Capitol Punishment
Chapter 11
Well this certainly wasn't what they were expecting. America and England shared a surprised glance, and America snorted before turning back to look at the sight in front of them. Both Danny and London were asleep on the couch, Danny laying his head on London's lap while London used a hand to unconsciously card through Danny's mop of blond hair.
"Should we ruin it?"
"No America!"
America spotted an old piece of paper on his coffee table that definitely wasn't there before. Curious, he walks over to investigate and picks it up to read.
"Welp, this looks important. Hey England check this out, it was written, like, 150 years ago."
"Git, don't use the word 'like' as a filler." England huffs, but he looks at the page over America's suddenly tense shoulder. As England skimmed down the letter, a feeling of guilt and pity grew in the pit of his stomach.
"My word…" He breathed, "At least we have confirmation…" England trailed off when America dropped the letter and put his hands to his face.
"'Was not able to protect him.'" America mumbled quietly through his hands. "'Immature.'"
This made England angry. There was no way that was he going to let America despair over this. It was not even America's fault, he had only been his own country for about 20 years, and he had a capitol for even less. He probably shouldn't even have attempted another war so young anyway.
"America, look at me."
America didn't move. England turned America around and pulled his hands down.
"America, it's not even your fault and congress had no right to keep this from you. You have a second chance now, that does not always happen. Use it. He's here now."
America pulled his hands away to wipe his eyes on his sleeve and when he put his arms down, he had a resolute look in his eyes.
"You're right. It starts now. Here's a chance for me to make everything better." America turned to look at Danny, where London was now resting his hand on Danny's forehead. America awkwardly turned back to England.
"Eeeeeeh, but he's asleep."
"What? Are you nervous?" England challenged with hands on his hips.
"No! 'Course not!" To prove his point, America snatched the remote from the coffee table and flicked on the T.V. where sudden gunshots and yells blared from his sound system. Leave it to America to keep the channel on Western gunslinger films.
"BLOODY HELL!" Chaos reigned in the room for a moment as London scrambled fully onto the couch cushions in a wild crouch and Danny rolled onto the floor with a resounding "Ommph!" before bracing his back against the bottom of the couch, holding his shoulder in a meager attempt to prevent any more bullet damage.
America burst into laughter in front of the T.V. and had to bend over with hands on his knees to keep himself from falling. Next to him, England was trying not to laugh and had a hand over his mouth trying to prevent any of his snorts from escaping, but a few slipped through his fingers. He couldn't hold back once London shot him a killer glare.
After it all died down, and America turned down the volume, Landon noticed that Danny was oddly quiet. He followed Danny's amazed look to America's back, who had turned away to find a calmer television station. He watched as Danny mouthed 'No way, this is wicked cool,' and Landon let out chuckle as he hopped from his perch on the couch cushions to pat Danny's shoulder.
London cleared his throat. "America. Somebody wants to meet you. For real this time."
America turned around to find Danny staring at him like he was some kind of god. That wasn't the look he was expecting, and he floundered. He wanted to be friendly and say something awesome, but suddenly his mouth was dry and his brain was numb and all he could do was give the boy a big smile.
Luckily for him, Danny made the first move, rocketing up from his spot on the floor to stand in front of America with a huge grin. He shot out a hand and gave America's whole arm a vigorous shake as words tumbled out of his mouth like Niagara Falls.
"Hi my name is Daniel Christopher Washington, but everybody calls me Danny. You can call me Danny. It's great to finally meet you. You're America? That's so cool! I've tried to look into you before in the national archives back in the 80's. Well, not into you, but you know what I mean. I also heard that you fought overseas back in the 40's but I was only 15ish and I couldn't join the fight. Do you have a human name like Landon?"
"Danny, breath." London chuckled behind him. This was just like their meeting at Starbucks. "Give America the chance to respond."
Danny was still shaking America's hand when speech returned to America's brain. His smile widened at Danny as he realized that everything was going to be okay.
"Yeah I'm America, yes that is so cool, don't go into war at 15, and my name is also Alfred Freedom Jones. You can call me Alfred. Or America. Or the United States of America. Or the greatest nation on earth. I'm not picky." Then something occurred to America.
"Wait a minute. Daniel Christopher Washington? Like D.C. Washington? Washington D.C.? District of Columbia?"
London casually leaned on Danny's shoulder and studied his nails. "I do believe that is the idea."
"Just hug him already." England called from the side and London removed himself from the equation.
Danny and America just noticed that their hands were still in a handshake. In moment that waited 200 years, America encompassed his capitol in a hug, and Danny hugged him back.
Off side by side with England, London introduced Danny by his full name.
"America, meet the District of Columbia, also known as Washington D.C."
Then the phone rang.