title - Ten Dollars for a Meal (Also known as, "I Screwed Up, So Let Me Repay You)
prompt - how expensive outside meals can be. T-T
disclaimer - the disclaimer is in invisible ink - on the interwebs.
warning - possible out of character.
note - Hint of eventually RusAme because I love these two together. ^3^ So yeah, first time posting for the Hetalia section of FF. Never thought I'd get to this point, let me tell you. This section was a horror zone for me a few years ago thanks to a certain author here, but now that I've been converted into a Hetalia fangirl, here I am. The prompt basically was America having to pay Russia for a meal for one reason or another and take it from there. The ending is somewhat on the spot but I like it. A bit too short maybe but if I added anything else I think I would have dulled it.
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To make a long story short, he had screwed up.
Okay, that was too short. Back up. Work attacked Alfred harder than usual and he began to take his frustrations out on his employer Arthur. Of course, the older man did not take that sort of crap, so he instantly retaliated with some clever choice words and a surprisingly hard push. Alfred had been holding a potted plant, but the precious flower – forgive him please – was not as important as keeping himself from falling down from the roof of the building. Granted, at worst, the fall probably would have caused a simple break he would have jumped right out of, but Alfred didn't take heights well when he didn't have something to hold on to.
He let go of the plant, hearing its rapid descent to the ground below.
Accompanying the crash of terra cotta was the gasp of a man.
After a series of reactions – eyes widening, cursing aloud in the twelve languages he knew, flipping Arthur off since the man was busy recovering from this rapid turn of events, and running down the stairs – he made it to the bottom floor, bursting through the window to access the damage and who would sue him for his clumsy act.
Now he found himself here, in one of the many McDonald's spread out throughout the city. Normally, he'd be ecstatic to be here, but no, oh no, not at the moment. His blue eyes kept shifting to the older man next to him.
"Hmm, I do not know what I'll have. You decide for me." He turned his head toward Alfred, the silliest of grins tugging his lips. Alfred resisted the urge to take a step back; that smile, no matter how out of place it should be, just seemed right on the man's full face. He had the most adorable – yes, adorable – accent he's ever heard.
Alfred stumbled if only to recover from his unusual reaction to this man, racking his mind for something. But, damn, most of the meals here were pricey. Not in the bad way, but that's still money going down the drain. He was already fairly tight as it was since he's trying to save up cash at the moment.
Nowadays you'd be lucky to spend around five bucks on a meal, but he either coughs up the meal ticket now or pays for the undoubtedly expensive dry cleaning for dirtying this man's scarf and coat.
With a sigh, he purchases one of the heftier meals – might as well spend the money for all its worth, plus the guy didn't look like a light eater. "Here you go." He passes the paper bag over to the larger man, a hand rubbing the back of head awkward like. He coughed, shifting towards the exit. "Well, I'm off now-"
"Hold it. Aren't you going to keep me company?"
Alfred froze like a deer caught by headlights, the purple eyes of the stranger freezing him in place.
Which explains why instead of escaping back to work like he was supposed to he's sitting in front of the stranger as he happily munched on his free food. The silence, awkward for him, drove him up a wall, so he decided to start a conversation (if he was going to be forced to stay here).
"So, um, how do you like the food?"
The man took a while to chew his food before speaking again with the brightest smiles on his face. "It's terrible."
Alfred very nearly slammed his head on the desk. "Then why are you eating it?!" The words slipped out of his mouth before he realized he should not have said.
The foreigner hummed happily chewing through another bite of his hamburger. "Hmm, I wanted to try something different. Is my first time travelling in America. Wanted to enjoy new things I would not do in my country."
Admittedly, this caught his interest. "Oh, so you're a foreigner? On vacation?"
"Something like that."
Alfred decided not to interpret the nod and the almost creepy expression appearing on the stranger's face. "Okay. Well, hope your visit's nice."
The two went into silence again for lack of another topic to talk about. When the silver hair stranger finished eating, Alfred took that as a cue to leave. "All right, then. I'm off." Why did he say that? For some reason, he was nervous, but all he wanted to do was get the heck out of here (and, oh, he doesn't know, go back to work before Arthur throws him out on his ass).
"Hold on a moment." Why, why did he stop? The part of him which attempted to be rational declared he was just being polite since it was the right thing to do. The other part of him, the mix between rational and just plain old paranoid, told him to Cheese it!
The stranger walked forward, one hand in his coat, the other gripping Alfred's wrist. Next thing he knew, a card was placed unto his hand.
To his confused look, the stranger smiled and said, "So you may call me if you need anything. And because I would like a new friend." He stopped then blinked, smiling. "Oh, yes, my name is Ivan Braginski."
Alfred managed a weak smile. He thinks he might have introduced himself, too. When he finally walked out of the fast food place, he realized his phone housed Ivan's phone number as well.
For the rest of the day he tried his best to ignore the fact, but the phone managed to gain a few pounds from this revelation, noticeably heavy in his pant pocket. He didn't dare say a word of where he went to the rest of coworkers either.
Man, he spent his lunch hour being a kind soul, and he didn't even manage to order a combo from Mc. D. The humanity.
The phone vibrating scared him out of his bones later in the evening in the midst of a conversation with his friend Toris. With shaking hands, he reached for it and flipped it open. "H-hello?" Oh, no. He did not just stutter.
A giggle came from the other end. "Prevyet, Alfredka. I hope you are doing well. I just wanted to let you know I will be picking you up for dinner in a moment.
Wait, what? "Huh? Hold on, slow down. What are you talking about?" He would have continued defending himself, but his words came out in a spectacular mess, which Ivan used to his advantage to explain things. And just because he was such a gentleman, he made sure to use words Alfred could understand.
By the time he hung up so as to concentrate on driving, Alfred was staring at the phone with a gaping mouth. Toris asked him what was wrong and everything, but his mind was on a different channel and not properly translating his immediate surroundings.
Then when he finally realized what would happen in the next few minutes, he shrieked and clung to Toris. The smaller man, though not knowing what was happening made to take Alfred outside to get him some help or at least fresh air to help clear his mind because it obviously was not working properly at the moment.
Hence the mistake of not explaining things properly. Toris dragged him to the front exit just as Ivan pulled onto the curb. He smiled a creepy smile which made Toris's skin crawled and automatically drop Alfred.
After reeling from the fall, Alfred prepared to give Toris a piece of his mind, only for the young man to start sputtering. He took a step back when Ivan opened the car door and outright ran when the large man approached them.
"Bye! See you tomorrow, Alfred!"
Before he could even bother reprimanding the guy for dropping him – he'll think of saying good-bye after he apologies – a heavy hand clamped on his shoulder. He FROZE all over, unfamiliar with the touch and all the same dreading it like the winter cold in December.
"Hello, Alfredka." Ivan came into his peripheral vision, all smiles and twinkling purple eyes. "I hope you are ready to go." He wasn't given time to prepare for anything! "I… ahem, I wanted to pay you back for the meal earlier in the day."
In the previous statement, Ivan started to look shy, and it reminded Alfred of Arthur's younger brother Peter when the normally mischievous boy embarrassingly tried to be nice to his older brother for one reason or another. A light red blush colored his cheeks and his eyes looked to the side rather than at Alfred.
For a moment, the young man dared to think he was cute…
Then a smirk appeared on the taller man's face, and a hand gripped Alfred's upper arm far too tightly. "That, and I would like you to accompany me to actual cuisine. I know of a Chinese restaurant I've visited the day before with a comrade of mine. You will like it, I am sure."
"Wha- Hold on! I didn't say I was going! Earlier, that was because I mess up your shoes! You don't have to – Hold it!"
From one aspect he'll be getting his money worth of a meal cause he was starving, but why did he have to be kidnapped in the process?!