So this took like three million years longer than it should have. And I don't even know how much I like it. D:
This is a public apology to my America that I'm such a failure at fics, or at least getting them done in a reasonable time. xD

"Please. Please tell me you're joking, Alfred."

Alfred shot a confused look back at Arthur. Arthur, along with a great portion of the rest of the countries were all just gaping. Though, why they were all gaping was completely beyond Arthur. Alfred spewing out nonsense was really nothing new. "What? I think that having everyone making a few ice cube trays and throwing the ice cubes into the poles is a fine idea to save the whales. It's economically friendly too!"

Arthur ran a hand down his face in frustration. Really, could someone just please kill him right now? He hated everyone in this room. Idiots, the lot of them. "Global warming, Alfred. You were talking about global warming. And—"

"Tomato, to-ma-to." Alfred said with a shrug.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur caught Spain's eyes gleam. "No, it's not the same thing, actually. Saving the fucking whales is not the same thing as stopping global warming. And with this… this ice cube scheme you have… how in the hell do you expect that to help at all?"

Alfred shot Arthur a look as if he was the stupidest man alive. "Uh, people use ice cubes to cool down liquids. Duh, Arthur. Plus, maybe they'd all melt together like they sometimes do and recreate an iceberg or something!" Alfred leaned back smugly in his chair. It was amazing how sometimes his good ideas bred new good ideas that he hadn't even thought about!

Arthur was gaping again. Where the fuck was Vash? He needed a gun, and he needed it now.

Germany looked up from where he appeared to be banging his head on the table, moving to stand up again and take control of the meeting before Arthur could go over and throttle Alfred. But his voice was cut out by a loud snap of thunder.

And Alfred did not shriek like a girl when it happened. Nope, he… he gave a shout of surprise. A manly one!

"Well," Arthur sighed, placing his elbows on the table and holding his head in his hands. "I guess that's the storm they were speaking of on the news this morning. Hopefully it's not too distracting."

As if on cue, the lights flickered and then went out. And Alfred didn't scream again. It was the wind.

Arthur sighed and rubbed his temples. He was going to have a massive headache soon. Lovely. "Is there an emergency kit in here anywhere? It'd be nice to be able to see for more than two seconds." Four candles were suddenly placed on the conference table and lit. Arthur really didn't want to know why Francis had candles with him. Knowing Francis, it was probably for vulgar reasons.

England sighed and let his eyes get used to the little amount of light. The other countries seemed to have all decided at once that the meeting was over, and begun chatting amongst themselves. Except for Feliciano, who had been startled by the power outage and was currently being comforted by Ludwig, and yelled at by his brother.

Arthur sighed, glancing around the table some more. It took him a second to notice that America's chair was empty. He glanced around quickly again, spotting him talking to France a few chairs down. Wait, wait no. That was Alfred's brother. Cana-something or other. But he wasn't important right now. What was important was the fact that Alfred wasn't in this room.

Arthur sighed and pulled one of the candles from off of the table, hoping nobody would notice the lack of a bit of light. Knowing Alfred, he probably was going to do something stupid, like go back to the hotel in this weather. And as much as Arthur wanted to back to his hotel room, he wasn't going to leave until this storm died down a little. He had a vague memory of an almost unfortunate incident with a cab in a storm like this.

The candle did little good once Arthur was out in the hallway. It was a tiny light, and it didn't illuminate much more than a foot in front of him. But, he supposed it was better than nothing. He only needed to get to the entrance before Alfred and stop him from leaving, since he'd rather not spend time in a hospital waiting for the idiot to recover. Alfred was co-dependant and hospital chairs were bloody uncomfortable.

"Alfred, get back here. It'll do no good to leave in this weather." Arthur called into an empty hallway, hearing no signs of life. Fantastic. He kept moving towards where he assumed the entrance to be.

Until he heard a clap of thunder and a shrill scream from the other end of the hallway. Oh lord, he knew that scream. He'd have to hear it every time he was forced to watch a horror movie with Alfred. Arthur turned sharply in the other direction, causing the sensitive flame of the candle to blow out. "God fucking dammit," he curse, tossing the candle to the side, and moving quickly towards where he heard the noise.

Arthur hadn't the faintest idea why he was rushing as if Alfred was dying or something. But everything that was happening was like a strange feeling of déjà vu that he couldn't shake, and thus his body moved him forward quickly.

"Al? Alfred? God dammit, where are you?" Arthur's voice seemed to be getting more and more frantic as he continued blindly down the hallway, with only Alfred's whimpers that would come out every minute or so. Arthur popped his head into all of the open rooms, calling Alfred's name, and coming up empty every time. Why did this feel like it had happened before?

Finally, Arthur found the room that Alfred was in, when he was met with a cry that seemed right in front of him, after a particularly loud snap of thunder. Arthur squinted to try to see where the American could be hiding, slowly moving his arms around and feeling like a bloody idiot. "Al? Al, you're in here ri—AUGH."

Arthur hit the floor hard, after tripping on something rather large. It took a less than ten seconds for Arthur to realise what that thing was, and pull himself up and towards it. Arthur placed his hand lightly on Alfred's back, and getting a shriek in return. "Alfred! Calm down, it's just me!"

Arthur could hear Alfred scrambling away. "How do I know you're not someone pretending to be Arthur? I can't see you!"

And Arthur laughed. He held his aching sides and laughed, because he finally realized why he was feeling such déjà vu. This had happened before. Alfred was still the same kid who was cowering under the blankets during a bad storm, waiting for Arthur to come home and make it better.

"Alfred, are we going to replay this scene for a second time?" Arthur replied after calming himself a little. There was a flash of lightening and Arthur could see that Alfred was pressed up against the opposite wall.

"What do you mean?" Alfred said, relaxing the tiniest bit once he saw it was in fact Arthur.

Arthur smirked. "Don't you remember when this happened? You were hiding under the blankets, and didn't believe it was really me when I came in to find you."

Alfred stared blankly at the darkness ahead, before nodding in realization. But Arthur couldn't see that, so that was stupid. "Oh yeah! And you made me feel your hand to confirm that you weren't a ghost." Arthur chuckled, and Alfred couldn't help but laugh lightly with him. "That was really scary, though. I was just a little kid, and you were gone all the time. I used to stare out the window every night and wait for you."

The air became thick with a slight tension, and Arthur looked down at where he thought his legs were, but he couldn't quite tell in this darkness. "I know… 'm sorry. I never meant to be away for that long."

Alfred hummed in response. "It doesn't matter. Come here."

"Why?"

There was a frustrated exhale from across the room. "Because I'm afraid of the fucking thunder, okay? And if you laugh, I'll kill you." When no noise was heard, Alfred continued. "And I happen to remember you comforting me after I was freaked out the last time."

A strong pair of arms pulled Alfred down by the shoulders, until his head fell onto someone's legs. Holy hell, when did Arthur get over by him? "I'm not going to make fun of you for being afraid of the thunder," Okay, so maybe he was. But it wouldn't be until much later. "Especially, when it's probably my fault that you are."

Alfred hummed in reply, feeling Arthur's fingers thread lightly through his hair. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you cared about me right now."

Arthur pressed his lips to the American's forehead. "Shut the fuck up, Alfred."

In whatever bizarre language Arthur spoke sometimes, Alfred knew that ment he did.