All right! Sorry this is late! Though this was typed up right before the holidays, with everything going on I couldn't post this and then right after I hopped on a plane to Florida and hung out with family! So now that I'm leaving I have time to post this! Anyway! Thanks for the last reviews guys! Keep writing them!
It took all of Arthur's will power to keep him calm and not pace around the room to try and ease his nerves. In all honesty, he had no real idea about why he was so nervous. Sure, this was risking their safety slightly by doing this. But this was Alfred! This is the person who was meant to be helping them! So what was the point of being nervous? Arthur knew it was a lie. He did have reason to be nervous. Not just about Alfred, but if Ivan found out about any of this, all of them, including Alfred, were as good as dead. It was a sad idea to think about but it was the truth. No point in running from it anyway. Yet when the doorbell finally rang at 10:15, Arthur raced to the door and flung himself into Alfred's arms.
"You're late you know." Arthur scolded. At the sound of Alfred's laugh all of Arthur's worries melted away for a moment.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to be you know!" Alfred said as he hugged Arthur back. Arthur sighed as he let go of Alfred and smiled back. 'Why is it?' he asked himself. 'Why is it that whenever I'm with him, I feel safe, confused, happy, and upset all at the same time?' he let the thought go as he grabbed his jacket and locked the house. As he started walking down the steps to his car, he noticed Alfred wasn't following him. He turned around and looked at him curiously. To his surprise, Alfred was watching him with wide eyes and his mouth was hanging open a bit.
"What's wrong?" Arthur asked.
"What the hell are you wearing? I-I mean! I've never seen you in anything besides the outfits you perform in and the stuffy clothes you wear around your house!" Alfred said in surprise. Arthur stared for a minute before laughing.
"Come on! You can't think that I only wear those kinds of clothes!" Arthur said as he went back up and took Alfred's hand and lead him off the porch. Arthur wasn't in anything he thought was too special. He had a pair of tight leather pants on white shirt with the British flag on it huge tears on the middle so you could see his chest through the fabric. He was wearing a leather jacket and around his neck you could see a few chains. For added effect, Arthur had even put in some fake red gages in his ears. Arthur was sure that though he only really was wearing this because it would let him blend in more at the place they were going to, he had the added effect of watching Alfred get obviously turned on by his new appearance.
"Come on. We have to drive somewhere but it's important that you meet him. He needs help Alfred. Probably even more than I do. I know you'll see he's a good guy at heart." Arthur said as he got into his car. Alfred hopped into the passenger seat and looked a little confused.
"Where are we meeting him?" Alfred asked.
"I have a place where I work, he has his. He's not in the same line of business I'm in, but we're still friends. I have to help him you know! And he got threatened recently, which is why he also needs help. He works under Russia as well. If he finds out that my friend has been skipping out on even one night's work, I don't want to think about it ok? So we have to go to him." Arthur explained as they drove a little faster.
"All right Arthur. I'm going to trust you on this one. What's his story anyway?" Alfred asked.
"You'll see soon enough." Arthur said as he drove. The sat in silence for a quite a while before Arthur finally parked the car and got out in front of an old broken down building. They walked into the building silently. A tall man stopped them once with a huge battle-axe who guarded a huge door.
"Denmark, you know me. I just want to go and see my usual friend in here." Arthur said.
"No problem with you, but who is this you have with you? I haven't ever seen him around these parts before." Denmark asked.
"A friend from out of town. He won't cause you any trouble. I promise if he does I'll get you something in exchange. You know, from your favorite source." Arthur said. Denmark eyed up both Alfred and Arthur a bit more before he moved aside.
"If he does anything, I better be getting the good stuff! This is Russia's place you know! If something goes down here it'll be my ass he'll wants!" Denmark called after them as they went inside.
"What was that all about?" Alfred asked once they were in and the door behind them was shut.
"He's a bit of a pot head. I told him I'd get him some from one of my own friends if you did anything. Good news for me is that we have a different kind of reason about why we're here then the rest of these men. Come on!" Arthur said as he grabbed Alfred's hand and dragged him down a dark path. They heard sounds of people cheering ahead and when they walking out into the light again, they were attacked by the sounds of men and women cheering and the scent of alcohol hitting them. There was a ring in the corner where two men were bringing dogs in. Arthur shuddered and held Alfred's hand tighter.
"C-Come on. He'll be here somewhere. A-And I don't want to see this..." Arthur said as they turned away from the ring. They walked to the back and ignored the cheers of the fights until they got to where the people with the dogs were. Arthur sighed as he went up to one of the men.
"Can you tell Prussia that England is here to see him with America?" Arthur asked the man. The other man nodded and went to go find Gilbert. Arthur wasn't sure, but he thought he might have felt Alfred tense a little at the mention of Gilbert's code name. After waiting for a few minutes, Arthur saw that familiar sight of platinum blond hair and blood red eyes meet him.
"You both are late! Come on! We'll go back here where it's a little more private." Gilbert said as he beckoned the two of them closer. They both followed after him, ignoring the snarls and barks they heard from the dogs they passed. Arthur now remembered why he didn't like visiting Gilbert at his job. It was sad that Gilbert was forced to do this. All of them knew he hated his job. Almost as much as Arthur hated his. Once they got back to a private room, Gilbert locked the door and checked quickly to make sure no one was around.
"So! You're the guy that England keeps talking about huh? Amerika? Right?" Gilbert said, his familiar German accent slipping out even more. That surprised Arthur. Though he had an accent. It got stronger when Gilbert was nervous. Arthur shrugged it off though.
"That's me. So, who are you?" Alfred asked causally.
"My real name stays a secret. Hope you understand. Sides, around these parts foreigner, my code name pulls enough leverage that my real name is a burden if nothing else. Call me Prussia." Gilbert said as he held out his hand. Arthur watched as Alfred leaned in and shook Gilbert's hand back.
"I've heard of you. And who are you to call me a foreigner with an accent like that?" Alfred asked. Arthur flinched beside him. Gilbert never did have a good habit of making friends easily. Arthur realized he should have told Alfred about that. Only when Gilbert started laughing did Arthur ease up.
"Guess that's fair. And I'm not surprised that you've heard of me. Like I said, real name is just a burden." Gilbert said.
"So, England told me you need my help for something. I'm guessing he told you what I do, right?" Alfred asked.
"Ja. He said that you help people. Get the people who need to get out of this messed up life out." Gilbert said.
"You have to understand, I watch people and see for myself if I think it's worth my time in helping them. If I think they are worth it, I help them. So for me to be brought before someone I have to know them even more than usual to help them. Besides, with a reputation like yours, why would you want to get out of this life anyway? From what I hear, to me at least, it sounds like you have a pretty easy life going for you." Alfred said. Arthur got ready to lunge at Gilbert incase that comment upset him. Gilbert however, just sighed and shook his head.
"Haven't you ever heard how those movie stars and singers always say that fame is too much of a hassle sometimes? Well, even though it's a different kind of fame, this name in this life still brings fame. I'm tired Amerika. I need to drop out of this life and I need to do it now. I am in danger now. I had hoped that I could make all the money I needed to fast and drop out before anything got bad. But that just didn't work out for me. Not a lot of things do anyway. So now, I'm just fighting to make sure I do my job well enough that I don't die. I'm at a point I'm fighting for my life here. Doesn't that seem like enough of a reason to want out?" Gilbert asked. Arthur watched as Alfred studied him for a few minutes.
"There's more isn't it. There's another reason that you want this life to end. What is it?" Alfred asked.
"A-America maybe it's not such a good idea to ask-" Arthur started to say before Gilbert cut him off.
"Are you an older brother? Do you have any siblings?" Gilbert asked. Arthur turned and watched Alfred nod.
"A younger brother. My twin." Alfred answered.
"Well, then I bet you know a bit of what I'm feeling. The desire to keep your little brother safe from harm. For him, you'd do anything right? If he needed something, you'd do whatever it takes to get it for him, right?" Gilbert asked. Alfred nodded again.
"Then you understand why I need to get out of this. It's for him, not me. I need to protect him. If I'm in danger thanks to this life then so is he. I'm not being selfish anymore. This is for him. So please, help me get out of this life. I need to stop endangering both my life and my brother's." Gilbert said. Alfred nodded once more and held his hand out to him.
"You and your brother don't need to worry anymore. I'll get you out of this mess. You two won't be in danger from this life anymore." Alfred said with a smile. Gilbert shook his hand and smirked.
"So who knew Brows over there would be right. You're not too bad after all. Now do me a favor and wait outside for a sec. I need to talk to England over here." Gilbert said as he pushed Alfred out of the room. Once the door was locked again Gilbert turned back to Arthur.
"Well?" Arthur asked.
"I think he's ok. Little suspicious but not bad. What about you? Antonio?" Gilbert asked as Antonio stepped out from behind the shadow of come crates. Arthur jumped slightly. Not realizing his friend was there at all.
"He seems safe. I'm fine with this if you are Gilbert." Antonio said.
"Then it's settled! He's a good guy! Now, bring him back in Artie and let's start talking about this stuff!" Gilbert said as he laughed. Arthur smiled. It had been a while since Gilbert had really laughed without being with his brother. Arthur opened the door and introduced Alfred to Antonio, while using the name "Spain" of course, and the four of them discussed a plan to help out Gilbert. Sadly, none of them noticed the woman hiding in the shadows right outside the door.
