I'll place the AN at the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Axis Powers Hetalia, or "I'm Awesome" by Spose. (I just added that because I wanted to.)
Arthur woke to find Alfred sitting by his bedside. Before the British man had a chance to jump in surprise, Alfred grinned widely and started talking.
"Good morning~!" he all but sang. "Did you sleep well?"
Arthur stared at him, slightly horrified. "Are you completely daft?"
Alfred simply continued grinning. "Nope. I'm just happy to be near you."
Arthur groaned. "Good lord... Am I going to wake up like this every day, then?"
"Only on weekends, since I got work." Alfred said, grimacing.
Arthur sighed. "If only it was Monday."
"Hey, I'm not that bad!"
"Shod it, git..." Arthur muttered. He looked at Alfred and frowned. "Your face."
Alfred blinked. "What about it?"
"You're pale and there are huge bags under your eyes." Arthur commented, rolling his own emerald orbs. Alfred blinked again before giving a weak smile and scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, that? That's usual for me, don't worry about it."
Arthur sighed. "You're gonna end up getting yourself sick. Quit being a git and take care of yourself." he said. "Geez, why am I even bothering with such a git?"
Alfred nodded. "Okay." he said simply.
Arthur looked at him. "You're quite the character, aren't you."
"You think so?"
"Git."
Alfred just smiled. There's Artie for you. he thought happily.
Mother f*cker, I'm awesome! (No you're not, dude! Don't lie!) I'm awesome, drivin' round in my mom's ride! I'm awesome, a quarter of my life gone by, and I met all my friends online!
Arthur scowled. "I thought there was a rule against cell phones in the hospital?"
"There is?" Alfred asked.
"Are you going to answer it?"
Alfred looked at the phone with a frown. "...Naw. Gil went drinking last night; I don't wanna know what he has to say right now."
Arthur scowled. "What, did you bail out on your drinking buddies?"
Now it was (presumably) Alfred's turn to scowl. "He isn't a drinking buddy. He's my co-worker's brother."
"Then why not answer?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's Gil." Alfred said, as if it explained everything.
Arthur sighed. "And here I was, hoping for a normal weekend..."
"Come on, I couldn't be that bad, right?"
"Do you want me to answer that?"
"I'd prefer you didn't." Alfred said with a sigh.
There was a moment of silence before Arthur spoke up. "Well, if you insist upon staying, we might as well talk."
Alfred's face lit up. I know everything about him, but still! "Sure! So tell me about yourself!"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Apparently, my name is Arthur Kirkland, and I turned 26 last April. I have amnesia, as I'm sure Mr. Honda probably informed you of, and have nothing else to tell."
Alfred frowned internally. Okay… Not as productive as I was hoping… "Okay, my turn! Alfred F. Jones, I turned 26 the day before yesterday! How awesome is it that I share a birthday with my country! USA for the win, am I right? My favorite food is burgers and my favorite colors are red, white and blue! Because the US is just that awesome." Alfred declared proudly. Arthur just stared, a bit unsure how to react to all this. Alfred looked at him, confused. "Something wrong?"
"You're quite the character." Arthur finally said, unsure how else to reply.
Alfred grinned wide. "I try!"
"Liar~!"
Alfred and Arthur both turned to see Im, Yong Soo standing in the door with Wang Yao. "Yong, Yao! What're you guys doing here?"
"Kiku told us you had decided to stay here. We brought some things for you." Yao explained as he held Yong Soo back from tackling Alfred.
"Ah, good old Kiku! Thanks guys!" Alfred exclaimed happily, taking the bag.
Yong Soo blinked and looked at him curiously. "Are you the same Alfred? You're totally different! You're happy, but it's like you're happy." he said.
Yao sighed. "As usual, he makes no sense. Though I agree; you seem different today." he commented. He looked back at Arthur. "Have you made a new friend?"
Alfred laughed. "Sort of."
Yong Soo burst forward—almost dragging Yao to the ground in the process—to hug Alfred. "Aww! Alfred made a frieeend!"
Yao detached the outgoing Korean from Alfred. "He was with Gilbert last night." he explained. "It takes him a while to sober up."
Arthur scoffed in the background. "Yes, yes. That's all good and well, but can I please just have my hospital room back?"
Alfred nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, guys. Can you leave me and Arthur alone now?"
"That isn't what I meant. Git."
Alfred looked over at Arthur with puppy eyes. "But Arthur!"
"But nothing."
"Pleeeease?"
"Git."
"I'm taking that as a yes."
"GO HOME." Arthur snapped. Alfred gave a heavy sigh and left the room. (However, of course, he refused to go home, so he decided to stay in the lobby until Arthur would let him back in.)
An hour later, Alfred was fast asleep, drooling in a chair in the lobby when Kiku found him. "Alfred. Mr. Alfred. Wake up."
Alfred blinked and wiped the drool off his face with his sleeve. (A rather bad habit, but effective nonetheless.) "Huh? Kiku, what are you doing here?"
"I work here…"
Alfred blinked again and looked around. "Oh, right. I'm in the hospital." he thought aloud.
Kiku sighed. "Yes, you are. Why are you out here?"
"Arthur got angry." Alfred said simply.
"Understandable. I heard from Yao."
"Heard what?"
"The scene was very loud and stressful."
"Well, I guess…"
Kiku sighed again and, albeit a bit hesitantly (being so awkward with any physical contact, really), placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder. "Amazingly, you seem to forget. Arthur was shot in the chest; stress isn't the best thing for him."
Alfred blinked. "Eh? Huh. That makes sense… Kinda like how people get sick after a big test or something?"
Kiku nodded. "Stress isn't good for the body."
Alfred frowned. "I'll go apologize!" he declared before dashing to Arthur's room. He peered into the room to see a curious—and rather unsettling—sight. Arthur was staring out the window in horror; his eyes were wide with fear, and he was tense to the point of trembling. "Arthur?" Alfred asked, walking towards the Brit. "Arthur, what's wrong?" he continued. When Arthur remained silent, Alfred began panicking. "Arthur, come on answer me." he prodded, shaking Arthur by the shoulder. "Arthur!"
Just like that, Arthur gasped and spun around to look at Alfred. "W-What?"
Alfred let out a sigh of relief and hugged him, startling the Englishman. "Dude, you scared me! What the hell was that?"
Arthur looked out the window again dazedly. "There was… someone out there, just staring at me. I don't know what… I don't know." he said. Alfred just hugged him tightly.
"Whatever. I don't know what they wanted, but if they wanted to hurt you, it's not happening." Alfred declared into Arthur's shoulder.
Arthur frowned a little, feeling a bit disbelieving. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, that's so. I'm the hero, and I'm not letting anyone get you." Alfred promised. Arthur was tensed at first, but relaxed ever so slightly. Alfred smiled. "There we go. I'll protect you, so you can just relax, take it easy." he said warmly, looking softly into Arthur's eyes.
Arthur blushed furiously and awkwardly pushed him off. "D-Don't be such a stupid git!" he exclaimed before pulling the covers over his head. Alfred chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah." he mumbled happily. Alfred then began moving his feet, lessening the power with each to make it sound like he was leaving. A good three or four minutes later, Arthur peeked out of his little cavern to see Alfred grinning at him.
"What are you still doing here?" he hissed. "Go home!"
Alfred leaned forward with a smile. "Nope~!" he declared in a sing-song voice.
Arthur blushed more and retreated back into his little cave. "GIT!"
Alfred smiled. A few moments later, he frowned.
Still… what was that? Arthur…
Only 1350 words… so short. I'm so ashamed. But I have less than 3 minutes before I gotta log off, so I decided, "hey, I should at least try to update". Also, did I mention? I've decided to hold a contest. The first person to correctly figure out (I don't want it to be a guessing game) how Arthur came back gets a two oneshots, a doujinshi, and a fanart with the character of their choice. 2nd place gets a oneshot and a fanart, and 3rd place gets a fanart. Good luck!
