A/N: Hello everyone, this is "J". Let me start off by saying that both "T" and I are very sorry about the delay. So so so sorry! T^T I know we said that the new chapter would be up by Monday, but Life got too turblent and chaotic and we were unable to find enough time to do it. Once again we sincerly apologize! My bad! T^T

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But on a lighter note, we hope that you all enjoy this new chappie. Reviews are love, 'hits' are kisses and comments are hugs! 3 THANK YOU! XDDD

We Do Not Own Hetalia.

Somebody to Lean On

How dare he! Alfred was currently in the middle of having a verbal smack down inside his head, mentally venting to himself. That pigheaded jackass! Honestly, to do something like THAT and in MY bed too! ARGH! Needless to say, Alfred was very unhappy at the moment…actually scratch that, he wasn't unhappy, he was completely fuming with rage! He was so upset, and felt a great amount of frustration and pure animosity toward that unfaithful King of his.

Even though I'm a guy, I still think what he did was just so wrong! How could a husband do that to his wife! That no-good limey bastard! In fact Alfred was so deeply troubled and upset that he had forgotten that another person was still in the room.

"Ummm…" said a soft voice from behind his back "I'm sorry about all of this…your grace."

The air of softness to the voice had snapped Alfred out of his mental, verbal onslaught.

Oh, that's right. She's still here.

Alfred turned around to face the woman; the woman, who, until very recently, was lying naked on his bed and was willing to let herself be dominated by his cheating husband, Arthur. He couldn't bring himself to be upset with her, though. After all, maybe it wasn't really her fault. Based on the rumors and the discussion that he and Arthur had the other night, he would be surprised if she had said that she was forced into it. Alfred tried to smile.

"What's your name?" he asked in the most polite voice he could muster.

The women, who was still on his bed half-naked (she had covered her bottom half with a sheet), must have been taken aback because the look on her face was one of complete astonishment.

"A-Alice."

"Alice." he tried testing out the name, trying to correctly enunciate all the right letters, syllables and lip movement that went into saying the name Alice. He would remember her name for a long time, no doubt about it.

Alice, as Alfred later came to terms with, was actually a rather pretty young girl. From first glance, she appeared to have a clean and simple face. But the more Alfred stared at her, the more he began to see just how breathtaking she really was. Due to the elaborate and perfect composition of the angles in her cheek bones and chin, her entire face gave off a type of silent and pleasant beauty that was truly remarkable. In addition, she had very long blonde hair, which was oddly the same shade as Arthur's, which went spiraling all the way down to her waist- thankfully a few long locks were covering her more "fun" places. She also had a pair of very round and bright green eyes. If Alfred hadn't known better, he would have thought that Alice and Arthur were brother and sister.

There was an uncomfortable lingering silence the room, which now seemed all too dirty to be standing in. "So, ummm…" Alfred wanted to try to put an end to the awkwardness of their current situation, by starting a casual conversation, but was quickly cut off.

"No one has to know." said Alice, her tone had a slight hint of coldness "It can be…our little secret."

Alfred still was very upset with the girl; after all, this was the girl who was having sex with his so called husband just a few minutes ago. Even though it was never in Alfred to judge someone before getting to know them, he still had an unshakeable, suspicious feeling about this girl.

"How about you get out my bed first." he said, trying to speak with the uttermost kindness and calm. Alice blushed and looked at herself. "Oh, right." She frantically tried to cover herself up, wrapping a silk sheet around her body like a makeshift toga.

Oh crap! Alfred turned around as Alice gathered her clothes and put them on, all the while blushing like a madman. He was still a guy after all, and he had never seen a woman naked before.

Seriously, does this girl have no shame?

After finally making herself presentable, she walked over to the door, gave a quick nod as a goodbye to Alfred, and left. As the door finally closed shut, he let out a sigh of relief that Alfred hadn't realize he had been holding. Tired and exhausted, both physically and mentally, Alfred slowly walked over to a small couch near the French door windows on the other side of the room. He let himself fall onto its soft, plushy cushions completely worn out.

"Stupid Arthur." he whined to the soft pillows "What a complete jerk!"

Even though Alfred was still very upset with the whole incident, he could no longer fight the great need to sleep. He began to close his eyes, realizing just how draining this day really was. Not to mention he was still kinda soaked from the rain earlier. He felt weird, but didn't want to think too much about it.

"Oh boy, what a day." he breathed as he slowly drifted into a deep sleep, not caring that he was still fully dressed and wet.

The following day…

The incredibly awkward and slightly hostile incident that had occurred yesterday left the two newlyweds feeling very uncomfortable around each other, for they were uncertain as to how they would handle this rather…delicate situation.

"I'll leave a note at the front door."

"Huh?"

Arthur coughed.

"When I'm busy," he flexed his fingers to emphasis the new meaning of the word: busy. "I'll leave a note taped on the door frame, and by that extent, you'll have to sleep in the guest room for the night."

Their current uncomfortable situation seemed all too familiar to the one from yesterday. The morning after Alfred had caught Arthur sleeping in bed with the maid named Alice, Arthur had sent Elizabeta to fetch the princess in order to try and salvage the situation by having a private conversation. To make matters worse, the so-called "private" conversation that they were suppose to have, was most certainly NOT private. In fact, not only were there a few maids in the room, which was an insult in itself, but Alice herself was there too. On top of that, he was still feeling kinda weird and under the weather. He sincerely hoped that he wasn't coming down with something. Darn fever. Consequently, as a result of the combining of the irritable elements in the atmosphere, Alfred was furious.

Arthur paused and looked up to see the horrifying look on his new wife's face. "Would you please stop looking at me like that? Besides it's our room, we have to share it anyways."

"You're an asshole."

"Well for a princess, you have a very dirty mouth."

"And for a newlywed, you sure do know how to dirty a bed."

Alfred was appalled; appalled at this aggravating king in front of him, who had uncaringly dirtied his bed with something that was obviously NOT lotion and then justified the act as "retaliation" for supposedly missing his precious tea time appointment with Arthur. That was it, the final straw; Alfred had enough of this ridiculousness and lost it. He did nothing wrong!

"You were the one who was late ya know! I waited for thirty freakin' minutes for you to show up!" Alfred flailed his arms over his head, exaggerating his gesticulations to prove his point. "But did you arrive? Noooooo, you just had to find a whore and do her."

Alfred planned to speak more, but Arthur abated the list of rants that Alfred had in store for him by slamming a powerful, clenched fist into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Alfred quickly found himself on his knees, gasping for breath and cradling himself in pain. The pain was so unbearable that for a split second he had thought that Arthur had severely damaged his appendix.

"Talk about Alice like that again, and I won't care if you are left dead in a dung heap."

He quickly turned and walked away from the princess who was currently suffering on the ground. Arthur then proceeded to carry Alice princess style in his arms, used his foot to kick the door ajar and left Alfred on the ground in a fetal position, squirming at the pain. Alfred decided to lay flat on the furry carpet, hoping to mitigate the sharp, throbbing pain in his abdomen.

He stared at the tall ceiling, as he tried to regulate his now heavy breathing. One thing was for certain though; Alfred resolved to not show any kind of weakness. He refused to cry like a babe. He refused to show any kind of infirmity to the heartless man who went by the name of Arthur Kirkland. And he absolutely refused to degrade himself before the mass of servants before him. Then, because of the unbearable pain, Alfred dozed off and surrendered to the sister of Death, dreaming of a dream where Matthew was healthier and where Francis and Marie would invite him to their wedding.

The next time he woke up, he had almost mistaken himself dead because it felt like a twenty pound block of led was crushing his poor intestines.

"Angelique! Call Sergei! The princess is sick!"

Was that Elizabeta, thought Alfred. He opened his mouth to say good morning, but his mouth was as parched as the Sahara Desert and his chapped lips refused to crack apart. Elizabeta's cool hand touched his forehead, which made the boy realize just how feverish he was.

Oh, I'm on the bed. Whoever carried me to the bed must be nice. Something wet and damp covered his sweaty forehead. It was a wet towel which was being bestowed upon his brow by the same diffident maid from the day before. Drowsiness once again began to beckon him into another deep slumber, and before he knew it, he had reverted back to sleep. Sergei then arrived and shooed everyone away from the princess' room and observed Alfred; all the while wondering how he could possibly alleviate the boy's adversity in this horrid palace where he was practically ostracized. He then sat on a comfy seat next to Alfred's personal desk, which was meant for his studies, and began to write legibly on a piece of parchment paper with one of Alfred's quill pens.

In another room, Arthur was scratching out war strategies. He yelled in frustration as he crumpling yet another piece of paper and threw it into the tin basket, which was starting to pile up like a small mountain-a mountain of epic failure written on paper.

"Goddammit, how am I suppose to concoct an idea this early in the morn?"

"Maybe you can collaborate with the princess."

"I laugh at the absurdity of that ludicrous idea." Arthur scoffed.

Ludwig chuckled as he leaned on the bedpost of Arthur's room, finding his friend's joke to be quit humorous and laughable.

"Have you heard? The maids found the princess lying sick in her room. Poor girl. It's only her third day being here."

"I hold no sympathy for a twat like her. She's as bad as her idiot brother."

"Don't forget. She's also female."

The two males chuckled at their inside jest.

An idea suddenly popped into Ludwig's head, and what a devilish idea it was. "My Lord, do you wish to make the princess suffer more? I have a fantastic proposition if you want to lend an ear."

"Do tell, my dear Ludwig."

"Though I'm afraid that I may offend you, my Lord."

"Go on Ludwig. You shall be exempted from any and whatever punishment. After all, you are my friend not some baseless man like Vash or Mathias, you know."

Ludwig took an idle pause, pondering whether he should or not tell his friend, but smiled mischievously and said it anyway because the flustered look on his king's face was indeed priceless.

"You want me to cook? Why should I give her something made by my own godly hands? Aren't we missing the whole point by doing that?"

"My Lord, I have something to confess." Ludwig turned around and put his hands on Arthur's shoulders, looking deeply into his eyes, taking the whole situation very seriously. He took deep breath before saying "Arthur…your cooking sucks. A lot. Like seriously."

That comment stung a bit in Arthur's heart.

"Make her something simple, my Lord, and the girl will never part from the bathroom. She might as well dig her own grave after eating your charcoal cooking."

"Shut up, Ludwig."

"I knew you would say that."

If Roderich could spell doom, he would draw a picture of Arthur's food because his notorious, mawkish food had once killed a poison taster and had recently made another faint just last month. Arthur's was, simply put, diabolical. Everyone knew this, except for the princess.

It was cruel and unusual punishment to have to deliver the blackish soup, that had an usual pungent herbal fragrance, to the sickly princess with the weakened immune system. But he swore by the Queen to keep his lips sealed in front of Elizabeta, who was squealing like a fanatic fangirl when the pervasive news, which had spread like wildfire, finally reached her that the king is going to kill the princess with his devilish cooking.

"Roderich, what is that?" croaked Alfred.

" from the king himself."

Alfred gave Roderich an incredulous look, an outburst on the horizon, but Alfred nervously peered at the dark, opaque goop inside the porcelain bowl.

"Roderich," Alfred said in a breathy whisper, "Will this kill me?"

"No." If only that was the truth to Roderich.

He gently lifted the princess's head at an appropriate level and spoon fed "her" the black slop of poisonous liquid, praying that somehow the princess will survive this trial. Alfred, at the moment, was slowly swallowing the bile substance down his throat, trying to digest it even though it was refusing to dissolve in his stomach fluids. His stomach was thrashing in pain, cramps erupting everywhere; he wanted to gag, to vomit, to spit out the corrupt blocks of charcoal out. It was an internal conflict for the hapless boy. There were two options he can take: eat the whole crap and then rub it in Arthur's face or spit it out, handing Arthur the victory that he surpassed him. He decided to go with the first choice. With one last faltering gulp, he whimpered like a kicked puppy. Alfred's body heat went up, like two degrees, after endure the whole eating experience, but such was the aftereffect of eating one of Arthur's fatal dishes.

Tears were welling up in Alfred's eyes as the immense heat inside him caused him to lose more body liquid than desired. "Please Roderich. PLEASE. Tell me there's no dessert."

Roderich was as still as a statue. He was bewildered that he didn't witness the princess turn into different shades of blue and purple, but was, in fact, living and breathing, pink-fleshed and all. He was very much relieved as he dabbed his forehead with an embroidered, handmade handkerchief.

"Good news for you Princess. There is none."

"Phew. Glad that's over and done with. Was it just me or did Arthur inadvertently tried to kill me for realz?"

"Princess, your speech." clucked Roderich.

"Hmph. I'm just sick isall."

"I'm sorry…" Roderich whispered.

"Hmm? What for?"

Roderich pushed the princess' bangs away from "her" eyelids, a stern look wrinkling his forehead.

"I couldn't help you in your time of need. You may not have noticed, but you are not welcomed here."

Alfred laughed. "That's an understatement, Roderich."

"I-I still can't help you but-"

What could he say? Oh, I must warn you that everyone in this castle, including your husband, hates you very deeply, so watch your back for any signs of silver Tupperware heading your way? Those kinds of words were unnecessary and irrelevant. So what could he really say?

"Stiff upper lip."

"Huh?" Alfred sleepily gazed back into Roderich's spectacles, reflecting his unsightly self.

Roderich reiterated, "Well, Arthur, when he was still a general back in the warring days, would always say that phrase to encourage the soldiers. I guess to you, and your people in the Lapiz Kingdom, I believe would better recognize it as 'when the going gets tough, try, try again'?"

"Stiff upper lip…" repeated Alfred. He replayed those words over and over again in the film theater of his mind until they seared a brand onto his young heart because it was proof that there was one person, one person who trusted the boy, and so his breathing ceased to be a racket to the ears and was eased into an enchanting sleep, re-energizing himself for another feverish day while a pair of ghostly eyes were stalking the princess's every movement right across from her room.

Arthur was chewing the end of his pen, gnawing the chip of plastic while working on his pile of treaties before him. Though he tried with all his might, he couldn't bring himself to put his full attention to the task at hand.

The girl annoys me like Hell. She's like one of those vegetable dots between the crevices of your buck teeth, that no matter how much floss or amount toothpaste you use to demolish that green sliver, it won't go away. Fortunately, the girl's sickness worsened, so it was like she never existed at all this week. But when the week was over she exploded and rose from the dead! She didn't act like a zombie I assure you. Really, I mean it. She literally exploded of happy sparkles, rainbows, and dancing unicorns as if that was possible.

"Hallelujah! I thought I'll never be out of that room!" Alfred peeked in through the open door as he walked down the hallway.

Arthur half-heartedly muttered a hello and resumed reading the documents that were plaguing the top of his desk. He couldn't see the princess since the doors were not completely open, but the princess's loud voice vibrated through the castle walls. Honestly, who couldn't hear her?

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? I have to stuuuuuuuudy?" Arthur could literally see the frown on the princess's face.

Knock. Knock.

Somebody was knocking/pounding rather loudly on the hollow doors of Arthur's study. Annoyed by yet another rude distraction, Arthur quickly turned around and irritably yelled for the discourteous visitors to come inside.

"Yes, Yes come inside! Good grief!"

But Arthur promptly regretted that decision as soon as he took a good look at the little rude intruders. Under his breath, Arthur muttered, "Fuck."

"Arthur!"

"Crikey mate!"

"Hey there, Jerk Face!"

Arthur groaned in dubious displeasure while his younger siblings, Wy, Jake, and Peter attacked their not-so-loving big brother with a crushing Kirkland embrace.

"You guys," gasped Arthur, "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

Wy was about to respond, "Well…"

However, there was no need for an explanation because Arthur spotted the Lapiz's King outside, running towards the unknowing princess.

"Ma soeur!"

"Francis!" exclaimed Alfred.

Arthur grimaced at the preposterous reunion happening inside his castle, and his eyebrows furrowed even more when he caught a whiff of Francis's pungent rose-scented perfume.

"Ugh. How can you stand that, Frog?"

Francis caught sight of Arthur. Upon making eye contact, they two kings glared murderously at each other. "Hello…Arthur."

Silence.

"Greetings…Francis."

The atmosphere between the two men was so adverse that Alfred could have sworn dangerous sparks flying about between the two kings. However, the two men were distracted by another person, someone who Arthur has not yet met.

"Greetings King Arthur. It is an honour to partake an individual such as yourself."

Alfred's heart soared through the skies because it was the real Marie, in the flesh, incognito. Her short-cropped hair was concealed by a bowler hat, donned by a lavender iris, and she was wearing bold attire suited for men. Even so, Marie still looked fairly girly and feminine.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have an audience with the princess." stated Marie.

"What?" Alfred asked.

Marie wrapped her arm around Alfred's and with a swivel of their feet, they were off. She politely asked Alfred by the ear to direct them to Alfred's study room, leaving the overgrown men to argue as if it was the Twenty Years War all over again.

"Sit." demanded Marie.

"Marie, I-"

"Princess, don't be so reckless as to address my name." Marie gave Alfred a warning look before flinging her petticoat onto Alfred's bed and jumped on the springy furniture, relishing the sinking effect on her body. She sighed, "Wish Francis could get me this type of bed."

"Marie…"

"Uh uh uh, you cannot call me that anymore."

"Sorry…then what should I call you?"

"For now, my alias is Lisa Pucelle."

"You know, I'm kinda happy you guys are here today."

Marie could hear the pain and sadness in Alfred's voice. She looked up at Alfred who was sitting on the bedpost opposite of Marie. If Marie could spell sadness, she would show a picture of Alfred's current facial expression. There was no denying the hurt in his eyes.

What kind of mistreatment does he endure in this place? thought Marie. He doesn't deserve this.

In a sympathetic act, Marie reached for the back of Alfred's head and pulled him into a hug, squeezing him as if he was a cuddly teddy bear, completely regretting her decision of allowing the poor boy to be stuck in this guileful situation. She couldn't even begin to imagine his hurt or the kind of adversity he had to deal with on a day-to-day basis; thus, with these thoughts in mind, she slowly began to cry salty tears, staining Alfred's shoulder.

"Marie, why are you crying?"

She sobbed even harder; guilt was overriding her fond heart because, just like Alfred, she was unable to help him.

"S-s-shut u-up." Hiccup. "I-I'm L-lisa." Hiccup. "I-I'm just crying for you."

Alfred patted her back soothingly, humming a merry tune as Marie's raspy breaths diminished.

"It's okay over here, Marie. Really. I'm not dead, am I?"

Using her fingers to brush away the remnants of her tears on the corners of her eyes, she smiled dolefully.

"Alfred, Francis and I aren't as blind and oblivious as you. From the moment we stepped foot into this castle, resentment was the dark animal entrapping this castle into a grudge. The maids sneered and glared in our general direction. And of course, I was incapable of smart talking them all because I have to pretend to be the respectable assistance of Francis. You must have been living a hellish lifestyle."

"Nah. I just had a couple of conspirators at my wedding, a bunch of evil menservants out to get me, an uptight governess controlling my life, got sick for a week, oh, and did I mention that my husband is cheating on me with four prostitutes? LOL. How did he manage to avoid getting any STDs?"

"…well, actually, you know" was what Marie was starting to say, but was abruptly caught off-guard by Alfred's:

"And now I can't, like, go outside even though I am expected to have a full recovery because APPARENTLY I have a week's worth of studying and assignments to work on. ALSO there's an upcoming ball that I haven't been informed of that's in two weeks, so I gotta start learning how to waltz for the heck of my life. Oh, yes. This. Is. Perfect. Mmhmm. I love my life right now." There was pause as Alfred tried to calm himself.

"… Wow Alfred. Didn't know you were bottling up all of that frustration inside of you. No wonder Sergei wanted us to switch him..."

"Mmhmm. That's right- I mean, WHAT?" Marie nodded her head, confirming the bad news.

"He wrote us a letter last week requesting to be replaced. He was concerned for your well-being and informed Francis that he wasn't the best companion for you. That's why he's going away."

"NO- WAIT- NO."

Marie placed her right hand on Alfred's right shoulder, determined to set this straight to the gawking boy.

"This is for the best Alfred. He knows he can't comfort you like how I am doing for you. If you want, think of this as a first and final act of friendship on his part. Let him go. You only knew him for about a week anyway."

Alfred fell silent, grief-stricken.

"… But I thought I made a new friend…"

"He still is, but he can't be here is all."

"There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound"

Out of his reverie, Alfred disjointedly said, "Yes."

"Hmph, I don't believe you." Marie gently squeezed Alfred's shoulder, trying her best to be supportive and comfort Alfred to the best of her abilities. Then suddenly, a thought came to Marie. "Oh, here Alfred. I got a special something for you."

Marie slid her fingers down the pocket of her petticoat and pulled a tin can with a logo of a green mermaid holding her two tails. Alfred, as if he truly was a girl, squealed with childish delight and jumped in anticipation at the aroma that the beloved liquid it was currently emitting.

"OH. MY. GOD. IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?"

Attempting to impersonate a Francis wink, Marie ruefully smiled. "Well, it is your favorite coffee brand."

"HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL. YOU BROUGHT STARBUCKS? MAN, I THOUGHT I COULDN'T LOVE YOU MORE, BUT DUUUUUUUDE, YOU'RE LIKE A STUD TO ME!"

Now it was Marie's turn to look slightly disturbed at Alfred's reaction. Marie slowly backed away from the hyperactive, coffee-loving boy, and oddly enough, noted this awkward scene to be like a lamb being surrounded by a pack of wolves.

"Okay Alfred…Stand back…I don't want to have to take this away from you…" Marie continued to back away from the ready-to-pounce, Starbucks deprived, young boy. Alfred's eyes were big and shinny. As he stepped closer to the young girl holding the precious tin can with his tongue slightly sticking out comically, Marie quickly became terrified. Oh boy…

"FRANCIS!"

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

The door was then immediately kicked open and there was Francis and Arthur, stupendously showing up all hero-like to help the young girls. However, they were not fully prepared for the rather humor sight that was in front of them.

Alfred was atop of Marie, trying to pry the tin can from her hands. Both were in wrestle-like positions, with Alfred trying to pin Marie to the bed while trying to snatch the Starbuck coffee tin and Marie twisting Alfred's head and trying to deflect Alfred's arms away from her own. In fact, their body positions at the time would have made Twister history.

"What the blazes is going on in here?"

The two culprits both stopped and stiffened at the sight of the two men looking down at them. They both smiled sweetly and said in unison "…Oops?"

"Lisa" and King Francis had to departure back to the Lapiz Kingdom because they had to prepare themselves for "Marie's" first ball. But the departure was not without new arrivals. Alfred had to greet a very unhappy Lovino and a very cheerful Antonio, his new dressers/designers, with ecstatic birr.

"This is Lovino." said Marie as she placed a hand on the grumpy looking Italian's shoulder. "Hey."

"Hello Lovino." Alfred raised his hand and received a quick shake from the grouchy, reclusive young man.

"And this is Antonio." said Marie as she placed her other hand on the happy looking Spaniard's shoulder. "Ola!" said Antonio as he grabbed Alfred's hand with both hands and began to shake it vigorously "Nice to meet you 'princess'!" he gave Alfred a wink at that last part.

"Nice to meet you too Antonio," Alfred laugh. Although these guys were not Sergei, he knew these men, so it was easy to be friendly with them.

Alfred was now in his personal room brushing his golden locks except the ahoge sticking out. Fooey! Alfred thought as he decided to finally give up on the stubborn piece of hair. Oh well.

He reclined back on the chair and stretched, feeling completely content "Today was a blast."

"Indeed, Hime."

Wait What?

Without a second to react, Alfred was swiftly grappled and pinned to the ground by an unmistakable powerful force and his arms were suddenly locked behind his back against his will.

"What the-?"

"I apologize Hime. Or is that what you want me to call you?"

The perpetrator then turned Alfred around and ripped the front of his dress, exposing his bare chest and the push-up bra that he wore to fake his "developing breasts". Alfred was then once again pushed hard against the hard wood floor, hitting his head pretty hard because of all the force. It was then that, Alfred caught sight of the man who had discovered his secret: Kiku Honda.

A/N: Le Gasp! 8 o I know, right? Total Clifthanger! ^^ Don't forget to keep an eye out for the upcoming Chapter 5 update, which should be up soon...maybe...it depends. -_-" *sigh*

Hoped you enjoyed this new chappie! To be continued... 8DDD

"J" signing out! ;)

"T" signing in: Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. We normally update every two weeks. However, I'm planning to add an extra side story in apology for going over our deadline.