America sped down the highway with his hands gripping the handles of Freedom as tightly as he could. As much as he honestly should have been paying attention to the road and his surroundings, his thoughts fleeted away from that against his better judgment and he found himself focusing on another topic that strayed into his head.
Matthew had scolded him about it when they were in the meeting. When they came in late, everyone was already arguing as they usually were and Germany had yet to scream and bring forth order, seeing as he was preoccupied with defending himself against South Italy's attempts to degrade him once again. America had wanted nothing more than to get up and leave.
His twin must have noticed his sullen expression and in response questioned him…
"England is back, I think you should try smiling more Alfred…"
America never wanted to punch Matthew in the face more than at that moment. The rage that flowed throughout his body was excessive and he felt himself bite back a growl-filled shout towards the normally passive nation. With that, all the super power managed was a spiteful look at his brother before he solidly claimed that Arthur, that human, was not England.
How dare he say that? How dare he tarnish the image of the once standing nation with associating him with what appeared to be nothing but a shadow of what he stood for?
The bespectacled blonde expected the conversation to be dropped, however his Canadian counterpart was surprisingly persistent and strong with what he wanted to claim for once.
"You're being really childish about all of this Alfred! Do you think this is what England would have wanted? For you to be cooped up in misery? Nothing but a pathetic shell of what you once were! What if that actually is England, and you're being nothing but an asshole and ruining what could be your second chance to be with him? Grow the hell up! Treat him like he's England! You're confusing the hell out of him!"
The words rang throughout the American's head for sometime after they were spoken much as the other rant the other had placed on him decades ago had. Except that little skirmish they just went through was about three hours shorter.
But whatever… What did he know? Nothing. His northern twin knew absolutely nothing of what England would have wanted for him. He wasn't being childish and he certainly wasn't in any form of misery! He was certain about that.
However, America had to consider as he stopped Freedom in his driveway, the pressure around his waist disappeared along with Arthur's presence behind him, if this human… This Arthur Kirkland truly was his way back to England. He'd at least try to be nice… To reconnect where he broke off with England.
"Wait, where are you going?" America questioned while taking off his helmet, looking at Arthur in confusion at the other's sudden departure. It wasn't until after he spoke did he realize that his tone came out more desperate than it should have. As though he feared Arthur was leaving forever or something similar.
The cool, twilight wind wisped lightly making the shorter boy's hair toss around smoothly in such a way that America felt his breathing hitch. Not to mention the expression that he made… It was so… So… So England. A slight scowl with lips pushed outwards, one eyebrow raised upward, and his green eyes leered at him in question.
"Inside, where else?" He asked, his gaze did nothing but imply that America had the intelligence of a squirrel. It made America blush slightly in embarrassment.
Inside. Of course.
Unable to find words to defend himself, America nodded silently before turning away to bring Freedom into the garage. He needed to watch himself when it came to his emotions.
After he made sure everything in his garage was secure and tight, America got into his house and went straight to the kitchen to eat something. Getting a quick glass of soda to chug on and slipping off his suit jacket and hanging down his tie, he walked up the stairs to Arthur's room.
The two of them could just spend the night together watching horror movies and playing video games. Nothing too fancy, and perhaps he and Arthur could get closer through that. England was never fond of it, but maybe Arthur would be different.
"Knock, knock I'm coming in." He informed happily before pushing in the door to enter.
Unlike what he expected, Arthur sat crisscross on the bed with a textbook and several sheets of paper in front of him and pencil in hand. His face twisted up at America's arrival into the room but he said nothing and just went back to his work.
America found his face puckering up in disgust, "What… What are you doing?" He almost feared to hear the answer.
"Homework."
Spitting out his coke in horror at the news, America looked at Arthur in mortification, "No. Seriously."
Arthur scoffed before holding up a calculator with a serious expression on his face. From what America could see through Texas, multiple equations were typed into the small device. "I'm perfectly serious. Just because I'm missing school once again tomorrow, doesn't mean I can't do it. It's my responsibility."
Strutting over to the side of the bed to take a seat next to the sandy haired teen, America picked up a few sheets of homework, "Dude, you're a teen! It's your responsibility to go out every night, get drunk, stoned, and have fun! Not do… What the hell is this shit anyways?" He turned the paper to the right a bit while squinting his eyes.
Arthur snatched it back with an irritated groan, "Those are my Advanced Physics notes. I'd be happy if you refrained from touching them, it took me forever to get all of it together and organized, thank you." Shuffling them within his hand, he gave America a look that dared him to touch anything else on the bed.
"Advanced Physics? Why are you in that class? Aren't you stupid?" America questioned while blinking his eyes in an innocent manner. Arthur blushed a light red, immediately making America smirk, "Why is it that nothing you say is ever cute? Shut up! I'm not stupid or anything relatively close to it! You're such an ass-faced moron!"
"You're too easy to tease! Haha! I was just joking!"
"Sod off, you imbecile! American jokes are terrible!"
Shrugging his shoulders and leaning closer to the other boy, America let out a soft breath. He felt Arthur stiffen as he put his head on the other's shoulder lazily, "Typical Brit and your harsh ways toward my awesome jokes." He stated simply before closing his eyes. He inhaled a bit, expecting the familiar scent of old tea and cologne to wash over him. Despite what he anticipated nothing came back, and for that America felt his stomach clench up in disappointment.
Arthur shifted a bit but didn't remove America's head from his shoulders, "Oh really?" He heard the other question lowly.
"Yeah, I mean England never admitted how much he loved my sense of humor. He always had something nasty to say, but I'm pretty sure he was just embarrassed." America hummed fighting back the pain in his stomach.
Silence reigned over the pair soon after this was said. From Arthur's lack of movement, it was obvious he wasn't doing his homework anymore, and despite everything, America felt at ease on the other's shoulder so peacefully without any argument. It was bittersweet, but he was going to take what he could get.
A small shake of Arthur's shoulder made America snap his eyes open, "You said you were going to tell me more about my past self if I agreed to come over." The teen spoke out before clearing his throat, "Not only that, but I want to hear more about my dreams…"
America frowned, but rose up from his previous position.
-.-.-.-.-
"What do you want to know?"
Arthur plopped himself down on the couch, he just finished taking a shower and he and America agreed after he did, they'd get to talking about his previous self.
Shrugging his shoulders he glanced over at the young man who sat next to him, "Everything I suppose. But starting with the dreams. To be positive, those dreams I've told you about, they did happen before right? Not just coincidences?"
America cocked his head to the side, "Well, depends. You only told me about the dream with England, me, and Kiku. And you said something about Spain. I know for sure that the one with me in it happened. Haha. It was a fun day. A G8 meeting actually, England was being an ass and called me fat for the ice cream."
Hugging a cushion close to him, Arthur felt an eyebrow twitch, "You make it sound like I was the bad guy. I only called you fat because you called me something rude and provoked me… I just can't really remember…" Biting his bottom lip, he probed through his mind in an attempt to remember.
"Nah! I'm pretty sure England was just being a dick! Hahaha!"
All Arthur could do was roll his eyes at America's obnoxiousness. "Whatever. But about my other dream… Did I ever tell you? With Spain?" Wincing a bit at the memory of his attack at the Spaniard, he looked at America expectantly.
"Nope, you only described Spain's look. Never told me the actual dream."
With a sigh, Arthur leaned back in the soft couch before looking up at the ceiling, "Well, we were on a boat—"
"Like a boss."
"What?"
"Nothing. Continue."
"Okay, so it was raining real hard… We were both dressed weird… Like pirates?" He sounded as though he was questioning himself, "And I basically stabbed him with a sword."
He turned to look at the nation who held a curious expression on his face, "Sounds like England during his pirate days. Stingy old man used to hate talking about it with me… But long story short, Spain's ass was kicked and the British Empire formed right after."
Arthur nodded silently clutching the pillow closer to himself.
America let out a sigh or a noise of impatience as he leaned over, closer to Arthur… Much too close for the student's liking. With his hands pressed into the couch— also dangerously close to Arthur's crotch— he tilted his head upward to gaze at the teen with a pout.
"Is that all?"
Holding back a blush, Arthur inched his face back a bit, "No… There was another dream… It was… With me and a little boy, he looked like you..." Turning away his face from the other male's view he suddenly felt himself grow insecure. His face warmed up rapidly as America brought his body a bit closer,
"Matthew…?"
His tone was irritated and annoyed.
"Maybe you dreamt of him when you stole him from France. Was he speaking French?"
Shaking his head, Arthur sighed, "It was you! I'm pretty sure! We were at a meadow and you were young, like barely knee high to me." He didn't know why he suddenly felt so hot and embarrassed about all of this. Perhaps it was because America was so close to him? Because he was suddenly so open and warm, and not so distant…?
"Oh… That was probably me from my colony days."
It now occurred to Arthur that since America was once a British colony, he was under his rule as a child. Or his past self's rule. He was pretty sure it was the same thing. He wondered how that worked out… Did Arthur take care of him? Was America his servant?
Arthur coughed into his left hand, "You were a cute kid… I wonder what happened." America's hand was gracefully slipping closer and closer to his crotch and Arthur was glad that America's pants and trousers were baggy on him. He was praying that the American would notice before things got worse, because he wasn't sure on how to inform the other of the situation, "Can you please back up a bit, you're real close."
America blinked behind his glasses and in that instant, Arthur never felt more insecure about himself. "Anymore dreams you wanna share?" His wandering hand slowly retreated and America sat back with a lazy sigh.
The teen grumbled a bit under his breath, before adjusting himself. Sitting up, he looked over at the nation with a tight frown. America was suddenly so welcoming and not-cold… It was an odd thing. Then again, the whole situation he was in at the moment was strange as well.
"Well, actually, I'd like to hear more about how you all work as nations."
The sunny blonde seemed a bit surprised about this before shrugging his shoulders, "What do you wanna know?"
Arthur paused, contemplating on what exactly he did want to be informed with, going over his thoughts quickly he picked the first thing that came to mind.
"What exactly are you? I mean you're physical manifestations, but how does that work out exactly?" Arthur found himself watching America tilt his head to the side, a wondering look on his face, much like a child trying to identify the shape of a floating cloud.
Scratching his cheek, America gave Arthur a rather sheepish smile, "I'm not exactly sure on how to answer that… What do you mean? Mattie already said that we're representations of our respective countries."
Sighing, Arthur shook his head, "I don't know! I just want to know how you being a nation works, I suppose. Are you the same as humans?"
Taking this into consideration, America perked up, "Oh! Well," He took his glasses off and motioned them over to Arthur with a grin, "These represent the good ole' state of Texas! So if these ever get cracked or something similar, shit is obviously going down in the South."
Arthur nodded dumbly, "But what would happen if you broke them yourself? Would anything happen to the state itself?" He could only imagine how many times America went close to practically destroying the state with his idiocy…
America stopped once again, to consider this. It seemed like the nation was ignorant about his own existence as anyone else would be. "I'm not sure… I've never broken them… But there was the whole Civil War incident…" He trailed off while setting his glasses back onto his nose thoughtfully.
"So different states represent different things on you? Then what does this represent? Hawaii?" Arthur sarcastically asked getting on his knees and crawling towards the other. His hand extended out to pat down the stray ahoge on the other's head.
However, America gave a sudden squeak before pulling back out of the other's reach, "W-what are you doing? You old pervert!" He exclaimed swatting Arthur's hand away with a vivid red blush on his face. Arthur managed to fall on top of the nation as a result of the sudden flailing taking place.
Confused at the instant and very strange character change that just took place, Arthur looked down at America with livid eyes, "What the hell crawled up your ass? I was just going to flatten your cowlick." Scowling a bit he glared down at the nation who squirmed with his back against the arm of the loveseat they sat in.
America shook his head, "Whatever, just don't fuck with it!" The exasperated expression that rippled on the other male's face made Arthur push down a lump in his throat. As much as it pained him to admit it, it made America look pretty damn attractive.
"Why not? Will I somehow cause the economy of the United States to decrease severely if I do?" Stubbornly Arthur pursed his lips together unwilling to move despite the awkward position they were in. And before America could fend off the wandering hand, it was latched onto his ahoge swifter than he realized.
"Just tell me what it does and I won't pull it."
"It does nothing! It'd be like if I rubbed your eyebrows!"
"Don't try and change the subject. You know, with how anxious and scared you're acting, I'm beginning to think if I pull it, something will happen."
Green and blue clashed hotly.
"The thing is," America began looking away, his face flushed and a bit of sweat beginning to form on his face, "Knowing how dirty you are, you'll pull it after knowing what it does."
Arthur arched a brow, "Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Well in that case I'll pull it now to figure out what it does."
His grip around the loose hair tightened a bit while he watched America shut his eyes as though to brace himself for a nuclear bomb threat in the making.
Before he could even think about his next action, the door to the seating room they were within was pushed open rather forcefully. Arthur felt America freeze beneath him as both turned to look at the door.
Poking his head in, Francis' eyes scanned over the room quickly, and the instant his eyes landed on the two on the loveseat, a smirk played on his face smoothly, "Oi, Mathieu… I found our lovely pair. Ohonhon. I apologize for interrupting! Please, do continue as though I'm not here!" The Frenchman snickered before slipping into the room with amused eyes. He had on a pair of pale blue pajamas on and he was carrying a small bag within his hands.
Arthur sputtered in shock as he came to terms with how awkward the circumstances he and America were positioned in were to anyone who walked over. The blushing face America still kept on mixed with his current expression did nothing short but make the situation appear even worse. "W-wait, bloody hell! This isn't! I'm not! Please!" He blushed hotly while waving his hands over to prove his point to Francis who only laughed more.
"You found them! Great! So now we can really get this sleepover started… Erm…" Bruce stopped lowly as he entered the room with his pajamas and koala bear bedroom slippers on and looked at the two on the loveseat. "I guess what Francis was telling us was true then!" He laughed sheepishly.
"What? You're telling me Arthur and Alfred are already doing it?" Chelsey's voice curiously asked before the girl herself came into the living room wearing a nightgown,
"No! We aren't! This is all just a big misunderstanding!" Arthur attempted to defend himself firmly, "America! America! Tell them!" He insisted looking down at the nation who was whistling innocently, "Tell them what? How you tricked me and began doing dirty things to me?" America laughed with a sly smirk on his face.
Arthur bit his lip, "You little brat… I thought you were a 'hero'!"
Now, inside the room had quite a few more people and everyone happened to be dressed up for a sleepover. "Hey! I didn't invite all of you!" America stated looking over at everyone now,
Francis shrugged, "Well, we're all here. Mathieu knew where you hid the extra key so we all got in. We even stopped by the Academy so everyone could get extra clothes for spending the night."
"Yeah! We aren't leaving anytime soon!" Mei agreed with a grin as she held onto Xiao and Kiku's hand cheerfully. Everyone else seemed to agree with this, but America still disagreed,
"No! Get out before I make you all get out! Breaking and entering is a crime! I won't stand for—"
"Guys! Guys! Japan-Kiku-whatever the hell we call him now brought Mortal Kombat! We have to play now! Kesesesese!" That strange guy from the meeting, Gilbert, proclaimed loudly pushing his way through the door with the game within his hands. America instantly sat up, forcing Arthur to fall on his back, "Yay! Mortal Kombat!" He cheered pumping a fist in the air,
Arthur could only stare up at the excited blonde in disbelief. He acted as though the moment just previous never existed in exchange for some video game…? What?
"I wanna play too!" "Count me in!" "Hell yeah!" "I would like to participate as well."
"Come on everyone!" America leapt up from the loveseat and ran towards the door, "Follow me to the Video Game room! This will be the best sleepover ever!"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Who else survived the end of the world? :]
Also, anyone caught my little The Lonely Island reference?