Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. Proper thanks for this fic are given below.
Every story has a beginning; a point where characters meet, and establish a base on which they build a relationship. In the case of the American born doctor Alfred F. Jones and the British native nurse Arthur Kirkland, the initial established base was wobbly to say the least. But any base, unstable or not, can be added to and mended quite easily. This story will be following both Doctor Jones and Nurse Kirkland, their lives, their friends, their trials, and their...blossoming relationship.
It had been two days, two whole days since the 'Partner System' was mandated for all hospital staff to follow. This new system was enacted mainly because the hospital had been put under pressure recently after one of their doctors suffered a work related panic attack. Thus the 'Partner system' was born. Each doctor-no matter the specialty-would have a nurse shadow them, this would effectively alleviate any stress or tension any of the doctors may have been put under. Alfred, being the newest, youngest, and brightest doctor on staff, had managed to snag a real gem of a partner. At least that's what Francis had told him. Nevertheless it had been two days now and Alfred still didn't even know what Nurse Kirkland even looked like.
She being his appointed 'Partner' should have found him already, but no, he was still waiting for this Nurse Kirkland to show her face. I mean, she wouldn't be expecting him to find her, would she? Of course not! He knew his time was too precious and far to valuable for such trivial matters as hunting down a silly nurse, and so should she.
"Hey, Lili?" He called to one of the receptionist clicking away at her keyboard, her face almost completely hidden behind the large computer monitor. She abruptly stopped typing, deleted a few lines, and looked up to meet the eyes of the young man.
"Yes Dr. Jones?" She asked in a voice as sweet as honey.
"Do you know where I can find nurse Kirkland right now? I guess I should introduce myself if we'll be working together."
He figited a bit, thinking there had to be something more important for him to do right now then look for an MIA nurse. Lili scribbled something down on a slip of paper, slid it to the other receptionist -a handsome Finnish boy named Tino- who took it and rolled his eyes. She gave a little smirk and pushed the pen back behind her ear.
"Nurse Kirkland ?" She asked aloud to herself, sensing that the young doctor was growing impatient she typed quickly into the computer. "Um, I could put a call out to come to the reception desk, if you wouldn't mind waiting a minute or so."
He moaned, completely displeased with this entire situation. "Can you at least find the room she's in, I just wanna get this over with." The tiny blonde woman looked a little dazed for a moment, as if she was trying to figure something out. 'She? Arthur Kirkland a she?' Suddenly it hit her, like a ton of bricks, she tapped away on her keyboard and without looking up said "Room 125, but I-" She looked back at the young man but was met with an empty hall.
She inwardly sighed as a small smile graced her lips. "So, Tino..." Lili started, spinning her wheelie chair around to face the other receptionist.
"Yeah, yeah," he sighed pulling a twenty out of his wallet. "You may have won this round Lil.." She let a short peal of laughter escape her lips as she wondered what sort of trouble the young man would get himself into with the surly, and most defiantly male, nurse.
Alfred followed the proper signs and arrows, walking briskly through the white sterile halls of the hospital. He was beginning to get antsy, having nothing to occupy him besides the sound of his footsteps so he started to count the green tiles on the floor as he passed them. He was only up to tile 50 when his mind started to wander. It was an honest to God miracle he didn't collide with any of the people walking the opposite direction, with how far gone his mind was. He was thinking of his father, and the first thing his father told him when he found out he'd be working here. He had said "Son, just remember: Don't have sex with a nurse on a hospital bed. People die on those. It'd be kind of creepy." Ah, how Alfred loved his fathers ridiculously awkward advice, along with his little quips on how the world should work, and how politics should be run, and how toasters should come with a burnt toast protection plan -the last one came after he had bought a series of shitty toasters-.
Then Alfred was suddenly torn away from his father's words of wisdom and wondered himself,'what if this nurse really is attractive? What if she's really nice, and funny? What if she thinks I'm wonderful and has just been too nervous to introduce herself?' Admittedly that would be an awesome thing to happen to him, but things like that rarely, if ever, happen at all.
Besides he had always been a little iffy on the subject of sexuality, it was just, he'd never been in love, so how could he know what sex he'd eventually fall in love with. Saying he may consummate with a nurse was taking it a tad far, as most women turn out to be wild and spontaneous creatures, and there is no text book definition on how to handle them.
Anyway; snapping out of his trance he came to the room marked 125, it was like a sign from the heavens above that he stopped right there. He tapped ever so lightly on the faux wooden door. Bracing for the worst, and hoping for the best, he closed his eyes and stepped in the room.
He'd almost forgotten how nerve wracking it was to meet someone for the first time. So, as he sucked in a deep breath, eyes still screwed shut in anticipation he rambled out this gem of a speech.
"Hello I'm Doctor Jones, and I'd just like to say Miss, it is a personal pleasure to meet you, even though you silly nurses give me heap-loads of trouble sometimes I'm sure you'll help me out to the best of your ability. And I'd just like to say, no sexual favors are necessary to make me like you."
Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Alfred F. Jones.
Now, Arthur Kirkland was a normal man, sure he had an odd job for a male -just never say that to his face- but in the end he put his shoes on one at a time just like every other man. When he came into work on this day, he, like another who came afterward, remarked to himself about how, 'His time was too precious and far to valuable for such trivial matters as hunting down a stupid American Doctor.' Partner system or not Arthur was no babysitter, and he sure as hell wasn't going to make the first move. Unfortunately, that left Alfred to do it; and he did. The last thing Arthur expected to happen at work today as he was putting on his white shoes, was to be accosted by a very handso-
very confu-
very idiotic, scatterbrained, git like Alfred.
Now it took Arthur a few seconds to process the situation. First a man, presumably doctor Jones, came into the room, eyes shut and mouth agape. He heard said man take in a huge breath, and then sputter out that miserable excuse for an introduction. There where a few parts in particular though that really left Arthur with nothing to say. The parts like 'Miss.'
And, 'help me to the best of your ability.'
Can't forget, 'no sexual favors are necessary to make me like you.'
And by the fiery pits of Hades his favorite,'silly nurses'.
The room started to fill with a cloud of awkwardness as Alfred stood up as straight as he could and opened his eyes cautiously to the deadly silent nurse. He did not expect to see what he saw. Like, at all.
A dude.
A dude in scrubs.
He chuckled softly, mentally reprimanding himself to look before he spoke next time. "I'm sorry," he broke the intense silence, getting a little wary as the other man shot him death glares. "I must have the wrong room doctor-" Alfred looked at the man's name tag that all staff were required to have pinned to their scrubs, and he froze. "Arthur Kirkland, Registered Nurse" he nearly choked out.
"Well look at that, not every day you get to be in the company of a male nurse." He laughed nervously as a sort of dark shadow seemed to pass over Arthur's face.
"I'm sorry," Arthur hissed through clenched teeth, tying very hard not to smack the ignorant fool right across the face. "But I think you may have been under the impression that I was a female based solely on my occupation." Arthur was surprised with himself, he was controlling his temper quite well. On the other side Alfred didn't really know what to say. Okay, so he had kind of pissed the guy off, that was understandable, but, come on? A male nurse? A British male nurse even? What where the odds. 'I guess I should've learned his first name.' Alfred thought, mentally reprimanding himself once again.
There was a very awkward silence.
An extremely, over the top, two-dudes-staring-each-other-down-while-a-hospital-patient-snoozed-in-the-background, kind of awkward silence.
Then, defying all logic and reason that told him to keep his goddamned mouth shut unless he was to apologize, Alfred spoke.
"Well, most nurses are female, are they not?"
...
First impressions are hard to make, and impossible to erase once made. Unfortunately, Alfred's was just flushed down the toilet like yesterday's apple juice, but he'd eventually get over it, and Arthur would eventually forgive him.
Eventually.
But not today.
No. Instead, he got a prompt and loud smack right across his cheek as the now very sour faced Brit stormed out of the room, all too eager to continue his rounds. Alfred was left there dumbstruck, it wasn't the slap, nah he'd had worse before, or the fact that all of his semi-sexual daydreams that involved him and a hottie nurse just flew out the window. No, what left him dumbstruck and completely speechless was that there was this tiny part of him, an itty bitty miniscule part that wanted desperately to stay next to Arthur, though, this feeling was in fact so tiny and microscopic it was easily pushed back into the depths of Alfred's cluttered mind.
And the funny thing is, though Arthur would never dare to admit it...
The feeling was mutual.
A/N: Shit, that was really short. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! If you have any questions on who will be playing what part in the hospital you can ask! I may not reveal much but still.. And You know, this is based off of an ask blog so... if you'd really like to see something or a certain pair I'll see what I can do.
A very big, huge, giant, largie large large large thank you to my editor and wifey~ Jenn
And an even bigger thank you to the two who came up with this AU and are allowing me to write about it! They run the Askdrjonesandnursekirkland blog and are putting up with all of my annoying questions about the AU. Thank you guys, so much~ (I didn't know if you wanted me to put your usernames here. Mwaa)
Next Chapter: Call Me in the Morning
See you then!
