ATS here! A sudden strike of inspiration has hit me, and I present to you, the first chapter of (hopefully many) Bingo! I don't own Hetalia, since otherwise that show would go from comedy to yaoi faster that you can imagine.

Bingo! Chapter 1, by: A True Shipper

Summer, to most people, is a time of joy. Sunny days without a single cloud to be seen in the blue sky that reaches the horizon and beyond, nature in full bloom and the delightful smell of flowers. Long beaches full of happy people celebrating the death of winter by swimming and sunbathing.

All of this, unless you live in England.

Sure you have a long holiday just like the people who live anywhere else, but instead of all the lovely weather, you get rain. And if the rain pouring down from the cloudy sky most of the time is not enough to bring you down, then the warmth, or the lack of it, will certainly ruin any plans of picnics or visits to the beach.

Arthur Kirkland was one of those poor unfortunate souls who happened to live in the land of eternal bad weather.

It wasn't as big of a thing for him, in fact he quite liked just staying inside. A few days reading books and sipping tea like a stereotypical British person was no problem for the blonde, and since the summer break had just started for him, he was happy to finally have some time off from all the studies at his university.

Arthur was 19, and for the holidays, had returned to live with his grandmother in a lovely little suburban house. His parents died when he was just a toddler in a car accident, and ever since, he had lived with grandma.

Grandma Bethany was not some weak elderly person. She was 68, but still went out for long walks or exercise, even if it was raining. In fact she had to drag Arthur out of his room regularly, so the boy wouldn't just stay inside for days straight. She also was an active bingo player, and had a reputation in the neighborhood for being the best in it. Arthur had no idea how Bethany kept bringing in prizes over and over again even though the game was all about luck.

One Thursday, about week after the break had started, Arthur noted how Bethany was acting strangely excited.

"Grandma, is something the matter?" Arthur asked the woman who was looking oddly cheerful when she was cleaning the kitchen.

"Oh Arthur, have I not told you yet?" Arthur shook his head in response.

"Well, the local bingo club is hosting its annual grand tournament today. This year, the main prize is a Villa in Plymouth, all yours for a month!" She exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Seems like quite the prize!" Arthur replied, and continued to dust some old pictures on the self.

"It is, but I don't really fancy living so far from all my friends and family here in Liverpool. It's quite isolated actually, and even though you can bring one friend with you to the villa, I doubt any villa could beat home," Bethany said. Arthur laughed a bit, knowing Liverpool was very important for Bethany. She hadn't been further than Ireland from her hometown, and knew tons of people.

"Well if you don't want to live In the villa, why do you want to participate?" Arthur asked.

"For fun of course!" She laughed warmly, and the laughter caught on to Arthur as well. After their little cleaning/chatting session, Arthur returned to his room to keep reading a new book he borrowed from the library. It was a sappy high school romance, but the thing which actually kept Arthur reading it was the fact that the main couple was a gay one.

Arthur liked men, it wasn't a big of a secret to anyone. He wasn't the rainbow flag-carrying activist, not wanting to be remembered as "the gay guy", but as Arthur Kirkland, a full person with also other characteristics than the fact that he liked men.

But he did sometimes feel under-represented in literature, and every couple ever seemed to be a straight one. This was the reason why he even bothered to read the mediocre "Roses and Pencils". He was already disappointed with it, but since he had nothing else to do, he kept reading.

He kept reading for a good while till there was a knock on his door. "Come in!" He said, and lifted his gaze from the book. The door opened and Bethany walked in.

"Arthur, the bingo is starting in thirty minutes, we should get going." Arthur gave her a questioning look and said the same thing he was thinking:

"We?"

"Well dear, you have to come with me, after all such a big bingo game only happens once a year!"

"I don't want to go." Arthur replied automatically.

"Come on, it will be fun! Bingo is easy to play, you could participate too!" She tired convincing Arthur.

Arthur really didn't want to go, but Bethany gave him a pleading look and soon enough, Arthur gave in and accepted her offer. She smiled brightly and said she would be waiting outside.

Arthur sighed. He wasn't exactly a competitive person, and the bed he was laying in was amazingly cozy. However he already had promised to go, so he reluctantly stood up and walked to the hallway. He put on his green raincoat and boots, since it was raining.

The two walked the kilometer to the Bingo Club to find it full of people. There was a hall with five long tables full of people, mostly middle-aged or elderly. Arthur took a bingo card, and lazily filled it with some random numbers he came up with. Arthur sat down to the end of a table with Bethany, and a few minutes passed.

Arthur wasn't exactly looking forward to the bingo session, but some of the others in the grey hall certainly were. He let his gaze drift around the hall.

Then, a loud announcer voice echoed through the hall. Arthur snapped his gaze to the direction of the sound. At the other end of the hall was a stage, on which there was a man in a wheelchair, apparently the game host.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, are we ready for some bingo?" He shouted with a megaphone and the crowd replied with a loud "YES!" and laughter. The man in the wheelchair then proceeded to explaining the rules of the game, which everyone already knew.

After a little bit of info, the game was on.

Arthur knew his chances of winning the bingo were almost nonexistent, but decided to pay attention. After all, if he got just those five numbers required in some form of a line, he would get to live in a villa for a month. And it was always worth a shot, right?

The game host had a big black box with all the numbers from 1-90, and Arthur watched him pull out one.

"27!" Arthur heard, and crossed a mark over his "27" in the left corner of his card.

"65!" He smirked and crossed that one as well. ''Wow, I'm really lucky today.' He thought. The next number were 11 and 90, which he didn't have. Arthur could feel the tension in the room building.

"39!" Arthur crossed it. He only had to get two more numbers to get a full row from the left corner to the upper right corner. He was excited now; there was actually a chance for him to win! He tapped the pencil on the table excited.

"22!" His shaky hand crossed it. 'Just one more number!' he thought, nearly bouncing in his seat. It was unlike him, to get so worked up about something like bingo.

"69!" He was certain his heart stopped for a split second. He didn't bother crossing the final number of his line. Instead, he jumped up from his seat, almost knocking it over, and shouting;

"Bingo!" He was shaking now. His brain was on overdrive, he had won! Won! But he realized that at the same exact moment as he had shouted the word of victory, another person had as well.

Arthur turned to look at the source of the sound. At the other end of his table, he saw sharp, blue eyes looking at him. He froze and kept staring at the boy. The stranger was maybe around his age and had thin, rectangular glasses. His hair was a soft light brown, and he had gray jeans and a black hoodie on, the hood pulled back.

Silence.

Who had won?

The silence and whispers dragged on painfully long. The host was discussing with some other people in the back of the stage.

Arthur kept staring at the boy, gaze locked on his eyes.

"Erhm…" The game show host broke the silence and turned everyone's, also Arthur's, gaze towards the man.

"I would like for the two lucky winners of our bingo to please follow me!" He exclaimed, and gestured to the door next to the stage.

Arthur looked puzzled, but a little push from Bethany woke him up. He grabbed the bingo card and started walking awkwardly towards the door. He went through the gap between the tables and felt the burning gazes of people heat him up. Arthur didn't like being the center of attention. He was a bit shy and he felt almost threatened by the looks people were giving him. He walked slightly faster and reached the door. He had seen the other boy and the game host get there earlier, they were much closer to the door anyway, but was still surprised to see the two in the little office.

It was a small office with a desk and two seats. It felt almost barren and lonely.

"Please, sit down." The man in the wheelchair said, and gestured for the other seat. Arthur sat down on the seat, next to the other boy. He was looking at him, but as Arthur's green eyes met blue, the blue ones turned quickly to the man in the wheelchair.

"Hi, I'm George, the game host." The man on the other side of the desk said, and smiled a bit.

"Arthur."

"Alfred, a lucky winner!" The boy next to him laughed, sounding a bit nervous. He also had a distinct American accent. George chuckled pretentiously at Alfred's words and continued:

"It seems we have two winners. I hope you realize how unbelievably tiny of the chances of this were. But just to be sure, can I have a look at those cards of yours?"

Arthur and Alfred robotically gave their cards to George.

Arthur looked at the man who was busy looking at the cards. What if he had heard wrongly? Maybe he didn't win anything at all... The thoughts swarmed his brain.

"Well, I am happy to tell you both that they are correct." George said after a painful silence. Arthur's and Alfred's face both turned into a small smile as well.

"However you both must be thinking how does one split a villa for two winners, huh?" George said and laughed. Alfred did slightly as well, but it didn't pass on to Arthur. George noted Arthur's neutral face, and continued.

"Well, I suggest this." Arthur was all ears.

"The main prize was the villa for a month and a person to bring with you for the trip, all expenses paid." Both boys were listening closely. "I thought that you two could spend the month in the villa, together."

Arthur's eyes went wide. A month with a stranger in the middle of nowhere? What were they thinking!

"Sounds good!" Alfred exclaimed too loud and Arthur looked at him.

"I don't have anyone to bring with me, and since I just moved here, it would be a great chance to get to know each other."

'But he barely knows my name…' Arthur thought, and questioned how anyone could be so ready to just, spend a month with a stranger.

"Good." George said, and turned to face Arthur.

"What do you think Arthur?"

Was he just supposed to know that? He had no idea what to answer. The rational side of him said that it could be a bad idea, Alfred could be a total asshole. But the other side told that those blue eyes could be trusted. And living like a king in a villa would beat sitting in a dusty house in Liverpool any day!

Then, he stopped thinking too much and just blurted out:

"Sure."

Both George and Alfred smiled, and he was given a few papers to sign. Meanwhile, George gave them the details.

"You will leave by bus this Sunday, and will return after a full 30 days. We will hand you both keys to it. The villa is next to the sea and is a bit isolated. If the weather ever gets a bit better than this, I would recommend you try out the nature path here and here…."

As George kept talking, Arthur was unsure if he should be regretting his decision to go. He really felt like this was too much for the shy bookworm he was. On the other hand Alfred did seem like a nice guy. But he had first seen him a bit over five minutes ago though, so he didn't want to get his hopes up just yet. But as he saw the boy talking with George he really couldn't take his eyes off the other's brown hair. Arthur didn't even realize he was staring until he was asked something about the trip and he snapped out of it.

"Earth to Arthur, this is Alfred. Hello?" Alfred said as he waved his hand in front of Arthur's eyes.

"Yes, what is it?" Arthur replied, dazzled.

"Let me repeat it for you dude. The bus leaves at 7:30 am and the trip back as well. The trip will probably take most of the day. You think those times suit your schedule?" Arthur suddenly felt his cheeks go slightly red for some inexplicable reason as he looked into the serious blue eyes.

"Yeah…they are fine." He mumbled, turning to look at something else than Alfred.

"Great!" Alfred jumped up from his chair and smiled brightly. "See you on Sunday!" he said, and before Arthur could say anything more, the boy was gone.

So, what do you think? I tried to not have grammar errors, but you are blind to your own mistakes. Feedback is appreciated!