The Rare Pair Files (Hetalia)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: Since there are a lot of rare pair that are, well, rare, I decided to dedicate a little side collection of all the ones I write from here on out, however often I end up doing so. Mostly America or Canada centric pairings.

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.

Warning: AmeChu

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Alfred sighed, wondering just what he was going to cook. Normally this wouldn't be an issue for him - when in doubt, heat up tv dinners and whatnot - but seeing as he had a guest over, he had to consider them first.

'Nothing with milk,' He frowned; that was something he'd found out the hard way with Kiku, and he didn't feel like repeating the mistake here. 'Probably no burgers, either.'

He wasn't going to even attempt making anything 'traditional'; not only would it probably not end well, he was fairly sure Yao wasn't the type to eat knockoffs of his own country's food when he was visiting other countries, no matter how prevalent it might be. And though his own burgers wouldn't be anywhere close to as cheap or fast as those in his fast food restaurants, he was fairly certain the older Nation would not be eager to take the chance.

Maybe another time. Alfred sighed again, deciding to cut his losses on a surprise and see if Yao had any preferences for food.

"Hey, Yao?" He asked, tapping once on the guest bedroom door even though it was cracked open. "You in there?"

"Yeah," He heard from inside. "Come in."

Alfred pushed open the door, stopping briefly while Yao looked up from his book.

"You wanted something?" The elder Nation asked, snapping Alfred attention away from the other's bare chest, flushed with embarrassment.

"I was just wondering if there was anything specific you wanted for lunch, or...?"

"No, nothing specific," Yao replied.

"RIght then, I'll just go and figure something out then…" Alfred backed out of the room, really wishing he hadn't gotten caught staring, only to stop when Yao spoke up again.

"Kiku."

The non sequitur caught the American flat footed as he turned back to the older man. "Huh?"

"The scar you were looking at. It was… unexpected."

"...oh." Sometimes he forgot the other Nations had their own issues with their pseudo-families too, and that it wasn't just his own fucked up group with their murky histories together.

Yao smiled, just a touch thinly. "I know you're young, so you probably haven't had to deal with it as much, but it happens to all of us eventually."

Alfred would have protested vehemently at any other time about being treated as ignorant just because of his youth, but the normal energy was nowhere to be found this time. "...my revolution."

Yao blinked, smile fading as he stared at the younger Nation. Alfred sighed, pulling up his shirt to reveal his own collection of battles. "The one on my shoulder, here-" He tapped at his right shoulder. "Arthur ran me through with a bayonet; didn't realize it was me at the time, or he probably would have held back. Maybe not, I dunno, it was a mess back then."

The Chinese man nodded in understanding, glancing towards the other shoulder. "The burn?"

"Washington, 1814." Alfred smiled wryly. "Arthur got payback for what I did to Matt in York. Same place and everything."

Yao hummed in thought, eventually lifting and turning an arm to show his own burn scar. "First use of napalm; I messed up the composition and it backfired on me. Luckily this was the worst I got, but it was close."

Alfred winced in sympathy - he'd used incendiaries once or twice, and the idea of one backfiring on him was not pleasant in the least. "Yeah, I feel you there."

Yao glanced down towards Alfred's waist. "And that one? Seems fairly recent..."

"Huh?" Alfred glanced down, where he could see the still slightly inflamed mess of a scar across his waist, like someone had tried to gut him. "...my Civil War."

The older Nation's gaze snapped back up to him, frowning. Alfred continued, smiling wryly all the while. "All but tore me in half, actually. And the issues it was supposed to solve are still around, so…"

The American shrugged, letting his shirt fall back down. "I know I'm still a kid, but I've been through my own rough patches. Maybe not as bad as what you've all been through, but I've earned my status just fine."

"...Sometimes, I think we all like to forget that…" Yao remarked quietly, more to himself than anything, before recentering his gaze on Alfred, smirking lightly. "Weren't you supposed to be making lunch?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get on it," Alfred waved a hand, letting the last of the conversation fade away for now. "Maybe I'll just make soup so I don't ruin your dentures."

"Aiyaa! Rude little brat!" Yao fumed, throwing a pillow at the laughing American just as he hastily shut the door.

Alfred let the grin stay as he went back downstairs, feeling a bit like he'd gone up a notch or two in the eyes of one of the elder Nations. It wasn't much, but he hadn't been lying when he'd admitted to still being a kid; he still searched out the approval of those older than himself, even though as a superpower it was dangerous.

But with the look in the ancient's eyes when he'd skimmed over his civil war… maybe it wouldn't be as hard to get as he'd feared.

(In the end, he made burgers, because there was no way he was going to let the other remain unaware of the joys of a real home-grilled burger another day. The shock on Yao's face when he tried it was so worth it.)

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AN: Hey, so yeah, you might remember this from ages ago being my AmeUkr collection. Whelp, a few things have changed, as you might've noticed – I've been trying to get myself to write more rare pair things, and I figured having one dedicated place for all of them would make it a bit easier on me. So... yeah.

A lot of them will be Ame/Other, but I also plan on having a few Can/Other ships as well. They do have friends and relationships outside of their immediate family and Russia, after all.