A challenge
Arthur sat curled up in bed with his favourite book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" He's read the book so many times it had fallen apart into several pieces to the point when he had to mend the book with glue and duct tape. He did a pretty good job if he did say so himself.
He had sat there for hours now, sitting intently reading in the silence. The only sound was the faint sound of the T.V. down stairs. Alfred had been visiting him, because the world meeting had been held at England this time. After the meeting, he and Alfred had come straight back to Arthur's house and watched movies. It had been an exhausting day. After about two movies, Arthur figured he'd come upstairs and read. He could only take so much television, whereas the American could watch it all day.
He read for what was about another twenty minutes, until he heard a large crash and running. Within seconds a blonde American had ran into his bedroom and jumped on to Arthur's bed, hiding himself under the blankets. He was shaking vigorously, repeating "Holy crap" It took Arthur a moment to really process what had happened, and once he did, all he could do was laugh.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Alfred?" He asked
"Oh my gosh, I hate ghost so much" He turned onto his back, looking up at the older nation.
"My word, it's all just make-believe, you don't need to be so frightened."
"Pshh" Alfred laughed "Me? Frightened? Are you forgetting who you're talking to? I'm a hero! I'm not afraid of anything!"
"Yes, you're very heroic. That is why you stay up till dawn when you watch a horror movie." Arthur said sarcastically.
"It only seems like I stay up late because you're old." Alfred argued with a smirk on his face.
"Please, I can stay up even later than you can." Arthur scowled.
"Is that a challenge?" Alfred's smirk grew larger.
"Only if you want it to be." Arthur's grin matched the other nation's.
"Fine, then. Whoever falls asleep first has to…. Do the winner's laundry for a month." Alfred said, as if it was something truly horrible. It was fine by him, even if he did loose. It was just fun to do something with Alfred than watch T.V. After all, he usually did Alfred's laundry anyways.
"Okay, that's fair." He smiled. "Well, it's only 8:30, so I'd say we have quite a lot of time on our hands." He remembered that a mere five minutes ago, Alfred was nearly wetting his pants. "I suppose you can go and head downstairs, unless you're afraid that is." Alfred's smiled faltered.
"Well...um. It's not that I'm afraid, because I'm totally not..."
"Uh-huh."
"I just kind of… broke your lamp." He shrugged.
Arthur had then remembered that he heard a large crash before Alfred had came running up stairs. "You damn git! What the hell, were you so damn teeth shattered, that you had to break my lamp?"
"Haha! Iggy, don't get so angry, we can just go to the store and get you a new lamp!" Alfred wrapped his arms around Arthur, and gave him a big bear hug.
Arthur was not pleased. "Get off." He scowled.
"Come on! That sounds fun! Let's go to the store!"
"You're such a child sometimes, how does going to the furniture store sound fun in the least bit?"
Alfred said nothing, but just sat there with big blue eyes, staring at Arthur.
"Fine, I suppose it is something to do." Arthur said, remembering that if they were staying up late, he was probably going to be bored silly before midnight. "Just let me go fetch some trousers, I already changed into my night clothes."
Arthur got up out of bed, and walked into the dresser on the opposite side of the bed, the side where Alfred was laying. He pulled out some nice black trousers, made of a soft material. He then realized that Alfred was staring at his bum.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alfred. Please, let me change alone." Alfred looked rather disappointed for a moment, but then smiled at left the room.
Since when does he look at him like that? He thought to himself. Was there something on his butt? He swatted his behind checking for anything there. No, there was nothing. He let the thought pass, thinking that maybe it was just him, thinking that Arthur was staring at his bum. I mean sure, that had been a little closer recently, but not like that. They, most definitely, were not in a relationship. Never would Arthur in a million years go out with that stupid American… Even if his looks were somewhat charming.
Arthur walked downstairs into the living room, where Alfred was scooping the broken lamp into the rubbish bin.
He noticed Arthur standing at the foot of the stairs, and smiled at him. "I really am sorry about your lamp, Iggy." He smiled, and looked actually sincere. He had realized, for the second time, that Alfred had used the name "Iggy" once again. Come to think about it, Alfred hardly ever calls him by "Arthur" He usually just called him "Artie", "Iggy" or even just England.
"Don't bother, it can't be helped." He swatted his hands, brushing the burden away. "I'm a bit hungry; do you want to go grab a bite to eat while we're out?" He asked, resting his hands on his side. "And I don't fancy fast food."
"Sure thing!" Alfred smiled brightly. "I'm fine where ever you want to go."
Arthur had noticed that Alfred was all of a sudden acting rather odd. Or maybe he always acted like this, and Arthur had just noticed. He looked down at his shoes as he thought about it… Had Alfred always looked at Arthur's bottom? Had Alfred always hugged him? He surely hadn't been acting this odd earlier today, had he? It seemed that he just started being weird once Alfred had ran upstairs, when he was frightened.
Arthur's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar loud voice. "You look nice." Alfred said to him. Arthur had slipped on some skinny black trousers, and a white Rolling Stones jacket. He didn't feel that he needed to get fancied up to go by a lamp.
"Oh... Uh, thanks." He muttered, suddenly feeling awkward around the American, now that he had thought about his actions. "Are you ready then?"
"Yep!" Alfred Grinned.
"Alright then. I'm driving; I don't trust you for a second on these roads."
Alfred replied with a loud laugh, the kind of laugh that only did well with him. Was it wrong to like his laugh? No, no absolutely not. His laugh was loud and obnoxious; Arthur didn't find it at all attractive.
They got settled into the car, and drove on their way to the mall. They entered the mall and went into the furniture store. Alfred, started to skip, like an overgrown child.
"My word, Alfred," His mouth twitched trying not to smile. "Must you do that? You're nineteen; you shouldn't act like such a fool." Smiling would only encourage him.
"How can I not? With me being around you, I just feel so happy." Alfred said. Okay, Alfred was definitely being weird. Arthur's face grew red, and they continued to walk- Alfred to skip- to the lamps. Arthur looked at the selection with thought, trying to find a lamp that fit well with his living room. In all truth, he didn't mind that the lamp had broken, it was rather ugly anyways. He had got it from his neighbor, but was a gentleman and didn't want to through it out simply because it didn't suit his fancy.
"Hey, you should get this lamp!" Alfred said, pointing to a lamp with baseballs on the lamp shade.
"Why the hell would I do that? I can't understand baseball the least bit."
"Well maybe I can teach you!" He laughed loudly enough, that other people around glanced at them.
"Keep your voice down!" Arthur scowled.
"My bad. Hey what about this lamp!"
Alfred was pointing to a lamp that had a nice tanish lamp shade, and a pretty mahogany base. Looking closely at the lamp, he realized the lamp had small rabbits carved into the bottom. Arthur had always loved rabbits; he always had tons of rabbits when he was younger. He remembered that when he first found Alfred, he was holding a black and white rabbit.
He looked over at Alfred, who was admiring the lamp, smiling. "I suppose it's a nice lamp. I think it will suit nicely."
They walked up to the cashier, and purchased the lamp. It was awkwardly quiet as they did so. It was close to 9:00 and not many people were out at furniture stores at time of night.
"Doodoodoodooo getting a lamp doodoodoo" Alfred sang quietly. Arthur couldn't help but chuckle.
They had walked out to the car, and tucked the lamp safely into the back seat. After driving in silence for what seemed an eternity, Alfred finally broke the silence,
"Don't you get lonely around your house?"
"I beg your pardon?" Arthur said confused.
"Well it just seems like a lonely house is all, I feel like the only guest you ever have is me." Alfred shrugged.
"Well yes, I suppose, but I don't really mind all that much." And he really didn't. Whenever Arthur felt lonely he would just go out in public for awhile, only to realize about an hour later that everyone is stupid.
"You need to get a pet." Alfred said, sounding more like an order than a suggestion.
"Alfred, pets are a really big responsibility, and I'm not sure if I'm up to the task to get one. What happens if the world meeting is all the way in China? Then what would I do with the pet? Leave it to starve? Because I can't take it to China, they'll cook it."
Alfred started to choke from laughing, "Dude that's one of the rudest things I've ever heard you say."
"I know, it's probably from hanging out with you so much." Arthur kept his eyes on the road.
"Yeah…" Alfred agreed. "So let's go."
"Go where?" Arthur asked.
"To the pet store, duh." Alfred said.
"Alfred, no!" Arthur said almost to a shout. He really couldn't take no for an answer could he?
"Alfred, yes!" Alfred exclaimed.
"…No. Nope, nope, nope, I'm not getting a pet. And I'm the one driving, so you really don't have a choice." Arthur assured him he was not getting a pet.
"Well you're just really boring then."
"No, I am not." Arthur frowned.
"Yes, yes you are. You're too boring and lonely for a pet." Alfred teased him.
"Alfred, knock it off." Arthur said, kind of pissed.
"Fine…"
They continued to drive in silence for a few minutes, and Arthur thought about getting a pet. Animals were cute, and they do make good company… Arthur's life had been pretty boring lately. Why not?
"Okay." Arthur sighed.
"Okay, what?" Alfred asked.
"We're going to get a pet, duh." Arthur said, mimicking what Alfred had said a few minutes before.
"AWESOME! What kind of pet? A dog? A cat? Hamster's are really cute but they make a lot of noise, and Ferrets are chill as fuck but they kind of sme-" Alfred stopped mid sentence and gasped.
With one quick motion he looked at the lamp tucked in the back and back at Arthur, and my god did he look like the happiest douche alive.
"YOU SHOULD GET A BUNNY!"