Hetalia one-shots

Pet store (LietPol)

"Urgh, c'moooooon Toris," Feliks whined, tugging on his boyfriend's arm. "Let's go look at some weird animal stuff okay? Maybe we should like, get a puppy!"

"You and I both know Ivan won't let us get a dog or a cat." Toris said patiently. That was their landlord. He only had that rule because of his 'special friend' Yao, who was horribly allergic. "Think smaller."

Feliks huffed and walked over to the fish. They all floated over to him, little fish eyes wide. "These guys aren't really my style, Tori."

Toris sighed but nodded. "I get what you mean. Fish are a lot of work, and they don't live too long either."

Feliks looked at him in alarm. "I don't like, wanna get it a pet and just have it die on me like that!"

Toris laced their fingers together. "Something else, then." They kept walking. Suddenly Feliks paused.

"What about like, a rabbit? Those are so cute!"

Toris furrowed his eyebrkws. "I'm not sure if Ivan would let us have those either, you know..."

"Oh, okay. A hamster then?"

Toris made a face.

"A rat? Admit it, those are really smart."

"I know," Toris said. "Ed and Raivis and I had one when we were all kids. Katiernya named it Daisy."

"...do I dare ask what happened to Daisy?"

He sighed. "She escaped and lived in our apartment walls for awhile before she died. Raivis buried her. But we had to call the exterminators just to get her body out."

Feliks closed his eyes and actually made the sign of the cross. "No. Okay, no. Not in a million years." He looked over the cages thoughtfully. "What about like, a ferret? We wouldn't have to take it out of the cage or anyth--"

"Those smell, Feliks."

"Gross. Okay." He sighed in defeat, leaning heavily against his boyfriend's shoulder. "So like, what the heck can we get?"

"What about a bird?" Toris asked.

Feliks' eyes lit up. "Really? Yes! Totally! Let's go like, look at them!" He grabbed him and pulled him over. Toris watched him with amusement.

Feliks studied each of them carefully and with interest. One caught his eye. It was a white cockatoo sitting at the back of the cage, watching him back.

"Can I help you boys?" A lady who worked there asked. Toris smiled at her as Feliks kept up the staring contest with the bird.

"We're looking for our first pet," Toris explained. The woman smiled back, partly because Toris was really sweet and earnest to everyone he talked to. "But we have a tricky landlord so it's a little harder than we expected..."

"Well, birds are really sweet. As long as you're dedicated, they're not that hard to take care of. If you're thinking of space though, all the birds have the tips of their wings clipped so they can't fly away."

Feliks looked up and Toris frowned. "That doesn't hurt them?"

She didn't answer.

The cockatoo walked slowly to the front of the cage, never taking his small eyes off of Feliks. He had crouched down in his sandals and shorts to watch him. Feliks, not the bird.

The bird stared at him, tilting his head. And then he flared up his crest on the back of his head.

The woman chuckled. "I think he likes you."

Feliks' face lit up. "We are totally getting him!"

Toris pulled out his wallet with another smile. "All right. How much?"

And that's the story of how Toris and Feliks adopted a bird.