Summer Camp (July 27) Something There
July 27: Something There-
Title: Lost, Late, Lectured, Loved.
Word Count: 1,766
Genre: Fantasy?, Romance, Fluff
Rating: K+
Summary: England reveals himself to be quite a Beast when he refuses to allow America into his house on a cold, rainy night. He pays for such a mistake later on.
---
“Uh, you sure this is the address?” America asked cautiously. The cabbie driver looked pretty sure of himself, though, and America never really had the heart to argue with too many of England’s citizens. With a shrug, he took his bags out of the car and walked around the block-
Only to be met with absolutely no sign of England’s house.
“H-Hey, wait!” America called after the cab, but it was already too far away. With a frown, America turned and, with some hesitation, started to head through the unfamiliar streets.
Within a few minutes, he’d gotten away from the shelter of the hangings above him, and he was suddenly aware that it was raining.
America just sighed and took his jacket off, draping it over his suitcase to protect his belongings.
---
Hours had passed before any of the scenery seemed familiar.
There was a rather shady mansion within sight-finally-and America smiled in relief, tempted to run the rest of the way there. Only the cobblestone path-rough on his suitcase-kept him from going any faster.
Only when America finally got past the rickety gate and to the front door did he check his watch. He was supposed to have arrived over four and a half hours ago.
England would not be happy.
Still, he couldn’t turn him away, could he?
America hesitated a moment, but knocked on the door nonetheless. The first time he knocked, he did it quietly, as if he was genuinely afraid of England’s behavior-which he totally wasn’t! When no one came to the door after a minute, he knocked again, louder. And then again, and again, until finally he heard someone start to move inside the house.
England appeared at the door all too quickly to have been too far away to hear the knocking.
“What do you want?” England snapped the second he opened the door.
America blinked up at him, and it was just bad luck that he sneezed-several times-before he could say anything. After the sneezing fit had subsided, he looked back to the other nation with bleary eyes. “Hey, England.” His voice was fortunately clear, though the rest of his senses weren’t so fortunate. “Sorry I’m late. The cabby dropped me off at the wrong place…”
“You’ve been here before,” England said, still cross. “You should have just stayed in the cab until he took you to the right place.”
“Dude, I haven’t been here in a while and I hadn’t been paying much attention, okay?” America argued, crossing his arms and trying not to shiver. The outside seemed so much colder now that he could feel the heat leaking out of the house. “The driver seemed like he knew what he was doing, anyways…”
“Seemed to?” England asked, raising an eyebrow. When America didn’t answer, he frowned all the wider. “Exactly how far away did he drop you off?”
“I’ve been walking for four and a half hours, England,” America said, his face showing no emotion but exhaustion. “Are you going to let me in or not?”
England hesitated, then finally his features hardened, and with a resolute, “No,” he slammed the door on America’s face.
America, startled by how sudden it all was, jumped back with a yelp, landing on his rear and managing to soak himself further in the puddles around England’s door. With a miserable groan-completely unpathetic, he’d have you know-he got back to his feet before going right back to the front door. He sat by it, trying to savor any of the remaining heat from the inside.
A few minutes passed, and finally America gave in and started to knock again, but he heard the click of a lock on the door (and checked, just to be sure that England hadn’t been unlocking it, and of course he hadn’t). Slumping against the frame of the door, America decided that sleep was welcome, and was just about to lay his head down-
He heard another click of a lock, and instantly startled to full alert. Upon checking the door again, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it opened easily.
America cautiously went inside, leaving his shoes by the door (as he knew very well that he’d be lectured even worse if England found that he’d left tracks on the floor). The house was dark, though, and America didn’t see England anywhere. He didn’t see anyone, actually, and was starting to get creeped out (because who the heck unlocked the door then?) as he walked through the dead-silent living room.
“Hello?” he finally ventured. “Is… anyone there?”
He startled when he heard a giggle near his ear, and then, a girl’s voice. “I hope England’s okay with letting America in like this…”
“Shhh, he might hear!” a second voice said, slightly lower pitched than the first, but distinctly feminine.
“He can’t hear us, silly!” the first said, giggling again.
However, when America startled at the conversation, the two voices let out shrill ‘eeps!’ and then he couldn’t hear anything except for the clock ticking in the far corner.
“H…Hello?” America asked again, trying not to trip over himself. “L-Look, it’s dark and I’m freezing so if you’re just going to laugh at me then-”
Whatever he’d been going to say died on his lips, because right then the fireplace by the chair lit up, and the lights in the house turned on. America blinked around in surprise.
“…Thank you. Thank you very, very much.” He moved quickly towards the fireplace, curling up on his side on the floor, as the chair looked a bit intimidating. When he still shivered, he was slightly surprised to find a blanket appear from seemingly nowhere. It was carefully draped around him, and America relaxed into the warmth. A pillow came at him, too, and slid right under his head. Again, he mumbled a ‘Thank you.’ Within seconds, he’d fallen asleep.
---
America awoke to a roar. He startled awake-nearly falling into the fire-and stared up at a giant… well, Beast. It had hair all over, especially on the forehead (where it was darkened in two thick patches, as if the beast had… eyebrows… of a sort), and it had huge paws with claws. There were thick tusks protruding from its mouth, too. The only things non-monstrous about it were its eyes, which were a curious shade of green…
“Dare you enter my home uninvited?!” the creature snarled, taking a swipe at America, who once again would have been a roasted nation had the fireplace not suddenly extinguished itself.
“I-I-It was dark, okay, and I was completely soaked and you can’t seriously have expected me not to find shelter when it was so cold and-and-and then the door suddenly unlocked and what was I supposed to do, just ignore it, forget that, I was cold and it was freezing out there, not even joking, and I just really wanted to get warm-” America had slipped into nervous babbling, spitting out words as quickly as humanly possible.
“Enough!” the Beast roared, snarling at him again. “You’ll get out of my house this instant!”
“I-Yeah, no problem, can do, just I’d really prefer to be shown the way out ‘cause this is a really, really big house and-” Lighting struck, with thunder following, and America’s eyes filled up with frightened tears. He flailed uselessly for just a moment before his back collided with the ground, and found that he was staring up into those same green eyes.
“What are you still doing out here?”
---
“What are you still doing out here?!” England demanded, upon opening the door and finding that America was still waiting outside. Not only that, but when he’d opened the door, America had been leaning against it, probably asleep, and the nation fell backwards, landing hard on his back before staring, slightly shocked, up to England’s face, not breaking contact with his eyes.
“I-What…” America blinked, trying to get some of the fuzziness out of his mind. “But-I-You… I was… And weren’t you just right over…”
England considered him a moment before crouching down and pressing a hand to America’s forehead. He swore loudly, which made America pretty sure it was a pretty high-ish temperature. With a sigh, England picked the other nation up, hands under his armpits, and drug him inside, all the while muttering about idiots who walked around in the rain.
“Wait, now you let me in?” America demanded, swatting the hands away from him since they’d already arrived at the living room. “Why not before?”
“You were late and I figured you’d just walk down the street to the Inn,” England said with a shrug. “Obviously you were too much of an idiot to figure that out.” He paused, then as an afterthought added, “And I didn’t think you’d actually get sick from something like this.”
“Dude, I sneezed on you like fifty times,” America deadpanned. “Seriously?”
“So I might have kicked you out a bit too quickly,” England reasoned, and it was as much of an apology as he was willing to give. “Fine. I’ll admit it. Now just sleep by the fire if you don’t want that cold to last ‘till morning.” And with that he turned the fireplace on, and it roared to life.
“’Kay,” America agreed with a yawn, as the fireplace really did look pretty cozy. “But you’ve gotta agree to be nice from now on.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” England snapped, but produced a blanket nonetheless, easily draping it over the other nation’s frame. Without hesitating a moment, he turned on his heel and walked directly to the stairs, presumably to get up to his room. However, he paused at the stairs.
“What’re you waiting for?” America asked, cracking one eye open.
“You…” England hesitated, before hardening his expression and nearly glaring at the other. “You will join me for dinner tomorrow night. That is not a request.” And before the other could register what he’d said, he stormed up the stairs. The slam of a door signaled the official end to that conversation.
“…Alright?” America said, and he’d have been confused if he had the energy to be.
However, before he could fully nod off, he could have sworn he heard a few high-pitched voices, the same he’d heard in his dream.
“Something’s… there now, I think,” the first said.
“Yes, I don’t think it was there before.”
A song that America swore he’d heard before lulled him to sleep.