a British author, the book had quite a lot of French; she'd have to ask Emma to translate for her later on, since she was sure she had heard her Belgian friend speak in it before.
After a minute or so the bell rang again. Natalya grabbed a bookmark off her bedside table and put it in the book, closing it and getting up lazily to answer the door. "I swear to god if Katyusha forgot her keys again-" she mumbled, swinging the door open. Surprisingly it was some guy holding mail. A very attractive guy but that didn't matter; No one interrupts her in the middle of a book. "What?" She asked, sounding incredibly irritated.
"Sorry to bother you but one of the mail men must of made a mistake. They gave me some of your mail- or at least I think it's your mail, a lady a few houses down told me to give them to you." He said, shaking his head slightly. "Kinda got off topic there but yeah, here ya go!" He smiled, giving the mail to Natalya. "Don't worry, I didn't open any. I just looked at the names on them." The guy reassured.
Natalya took a quick look through them. Most of them were bills with one or two actual letters for Yekaterina and Ivan. "Hmn, thank you." She said dully, still somewhat angered by the interruption.
"No problem! Sorry again for the tr-" the door closed in the middle of his sentence, a somewhat quieter 'ouble' being heard after a second or two. Natalya heard a soft sigh and some foot steps as the boy walked off the porch and probably headed back to wherever the hell his house was. Natalya walked back to her room and picked up her book again to resume reading. She felt somewhat bad for slamming the door on his face but then again she did that to almost everyone. To be fair, he was quite attractive; that's probably why she suddenly felt bad. Natalya continued reading for quite a bit, realising a couple minutes later that he probably thought her name was Yekaterina. Not that she cared, but still. It would have been super awkward- for him, at least- if he called her that, which would probably be quite humorous. Maybe she'd try to embarrass him the next time she saw him by getting him to make that mistake. He'd probably apologise a thousand times with that cute- no, stupid accent he had and then be a huge nerd about it. Yep, that would be incredibly humorous.
A few days later, Natalya had passed by her house from a short trip with Emma from the market to see that Yekaterina was talking to the boy from before. Great, she finally forgot how cu- Natalya shook her head slightly and reprimanded herself as she walked with Emma to her house to drop off the groceries. Seriously though, Natalya was at least 500% sure that Emma would not need that much flour. But then again considering that she probably made waffles at least 4 times a day, it was kind of probable. 'This is probably why Emma never turned in that flour baby project.' She thought to herself as her Belgian friend opened her door and started taking the 7 sacks of flour inside as she decided to help by taking the multiple bags filled with various berries, chocolates, and whipped cream inside as well. Those waffles would taste great, she was sure.
When Natalya finally returned home she noticed that the guy was no longer there, which was somewhat disappointing because then she'd have to wait a few more days before she could try to embarrass him. She took out her keys, a small animal key chain clicking loudly against the rest of her keys as searched for her house keys. Most of these keys were useless anyway; she'd probably take them off later, Natalya though, her door making a small unlocking noise as she turned the key slightly. She entered her house, closing the door behind her as she walked into the small doorway area and placed her keys on a small rack nailed into the wall.
She heard a few foot steps as her older sister walked over to her. "Здравствуйте!" Yekaterina greeted cheerfully, handing Natalya a letter as she turned around. "A nice young man came by earlier today; apparently he's been getting our letters!" She said, laughing slightly. "He also thought you were me for some reason!" Yekaterina said. "I cleared it up though, so don't worry, в порядку?" Well, there goes seeing him get embarrassed and possibly act like a dork over it. God dammit, it could of been hilarious. "I hope the mailman doesn't mess up again; What if we're bothering him!?" She asked, looking like she just hurt someone or something without meaning to.
"I'm sure he doesn't mind." Natalya reassured, knowing that her sister would probably be worried about it for a while. "He didn't seem irritated when he gave me our mail a couple days ago or something like that." She said, taking off her jacket and putting it on a coat hanger. "If he was, he probably would of complained or something." She commented, walking into the living room and plopping down on the couch. Natalya scowled slightly as she glanced at the thermostat. It was on about 21 degrees Celsius but it was still somewhat cold. "Damn, the weather is getting much colder and it's only October." She commented, grabbing the remote and turning on the T.V.; Sadly, there was nothing good on. Her books were all finished too. Welp, there goes the idea of doing something that wasn't going to end up with her staring at a computer screen for 3 hours and/or watching 'Orange is the New Black' because it seemed really interesting and she was probably going to binge through the first couple episodes and then save the rest for another day; Maybe after that she'll think of something productive to do. Keyword maybe...She did have a few books she bought a year ago she never got around to reading. She could do that... If she could find them.
After a week or so of no mail, the doorbell rang. Natalya scowled, glancing out the window. "How the hell is someone here in this damn snow?" She asked herself as she stood up, walking over to the door and putting on her coat. Swinging it open, she saw the boy from before holding mail. He was covered in snow and he was probably freezing to death because he was only wearing a jacket and a scarf to keep him warm. His hands and face were red from the cold and he was shivering slightly.
"S-Sorry for not bringing your mail earlier; I was sick an-" The boy began, shivering and his teeth clacking together as he wiped some snow off the mail when Natalya interrupted him.
"Are you insane?!" She asked, grabbing his arm and pulling him inside and closing the door. "If you were sick then why the hell did you come here in the snow?! You didn't even dress properly for the weather!" Natalya reprimanded, taking the mail from him and putting it to the side. "You probably got sick again." She scowled as he wiped some snow off his jacket.
"I wanted to give you your mail; I didn't want to hold onto it for so long." The boy said softly, seeming somewhat embarrassed. He shook his head slightly to get the snow out of his hair. "Sorry if I'm making a mess." The boy apologised after he realized he was probably making the floor incredibly slippery.
"Its fine, idiot." Natalya said, taking off her coat and putting it back on the coat hanger. "Do you want coffee or something to help you warm up? I don't want you to end up getting sick again because you decided to come give my mail in this kind of weather." She said, walking into the kitchen and getting a coffee mug for herself and pausing as she was about to grab another one to wait for his reply.
"Coffee would be nice." The boy said, taking off his jacket a bit hesitantly and putting it on the coat hanger as well. "I'm really sorry if I'm wasting your time." He said. "And if I seem really annoying by apologising a lot."
Natalya rolled her eyes and glanced at the coffee machine. It had a minute or so to go. "Since I'm at least 90 percent sure you already know my name, mind telling me yours?" She asked, moving the two coffee mugs closer to the machine as she went to go get cream from the fridge.
"Oh yeah, I probably should've introduced myself the first time." He commented, laughing slightly as he brushed back his bangs so they were out of his face. "My name is Yong Soo." He smiled, his accent getting slightly thicker as he said his name. "And yeah, your older sister already told me your name was Natalya." Yong Soo confirmed, playing with his fingers slightly, as the coffee machine beeped, signaling that it was done.
Natalya poured coffee into the two mugs, adding a bit of cream to hers and stirring it. "Do you want it black or-?" She asked, taking a small sip of her coffee. A bit too much cream for her liking but that was her own mistake. 'Maybe I should measure it next time.' Natalya thought to herself, pouring a bit more coffee into hers to hopefully get it the way she wanted it.
"Sugar please!" Yong Soo smiled. "Not that much though; Aniki says I get too hyper." He pouted slightly, which, Natalya added in her mind, was incredibly adorable, even if it did seem pretty childish. She added a teaspoon of sugar and stirred it, giving it to Yong Soo who smiled again and said a polite thank you, before taking a sip. "You made it perfectly!" He exclaimed, and Natalya swore she could hear a 'da-ze' at the end. 'He has a verbal tic.' Natalya thought, raising the mug off the table slightly. "Thank you." She said, glancing at Yong Soo, who was happily drinking the coffee. 'Either that or it's his accent.' Natalya brought the mug to her mouth. 'Or I'm hearing things.' She added in her mind, taking a sip. 'Better.' She thought, drinking it. The silence to her was enjoyable but then again it can't really be that silent when you hear heaters on full blast and snow plows pushing dirty snow around and shoving it back onto shoveled sidewalks. 'They need a more effective way to clean the streets and walkways because this is just going backwards...' Natalya glared at the window as the snow plows got louder and louder. 'Don't they usually plow the snow when it's late or something?' She asked herself, glancing at Yong Soo again. 'How is he drinking it so quickly without getting burnt even slightly?' Natalya pondered. 'Maybe the machine finally stopped making burning hot coffee.' She decided.
"Hmn. The snow is getting worst." Yong Soo commented, snapping Natalya out of her thoughts. He drank a bit more of his coffee. "Thank you for inviting me in for a couple minutes to warm up!" Yong Soo smiled. "I should probably get going before it gets really bad." he paused, his eyes widening slightly, "Or aniki gets angry." Yong Soo said worriedly.
"Wait, I'm going to go get you warmer clothing first; I don't want you to get sick because you were an idiot." Natalya said, standing up and walking over to a closet.
"No no, my house is not that far from here, I won't get sick, Nat." Yong Soo said, getting up and grabbing his jacket, only to have Natalya stop him from putting it on and gave him a much larger coat and scarf instead.
"Wear this." Natalya said in a monotone. "How far is your house anyway?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as he attempted to give the coat back to her. Yong Soo saw the glare and then awkwardly stared back at her, his jacket half on with the other clothing in his arms.
"A block away; not that far." He reassured, pouting as Natalya forced him to take off the jacket and put the coat on instead. "C'mon, I'm not going to get sick from walking a block."
"The blocks are long." Natalya dead-panned. "And anyway, Yekaterina will probably get sad if you got sick by visiting and she probably would cry. Do you really want to make a girl cry?" She asked, stepping back to see what he would do. He looked like he was considering something and then slowly put on the coat. Guilt tripping almost always works.
"I'll wear it, but I'm returning it first thing tomorrow morning, even if it feels like Antarctica outside!" Yong Soo sparkled, looking like he had one of those moments in video games where a character passes a level or finds a key item.
Natalya raised an eyebrow. "That seems highly illogical. Please do not come over here if it is negative 50 degrees. That would be idiotic and you'd freeze." She deadpanned, scowling at the thought of finding him frozen in the middle of the street. Hey, she may have been pretty hateful towards people, especially if they're stupid, but she did not want to be the reason why someone froze to death. Plus freezing to death seems long and painful. If she had to kill someone, she wouldn't want them to suffer. That was just messed up. Unless they did something really bad, then putting them through torturous deaths would be great. Natalya highly doubted Yong Soo had committed any serious crimes though. He didn't seem like that type of person… He was way too cheerful, but then again… Hmn...
"It's your jacket though and I have to return it as soon as I can! Otherwise that would be rude." He said, his face turning somewhat serious. "Either I wear it and return it right away or I don't wear it."
"You can just return it when the weather improves-"
"Tomorrow morning it is!" Yong Soo grinned. If this was one of those sitcoms on television, they probably would have had that irritating laugh track play.
"The news said that the weather would be bad tomorrow as well."
"Psht, the news is never right." Yong Soo said waving his hand slightly. He was somewhat correct; the news was never really spot on. But still, there were days where they were still pretty close to their predictions. "Good Bye, Nat!" He said cheerfully, opening the door. "Thanks for letting me in for a bit too!"
"Good bye." Natalya said, and with that Yong Soo left. Who the hell gave him permission to call her Nat? Not even Yekaterina calls her that, but then again it is a logical nickname. Natalya shortened to Nat does make quite a lot of sense. But still, they haven't been friends for nearly as long enough to create nicknames for each others. Were they even friends? They were more like acquaintances than friends, and acquaintances don't create nicknames for each other unless they're extremely bad at names.
Natalya sighed slightly, sitting down and looking through the mail. It was a few bills again with a couple actual letters. Only one was addressed to her and it was just a nonsense magazine from a store she had a magazine subscription to since it was free. Most of the stuff in this issue weren't in her taste though, so she put it to the side; maybe Yekaterina would want to take a look at it.
The next morning when Yong Soo returned, he was greeted by a sleepy Natalya and a concerned looking Yekaterina who was wondering why Yong Soo would bother coming in horrible weather to return the jacket he borrowed and why he wouldn't bother to bring another so he could return home without getting sick.
"Are you sure you'll be fine going home without a jacket, or a coat, or something to keep you warm? The snow seems to be quite deep outside and I really don't want you to fall ill..." Yekaterina said worriedly, trailing off slightly. "You should just keep the jacket for longer until the weather improves." She suggested, holding the jacket out to Yong Soo again.
"I'll be fine!" Yong Soo smiled. "My house is only two blocks away and really, its not that cold outside. I won't get sick that fast!"
"The blocks are long!" Yekaterina exclaimed, slightly shoving the jacket into Yong Soo's arms.
"That's what I told him yesterday. He doesn't listen, systra." Natalya said, sighing slightly. "Listen Yong Soo, its pretty damn cold outside and you're gonna get sick from doing this shit eventually, no matter what you say about your house only being two blocks away or whatever. Just take the jacket home, and, like Katyusha said, bring it back when it's not snowing."
"But what if you need this jacket! Just take it back, i'll be fine!" Yong soo said, trying to reassure the two girls.
"You know what? You're going home with the jacket, and I am going to come with you to take it back if you want to return it so badly." Natalya suggested, walking to the coat rack and picking up her coat.
Yong Soo shook his head. "You don't have to do that! It's cold. Just take the jacket back-"
"You just said it's cold. I am not letting you return the jacket when it's cold and you don't have anything else to keep you warm."
"Fine! I'll give you the jacket tomorrow then-"
"No, when the weather improves." Natalya interrupted.
"But-" Yong Soo started, only to be interrupted again.
"When the weather improves. In only possible reason for you to come back tomorrow is if its magically better or if you have another jacket with you to wear back home." Natalya said, crossing her arms. She was starting to get somewhat impatient with how stubborn Yong Soo was acting about returning the jacket.
"Fine, but only because I don't want you to get really mad…" Yong Soo said, not wanting Natalya to think he's irritating for being so stubborn about it. "Bye, see you tomorro-"
"When the weather gets better; not tomorrow." She corrected.
"Okay! Bye, da-ze!" Yong Soo simply let himself out, the door somewhat closing loudly as he let it shut, and an apology could be heard.
"He's probably going to come back tomorrow." Yekaterina commented.
Natalya sighed. "I know."
Much to Natalya's chagrin, Yong Soo returned the day after, but he at least had a jacket of his own to wear back, even if it seemed light. It was one of those stereotypical jock looking jackets, the emblem being a W, most likely from the World Academy, as it often had transfer students. Natalya had never seen the jacket for it though, since the only other person she saw wear that jacket outside of movies was Alfred, whose jacket had an A, which was most likely for his own name. Then again, Natalya never really cared much for the school's available sports, so she never payed much attention to the sporty people there either. All she knew was a lot of people really enjoyed football-The non-American one- and there were a lot of people trying out every year, or even just playing outside.
"Are you on a team?" Natalya asked, her curiosity getting the best of her as Yong Soo handed her the jacket he came to return.
"Yeah!" Yong Soo said cheerfully. "I'm on the football team and I'm hoping to be on the baseball team too." He grinned. "They're really popular sports from where I'm from, so I've played them a lot." He paused for a bit. "Why, are you in any?"
"Only outside of the academy; I play on a tennis team and I'm in a gymnastics team as well." Natalya paused before adding, "I like football, but I prefer watching it rather than playing it."
"Cool! Maybe we can watch each other's games one day!" Yong Soo said cheerfully. "Good Bye!" He smiled, making his leave, probably to go eat lunch or something, because it was pretty close to that time. Then again, it could've been because the news predicted more snow around noon, but Natalya didn't care either way; she was going to relax for the rest of the day and get rid of any assignments, and maybe even finish up some books she borrowed from the Library...
Walking into the kitchen and taking out a couple potatoes and eggs from the fridge, as well as the flour from the pantry, Natalya began cooking Draniki for lunch. While she usually ate it as a side dish with meat-though Yekaterina and Ivan always joked that the meat was her side dish, rather than the draniki- She decided making a couple of them would be find for a quick lunch; Yekaterina mentioned how she was going to make borscht later anyway.
While making her 'snack', Natalya wondered what Yong Soo would look like while he played. She saw him as more of social, video game-y person, or however you would say it, just based on his...Vibe? She wasn't really sure what gave that off; maybe it's because Alfred also was super cheerful and played video games. Speaking, or thinking, of which, Natalya pondered the possibility of them being friends. Yong Soo mentioned how he enjoyed baseball, so they probably have at least spoken to each other about it. Then again, Alfred having a friendship with Yong Soo didn't even matter; She was somewhat close to Alfred, so maybe she could get closer to Yong Soo through him, but then again, they didn't really spend a lot of time together… Maybe she could ask Emma to help her with conversation topics or something; The Belgian could probably help her get rid of at least some of her social awkwardness…
"Oh my gosh! Natalya has a crush!" Emma squealed, pressing her hands against her cheeks. "I bet they're super cute! Who is it?" She pried, wanting to know all the details of the crush.
"Shhh!" Natalya hissed, scowling at how loud her friend was being. "It's not a crush." She said, looking to the side. "Why does it matter anyway; I just want to know how to talk to him and stuff…"
Emma put a finger on her chin, looking deep in thought. "Well, it depends on his personality, ya' know? Usually casual conversations help loads! You can ask questions from there to find out stuff about him!" She suggested, smiling. "What have you guys talked about so far, or is it one of those crushes where it's like love from afar...?" Emma trailed off, not really knowing all the details.
"I've spoken to him before; my social skills aren't that bad." She huffed, crossing her arms. "A few days ago we were talking about sports. Other than that it's been somewhat casual. He did borrow a jacket once, but those conversations were basically arguments since he was being stubborn and refused to wear it although he was drenched and it was snowing..." Natalya shook her head. "He was being an idiot." She looked at Emma in a mixture of confusion and frustration when she heard the Belgian giggle.
"Of course you would think that Natalya..." Emma commented, almost mumbling. She waved her hand slightly as if to dismiss her comment when Natalya glared at her. "You mentioned that he went here, right? Just find out his schedule from someone or ask him it; it will be easier to get to know him if you know where to find him." She commented, pushing a chunk of hair behind her ear. "Or you could just cut to the chase and ask him out." Emma grinned, pouting when Natalya shook her head profusely.
"That would be embarrassing." Natalya commented, averting her gaze to the side. "You have to take into thought all of the possible outcomes; there are more negatives than positives." She cleared her throat slightly, wanting to change the topic. "How did your culinary exam go?"
"Ughhhh!" Emma groaned, looking distraught as she dragged her hands down her cheeks. "I'm pretty sure I scored low; almost everything went wrong!" She exclaimed in distress. "I messed up on mixing the ingredients and had to ask everyone else if the could let me borrow some and only a couple of people said yes! It was so hard to figure out how to do it properly when I was short on eggs!" Natalya sighed as she realised that she had just influenced the start of a full blown rant about why you shouldn't cut recipes in half and why she hates souffles because "They look good in the oven but then you take 'em out and boom! It looks sad and deflated and gross!"
Natalya groaned as she heard the doorbell ring; She was trying to finish up a book series, but between frequent calls from Yekaterina and Ivan, she had to keep stopping. But now the door bell too?! "Coming," She said loudly, running to the door from her room. Could it be Yong Soo? 'I thought I talked to the post office about that…' She attempted to recall the conversation, as she opened the door. She was correct in her assumption; it was Yong Soo. She hadn't seen him in a while, since he had begun putting mail in the box or using the mail flap on the door when ever he did receive any of her family's mail; she had gotten much more busier during spring due to needing to prepare for finals and was rarely home; She was either studying with her classmates, or at the Library.
"Hi Nat!" Yong Soo grinned, holding out a couple letters. "Sorry if I'm disrupting something, but I found a couple of letters mixed in with my family's. They probably just took all the mail out without checking the names or something." He paused before adding, "Don't worry! None of them are opened; I checked to make sure that no one opened them and resealed them."
Natalya nodded, looking at the ones with plastic windows on them; They were dated a few days ago, which was good, because some of them were bills she had to pay. Imagine if it had been a previous month's bills. She shook her head slightly. "Thank you." Natalya said, not wanting to waste Yong Soo's time by reading her mail in front of him or seem rude.
"No problem!" He grinned. "By any chance, did you finish all your classes yet? Most of mine are ending next week, and I was wondering when yours end because we barely talk anymore and I wanna hang out with you." Yong Soo averted his gaze slightly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
Natalya thought for a bit, trying to recall the exact dates. "A few of them end next week, I believe. The rest end the week after." She replied after a few seconds.
"Ah, okay! Bye!" Yong Soo waved, starting to walk away. "See you next week… Or the week after?" He asked, looking confused on when he could come over again.
Natalya waved back, though it was very slight. "See you next week," She said, closing the door slowly and going over to the living room to arrange the mail into piles; It would make it much easier for her siblings.
Starting to put it into piles based off who it was addressed to and bills, Natalya noticed a letter in the middle of the stack that had nothing on it but her name and a smiley face sticker to keep it closed. "How cute…" She mumbled to herself, carefully opening it so she wouldn't rip anything. She unfolded the piece of paper, taking notice of the mistakes made while it was being written; There was a bunch of words crossed out at the top of it, as well as in random places.
Hi Nat!
Sorry if my handwriting is really bad, but I've been wanting to ask you this for a while and I'm still kinda nervous writing this, lol. I couldn't muster up the courage to actually ask you in person, so I decided to write you a letter instead. I really didn't want to mess this up by being super weird or annoying in person. Plus I didn't want to make you feel bad if I got sad over it or guilt trip you into saying yes when you don't want to.
There was a bit of it that was scribbled out in pen, making it so it was completely illegible. Natalya squinted, trying to see if there was anyway she could read it; She wanted to know what was originally written. Sadly, it had been crossed out a couple times; the paper was even indented there from the pressure put on that part.
Will you go out with me? You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you do, then here is my phone number so we could plan a date if you'd like. If you don't, I really hope we can still be friends. :)
Love,
Yong Soo
Author's Note:
I do not think that I will create another chapter for this; It will remain a one-shot unless I decide to write a sequel which will be a new story (For lack of better words)
This has taken me since September to write as I have had difficulty connecting the beginning I thought of to the end (I have no idea why I though I could think up the middle as I went and try to get it to at least 5,000 words.
I honestly really love this pairing, which is sadly not very popular and the lack of fanworks for it was a bit frustrating. I hope you enjoy it.
Feel free to critique and leave your feedback; as long as its not un-constructive insults.