A/N: Sorry the chapters are always so short ;A; And that I take forever on them. I'm just slow I guess. OTL Please forgive your friendly neighborhood fanfic writer. :C
I also dunno what it's like to make an international call, so...I made it like a regular one. Kinda. I think.
Arthur spun around when he heard Alfred's voice. "What did you say?" he choked out. Alfred didn't say anything at first; just walked up to Arthur and pulled him into a fierce embrace, causing the pan Arthur was holding to clatter to the floor.
"Artie...I'm sorry...for you feeling that way," Alfred repeated.
"You're sorry," Arthur echoed in a monotone, "Where in that thick skull of yours did you think an 'I'm sorry' will magically make everything okay?" he growled, shoving the American away and heading towards the door.
"What-no-Artie, wait!" Alfred protested, hand reaching out to pull him back, but Arthur had already stormed out, the door rattling violently in his wake. "I've gotten myself into a mess, haven't I?" he asked aloud, gazing forlornly at the door. Alfred sighed and turned away, going into the living room and picking up the phone. He punched in the number hurriedly, impatiently tapping his foot as he waited for the voice of reason to pick up.
"H-Hello?" a soft voice asked from the other end.
"Dude! Matt! We really need to work on phone services between our countries! I had to wait forever!" Alfred almost shouted into the receiver, painfully too cheerful.
"Service is just fine, you don't have patience for anything is all," Matthew replied, "Now, what's actually wrong?"
Alfred sputtered nonsense into the phone. "Wrong? Nothing's wrong! Can't a guy call his brother? Hahahaha! Are you on something Mattie? Cause-"
"The only time you acknowledge my existence is when something's wrong, Al."
"Ahahaha...right...me and Artie had a fight."
"About?"
"...When I left."
"You really are hopeless, Al."
"He's the one who started it!" Alfred said in defense, "He goes and gets wasted after he takes off from the beach-mother fucker took my car, mind you- so I have to take him back to my place after I found him and he starts ranting and stuff about it this morning and he nearly kills me and-"
"Jesus Christ Al, calm down," Mattie managed to say mid-Alfred's-tirade, "Why were you two even at the beach in the first place?"
Silence.
"Alfred..."
"I totally didn't want to get him in bed or anything."
Matthew could hear his brother's embarrassment over the phone, but that didn't deter him from getting to the bottom of Alfred's dilemma; it was in his nature to help someone in need. "Now, why would you want do that, Al?"
"...Because I find him physically attractive, obviously."
Mattie chuckled. "That the only reason?"
"Well, I dunno, I guess I realized I love him, and that's what you do with someone you love, right?"
"Yeah, sure...so how did you start talking about..?"
"I just said I missed being close with him, and he storms out, gets drunk, crashes at my place, wakes up, nearly kills me with kitchen utensils, kicks me out of my home, and starts ranting about what a douchebag I am, then leaves!"
Matthew waited until his brother had calmed down before he spoke. "Have you tried contacting Arthur? To make sure he's okay?"
Alfred stood there in stunned silence. How could he have forgotten something like that?
"...Alf-"
"Yeah, thanks for everything Matt! Call ya back soon!"
"Wait-!"
Click.
Matthew stared at his phone at his phone, the dial tone picking up from when his brother had abruptly hung up. "He won't call back, huh Kumajiro?" he asked the polar bear lounging in the den. Kumajiro, in reply, gave him a look that clearly asked who are you?
"...Your owner."
Alfred, meanwhile, skidded into his hallway, pulling open the door with a manic frenzy. There was no way Artie was gonna get away this time-
"FUCK."
Arthur had taken his car, again. Alfred slumped against the door frame, utterly defeated. How was he supposed to win Arthur's heart if the man had, once again, stolen his car? Alfred blew out a puff of air in exasperation, trying to think of a way to find Arthur. Calling every bar in the county was out, that would take too long, and he highly doubted Arthur would be at the airport, last minute flights to London were too bothersome and suspicious-hadn't Mattie told him to do something?-maybe he could call Francis or something , that guy stalked Artie from time to time-
Oh, yeah, that's what Mattie had said; call Arthur to make sure he was okay. Alfred rushed back inside and grabbed the phone, punching the numbers with a frenzied hand. He danced on the spot, waiting for Arthur to pick up.
But of course he didn't answer.
Alfred let the phone drop to the ground, a full blown depression seeping its way into him as he realized that his hopes had been crushed. The man numbly walked into his living room, slumping down and staring straight ahead. "Now what? he said aloud, head lowered in defeat.
Then the phone rang.
Alfred bolted out of his seat, diving for the phone and grabbing it with fumbling hands. "Hello?" he said breathlessly.
"America-san?"
"Oh, hey Japan," Alfred said, "What's up?"
"Where are you? The meeting started five minutes ago."
Alfred stood in horrified silence. "There's a meeting?" he yelped.
A/N numero dos: I guess I should mention this, but in my silly headcanon the countries only call each other by their country name when there's a meeting, they're enemies/neutral towards each other, or for formalities. Just thought you guys should know!
