Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, Teen Wolf: The Series or Twilight.

Chapter 15: Arthur The Suitor

Ivan had written to them saying that he was ok and his journey would be long. He disclosed that he was looking for the Vampire King again with a group of men from town. Irunya was upset but accepted something unnatural was out in the woods.

Irunya altered the dress Arthur bought because it was a little too big. Natalya was currently in the mirror trying on the altered dress for church this Sunday. Her hair was almost to her shoulders now, and the dress matched the color of her dark midnight blue eyes. It was beautiful.

"Someone gave you this dress Alya? That is very flattering! A young man?" Irunya asked from her place behind her, tying Natalya's bow at the collar.

Natalya nodded. Irunya's gaze flickered to hers in the mirror.

"Oh! Don't give him an answer yet, let him give you a few more gifts. Who is he?" Irunya squealed like a pig.

"Arthur, the Kirkland boy I traveled with."

Irunya furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. "But didn't Misses Kirkland say for you to stay away from him?"

"She did."

"But it's so pretty on you Alya." Irunya squished her own cheeks together with her hands. "What she doesn't know, won't hurt her." Irunya winked at her, smoothing out the skirt of the dress.

Natalya had so many conflicting emotions over this dress that she wished Irunya would have told her to dispose of it.

Ivan still didn't like Arthur.

Mrs. Kirkland didn't want her around.

She was interested in Arthur but was scared because she'd never felt like this before about anyone.

But on the other hand she wondered what he'd say when he saw her in it today.

"Oh! And I almost forgot the hat and gloves! They arrived at our doorstep yesterday with an adorable little note." Irunya ran to get a round box from another room.

What?

Irunya opened the box, and Natalya slipped on the white gloves; they were smooth against her fingers, before reaching for the hat. It was small like a men's fedora and had a folded up brim. It was white on the top, with a white aigrette and the rest of the hat was the same color as her dress.

Then she read the note.

Forgive me for I had forgotten that dresses are better in a set. –Arthur K.

"It does favor you! It's even better as a set!" Iryna clapped excitedly before she pulled her into a hug, squishing her against her bosom, "You're growing up so fast! Soon you'll be living in a house with your husband and I'll be here alone!"

"Nyah, that won't happen so soon."

Church ended and Natalya was going to go back home with Irunya when Matthew and Mister Jones stopped to greet them.

"Alya, your dress is really nice. I heard you got a new job, it must pay very well!" The bespectacled blonde smiled at her.

"The dress was a gift, the hat too."

"Really? Well Alfred hasn't been here to tell me the latest news or more likely rumors he's heard, so I'm surprised." He let out a chuckle. "Are you courting someone?"

Natalya truly didn't know. "I wouldn't say that. Alfred is not with you?"

Matthew shook his head, "He's off hunting vampires or something. He said your brother recruited him to join. Alfred told me to keep an eye out for if Arthur tries to eat someone while he's gone." Matthew rolls his eyes, "You know Al and his delusions."

Natalya pursed her lips and clenched her fists. How dare he take that daft, delusional, simpleton over her! She knew she was far more competent than Alfred.

"No fair! I should have been with Big Brother on his trip! I should have been traveling with them!"

"From what I heard, it was men only." Matthew's gaze frowned, seemingly empathetic.

"I should be the exception!" Natalya stomped her foot.

"I'm sure Ivan didn't want you to get hurt, so he didn't want you to go."

No, Ivan knew she was capable of handling herself. He saw it first hand.

"It's not that, but I will look past it for now."

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Natalya had come to like cleaning with the Lisboa-Carriedos. The pay was nice and sometimes she would sit with Lovino while he was supposed to be shearing sheep on the farm at his home, when she finished. They would lay on the bails of hay in the barn and eat apples instead. They would part ways at night when Lovino went off to work delivering werewolf meat and she began her night watches with Arthur.

It had been about almost two months since she started working. They were laying on bails of hay, the wooden beams supporting the roof above.

"So your brother just left again traveling, huh?"

Natalya nodded.

"It would be like that with Antonio. He'd leave, no word for days and then I got a letter saying they might be back in a month or two. I'd be worried for him. But that was his thing, what he liked to do." Lovino shrugged, "I guess it's my thing now too, huh?"

Natalya nodded, taking a bite out of her apple, chewing with loud crunches.

"Maybe something bigger is coming for you," Lovino said, taking a bite out of an apple.

"How is your driver?" Natalya asked, looking back up at the beams as a fly buzzed overhead.

"I usually have various ones. The latest one doesn't talk much, but he's kind of nervous most of the time. His name is José and he's like 15 or something." Lovino's gaze doesn't meet hers as he shrugs, "He's ok."

"I've always wanted to grow a tomato garden." Lovino said after a brief stretch of silence.

"You live on a farm. Why can't you do it now?"

"Papa doesn't want me "wasting the dirt." Lovino swats at the same fly. "So… Blondie gave you a dress and then a hat and gloves?"

Natalya nodded, "And a bouquet of roses and a box of sugar cookies."

"And what did you say to all those gifts?"

"I haven't said anything yet except that I liked the dress."

Lovino sat up, "Did you eat the cookies?"

"I ate most of them but brought you one." Natalya pulled a cookie out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Lovino took a bite out of it, "It's good," before eating the rest of it. "When are you telling him that you accept?"

"Tonight."

"I think you both deserve to be happy." Lovino nodded before he put his arms behind his head, and proceeded to take a siesta as he called it.

Natalya curled up on her side, as the reality of what she was about to do set in, before she too took a siesta.

Later that night the stars were out and the moon was a thin crescent in the sky. Natalya's face warmed with blush as they sat idle, waiting for the first set of screams. She could feel Arthur's gaze on her occasionally.

Natalya clenched her fists and decided it was now or never, "I accept."

"Really?" His eyes were wide, and his cheeks were scarlet.

Natalya nodded.

"And it's ok that your brother doesn't approve of me?"

"Your mother doesn't like me much either."

"Fair point."

Natalya let out a breath she was holding and relaxed her fingers to splay across the grass before she felt something warm and clammy over one of them.

She met Arthur's gaze, "S-sorry. I didn't mean to pla–."

"No, keep it there." To which he averted his gaze from her, and interlaced their fingers together, cheeks still scarlet.

This was nice and she felt warm and tingly inside.

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Occasionally Natalya made extra trips to the bank, peering inside to steal glances at Arthur. The blond didn't seem to notice when she was outside, being buried in paperwork and helping other account holders.

She offered to put in money for Irunya and herself into father's old account just to have an excuse to go to the bank. Meaning, she'd sometimes cut her Lovino meeting time short, the brunet waved her off, saying it was fine. She said a few words to the blond while he deliberately had to speak to her. Although he tried to keep his voice as even as possible, she could tell his voice was a little higher as he talked to her. He couldn't hide the little smiles that appeared on his face although he desperately tried to keep them away.

It was after Christmas but still the holiday season and she'd have to make Arthur some sort of courting gift. With any extra time she had, she left to embroidering a simplistic version of a dog and his initials into a handkerchief she was going to give him.

It was a slow day at the bank today, she could see. No one else was in the bank besides the two of them for now. Another teller would be in, in the next hour, from what Arthur mentioned of his schedule.

She decided to give him his gift now. She set the brown paper bag onto the counter, right in front of the fence. It was small so it could be squeezed through the money slot.

Arthur looked up and met her gaze, "Is that a gift for me?"

Natalya nodded, squeezing it through for him to grab.

Arthur pursed his lips before opening the bag and pulling out the handkerchief. He stared at the cloth in his hands and didn't say anything for a few moments.

She could see his cheeks were salmon colored. "Thank you. It's wonderful." He said before he took the handkerchief that was already in his pocket out.

Natalya gasped.

He folded the one she just gave him up and put it in there instead.

"You didn't have to do that."

"That one was old anyway." He waved her off. She nodded and turned to leave.

Just then Mrs. Kirkland had burst through the door, "I told you to stay away from my son and here you are!"

"I was cashing a check, Misses Kirkland."

"It's unbecoming of a young lady to tell lies unabashedly."

Natalya frowned.

"We're at a bank dear." Mr. Kirkland said, a step or behind her.

"I've seen her lurking around here on my errands." Natalya's ears burned, she thought she had been discrete.

"Is she the one you've been giving gifts to?" Mrs. Kirkland walked up to the counter, hands on her hips.

Natalya decided to leave just then, she had only been planning to stay briefly.

"I have to withdraw these notes dear. You can question Arthur about his courtship with Miss Braginsky later."

"His what?" Mrs. Kirkland sounded baffled as Natalya went in the direction of the grocery store.

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Natalya woke up with a start, covered with a mass of hay as she'd fallen asleep in Lovino's barn. She shook her head as some hay fell out onto the pile over her legs. She pulled her coat tighter around her frame.

"Natalya?" She looked over to see Arthur, who was standing a distance away talking to Lovino who was covered in a mass of hay and a blanket. It was around the end of February now. He had given her chocolates for Valentine's Day.

"You were looking for me, da?"

"I didn't know you visited Lovino."

"I work in El Paso. It is convenient."

"You can teleport, but you never visited me until now, Blondie! What's with that huh?" Lovino crossed his arms.

"I didn't have time! I-I was busy!"

Lovino grunted, "Yeah, yeah. What do you want?"

"My brother is being held hostage in Albuquerque. I need both of your help to get him out."

"You have another brother?" Lovino asked.

"Oh no! What was Dylan doing out there?"

"No, no. My other brother Alistair."

"You mean I have not met all of your family yet?" Natalya pouted.

"If you're willing to help, you will. You've heard about the weredog and werewolf uprising in Albuquerque these past few weeks, correct?" He looked between them both, confused expressions on her and Lovino's faces were thrown back at him.

Arthur sighed, "Do you two not read the newspaper?"

"Who needs that? If I need to know something, someone's going to tell me about it." Lovino said.

Natalya nodded, nothing in the newspaper generally interested her so she didn't read it.

"Well these past few weeks the government officials in Albuquerque were subject to public executions including the mayor and Chief of Police. The participants in the entire ordeal revealed themselves to be weredogs. Throughout the panic there was some resistance although they met brutal ends that included what was thought to be cannibalism but those were werewolves."

Arthur reached into his coat pocket and unfolded a newspaper page. Showing them the front page cover of The Western Chronicle which read, "Uprising Causes Mail Delay" as the title before it continued a story below.

"Transport to and from the city has been delayed as evident by taking the mail train along the route hostage. My brother is a mail carrier." Lovino by now had gotten up, brushing off hay.

"I thought you said weredogs don't hurt humans!" Lovino said.

"We typically don't. The paper says something about being fed up with poverty and being forced into hiding. I guess this is like a labor strike, but I'm baffled as to why the werewolves are working with them."

"They seemed pretty upset about the whole elite eating them thing my boss is doing."

"So their similar antagonists aligned their causes."

"And you want us to go there? Us two humans? We could get eaten!"

Natalya got up and brushed hay from off of her legs.

"You're alright with going into a castle full of vampires but you draw the line here?"

"Well these are your people right? You're not going to fight them, so Natalie and I are practically on our own this time."

Natalya walked over to where they were standing and stood facing them both.

"As if I was going to entrust the life of my own brother into both of your hands. You must be mad. Of course I'm going to fight them."

Natalya placed a hand under her chin, "Hmm so Big Brother was right."

"In a way, I suppose so. Human desire is human desire."

"Ok fine, I'm now suspicious of everyone, but it doesn't explain how the three of us are going to get your brother."

Arthur folded up the paper again before he gasped. "Oh! I need to do something first. I'm going to tell my family, and I'm going to get Dylan to help us."

"Do you think that is a good idea now? Weredogs have your brother, you are a weredog," Natalya asked.

"I'm taking your advice."

"If they disown you, I could sneak you in as my dog. Papa won't notice," Lovino said.

Arthur shook his head, "That's a nice gesture but I'll have to decline."

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They were outside Arthur's home, his parents had their house rebuilt from the fire about a month or two ago. So the widow Kirkland and her son had their home to themselves again.

"I hope your parents like me," Lovino said.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. He ran away with us, and they already don't like me." Natalya said to him, as they were a step or so behind Arthur.

"It doesn't matter all that much. You're here as my support," Arthur said, looking back at them.

Lovino shrugged, rubbing his glove clad hands together. "If they don't, they don't. Natalie, you think your big sister would like me?"

Natalya nodded before Arthur took a deep breath and unlocked the door.

They followed him inside, a cloth couch and an arm chair tannin color greeted them. A boiler was in the corner, hardwood floors lined the room, white walls and an open hallway that led to what seemed like a foyer.

"Arthur dear, is that you?" Natalya heard from deeper in the house, Mrs. Kirkland most likely. Thumps sounded against the squeaky floorboards before the older woman appeared in the doorway.

She met Natalya's gaze before shifting back to Arthur's. "You're not getting married are you? Is that the officiant?"

"What? No, I would like to have a family meeting."

Just then she heard the sound of another door opening and shutting with a slam. Heavy footsteps caused loud creaks in the wood.

"Did you see in the newspaper–?" Dylan appeared still in his full firefighter outfit, helmet in the crook of his arm. "What's going on, Artie, are you getting engaged?"

"No! I have an announcement and I'd like you all to have a seat for it."

They sat squished on a couch, Mrs. Kirkland on one end and Lovino on the other. She and Dylan were in the middle. Mr. Kirkland took the armchair when he came from the bathroom and saw them all sitting in the living room.

"What's this all about, son?" Mr. Kirkland asked Arthur amidst the confused faces of his wife and other son.

"As you all know Alistair has been taken hostage in Albuquerque."

"That's what I was going to say when I came in! Some kind of werewolves are eating people and there are dogs working with them!" Dylan spoke up.

"Right…something like that. Well I have a plan to save him."

"Arthur, you're just a boy. Let the authorities handle the situation."

"The Chief of Police is dead, father."

"It's still dangerous. Men that turn into wolves and eat other men, what kind of world have I woken up in?" He shook his head.

"I'm assuming your plan somehow involves the young man on the far end?"

"Lovino Vargas, ma'am." Lovino gave her a nod. "I don't know what the plan is either. Although, I have a rifle that shoots bullets that kill werewolves."

"And what do you have to say about your talents, Miss Braginsky?"

"I can perform spells."

"Ah that's fantastic, you're in courtship with a witch. May God have mercy on your soul." Mrs. Kirkland put her head in her hands.

"Mother, Father could you at least let Artie tell us his plan. He's decided to include us for a reason. At least he hasn't run off again." Dylan spoke up.

"The plan is simple really. We pose as weredogs, sneak in, and split up to search for him."

"A were-what?" Mr. Kirkland asked.

"Is there a difference between them and the werewolves?" Mrs. Kirkland asked.

"That isn't a plan. That's trying to find a needle in a haystack." Lovino spoke up, "And I don't even know what he looks like."

That was a good point. She didn't know what Alistair looked like either.

"How would we pose as weredogs? Aren't they magical, wouldn't they know we weren't like them?" Dylan asked.

"It's unpolished sure but still a plan. I have that covered. I don't want you to be alarmed. I have something to show you."

Arthur's eyes started to glow, and she heard Mrs. Kirkland gasp.

Arthur got into a crouching position down on the floor. Arthur's blond fur grew on his hands, and around his face. And then the sounds of cracking followed as his jaw extended to form his muzzle and his knees snapped backwards.

After a few more moments of muscle tearing and bone restructuring Arthur was an Anatolian Shepherd and his clothes were crumpled around him.

Mr. Kirkland screamed, his grip on the armchair turning his knuckles white," What the devil did I just witness?"

And Mrs. Kirkland fainted.

"It's not too late for him to take me up on my offer," Lovino whispered to her.

A/N: Apparently Victorian era courtship for teens has to last 3-5 years before they can get married.

Also I had England give Belarus expensive gifts, apparently that's bribery, but I thought it would be so cute as a set.

Thank you for reading! Critcism welcome.