A/N: Hello, readers! Thank you very very much for picking my story out of 66,000 others, I really truly appreciate it. Now, onto the story. I'm not going to tell you anything about pairings yet, you'll find that out later. ;) You probably hate me, don't you. Well, I promise, you'll be satisfied if you stick with me! Oh, before I quit babbling, a special thank-you goes to Rizu Roraito, my awesome beta reader. She's a great author, I recommend checking out her stories. Anyway, Hetalia does not belong to me, but my storyline does. Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoy this story! :)
EDIT: Hello, once again, audience! I've decided to change dear Canada to a lady, because I think she's adorable and I wanted one homosexual pair and one heterosexual pair to balance everything. Bear with me, thank you all very much! Please read and review, it would be very kind of you. :)
The year is 1770, which was truly a turbulent time to be here in America. Talk of independence is driving me mad. They say we're on the verge of a war, but I refuse to believe in this fact.
I moved here because my family moved here, as a boy of seventeen doesn't have much say in the matter of familial location. Immediately after moving into our house, my mother disproved of my reading a book indoors, she persuaded me to step outside and socialize. That was something I did not do well. Home in England, I was a social outcast. All of the other boys left me to my own devices. Even the girls I fancied kept their distance. After all, why bother a man when he's in the middle of a novel?
I permitted myself to have ten minutes of outdoors time, then blame my lack of social activity on the small population of the neighborhood and the fact that no one was outside. This was a lie, of course, as there were plenty of other children outside, albeit being at least five or more years my junior. I abruptly guided myself away from the social scene, instead comfortably sitting in a reclusive alley, waiting for the allotted ten minutes to pass.
Unexpectedly, another head of blonde hair raced into the alley. He was giggling like a giddy schoolgirl, taunting whoever was chasing him. "You'll never find me, fools!" He ducked behind a stack of boxes that lay untouched beside me, waiting for the poor lad who was victimized by his teasing.
Soon after, two other blondes pounded down the alley. "Ha, go on your merry way convincing yourself that I'm slower than you!" the longer-haired boy teased sarcastically in a very thick French accent. "Alfred, you know we can tell where you are by the sound of your voice, right?" answered a quiet voice, small and timid.
Finally, this "Alfred" emerged from his spot behind the boxes, a defeated frown shot in the direction of his companions. "Alright, fine. You found me." He then began to walk towards his companions, completely forgetting that he was directly behind me and a stack of boxes. Tripping over himself, he knocked the boxes over, all of them landing in a pile on top of me. He tripped yet again and collapsed, falling on the mass of wooden containers that had already trapped me.
I was infuriated. A good temper was not in my fiery nature, so I let myself explode on the unfortunate soul. "You clumsy git! Did you not notice that there was a person beneath those bloody boxes?" I stood to scold him, throwing the cartons back into his face as I screeched. I still ached from everything, including his weight, tumbling down on me.
Turning briefly, I noticed the other two teenagers laughing. My vehemence extended to them, so I stormed towards them and tried to teach them a lesson. "It is in no way funny! What if I was to top you with heavy boxes and my own weight, hmm?" I yelled. They continued to laugh, doubled over in their stupidity. Even that other idiot boy was howling with glee. I didn't comprehend why they would find my petrifying rage amusing. In England, it frightened everyone away. Maybe it was another bizarre aspect to American Culture I had yet to learn about?
"Look, I apologize for barreling into you, but you are seriously hysterical!" one boy approached me, grabbing my shoulder for support as he continued to moronically hoot.
"Get off of me! And how am I 'hysterical?'" I interrogated, trying to look directly into his eyes, but he refused to get up.
With a sigh, the boy stood upright and faced me. "I mean your anger. Your anger was really amusing!" he started to giggle again, but quickly stopped himself from releasing any more laughter.
"And how exactly would my anger be amusing to you?" I inquired, growing increasingly more annoyed with each laugh he and his stupid friends emitted.
"You simply blew up! I've never seen anyone get so angry so quickly! Look at yourself, you're the color of a ripe tomato!" all three of them continued in their merriment, marveling at and poking fun at my scarlet coloration.
"Now tell me, Mon ami, what is your name?" the French youth momentarily calmed himself to ask me the question.
"Arthur Kirkland. What would your names be?" I tried to calm myself as well, as a way to rid my face of the deep red palette it had adopted.
"The French boy is Francis Bonnefoy, the girl is Madeline, my kid sister, and I am Alfred F. Jones, hiding extraordinaire!" the boy who had so carelessly crashed into me introduced himself, changing his stance to a pose likened to statues of Greek Gods, trying to impress me with his supposedly extraordinary prowess.
"How wonderful. You're even more immature than I originally thought." I sneered; my level of maturity was obviously higher than theirs. I swear, if they didn't physically look to be my age, I would have deemed them children.
"Matthew is sixteen, I'm seventeen, and Francis is eighteen. We are still young, why waste time trying to act like an adult?" Alfred's philosophy made me cringe a bit.
"You are meant to grow up sometime. I already have. Childhood is but a phase I endured in the past now." I replied, attempting to rid Alfred of his childish attitude. I stacked a few boxes on top of each other and made a sort of throne for myself.
"Then I guess I'll have to drag you down to our level!" Alfred grinned at me, eager to find yet another group member to join their pack.
"There is no possible way in heaven or hell that I will allow myself to stoop so low as to rank among the likes of you in level of maturity, chap." I insulted with my normally snide tone.
"Ohoho, we shall see." Francis chuckled with his most peculiar laugh. The three boys exchanged mutual glances, and Madeline moved forward to speak to me on my throne.
"Well, are you going to join us? We would be overjoyed if you accepted our offer of friendship!" Madeline proposed. She was a pleasant young woman, nothing like that hooligan of a brother she had.
"No." I snapped. I did not want to be involved with that bunch of fools.
Madeline turned away, looking rejected and hurt. I felt a twinge of guilt for being so blunt with such an amicable girl.
"If you don't accept our wonderful offer, who else do you have? You don't seem like the kind of boy who would be quite popular with anyone…ladies, gentlemen…." Francis ironically affronted me as I was being presented a pact of friendship.
"I take offense to that." I scowled. I already took a strong disliking to this one.
Thinking for a moment, I realized that my mother had wanted me to make a friend in another youth my age. If I didn't she would be very disappointed in her failure of a son. Conflicted internally, I mustered my bravery and gave my answer.
"Oh…fine! Alright! I'll do it! But only because my mother wishes for me to acquaint myself with other people." I gave into their pleas, much to my chagrin and their excitement.
"I'm absolutely sure that you will love being in our group!" Alfred's smile was perky, as were those of his two comrades. They were undeniably ecstatic to accept me into their cluster of friendship.
Returning home after a period that lasted much longer than ten minutes, my mother was more than pleased that I had made a few friends.
Lying in bed that night, I pondered my decision. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have a friend that was existent, and not the fantasy creatures that so frequently occupied my dreams or text on the pages of my favorite books. Still, that Alfred boy was certainly annoying, that Francis boy was most definitely someone I would grow to hate, and Madeline….well, she was too quiet for me to really bond with. I wondered what would be in store pertaining to my escapades with my new "friends."
A/N: Updates will hopefully be a weekly occurrence. Schoolwork has to be done, so the date of the week I'm most likely going to update on will be Wednesdays. Thank you!