Arthur: Reunion (Part 2)

A/N

So I went through this folder I have in my tablet. It contains my favorite fan art of my OTPs. I noticed I had gone full circle with my ships with Piri (Maria) because almost all of them actually do have historical ties with Maria. BruneiXPhil was during precolonial times when even China acknowledged the two kingdoms to be the king and queen traders of the south. I never really shipped SpainXPhil because I've always seen it as more of a father daughter relationship. MexicoXPhil was more of a crackship for me (I have this headcanon that Mexico isn't really that interested in Phili but Brunei is losing his mind over Mexico spending more time with her). UKXPh is one of my favorite ships because I love the idea of them meeting and falling for each other at one point in time and never seeing each other again until all the wars are over and both of them realize that they've changed. I initially viewed USXPh as a romantic ship, but it became watered down to a brother sister relationship (I have no idea why… Still love USPh fics though). JapanXPhils is kind of a hit and miss for me; on one hand, Japan invaded the Philippines during WWII, leading to the destruction of Manila (at the time considered the second most destroyed Allied city, right next to Warsaw, but on the other hand, political and economic ties have strengthened after WWII and Japan has been one of our largest allies in Asia. I also somehow ship S. Korea with Phils, first because of the contribution of Filipinos during the Korean War (1,400 Filipinos stood their ground against 40,000 Communist soldiers), and second, because of recent events which include the influx of South Koreans to the Philippines to learn English, along with the recent trends in pop culture.

TL;DR

I ship a lot of characters with Maria with reason. Philippines not being a canon character makes my heartache worse.

Maria was, for once in her life, speechless. Here he was, the very person she thought she had lost long ago, alive and breathing. Emerald met chocolate brown eyes as the two stood transfixed.

"Yo, Phil! Where have you been?" Maria jumped as Alfred's arm wrapped around her shoulders. Alfred grinned down at her, not noticing how flustered she was at the moment, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

Maria cleared her throat and glanced toward Arthur, who had pointedly looked away upon seeing his ward snaking his arm around the Filipina's shoulders so familiarly. "Why were you looking for me, Kuya Alfred?" Maria asked Alfred.

"I wanted to introduce you to Arthur. The guy I told you about. The one who raised me… He's here somewhe – "

"Has your purely hamburger diet finally affected your eyes? I'm standing right here, you git." Arthur suddenly snapped. Alfred just laughed, "Whatever dude, at least my food doesn't taste like petrified couch stuffing." Arthur opened his mouth to retaliate, completely forgetting his earlier resentment of Alfred's familiarity with Maria, when he was cut short by the American, "Maria, this is Arthur. I'm pretty sure you've heard stories about his country during the war. He's the one who found and raised me. Arthur, this is Maria," Arthur finally returned his gaze towards Maria, who seemed unsure what to do, "I basically became her hero."

Maria, who up until this point didn't know how to act in these situations, suddenly snorted and half-resentfully and half-jokingly said, "Yeah, right. You just bought me from Papa Antonio." "Well, yeah, but I let you become independent, didn't I?" Alfred replied, pouting, "that makes me your hero."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, so basically, she's my adopted little sister." Alfred finished, ruffling Maria's hair. "Sister…?" Arthur repeated. This once again caught Maria's attention. Alfred, on the other hand, was unsurprisingly unaffected by the sudden change in the atmosphere, "Yeah. Anyway, I have to start this meeting before Ivan tries to occupy Yao's place again."

The Filipina and the Englishman soon found themselves once again in each other's company, but fortunately, Alfred soon called the meeting into action, leaving the two little to no interaction within the next few hours.

Later…

Arthur walked down the grand hallway of the hotel he was staying at, determined to find his room with the intention of staying there for the rest of the afternoon. This summit would last a few days, and while he appreciated the break it offered, seeing Maria again after all these years made him feel unsure about himself. It was something he was not used to. Seeing her reminded him of his more carefree, less restrained days between the sea and the sky. He wondered where she would be staying at the moment, and as he turned the corner towards his room, he half-expected her to be standing there, struggling with her hotel key or something – anything to give him a reason to talk to her again. He held his breath, but the hallway was empty. Arthur stood there, scolding himself for expecting something so irrational.

Maria, who could not resist shopping for souvenirs this early on in her trip, now struggled with several large packages and paper bags. She was quite proud of her haul, despite the difficulties it presented. She could not see her feet below her and had little to no use of her arms. Her hotel key was on the tip of the index finger of her right hand, which held around half a dozen wrapped packages. She struggled to get a good grip on her hotel key to be able to turn the lock. She turned right to where she remembered her room was, and ran smack into a wall… Or, at least, it blocked her way and made her drop everything in her arms well enough to be a wall.

Arthur lay flat on his belly, numerous corners of packages jutting into his back. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there. Are you alright? I really am… sorry…" Maria, who had gotten back on her feet immediately following the crash, had started lifting packages up from above the unsuspecting victim of her shopping spree. She lifted one particularly large and heavy one sitting directly in front of the person's face, only to find an incredibly angry Arthur Kirkland.

Maria resisted the urge to put the package back and run for the hills.