Hetalia Under The Big Top

Act 21: Arthur is a wee bit stressed

A date had been chosen for their first show in Italy and it was fast approaching. The circus was in high gear to get everything perfect for Romulus' investors. Both he and Kiku had made it very clear that if the circus wanted to receive his support, then those investors would have to be thoroughly wooed by their performance.

Perhaps no one was feeling the pressure more than Arthur. With high standards and a reliance on certain hard to motivate circus members, Arthur had his hands full. This left him no time to spend with a certain American and making him even more irritable than usual.

Late in the afternoon, Arthur gave up tackling the stack of papers on his desk. With a groan, he dropped his head onto the desk.

"Honhonhon. It looks like someone needs a break."

Internally cursing that he had left the door unlocked, Arthur looked up.

"What do you want, frog?"

"I came to take you out. You are working yourself to death and it is seriously unattractive."

Arthur's cheeks puffed out and his face turned red as he sputtered for a comeback.

"Well, unlike you, I wasn't born that way! Besides, it is none of your business! I have to get this done!"

Francis looked over at the papers on his desk.

"Zhey can wait. Our best ideas come to us when we relax anyway."

Arthur opened his mouth to snap at him but was cut off by a cheap 8-bit version of God Save the Queen. Arthur scowled but answered his phone just to be blasted with loud jabbering muffled by hamburgers.

"Alfred, I can't understand a word you are saying!"

"Sorry, dude," said Alfred, shoving the last bit of burger in his mouth, "My vocabulary can be intimidating. I'll stop eating so you can focus better."

Arthur facepalmed but Alfred was oblivious.

"Me and Kiku finished up at the circus, so I'm heading over to his place. He just got this freakin awesome new movie, but the little guy's scared so I will have to be the hero and keep him company."

Over the phone you could hear Kiku contradicting him but Alfred continued like Kiku wasn't even there.

"You're still working tonight, right?"

"Well..." Arthur actually had been planning to cancel their date, but he wanted to be the one to do the canceling. "Francis and I were making plans."

"Oh." Alfred raised an eyebrow but Arthur couldn't tell. "I didn't know you guys hung out. Kay then, have fun."

"Thank you. We will." Arthur hung up and looked over at the Frenchman who bore a smug grin. "Wipe that looked off your face and tell me where we're going."

Francis laughed and led Arthur out the door.

"Jeanne and I found zhis charming restaurant. Zhe owner is French so she 'as zhe best wine."

"Forget wine. I want a tall glass of scotch neat."

And that is exactly what he got. After his second glass their waiter left the bottle. Francis lost count of how many times Arthur refilled his cup but he was past tipsy.

"Ten years! Ten years of runnin' this circus an' what has it got me?"

"At least, you 'ave done somezhing. I'm almost zhirty and zhe only zhing I can do is zhis..."

Francis made a king of diamonds appear between his fingers and tossed it into a glass a woman was just about to drink from.

"It might be the scotch talkin', but that was kinda cool."