It's the 17th March! Happy St Patrick's Day, Ireland, have a wonderful day! Happy Birthday, Patrick and Seamus! And Happy Birthday, Feliciano and Romano! And that being said,

Enjoy!

Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya!

Chapter 5 : The Morning After

Arthur watched another aeroplane rushed down the long road and lift into the sky. It was better than being with his brothers who picked on him constantly. All he wanted was a friend to play with who did not teased him all the time. His older brothers did not want him hanging round with them, which was fine because being with them was not fun and Seamus was too young to play with and Arthur was always lonely.

Another plane landed on another long road and turned into a little road off the the long one. He would be on one of them soon, going home from a holiday in New York. He looked back at his brothers who had not realised that he had walked away so he would be away from their teasing for a while.

"Hi!" came a bright voice and he turned to see a boy about his age with blonde hair and bright blues, carrying something but he was blurry. Arthur could make out the colours but not the boy's features.

Then he felt a strange thudding in his chest, something he had never felt before!

"I'm Alfred!" the boy said with a friendly tone. "What's your name?" Arthur decided that he liked Alfred.

"Arthur!" Alfred gave a blurry smile.

"Hi, Artie!" he replied. "Wanna go play?" Arthur looked back at his family, knowing that Mum and Dad would get mad if he wandered off but more time away from his teasing brothers sounded good and he felt the need to stay with Alfred so he nodded and they ran off together.

Arthur smiled in his sleep at the happy dream, as did Alfred who had cuddled up to Arthur but his smile turned to a frown as his dream changed from happy to not so good.

Alfred was having a good time with his new friend, despite the funny bump, bump, bump in his chest. Artie was blurry to him, although he could see that Artie had blonde hair and green eyes that seemed to have big things over the top of them. They played hide and seek and it was his turn to seek. Carrying his new Mickey Mouse plush that his Dad had bought from Disneyland, he ran through the chairs, looking for Artie's hiding place. Then he spotted a funny, not-real tree in a corner and looked behind it and, sure enough, there was Artie.

"Found you, Artie!" he crowed, grabbing Artie's hand and pulling out from behind the tree. Artie giggled.

"My turn, Alfie!" he replied as Alfred took his hands and they began turning round in a circle.

"ALFRED!"

"OI, YER LITTLE SHIT!" Alfred turned round to see his father coming toward him and then toward the other voice which belonged to a red-haired teenager who grabbed Artie by the collar, blaming him for the trouble he had gotten him into with their parents. Alfred's father grabbed hold of Alfred's hand, pulling him away from Artie and scolding him for wandering off. Alfred desperately tried to hold on to Artie as they were pulled apart. They had to stay together, they just had to!

They could not hold on and finally, their hands slipped free of each other!

"ARTIE!" Alfred cried as he came awake, just as Arthur woke crying, "ALFIE!"

Arthur woke crying out the name of the boy in his dream to find himself embraced in a pair of arms and the look on his face turned to one of horror as he looked into the eyes of his co-worker. And that's when his hangover hit! The blinding headache, the nausea and, something he had never faced before, the awkward morning after. He pulled out of Alfred's arms and began holding his head.

"No!" he wallowed in self-denial. "No, no, no! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" Alfred was as shocked as Arthur to find himself cuddling the hungover Brit when usually he would cuddle the Mickey Mouse plush he got twenty years ago but then the memories of the night before came flooding back. His failed attempt to find out if Arthur was Artie and how they ended up in the same bed together. Nothing had happened but Alfred could understand why Arthur had jumped to the conclusion he had. They were in bed, in nothing but their underwear and the rest of their clothes were all over the room and, since Arthur had been unconscious when Alfred brought him home, he would have no clue of anything that happened. Arthur was now out of the bed, desperately gathering up his clothes, wanting to get out of this embarrassing situation as soon as possible. Alfred climbed out of the bed after him.

"Arthur!" he said, trying to get the panicking Brit to listen to him. "Arthur! Nothing happened! " But Arthur was too agitated to listen as he struggled into his shirt and then pulled on his pants. He was aware of Alfred talking in the background but he was too lost in his own panicked thoughts to listen.

Why did I drink so much? I should know by now that I can't handle it and now I've made a fool of myself in front of Alfred! How can I work with him after this? Oh, I wish my hangover would kill me!

"Arthur, listen to me!" Alfred knelt down in front of Arthur as he put on his shoes and was tying his laces. "Nothing happened! We got drunk, I brought you here and we just went to sleep! Well, I went to sleep, you were already unconscious. That's all that happened, I promise!" Arthur looked up and saw the truth in the other man's eyes. Then he put his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands,

"Did I say anything embarrassing?" he groaned.

"You said something about not knowing what religion you were," Alfred replied. "Then you started crying on my shoulder." Arthur groaned again. "Then you dumped your head on the table and fell asleep!" Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. He knew from his brothers that he had a tendency to wail about his lost soul mate when drunk.

"Was that all I said?" he asked. Alfred thought for a moment.

"You muttered something when you were crying on my shoulder but I didn't hear what it was," he replied, getting up and sitting beside Arthur. "Don't worry, you've got nothing to tell or keep from your soul mate!" Alfred decided to throw that in to see how Arthur would react and waited for his answer, expectantly. Arthur turned his face away from Alfred to find himself looking at a Mickey Mouse plush. It looked old and well-used from being hugged a lot. And it was oddly familiar.

"I lost my soul mate some time ago," he muttered. Alfred's heart sank as he reached the conclusion that Arthur had found his soul mate who had died and Arthur did not want to talk about it. He was not his Artie! He should have known better than to think that he was.

"I'm sorry!" he said, honestly. "I lost mine too!" Arthur looked back at Alfred. He wanted to ask Alfred what happened to his soul mate but if he did not want to talk about finding his soul mate and being separated from him, he had no business questioning someone about their bereavement and causing them distress so he kept his curiosity to himself.

"My condolences," Arthur said. Alfred smiled sadly.

"It was a long time ago," he replied and they sat in silence, each believing that each other's soul mate was dead.

So oblivious!

Arthur looked at the clock and panicked.

"It's eight fifteen!" he cried. They started work at nine so they had forty five minutes to get ready and get there which meant that Arthur had no time to get back to his hotel to change so Alfred lent him a suit. It was a little big and his belt held the waist in and he had to turn up the legs but he could get away with it for one day. Now he just had to get through the day with a hangover and, after a couple of painkillers he was given by Alfred, and a quick bite of breakfast he had to forced down through his nausea, they left for work.

Feliks could not wait for Alfred and Arthur to arrive because he was bursting to find out how the night before had gone and had Alfred asked Arthur and what had Arthur had said. He was almost bouncing up and down waiting for the elevator to unload them on to the twelfth floor. When they finally arrived, having to take a circular route to work because some of the roads were being closed off for the St Patrick's Day Parade later that day, Feliks took in the fact that Arthur was wearing a suit he had seen Alfred wear before, putting two and two together and coming up with Arthur spent the night at Alfred's! He gave a quiet little squeal and ran up to the two men.

"Excuse me, Arthur!" he said by way of greeting and grabbing hold of Alfred. "I need Alfred for a moment!" And he dragged Alfred away with Arthur looking at them for a moment before going into the office.

Feliks dragged Alfred into his own office, shut the door, pushed Alfred down into a chair and trapped him there by gripping the arms and leaning over him.

"Okay!" he ordered. "Spill! I want all the gory details of last night! He's wearing one of your suits! He stayed the night, didn't he? It's him! He's Artie! Come on, tell me what happened?" Alfred sighed.

"Feliks, it's not him!" he replied. "He's wearing one of my suits today because he got too blind drunk to get back to his hotel last night. He crashed at my place and he had no time to get back to his hotel to change! He's not Artie!" Feliks looked deflated.

"Are you sure?" he asked, hoping that Alfred had misunderstood something. Alfred nodded.

"Arthur found his soul mate and they died," he said. "Arthur told me himself!" Feliks's face fell.

"That's a shame!" he said. "It's would have been a great story to put on my Facebook page!"

"Well, I'm sorry you can't plaster my private life over the internet!" Alfred declared, Feliks finally letting him up. "I better get to work before Arthur starts to think he's on his own today." He left, leaving behind a disappointed Feliks. It would have been destiny! Oh well!

Arthur had something to do while he was waiting for Alfred to return from whatever Feliks wanted him for. He took out his mobile phone, searched through his contacts and dialled Patrick's number.

"Hello," his brother's voice answered.

"Hello, Patrick it's Arthur!" Arthur said. "Just calling to wish you a Happy Birthday!"

"Oh hey, Bunny," Patrick replied. "Took you longer enough! It's one o'clock, you know!"

"I'm in New York, you plonker!" Arthur replied. "It's just after nine in the morning here! I would have called sooner but I was running late for work. Wait a minute! Shouldn't it be two where you are?"

"Nah," Patrick replied. "Me and Seamus are in Dublin. We thought we'd see St Patrick's Day in the country of our birth since it's our birthday as well!" It was a family joke that the two brothers born in Ireland shared the same birthday and it just happened to be St Patrick's Day. Great talking point at parties!

"Seamus is with you!" Arthur said. "I was going to call him next! Is he there? Put him on!"

"Oi, Seamus!" he heard Patrick call out. "Bunny's on the phone! He wants to talk to you!" Arthur heard the sound of footsteps and noises as Patrick handed the phone to his youngest brother.

"Hey, Bunny!" Seamus said.

"Hello, Seamus!" Arthur replied. "I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks, Bunny," Seamus replied. "I wish you were here in person!" Arthur had a stronger relationship with his younger brother than with his elder brothers. When Seamus was growing up, Arthur refused to let his older brothers pick on Seamus the way they had him and defended him from their teasing ways.

"I wish I could too," Arthur said. "If you and Patrick are in Dublin, where are Allistor and Rhys?"

"Canada!" Arthur frowned.

"Why are they in Canada?"

"Well, since Patrick and I were coming here, Rhys fancied skiing, don't ask me why," Seamus replied. "And Rhys found this sweet deal online and dragged Allistor with him!" Arthur chuckled.

"I'm just imagining your brothers on skis," he said. "Especially Allistor!" Seamus laughed along and then the office door opened and Arthur looked up as Alfred came in and sat down.

"I have to go now," Arthur said. "Unfortunately your birthday presents will arrived at home so you'll have to wait for them. I wasn't expecting you to take off elsewhere!"

"No problem, Bunny!"

"Tell the others I'm missing them, even that stupid git, Allistor!"

"Will do, Bunny!" Seamus replied. "Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!" The phone clicked off. Alfred was looking at Arthur.

"My brothers, Patrick and Seamus," he explained. "It's their birthday today!"

"Really!" Alfred replied. "Are they twins?"

"No," Arthur said. "Patrick's three years older than me and Seamus is just over three years younger!"

"And born on the same day!" Alfred was amused by the coincidence.

"And both born in Ireland," Arthur replied, waiting to see what Alfred made of that. Alfred's eyebrows raised.

"And born on St Patrick's Day! Lot of coincidences in your family, Artie!"

"True!" Arthur replied. "What did Feliks want?"

"Just clarification on something," he replied. "So what ideas had we got?" Arthur sat back.

"Well, I've been thinking about your superhero idea," he replied. "There might be something in it! It would especially appeal to young children and educate them about renewal fuels and other things that impact on the environment …."

"...and they plague their parents about it!" Alfred laughed. "Two prong attack! I like it!" Arthur grimaced.

"It's an education campaign Alfred," he said. "Not a war! Although it could be put in schools as well. Educate them while they're young!"

"Yeah!" Alfred agreed. "Let's do this thing!"

For the next few hours, they came up with ideas and rehashed them. They only realised it was lunch time when Alfred's stomach gave a rather large growl.

"Wanna join me for lunch, Artie?" he asked. Arthur sighed.

"My name is not ….." he gave up. "Never mind!"

"Come on!" Alfred coaxed. "My treat!" Arthur put on his jacket.

"You bought me lunch the other day," Arthur insisted. "It's my turn!" And they left to eat.

Alfred tried to watch Arthur without being seen as Arthur ate his lunch. The man had impeccable table manners, always using his napkin and the way he used his knife and fork was artwork! Alfred knew his own manners when eating were less that perfect, usually because he was eating on the run but he tried to show some manners now he was eating with a expert.

He wished Arthur had been Artie but it was not to be. A shame because now he had recovered from his travel-induced fatigue, Arthur was good company. And cute! Even the eyebrows but he was not his soul mate but Alfred had made up his mind now that he was never going to find Artie. But why should he be alone? He was soul mate less and Arthur's soul mate was dead so he was alone too so …..

Why not? It could work! Alfred had nothing to lose if Arthur was agreeable. Would Arthur consider it?

Arthur knew Alfred was watching him despite his attempts to hide it and he wondered what was going through the American's head. He had to admit that he thought Alfred was handsome with that blonde hair with the cute cowlick and eyes like the sky on a summer's day. Such a shame that his soul mate died so early in his life, leaving him alone. If only he could have been Alfie, his soul mate but Arthur had long since accepted that Alfie was gone forever.

But Alfred was here, probably as lonely as he was, lacking a soul mate like he was. Maybe they could find some kind of happy life together.

It was worth a try!

"Artie, would you go a date with me?"

"Alfred, perhaps you'd like to join me for an evening?"

It came out together. The two looked at each other and began grinning.

"Great minds, right!" Alfred chuckled and Arthur smiled with him.

"Great minds, indeed!"

Canada …..

Allistor grumbled as he trudged through the snow, wishing he had never let Rhys talk him into this. He hated the cold and could not wait to get to their hotel. As he and Rhys approached the doors, they suddenly burst open as a long, blonde haired man, screaming 'Merde!', dove through them, knocking Allistor off his feet. The man shouted, "Désolé!" as he dove around the corner of the hotel out of sight. Rhys was just helping Allistor to his feet when two men also burst out of the doors. One was one of the tallest men the Kirkland Brothers had ever seen, with platinum blonde hair and violet eyes and, disturbingly, he was waving a pipe with a tap on the end. The other man was also blonde with glasses and blue eyes. He looked like the academic type but right now his eyes were blazing with fury.

"Where did he go?" he demanded in an Estonian accent. "I'll teach him to mess with my wife!" The tall man with the pipe smiled a smile as creepy as it was innocent looking.

"And my sister," he said, sounding Russian and they ran off, fortunately for their victim, in a different direction and Allistor trudged in the direction the blonde Frenchman had taken. It was a alley with waste bins and a dead end so the Frenchman had to be somewhere.

"You can come out now," he called out. "They've gone!" There was movement and a blonde head came into view.

"So what did you do?" Allistor demanded as the man came toward him. The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders.

"Just spreading the love, mon ami!" he declared. Allistor snorted.

"With someone else's wife and that Russian's sister!" he commented. "You were really asking for it. That Russian was a big bastard and not entirely stable, it looked like!" The Frenchman chuckled.

"Oui," he replied. "You would think someone who works for mountain rescue would have sanctity for human life." He stepped out of the alley and into the light and Allistor saw his blue eyes.

"No one has sanctity for the life of anyone who..." Allistor trailed off as he felt something he never thought he would ever feel. He always thought Fate was punishing for what he did to Arthur and that was why he never found his soul mate but here he was, looking into the eyes of this man and his heart was beating. This was his soul mate as the blonde, blue-eyed Frenchman put his hand over his own heart as if to check that what he was feeling was real and Allistor thought he had been forgiven.

Then he realised that his soul mate was a philanderer who was marked for death by an mad Russian with a pipe and he thought, 'No, I'm still being punished!'

This holiday was off to a great start!

When I realised that I would be updating this story on St Patrick's Day, I put in the birthday phone call to Patrick and Seamus and put their birthdays on the same day. Allistor's not very happy with his soul mate but would you be if you met yours while he was hiding from an irate husband and an angry brother. I put Allistor in Canada for a reason, you'll find out soon why!

To Guest – I don't live anywhere near London so I'll take your word for it. I just know it's supposed to be a nice area and perhaps a good place to retire to. :) And we have had more that our fair share of rain of late, that's certainly true! :P

To Amawesomereviewr – There's nothing like putting the characters in awkward situations and watching them suffer, is there (I'm Evil!) XP Never mind, dancing round the issue, they know think each other's soul mate is DEAD! Misunderstandings galore! ;P

To Normandy – Yeah! What the Hell happened, indeed, although it's more Arthur than Alfred since he was unconscious! Nursing the BTT with hangovers! Don't envy you, I'm more inclined to let them suffer their self-inflicted agony (Evil, remember!) Okay, I'm so intrigued now I have to ask about the Zoo incident and I think the only person Arthur could out drink is Doctor Emmett Brown! (He's gone after just one!) XP

So our two characters think the other is a bereaved soul mate and decided to make a go of it with each other! Can you imagine their reactions when the truth finally comes out! I've said it before and I'll say it again! I'M EVIL!

And so, an evil Hasta la Pasta! ;)