If someone had said that Alice was confused when she woke up in a strange bed in a strange room, with pieces of her clothing missing, with Alfred sleeping in a chair right next to her, their heads sharing a pillow, and an ear-splitting migraine piercing her brain. Then that person would have to be awarded a medal for the ultimate understatement of the year. Alice nearly jumped straight out of the bed, but could not make it four inches off the mattress before falling back down in pain from her headache. Instead she just laid there and curled herself up into a ball under the duvet, resolving to just lay down and let the pain subside before she got up. Taking a risk, Alice opened her eyes and immediately saw the face directly in front of hers, their proximity so close that his breath tickled her face.
Alice could swear she was radiating heat from how heavy she blushed when she saw their close proximity. Their lips were mere centimeters apart, it would be so easy to simply lean in and lay a peck on his skin pink lips. Alice physically shook her head to banish the thought, shifting around in the bed to face the opposite way.
Looking around the room, she did not see a clock around her, so she could not tell what time it was, or how long she had been there. However, the pale blue light told her that it was most likely still early morning. Pushing herself up very slowly, Alice then peeled the blankets off of her small figure and swung her legs off to hang over the side of the bed. The head rush that movement caused made her fall immediately face first, however, she was leaning to the right when she fell, so her face landed directly into Alfred's lap, her eyes staring dead ahead at his crotch. It mattered not that she wasn't wearing her glasses, this was close enough to send her flying back onto the bed. Wait- Her glasses! Where are they? She can't let Alfred see her without them.
Practically throwing the duvet off the bed, Alice frantically searched for her glasses through the sheets and pillows. She wasn't blind without them, but it can be hard to identify faces from a distance, and Alice does not want to risk being jumped by that frog, not knowing it was him. Searching under the pillows, Alice finally found them, they had slipped into a pillowcase and now had a crack in the left lens. Putting them on anyway Alice got to look around the area a lot better.
This was undoubtedly one of Francis' guest rooms, but why was she here? The last thing she remembered was drinking with Lucas and Vladimir, then after that… nothing. Alice paled, she had never been drunk before, so she doesn't know what kind of drunk she was. Looking at the state of her clothes it looks like she's a stripper kind of drunk.
'Please don't tell me I made a scene in front of all my peers!' Alice begged, hiding her face in her knees in embarrassment. And while she hid, she had failed to notice Alfred waking up beside her, so when she suddenly felt a weight at her side Alice instinctively aimed a punch at him, but he was able to catch her arm before it could make contact with his face.
"Not sure if a punch is an acceptable good morning greeting." He smiled tiredly at her, making her heart pound fast and blood run to her cheeks.
"Sorry..." Alice apologized and put her arm down. "What are we doing here anyway?" Alfred looked at her in surprise, as if the answer was obvious.
"You don't remember?" He asked rhetorically, more like saying a statement.
"No. What happened?" Alice inquired. Alfred covered his face with his hands in exasperation, the skin under his hands shone a light pink. Alice ignored it and chopped it off to him being cold for not sleeping with a blanket.
"It's better to just forget it." Alfred said looking away.
"Well that won't be hard seeing as I already don't remember anything- blugh!" Alice brought her hands to her mouth to stop her from puking on the bed. Bile in her stomach rushed up her body, the acid burning the back of her throat.
"Alice? Alice?!" Alfred called out after her as she shakily jumped off the bed and barreled sloppily towards the door, running out of the guest room and into the hall. If she remembered the layout of this house correctly from all the times her family had forced her to visit, the nearest bathroom is just across the hallway. So, without thinking, she barged right in through the door, to Francis undressing for a shower.
"Ah, mon chérie, finally decided you couldn't stay away from moi-"
Alice quickly ran over to him and shoved him out the door, slamming it in his face, before once again striding for the toilet, kneading over and puking all of the apparent alcohol she consumed last night, which was a lot. Alfred opened the door and followed in after her, running over and knelled by her side once he saw her vomiting, holding her hair up for her and rubbing circles into her back. Francis watched from the doorway, leaning his body against the post while looking on with a blank face.
After about ten minutes of puking up the contents of her stomach and dry heaving until she puked again, Alice was left with nothing else in her stomach. Now she just lied down on the ground, leaning her body against Alfred's. Francis let out a short abrupt cough to get both of them to look at him.
"Alfred, why don't you go get Alice some water to ease her throat." The Frenchman suggested.
"Why don't you?" Alfred questioned, wrapping an arm around Alice's shoulders, bringing their bodies closer together. Alice felt herself blush from the action, and buried her face in his side to hide it.
"Well I figured you'd want to be the one to help dear Alice in her time of desperate need, seeing as you claim yourself as her hero. But alas if you do not care for her I shall give her tender care here in my own home." Francis said dramatically, as if her were on a Broadway stage trying way to hard to convince his audience.
"Ugh, fine. I'll go get the water." Alfred groaned in annoyance from his cousin's overly theatrical convincing. Standing up from the floor and leaning Alice gently against the wall, he headed for the door and for Francis. "Just don't do anything while I'm gone." He murmured before he left.
"Of course~!" He purred and waved goodbye, a bit too enthusiastically.
When the american left, Alice pushed herself off of the marble floor and sat down on a armchair that was placed in the bathroom. Likewise, Francis made his way over and leaned his back against the counter top directly in front of her. For a long moment, neither of them said a word to each other, only stared at each other, well more like glaring at each other. Alice felt her annoyance prickly from the cheeky cat grin he was giving her, but was not in the mood to yell because of her apparent hangover was killing her brain cells.
"You have him wrapped around your little finger, don't you?" Francis finally stated, still holding his grin.
"What?" She questioned him in a flat tone.
"You don't see it, but he's already practically your servant." He said with a flamboyant flip of his hair, giving her a wink and holding a finger up to his lip. "He'll do anything for you."
"Why would I need a servant as troublesome as him?" Alice scoffed and crossed her arms. Francis paused, losing his grin, and stared intently at her once again. Alice didn't say anything either, but "tsk"ed and looked away.
"Vous ne le voyez pas vraiment?" (You really don't see it?)
"Voir quoi?" (See what?)
"Son amour. Il est évident qu'il se soucie de toi." (His love. It's obvious that he cares for you.)
"C'est quoi?!" (His what?!)
Francis sighed and rubbed his temple.
"Alice, Alfred s'occupe de toi plus que tu ne le pense" (Alice, Alfred cares for you more than you think he does.)
Alice blushed again, big surprise there, and looked down at her hands in her lap. She didn't know what to say back. She hadn't seen it, she still doesn't see it. Him seeing her as anything but a friend? Yes, he has been confusing the heck out of her as of late, but she did think it was because of something like that. Alfred is just an overall weird person, but she would have never expect this, especially after he rejected her. Perhaps Francis was just wrong and misread things, yeah that's probably it, besides Alfred is dating England, he wouldn't cheat.
"Il s'occupe également de l'Angleterre." (He also cares for England.) She sounded
"Oui, mais d'une manière différente." (Yes, but in a different way)
"Exactement, c'est mon point de vue. Il ne m'aime pas." (Exactly, that's my point. He doesn't love me.) Alice gave a light-hearted chuckle, as if she was totally fine with her own statement, but she could not stop her lip from quivering.
"Ugh, Alice-"
"Okay I'm back with water!" Alfred called as he ran back into the bathroom, a cold glass of water and ice in hand. Alice let out a breath that the subject was dropped and reached out her hand to take the glass from his hand.
"Thank you." She said gratefully as she took a long gulp of the refreshing water, then held it in her lap. "Hey Alfred, what time is it?" Alice asked out of curiosity. Alfred then look out his smartphone to check the time on the screen.
"It's 8:02 in the morning." He provided, putting the phone back in his pocket.
"Psst! Alice!" Francis called in a hush whisper, although both of them could hear him. Alice looked over at the frog who had made his way back closer to the door. "Testez-le!" (Test it out!) He said to her before leaving the doorway. Alice swallowed her breath and looked back at Alfred, who was looking at where Francis had just left.
"Um… Alfred?" She said nervously.
"Yeah?" He asked looking back at her. Alice shyly moved the glass around in her hands and turned her gaze to the water. Why was she even doing this?
"Can you uh, get me a cold rag? My head hurts." She asked, still not looking at him to see his reaction.
"Sure." He said and went over to the hand towel on its own rack and ran it under cold sink water, then rinsed it out and handed it to her. Alice took it and held it against her forehead, surprised that he did what she asked with no complaints. "Anything else?" He inquired, surprising her again.
"Um, uh n-no, I'm good." She said looking down, heart racing in her chest.
Alfred chuckled a bit to himself and went to the counter top across from her and hoisted himself up, sitting himself down on the marble. For a heartbeat or two he just sat there simply staring at her, making Alice feel smaller and more nervous.
"You and Francis use French as some sort of secret language." Alfred noted, finally speaking up, stuffing his hands into his pant pockets.
"It's a common language we share." She replied curtly, not wanting to speak of the secret conversations she's had with the frog on her relationship with Alfred.
"Oh right, you speak six languages, I forgot." He said with a sarcastic undertone.
"Seven counting my native English." Alice corrected him.
Alfred rolled his eyes. "Doesn't mean you can't speak it around me. There's no need for you to speak any other language other than this one when I'm around." Alfred stated with a slight authoritative tone, as if he was ordering her to only speak English when he's around.
"Well speaking in other languages is a way to have privacy when it's not provided. I speak japanese with Kiku sometimes. Perhaps you should become bilingual." Alice countered back with a snip of reason.
"Who ever said I'm not?" Alfred questioned. Taking his hands out from his pockets he made quick motions with his hands, making various signs easily and swiftly as if he were speaking from the mouth. Alice guessed that it was some form of sign language, but she had no idea what he just said. The obvious confused look on her face told the american as much. "I just said: I'm from the United States. In American Sign Language." He told her. "I've been fluent since I was fourteen."
She scoffed. "That doesn't count, it's not like you're actually talking."
"But it's still a type of communication and took me years of study. It's a language." Alice chuckled and playfully rolled her eyes. "Care to learn?"
"Thanks, but I already have too much on my plate."
"You should at least learn to finger spell."
"...Alright then, teach me."
Alfred and Alice left the bathroom together once her hangover had become more manageable and headed back to whatever room they had woken up in. By then, Alice had memorized the signs for A through J perfectly. Once in the room, Alice grabbed her discarded clothes and boot, redressing, with Alfred outside the room of course, then grabbed her belongings. It was only then, when she caught the time again, that she began to fully comprehend what it meant. 8:38 am. She had left home yesterday around six o'clock and had told her mother she'd be back by nine. She had missed her curfew. She had lied to her mother. She was dead.
Letting out a strange sort of verbal scream, Alice quickly grabbed her phone and bolted out the door and sprinted down the hall heading for the stairs, completely ignoring Alfred who stood outside the door waiting for her.
"H-hey! Alice!" Alfred called out to her, giving chase.
"I have to go home!" She yelled back as she jumped down the stairs, skipping steps as she went. Alfred quickly caught up with her and ran along side her out of the mansion.
"I'll drive you!"
"Thanks!"
Alice twitched and rocked back and forth in the passenger seat as she waited anxiously to arrive home, continuously telling Alfred to speed up despite the risk of being pulled over.
"Sheesh Ally, why do you want to go home so bad?"
"Because my mother will kill me if I arrive home later than I already am. I wasn't supposed to be out all night and now I'm probably forbidden to leave the house."
"Well it's your fault for getting wasted." Alfred joked, supposedly not reading the mood.
"For fucks sake! Do not blame me for this, you're the one who took me to that party!" Alice quipped back in a short temperate anger.
"You still accepted the drink."
"How the bloody fuck was I supposed to know I would pass out?!"
"I think it's common sense to expect to black out after having seven plus drinks."
With a slow screech the car pulled to a stop by the sidewalk leading up to her house.
"You know what?" Alice huffed in a furious puff. "Fuck off." She growled and hopped out of his car, slamming the door shut and running away up to the gated driveway. Only later would Alice realize she accidentally slipped out of character at that moment and acted a bit too like England. Entering her keycard Alice opened the gate and hurriedly ran to the front doors, slowing down as she approached the porch, fixing herself to look proper in front of her mother.
When Alice entered the house she noticed that the immediate hall was empty. Letting out a soft breath, Alice closed the door behind her and walked in, heading up the stairs and went to her room. Upon her arrival, a maid was there waiting to deliver a message from her mother.
"Lady Alice, the Mistress requests your presence in her study upon your arrival." The maid informed her when she walked it.
"Alright then please pull out a morning gown for me to wear as to not upset my mother."
The maid bowed and made her way to Alice's closet, pulling out a light green half-length sleeved, loose fitting dress that reached her ankles. Alice went to her bedside drawer and pulled out a spare pair of black rimmed glasses, removing her now broken red ones and putting them away in the place of the spare.
When Alice was at home or attending important business, her mother made it mandatory that Alice wear gowns to be more "ladylike" and to show off power and status. Alice stripped herself of her cosplay outfit and dressed in the gown, slipping on a pair of white flats, then left her room to meet with her mother, while scheming a lie to tell her in her mind. The walk there seemed long and suffocating, as she could already feel her mother's intense aura from across the house, all the way until she reached the space outside her door. Her mother's study, the place her mother spent more time in than with her family, dedicating most all of it to her work. The maid, who had accompanied her, knocked on the door and announced her arrival. A small "Let her in." sounded from behind the door. The maid opened the door for her and stepped aside to let her in, closing the door behind her once she had entered.
Mrs. Kirkland sat quietly at her desk beside the window facing away from her, not bothering to look up or acknowledge her daughter. Alice was used to this behaviour and simply sat herself down in front of her in an arm chair. Several minutes passed by in silence as her mother continued to work, and with her sitting in internal anguish. At last, after about six minutes, her mother put her work down and looked up at her, her stone cold gaze staring distastefully at her. "어젯밤에 어디 있었 니, 앨리스?" (Where were you last night, Alice?)
"나는 친구의 집에 있었고 실수로 잠 들었습니다." (I was at a friend's place and accidently fell asleep.)
"오? 어떤 친구?" (Oh? Which friend?)
Kiku is the most likely candidate to choose, but that also means that her mother had most likely already contacted Kiku's parents to ask where she is, same deal if she were to choose Francis.
"길버트와 루트비히 베일 슈미트." (Gilbert and Ludwig Beilschmidt.)
"두 소년?" (Two boys?) Her mother sighed. "앨리스, 상황이 가져올 수있는 타협을 깨닫고 있니? 젊은 아가씨는 사교적으로 받아 들일 수없는 사람들과 부주의하게 자신을 연관 시켜서는 안됩니다." (Alice, do you realize the compromise that situation could bring? A young lady must not associate herself so carelessly with males outside what is socially acceptable.)
Alice shrunk back in shame, even though she hadn't even actually stayed with them, her mother's disappointment and scorn stung deep. Her mother fought proudly for women's rights, while at the same time she contradicted herself by believing in female conservatism. Alice said no more so she wouldn't upset her mother any further than she already had.
Her mother sighed in slight frustration and changed the subject.
"왜 웬지? 그들은 당신을 아이처럼 보이게합니다." (Why do you wear pigtails? They make you look like a child.)
"할머니 께서 내 머리카락을 입었을 때 좋아했기 때문에." (Because grandmother liked it when I wore my hair like this.)
"어리석은 여자는 언급하지 마세요. 그녀가 세상을 축복합니다." (Ugh, don't mention that daft woman. Bless the world that she's gone.)
Alice clenched her teeth and bit her tongue, stifling her tears so they would not fall in front of her mother. Alice knew this woman didn't like her own mother, but it was always difficult for her to hear her mother speak that way about her beloved grandma. Even with all her strength and willpower, Alice could not stop herself from cracking as her eyes began to water. Mrs. Kirkland openly scoffed at her and sent her a warning glare to stop appearing that way. To not be weak. Which is absolutely forbidden.
"나는 너에게 실망했다. 다음 2 주 동안 학교를 제외하고이 집을 떠나지 않아야합니다. 해산." (I'm disappointed in you. You are not to leave this house except for school for the next fortnight. Dismissed.)
Alice nodded slowly, still not speaking, and let herself out. She really hated talking to her mother.
Just as her mother had commanded her, Alice came straight home after school, doing any council work needed at home. Upon learning that she was grounded most of her siblings were shocked as she was usually the golden student, except for her oldest brother Scott, who seemed proud in a way. Her friends had sympathetic; Kiku, Lucas, and Vlad especially. Ludwig had already been furious when she saw him the first monday after she became grounded because she had missed bash on friday, and now he was even more pissed because they'd have to miss two more performances without her because of her punishment and broken wrist.
Kiku and Alfred both offered to carry her things while at school when they were with to help her out, Alice would usually let Kiku carry them as a sort of spiteful joke on Alfred. Not out of spite, she just found the way he would complain about it funny and adorable.
During the first week of her punishment, Lucas and Vladimir had introduced her to their club, The Hellfire Club, a club she had already known about, but didn't bother to join before. She had to admit it was fun, she'd never really been into role playing before but this intrigued her. Of course Alfred only used this as material to make fun of her and call her a geek.
Speaking of Alfred, ever since she had given him her number, using one of Dylan's old phones as he keeps all of his old devices to tinker with, he had begun to text her constantly in class and after school, saying it was because she had to head home immediately and they couldn't hang out together anymore.
Alfred texted both Alice and England often over the next two weeks, but she noticed differences in the way he talked with both of them. For one, he was a lot more annoying and mocking when he chatted with Alice, but in a way that was a lot more friendly and casual. It was hard to describe the way he texted England, because it was hard to decipher his tone when his voice wasn't heard. But she was able to tell that his writing seemed a little more… mandatory, as if the real reason he texted her was because it was required of him. Most of his texts were simple Good mornings, Good nights and words of affection, real conversation seemed to be lacking. He didn't even send her pictures of rabbits or memes anymore, any funny image he had went to Alice.
It became stranger in the second week when he began to question why she couldn't see him. She hated it, but Alice was forced to lie to him again.
Alfred: Why is it that you couldn't see me for the past two weeks?
You: Because of my family.
Alfred: What'd they do?
You: We were helping my oldest brother move out for Uni.
Alfred: Isn't it a little early to be graduating and moving on to university?
Fucking shit, she didn't think about that.
You: Well, we're home schooled so we finished early.
Alfred: Couldn't he have waited until summer to move?
You: His college is in Scotland, so he needed to find a place first and get a job.
Alfred: I thought he already had a place, you said your family helped him move in.
You: He does! It's just that he finally found a place last week.
Alfred: So why did he need your help for two weeks if he only just found a place last week?
Bollocks he was bloody good.
You: Packing and transporting! The first week was spent packing his things, and the second was taking it all up there and getting him settled in.
Alfred: Why did you start packing when he didn't have a place yet?
You: We like to be prepared!
Alfred: Well, okay then. I'm glad you're back.
Alfred usually didn't question her as England, even when she was obviously being fishy about something, so this was a new occurrence. If she didn't know better, she'd say that his tone was slightly angry and accusing. What was going on with Alfred? It's like their relationship is shifting somehow because he's never been like this before, almost as if they were drifting apart.
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Hey sorry for the long wait, school is only getting more difficult and a lot has been going on in my life recently and I haven't really had the time for fanfiction. Am I doing a good job at transitioning Alfred's feelings from England to Alice? I don't want to be too fast nor too slow about it. If you were wondering, the language Alice was speaking with her mother was Korean.
I don't like her mother. (even though I'm the one who created her)
Please give me feedback in the reviews, I really want to know what you guys think.
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