Mixed Signals - Oneshot
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or Sandman. And thank god I don't own 50 Shades of Gray.
Rated: T
It was 4:57 on a dusky Thursday evening and Arthur was ready to pack up. It had been a slow day and while he did get to catch up on 50 Shades of Gray, sales weren't that great and tomorrow he'd have to work even harder.
The bell at the front door jangled and he looked up.
"Hey Alfred." Arthur said, trying to sound bored and disinterested, when in fact, he was practically jumping up and down out of excitement. He didn't get many customers, but of the few he did, Alfred was one of them, and he always came at the same time and same day once every week on his way home from work.
"'Sup Artie! Got any new comic books?" The blond called back as he started heading towards his usual section of books.
"I told you not to call me Artie."
"Okay, then how about eyebrows?"
Scowling, Arthur pulled up the counter to exit the area. "Then can I call you hamburger?"
Alfred beamed. "Well look who woke up on the sassy side of the bed today."
Arthur's scowl grew deeper and he coughed to cover up his blush. "A-anyway, we got new shipments of that one comic you read. Was it… The Dirt-tracker, or something like that?"
"Aw sweet, The Sandman volume 8! " He heard Alfred cry from the back.
Arthur let himself smile. It was endearing, really, how much Alfred cherished the books. He moved to go join him in the back when he heard the door bell jangle again.
"Ah, we're closing soon—" Arthur turned to say and froze.
The person who walked in looked around for a second before looking up to meet his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll head back… Out."
Arthur stood stock still as blood pounded in his ears, cold sweat forming under his fringe. 'Oh. No. Oh no. Oh bollucks. Why.' He thought.
"Hey… Aren't you Arthur Kirkland? It's me! Ted! Back from high school! How you've been?" Ted walked up to Arthur.
Arthur parted his mouth slightly and tried to say something. Anything. But it was like his vocal cords wouldn't function and so he stood there gaping like a goldfish.
"Y'know, I still haven't managed to restart my football career ever since you told the principal about my problem." He went on as he started cracking his knuckles. "I should really repay you for that."
"Arthur? Is someone out there?" Arthur heard Alfred call from the back of the store, muffled by dusty tomes and crinkled parchment.
"I—" was all Arthur could bring himself to say, backing up to the edge of his desk as Ted walked closer.
Time had practically stopped for Arthur as he stood there frozen. Even as Ted grabbed his shirt and raised his fist, Arthur couldn't even attempt an escape. He was too scared.
All he could do was blink. So, Arthur closed his eyes and waited for the familiar pain to come in contact with his face.
It never came.
"HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Arthur heard Alfred shout as he felt the hold on his shirt loosen. A pair of pounding footsteps then resonated as the blond ran across the creaking floor and right to where he and Ted were.
Without warning, Alfred then swung up his fist and gave Ted a punch right in the nose.
"The hell, man! I was just talking with him. He's an' old friend." The brunette growled as he put a sleeve to staunch his bleeding, probably broken, nose.
"That sure didn't look like a friendly conversation to me." Alfred glared. "Now, get out unless you want to get your ass handed to you."
"I think I can take you." Ted countered as he glared right back at the blond.
"A-Alfred... just drop it. I don't want you getting hurt..." Arthur choked out. It was a miracle at all that he managed to even speak.
"Well then, why don't I just call the cops?" Alfred threatened.
Needless to say, Ted dropped Arthur to the ground and left right after that.
It took another ten minutes and a paper bag to breath in before Arthur's heart stopped beating against his chest and he stopped shaking though.
"You okay?" Alfred asked Arthur kindly.
"Y-Yeah…"
"Who was that guy anyways?"
Arthur sighed. He'd really hoped that he'd left his past behind and Alfred of all people would have never found out about it.
'But Alfred is the first person whose ever saved me and stood up to someone like that for my sake…'
'Only the heroes from my books would have ever done that for me.'
Finding the courage to confide in the bespectacled blond, Arthur looked up.
"H-He was just someone from my high school that used to harass me all the time." He explained. "I got him expelled from school and arrested because I told the principal about some drugs I'd found in his pocket and he must have been holding a grudge on me ever since."
"Oh… wait, why were you looking through pocket?"
"He used to make me do the football team's laundry."
"Oh. Well that was stupid of him."
"Yes. And that's why, if it weren't for you, I'd most certainly be bleeding all over the floor right now."
Arthur picked himself off the ground and then headed back behind the register.
"So are you going to buy anything today?" He asked.
Alfred looked to him with an expression of surprise for a moment as he remembered what he was here for.
"Right! Yeah, I'm gonna buy that volume of Sandman and this old Hungarian cooking book." He smiled as he picked up the books from where he had left them.
"It's 'going to', not 'gonna." Arthur said, "Also, I didn't know you cook."
"Sure, sure, whatever." Alfred laughed, "And no that's not for me; it's for my girlfriend. Her birthday's today. She loves cooking and stuff like that. In fact, a frying pan is her weapon of choice."
The blond then looked at his watch with another glance of surprise.
"And if I don't get to her house in five minutes, she'll probably use that on me so I better go now!"
After the items were rung up and paid for, Alfred ran out of the store with a quick bye.
What he didn't realize though, was that Arthur hadn't said a single word since.
'It's for my girlfriend.'
'It's for my girlfriend.'
'It's for my girlfriend.'
Alfred's statement continued to ring through Arthur's head as he stood there, his hands still partially raised from when he'd handed Alfred the books.
'Well bullocks! Why do I care anyways? It's not like his personal life should matter to me right?'
Arthur shook his head while he took his green apron off and stepped out from behind the register.
'Besides, Alfred's usually a total arse anyways. It was only today Alfred did something so… nice.'
He reached into his pocket for his keys and began locking up.
'Why did I think of him as a hero anyways? He's nothing like them. He's usually always messing up and teasing me all the time. I mean, the first time we met, he called me an old man just because I own this store!'
Grabbing his coat, Arthur headed for the back door as he buttoned it up.
'So what if he's got the looks of those heroes. Or their blatant determination and courage and strength. Or their kindness.'
He shook his messy blond hair in an attempt to clear his mind.
'There's no way. It's impossible. Alfred's just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less.'
Although, as he reached for the doorknob, he paused.
'But if he's just a friend, why do I feel so sad?'
-o0o-
The next week was spent with nights of drinking and killer hangovers the next as Arthur finally came to the realization.
He loved Alfred.
Not only that, he was actually head over heels for the blond; completely smitten and he had just been too stubborn to realize it.
When Thursday finally rolled in, Arthur made sure to be completely sober.
Even if he had no chance with Alfred since the other cared for another, and a girl at that, he didn't want Alfred to see what he was like in his drunken depressions.
So, he'd at least put up a façade of normalcy if anything.
'Just keep a straight back, stiff upper lip, and you can pull through this.'
The chiming of the door bells brought back Arthur's attention as he waited for Alfred to walk in.
To his surprise though, Alfred wasn't alone; he had a girl with long slightly curly brunette hair with him.
'That must be his girlfriend.'
"—and this is the store I told you about. The one I always visit after work." Alfred said to her. "And right over there, is Artie!"
"Arthur."
"Yeah that." Alfred laughed "So what do you think of it all, girlfriend?"
"It's a lovely shop." She laughed. "But how many times have I told you not to call me that?"
"What, come on, it's just a nickname. It doesn't actually mean anything."
Arthur felt his neck snap as he quickly whipped it in the direction of the pair.
"I-I'm sorry, what? So, she's not your girlfriend?" He asked.
"Well—"
"No, I'm not." She cut off Alfred. "My name's Elizaveta. Al calls me his 'girlfriend' because when we were little, people used to tease us that we were dating just because we hung out a lot. But I never understood the logic behind that since Kiku was there too but no one ever paired either of us with him."
Arthur blinked. 'Did she just say either of us?'
"Oh, I'm sorry. Alfred told me last week that you were his girlfriend so I just thought that—"
"Wait what?" Alfred laughed as he cut the blond off. "Did I call her my girlfriend by accident when I was with you? I must have forgotten you didn't know that joke."
"It wouldn't be the first time." Elizaveta sighed. "But you wouldn't need to worry about that anyways."
"Why?" Arthur asked in confusion.
"Because Alfred is gay."
Elizaveta said it so naturally and with such ease, Arthur wondered for a moment if he'd imagined it.
"Wait," She paused as she looked at Arthur's look of shock and confusion. "Did Alfred not tell you that?"
"No, I hadn't yet." Alfred replied.
"Ohhhhh, so that's why he—and you didn't—" The brunette paused. "You know what, I'm just going to go to that far back corner now and start looking at those books. They look very interesting from here actually."
With that, Elizaveta left the two alone as she headed behind the bookshelves.
"So…." Alfred said.
'So…?"
"Has your opinion of me lowered now? Are you going to stop talking to me or anything?" The blue eyed man asked him carefully.
Arthur looked at him in surprise.
"Of course not! Why would you think that?"
"Well the whole reason I never told you before was because I thought you'd be weirded out by it and not talk to me anymore."
"I would have never done anything like that!"
'If anything, it would have saved me a whole lot of money on all those drinks I bought and all that pain from the hangovers…'
A sound of laughter interrupted Arthur from his thoughts.
"And to think all this time I was so afraid of telling you when really you wouldn't have cared!" Alfred laughed as he clutched his sides.
"So you really don't care?" He asked again.
"No, I don't mind at all." Arthur answered. "…Why?"
"Well, because a lot of times when people found out about my preferences, they'd start avoiding me." He explained nonchalantly. "The only people whose opinions have never changed at all were Elizaveta's and Kiku's. But Kiku's bi so yeah."
"Heh, in fact, Elizaveta kept trying to get me and Kiku to go on a date for awhile now." Alfred laughed.
"Well why haven't you?" Arthur asked out of curiosity.
"For one thing, he's my best friend and I've known him for so long I just couldn't imagine us being anything but best buds." He replied, "And because there's someone else I love."
Arthur felt crestfallen yet again. 'So I still don't have a chance.'
"Really?" He felt himself ask.
"Yeah, he's got these awesome deep green eyes and this messy blond hair that I just love and—" Without even realizing it, Arthur had started to tune Alfred out as he described the one he loved.
"And he's just got the biggest pair of black eyebrows I've ever seen."
'What, someone has bigger eyebrows than me?'
"Oh my God Artie, do I have to spell it out for you?"
Arthur raised his caterpillar eyebrows in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
"Artie, it's you. I'm in love with you."
"W-What? I-I-" Arthur felt his face heat up as he continued to stammer until the news finally hit him. "YOU BLOODY GIT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER!"
"Huh? Why would it matter since it's not like you—" Alfred didn't even have the chance to finish his sentence.
Not that he minded of course.
Because right at that moment, Arthur had gone over and grabbed the blond by the tie and brought their lips together.
"Does that answer your question?" Arthur asked as he crossed his arms and looked to the side.
"It sure does." Alfred smiled. 'But, when did you…?"
"I guess I've slowly been falling for you. But, it wasn't until last week that I ever realized it." He confessed. "How long were you in love with me though?"
"Ever since the day I saw you."
"Oh please, that is too cliché!" Arthur retorted.
"But it's true!"
"Right, sure. So the moment you walked through this door you fell in love with me?"
"Yup."
"Oh, just shut up and kiss me you bloody liar."
"Sure thing, Artie."
So they did.
And Elizaveta got it all on tape. Because instead of going to the back of the book store as said, she'd instead set up a camcorder on the book shelf right behind them and started recording.
Neither of them had even noticed though; not even when she knocked over a pile of books.
Probably because they had just knocked over one themselves.
"Now this is the best belated birthday present ever." She smiled.
A/N :: This story was written for Fanime-Sensei Strike's Back's Hetalia contest~
My friend [Chibimatryoshka] gave me the idea and my other friend helped me start it all because I didn't want this to turn into another 7k+ oneshot lol.
Also, Happy Birthday Alfred! Have some USUK!
On another note, I was on a bit of a hiatus due to writer's block, school, and Anime Expo but now I'm back so any of my Gehenna Heiretsu readers that are seeing this, I apologize greatly for disappearing for so long. U w U ;;
I'm working on the update right now.