Disclaimer: I don't own.
Evelyn spun in the chair that had been placed behind Arthur for her. She was bored. Arthur had given her a pen and notepad with strict instructions to not use it or its spring as a projectile. She had given him a rather weird look in return. What did he think she would do? She was a history major not an antagonist. It had been a good plan to keep her occupied, but they now sat forgotten on her lap as she kept spinning.
"Do you always get here this early?" she questioned as the Englishman was trying to look over his notes for the day, but, for some reason, his gaze kept being drawn to the blank chalkboard.
"I am always punctual." He straightened his already straight collar.
"That's great and all, but you're not just punctual—that would be like ten minutes early," his face reflected his displeasure for that idea. "I mean, you're like super early."
Arthur sighed setting his papers down. "The others will be arriving shortly and since this conference is being hosted by my country, it is important that I be here should any of the others arrive. Will you stop that?" He grabbed hold of the arm of her chair effectively stopping her spinning.
She jerked slightly from the abrupt stop before sticking her tongue out at him.
"How very mature." He commented returning to his notes.
The American puffed out her cheeks and slouched in the chair only to jump in the next instant as someone said a soft, "Hello."
"Good morning Matthew," Arthur greeted without looking up from his notes. He had started furiously looking back and forth between two stapled sheets frustration visible in his emerald eyes.
Evelyn looked up at the tall pale blonde man who had just come in. He wore glasses over his violet eyes and had a strange curl on one side. He felt familiar. She had to stop the urge to hug and slap him on the back; he was a stranger after all.
"Hello Evelyn," he addressed her smiling softly.
She sat up straighter. "Oh, hi!" she responded nervously gripping the arm of her chair. Must resist touching stranger. "Um…how do you know my name?"
He chuckled. "Well, Arthur did say it yesterday, but we've also met before—briefly."
She furrowed her brow as she thought back. He did look familiar…oh, right. "You were the guy at the front door that day." Oh great Evelyn, that was descriptive. What happened to that college knowledge?
He nodded offering her a hand. "I'm Matthew Williams, Canada." So that was the accent she was hearing, Canadian.
She took it and they shook. "Evelyn Summers, American." She gave him one of her warmest smiles. Arthur had since stood up ripping the sheets apart to look at them side-by-side.
"Um…" Evelyn paused, hand poised to touch Arthur's arm in concern.
"Just let him be," Matthew spoke up, voice still soft.
"But he…" She trailed off watching as Arthur's aggravation increased at the two harmless sheets of paper.
"He'll be distracted soon enough," said Matthew before moving to his seat.
Other people started making their way into the room all of them talking to one another, words becoming lost in a mix of accents. She recognized some—Francis and Antonio mostly—but there were so many others; she wondered if they were a committee and then hoped they weren't because nothing would get done.
When they had all assembled, a blonde haired blue-eyed man with a thick German accent stood up and started going over the agenda. This was odd in Evelyn's opinion. Arthur said that England was hosting, so shouldn't he be the one hosting? Maybe they voted on a leader or he was appointed by the UN or something. She attempted to catch Arthur's attention to show him the hastily scribbled questions to get some answers, but to no avail; his attention was on the speaker. Evelyn went back to only half-listening, doodling idly. After only a few minutes, she grew uncomfortable and shifted, but it wasn't her position that bothered her.
No, they were all staring at her. Creepers.
She quickly averted her own gaze back to her notepad wishing she could just sink through the floor. It was so obvious she didn't belong here, not to mention Arthur hadn't even let her sit at the table, but she couldn't just leave either because the door was on the opposite side of the room; everyone would see her! That would be even more awkward. She couldn't even crawl under the table to get away.
A few of the representatives were whispering to each other gesturing in her direction. Hopefully they were talking about Arthur's eyebrows and not her. Evelyn bit her lip. She couldn't even talk since Matthew was on the other side of the room and Arthur was being a good example and listening. The American shifted again causing her chair to squeak. Arthur shot her a glare over his shoulder. She stilled returning to her doodles. It was going to be a long day and her doodling abilities sucked. Too bad she couldn't stash her iPod and listen to it. Arthur had taken that earlier in the day.
"How easy it is to slip back into old habits, eh Angleterre?" Francis leaned into Arthur's personal space. Arthur leaned away from him.
"I don't know what you mean frog," Arthur retorted with false innocence moving his papers to his new position.
Francis smiled knowingly moving back to throw an arm over his eyes melodramatically. "I think you know exactly what I mean. Although I think we have to be careful or you might just restart your empire." He was smirking at the Englishman now, egging him on.
"If I wanted my empire back, you'd be the first to know." Arthur hissed back with a snort at the end.
The Frenchman sighed dramatically. "What else can you expect from a former delinquent?" He waggled his eyebrows at Evelyn.
Was he trying to bait Arthur into a fight? Evelyn found herself hiding a smile, but a small giggle still escaped at the image of the Englishman being a delinquent. The man didn't even own a computer; how could he be a delinquent?
Arthur slammed his hands on the table standing up, his chair rolling back. Maybe that's why all the chairs were on wheels. "Keep going frog and I'll give you another Hundred Years' War!" Evelyn looked to the representatives around her for back up, but no one was doing anything.
Evelyn didn't know what to do. Was this normal? Should she try and restrain the Englishman? No one else seemed all that surprised by the confrontation, only the German representative seemed keen on stopping it.
"Enough! We'll go on lunch break and resume the meeting afterwards when France and England can stop behaving like children." The others murmured agreement and the meeting broke up.
"But England's small enough to be a child." Antonio's voice piped up somewhere.
Arthur moved to go towards Antonio when Evelyn grabbed his arm and held him back. She didn't want Arthur to start any international incidents over lunch.
"Wait here," the Brit told her. "I need to speak with one of the others." She gave him a disbelieving look before he sighed. "It's not Antonio." She let go of him as he moved away.
Evelyn nodded returning to her doodles. If she got anything out of today, it would be better art skills. It was hardly a few seconds, not even long enough for her to truly get into the shading she was trying, after Arthur left that a shadow fell over her. Looking up, she found an amazingly tall man with platinum blonde hair and violet eyes; he wore a long coat and white scarf. His childish smile was playing havoc with her internal alarm bells.
"You are America, da?" he asked. His accent sounded like something from Eastern Europe, but she couldn't pin it down. It really wasn't her area of interest.
"Er, yes, I'm American." She stood and held out her hand. "My name is Evelyn Summers." Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave, she thought to herself hoping to get this over with and to make him leave.
He smiled, but something about it sent more shivers down her spine. "Are you enjoying the meeting so far comrade America?" He didn't take her hand and she dropped it. Little hairs on the back of her neck raised as time passed.
Ice breaker, Evelyn, ice breaker.
"I don't really understand what's going on actually. Are these fights common?" She attempted a pathetic smile back at him.
"Da, but not for a long time now. Comrade America, you are staying with comrade England, da?"
The girl twitched. "It's Evelyn and yes I am. I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name earlier." She was staying with Mr. Manners, she might as well use them.
"I am Ivan Braginsky, Russia. Perhaps you would like to visit me sometime, da comrade America?" The hairs on the back of Evelyn's neck were standing completely on end now.
Her fight or flight instincts were kicking in—flight being the wisest option—but she really wished he would stop calling her that. She would be nice though; Arthur would kill her if she got into more trouble especially after yesterday. "I would like to travel the world someday…" Vague, vague was good.
"I think you would like it there comrade America. We have a lot of history." He was now leaning into her personal space.
Evelyn's hands curled into fists as she slowly stood. She may be short, but any height would add to her advantage at the moment. This guy was really starting to piss her off. Don't start trouble. Don't start trouble. Don't start trouble. She repeated it to herself over and over. She forced a warm smile onto her face as she turned to look at him.
"Are you all right, comrade America?" There was an acquired gleam in his eyes.
"Keep calm and carry on, keep calm and carry on." The American muttered under her breath to herself.
"I'm sorry comrade America. I couldn't hear you." Ivan had somehow managed an innocent sneer.
Screw it, the saying was always more of a British thing anyways. Evelyn's head snapped up leveling an Arthur worthy glare at the Russian. "I said," she stated clearly, "stop calling me that you damn commie bastard!" The physical version of the Cold War broke out in the conference room.
A/N: Hey guys! Just a quick update before we head to KawaKon in St. Louis. Fall in Snow and I will be dressed up tonight as Amelia (from her story) and Evelyn. Tomorrow we'll be giving a presentation as Spain and England. Come check it out if you're there! We'll be in the pirate gear.
As always reviews are loved. Later!