How These Floorboards Creak

2

One of his guests had found the living room. Whoever it was had started watching and flipping through channels which Alfred wouldn't usually mind. The thing is that that guest had decided it was a good idea to turn it up all the way. Which caused more whining. He paused his work in the kitchen and went to see who it was.

He wasn't at all surprised to see Ivan sitting on the couch with a content smile. The guy was a sadist through and through. Alfred only sighed and snatched the remote away from Ivan. He turned it down to a more regular volume and gave Ivan a quick glare. He took the remote with him to the kitchen and placed it on top of the microwave for good measure. All the other nations (the exception of course being Toris) are basically children. The majority of them are older than him too so it was much more irritating. Insane how one of the most mature is also one of the youngest. Ludwig gets a pass for being so aloof and still so young. Though it slightly made Alfred want to sock Gilbert in the face for raising the poor guy like a soldier. 

Everyone else didn't have an excuse at all. They have all lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. Their past experiences should have made them much more mature. They've all lived through terrible things and harsh wars. Which really pissed Alfred off because they would all call him immature. Which was terribly wrong. He was trying to be fun. Life was stressful, after all. He liked to joke around for his own sanity. Of course, they wouldn't understand that since they had their heads so far up their asses. All of them just pissed him off so fucking much. 

"Alfred, don't cut your fingers off." Toris' voice had him freeze up. The knife in his hand half a centimeter away from hitting his fingers. With a sigh, he set the knife down and leaned on the counter in slight shame. "You won't last a day with that attitude."

"I know." He sighed again and turned around. "They're just so annoying." 

"Well, don't take out your frustrations on the vegetables."

"What do you mean?"

"You were practically slamming the knife on them." 

"Oh."

"We're basically done so you want to go take a walk or something you can go ahead." Toris flashed a reassuring smile made for him to forcibly accept the offer.

"Alright." 

He went out through the back door, the back porch looking more overgrown than the front. A small black and decorated metal table sat with two matching chairs. He sat there. A small breeze lightened the head of the sun. He still felt kind of hot anyway so he pulled up his shirt sleeves. He looked at the ashtray on the table. Semi-recent cigarette buds lay in it. He licked his dry lips with a semblance of craving washing through his mouth. 

He tended to smoke while he was here. It completed that feeling that it was like the old days. Another sigh and he was pulling the cigarette pack forever lived in his pocket. A box a matches too. The matches were clearly more practical. It was insane to think how popular these little sticks had been in the past. They costed practically nothing as they were seen as an essential. Alfred admittedly like the term of 'cancer-stick' that it was given in recent years. He couldn't help with the occasional cigarette for that reason. He was thrill-seeking in the coward's way with these things. 

He pulled one out, slipping it into his mouth. He lit it with a match quickly and threw the match into the ashtray after putting it out. There was something calming about the repetitive action of smoking. It brought upon the slightest bit of control and Alfred would take what he can get. He stood up and made his off the porch. A puff of smoke slipped from his lips and he held the cigarette at his side. 

The backyard was nice at always. A rather large oak tree with a tire swing loomed over closer to the bit of forest that surrounded the back of the house. The pool where his whale resided lay in the sun a few feet away from the tree. It's a ridiculous idea to even own a whale, but it was like owning a large puppy that just so happened to live under water. He would and pet it if he didn't have a cigarette in hand.