May 27th, 2014

AUTHOR: shinobiqueen

May 27th, 2014

Alfred looked at Arthur sitting at his desk, brooding over stacks of paperwork. He came over earlier to ask if England wanted to hang out a bit. But as it turned out, he was buried in work.

So Alfred had just settled down on the small sofa in the study and busied himself with a video game on his handheld, glancing over to England once in a while.

He has been at it for hours now, without a break.

"Still not finished?"

Arthur sighed tiredly.

"No, not even close."

Alfred studied his face. He looked tired, with bags forming under his eyes, and his complexion looked even more pale than usual.

Didn't England get enough sleep?

Now that he thought about it, he hasn't seen him eat anything ever since he came here either.

He was startled from his thoughts when England gave out a groan, holding his head.

"Hey, you alright?"

England sighed.

"Not really. I haven't slept in two days and my head is killing me."

America got up, walking over to the desk, frowning.

"Dude, that's not healthy. Maybe you should just… lie down or something."

"I can't, I have to finish this or it's going to pile up even more."

After ten minutes more of working, Arthur finally put his pen down.

"I can't do this anymore, I feel sick," he said, resting his head on the table in resignation.

"Maybe I should just take a short nap. Will you wake me up in ten minutes?"

"No way, you're going straight to bed and sleep properly now," America proclaimed and helped the other nation up, slightly dragging him along to the bedroom, ignoring England's weak protests.

He was too tired to put up a proper fight anyway.

As soon as the overworked nation hit the covers he was fast asleep. And he probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

After making sure that the other was comfortable and out like a light, America walked back into the study, looking through the papers. Most of them weren't even important! The government has secretaries for this kind of work; a nation shouldn't even be bothered with this… The rest of them were nothing he couldn't handle himself.

Well, he was going to sort things out.

It was late in the afternoon of the next day when Arthur stirred awake. He lazily blinked at the numbers on his alarm clock. When he realized just how long he has slept he sat up abruptly. Bloody hell, why hadn't the hamburger idiot woken him up?!

Arthur stumbled to his study. But when he got to his desk he saw that there was almost nothing left of the piles he was forced to leave unattended yesterday. The surface was clear, beside of a few important documents that still needed his signature.

He stood there in astonishment.

America! Where was that idiot?

Just as he went to the kitchen to look for him, he heard the front door unlock and America entered, carrying two paper bags of take-out food.

"Hey, you're awake! Had a good sleep?" he said cheerfully.

"I've brought you some food, you must be starved.

Weren't you the one who always told me to take better care of myself?"

Just then, Arthur's stomach grumbled.

"Food…right…"

He blushed.

"I hope it isn't-"

"It's not McDonalds, if that's what you're asking. Not for you anyway. I've got you something else."

"Oh, how considerate of you," Arthur said as he sat down.

"So, mind telling me what happened to my paperwork?"

"Don't worry; I have taken care of it. Just sign the few documents that are left and you're good."

"Well, thank you I guess." Arthur smiled. America could be so considerate and sometimes.

"Soo, want to go out now that you're free?" America asked casually.

They haven't done anything fun together lately, so maybe dragging England out to the newest Hollywood movie like he intended to do right from the start seemed like a good idea to him.

And Arthur would gladly go along with the boisterous American. No matter how much he complained about the stupid movies, the fast food or the loud antics of the other, he was glad for the distraction.

And he was thankful for the help.