#rustralia

Kyle sticks his tongue out at the very word, pulling a face and making a short raspberry noise with his mouth. It’s a reaction that surprises Ivan to a point as he looks down at the other, who’s lounging across the sofa they’re seated on with his head and shoulders in Ivan’s lap. It’s not so much that the reaction is so strong or even a little childish in its style. Big, immature reactions being a specialty of Kyle’s is a fact that even the island Nation himself couldn’t really deny. It’s that it’s at that particular word, though, that puts a little bit of confusion onto Ivan’s face.

“What? You’re not even a little bit of the nostalgic type, moya radost’?” Ivan questions. He guesses, distantly in the back of his mind, that that doesn’t seem that far off. Kyle has been, at least for as long as Ivan can think back to in the moment, a modern sort of person. It always feels a little unexpected to see when he himself, and a number of other Nations he can think of, can often get so hung up on the Good Old Days.

There are exceptions of course, though usually narrowed and with a clear reason. It often feels like every Nation has some period in their history they’d rather forget in more recent days; it’s the way history seems to work after all. Progress not just in mechanical and technological terms, but in societal terms, too. Ivan has more than a few moments like that himself, and he’s sure Kyle does as well.

And while Kyle dismissing some parts of his past like any other Nation would be more than easily accepted, the practically carelessly quick answer to Ivan’s question that he gives, “Fuck no,” feels a little too broad of a dismissal, even for him. There’s a break for a moment or so before it seems to click for Kyle, and he turns his attention further onto Ivan. “Wait, you are? C’mon, Ivo, don’t tell me you miss some part of your history enough where you wish you could go back to there again?”

Ivan considers, distantly, before giving a half shrug. “Hmm, I mean there were parts I can admit to missing. I don’t know if I’d specifically want to go back to those times if I could, but...,” he answers after a few moments, trailing off rather than further confirming that he can’t help but think back on some parts of those times a little fondly.

“For real?” Kyle ask, brows furrowing a little in half surprise. He twists in his seat as well, leaning his head back until he can more easily look up at Ivan. He doesn’t exactly judge the other, but he does question the sentiment, “I thought your childhood sucked, too, though. What would you miss from there?”

Ivan nods, easily agreeing to the first question as well as the following statement. Few Nations similarly seem to be a stranger to a rough adolescence, but Ivan speaks up to acknowledge it wasn’t all bad. He can remember sometimes getting along with his family better than he tends to nowadays. “It was not all happy, no, but…,” his words drift once more, trying to figure out the simplest way to answer. “I did have more people around back then, and I do miss that. When I was very little, I could spend far more time with my sisters before politics and other issues split us up. When I was a little older, I was able to keep all the people I cared about with me. They were all safe and I had them close every day and I-,” there’s a slight shift to his voice as he catches himself and corrects, even nodding his head slightly to better convey that change. “I recognize now that that apparently wasn’t good for everybody. Again, it was not all happy… but…,” he lifts his shoulders a little in a small shrug, “I miss when things were less lonely.”

Kyle’s expression settles into a concerned frown as he stares up at the other, before he moves again in Ivan’s hold. His hands find the cushion he’s sitting on and he pushes himself up. At recognizing what the other’s doing, Ivan moves his own hands to help pull Kyle, too, aiding him in sliding fully into his lap. When finally settled into his new spot, Kyle leans over to press a kiss to his cheek, responding that he doesn’t like to hear that his boyfriend feels lonely.

Ivan gives another shrug, quicker this time, before offering back that he’d said less. He knows he has Kyle, or other friends and family. But they’re at a distance now, a boat or train or even plane trip away. He’s happy with what he has now, too, but he can still miss things in the past as well. “There’s... nothing in your history you miss?” Ivan presses again.

“Plenty, but there’s more shit that I’d miss from right now than I miss from back then.” Kyle further explains that, to him, the idea of nostalgia always feels like being too afraid of change to stop looking back. Like wanting to hold on to what you were comfortable with just in case the future gets too scary.

There’s a pause, consideration, before his voice eases a bit, losing some of the volume and energy it’d had. “I mean, I do get it. Even used to be like that a lot.” He gives a breathy laugh, before reminding Ivan of when they first got together. “Remember how scared I was about it? It was that same thinking. Believing I was more comfortable being alone compared to being with you, just because the times in the past where I was alone hurt less than the other relationships I’d had ended up hurting.” Here the laugh he gives is stronger, and he puts a bit of that careless humor back into his voice as he rolls his eyes and mutters, “I mean, what a dumbass way of thinking, right?”

Ivan’s smile pulls to the side, souring a little and making a disapproving humming noise at the other’s self-criticism, which gets another chuckle out of Kyle before the island Nation leans in, pressing their foreheads together. “Yeah, yeah, but I mean I learned. You helped with that.” He presses a quick kiss to Ivan’s other cheek at this.

“Like,” he continues, “there’s a lotta other shit I like about the current age that helps keep me from getting too wistful about the past, too.” He notes the new ease of travel thanks to airplanes, allowing him to visit family in a matter of days instead of months or more at sea. The speed with which he can now communicate with friends via a call or text, rather than having to write letters and wait for responses if they’re too far to reach in person. The sometimes-overwhelming access to information that he either had to sit through boring classes, slog through books, or just never have the chance to learn before the creation of the internet. There’s even something to be said about the help with keeping human friends for longer periods of time; after all, it’s much easier to hide an absence of aging if most of the conversations shared with said friends are kept to text and audio communication. And for those he does lose, he’s found it softens the pain a little when he can have a good heap of pictures and video saved of them thanks to the improvements to cameras and storage over the years.

“See... I never had a lotta people around me like you did when I was growing up. ‘Least, not many I wanted around, anyway. Even the Kiwi felt like they were so far away half the time when I was young. So like… the farther back ya go, the more lonely it was for me.” Kyle pauses as Ivan leans in here, reaching a hand up to stroke through the brown strands of hair while moving to press a brief kiss to the Australian’s jaw. Kyle tilts his head, stealing a lip lock from those lips instead, only continuing with a quiet chuckle after Ivan pulls back. “But now? Now we can talk almost all the time. Now I can make and keep way more friends than I ever had before. Now… now I got you. Good old days don’t got you in them, now do they?” His expression settles into a warm grin, half slanted in the way most of his smiles sit on his face. He lets his hands drift down to Ivan’s shoulders, before reaching forward to loop them around the back of his neck.

Ivan grin widens, sparing a soft, pleased laugh as he squeezes the brunet a little more in his arms. “That’s fair,” he agrees, murmuring softly, “How can I truly miss any other moment when you’re here with me in this one?”

It’s the fourth alarm today that’s gone off, playing once again some clip of a rock song with lyrics that Kyle had found related to having to get up and get going. It’s also the fourth alarm today to be turned off within moments of its start. Kyle doesn’t spare the time necessary to just turn off the next alarm, or the three set to go off after that. That’d be time he’s not laying against Ivan, arms wrapped around a large torso and eyes locked on that gorgeous smile of his. “Five more minutes,” he mutters playfully as he sets his phone back down next to the bed.

Ivan speaks up himself, though, pointing out that option to the Australian since Kyle doesn’t seem to be very interested in actually listening to the alarms in question and getting up. The younger Nation stretches out before curling his body tighter against the Russian, making a low whining noise at the very suggestion of the extra effort. Ivan laughs and squeezes his arms tighter around the tanned torso, pressing his face into brown hair still messy from the previous night’s sleep, murmuring that he’s not going to complain about Kyle staying that five more minutes in his arms.

Kyle hums out pleasantly at the idea, lifting a hand to cup Ivan’s cheek, stroking a thumb along the jawline. “Wish I could just stay here,” he says, a little wistfully, before leaning up slightly to steal a quick peck on the lips. “Much better way to pass the time than that meeting I got today.” When the response is given that Ivan wouldn’t have much to complain about there, either, Kyle laughs and slides the hand up to tangle in blond locks. “M’boss would, though. Been reminding me every other day for three weeks about this thing; keeps saying it’s imperative I be there!” His voice shifts slightly to mimic his current Prime Minister’s on the last words, and he scrunches his face a little to look disapproving for a second before letting his features ease back to normal as he continues. “Would right lose it if I missed it today.”

Ivan hums as well, this time more in thought than approval, considering the dilemma. “True, but you could only get in trouble if you actually showed back up,” he answers, pulling Kyle up by his hold so that their faces are a little closer together. He leans in to press cool lips to the other's nose, always finding that scrunch of the other’s face in response more than a little charmingly amusing. “So really, if anything, it sounds to me like you should skip the whole rest of the week.”

A loud laugh erupts from Kyle, and he squeezes his boyfriend back tightly. “Now that’d be something. But the yellin’ I got on Monday-.” He lets his words die off as he’s pulled up again, though this time into a full kiss. The hand in Ivan’s hair helps to hold the other close for a moment until they break.

When they do, Ivan quickly offers his next solution. “Mm, better skip that week, too.” His tone is cheerful, and if Kyle wasn’t so certain he knew better, it might be hard to guess that the other was being sarcastic. “In fact, I’m thinking it might just be the best option to not go back at all,” Ivan continues. “What’s so important that you can do at work that isn’t easily beat by staying here with me instead.”

Kyle exaggerates a few moments of consideration. “Can’t think of a single thing,” he finally agrees, shaking his head with a too amused smile. He lets it falter into a look of concerned surprise, though, when a new thought comes to him. “Ah, but you’d have to go back home eventually yourself,” Kyle counters, a challenging smirk then growing on his features. Hardly a second goes by before he offers his own solution, “Unless, o’course, you didn’t go back to your work, either.” The grin grows wider still, and he knows this is all talk and games, but there’s a breathless excitement at the idea of them both playing hooky with each other forever.

Ivan declares the idea a wonderful one, and Kyle calls it practically fool proof. Until he corrects that of course they’d have to find some place to stay in the meantime. Staying at either of their houses if they wanted to escape work just wouldn't be practical.

“My bosses have always been pretty good about finding me whenever I ran in the past, and I’m sure yours’d be even better,” Kyle acknowledges, letting out a soft sigh.

Ivan considers the thought, but he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like the idea of him and Kyle running off, just the two of them, and then being caught and pulled back to their actual lives. If they’re going to spend these five minutes on a fantasy like this one, Ivan is going to make it one he wants, no exceptions or compromises. “I’m sure we can find many new places to hide, ones they wouldn’t think to look in,” he assures. “We could keep moving if we had to,” he adds, and then after a beat, includes the extra thought, “whatever it takes to keep our bosses from yelling at us.”

Kyle snickers at the last words, before nodding a little too exaggeratedly, agreeing to the sentiment. He says, “Eventually they’d have to stop looking. I mean- two of us? Yeah, hundred percent us working together could keep them off our backs for as long as we needed to.” A sarcastic sort of grin graces his features as he insists, in a voice that drags out the last word to easily signify its irony, “It’s fine.”

“It’s fine!” Ivan chimes in his agreement, nodding his head firmly. “They only have a handful of decades max, anyway,” he insists, explaining that even if a further generation kept looking, the pair would still always have time on their side. “The better we are at hide and seek, the more likely it will be for them to finally give up, and then no one will be able to stop us.”

“Nothing at all.” There's this shine that's lighting up Kyle's eyes over an even brighter smile. “Imagine that,” he breathes out, falling in love with just the thought. Again, despite the agreed fantasy, it's a nice thought to picture, and he can see Ivan's smile ease into a pleasant sort of contentment when considering it fully as well. “Once they forget about us, we're free. Once we're free, we are free, Ivo. No more government and political bullshit, no more being told what we gotta do and how we gotta do it.” He curls himself a little tighter against his boyfriend and adds, “No being apart for so long. We'd wake up like this together every day, whole year through, no exceptions.”

Kyle's on a roll as he considers the benefits of a life having- in the most basic senses -escaped the heavy responsibility of Nationhood. Ivan could speak up to add some points himself, but he's happy in the moment just watching Kyle's excitement grow as the southern Nation continues.

“Family and shit we trusted could come visit, sure, but it'd really just be us. We could find a place to settle at that point- imagine a house together, Ivo! Imagine us, in some nice house some place in the middle of who even knows.” Kyle pauses as Ivan speaks up there, though really only to confirm he loves the idea as well. Kyle leans in steal a kiss at the joined sentiment before continuing. “It'd just be us, every morning, doing everything we wanted that day and nothing we didn't. We could do anything, and we'd do it until we didn't want to anymore, and we could just-,” here, Kyle's voice slips a little too strongly into a deep sort of longing, “-fucking, live our lives... forever.”

Voice more than just a little wishful, he adds, “Living the drea-.” And then his alarm goes off.

Ivan watches everything excited and hopeful in that smile falter and then die as those green eyes eventually close in a frustrated sort of acceptance the longer the tune plays from his phone. There's a slow sigh from the Aussie before he reaches for the device again. He pulls it from its spot on the bedside table, a touch too aggressively pushing the button to turn the alarm off. And the three set to go off after that.

“Heh, time to wake up, huh?” Kyle mutters. He takes another breath before starting to shuffle out of bed, only stopped when Ivan's grip moves to his arms and tightens.

The Russian holds him in place, until he’s certain Kyle has gathered that he should not move just yet. Then those hands slide, looping around the other and pulling him close into another kiss. When they split, Ivan speaks up, admitting he knows they’d still have to wait a couple days, but they could plan a small get away when Kyle’d have a bit more free time from work. “It wouldn’t be forever, but we could play pretend it was.” His grin eases into something more playful, even if there’s a touch of bitterness at the compromise as well. “A long weekend is only just slightly under forever anyway, if you think about it,” he says.