Disclaimer : I do not own Hetalia or its characters.
Kiku tapped his feet impatiently on the floor.
"'How was I to know, that someday I'll fall in love with her? Even though to her father I obey, only to her my dedication shall lay!'"
Tap.
"'I know it is impossible for us to be together; that we can never live happily ever after. But I know that nothing can beat my love for her.'"
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
"'O' my Genevieve, my only love! Forever we shall be bound-'"
"Cut!" Kiku yelled, causing Alfred to stop mid-line. The usually calm Japanese frowned at the sheepish American. "Alfred-kun, you have to stop that."
"Stop what?" Alfred blinked innocently, causing Kiku's jaw to harden almost instantly. Anyone could tell that the Japanese was pissed and tired at the American's act. Well, anyone but the said American himself, of course.
"Reciting your dialogues like that. As you know, I want you to act, not read, Alfred-kun," Kiku critiqued, maintaining his calm state. "Come on, let's try again. Oh, and you have to stop standing rigid as board like that. It's not particularly appealing to look at."
"Oh, okay then," Alfred rubbed his nose, feeling rather confused. He didn't have a clue on how he should act. Well, he tried to act the same way Arthur did a few days ago, but every time he tried recalling the memories of that horrendous practice on the rooftop, his cheeks started to blush furiously like a pair of tomatoes. The fact that the princess role was now taken by Arthur didn't particularly help as well.
Different to the incoherent American, Arthur had managed to maintain a calm facade throughout the rehearsal. Being the writer of the dialogues he had to perform, he knew exactly how he should act. In that stage, he was no longer Arthur Kirkland, a grumpy student from Hetalia Academy; he was the proud and powerful Princess Genevieve from the Southern Kingdom. Even Kiku had to admire Arthur's strong composure throughout the rehearsals.
Occasionally, though, his composure did break a little. These occasional outbursts almost always happen, of course, whenever a certain American ruined the lovely dialogues he worked so hard on. Whenever Alfred had to act, Arthur's lips twitched slightly in anger and impatience.
After about one hour of rehearsal, finally it was time for recess. "Okay guys, great job! It's 12 already, so you guys can spend you recess outside," Kiku announced to his classmates. "Oh, and Alfred, Arthur, I want to talk to you guys for a minute."
Arthur grumbled slightly; he had been waiting for recess for hours to let go of his stress, and now his recess had to be delayed for some stupid performance-related talk. "God, when can I have my fair share of rest?" he cursed inwardly as he walked briskly toward Kiku, who was sitting on one of the chairs in front of the now empty stage. "What is it, Kiku?" he asked the black haired teenager briskly.
"Where is Alfred-kun? Ah, there he is," Kiku lifted his head from the script he was reading. Alfred approached the two, looking rather tired and still confused.
"Ya need something, Kiku?" Alfred asked the Japanese, wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead.
"Yes. It's about your respective roles," Kiku explained, causing Arthur to stiffen immediately. "As you see, in the script you wrote, Arthur-kun, I didn't notice any kisses between the main roles."
"Ah, you're wrong, Kiku. There is one. There," Arthur pointed stiffly to the opened script.
"That's between the Queen and the King of the South," Kiku's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"It's still a kiss," Arthur insisted, knowing where this talk will lead to.
Kiku rolled his eyes, chuckling softly. "You know that's not the kiss I'm talking about, Arthur-kun," he said to the fuming Brit. Alfred, on the other hand, still stood gaping like a moron, oblivious to the main subject of the talk.
"So... Your point is..?" Alfred questioned, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. His stupidity caused the Brit standing beside him to frown in anger.
"The point is, what is a romance drama without a kiss between the male and female lead?" Kiku replied, his smile grew wider.
"What? Don't tell me you're expecting me to kiss Artie on stage in our performance, Kiku!" Alfred finally got a grip on what Kiku was talking about, and now his face was reddening considerably in anger and embarrassment.
"For once, I have to agree to this Hamburger Bastard, Kiku. If this is a normal drama with a female lead, I would've agreed with you," Arthur's large eyebrows furrowed into a deep (and highly unattractive) frown. "But seeing the fact that I am the lead, I will not agree with your outrageous decision."
"Say, what do you think about the photos, Arthur-kun?" Kiku replied quietly, his dark brown eyes bore into the Brit's emerald green ones. Arthur flinched noticeably when he mentioned the word 'photos'.
"What do you mean by 'photos', Kiku?" Arthur whispered hoarsely; his throat had gone extremely dry. The baffled American can only stare in confusion at the exchange between the two boys.
"Well, what I meant by 'photos' is that I still had photos like the one I showed you yesterday, Arthur-kun," Kiku smiled serenely. "Hundreds, in fact. And not just the ones I captured recently, but also the ones I captured when I caught you... staring at that particular person."
Arthur froze immediately in shock. His green eyes grew wide in disbelief.
"Hey, hold on a sec! A hero's missing a point here!" Alfred interjected, frowning in irritation for being ignored by the two students.
"The point is, Alfred," Arthur snapped at the American, although he was staring down at his Converse sneakers. "We have to kiss. End of story."
"WHAT? I thought you said that you agreed with me about that stupid kiss?" Alfred yelled incredulously, his baby blue eyes widening in disbelief and anger. "Geez, I'm NOT cool with this, damnit!"
When Arthur said nothing and merely continued to stare on the floor, Alfred yelled harder than ever, "What, do you want to get into my pants that much, Arthur? Damn, I didn't know that you're such a pris-"
A fist flew straight to the American's face, knocking him off his feet. He lay sprawled on the floor, only to see Arthur who stood over him. The Brit was shivering in anger, his eyebrows furrowed in fury and his face flustered. "You think," Arthur hissed in a low voice. "I'm happy with this? You think, just because you're so awesome and all that, you have the right to call me prissy?"
Arthur straightened up and stared at Alfred haughtily. "Just because we have to kiss in that drama, doesn't mean we're related in any way. So don't you dare blame me with false accusation, you insufferable git!"
And with those last words, he stormed off the auditorium, leaving the shocked American and the calm Japanese. Kiku cleared his throat and reached his hand to Alfred, who was still lying on the floor. "Do you need my help to get up, Alfred-kun?" Kiku offered calmly. He had expected this reaction, of course, but he never thought that Arthur would actually hit Alfred.
"Nah, I'm fine, Kiku," Alfred slowly got up on his feet, brushing off his hoodie from dust. He ran his hand awkwardly through his hair and asked, "So, can I like, have my lunch now?"
"Sure. You can go now," Kiku smiled to the upset American.
Slowly, Alfred left Kiku alone in the auditorium, wincing slightly as he held his cheek.
As the other students gathered once more in the auditorium after recess, Alfred sat on one of the chairs in front of the stage. This day had been outrageously awful to his chagrin, and he still had three and a half hours left to spend at school. That means three and a half hours of torture left for him to endure, trying to recite his dialogues and act properly at the same moment. He wondered; how did those actors in TV act and recite their dialogues properly at the same time?
"Okay, guys. We're going to start rehearsals again in a few minutes. Is everybody here?" Kiku announced to the chattering students.
"Arthur's not here yet, Kiku," Vash pointed out to the Japanese. "I saw him heading somewhere only a few minutes before recess ended, but wherever he was heading to, it's not the auditorium."
"But we have rehearsals in only a few minutes... Hmm," Kiku pondered thoughtfully. "Alfred-kun?" he called.
"Yeah, Kiku?" Alfred lifted his head to look at Kiku, who was standing straight on the stage. The black-haired Japanese's got a very weird expression in his face; it was almost... twisted.
"Go look for Arthur-kun, will you?" Kiku requested to the baffled American.
"Why me?" Alfred sulked childishly and pouted.
"Because," Kiku said with an air of finality. "It will be the perfect chance for you to apologize to him, ne?"
Although Alfred hated to admit it, he knew that Kiku was right. It'll be a mess if Arthur stays mad at him any longer; their class performance could be at stake. If their performance was ruined, then the whole class will be furious at him, not just Arthur. Despite that fact, Alfred was still unhappy about Kiku telling him to apologize to Arthur; and there was something very suspicious about the way Kiku said 'apologize'.
Reluctantly, Alfred stood up and walked limply toward the auditorium door. Kiku watched his back regretfully; he had to hold himself together strong enough to not stalk after Alfred and watch when he 'apologize' to Arthur. After all, interesting things always happen when someone apologizes. In Japanese mangas, that is.
A/N : So, here's chapter 4 :) Thank you so much for your reviews, they really makes me happy. Thank you SO much! Again, reviews = faster updates, so please review! :D
Ps. Thanks to lisacreature's review, I decided to crank it up a bit and add some pairings beside US-UK. Maybe some Giripan (Greece-Japan) and Spamano (Spain-Romano). What do you think? =D
