Mind Your Manners.
The new scent of spring was heavy-hanging in the air as the sun shone down on a perfect day. New flowers blossomed along with the trees regaining their leaves that rustled in the light breeze that blew, pushing only a few white puffy clouds over the sun periodically. Walking down the street, Alfred threw his hands over his head in absolute joy of this wonderful day smiling rather largely to the shorter man next to him merely smiled inwardly toward himself, not nearly as excited as the other.
"I love spring!" The American sighed dreamily while jamming his hands back into his jacket pockets.
"You've made that quite evident." Arthur said plainly while following the other around a street corner and onto another busy road. "It seems as if the change of season goes straight to everyone's head here…"
"Everybody loves spring here, Arthur, it means summer's coming!" The blue-eyed man beamed another smile as he stopped at a small café. "We should eat here, it's really nice out today and we can sit outside." He said pointing to the small table set-ups that were shaded by red and white umbrellas. The Englishman agreed and the two were seated and given their menus while the waiter took their short orders. After a few moments, the two had sat back to talk to one another. "I've really been thinking about things that we can bring up in the next meeting we have because me and France have been talking a lot about-"
"Alfred," The other glared while putting extra emphasis on the human name. "I hardly think this is the place to speak about that. People can very obviously hear you." Alfred looked around and shrugged lightly before leaning his chin on his hands.
"No one's listening in it's okay."
"It is not "okay!" And take your elbows off the table, you know better than that." Arthur demanded of the younger nation much like a mother would a child. Slumping back his chair, Alfred's smile dropped. It was quiet for a moment until their waiter brought out their tea and coffee and set it down in front of them. Arthur used a small container of creamer before delicately stirring his tea and placed his spoon down on the saucer. He wished that he could say the same for the one sitting across the table.
America had used quite a few sugar packets, more than Arthur could keep count, and a pile of empty paper was beginning to grow on the edge of the table. A few of the multicolored papers were blown across their feet and left little white powder trails on the cobble stone covered ground by the gentle breeze. The Englishman cocked an eyebrow as Alfred stirred his coffee sloppily, it splashing this, that, and every which way and using the spoon to try the first of the liquid to see if it was to his liking. Noticing that the older nation was staring he looked back with an innocent grin.
"Something the matter?"
"…How is it that you aren't thrown out of every restaurant you enter?" He wondered out loud earning a large shrug from Alfred who sipped his coffee while leaning back in his chair.
"Probably because no one cares." The American smiled at the obviously un-amused man. Arthur merely sighed quietly while gingerly picking up his cup and taking slow drinks out of it, wishing that it was something harder with more alcohol…
The waiter came back out, carefully balancing a platter of cakes and a platter of drinks, and set the large tray down to deliver their cakes (of which Alfred recommended) and left the table once again. Thanking the Lord above that now there would be a reason for the silence, Arthur picked up his fork and gently took a piece off the end of the cake before glancing over to Alfred who was shoveling rather large chunks of cake into his mouth. Immediately putting his fork down, he groaned, making the darker blonde look up with curious cerulean.
"Honestly, Alfred, you'd think that I never taught you any matters at all. Come over here." A finger pointed to the space next to him as Alfred laughed.
"Iggy, you need to lighten up."
"I most certainly do not need to lighten up. You need to learn to eat properly, now move your chair!" Arthur demanded. The American gave in and pulled his chair next to the older nation and brought his cake and coffee with him. "Now, first and foremost, you need to learn how to hold your utensils correctly and not like you're holding a hammer…"
Talk, talk, talk, blah, blah, blah: The only thing that processed through Alfred's mind as Arthur went on with his ludicrous explanation of table manners and English etiquette. He began to wonder how long this would go on for, he was hungry, and really just wanted to eat his cake… His eyes traveled from his cake around the café floor that was occupied by cute couples sharing cakes and pastries and sipping coffee while laughing slightly. Come to think of it, were they the only ones who didn't look like that-?
"Alfred, are you listening to me?"
"You bet."
Continuing to look around, the American pushed his blonde bangs out of his glasses frame before giving up on sight-seeing and finally turning back around to the table, where he slouched in his chair like a child who didn't want to eat their vegetables. After a few more seconds, the drone of Arthur's voice stopped as he finally placed his fork back down along with his napkin in his lap.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Yeah, in fact. Could you turn towards me for a second?" Confused, Arthur turned his head.
"Yes but, why do I need to turn-" His question was cut off as Alfred's lips collided with his in a short kiss. Green eyes flew open as the younger nation pulled back with a smile as Arthur's eyes retreated to his lap.
"Do you have any questions?" Alfred smiled even more slyly before shoving a large piece of cake into his mouth.
"I… I… That is… Uh…" After he was done chewing, Alfred took a smaller piece of his cake and fed it to the other, laughing at the blush that stained the Englishman's pale cheeks.
"I think I still like American etiquette better." Winking, Alfred went back to his cake, the flustered Arthur said nothing while trying to cover his flushed cheeks behind his hands.
A/N: I do not own Axis Powers: Hetalia, or its characters.
Thank you to Erbby17 for the writing prompt so I could get out my Hetalia writing frustrations. :)
A Friend in Words,
--KB (Kyosbeads13)