A/N: I hope everyone had a happy holiday and for those who did NaNo in November I hope you did well! (Yes, I got my 50k.) Welcome to the newest chapter of The Rose Bush. I don't own Hetalia or their related characters, and hope you enjoy this chapter.

Somehow Alfred got the idea that he shouldn't have said that the moment the words left his mouth and the fairy's face darkened drastically, one of those massive eyebrows starting to twitch. And man, who would have thought that such a little creature could make so much noise?"

"There is nothing wrong with my eyebrows!" the fairy bellowed, glaring furiously up at the teenager. He flew up and punched Alfred right in the nose, and the fact that it barely made the human blink did not help his temper. "I didn't agree to stay here and talk to you just so you could insult me, you bloody git!"

"H-hey, I didn't mean it like that!" Alfred said quickly, bringing his hands up to flail a bit at the tiny creature, afraid he'd change his mind and leave anyway. And after finding a fairy, a real, live, honest to god fairy, he couldn't bring himself to just let the creature fly off again! "Please don't go!"

Grumbling, the fairy glowered at Alfred, staying right there in front of his face, meaning that Alfred pretty much had to cross his eyes to focus on him, and even then it wasn't a clear view. "I'm only staying because I gave my word that I would, but one more crack about my face and that's it. You understand, human?"

Alfred let out a little breath of relief that ruffled the fairy's hair a little before he gave him a bright smile. "Got it. Anyway, I'm Alfred. My family just moved here. So I guess we're neighbors now!" He almost stuck his hand out to shake before remembering that the other was too small for that. So instead he offered him a single finger, shifting back so he wouldn't be breathing on him anymore. "What's your name?"

The fairy stared at the offered finger for a while before finally, reluctantly, putting a hand on the tip so they could 'shake hands.' It really did look a little silly but still made Alfred's smile brighten despite that.

"It's Arthur," he said at last, not even sure why he was telling the human his name (well, his given name). It wasn't like he was going to be around him for more than a few short minutes, like he'd promised. And after that if he was smart he wouldn't talk to him again. Humans and fairies didn't interact past when a human grew up, and even then they only spoke to certain children. "Well, go ahead and ask your questions already. I don't have all day."

"Hang on a second; I'm thinking!" Alfred said with a little huff. Man, fairies sure weren't sweet like the stories said, that was for sure. Or maybe he'd just met the only one who was cranky. The thought that maybe he was cranky because he'd been grabbed didn't really occur to him. "Okay, so why do you keep hanging around the roses? You must have noticed us move in, right? And the roses are right in view. Anyone could have seen you."

Of course that would be the first question that he asked. Arthur grimaced and debated just not answer at all, or lying. H hadn't said that he'd answer honestly after all. But there was something about that open and honest curiosity that tugged the truth from him. Brat.

"They're my roses, that's why," he said after the mental debate. "All but the first were grown from clippings of the bush I was born from."

Alfred blinked in surprise at the answer. Well that wasn't what he'd expected to hear for sure. A comment about not letting humans nudge him from his home or protecting something from them seemed more likely. Just the roses, really? It took him a moment longer to realize the other part of what Arthur had set. "Wait, you were born from a rose bush?"

Arthur huffed with what looked like the start of another miniature rant. "And what is wrong with that?! Not all creatures have to start as lumpy parasites in their mothers' bodies!"

"I didn't say it was a bad thing!" Arthur said quickly, ready to defend since it was obvious that Arthur had taken offense. Again. High strung little guy, wasn't he? Sure made him wonder if he'd been poked at about it before. Which, considering how guys could get about flowers, was pretty damn well possible. "I was just surprised, okay? Didn't know that there really were flower fairies. How far can you go from your bush? Is that from any of the bushes since they're all related to yours or just from the one you were born from? Would something bad happen if you went too far from it, like if someone grabbed you and and took you away. Not that I would! I mean someone else! What about if something happened to your bush?"

The fairy was a little taken aback by the slew of questions and several times opened his mouth to answer or tell the teenager off, only not to get a chance to do either. Did Alfred even breathe? He didn't seem to take any time between questions to do so. When Alfred at last seemed to take a pause, Arthur quickly took his chance to speak before he could lose it again. Especially if Alfred was thinking of more questions to ask. "Good lords Alfred, do you ever come up for air? How am I supposed to answer anything if I can't get a word in edgewise?!"

Opening his mouth, Alfred apparently thought better of it and sheepishly remained silent, realizing that he wasn't going to get his answers if he just kept on talking. So he just mutter a tiny "sorry," and said nothing else for the moment.

The fairy still waited a bit to make sure that the human wasn't going to burst out another batch of questions and nodded in satisfaction when Alfred resisted the urge. "Much better. Now, I can go plenty far enough from my bush's direct descendants. I don't like to go further than the fence around the human house because it's uncomfortable, and I can't protect my bush if I'm too far away. Something very bad will happen if I go too far away or something happens to my bush, even if the others are fine, and you'd better not do anything to it or I'll turn you into an ugly old toad and let the local cats have you. Is that clear?"

Alfred blinked, staring at the tiny fairy as the processed all of that information, almost submitting to the desire to ask even more questions a few times before holding back. But there was one that he just had to know. "Can you really turn me into a toad?"

Arthur flew closer and grasped hold of the bridge of Alfred's glasses to tug them down so he could look directly into the teen's eyes. "Whether I can or can't, do you want to find it out the hard when, when you're doomed to eating flies for the rest of your short life until the Frenchman you live with cooks you up for dinner?" he asked, voice low and serious. He waited until Alfred had carefully shaken his head in denial. "Didn't think so. Be a good lad and watch out for my bush, and we'll get along fine."

"Does that mean you'll come around to chat with me now and then?" Alfred asked, moving his head back so he could fix his glasses and properly see the fairy again. Now that he'd actually met Arthur, even if his foul temper and bushy eyebrows would never have made it into a Disney (Tinkerbell, he was not, though maybe there was something to be said for temper there…), he couldn't help but want to know more, and not just about his being a fairy either.

The question seemed to catch Arthur off guard, because he nearly dropped out of the air (and glared when Alfred had to stifle a snicker) before righting himself. "Why the hell would I do that?!"

"Well, I didn't see any other fairies flying around, so I thought you might be lonely," Alfred said with a warm, friendly smile that Arthur couldn't help but to feel was sincere. "No more grabbing, I promise. I just figured that we could be friends."

"I don't need friends, especially human ones. I'm perfectly fine on my own!" Arthur insisted, the tiny fairy sputtering in flustered embarrassment at the offer. He turned his back to Alfred, not that it hide the pink creeping into his ears. "Especially when you go through the effort of bringing me milk and honey but fail to put it into proper tea. I drink Earl Grey, like a proper English gentleman, go get it into your head."

Even watching as the fairy flew away, Alfred couldn't help to smile, something that quickly widened into a full grin. For all of his protests, Arthur hadn't said that he wasn't coming back, and had even let slip something that he liked.

Who'd have thunk, huh? That, his first friend in England was to be a fairy.