Hetalia – Of Magic and Might
Another chapter! thank you for reading!
Enjoy!
Clocktower plaza, The Tea Room, Arthur Kirkland's Apartment
Alfred opened the heavy wooden door to Arthur's apartment building and gasped, the large apartment had two layers with a grated metal landing separating the two floors and allowed the skylight built into the ceiling to shine through the open space onto the first floor. There was a huge glass window that spanned the length of both floors opposite the door, at the foot of the window sat a large cream sofa with a dark rectangle coffee table in front of it. On the left wall to the entrance was a spiral staircase leading to the second floor and further along that wall there was a kitchen with an old Victorian stove with marble counters and a black ice box that was used as a fridge.
The west wall similar to the café, was lined with stuffed bookcases with a single mahogany door beside the closest bookshelf to the entrance. At the centre of the room was a large rounded oaken table with several mismatched chairs surrounding it. On the second floor Alfred could just see two more separate mahogany doors with one being on the west side of the apartment and other being on the east.
Alfred had guessed that apartments around Clocktower plaza would be expensive and grand, but actually experiencing that wealth was a whole other matter!. Francis breezed past Alfred and walked over to the kitchen where he pulled out two glasses from a kitchen cupboard.
"Would you like a drink?" Francis asked holding up the glasses and chuckling slightly at Alfred's awestruck expression.
"Um, er… What?" Alfred said trying to gather his thoughts together and process Francis' question, "Uh beer please". Francis nodded once and opened the ice box reaching in to grab a bottle and pour its liquor into the glass, as he did this Alfred walked slowly into the sunlight that beamed through the skylight and sat numbly down on a stool by the round table.
"Thank you" Alfred said as Francis handed him his drink and returned to the kitchen to pour a espresso for himself. "So you live here with Arthur?" Alfred asked, to then be answered by Francis' amused laugh.
"Ah qui, just mon Arthur et moi" Francis answered with a exaggerated happy sigh, Alfred looked around the expansive room again and took a large swig at his beer.
"So are you two like, 'together' together or…?" Alfred asked cautiously not trying to offend his generous host who just smiled and shook his head, causing his golden locks to sway little over his face.
"Hon hon, I wish mon ami. Non Arthur and I are not in a relationship, the reason I stay is because of an unfortunate incident. Arthur was kind enough to take me in and we have been running the Tea room from then, the apartment is beau non?" Alfred nodded in agreement as Francis snipped his coffee, a muted noise coming from the second floor started to become more defined.
"Now just rest there Kiku, if you feel the need to be sick again there's a bowl beside your bed. I'll be downstairs preparing some tea, the most important thing now is for you to rest so you get it out of your system. Call if you need anything" The Englishman's voice could be heard as he closed a door on to Kiku's temporary bedroom. Arthur walked across the metal walkway and spied Alfred and Francis sitting at the round table sitting together.
"Francis, Kiku will be staying in your room for a spree as he recovers...and aren't you meant to be down stairs serving customers!" Arthur yelled down to Francis who lazily tilted his head back and closed both eyes.
"Downstairs was beginning to bore me without you to tease. Why does the sick one have to be in my room anyway? What about the guest rooms?" Francis replied huffing as Arthur walked down the spiral stairs and up to the head of the table.
"Because I don't want the smell of sick in those rooms, that's why genius"
"But you would have it in my room! You wound me Arthur, you should hold me in higher regards. Let not deny the fact that I am the main reason we have so many revisiting customers non?" Arthur and Francis continued to argue with each other with insults getting more colourful and creative. Alfred decided he couldn't take anymore and slammed his fist onto the table causing his bottle to bounce a little and his hosts to silence in shock.
"Would the both of you give it a rest! Kiku is trying to sleep up there and you two aren't letting him catch a wink!" Alfred said angrily looking between the two men who had both started to look rather ashamed.
"Look sorry Alfie, I didn't mean to-" Arthur began only to be cut off by Alfred.
"It's Alfred, my name is Alfred Jones"
"Right sorry, Alfred. I didn't mean to get carried away, Francis seems to bring out the worse in me" Arthur finished with a sigh, walked towards the kitchen and fished out a tea pot. Alfred stood up and began to wonder over to the massive window, peering out he could see the busy plaza below and in the distance he could make out the shape of the palace. Casting his eyes downward he catch sight of a thick leather bound book resting open on the coffee table, drawn on its yellowed pages was what looked to be a circle with various runes written inside it.
Curious Alfred took a step closer and peered so that he could read the heading of the page, which was simply headed 'Magic circles'. Alfred lifted the book so he could read the title on the spine of the book, 'The Rights and Wrongs of Rituals'. Why on earth did Arthur and Francis own a book containing information about magic?.
Alfred's movement caught Arthur's eyes from the kitchen and they widened at the sight of Alfred holding his stupidly left out magic book, Arthur dropped what he was doing and dashed over to Alfred snatching the book from his grasp.
"That's nothing! It's mine, an old keepsake you know" Arthur laughed nervously and jogged over to the wall of bookcases to jam the book back into its rightfully place. Alfred looked suspiciously over to Arthur and then to Francis who was pretending to be engrossed in flavouring his coffee.
"Okaayyyy, whatever dude. If you didn't want me to look at your stuff then don't invite me to look by leaving it out in the open" Alfred said slowly, thinking how overly protective Arthur was being about his possessions and what was with it being a magic book? Magic books had all been burnt and their owners hunted down when Empire Ivan invaded. There was nothing magical left in the world.
"I wasn't inviting you to look idiot! That's bad manners especially as I have your sick friend under my care, maybe if you had some brains in your inflated head then you would know not to take drugs from shady characters. Which by the way led to your partner becoming ill in the first place!" Arthur returned turning his nose up and stomping over to his waiting to be made cuppa.
"Hey hey hey! Look I'm grateful for what your doing for Kiku but don't blame me for your carelessness, eyebrows!" Alfred argued fiercely not backing down for Arthur's challenge. Arthur set down the kettle he had just used to pour hot water into his China tea set and looked like he was about to throw himself at the American when Francis stood up, his chair causing a loud squealing sound that echoed through the space.
"Usually I enjoy a good argument, but this is too much for me. Your patient is trying to rest Arthur so for his sake stop arguing , please" Francis said before sitting back down. Arthur didn't bother to reply and simply returned to concentrating on his tea while still scowling.
Alfred returned to his seat at the round table and tried to gather his confused thoughts again, resting his chin on his arms. This guy Arthur was a mystery, he was loud mouthed and could argue for the Empire but he had also heard him be surprisingly gentle when talking to Kiku. There was the question of that book as well, Arthur had looked liked he had choked when he saw Alfred holding it. The question was why?
The plot thickens! Thank you for reading and please if you have time please leave a review and follow this story, support and interest means a lot and encourages me to keep writing. Next time! Kiku recovers and the duo set off once again on their mission to the palace but will Alfred find out about Arthur's mysterious secret?
Till Next Time!