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TITLE: The Worrywart and The Grump.
AUTHOR:

shantari
RECIPIENT:

kyoko215
GENRE: General/humour.
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G, some cartoonish violence.
SUMMARY: Alfred invited Arthur over to show off the preparations of his awesome Christmas party, not knowing he'd end up missing the festivities because of the slightest of mishaps.
NOTES: Sorry that it is late, but I hope that it is still enjoyable.

Arthur looked at the text message he had received. Of what he could decode the from the atrocious grammar and vile "netspeak", Alfred had invited him over to come and see the preparations for his Christmas party. About to show off as usual. But Arthur guessed that it couldn't be helped, at least if one considered the failures of the previous years' attempts to bash that arrogant attitude out of the upstart. At least he felt that he had personally learned something from these failures, as he had decided not to bring any kind of decoration or present to impress Alfred with this year. Which was a fortunate decision, all things considered.

"There you are! Glad you could make it!" Alfred greeted Arthur at the door. "Come on in, I'll show you everything."

"Really now." Arthur batted away the arm that Alfred had stretched out to pull him along on what was certain to be a whirlwind tour of the party room. "Are you certain that you don't want any of it to be a surprise?"

"Nah, I know you. No matter what kind of decorations I put up, or what food I serve, you won't be happy unless you get to leave some snide comment about it. It's better you do that now, then later when everyone else are here and just want to party."

"Everyone else?” Arthur batted away Alfred's arm a second time, while his other hand was unbuttoning his coat. “You mean I'm the only one here?"

"Well, you, me, and about a dozen or so people setting up decorations and preparing the tables, yeah."

"Is that so?" Arthur scrunched up his eyebrows from confusion. He had figured that there would be at least one or two other nations being shown around. Batting away Alfred's arm a third time, he continued: "Would you please just let me take off my own coat?"

"Soorree! It's just that you're taking forever, and there's so much to see."

"Like I would be able to take my coat off faster with your pestering," Arthur hung the coat up neatly on a hanger, taking just a bit more time than strictly necessary to do so. "There, I'm done. Want to start this tour now?"

"And look at this! And that! And you gotta admit that even you'd like the ones over there!" Alfred was pointing so wildly in every direction, that Arthur barely had time to register what each decoration looked like before he was pointed to the next. "This is so gonna be the best Christmas ever!!"

"Yes, I'm sure. Just like every other Christmas before." Arthur carefully set his face to look unimpressed, but some little part of him was secretly delighted at being given this tour before the party. He was after all the only nation here, everyone else here being some of Alfred's people.

"Hey, you still haven't seen some of the best stuff. The tree won't get trimmed for another hour. And then-" Alfred spotted something before he interrupted himself. "Uh, one moment."

Arthur turned as Alfred rushed past him towards another young man who was trying to entangle some lights. Lending his deft fingers, the American nation made short work of the entanglement, before sprinting back to his companion.

"Still bad at the delegating, I see." Arthur smirked. "You still have to have a finger in everything."

"Hey, what's the fun if you're not a part of every part of the celebration? Besides, it's Christmas Eve, the holiday of sharing the good cheer and everything."

"Oi, Mr Jones!" came a voice from above them. Looking up, a man was standing on a ladder, his arms holding up the end of a long garland. "Could you give us a hand with these? The other end is coming loose, and if I let go of this end to fix it, the whole hing will come down."

Alfred looked in the direction the other man was pointing, and could easily see the problem, and what to do about it.
"No problem, I'll fix that." He ran off to the ladder that was standing just by the other end, Arthur traling behind him with a look of concern in his face.

"Careful! That ladder is looking awfully wobbly."

"Pfh! Worrywart!" Just like Arthur, thinking that he couldn't do something as simple as climbing a ladder without getting himself into trouble. Alfred smiled mischievously as he neared the top.
"Hey! Watch this!" He stretched himself out, leaving only one foothold and one hand to hold him by the ladder, waving his other hand and foot about for a bit. Laughing, he turned to get to work on fastening the garland. Only he had underestimated the momentum he caused, spreading himself so wide and coming up against the wall so fast. The ladder got pulled along, making him lose his foot hold and his grip. He stared in disbelief at the floor that was rushing up to his face.

"A nation falling flat on his face. How impressive."

"Medic..."

A couple of hours later in Alfred's bedroom.

"All in all, I think you got off rather lucky. According to the doctor your left leg may be broken, but your right foot's only slightly sprained. A broken rib, sure, but you'll heal up in a few months at the longest." Arthur looked up from the chart.
"And don't pout like that! At least you won't have to spend Christmas at the hospital, as long as you make sure to stay put in that bed."

"And that's nothing to pout about?" Alfred turned away to burrow his head into the pillow. "I'm going to miss the best Christmas party ever, so just go and leave me alone with my misery."

"As tempting as that sounds with your current mood being so especially chipper right now, I have no intention of leaving you alone on your sickbed. I feel partially responsible for not having made a greater effort to keep you from recklessly climbing that ladder after all."

Alfred turned back to see if Arthur was really serious. No doubt about it, that was his serious face.
"You really should go though," he insisted.

"Don't speak such rubbish," Arthur admonished. "I'm not going to leave you alone on Christmas Eve, no matter how much solitude might work to improve your attitude."

"No really." Alfred said. "After all that work I did on designing a Christmas Cake shaped like a Christmas Tree, someone needs to document Kiku's reactions to it for me. I wouldn't even be making those cakes if it weren't for the joy of seeing him freak out over them. Well, that and their sugary sweetness."

"Don't worry about it, I'll ask Matthew to record the whole party for you. Now, how about I make you a nice cup of tea to help you forget your troubles for a bit?"

"Sure, whatever, if you really think that will help..."

About five hours later, or maybe it was forty minutes which just happened to feel like five hours, Alfred was getting readily annoyed by the situation. Sure, Arthur was probably meaning well, but this was getting ridiculous.

"Seriously, Arthur, I'm fine, I really don't need another pillow."

"Nonsense. The best cure for a broken leg is rest and to give your body free rein to heal itself. It's only good if you have extra support and comfort."

"Whatever," Alfred replied as he resigned to letting Arthur cram in a second pillow under his broken leg. "Are you sure Matthew will be ready to film everything? The party's starting in another ten minutes."

"Yes. As per your instructions, I've already given him your camera that you know he can use. He'll be fine, now stop looking at your watch like that or I'll feel tempted to confiscate it!"

"Oh, like you confiscated my phone? Geez, it's like you're trying to take away everything fun..."

"Fun? You think it's fun to harass everyone with your instructions?"

"I wasn't harassing them, I was just asking if things were going as they were supposed to."

"They are, and even if they weren't, you shouldn't worry about those things any way. Don't think you can be so flippant about every injury you get just because you're a nation. Now do try and relax."

"How? No phone, no tv, no games, there's just nothing to distract myself with."

Arthur looked around the room. It was true that Alfred's entertainment systems that usually cluttered the floor were nowhere to be seen. He assumed that they had been put away for Christmas or something like that. Instead, he grabbed a nearby chir and pulled it closer to the bed before seating himself in it.

"Then how about some simple conversation? Surely there's something we can talk about? Besides the party, that is."

"Yeah, sure." Alfred agreed, thinking that just about anything was better than absolute boredom at this point. "So. Ehhh.... Well..."

"Yes, quite. Ehm..."

After about a minute of awkward silence...

"How can we have nothing to talk about?” Arthur bellowed out in disbelief. “We're always arguing with one another!"

"Don't blame me! I've been so wrapped up in the preparations for the Christmas party that I can't be expected to come up with something else to talk about. What about you?"

"Well, I guess I just never have polite conversation with you, and it's not like I can just start an argument just to get conversation going. It's just not sporting to criticize someone when they're bedridden with a broken leg, you can't stand up for yourself."

"Why should that stop you? It's not like I expect you to ever be not critical of me."

"You want me to rag on you?" Arthur raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I just said that I expect it."

Several hours later...

"You know, it's getting late. I'm pretty sure the guestroom next to this room is in order, if you feel like hitting the hay, you've been with me here all day."

"No thanks, I'm fine here." Arthur moved himself about, making himself more comfortable in the chair.

"You can't seriously be telling me that you plan to sleep in that chair?"

"I'll be fine, really. A gentleman such as myself always makes do." He tested different angles to support his elbow, to turn his hand into a makeshift pillow.

"Don't be pigheaded. The room is just next doors, you barely have to walk at all. And as loudmouthed as you always complain about me being, there's no way you won't hear me through the walls if I desperately need your assist-"

"Can't you see that I just want to be here with you over Christmas? ...while you're bed stricken?" Arthur quickly corrected, turning his heated face away.

Alfred tried not to stare, but he found himself completely dumbfounded.
"Here." He tossed a blanket and pillow onto Arthur's lap.

"I'm fine, really."

"Well, it's not like I need that many pillows and blankets any way."

"Well then, why did I bring them to you then?"

"Beats me. You looked like you were having fun bringing me unnecessary stuff like that, so I just let you go at it."

"Of all the-"

"Just accept it. It's not like a hero like myself could have a gentleman like yourself make do for no good reason."

"Well then," Arthur acceded, finding a position for the pillow against one of the armrests. "Thank you."

"Merry Christmas, Arthur."

"Merry Christmas, Alfred."