It was cold in London. Arthur was sitting on an individual sofa, in front of a fireplace and had a cup of tea in his hand. He took a sip of it and then left it over the small table that was on his right.
He felt tired, and wanted nothing but sleep. Unluckily for him, he had to wait for some visitors to arrive at his house. England grabbed his face with both hands, as a sign of frustration.
"Of course Francis is the one screwing up all of my plans for the rest of the day, that bloody frog," he mumbled and then closed his eyes, feeling defeated.
Some of the countries were going over to his house, but it hadn't been his idea to invite them but France's. And of course, being as polite as he was, Arthur couldn't turn down the invitation when he saw how the other countries agreed happily.
"I'm going to murder that idiot," he said and his voice echoed in the empty living room.
He wasn't in the mood to see people, he just wanted time alone. The blond was having a hard time with himself. Lately all of his issues were all over the place and he felt suffocated and depressed by them.
A knock on the door made his thoughts go away and then he looked at the clock. The Brit raised an eyebrow, since his guests were arriving at 8 p.m. and it was almost six o'clock.
He went to opened the door and his face had a disgusted expression when seeing France, who gave him his signature smirk. "Bonjour Angleterre! It is always so nice to see you," the French said happily.
"Good evening, frog. I wish I could say the same," Arthur replied, already annoyed. Francis rolled his eyes and entered the place without paying attention to the death glare the other man was giving him.
England had to prevent himself from kicking him out of the house, because not only was France being impolite and rude by coming to the reunion two hours later, but he also interrupted Arthur's alone moments. "May I ask you, why are you here so early? The guests were supposed to arrive at eight o'clock."
Francis smiled at him. "Ah, I just couldn't resist and had to come earlier. You know, I was the one that invited them after all. I thought that you would like some help."
Arthur was stunned at his response. Why was he being so... nice?
"Yeah, like I'm going to believe you," England said rolling his eyes and trying to seem irritated, when in fact he was holding back tears that had been threatening to come out of his eyes during the whole week.
France sighed at the comment. "Come on Arthur, don't make this more complicated than it should be, I'm trying to be nice," the Frenchman told him, and the Brit could only cross his arms over his chest.
"Nice? You're trying to be nice? Are you seriously that much of an arse? If you wanted to be nice you shouldn't have invited people to my house without my permission!" he answered angrily at the man in front of him.
"You could've cancelled it, it's not my problem if you didn't," Francis replied before he scoffed. Arthur's emotions suddenly were too much for him and he kind of exploded.
He roughly grabbed the Frenchman by the collar of his shirt and pinned him against the nearest wall. "I didn't because I'm a bloody gentleman! I'm supposed to be polite and correct all the god damned time, and it is quite hard when you want to have sometime for yourself but some moron ruins it! I didn't want you to come here today and I don't want anyone else to come either, I just want some time for myself, which now, thanks to you, I can't have!"
Francis eyes widened as everything happened, and his eyes were filled with worry when, after screaming right at his face, Arthur let go of him and tears were streaming down his face. "Arthur? What's wrong?" he said, trying to get close to him.
"What's wrong? You're seriously asking what's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong," England answer, trying not to break down. "What's wrong, is that lately I've been feeling like crap, and I can't stop feeling like that when it is the way I should be that is making everything harder for me," he began to explain, trying to stop the tears from falling, but failing at it. "In the last meeting, I saw how most of the countries were so happy and cheerful about their incredible relationships, and I've been so lonely since America left! And I can't do anything right to seem interesting to anyone, I can't cook, I don't have the best body and my personality sucks. So I'm stuck with being the polite British stereotype that apparently is absolute crap and is ruining everything for me! And I know that everything with America is okay now but it's still not enough. When he was with me and I had to act like his big brother, I felt like someone actually needed me, now nobody needs me. I feel like I could be fucking dead and nobody would even care!"
And Arthur couldn't take it anymore after that.
He began to sob and Francis hugged him tight, feeling his heart breaking at the crying England in his arms. "Oh Arthur," he mumbled, truly heartbroken at the other nation's confession. "It's nothing like that, mon cher. You know we all need you, and all of us love you," he told him with a soothing voice, and the Brit's sobs seemed to calm down a bit. "Arthur, I know that even if I tell you a million times this, it won't work if you don't believe it, but you're important. And I'm not speaking for everybody now, but for me," France said, and England looked up at him, with tears still streaming down his face.
"Don't say things out of pity, Francis. You only annoy me, when was the last time you showed me you actually cared? When you helped America get away from me?"
"You know it wasn't like that. And yes, I annoy you, but you annoy me too. That's us, mon cher. We've been like that since the beginning, and that doesn't mean I don't care about you. Because I do care, and a lot. Arthur, you have no idea how much it would pained me if you were gone. You know me like nobody else does, not even Matthew, Antonio or Gilbert. You've been there for me when I went through horrible things. You helped to raised Matthew in such a wonderful person, and you did the same with America. I don't think you understand how amazing and wonderful you are. And everything you just said about yourself that you claimed to hate? I love it. All of it. I love how you can't cook but still put effort in everything you do. I love your stubbornness and how you get easily embarrassed. I love how you look. Seriously Arthur, you really think you're not attractive? Look at you! Your body is beautiful. Your hair, your eyes, your smile, even your eyebrows. Everything about you is completely beautiful, because that makes you who you are. And who you are is an incredible man that no one could ever resist or not love."
England felt a lump in his throat again. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do," and the smile and sincerity that the French showed when he replied, made Arthur's heart beat like crazy.
"Prove it, then," he replied, and as soon as those words were out of his mouth, Francis' lips were on his.
Everything felt right for Arthur at that moment, and he forgot about his misery for a few seconds. He then pulled away slowly, confusion written all over his face. "Why?"
"Why? Mon dieu, Arthur. I've been dying centuries to do that! You're seriously bad at reading people's feelings," France said before letting out a chuckle. Arthur's face heated up.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been driving me crazy since day one. Arthur, all of my attempts of flirting with you were not jokes, I actually meant it."
England was partly surprised and partly ashamed. How was it possible that he didn't realise it?
"Look, I'm really sorry for what I did, for the whole tonight stuff and everything else that might have bothered you. But please, give me a chance to prove you that I'm worth giving a shot. Let me be the one that reminds you every single day how loved and important you are. Let me be the one that makes all of your problems go away for at least a few seconds. I'm begging you, Arthur," France said and England noticed the hope in his yes, which was truly flattering and beautiful.
Was there any reason for him to say no? His "rival" had just begged for forgiveness and announced how much love he felt towards him. Arthur knew him very well, and even Francis wouldn't do that as a joke. Both of them knew each other like nobody else, and England seriously felt that all of the words that came out of his mouth were nothing but the truth.
It was true that they didn't have the best relationship, but still were there for each other when it was needed. Also, Arthur had had a big crush on Francis hundreds of years ago, and maybe, just maybe, it never faded away.
So that's why he gave him a small smile and replied with just as much as hope in his eyes as Francis. "I don't see why not."
