A/N: This was a challenge - everything was supposed to be done in one sentence... which I blatantly ignored. Still, I tried to keep everything short and sweet. These are all England related mini-drabbles that I've tried to make as complete as possible. Explanations below for people who don't get it.
#01 - Comfort
It wasn't much, just a steady flow of drinks and touches that were perfect for remembering how to forget. Not something to think much of at all, but for England… there was no better comfort in the world.
#02 - Kiss
It was just a kiss - not even that, really. A foolish boy's foolish attempt at conveying something he didn't really mean. He shouldn't read so much into it, he told himself, because really, it meant nothing at all. And it more certainly should not be stirring up such thoughts in him. The boy was his colony, after all! Certainly he looked older, but he was barely more than a child! And in any case, it was only a kiss.
#03 - Soft
She was a warrior, through and through, strong and fierce and utterly devoted to him and his people. His Queen, strong and tall and powerful as no woman before or since. But England got to see another side of her that none of his people would ever know - those moments, late at night when the powder washed off and the guard went down, her toughness taken off and folded away with the days clothes. When she allowed herself to be not Queen, but just Elizabeth. And in those moments she was so incredibly soft.
#04 - Pain
He had hurt before, with the first set of battles after his dear friend first took the throne, every time he took any sort of great loss from his peoples' ranks, but it wasn't until he saw that light fade from Arthur's eyes that he truly understood the meaning of the word 'pain'.
#05 - Potatoes
England couldn't help but wonder - where exactly had he gone wrong with the boy as he declared, "They're freedom fries now!" with that token 'look how awesome I am!' smile, thrusting the flimsy cardboard not-box filled with fried potatoes into the island nation's face.
#06 - Rain
After that day, neither of them really could abide the rain.
#07 - Chocolate
No matter the fact that it gave him food poisoning so bad he felt like he had the bends, America always thought the chocolate England made for him by hand was the best he ever ate (the fact that it's taste was so wretched he blocked it from memory did not come into account).
#08 - Happiness
It was only when the wind tousled his already mussed hair, the salty sea flecked his face with the cold touch of her waves, and the smell of brine filled the air that England could remember what it meant to be free. Only when his blood pumped with adrenaline at the idea of facing the wild ocean and her man-eating depths, when the thrill of the waves washed away all thought of land and the people waiting on it's shores, that he could make himself believe he had found happiness.
#09 - Telephone
England groaned as he rolled over in his bed, awoken by the loud blaring of 'America the Beautiful' pouring from his phone - a ring tone Alfred had managed to lock in, and he still hadn't figured out the password to remove it - at three in the morning (Alfred never did understand time differences, the git). And to think, he had once thought the telephone was a brilliant invention.
#10 - Ears
England would never have thought that the area behind an ear could be so damn sensitive.
#11 - Name
"What's your name?" The boy asked, smiling at the boy-who-was-not-boy.
"…. Haven't got one." His voice is thick, ashamed, almost.
"Haven't got a name? That's peculiar…." he's bracing for it now, to be laughed at and left behind, an unwanted little freak, but the other boy just continues to smile kindly at him as he goes on. "I suppose you'll just have to share mine then, won't you?"
"Yes! Now we shall both be Arthur."
"Arthur..." he'd never heard a better name.
#12 - Sensual
For all that he was a bloody arse, got on England's nerves to no end, and was generally disgustingly perverted, Arthur couldn't deny that Francis could be unbelievably sensual.
#13 - Death
He couldn't understand why so many of his people were scared of it. It wasn't something that touched the nations often (though they all saw their fair share of it) and certainly not something that England found himself being scared of. In fact, the thought of it tended to make him just a bit jealous, that his people could find that rest there, that they could go on while he had to stay and watch as he lost them, every single one. No, no he was not scared of what death would do to him, only of what it would take.
#14 - Sex
It was never just about the sex (he always got so foolishly attached), after all, he wasn't French.
#15 - Touch
It wouldn't seem like much to anyone else, but he had never felt so close to flying as when he felt those fingers brush his and finally found the strength not to pull away.
#16 - Weakness
It was terrible, this feeling, knowing how his city burned and being unable to do a thing about it, being forced to sit back in the bunker, hearing the explosions of the air raids going on above ground. He should be out there, in the skies with his boys (with his boy who was no longer his, as well, he reminded himself. Alfred was out there to, now, ducking under the rules and flying his bomber under his brother's name, the fool) fighting off the damn kraut. But you can't pilot a fighter with one arm. England looked down at the limb slung up near his chest and cursed this new found weakness.
#17 - Tears
England did not cry. It simply did not happen. Alfred knew this, it was one of those facts of life he had simply come to accept. So it was understandable that he couldn't comprehend what was going along when that once-great (still great, but not great enough to hold him) empire fell to his knees before him and began to sob.
#18 - Speed
He had always heard that children grew up swiftly, but he had never expected Alfred to shoot up (and away) wish quite so much speed.
#19 - Wind
The wind howled across the deck, as a troubled sea thrashed The Victoria as she fought valiantly to stay upright or at least buoyant. Orders were ripped away from mouths by the storm's anger as his crew fought both it and the chaos brought down upon them. Everything was tossed up into uncertainty, the final result held in the dangerously over-full hands of his (more than capable, but a bit over whelmed) seamen. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
#20 - Freedom
Never before had such a benevolent word caused one man so much pain.
#21 - Life
Similarly to how he could not experience death as his people had, England found that nations did not experience life so much as an existence.
#22 - Jealousy
He saw how the frog treated the boy, how the northern colony made him laugh and smile in a way England could never make him do back in their time together. And that was why England decided that the developing nation had to be his.
#23 - Hands
It was funny, he'd never noticed something so simple before he met her. But the second he went to raise her fingers to his lips he realized that he had never before seen such a lovely pair of hands.
#24 - Taste
It wasn't his taste that was off. It was just everyone else who had no sense of flavour!
#25 - Devotion
He had never before (and was quite sure he would never again) seen such devotion as that which she offered him. Of course he would return the loyalty, and that's why the ring still hangs on its chain about his neck.
#26 - Forever
He had told him he would wait forever for that promised return. He didn't know how long he was really signing on for.
#27 - Blood
England thought there was no character he understood better than Lady Macbeth. After all, he'd spent more than a few nights trying to scrub off the endless red stains.
Who would have thought the world had so much blood in't?
#28 - Sickness
The air is unusually warm and heavy in Saint Paul's cathedral, and it's all Arthur can do to stand still and not tug at his ruff. He had heard it all, over and over each time one of his important people were to be wed he would attend as a matter of course, knew the words well enough to recite them as the Priest spoke to the small audience (the bare minimum for a ceremony that would only be known to the people in this very place).
"For better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward-"
England shuddered slightly where he stood, eyes flicking over to the woman standing beside him, a terrible pain striking him at the knowledge of the loss he would inevitably suffer as the final five words were uttered.
"-until death do you part."
#29 - Melody
The melody was light upon his lips as he rocked the young colony held close in his arms, making up new words for the tune as he went, voice soft so as not to awaken the child.
"Oh beautiful…. For spacious skies..."
#30 - Star
England used to love to look at the stars - he had been raised under them, after all, spending his nights looking up at the far reaches of those lights, surrounded by the fae who were all he had at the time. Though lately, when ever he looked up into the sky he couldn't help but see the stripes instead.
#31 - Home
He wasn't certain when it happened, merely that it had, and that he wasn't at all sure that he liked that fact. But that didn't stop it from being so: somewhere along the line, he had started referring to Paris, not London, as 'home.'
#32 - Confusion
When first he calls for his friends and they don't answer England is confused, a little bit lost, but surely it is one of their games? Of course, that's all it would be, he assures himself. Nothing but a game...
#33 - Fear
…it is not until he has gone three days with no answer that he starts to fear the worst.
#34 - Thunder
England never could stand to fly in thunder, to easily reminded of the time when a heavier booming rang out in London's skies and fire rained like death upon his streets.
#35 - Bonds
He had never hated the sight of bonds so much as the time he spent picking open the German-wrought iron-shackles around France's wrists in the heart of Normandy.
#36 - Market
Sending his boys into Market Garden in the broad light of day, with no certainty that they wouldn't be blown to bits by the Jerry's before the jump even started, was quite possibly the hardest jump he had to allow, even beyond dropping into Normandy with Alfred by his side.
#37 - Technology
Staring at the small cellular device in his palm, England had never so wanted to smash the infuriating thing. He glared hatefully at the little envelope gloating at him from the bottom left corner of the phone - yes, he knew he had a bloody text, but what was the point of that if he couldn't open it?
#38 - Gift
"Don't think that I'm recognising it as your... your birthday or anything, it's not, I just... well I couldn't exactly get you nothing, now could I? Not even I'm that heartless."
#39 - Smile
When America had said he wanted to see England smile he had meant for him, not while his hand was subtly placed in France's palm.
#40 - Innocence
Looking up into the face that had once been so bright and hopefilled and was now twisted with a wildness he'd only before found hinted at in Ivan's eyes, Arthur couldn't bring himself to feel scared or even angry, only a deep sadness as he wondered where that fresh-faced innocence had gone.
#41 - Completion
He had no idea he'd become so worked up about it - he never felt more than a twinge of disappointment in the losses he'd taken - but when Britain was declared the winner of the Ashes, beating out Australia for the first time in years, no one was screaming out cheers louder than Arthur in all of London.
#42 - Clouds
England wasn't sure which was worse, when the cloud-covering promised a heavy, memory-filled rain...
#43 - Sky
… or when it was clear and the sky showed exactly the same blue as his former-colony's eyes.
#44 - Heaven
Heaven, England mused, was found in these little moments when they could just… be. No fighting, or bickering, no tears to draw them together in the bottom of a flask.
#45 - Hell
Hell came when he remembered that it could never last.
#46 - Sun
It is said that the sun never sets on the British Empire, but with weeks spent fighting to keep that empire with some semblance of contentment and stability England could almost wish that it would - he longed for the chance to sleep without fearing that closing his eyes would cause him to yet again experience the wrenching pain of separation.
#47 - Moon
If Alfred was his sun then Francis was his moon, and after years spent being blinded by a light that only ever burned, Arthur longed for the cool touch of night.
#48 - Water
England had long seen water as a freedom, as an escape from a continent that oft grew too tiresome to deal with. But now, trapped in a bunker waiting for the next onslaught of shells with Francis shackled across the waves, the channel he had been so proud of seemed to him a prison.
#49 - Hair
He left the house with his hair perfectly groomed every day - it wasn't his fault the faeries thought it was good for nesting!
#50 - Kids
Sitting in the park, watching mothers push their prams over the paths as older children ran across the grass shrieking and laughing, Arthur dropped his head onto François' shoulder, looking wistfully at all the playful young ones scattered over the area as he murmured the last thing his lover had expected to hear.
"Francis? I want one."
1 - FrUK (stolen from Head Cannon, when either England or France has a moment of unwanted memory about the humans they were never supposed to love - Jeanne d'Arc, King Arthur, Queen Elizabeth - they other helps to drink away all thought, because they have an understanding in this regard.)
2 - UKUS (www . fanfiction . net / s / 5120288 / 1 / Just_a_Kiss , and www . / s / 5136189 / 1 / If_Thou_Kiss_Not_Me should explain all)
3 - UKQueen Elizabeth
4 - UKKing Arthur
5 - UKUS
6 - UKUS
7 - UKUS
8 - (For persons aware of my personal head cannon, it has a faint tint of) FrUK (to it, but is mostly) UKOcean (which isn't much of a pairing at all)
9 - UKUS
10 - UKUS (though you can really make it any pairing you want, it's so vague….)
11 - UKKing Arthur
12 - FrUK
13 - No real pairing here…. Meh….
14 - No real pairing, and at the same time all the England ships I support, really….
15 - You can put anyone you want in here, but in my head it's FrUK
16 - No real pairing here either. I guess a bit of USUK… Battle of Britain ftw?
17 - slight UKUS?
18 - UKUS
19 - More Pirate!England! Wh00t! It's kinda UKOcean again….
20 - UKUS, Revolution. Duh.
21 - Again with me and no pairings?
22 - FrUK
23 - UKQueen Elizabeth
24 - No pairing. England can't cook, that is all.
25 - UKQueen Elizabeth (they were married you know)
26 - UKKing Arthur
27 - No pairing, final sentence taken from Macbeth with a slight tweak
28 - UKQueen Elizabeth
29 - UKcolony!US
30 - UKUS, sorta...
31 - FrUK
32 & 33 - These are a two-set. England and his faeries
34 - No pairing, dealing with memories of the Blitz on London
35 - More WWII. FrUK, kinda.
36 - Wh00t, more WWII par trooping junk. Can be seen as UKUS or UKCanada or No Pairing.
37 - ….. Iggy has phone issues. Alfred should help him with this. No pairing.
38 - It's not Alfred's birthday, no, it's the day he ran away, but... UKUS kinda if you squint
39 - US - UK, FrUK
40 - Dark!USUK from some stuff that Demented Inu and I wrote once upon a time...
41 - No pairing. SUCK IT, AUSTRALIA! WE BEAT YOUR BUMS! Ah, er…. That is… England did. Heh. I'll just… go away now...
42 & 43 - Two-set. UKUS
44 & 45 - Another Two-set. FrUK
46 - UKUS if you squint.
47 - USUKFr
48 - FrUK, WWII
49 - England and his Faeries. No Pairing.
50 - AU. Iggy wants kids. Run François. RUN. You do NOT want to be around when Alfred hits his rebellious teenage years to get caught between Arthur and him. And, yes, François, not Francis, because Francis is an Anglicisation of François which is what his name really should be.
If you still don't get something about this feel free to ask me in the comments, I'll be happy to explain. I'm thinking about doing this for either Feliciano or Lovino y/n?