Alfred F. Jones bounced excitedly on the worn leather seat of the hot and over crowded school bus. His brother, Matthew, was next to him, his nose buried in a dog-eared book. The bus rumbled around a corner. onto a dusty road, and noises of excitement and off key camp songs escalated. Alfred was, of course, part of the thrilled babble, talking animatedly to his brother.
"I can't wait to get there! Do you think Francis and Gilbert and Antonio will be there again? Those guys are freaking bad ass, I mean, seriously, I had a blast hanging out with them last year! Maybe we'll get paired with them again, won't that be awesome Mattie?" he stared out the widow, his body stirring with anxious energy. His feet tapped the floor and his fingers fiddled with everything they could reach; his jeans, his hair, the bolts in the window, Matthew's hair, Matthew's shirt..
Matthew grunted without commitment. He was deep in the interweaving of his book, and he had long since learned to tune out his brother's obnoxious rambles and anxiously roaming hands. Though, if Alfred had been watching closely, he would have noticed Matthew's face flush pleasantly when he said 'Gilbert'.
But Alfred was not paying attention at all. He was staring eagerly out the widow, eyes scanning the road ahead for the familiar wooden signs that proclaimed that they were close to the 'Hetalia Academy Summer Camp'. This was his second year going, and he couldn't help but be excited. He loved summer, but even more than summer, he loved camping. Combine the two, and he couldn't help but be overflowing with exhilaration and anticipation.
Hetalia Academy had two campuses; one was located in good old US of A, in the sweltering state of Texas. The second was located in France, where Matthew's and Alfred's camp buddies – Antonio, Gilbert and Francis - attended. Hetalia Academy was known for it's extreme diversity. They boasted that almost all races were represented there, and they also had excellent sports teams and academic prospects. Alfred counted himself lucky to go there – and he counted himself extra lucky that he was selected of the forty boys to go to the summer camp. If the school was exclusive, then the camp was even more so.
The bus turned another precarious corner, and Alfred let forth a shout of triumph at the sight of the wagon wheel sign stretching across the road, announcing their arrival at the camp. Matthew looked up and smiled, pulling himself up right and stuffing his book into his carry on bag.
"This is gonna be freaking awesome!" Alfred shouted, his head out the window as they rumbled into the camp.
Matthew agreed silently, peering around his brother's chest to get a view of the camp himself. The twenty boys that had been chosen from the campus in France were already here; they had been flown over a few days before the boys from the other campus arrived, so they could recover from jet lag before the real fun started.
Alfred jumped up and down, pointing excitedly out the window. "Look who it is, Mattie!" he laughed enthusiastically and waved to Francis, Antonio and Gilbert. It had been an entire year since they had seen their long distance friends, and Alfred was excited to see them again. Matthew was excited too, waving to them through the glass of the window, since Alfred was hogging the open part.
"You better get your stuff, Al, or you'll leave it on the bus again." Last year, Alfred had been so enthusiastic that he had thrown himself out the door, completely forgetting his jacket and his carry on. He didn't have another jacket with him, so he had suffered a little when it had rained, but he hadn't really minded. He had just danced in the rain, and made fun of his friends when they had refused to join him. He was in bed for two days due to a nasty cold.
Alfred extracted himself from the window and slung his bag over his shoulder. His jacket was in his suitcase, which was packed into the back half of the bus. He wouldn't forget that this time, even if dancing in the rain had been fun!
The bus came to a shuddering halt, and Alfred threw himself at the door, Matthew in tow. They were closer to the back of the bus, but Alfred wasn't afraid to shove past the slow pokes who were taking their time leaving their seats. The other boys didn't mind so much - except the one who was halfway out into the aisle and got his toes mashed - because they were used to Alfred's enthusiasm. Alfred barreled off of the bus, grinned so wide that it looked like it would split his face in two.
"Tonio! Francis! Gil!" Alfred shouted, making a mad dash towards them. There was a round of back slapping, hand shaking and hugs as they greeted each other. The excitement even rubbed off onto Matthew, who was being louder than normal.
Francis, the Frenchman of the group, grinned widely and clapped Matthew on the back. "Welcome back, you crazy brothers." he said, his accent thick and sultry. Last year, about halfway through camp, he had lost most of his accent, but it had come back full force over the school year.
"Geez, how come you didn't tell me you were coming?" Alfred demanded, holding Antonio in a friendly headlock. "I even talking to you on the phone before we left, Gil!" he shot an accusing stare at the albino.
Gilbert shrugged, a grin tugging at his lips. "I wanted it to be a surprise. And besides, it's too much fun watching you come off that bus like you were shot from a cannon."
Alfred laughed and released Antonio, who was rubbing his neck and wincing. He was the smallest of the – as Alfred had dubbed them – Bad Ass Trio, and was often in the tight grip of one of Alfred's affectionate head locks. "Haven't lost your strength, have ya, Al?" he asked, a chuckle escaping his throat.
Alfred was about to respond, but the leader of the camp was speaking to them through a megaphone. "Campers, if you just got off the bus, please get your luggage and troop to the dining hall! We have assignments, announcements, and cheesy introduction games to play!"
Alfred grabbed Matthew by the elbow and hauled him to where the bags were being piled in an undignified pile behind the school bus. The Trio laughed at them, and took off for the dining hall.
~.~
It's damn bloody hot. Those were the first things that Arthur Kirkland thought when he exited the cool interior of the Hetalia Academy air plane. Not only was it hot, it was humid, making it positively sweltering. Arthur had growled to himself in disgust as he and nineteen other boys were herded to the waiting bus. It had been a long flight, and Arthur was beyond tired. The boy behind him – whoever he was – had kicked the back of his seat the entire flight there, despite the vicious glares that Arthur had given him. He couldn't have slept on the plane, even if he had wanted to, with those annoying feet pressing insistently into his backbone through the seat.
They were bussed swiftly to the camp, fed dinner, and then been allowed to fall into a bed – though there was emphasis that this would not be their permanent bed for the summer. Arthur had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and he didn't wake up until the frog, Francis, dumped cold ice water on his head. Apparently he had missed the wake up call and breakfast, and was heading on towards lunch. Arthur was glad – though he wouldn't admit it – that the frog had woken him up. He had had enough sleep, and now he was famished. He didn't even taste the food as he scarfed it down.
He had spent the rest of the afternoon in his cabin – they had free time for a while – reading and sweating through his shirt until the cry of, "The bus is coming!" met his ears.
Arthur groaned and set down his book. He pulled himself upright, stuffing the book unceremoniously into his bag. The twenty boys from the American campus were here now, and he couldn't help but dread their arrival. This was his first year, and he was nervous. He had heard a lot of good stories about this camp, about how much fun it was, but he had also heard some not so good things.
He left the cabin and stood back as old friends greeted each other, feeling awkward and out of place. He was glad when the call came to meet in the dining hall. That was the only building with air conditioning, and it would certainly feel nice to get out of the sticky hot air outside.
Arthur hustled inside, gratefully enjoying the feeling of chilled air washing over his sweat soaked skin. Instantly, the heat of outside was forgotten as he moved to find a seat on the wooden floor. All of the chairs and tables had been shoved off to the side of the bigger-than-necessary dining hall, leaving them lot's of space on the floor in front of the make shift stage.
Arthur had just chosen a spot when the frog approached him, grinning obscenely. "Artie, are you excited yet?"
"Go away, you frog." Arthur snapped. His crude British accent rang heavily in his own ears, sounding so different from the mix of other voices around him. He hadn't actually spoken the past day or so, either being to frustrated, to tired or to busy stuffing his face to bother. "What the bloody hell do you want?"
"Oh, nothing, mon petite." that grin was bordering on lewd. "I was just curious to see if you were excited for your assignment. Wouldn't it be just amazing if we were partners this year?"
"Stop hitting on me." Arthur muttered, leaning his palms behind him on the cool, but gritty, floor. He was tired again, and not in the mood the deal with the obnoxious Francis at the moment. "Go hit on Antonio or something."
"Boring. And besides, Tonio is too busy making out with his long lost Italian lover, Lovino." Francis made a dramatic face, fluttering his eye lashes and rolling his eyes. "Oh, Lovi.." he mimicked in the worst Spanish accent Arthur had ever heard, then winked at him. "But of course, since you seem to be in a grumpy mood, I will leave you alone to brood. Au revoir, Angleterre."he waved and flounced off.
England rolled his eyes and shook his head. What an obnoxious person. He bloody well not be my partner. He thought to himself, and his anxiety returned. He wasn't good at meeting new people. He found that he preferred being anti-social, rolling his eyes and avoiding the stupid people he came across frequently at school. He had a room mate – Arthur could scarcely remember his name – but they were barely ever at the room at the same time.
"Excuse me! Listen up, Campers! Let's get the ball on the role so we can get this over with!" the head of the camp, John Aswald, stood at the front of the room, standing on a plastic crate – the make-shift stage - and speaking into an abused megaphone. He pointed accusingly at one of the campers who yelled back in a foreign language. "I know you speak English, so don't pull that one over me! Take a seat, everyone, or we'll be here all night long!" It took almost five minutes of prompting before the entire room was sitting in hushed silence.
"All right! I know everyone is excited, but the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can get some grub." he grinned widely, and then asked, "How many of you have been here before?" Arthur quick counted about twelve hands go up. That wasn't very many old timers. "Awesome!" John continued, giving the crowd a thumbs up. "So that means that the rest of you have never been here before. Lemme give you a run down of what goes on here.
"First and foremost, there are twenty of you from the Academy in France, and twenty of you from the Academy in Texas. That means there are..." he paused, raising his eyebrow.
A mutual call of, "Forty!" rang out from the teenage boys, who laughed and shoved each other with giddy energy.
John nodded. "Right! There are forty of you. Here's how we split up; first, there will be a pair of two of you. One person from Texas Academy and one person from France. Each pair will be required to stay together at all times." he put a hand up to halt the jeering cries of "What about in the bathroom?" or "Do we have to shower together?" and continued. "You all know the answer to those questions, so don't ask them. I mean I want to see you and your partner together during activities, meals, in your cabin, out of your cabin, etcetera. The exception to this rule is bathing, using the toilet and Sundays. On Sundays, you are not required to be with your partner if you really don't want to be. Got that?" he grinned and moved on. "Every pair will have another pair joined up with them. The group of four is who you will be doing activities with, and who you will share part of a cabin with. Got it?"
Arthur reviewed the information in his mind. He would have a partner who he had to spend his time with – accept obvious places and Sunday – and he and his partner would have a pair of secondary partners? Making four total. Whatever.
Nods and exclamations of agreement followed, and the room started to rile up again. Energy was spreading like wildfire, causing all of the boys to be jittery with excitement. "We're not done yet!" John had to almost shout into the megaphone to reclaim attention. The high pitched squeal it made in protest was enough to regather the attention to the front. "We'll announce pairs and pairs of pairs when I'm done explaining the rules." there were groans of horror. "That's right, the rules. First of all, and this is a rule that has been broken in the past, so don't be surprised. There is absolutely no PDA on camp grounds." he sent a glare towards Antonio, and Arthur couldn't help but grin. The Spaniard looked flushed – and somewhat aroused – sitting next to who must be the Italian that the frog had been talking about. "I don't think I need to explain that rule, and I don't think the innocent mind of our nublets want me to."
Arthur rolled his eyes at that comment.
"Second rule is, as I stated, you must be with your partner at all times, accept for the times that I previous stated. Three. Lights out is at midnight, but you have to be in your cabin at ten thirty. There are three councilors assigned to each cabin, so don't think you'll be overlooked if you aren't there." he shot another glare at Antonio, who grinned in a way that said, 'Who, me?'.
At this point, Arthur zoned out. All the rules were mundane and ritualistic, not something that required his attention. He watched an ant crawl laboriously across the floor, until the loud shouts of excitement grabbed his attention. He assumed that they were announcing pairs now. A bubble of anxiety swelled in his stomach, and he nibbled his bottom lip out of habit.
"Yes, yes, calm down please. I know you're excited and all, but really." John shook his head and grinned. "I'll be going by first name only, because I checked the list and none of you have the same first name. Isn't that nice? In no particular order – and no, do not rush to find your partner as soon as I say their name, please kindly wait for my signal – Ludwig and Feliciano, Matthew and Gilbert, Francis and Kiku, Yao and Ivan, Antonio and Romano, Toris and Feliks, Arthur and..." Arthur felt himself tense, having finally heard his own name. "Alfred."
Who the bloody..? Arthur didn't have a vague clue who that was, but he had guessed as much. His best bet was to ask the frog, who seemed to know everyone in both schools. He glanced around and saw Francis grinning at him, pointing not-so-discretely to a blond head that was sitting right next to him. Arthur frowned to himself and nodded, letting the other boy know that he had gotten the point.
Sometimes frog face wasn't all that bad.
~.~
Alfred searched his brain, trying to remember if he knew an Arthur from last year. He couldn't remember one, so he could only guess that the Arthur he was paired with was new. He bounced up and down where he sat, restless to get his hands on his new partner. He wanted to meet the person he would be spending the rest of the summer with! Two months of pure summer awesomeness!
He was on his feet as soon as John shouted, "Go!" and looked to Francis for help. The blond had already grabbed his partner, Kiku, a small Japanese boy that Alfred was acquainted with. "This way!" Francis shouted triumphantly, tugging both Kiku and Alfred along behind him as he wove through the swarming crowd. Random names were being shouted out as the desperate man hunt went on. The boys practically scrambled over each other to find their hidden partners.
"There!" came Francis' shout, and Alfred was towed even faster towards the back of the room. A blond haired, green eyed, utterly confused looking boy stood there. Alfred grinned and pulled himself out of Francis' grip. "Arthur!" he called, waving at the blond. Arthur looked up, but didn't smile. He merely assessed Alfred with clear green eyes.
"Amusez-vous!" Francis called, turning and towing Kiku away. Kiku had wide eyed look of utter bewilderment on his face, but he allowed himself to be towed along.
"You're Alfred, I suppose?" the British accent brought a smile to Alfred's face and he nodded enthusiastically.
He grabbed Arthur's hand, shaking it vigorously even though it hadn't been offered to him. "I'm so excited for this summer, dude! We're gonna have such a freaking blast, I know we will!"
Arthur nodded coolly, and Alfred felt his spirit deflate a little. First impressions were everything to him, and this was not impressive. If Arthur was as cold and unresponsive like this all summer, they would not have fun. Or at least, Alfred wouldn't.
~.~
Arthur's heart was hammering in his chest when he met Alfred. Even though he wanted to make a good first impression, he felt himself slipping into a cool facade, his face blank and still, and is voice smooth and chilled.
Damn.. he thought when he saw Alfred's face fall a little. Not exactly what I wanted when I met my partner. He shrugged off this feeling though, and settled into himself. He tried to give Alfred a warm smile, but he knew it came off more of a wince.
~.~
Soon after the original pairs were announced, the attached pairs were announced. To Alfred's delight, he and his partner, Arthur Kirkland, were paired with his brother, Matthew, and his partner, Gilbert. Even though Arthur had started their relationship seeming kind of stuffy and shy, he soon loosened up as the games started. This made Alfred glad, because he didn't want someone boring.
They played silly get-to-know-each-other games – games that Matthew and Arthur both confessed to absolutely hate, but that Alfred and Gilbert loved. One game involved talking your partner through challenging – Alfred snorted with glee at the description – obstacle courses. Arthur was blind folded first, and Alfred led him through the obstacles. Shouting, "I'll get you through safely, Artie! Cuz I'm the hero here!" as then went along. Arthur was a good listener, and Alfred was a good leader. They made it through in record time. Arthur lead Alfred through a little more calmly than Alfred had, giving clear and concise instructions on where to place his feet. Alfred knew, then, that he was given a good person to be paired with.
Keeping with the theme of blindfolding, the pairs were separated and placed on opposite sides of the rooms with blindfolds on. On the shout of 'go', they had to go find their partner. Alfred located Arthur so quickly, that the other boys accused him of cheating. Alfred's argument to the accusation was, "I'm the hero! I can't cheat!" Returning campers groaned, and told him to not start that bull-crap again.
After several rounds of both games and several others, they reassembled the dining room and sat down to a hearty meal of sloppy joes – a meal that Arthur instantly dubbed as incredibly messy.
"Thus the name!" Alfred practically shouted around a mouthful of meat and bun, making Arthur cringe as Matthew was spattered with the spittle that came flying from the over enthusiastic boy's mouth.
"As much as I appreciate the favor..." Matthew said, wiping his face and sticking his tongue out at his twin. "Don't do it again."
Gilbert chortled and slapped Matthew joyfully on the back. "Lighten up, Mattie!" Arthur can't help but wonder if the albino was drunk. All the occasions that Arthur had been forced to be in the man's presence, he always came off that way. Then again, maybe it was just his personality.
Matthew choked a little and rolled his eyes at Arthur, but the Britain couldn't miss the small smile that played across his lips.
Alfred has just shoved the last bit of his sandwich – and Arthur has barely eaten half – when the camp leader released everyone for free time, with the reminder to stay with their partner. Alfred practically dragged Arthur from the dining hall, waving to Matthew as he ran. Arthur dug in his heals, effectively slowing down Alfred, but not stopping him completely. "We should get our bags!" he suggested, yanking on Alfred's shirt. Alfred had a strong grip on Arthur's elbow, and the Brit wondered if there would be finger shaped bruises there in the morning.
Alfred gave him a long look, surprise widening his eyes. Then a grin broke over his features, and he stopped fully, releasing Arthur's arm. "Right, of course!" he exclaimed. "'Cuz that makes sense, ya know, to put our stuff away before we explore."
Explore... Arthur thought dismally, and he felt tired all over again. His arm was taken captive again, and he was dragged forward. Annoyed, he though, I hope this won't become a habit.
~.~
Hi. Dove here. I hope you like the first chapter of this story. I feel like it's kind of long, but I know it's not. Leave a pretty review and I might reply.
This is rated M for future chapters. Will contain smut and stuff like that [haha. So typical]. I don't own Hetalia, though I wish I did.