A Quarter Of (1/3)
Title: A Quarter Of
Genre: Romance/Fluff (because I can't seem to write anything else)
Pairings/Characters: England/America, France, Canada
Rating/Warnings: OFCs, headcanon
Summary: Whenever England is in London, he lives out a private life hidden from the other nations. He works at an old-fashioned sweet shop. One day America stumbles onto his secret.
I finally got going on the deanoned version of this after I met an actual old lady called Lavender. She wore lavender coloured clothes as well and she was brilliant. Again thank you so much to the kink meme people who commented on it, I've been going through and reading them again and I still can't stop smiling at them. Especially OP's. And I will be working on a sequel - I've already got a couple of ideas. It will get posted it though even if I end up filling another request on the meme.
England walked quickly away from the hotel where the meetings had been taking place. The other nations could find their way back to their rooms fine, he had fulfilled his part as the host country. He darted down an alley short cut and appeared right outside James and Brown. The shop was along one of London's side streets which had virtually no traffic running along it. The window at the front was small but England knew that the shop far back and had more room than it appeared. Veering off to the side, he went in the staff entrance that led to behind the counter in the shop as well as to the two apartments on top of the shop. England had bought one of them and now rented it out to Miss Brown and Miss James, on the condition that they let him work at the shop for a few hours whenever he, or they, needed it.
"Mr Kirkland, we were worried that you wouldn't show up," Miss Brown greeted him from where she was setting up the display for the day. "The children will be coming out from school soon and you know that is our busiest time." Despite being centuries younger than him, Miss Brown managed to make England feel like a small child himself and he apologised profusely. Miss Brown accepted it with a nod, re-pinning her snow white hair as it fell forward onto her face.
"Don't be too harsh on him Lavender, this is not his main job after all," Miss James said as she filled up the jars behind the counter. "What was it this time Arthur? Was it that lecherous Frenchman? Or the quiet Canadian? Or maybe your American love?" Miss James' lined face was lit up with a teasing smile as Arthur flushed a bright red.
"He's not- we're not like that!" Arthur protested, causing Miss James and Miss Brown to giggle as if they were school girls again. Forcing the colour down from his cheeks, Arthur asked calmly, "now what is you want done at the moment Miss James?"
"Call me Margaret, Arthur. Sometimes you're more traditional than me," Miss James answered as she finished with the last of the jars. "Could you taste this sweet for me? It's a new one Lavvie and I developed for Hallowe'en." Miss James held up a small tray of sweets and Arthur leaned forward to allow Miss James to put the round, orange sweet on his tongue. As soon as she did so, the sweet started to fizz and caused Arthur's eyes to water. The sour taste caused Arthur to scrunch up his face. Even though he had eaten sour sweets before, this sweet seemed to be one of the best. As the sweet got to the middle, Arthur prepared himself for it to end but instead there was another burst of flavour that almost exploded in Arthur's mouth.
"Wow," Arthur gasped as the sweet finished. "Definitely a keeper." Miss James smiled at the expression on Arthur's face.
"We call it Fizz, Bang and Wallop. With good reason as you found out." Arthur nodded, swiping a finger in the sugar from the tray and sucking it dry. Miss James swiped at his hand and Arthur dodged with a grin.
"I can see that being a hit. Especially for dares," Miss Brown explained to Arthur.
"Definitely. It's worth it for the last kick at the end," Arthur agreed, settling into his role behind the counter as the clock struck three and the three of them started to prepare for their busiest time: the end of the school day.
Half an hour later, the shop was filled with chattering school children, causing Arthur to smile. He did like children, especially the English children, even though he tried to keep it a secret from the other nations.
"Excuse me, how much is it for the Catherine Wheels?" A small girl, about ten years of age, asked quietly so Arthur had to bend to hear her.
"They are one pound fifty for ten, fifteen pence for one," Arthur answered, smiling down at her. She grinned back.
"Cool! I have 50p, how many can I get for that?"
"You can get three with five pence change," Arthur replied, reaching down for the pincers underneath the counter. The girl titled her head, looking curious.
"What can I get for 5p?"
"Um... a flying saucer," Arthur replied, working out the maths in his head. "And you still get two pence change." She nodded, finally happy and Arthur handed her the order and the change.
"What can I get for five quid?" One of the boys said rudely, cutting off the girl's thanks.
"You're welcome," Arthur said to the girl, ignoring the boy whose eyes narrowed. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?" She nodded and disappeared into the crowds of people. Now Arthur turned to the boy. "Sorry I didn't quite get that, can you repeat it please?" Arthur asked, adding some emphasis on the 'please' as a small hint.
"I wanted to know what I can get for five pounds, old man." Arthur felt his eye twitching as he looked down at the boy. He decided that, as his country, he had the right to correct the boy's manners.
"You are more likely to get people to listen to you if you don't insult them by calling them old and if you say please and thank you. Now try that request again," Arthur hissed so only the boy could hear him. The boy paled and nodded.
"Er- please sir, can I, I mean can you tell me what can I get for five pounds?" Arthur nodded, now giving the boy the same smile he gave to the girl earlier. With his blonde hair and blue eyes, the boy reminded Arthur of another rude little boy that had kept interrupting him.
"What's your name?" The boy gulped.
"Oh please don't tell my mum, she won't let me on the TV for a week!" The boy answered desperately and Arthur shook his head.
"I'm not going to tell your mum, even though you should be continuing to use your manners wherever you are, whether your mum's there or not." The boy relaxed and nodded.
"My name's Billy. Sir." He said, adding the 'sir' just to make sure that Arthur knew he was being polite.
"Hello Billy, my name is Arthur. Now for five pounds, you can get quite a lot. Maybe if you tell me what you would like, then I could recommend something."
"Well I like toffee and chocolate. And it's my mum's birthday soon and she wants some of the sweets she had when she was younger. It's like chocolate in these little cupcake cases."
"Cake cases or fairy cake cases. Cupcake cases is American. It sounds like your mum likes Ice Cups, they are chocolate fondant-type mixtures in little foil cake cases. Apparently it's like Nutella but I've never had that so I wouldn't know. And maybe you'll like to taste the Chocolate Fudge?" Billy looked interested, leaning forward over the counter. Arthur handed him a sliver from the free samples and as Billy tasted it, his eyes lit up.
"This is brilliant! How much are they?"
"Both the ice cups and the chocolate fudge are two pounds twenty for a quarter. That means you'll have sixty pence left over."
"Awesome!" Billy called as he handed over the money and Arthur gave him the sweets and his change. Arthur blinked at the resemblance between the boy and his once-colony but the next moment it was gone as Billy was thanking him. America did not thank people, he took their help as his due and carried on as normal. Billy disappeared into the crowd with Arthur waving at him.
The next boy that came up had brown hair and brown eyes and a manner that reminded Arthur of Canada.
"Please could I have a quarter of the Apple and Custard?" He asked quietly and Arthur smiled softly. He had always felt slightly guilty for favouring America over Canada, even when Canada was such a good colony. There was always a slight barrier between them though, especially after Canada had come to England from France and the American Revolutionary War so soon afterwards.
"Of course. Would that be all?" Arthur asked, watching the boy's expression lighten as he handed him the bag. The boy paid and Arthur handed back his change.
"Come on James, let's go." An older boy with the same coloured eyes came up behind the boy, looking impatient.
"I was just saying thank you John," James answered firmly, before turning back to Arthur and saying, "thank you."
"You're very welcome," Arthur replied and waved goodbye to the boy. Miss Brown stopped as she was on her way to the back and said to Arthur in a low voice,
"The way you act around these children, it's like they are all your children." She moved on quickly to help a child who had spilled a jar onto the floor but Arthur smiled at the thought. They were all his children, even more so now that he had no more true colonies left.
The shop shut at eight o'clock, after the last few people came in for something sweet after dinner. Arthur stretched, feeling pleasantly tired as he did so and rolled a pear drop on his tongue.
"I do miss them all when they go," Miss James sighed as she cleared up the sweets that had fallen to the floor. Arthur started to wipe down the counter and the other surfaces.
"It is quite nice seeing their excited faces," Miss Brown commented as she sealed the jars again.
"One of the best parts of running a sweet shop."
"Along with trying the goods," Miss James reminded her friend who nodded in agreement. Arthur smiled at the two ladies. He admired how they were trying to keep a small part of tradition going; bringing back the sweets they remembered as a child and all the fond memories that came with them.
"Thanks for your help Arthur. Are you coming back tomorrow?" Miss Brown asked and Arthur nodded.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it." When they had finished tidying up, Arthur bid them goodbye and headed into the cold London street. He had pulled his scarf tighter around him, the weather had been unusually warm last week so now it was making up for it by reminding everyone that it was nearing winter, and started down one of the alleyways back to the hotel.
"Hey England!" England jumped, his heart stopping and then starting again as he recovered from his shock.
"Did you forget we're in public?" England hissed to the figure of America who was now crossing the empty street, lit only by street lamps. America just rolled his eyes.
"Fine Arthur." Ignoring the tightening in his gut at America calling him by his human name, he should be used to it by now, Arthur continued on walking. He walked briskly in the cold air meaning that America had to jog to catch up with him. "Hey Arthur, what were you doing at that sweet shop? It looked like you were working there but you already have a job," America said cheerfully but in his peripheral vision, England could see America watching him closely. It was a good thing that England noticed this, he managed to conceal his reaction to one of the other nations finding out about his private life. They all had one, a life where they could interact with their people, where they could connect with their people again. However they were intensely private for nations, even more so than their sex life, and for another nation to know about it was a very intimate thing.
"America you can't just do that," England insisted, trying to keep his voice calm and quiet, even though he had stopped in the alleyway. "It's rude and it's private. For you to just walk up to me and tell me you know, that's a violation - of me - of my life. America, why would you do that?" England raised his eyes off the ground to America who was looking stricken.
"I- I didn't realise it was so important." America gulped visibly and his uncharacteristic nervousness settled England's anger somewhat.
"Did no one ever tell you? I know I was going to teach it to you when you got older but then the war happened." No need for America to ask which war. "Didn't that frog teach you?" England asked bitterly, trying not to focus on the other things that France taught America.
"No he didn't really do much. I think he just expected me to know it all," America explained, being so very open about his ignorance, in a way that England could not imagine being. "But what's the big deal?" England searched his mind for a way to explain it to America, a way to explain how England felt when he discovered America had found out about the sweet shop. Then he lit on something that Mexico had mentioned a long time ago.
"It's as if someone just took your glasses right off your face without asking you." America paled at England's words. So he did understand. "It's an invasion of my privacy America and it's incredibly rude." England drove the point home and now America looked slightly sick. Maybe he should not have been so graphic, it was not entirely similar after all. From what England had gathered, America's glasses were Texas and to remove them without his permission would be almost a violation of his body, like chopping off an arm.
"I'm so sorry England, I didn't realise, I thought it was just you being all secretive like you normally are and I just wanted to know where you were going off to, you didn't hear me calling to you at the end and you seemed really preoccupied and I thought that maybe something bad had happened or you had a problem and you didn't feel like you could tell anyone about it. Then I saw the candy shop and you looked so happy and the shop looks really cool so I hung around for a bit and then came back when it closed." America took a breath as England tried to process the frantic babbling. From what he could tell was America did not follow him out of malicious intent, but rather he was worried about him, and that he was interested in the sweet shop.
"That's all right Alfred, breathe." America looked happier as England relaxed. "If you really like the look of it, I can take you there tomorrow," England said before he realised the words had even come into his brain. America, the idiot, did not even seem to realise the magnitude of what England had done.
"That would be awesome Arthur! I could help out if you wanted and do any of the heavy lifting that the bosses wanted doing." America was still talking while England's brain was still trying to get around the fact that he had asked America to come with him. To come into his private life and meet the people England knew; it was more intimate than any physical act.
"You can't tell anyone though Alfred. God knows they might decide to follow us like you did," England said, not taking it back like he planned, but actually confirming the invitation! What was wrong with his mind?
"Sure, but most nations wouldn't, would they?" America asked, now uncertain again on this branch of nation etiquette.
"Some would, especially to me," England replied, not mentioning the teasing that England would gain if the other nations found out that he had invited America to be a part of his private life. America frowned at England's answer, but continued on.
"Hey maybe you could come to one of my baseball games when I get home. It would be really cool if you could see it." England drew in a breath. America was inviting England into his private life to match. Oh God, he was going to hyperventilate.
"Arthur? You okay?" America's uncertain voice broke through England's panic. "Did I say something wrong?" England managed to shake his head.
"No, no it's fine. It's just, do you understand what you're asking?" England asked, his heart suddenly deciding to speed up in anticipation of America's answer.
"Yeah, it's like asking you to take off my glasses. That big of a thing. But I trust you Arthur, why wouldn't I?" Again England's mind stuttered to a halt. It seemed that only America had that talent to do that to him.
"Then yes, I would love to come and watch you play baseball," England said, slightly more formally than he thought he would be after accepting an invitation like this. Of course he had thought that this invitation would come after he had been in a relationship with a nation for many years, a relationship not based on political ties. It did not matter that he had hoped - dreamed - that America would be the one that he would be in a relationship with.
"It's not me playing baseball Iggy!" America said, laughing at him which caused England to huff.
"Don't call me Iggy," England interjected before America continued,
"It's the kids in this town, Vienna, in Virginia. I teach them how to play baseball and then they have games against other Little League teams. That's where my ranch is as well." America rambled on about baseball and divulging more details of his private life (did that boy have no shame?) as they walked back to the hotel. When they arrived, America nodded goodbye to England.
"See you tomorrow Arthur." He walked down the corridor to his room.
"You too Alfred," England called, slightly too late as America had already gone around the corner. Tomorrow would be interesting.
Next parts will be up soon. Have to go to work now.
Genre: Romance/Fluff (because I can't seem to write anything else)
Pairings/Characters: England/America, France, Canada
Rating/Warnings: OFCs, headcanon
Summary: Whenever England is in London, he lives out a private life hidden from the other nations. He works at an old-fashioned sweet shop. One day America stumbles onto his secret.
I finally got going on the deanoned version of this after I met an actual old lady called Lavender. She wore lavender coloured clothes as well and she was brilliant. Again thank you so much to the kink meme people who commented on it, I've been going through and reading them again and I still can't stop smiling at them. Especially OP's. And I will be working on a sequel - I've already got a couple of ideas. It will get posted it though even if I end up filling another request on the meme.
England walked quickly away from the hotel where the meetings had been taking place. The other nations could find their way back to their rooms fine, he had fulfilled his part as the host country. He darted down an alley short cut and appeared right outside James and Brown. The shop was along one of London's side streets which had virtually no traffic running along it. The window at the front was small but England knew that the shop far back and had more room than it appeared. Veering off to the side, he went in the staff entrance that led to behind the counter in the shop as well as to the two apartments on top of the shop. England had bought one of them and now rented it out to Miss Brown and Miss James, on the condition that they let him work at the shop for a few hours whenever he, or they, needed it.
"Mr Kirkland, we were worried that you wouldn't show up," Miss Brown greeted him from where she was setting up the display for the day. "The children will be coming out from school soon and you know that is our busiest time." Despite being centuries younger than him, Miss Brown managed to make England feel like a small child himself and he apologised profusely. Miss Brown accepted it with a nod, re-pinning her snow white hair as it fell forward onto her face.
"Don't be too harsh on him Lavender, this is not his main job after all," Miss James said as she filled up the jars behind the counter. "What was it this time Arthur? Was it that lecherous Frenchman? Or the quiet Canadian? Or maybe your American love?" Miss James' lined face was lit up with a teasing smile as Arthur flushed a bright red.
"He's not- we're not like that!" Arthur protested, causing Miss James and Miss Brown to giggle as if they were school girls again. Forcing the colour down from his cheeks, Arthur asked calmly, "now what is you want done at the moment Miss James?"
"Call me Margaret, Arthur. Sometimes you're more traditional than me," Miss James answered as she finished with the last of the jars. "Could you taste this sweet for me? It's a new one Lavvie and I developed for Hallowe'en." Miss James held up a small tray of sweets and Arthur leaned forward to allow Miss James to put the round, orange sweet on his tongue. As soon as she did so, the sweet started to fizz and caused Arthur's eyes to water. The sour taste caused Arthur to scrunch up his face. Even though he had eaten sour sweets before, this sweet seemed to be one of the best. As the sweet got to the middle, Arthur prepared himself for it to end but instead there was another burst of flavour that almost exploded in Arthur's mouth.
"Wow," Arthur gasped as the sweet finished. "Definitely a keeper." Miss James smiled at the expression on Arthur's face.
"We call it Fizz, Bang and Wallop. With good reason as you found out." Arthur nodded, swiping a finger in the sugar from the tray and sucking it dry. Miss James swiped at his hand and Arthur dodged with a grin.
"I can see that being a hit. Especially for dares," Miss Brown explained to Arthur.
"Definitely. It's worth it for the last kick at the end," Arthur agreed, settling into his role behind the counter as the clock struck three and the three of them started to prepare for their busiest time: the end of the school day.
Half an hour later, the shop was filled with chattering school children, causing Arthur to smile. He did like children, especially the English children, even though he tried to keep it a secret from the other nations.
"Excuse me, how much is it for the Catherine Wheels?" A small girl, about ten years of age, asked quietly so Arthur had to bend to hear her.
"They are one pound fifty for ten, fifteen pence for one," Arthur answered, smiling down at her. She grinned back.
"Cool! I have 50p, how many can I get for that?"
"You can get three with five pence change," Arthur replied, reaching down for the pincers underneath the counter. The girl titled her head, looking curious.
"What can I get for 5p?"
"Um... a flying saucer," Arthur replied, working out the maths in his head. "And you still get two pence change." She nodded, finally happy and Arthur handed her the order and the change.
"What can I get for five quid?" One of the boys said rudely, cutting off the girl's thanks.
"You're welcome," Arthur said to the girl, ignoring the boy whose eyes narrowed. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?" She nodded and disappeared into the crowds of people. Now Arthur turned to the boy. "Sorry I didn't quite get that, can you repeat it please?" Arthur asked, adding some emphasis on the 'please' as a small hint.
"I wanted to know what I can get for five pounds, old man." Arthur felt his eye twitching as he looked down at the boy. He decided that, as his country, he had the right to correct the boy's manners.
"You are more likely to get people to listen to you if you don't insult them by calling them old and if you say please and thank you. Now try that request again," Arthur hissed so only the boy could hear him. The boy paled and nodded.
"Er- please sir, can I, I mean can you tell me what can I get for five pounds?" Arthur nodded, now giving the boy the same smile he gave to the girl earlier. With his blonde hair and blue eyes, the boy reminded Arthur of another rude little boy that had kept interrupting him.
"What's your name?" The boy gulped.
"Oh please don't tell my mum, she won't let me on the TV for a week!" The boy answered desperately and Arthur shook his head.
"I'm not going to tell your mum, even though you should be continuing to use your manners wherever you are, whether your mum's there or not." The boy relaxed and nodded.
"My name's Billy. Sir." He said, adding the 'sir' just to make sure that Arthur knew he was being polite.
"Hello Billy, my name is Arthur. Now for five pounds, you can get quite a lot. Maybe if you tell me what you would like, then I could recommend something."
"Well I like toffee and chocolate. And it's my mum's birthday soon and she wants some of the sweets she had when she was younger. It's like chocolate in these little cupcake cases."
"Cake cases or fairy cake cases. Cupcake cases is American. It sounds like your mum likes Ice Cups, they are chocolate fondant-type mixtures in little foil cake cases. Apparently it's like Nutella but I've never had that so I wouldn't know. And maybe you'll like to taste the Chocolate Fudge?" Billy looked interested, leaning forward over the counter. Arthur handed him a sliver from the free samples and as Billy tasted it, his eyes lit up.
"This is brilliant! How much are they?"
"Both the ice cups and the chocolate fudge are two pounds twenty for a quarter. That means you'll have sixty pence left over."
"Awesome!" Billy called as he handed over the money and Arthur gave him the sweets and his change. Arthur blinked at the resemblance between the boy and his once-colony but the next moment it was gone as Billy was thanking him. America did not thank people, he took their help as his due and carried on as normal. Billy disappeared into the crowd with Arthur waving at him.
The next boy that came up had brown hair and brown eyes and a manner that reminded Arthur of Canada.
"Please could I have a quarter of the Apple and Custard?" He asked quietly and Arthur smiled softly. He had always felt slightly guilty for favouring America over Canada, even when Canada was such a good colony. There was always a slight barrier between them though, especially after Canada had come to England from France and the American Revolutionary War so soon afterwards.
"Of course. Would that be all?" Arthur asked, watching the boy's expression lighten as he handed him the bag. The boy paid and Arthur handed back his change.
"Come on James, let's go." An older boy with the same coloured eyes came up behind the boy, looking impatient.
"I was just saying thank you John," James answered firmly, before turning back to Arthur and saying, "thank you."
"You're very welcome," Arthur replied and waved goodbye to the boy. Miss Brown stopped as she was on her way to the back and said to Arthur in a low voice,
"The way you act around these children, it's like they are all your children." She moved on quickly to help a child who had spilled a jar onto the floor but Arthur smiled at the thought. They were all his children, even more so now that he had no more true colonies left.
The shop shut at eight o'clock, after the last few people came in for something sweet after dinner. Arthur stretched, feeling pleasantly tired as he did so and rolled a pear drop on his tongue.
"I do miss them all when they go," Miss James sighed as she cleared up the sweets that had fallen to the floor. Arthur started to wipe down the counter and the other surfaces.
"It is quite nice seeing their excited faces," Miss Brown commented as she sealed the jars again.
"One of the best parts of running a sweet shop."
"Along with trying the goods," Miss James reminded her friend who nodded in agreement. Arthur smiled at the two ladies. He admired how they were trying to keep a small part of tradition going; bringing back the sweets they remembered as a child and all the fond memories that came with them.
"Thanks for your help Arthur. Are you coming back tomorrow?" Miss Brown asked and Arthur nodded.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it." When they had finished tidying up, Arthur bid them goodbye and headed into the cold London street. He had pulled his scarf tighter around him, the weather had been unusually warm last week so now it was making up for it by reminding everyone that it was nearing winter, and started down one of the alleyways back to the hotel.
"Hey England!" England jumped, his heart stopping and then starting again as he recovered from his shock.
"Did you forget we're in public?" England hissed to the figure of America who was now crossing the empty street, lit only by street lamps. America just rolled his eyes.
"Fine Arthur." Ignoring the tightening in his gut at America calling him by his human name, he should be used to it by now, Arthur continued on walking. He walked briskly in the cold air meaning that America had to jog to catch up with him. "Hey Arthur, what were you doing at that sweet shop? It looked like you were working there but you already have a job," America said cheerfully but in his peripheral vision, England could see America watching him closely. It was a good thing that England noticed this, he managed to conceal his reaction to one of the other nations finding out about his private life. They all had one, a life where they could interact with their people, where they could connect with their people again. However they were intensely private for nations, even more so than their sex life, and for another nation to know about it was a very intimate thing.
"America you can't just do that," England insisted, trying to keep his voice calm and quiet, even though he had stopped in the alleyway. "It's rude and it's private. For you to just walk up to me and tell me you know, that's a violation - of me - of my life. America, why would you do that?" England raised his eyes off the ground to America who was looking stricken.
"I- I didn't realise it was so important." America gulped visibly and his uncharacteristic nervousness settled England's anger somewhat.
"Did no one ever tell you? I know I was going to teach it to you when you got older but then the war happened." No need for America to ask which war. "Didn't that frog teach you?" England asked bitterly, trying not to focus on the other things that France taught America.
"No he didn't really do much. I think he just expected me to know it all," America explained, being so very open about his ignorance, in a way that England could not imagine being. "But what's the big deal?" England searched his mind for a way to explain it to America, a way to explain how England felt when he discovered America had found out about the sweet shop. Then he lit on something that Mexico had mentioned a long time ago.
"It's as if someone just took your glasses right off your face without asking you." America paled at England's words. So he did understand. "It's an invasion of my privacy America and it's incredibly rude." England drove the point home and now America looked slightly sick. Maybe he should not have been so graphic, it was not entirely similar after all. From what England had gathered, America's glasses were Texas and to remove them without his permission would be almost a violation of his body, like chopping off an arm.
"I'm so sorry England, I didn't realise, I thought it was just you being all secretive like you normally are and I just wanted to know where you were going off to, you didn't hear me calling to you at the end and you seemed really preoccupied and I thought that maybe something bad had happened or you had a problem and you didn't feel like you could tell anyone about it. Then I saw the candy shop and you looked so happy and the shop looks really cool so I hung around for a bit and then came back when it closed." America took a breath as England tried to process the frantic babbling. From what he could tell was America did not follow him out of malicious intent, but rather he was worried about him, and that he was interested in the sweet shop.
"That's all right Alfred, breathe." America looked happier as England relaxed. "If you really like the look of it, I can take you there tomorrow," England said before he realised the words had even come into his brain. America, the idiot, did not even seem to realise the magnitude of what England had done.
"That would be awesome Arthur! I could help out if you wanted and do any of the heavy lifting that the bosses wanted doing." America was still talking while England's brain was still trying to get around the fact that he had asked America to come with him. To come into his private life and meet the people England knew; it was more intimate than any physical act.
"You can't tell anyone though Alfred. God knows they might decide to follow us like you did," England said, not taking it back like he planned, but actually confirming the invitation! What was wrong with his mind?
"Sure, but most nations wouldn't, would they?" America asked, now uncertain again on this branch of nation etiquette.
"Some would, especially to me," England replied, not mentioning the teasing that England would gain if the other nations found out that he had invited America to be a part of his private life. America frowned at England's answer, but continued on.
"Hey maybe you could come to one of my baseball games when I get home. It would be really cool if you could see it." England drew in a breath. America was inviting England into his private life to match. Oh God, he was going to hyperventilate.
"Arthur? You okay?" America's uncertain voice broke through England's panic. "Did I say something wrong?" England managed to shake his head.
"No, no it's fine. It's just, do you understand what you're asking?" England asked, his heart suddenly deciding to speed up in anticipation of America's answer.
"Yeah, it's like asking you to take off my glasses. That big of a thing. But I trust you Arthur, why wouldn't I?" Again England's mind stuttered to a halt. It seemed that only America had that talent to do that to him.
"Then yes, I would love to come and watch you play baseball," England said, slightly more formally than he thought he would be after accepting an invitation like this. Of course he had thought that this invitation would come after he had been in a relationship with a nation for many years, a relationship not based on political ties. It did not matter that he had hoped - dreamed - that America would be the one that he would be in a relationship with.
"It's not me playing baseball Iggy!" America said, laughing at him which caused England to huff.
"Don't call me Iggy," England interjected before America continued,
"It's the kids in this town, Vienna, in Virginia. I teach them how to play baseball and then they have games against other Little League teams. That's where my ranch is as well." America rambled on about baseball and divulging more details of his private life (did that boy have no shame?) as they walked back to the hotel. When they arrived, America nodded goodbye to England.
"See you tomorrow Arthur." He walked down the corridor to his room.
"You too Alfred," England called, slightly too late as America had already gone around the corner. Tomorrow would be interesting.
Next parts will be up soon. Have to go to work now.