Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

Note: TA = Teaching Assistant, basically they are kind of the underlings of the professor and teach smaller sized classes that coincide with the lecture. They also do all the bitch work since professors are bamfs and ain't got time for that shit.


Let Me Impress You

Alfred smiled dumbly outside of the university's library café as he looked in through the glass doors to see his TA sitting by himself with his nose in a book. It was surprising how focused he was with all the students sitting and chatting loudly around him. The library itself was fairly quiet, but the café was another world entirely.

Alfred took a deep shaking breath and let himself in. He propped the door open for a few girls going out. They smiled shyly and thanked him as he grinned confidently at them, "No prob."

Walking inside he could smell the grounded coffee and pastries mixed in a warm pleasant aroma and made his way to the corner which his TA often referred to as his "office" since the university has yet to give him a real one.

As he came closer the man still hadn't acknowledge him, which was understandable since he was about fifteen minutes early and there so much noise around him. He waved in greeting anyway, "Uh hi!"

The man finally looked up, his green eyes shining from the streams of sunlight coming in through the glass doors, "Oh hello Alfred, why don't you sit down and we'll get started." He said gesturing to the seat across from him.

Alfred nodded as he placed his backpack on the back of the chair and sat down, elbows on the table and a smile on his face. He loved being on a first name basis with his TA and in his head would sometimes give him pet names, cutie…Artie…

"Thanks for meeting me Arthur, I know being a TA doesn't give you a lot of office hours." He stated almost bashfully.

Arthur smiled politely and put his book away, "Well at least you take advantage of my office hours, no one else seems to show up."

The American grinned sheepishly, "Yeah well, I'm probably the only one struggling so much in this class, I like Professor Bonnefoy and all, but you explain the readings so much clearer and not because your accent is easier to understand." And sexier Alfred thought to himself, but cast the thought away quickly.

The British TA chuckled lightly, "You don't have a lot of faith in yourself Alfred for someone who seems so...confident."

Alfred shrugged, "Pre-modern literature isn't really my thing is all. I just took it for credits. Sorry to disappoint."

Arthur shrugged as well, "We each have are own passion that doesn't mean I didn't take classes just to fill up my schedule back in uni as well."

"Yeah like what?" He asked, honestly intrigued.

Arthur looked thoughtful for a moment, "Hmm…well astronomy counted as a maths requirement. I absolutely dreaded it." He stated and smiled at Alfred's shocked expression.

"What?! Dude astronomy is awesome! Its math and space combined, you can't get much cooler than that!" Alfred yelled in disbelief and for once he was happy that he wasn't meeting Arthur in a quiet intimate setting.

Arthur shook his head and laughed a genuine laugh. Alfred stopped himself just so he could enjoy it for a moment before it died down.

"I think we're getting a little off topic here. I believe you wanted to talk about your paper from last week?" Arthur asked, getting serious.

The American nodded dumbly and pulled out the paper from his backpack, "Well I'm not saying I deserved a better grade, but well…yeah I'm actually kind of confused about why my thesis didn't work out." He swallowed a bitter lump in his throat; it sucked when he was trying to impress Arthur by actually trying to write a literature paper only for it to be completely shot down.

Arthur sighed and looked at the paper, re-reading his red marks, "It was…it wasn't so much the thesis. I can tell you tried Alfred, but the problem was you complicated the prompt and ended up changing your thesis by the conclusion. I admire that you took the readings to a different level, but the structure was too confused."

Alfred nodded a bit looking down at his paper, "yeah I can see that, I guess."

He looked up to see Arthur looking back at him, almost as if studying his face before smiling a bit, "But it's something that can be easily fixed. I can help with organizing your ideas together on future papers if you'd like."

Alfred silently grinned and nodded.

"Well then if that's all, you can set up to meet with me next week for the next paper." The Brit looked at him expectedly and Alfred figured that meant their time was about done.

The college student put his paper away and put his backpack on, "Yeah of course! Thanks so much Arthur!" He smiled getting up.

Arthur returned the smile and looked at him curiously, "Before you go, can I ask you something?"

Alfred froze as a million possible questions formed in his mind. Is he gonna ask me out? No way...no way…maybe…no! Don't get your hopes up. Say something, you look like an idiot standing here! "Uh sure!" He answered with a squeak.

The teaching assistant furrowed his brows in confusion, "Well I mean literature isn't really something you're invested in, why do care so much about this class?"

Alfred blanched slightly. "Oh um..." So I can impress you "For a at least a B-, I wanna keep my GPA up!" He stated rapidly. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Arthur smiled still and shook his head, "Alright, see you next week Alfred."

The American grinned back and started to walk away, "see ya Artie!" He called-out absentmindedly.

"What was that?" Arthur asked as if he hadn't heard and Alfred refused to turn around to see his expression.

"Uh…I gotta go!" And the American dashed away completely mortified.


A/N: I don't know…I haven't written in like a year, don't know if you can tell haha… I have two 7 page papers due next week and this is what I'm doing instead! If people like this and want more I will write a few ficlets here and there to see if it goes places, but for now it's a one-shot. Thank you for reading!