Today, however, Alfred called and was the perfect gentleman, asking Arthur if he wanted to come over and watch some movie called "Tarzan" together. Arthur vaguely remembered an invitation from Alfred years ago to come and see it on its opening night...
Arthur accepted the invitation, all the same. It was a rare occasion when he was asked to come over to another nations home, especially by Alfred.
Arthur got there after three hours and the movie had more or less just started. Alfred was very notorious for his Disney films and their morals. Arthur had yet to see any moral so far. It was maybe five or ten minutes into the movie when Arthur heard something very familiar. A song that went like this: "For one so small, / you seem so strong / My arms will hold you, / keep you safe and warm / This bond between us / Can't be broken / I will be here / Don't you cry".
Arthur's eyes started filling up and his heart clenched involuntarily. Arthur was so sure that Alfred had forgotten all about his young days as a colony...Standing up quickly, he walked down the hallway, hoping that Alfred wouldn't follow him.
"Yo! England! What's the matter, dude?" Of course, the bloody oaf was behind him in an instant. Arthur kept his back to his former-colony and replied, "It's nothing, America." He rubbed his aching eyes, a few tears falling. 'Just brush it off, England.' He thought.
"Well, apparently it /is/ something," Alfred's voice carried hints of frustration and pain, "You always hate everything I do, make, or say!" his temper was flaring and Arthur could feel more tears piling into his eyelids.
"That's n-not true!" He tried reasoning, turning to face Alfred, his eyes red and shining with unshed tears. "It-It's just that...I miss you, okay?" Arthur turned away quickly again, red hot tears sliding down his cheeks. What if Alfred didn't miss being with him? What if he laughed at Arthur's confession? It would be so embarassing for him! Great Britain, hated by everyone, even by America!
"Y-you...what?" There was disbelief in Alfred's voice. Doubt. Alfred put his hands on Arthur's shoulders and turned him around to face him. He needed to see him say this.
"I said I miss you, idiot!" Even when he was a teary eyed mess, Arthur was still able to throw a temper. Maybe it was just a defense mechanism, but he always resulted to rudeness, despite his strong belief in etiquette. It hurt him less when he was rude. But, Arthur immeadiately felt guilty for snapping at Alfred.
"No, I'm sorry Alfred...you're not an idiot, I just mean...I miss when you would wake me up in the middle of the night because of bad dreams. You forcing me to check in the closet for monsters. You having me sing /that/ song to you to help you sleep. I even miss you actually /enjoying/ my food!" Arthur's tears were coming down in a steady torrent, his nose dripping along with it. He was a complete trainwreck of emotions, all due to one little song...
Alfred's eyes slowly widened. He remembered, all the pieces clicked into place rapidly, "O-oh...yeah, I remember those times..." he took a deep breath, thinking 'I am not a crybaby! I'm the awesome America!' as he resisted the urge to do the same as Arthur. He was the strong one. He had to be. "You know, before I thought you suddenly hated me. You forced me to do things I didn't want to do. You made me tax my people, you dissolved local governments, you made me mobilize against you. I felt so small next to you, so minimal and unimportant. Like I didn't matter to you...And then, on that day, I really thought you were going to shoot me. You looked so ready and I waited for it to happen..."
Now, Alfred's whole demeanor was crumbling. His "I-don't-care-I'm-the-awesome-hero-and-nothing-phases-me" tirade was dissolving into salty tears buildig up in his tear ducts, ready to leap out everywhere and drown the two of them. "I...I th-thought," he hiccuped, causing the dam holding back his tears to break, "all your love for me was gone...and after that, you stayed away from me, everytime I tried to get close..." Alfred covered his face, not wanting Arthur to see him cry like this.
"Just like right now, Arthur. And you'd never-NEVER-give me a reason for your actions...It was like as soon as I wasn't your colony aymore you wanted nothing to do with me, and all I want is to just make you proud of me again..." Alfred trailed off, his hiccups turning into sobs, his body shaking. He didn't want Arthur to keep pushing him away, he didn't want Arthur to feel like he wasn't loved just because Alfred wanted independence. He never wanted that.
Arthur never knew that Alfred felt this way about all this. He always thought that Alfred hated him. That day on the last battle of the American Revolution, he couldn't bear to shoot Alfred. It physically pained him to do so. Alfred was like his younger brother...he loved him. Hurting him just wasn't an option to Arthur anymore and he didn't want to loose Alfred completely by crushing his revolution and keeping him forever as a miserable, British colony.
"B-But, I am proud of you!" the Brit protested fiercely, "It's just...I no longer understand. I guess I never stopped loving you..." he concluded, staring down at the floor of the dark hallway.
"The wh-why do you always push me away..?" Arthur looked at Alfred, his face tear-stained and upset, "Don't you know that I'll always look up to you? Don't you know I've always always loved you? T-To me...you're my hero..." this strong, cheerful nation started crying harder and Arthur could feel his heart breaking with each sob that came from the pit of Alfred's chest.
Grabbing Alfred by the shoulders, Arthur crushed him to his chest, hugging him tightly, hoping that if he squeezed tight enough, it'd keep Alfred together long enough. Arthur felt a wet face bury itself into his exposed neck and felt Alfred say, "You always will be my hero...and I l-love you..." his voice shook, "Gah, I feel like such a baby..." he tried to resist the next wave of sobs but was overpowered. He clung to the back of Arthur's jacket, muffling his crying in it.
Arthur sniffled and leaned his head against Alfred's, "Just because you're crying doesn't make you a baby..." in fact, Arthur was /still/ crying!
"Aha...I haven't cried this hard in years...those first few months as an independent nation, without you, I stayed up all night. Every night. I was scared and I was lonely...the only time I got sleep was when I passed out from lack of it..." he was squeezed more gently by the slightly shorter country, "I missed you...but...I don't know how to completely fix the mistakes of our past...I feel as if there'll always be a slight barrier between us because of my revolution...heh," he tried laughing, "Even I can't break it down..but...I missed you hugs...I remember being little and feeling safe hearing the sound of your heartbeat when I was too afraid to go back into my own bed..."
Pulling back slightly and making Alfred look at him, he sniffled and said, "There is no way of fixing it...but we can always make a better future out of all this." He gave him a watery smile, which Alfred returned.
They walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch, Alfred's arm around Arthur.
"You'll be in my heart, Arthur." Alfred said.
'And you'll be in mine, Al...always.'