Author's Note: Hey everybody! Here's chapter 4 :) I'm excited to know what you all think, enjoy!
Chapter 4
Alfred's Point of View
Even though I was one of those energetic people who always had energy bursting out at their seams I had never been much of a morning person. Waking up at the crack of dawn then being expected to do something just wasn't my thing. Damn that Ludwig for opening up the shop so early. I moved my head off my pillow and forced myself to get onto my feet, I groaned loudly at having to leave the warmth of my bed. After grabbing my glasses off the nightstand and clumsy pushing them onto my face I sleepily got dressed in a simple shirt and pair of pants and trudged out of my room and started down the wooden staircase. I let out a yawn as I descended the steps; I would feel wide awake once I had made myself some coffee.
I entered my kitchen and groggily started rummaging through the cupboards, carelessly knocking things down from the shelves as I went about trying to find the coffee beans. It took a while of searching but I had finally found the coffee jar, it was pushed to the very back of the cabinet hidden behind about a million glass containers of spices I didn't even know I owned. I shook my head wearily as I set the jar down with a clink on the wooden counter then I put a pot out on the fireplace and started to boil the water.
A few minutes later steam had started to rise up from the pot as the water began to bubble uncontrollably. Lazily I made my way over to the hearth and moved the pot onto the counter and began to make my beverage.
As I mixed the water with the beans the sweet scent of fresh coffee drifted up towards my nose and I inhaled deeply. "Soooo gooood," my mouth watered as I poured the sweltering brown liquid into a tall green mug. Once I had my drink all set I carried it over to the round oak table so I could enjoy it while sitting in a comfortable chair. Shutting my eyes I raised the mug to my lips and gulped down the scorching substance not caring that it burnt my throat. That was the moment I had truly woken up, the moment the hot, burning drink entered my mouth I snapped right out of my morning trance. Now fully awake and conscious of what was going on around me I remembered Alice.
Alice, the hot tempered blonde I had met yesterday at the market place was upstairs sleeping in my brother's bed.
I blew heavily onto the coffee and watched as steam swirled away from the mug as I thought about Alice. I really didn't know what to make of her. She was very moody, one second a polite young girl and an aggressive spitfire another. During our first meeting she treated me like the dirt on the bottom of her shoe, but I didn't let her push me away. I wanted to help her, I was a hero after all and I couldn't just leave her out on the streets especially after that group of thugs tried to kidnap her. So I told her that she could live with me until she was done with her sightseeing and she accepted the arrangements graciously. We were acquaintances, nothing more, I was just letting her stay in my home until she left town, but for some reason I wanted her to like me. It was after she had told me that she didn't think my apartment sucked, that's when I started to feel like this. Even though she would only be staying with me for a short while I didn't want her to hate me, I wanted us to be friends. I snorted, yeah right, Alice hit me every time I was in arms reach of her and she called me those weird names too.
Suddenly a low ringing sounded and I recognized it as the ancient grandfather clock that was in the sitting room. Harmonious clangs rung out through the house marking the hour six, holy crap.
Ludwig expected me to be at work every day at exactly six fifteen; 'punctuality is very important; it's what separates the hard workers from the even harder workers' he would always drawl to me as I slaved away over the hot flames in the metal forge. If it was six right now then that meant I had only fifteen minutes to run all the way across the town and make it to work on time. A flashback then started to play in my head, "I mean it, Jones. If you slack off one more time you're done here," Ludwig's stern voice echoed inside my mind over and over.
My boss was rarely one to kid around. If I lost this job then I wouldn't be able to pay for Mattie's medicine and he would never get better. If something happened to Mattie I don't know what I would do, he's the only family I have left. Not wanting to let myself think about grim thoughts I slammed down my mug, the steaming liquid sloshing out over the rim of the cup. Dammit I was getting to work onto even if it fucking killed me.
I abruptly stood up from the kitchen table and frantically ran to the hallway where I had kicked off my boots last night. Tugging them on in a hurry I then ran back to the kitchen to fetch an apple (I couldn't work an entire day without eating something) then I sprinted out the front door shutting it with a giant slam. I prayed to god Alice didn't wake up at the sound of the door closing, if she was cranky and irritable during the day I imagined her getting up earlier then she intended on waking, all sleep deprived and in the mood to hit someone.
Wait….. Shit!
I had gone not only two steps out of the apartment when I realized that I would be leaving Alice alone for an entire day. We had talked about it last night I remembered, she said that she would be fine staying by herself but this was Alice we were talking about, the girl who would have gotten raped if it hadn't been for me saving her. I should at least leave her a note telling her not to do anything stupid, yeah, a note was a good idea.
I spun around and raced back inside the apartment going straight to the cabinet underneath the counter, the place where I kept the parchment. I whipped out the first piece I could find and quickly scribbled a short note.
Gone to work. Don't do anything stupid. Be back later.
-Alfred
I left it on the corner of the counter where I was sure she would find it then I sprinted back out the door hoping that I would make it to Ludwig's on time.
…..Line Break…
"You're late," Ludwig snapped at me as I flung open the door to the Blacksmith shop. "I gave you many chances, Jones, but this is the last straw."
I doubled over breathing heavily, "I can explain," I gasped; my lungs were trying to suck in the air that they had lost from the two miles I had run.
Ludwig looked at me sternly, his arms crossed in amusement, "do tell."
"There's this girl," I began and Ludwig put his hand up to stop me.
"Jones, if you're going to tell me that you were late today because you were too busy with a lover then you can get out right now," he interjected.
I blushed beet red at what he had said. "N no," I stammered, "it's not like that I'm just letting her stay at my place until she is done sightseeing in the village."
Ludwig rolled his icy blue eyes then leaned up against the wall to get into a more comfortable position. "So how has this girl made you late then?"
I thought about how to word what I was going to try to say finally what came out of my mouth was, "she's not the sharpest tool in the shed."
"So she's an idiot?" Ludwig questioned.
"I don't know about book smarts because I don't really know her that well but in common sense yes. I was late because I was writing her a note about being safe and not doing anything reckless while I was gone. That's the honest truth, sir, and I don't think you should fire me if all I was doing was helping out a lady," I told him.
Ludwig pondered what I had said for a moment before nodding. "Fine, you will not be fired….today anyways."
I grinned, "Thanks a lot, dude."
We waved me off, "Don't think this changes anything, you're still this close to getting thrown out of this place. Now get to work."
"Whatever you say, man," I said to him then I went into the back room of the Blacksmith shop to begin yet another long day at work.
…Line Break….
As I walked home, hands deep in my pockets playing around with the five copper pieces I had earned at the end of the day, I thought about Alice and what she had done while I was at work. She probably went exploring like she said she would. I pictured her bouncing around the village with that odd pet rabbit of hers looking at all the things Hetalia had to offer.
I hoped things would get better between us. Even if it was only for a couple more days things would be awkward if she kept treating me like I had a disease. The host and the guest are supposed to get along, even if it's to only some extent. Sighing I rounded the corner and walked down my street where at the end I knew my apartment would be waiting for me with Alice inside.
My apartment came closer into view as I continued farther down the street. With every step I took towards it it seemed to grow taller and more crooked. I didn't see what Alice liked about the place it was ugly and run down, sure it was home but Mattie and I could do better right? Every step I took each brick got crummier, each wooden porch step got more rotted and the building got smokier. Wait…..smokier…? I stood there dumbstruck at the sight I was seeing. Smoke was spewing out the windows of my apartment and into the clean afternoon air. I told myself that what I was seeing wasn't real. I was hallucinating, that was it. I had been working too hard and now I was having visions of my apartment being on fire. Then I realized that it wasn't a vision, it couldn't be because I could smell the burning stench in the air.
"Holy shit!" I screamed as I ran towards my apartment as fast as my legs could carry me. Please tell me I'm dreaming I thought over and over. Only two things were on my mind that very moment, the first thing was Alice. Was she in the apartment? If so was she hurt? And the second thing was Mattie's money. All of it was inside the house; if that money was burnt to a crisp we'd be screwed.
I tore open the front door immediately letting more smoke escape from my home and I sprinted to the place where the money jar was and to where I hoped Alice would be, the kitchen. And sure enough I found both of them there. The money jar filled almost to the top with coins of very size and color sitting at the very end of the counter unharmed and a very distraught Alice.
She stood in the middle of the kitchen waving smoke away from her face. "Help me clear the room you git!" she yelled at me.
The entire kitchen was masked in a thick smoke, suddenly it was harder to breathe and my glasses started to fog up making me incapable of sight. There wasn't much we could do; I knew that the windows were already open. The best option was to wave the smoke over towards the windows and front door and hope that eventually everything would clear out. I started to do this and Alice caught on and followed my lead, in the end we got the kitchen back to normal.
It still smelled heavily of something burning but finally we were able to look at each other in the eyes and clearly see each other's facial expressions without there being any smoke in the way. I tried to be calm, I wanted Alice and I to get along but instead I let my anger take over.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?" I demanded to know. "YOU ALMOST BURNT DOWN THE ENTIRE APARTMENT!"
Alice glared at me with her piercing green eyes, "shut the bloody hell up you wanker it was only a small fire!"
"What if the apartment did burn down? Where would we live?" I yelled at her. "What were you even doing? I left you a note saying not to do anything stupid!"
"I was trying to make us scones for dinner," she snapped.
"What the hell is a scone?" I screamed at her.
She punched me in the gut. "Dammit that hurts!" I yelled at her.
Alice ignored me and went over to the fireplace. She then held up a frying pan with two black lumps sitting inside of it, "these are scones you git."
I was about to ask her where these scones or whatever she called them were then I realized that those black lumps in the frying pan were the scones. There was a long silence between us until I burst out hysterically laughing.
"Alfred F. Jones, what's so funny?" she snarled.
"They're burnt beyond compare," I told her still laughing like a maniac.
She looked towards the frying pan then back to me, then to the frying pan again. "No they're perfectly fine," she insisted. "Now eat yours," she said holding one of the black lumps out to me.
"Gross! No!" I said backing away from her.
Suddenly a hurt look appeared on her face, "I don't think they look that bad," she muttered. Alice then turned away from me and walked over to the kitchen table. She sat down with a sigh and rested the frying pan on top of her lap. "You know this was my first time cooking," she admitted.
"Really?" I asked her. "I thought all girls knew how to cook since they we're little?"
"You're so sexist," Alice hissed. "That's not true at all. I never learned to cook because I always had someone else to do it for me, this was my first try at it so lay off you git!"
I wondered what she meant by someone else has always cooked for her. Did Alice come from money? Did she have a family chef? I felt terrible. Here I was trying to become friends with Alice and I had insulted her cooking. If I wanted to get on better terms with her I had to do it, I had to eat that black lump that was supposed to be food. I walked over to where Alice was sitting and I reached into the frying pan pulling out one of the lumps. I grimaced at the way it felt in my hand, bumpy and not edible, but I sucked it up and to Alice's amazement put it in my mouth.
Alice stared at me expectantly her green eyes wide, "is it good?"
I forced a nod, but in truth it was the fucking worst thing I had ever tasted. I couldn't help it I spit it out right onto the kitchen floor.
"Was it really that bad?" she asked in shock. When I didn't answer her I watched as she picked up the other black lump and ate it. She lasted a full four seconds longer than I did before spiting it out. "Bloody hell I will never cook again!" she declared as she stuck out her tongue trying to get the taste out of her mouth.
"Yeah those scone things totally sucked," I told her.
She punched my arm, and muttered something that I couldn't quite make out. But there was something different about her punch this time. There was no anger in it, it was… friendly?
Then I don't know how long it was but we just sat there together in silence. It wasn't the awkward uncomfortable kind where both people just desperately want to get the hell away from each other; it was the kind of silence that two best friends will share from time to time, peaceful and reassuring. It was in that silence where Alice and I became friends. Somehow in that moment without even speaking to each other I stopped being the random guy who offered Alice a place to stay and she stopped being the rude and beautiful stranger. It's kind of hard to explain but it just felt right and like this moment had been waiting to happen ever since we had first met at the market place yesterday. Suddenly we heard a loud rapping on the front door.
"Who is it?" I called out.
"The honorary knights of the Hetalian table, we were ordered by the king himself to search every house in the village," a booming voice called back.
I turned to Alice with a confused expression on my face, why would the knights be searching the village? I thought she would share my confusion but instead her face was pale and horrified.
"Hide me," she whispered.
Author's Note: Helloooo i hope everyone liked it! But there is one thing i was worried about...the part where Alfred and Alice become friends is it weird? Does it make any sense? haha tell me what you all thought :D
