Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.
England sat at his desk late one evening sifting through reports ranging from the economy to international relations. Evelyn was lying on the floor lazily kicking her feet; she had come in earlier, most likely bored which had resulted with her trying, and failing, to annoy the grumpy Brit. At the moment, she was tapping her fingers against the wood floor in a random ever-changing tune.
Arthur was re-discovering he could ignore almost anything as long as he forced himself to focus on work.
The American sighed and gave up her tapping. She was incredibly bored. The original idea had been to get a rise out of her temporary guardian since it always proved entertaining, but, so far, all that happened was her being ignored.
"Artie?" she tried for his attention.
He continued to ignore her scratching away busily with his pen.
"Aarrrtiiieee," she whined rather pathetically rolling over onto her back. Arthur's eye twitched as he continued working. There was a shuffling sound as Evelyn wiggled on the floor stretching out to reach something under his desk. There was more scuffling and more wiggling as she moved back to the original spot. Silence reigned in the room before pressure was pushed on the calf of Arthur's leg and click sounded throughout the room. The motion and sound repeated again and again and again until…
Arthur slammed his pen down leveling a glare at Evelyn that sent most sane men running. Of course, Evelyn wasn't a man nor was she proving her sanity at the moment. Evelyn just grinned triumphantly.
"For the love of God, what?" He all but hissed at her fangs bared and eyes an eerie livid green.
She tilted her head back to look at him completely unfazed by his wrath. "You do know it's the twenty-first century right?" She asked an overly innocent look on her face.
Arthur furrowed his brow in confusion. Of course he knew what century it was; he was centuries old. He told her as much, anger dissipating at the random question, wondering what would prompt such an inquiry, and if he was going to regret not telling her about Patrick's gaming systems.
"Okay, so do you even know what a computer is?"
The Englishman pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Evelyn, I do." His voice was a groan of a man answering what color green was.
"Then why don't you have one? Come on Artie, all that paperwork would be so much easier with even a dinosaur desktop not to mention e-mail. You wouldn't have to lug so many papers home every day and you have to think about the green movement. I mean, do you know how many trees you're killing?" He gave her a blank look. Didn't she realize they used trees for everything—homes and, in the olden days, ships?
A Cheshire cat grin was plastered on her face as she turned to him. She was trying to get a rise out of him by calling him an old man in a roundabout way. The worst part was she was succeeding (not with the old, but the being annoying part). What had he done to deserve this? Yes, he had constantly been warring with France and he hadn't treated Spain all that kindly after the whole thing with the Armada, and maybe a few things during his imperial days, but surely this…this new American annoyance was punishment far beyond what he deserved. The first one had been bad enough!
He periodically enjoyed the arguments he had with Evelyn. They were relaxing in a strange kind of way with their sense of familiarity.
"I don't need a computer." He responded with a sigh. "Even if I owned one, most of this paperwork would still be printed out for me to sign regardless."
"Tree killer," she muttered loud enough for him to hear, a grin on her face.
Arthur turned back to his papers retorting with an affectionate "Bloody git."
A few more minutes passed in the warm atmosphere before Evelyn took out her iPod and put in the ear buds. Now maybe he could finish his work in peace.
He finished a few more documents before rubbing his eyes tiredly. The conversation had reminded him about something he had picked up for the American and now was as good a time as any to give it to her—maybe she would even leave him alone once she had it.
Opening up a desk drawer, he took out a small rectangular plastic object tossing it to Evelyn. She caught it after fumbling with it holding it up for examination.
"What's this?" she asked.
"A mobile. I expect someone from your generation to know what that is." Arthur responded mocking her a bit from the earlier conversation.
She rolled her eyes. "We call it a cell phone. Why are you giving it to me? What if you get a call from work?" Evelyn was honestly curious. She had been phoneless for just over a month now, but she hadn't needed a cell since she'd been in London either. She just used the house phone to call her friends or sent them an e-mail whenever she had computer access at the library. Arthur sputtered indignantly.
"In case you need to contact me and I'm not around; I've already put all the necessary numbers in it. Like I would give you my work phone." He grumbled to himself.
It had been a spur of the moment decision to buy her the phone, really. He had worried (only a little) when she snuck out a few nights previous and the streets could be dangerous at night. Now, if something did happen, she could contact him or he could find her.
"Oh. Thanks Artie." She flashed him a smile starting to play and discovering its limited capabilities i.e. no internet. "Hey, were you ever a dad?" she asked suddenly and rather off-handedly.
Arthur jerked at her voice before freezing, comprehending what she had said. She had caught him completely off-guard. Images of a blue-eyed little boy briefly flashed before his eyes. He took a deep breath attempting to sound normal despite his still rapidly beating heart. "Why do you ask?" He busily shuffled his papers on his desk to distract himself.
"Um, because you act all parental even though you can't be that much older than me." Evelyn seemed to notice a change in Arthur and she put her phone in her pocket. She turned her attention to him and took notice of his frenzied motion, his stiff shoulders.
If she only knew, he mused that blue-eyed child turning to face him with a beautiful smile. Focus old boy, now how was he going to answer Evelyn? It wasn't like the relationships between nations worked the same as human ones. The echoes of Big Brother echoed through his mind. No, nation relations were definitely different. I'll be the hero and kick Nazi ass, you watch me Iggy. I'll be your hero. The voice continued to echo.
Evelyn's constant mood swings saved him not only from the question, but from his memories which were playing havoc with him.
"I'm exhausted," she yawned jumping up from her spot on the floor. "Night Artie."
The Brit stared in disbelief as the American went to her room. She had done nothing but annoy him all day. How the hell could she be tired?
He needed a cup of tea.
A/N: Hello again! I hope everyone's Christmas/holiday was awesome. I know I promised the world meeting in this chapter, but I really wanted this scene in here and my beta doesn't like when I put two completely different scenes in the same chapter (it's a pet peeve of hers really). So, we took this one and made it longer for a mini-update before the world meeting.
Thanks again to my incredible beta Fall in Snow for her editing work. If it weren't for her, my chapters wouldn't be near as good. And thank you to all my reviewers/faves/alerts. You people don't know how happy it makes me to see all those e-mails after I've updated.
As always, reviews are appreciated. Ciao for now!