We Say It The Same Way

By AnimeDutchess

A/N: Just a short little idea I had. Shouldn't turn out to be too long…I just thought, almost every fic feels like loading on the Revolutionary War!Angst, and I admit, I like to do it here and there, but…I'd like to try something a little different. :3

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Disclaimer: I own…well, damn, not even one piece of Hetalia merchandise. TxT

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England never thought he could be in a worse mood than he was at that very moment. It was as if the world had been placed in an oven that was cranked up to maximum…and the long-sleeved shirt and sweater vest he absolutely refused to take off wasn't helping matters. He was a gentleman, God dammit, and he'd give France of all people a blowjob before he turned himself into a shirtless spectacle like America had done.

Although, he had to admit, a small, teensy part of his brain was enjoying the sight himself. If you looked closely, you could see that America's body was decently toned, and damn it all he had really great abs, and the sweat on his skin made it look like he was glowing, and speaking of skin, that tan was definitely not fake, and…

England just sipped his hot tea (on top of the temperature and the clothes and the flustered feelings he would totally deny if you asked if he had them), and averted his eyes. No use making a scene; they were on America's porch, after all, practically on display for the whole country to see. He looked back at America and pursed his lips. He was sitting there, watching the world go by, sipping a tall glass of lemonade (cold, sweet, tart, it would probably taste great in a kiss) a little too quietly for him to not actually be thinking about something…whether or not it was important was another issue. England sighed, and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms.

"I can only imagine," He said, smirking slightly, "What your neighbors must think of you when they see you like this." America glanced at him, blue eyes seeming to sparkle.

"Eh." He shrugged. "They probably think I'm some eccentric rich guy. Doesn't bother me." He licked his lips, as if trying to pick up more of that lemon taste. "Uhm, you sure you're not hot?"

"I'm fine, thank you." England scrunched his nose in annoyance and sipped his tea again.

"…You sure? Your face is kinda red. I'd rather not have you get sick from the heat or something…"

"Well, don't worry. I'll tell you if I'm too hot."

"I'm not worrying."

"Fine, you're not. So stop asking me if I'm alright."

"Alright, deal."

They didn't speak for a while, sipping being the only sound that broke the silence. A soft breeze blew by, and England could not be more grateful.

"…Hey, England."

"Hn?" Why was he feeling so tired all of a sudden?

"If you could go back in time, what would you wanna relive?"

"…What?" Surely he couldn't be hearing America asking such a strange question. Was the heat making him hear things? That must be it. Maybe he really should go inside.

"Eh, I mean…" America scratched his head. "What events in your life would you wanna do over again? Not like, to change them, I mean…to just live them again."

…Well. If that question was a loaded gun, what wasn't? Immediately, sweet memories came flooding back to England; soft spring days, catching fireflies in the summer nights, jumping in leaves in autumn and reading stories during winter's harshest snowstorms, all with a tiny blond imp by his side that had the smile of an angel. He would give anything to go back to the days where America was a little colony again, and clung to England's every word…

But there was no WAY he'd admit that to anyone, especially America, of all people. So he just put on a grumpy face and said, "Well, what about you, then? What would you like to relive?"

America blinked. "Hey, I asked you first-"

"-But you proposed it." Even England didn't know where he was trying to take this. "You've been quiet, so I assume you've been thinking about this yourself. Go on, tell me." He wasn't sure how that made sense, but from the look of the pout forming on America's face, he assumed that he'd won.

"Eh, fine." America leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. "I guess…I'd want to relive the thirties."

"…What?" England's jaw dropped slightly. "Why would you want to go back to the thirties? You made the entire world poor, and everyone hated you!" He twitched slightly when America started to chuckle.

"True…" He said, turning his head towards England slightly. "It sucked, being poor. I had to watch my people become disillusioned, and sad, and…it hurt, you know? But my boss, he…he told me that he would take care of it. He would fix it. I believed him, of course, and I let him do his thing…" He chuckled again. "Maybe I shouldn't have. We probably wouldn't have such a debt right now if he hadn't set it into motion. But…" At this point, his eyes seemed to mist over. "He let me go off on my own in thirty-five."

"…You mean…" England's eyes narrowed. "You abandoned your job? I-Is that why it was so bloody hard to get in contact with you for-"

"I didn't abandon it!" America's expression soured, but only briefly. "My boss, he said it would be good if I got out of the office, so one day, I just…threw some clothes in a bag, collected as much money as I could, and jumped on a freight train." He looked at England, as if waiting for him to ask anything, before he continued. "It's funny, yah know? I'd just jump off in a random town, and walk around…help people out if they needed it and take nothing in return. That's what heroes do, after all." England had to snicker at that.

"Sounds more like just being a Good Samaritan."

"Well, yeah, I'm that, too." England rolled his eyes.

"Is that all? You just want to hop on trains and help people again?"

"Well, no, I'm not done!" You never are, England wanted to say, but he held it back. "So, this one day, I was down in Louisiana, and there was this little boy trying to catch fish in a creek for his family. Poor kid, it looked like he'd been out there since the sun rose." His grin was huge. "Well, I decided to help him out. I got some twine, a big stick, and before yah know it, we pulled in this catfish…oh, geez, it must've been four feet long!" England raised a bushy eyebrow at that. "I'm serious! He was so heavy, I had to help the kid bring it home…didn't mind, of course. Anyway, we brought it to his house, and aw, Jesus, England," And at this point, his body had turned to face England, gesturing with his hands, one still holding that glass of lemonade, "You shoulda seen the look on his mom's face, I swear, she just seemed to light up." America's face had lit up, too, just from talking about it.

At that moment, England felt like the most selfish person in the world.

"…I get it." And he couldn't help but smile. "You miss helping your people."

America just gave him a blank stare. "Huh?"

"You miss making a difference. You miss mingling with them. You miss going to the problem and rectifying it any way you can." Of course. That's who he is, and no one can own that. If I haven't learned that, then I haven't learned a thing. "I didn't think you could be so…so introspective, America."

"…Intro-what?"

Oh, there goes that conception. Look, it's shattering and falling and disappearing right before England's eyes.

"I was being serious. I'd like to just relive that day and fish 'n stuff." He turned away from England, now, and sat back in his chair. "Everything was so simple."

"R…Right…" England cleared his throat, still a little…was disturbed the correct word, or disappointed?

"So, then…what about you?" America flashed him a smile. "You can't weasel out answering now."

Ouch. That stung, you wanker.

England took a quick sip of tea, unable to tell if the liquid had cooled at all, unable to really think of an answer. "I…I don't know what to tell you, America. There are lots of times I would love to experience again." God, were there. Not only the time spent with the other Nation when he was young, but the glory days of Camelot, piracy on the high seas, numerous days spent chatting with his rulers, those nights and days in the era of punk where he drank to forget and smoked to wake up and tear up an electric guitar with a finesse that would make a statue cry…

"…" He took another sip. "Give me some time to think it over."

"…Alright." He could feel those blue eyes on him briefly. "Well, do you mind coming with me to the store?"

"Why, what do you need?"

A pause.

"Catfish."

"…Why?"

"Because now I wanna fry some up." England made a disapproving sound. "Aw, don't be like that! It's like your fish and chips, but better! Besides…" He set the glass of lemonade down on the floor of the porch and reached over, snatching up his discarded shirt. "You kinda need to stay in an air-conditioned place for a bit." England's eyes narrowed at that.

"That again?" He snapped, "Listen, I told you-"

"And I'm telling you," America cut in, standing up and helping England out of his chair, "That if you stay out here, you're gonna faint in your chair, and I won't notice, and you'll be unconscious in the heat for, like, an hour, and that really won't turn out good." Well, England wanted to say, 'Turn out well,' but the shift in positions made his head spin.

"W-Well…alright…"

"And I'll give you a shirt to change into. Yours feels sticky."

England would argue against this, but the idea of being relieved of all this heat in any way sounded great. Besides, it's not like he'd be showing off to the neighborhood like he feared.

Fin

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- The Great Depression started in 1929, and ended in 1941…in America, at least. The stock market messed up, and the world was thrown into over a decade of hardship. You can read the last part of the Lithuania Outsourcing strips to see the Hetalia start of such events.

- FDR became President in 1932, and he set into motion several programs to help restimulate the economy; they were packaged together as the New Deal. These programs started up America's national debt, which we…probably never will pay back, huh?

- During the Great Depression, many people got the urge to just travel in search of work; hop onto freight trains and just…watch the American countryside roll by. I find the idea of Alfred with an itch to travel aimlessly just…oh, it's quite the image.

- You can pretty much find some type of catfish in the inland or coastal waters of every continent except Antarctica, and more than half of the different species of catfish call the Americas home. They are usually found in freshwater and can definitely grow to be bigger than the four-footer mentioned here. In the United States, they are usually crumbed with cornmeal and fried; this is an extremely popular meal, especially in the South.

A/N: Hn…changed some things that I wanted to include, but I'm happy with how it turned out. America says it's okay for you to drool over his shirtlessness. XD

You know, this got me thinking…England's a pretty sad character. A lot of shit happened to him, but you know what? He still managed to have fun and find happiness in his own ways. I love Angsty!England, but I think we need more Happy!England. Tsunderes can be happy, too.

So, review, please? I hope you enjoyed it! Ja Ne! - AnimeDutchess