Chapter 10

Arthur and Oliver

Today was a bad day, to be completely honest. Arthur got in an argument with both America and France in the same day. And today of all days. July 4th. Like this month wasn't bad enough for Arthur, he had to get in a fist-fight with Ireland, and have a yelling match with Scotland about his independence.

So, on such a bad day, Arthur was sitting at his desk, drinking his rum, which was what Arthur drank when he needed to get drunk. He hadn't been drinking long, he wasn't even slightly buzzed, so, of course, Arthur had to keep drinking because he had to get drunk. He groaned, knowing that he'd have to deal with this hangover for more than a couple days.

"Already breaking out the rum?" Arthur heard from down the hall.

Arthur rolled his eyes at the sound of Oliver's sarcasm. "Ollie, leave me alone." He grumbled, glaring over at the cheerful reflection.

Oliver shrugged. "Hey, it's three o'clock somewhere, right?"

"I'm not in the mood for your sarcasm." Arthur groaned, looking away.

"Today was supposed to be tea day!" Oliver exclaimed.

Arthur rolled his eyes again. "Well, I guess we'll have to reschedule."

Oliver was silent on the other side of the mirror, which made Arthur slightly curious. He turned back to the mirror, looking at Oliver who was staring at him with a blank expression. "What?" Arthur exclaimed.

"You know I'm serious about tea."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "You know that this month is the bad for me."

Oliver's eyes softened. "It's bad for me, too."

Arthur looked down to his desk, guilt filling him. He was being selfish, Oliver had also lost his little brothers and past colonies, even if he never did any fighting in war. Oliver still came to the mirror crying when he lost his versions of America, Canada, Hong Kong, and all of his other colonies. They cried together, and comforted each other, and now Arthur was just being rude and selfish. But he needed to get drunk.

"I'll come sit with you, but I'm still drinking." Arthur stated firmly.

Oliver smiled, drumming his fingers on the half tabled that rested against the mirror. Both Arthur and Oliver had cut a table in half and placed it against the mirror, so when they'd sit down and drink a pot of tea, it almost felt like they were in the same world again.

Arthur stood, grabbing his bottle of rum and placing it on the table. "You know what, I'll even get a glass so I'm civil."

Oliver nodded. "Thank you."

Arthur sat down in the seat in front of his half-table, and filled up the glass with rum.

"So, how are you?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "How am I?" He took a drink of rum, "I think they explains it pretty well."

"Well, it's the fourth for me too, but you don't see me getting myself drunk." Oliver protested.

Arthur shook his head. "That's because you hate alcohol."

"I don't hate it, I dislike it." Oliver countered.

"Right," Arthur replied, "didn't Louis take you out drinking once?"

Oliver took a sip of tea. "Yes." He mumbled sheepishly.

Arthur smiled. "Didn't you get yourself drunk?"

"I only had two glasses!" Oliver yelled.

Arthur laughed. "Oh, Ollie, you have worse tolerance than I do."

Oliver blushed slightly. "The reason I don't drink is because I can get 'kind of aggressive', as Louis put it."

"Doesn't surprise me." Arthur mumbled, taking a swig off of his drink as Oliver took a long sip of his tea.

"The tea's spiked, isn't it?" Arthur teased.

"What? No! I wouldn't ruin tea like that!" Oliver asserted.

"Good point." Arthur shrugged, "Well, you know how I am, how are you?"

Oliver took a minute, looking at the ceiling as he thought. "I'm okay, I guess. I mean, my brothers are happier now that they're alone, so I can only be so sad…" He explained, although he visibly deflated.

Arthur's eyes softened. Oliver was always one to tell Arthur that he was fine, so he could comfort him. Oliver usually looked for comfort through his cupcakes, or, occasionally, Louis would give him a shoulder to cry on. "Ollie," Arthur said soothingly, "if you're not okay, you can tell me."

Oliver beamed a smile. "No, Arthur, I'm fine. I'm happy for everyone, just a little…"

"Lonely?" Arthur finished.

"...Yeah…" Oliver mumbled.

Arthur straightened his posture, took a sip of rum, and set it gently on the table. "Who doesn't get a little lonely every now and then, right?" He reassured, trying to be the cheerful one for once.

Oliver shrugged. "You're right."

Arthur swallowed the rest of his rum, and filled the glass again, Oliver doing the same with his tea. Arthur lifted the glass in the air. "A toast, to our past colonies."

"To our past colonies." Arthur's reflection echoed, lifting his cup in the air.

They both drank their beverages, in the name of their colonies, Arthur chugging down the whole glass and needing to refill it. Most of the day went like this, Oliver eventually talked Arthur into putting the rum away, making Oliver the only man to be able to talk the rum away from Arthur, who was half-drunk by the end of the day. Although the month of July was hard, it was nice to laugh it off with the only man who could understand his pain.

Arthur went to bed that night, dreading the headache he knew he'd wake up with.

This was a little shorter than I thought it would be, but I think it came out nice. The wait was long, but the chapters for this story usually take a while to post. Anyway, it's close to Christmas, so Merry Christmas!

~Feliks Out! (^J^)