Title:Teatime questioning

Author: Inunobaka/me

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Note: I don't aim for historical accuracy there at all, my goal was to write cute interractions between the characters. I'm not a native speaker so feel free to correct me if something seems odd. Thanks for reading!

If there was one tradition the British man would never forget to apply, whatever the circumstances were, it was teatime. He was a truly busy man; being an empire, discovering the world, dealing with his own country's matters and getting in various wars was, after all, quite time-consuming. But right now all of this didn't matter; the only thing his mind was focused on was his cup of steaming earl grey. He was seated in a rather comfortable chair, in a big and elegant house somewhere in North America, during one of his visit to two of his colonies, having recently taken Canada from that dear, old, annoying frog. As he thought of it, a small smug smile appearing on his face when he remembered winning a round against his oldest rival, something tugged on his trousers' leg. He looked down, seeing his trophy smile shyly at him. Perhaps was it time he taught the child how to appreciate tea. He smiled more kindly at him.

"Hello there my lad."

While the kid was often really quiet and entertained himself without needing a constant supervision, which lead to Arthur forgetting about his presence, the Briton still enjoyed his company when he made himself noticed. The youngest blond started to fidget a little, glancing quickly at the door before extending his arms toward him. Arthur complied, taking him on his lap, always a bit startled at how more cuddly this one was. As if he was trying to prove this fact, the child buried his face in his chest, his frail arms going around him, letting out a small contented sigh. In the beginning, they didn't get along so well, but now it seemed like they were doing fine. He rubbed his back lightly, careful when he took another sip of his tea, before setting the cup down with a small clinking sound. He petted him gently before pulling his face away from his chest a little.

"Did you want anything?"

Matthew hesitated slightly, blushing and avoiding looking at his face, squirming a little uneasily on his lap. Arthur briefly wondered if he had done something bad and came to tell him; however, his suspicions turned to be wrong as the boy finally courageously looked straight in his eyes and opened his mouth.

"England. How do you make a girl like you?"

This was one of those moments he was glad he set his tea down to talk to the kid for he probably would have spit it all out at the sudden and odd question. He almost lost his composure by asking him just what in hell he meant but remembered at the last second it was a kid. Looking at those innocent, trusting curious eyes staring deep in his soul made him reconsider the use of improper language... Well, technically Matthew was just waiting patiently for an answer, starting to daydream about some other stuff, but to England it felt like a pressuring gaze.

His answer could ruin this child's future social life or something.

"Why are you asking me this?"

He felt like cursing this frog for not delivering him a kid who didn't need to get that whole... "THE talk" business done to him. Then again it would be scary if such a cute and innocent being knew anything on this, not that it made it less awkward for him.

The young colony blushed again. "well... Because I want to make a girl like A... me?"

A? Oh well, his English still needed some polishing, which explained why the Briton brushed it off. He usually scolded them on their mistakes, but it seemed like it wasn't a priority here, so for once it was ignored.

"I see... what is her name?"

At that the boy looked startled, his eyes widening a little as he spluttered, looking at the door desperately. He jumped off his lap, brushing his nightgown consciously down as he did so, habits died hard even during emergencies with this child... Before looking up, still looking a bit panicked.

"One moment, please."

England was surprised but still found the time to appreciate how polite the lad was, watching him run off, his barefoot on the carpet not making any noise, as expected from him, his nightgown flowing around his little legs in a rather cute way. He watched him go fondly, seeing him open the door to whisper with his brother. Odd. While Matthew was pretty discreet, Alfred's rather obnoxious voice was rather easy to catch.

"No! Matthew! Just improvise!"

He wondered what was going on. There were several options; Matthew may have forgotten the name of his love interest, and asked his brother for help. Matthew could also have been really shy about this and wanted to run away, his brother here to cheer for him. Or his brother could be the one with love problems and be too embarrassed to ask himself, pushing Matthew around like he sometime did out of selfishness, without really noticing in his childish innocence.

He decided to stay open for a discussion, sipping more not-so-warm-anymore tea while he could.

Soon enough, the boy was back on his lap, blushing a little again, glancing at the door again.

"It's... erm... it's..."

He nodded to encourage him. The lad always needed to be pushed a little to express himself well.

"It's the queen!"

Matthew shouted it in a panicked way, obviously feeling like he had to say something not to blow his cover, and had ended up talking nonsense. Which probably meant he either didn't want Arthur to know or the last theory on what was going on was right. The Briton tended to think the latter was closest to the truth.

"The queen?"

He had decided to humour him a little.

"Why do you like the queen? You think she's pretty?"

He believed it was one of the only women Matthew knew. Which would explain why he chose her... She was married after all.

Matthew nodded, obviously convinced she was.

"She's a very pretty woman. The King is really lucky I think."

He had always been fond of the way the little Canadian tended to be really honest when having a conversation with him, even if he sometime got distracted and his favourite thing to talk about was his bear. Or his Papa. Though lately he babbled about his Dad a lot too, even if Arthur had insisted he wasn't, it still was flattering.

"And you want to know how to seduce a lady?"

Matthew nodded, finally getting what he wanted, seemingly eager to learn, his entire attention now focused on him.

"Yes, please England."

As a gentleman, Arthur would definitely be good at teaching him, far better than a certain frog anyway. He took great pride in his good manners and believed he could, if he fancied the idea of a relationship, find a woman quite easily.

"First of all, you have to be a real gentleman. You can take example from me, I'm a real gentleman."

At that Matthew gasped, obviously impressed. Or scared. He couldn't really tell.

"I have to give her a spanking and make her eat disgusting stuff?"

Arthur frowned at this, his pride hurt. Though it seemed like the boy didn't especially want to offend him. He did spank Alfred the day before for breaking things in the house, a rather pretty and precious vase he got a while ago. Sometime he had to discipline those boys, just like any big brother/parent would... And threatening them with a good spanking when they misbehaved had its little effect. The point on his food though had no real explication. His food was delicious, he was just a misunderstood genius cook. He let out a small awkward laugh, trying to hide how the remarks hit sore points.

"Ah... No, not that. You have to be nice to girls, open doors for them, carry their things, be polite... That sort of behaviour."

The child nodded, concentrating on what he was saying, probably taking mental notes. He always had seemed eager to learn more.

"that's all?"

Arthur thought a little again. "Well, you could give her some nice flowers or other gifts too, but you can't buy love."

Matthew looked deep in thoughts for a while, before giving another slow, solemn nod.

"Thank you."

With that he was gone. England sighed, ready to go back to his tea, making a face when the liquid hit his lips. Cold. Of course.

Later on in the week, England was walking down the corridor, his goal the same room as the one Matthew came to talk about love, once again for tea time. He fancied the cosy room, surrounded by bookshelves and large windows, perfect to him for a peaceful afternoon. As he neared the door, a small form ran in front of him to open it for him. Startled, he looked at Matthew questioningly.

"What is this for my lad?"

The boy blushed a little, but smiled at him nonetheless. "I'm being a gentleman!"

He smiled, this was nice and cute and polite, exactly what he expected from his boys. Which meant he wasn't doing that bad of a job, unlike what some people he despised said back in Europe.

"Thank you Matthew."

When he was seated, the boy came to him, looking shy again, before showing him a single wilting poppy.

As he took it out of his pocket and noticed, when extending his arm toward his guardian, that the flower didn't make it to the house, his eyes widened, a certain wetness appearing in them as he seemed extremely disappointed in himself. England reached quickly to take it in order to avoid a major crisis.

"Thank you again Matthew."

Matthew let out a relieved sigh at this, all traces of tears almost instantly disappearing as he climbed on his lap again.

"What is it for?"

The child blushed again, fidgeting a little.

"Because... the flower was red and red is pretty..."

It didn't explain why he decided to give it to him, but England decided it would be fine with him, serving himself a good cup of tea, only adding a slight bit of milk and no sugar. He paused to look at Matthew, pouring him half a cup, adding some sugar and offering the cup to him.

"Would you like some tea?"

The younger one nodded, taking it carefully in both his hands, marvelling a little at the cup before sipping out of it. He found out it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, unlike what his brother said.

They sat in silence, the child comfortably leaning on his elders chest, both sipping tea. Even if it seemed the quiet would last, Matthew decided to break it and spoke up in his small voice. It wasn't really disturbing the peace...

"You know, Alfred said he wanted to marry you when he grows up but now he's in love with a girl."

Oh, so the whole ordeal from the other day made sense to him now. It was Alfred's doing indeed. He gave a small nod, drinking a bit more tea, showing he was listening. The boy wasn't finished though.

"So since you're nice and I like you a lot..."

At that, he spread his arms as far as he could, putting down the cup carefully first. "this lot."

He looked convinced this was a huge lot of love, which was really flattering to England once again. After all, most of the people he knew didn't get along with him, so except from Alfred, this was the first time someone showed some sincere, genuine affection for him, which made him feel elated even if it didn't show.

"And I decided that it's not fair I can't get married to you and now Alfred says it's fine so I will."

It took a small moment for Arthur to understand the meaning of this, since it was put a bit awkwardly. He blushed a little, quite happy at the declaration. This small confession of love was the best he had in a long while, and he found the odd wording endearing. He couldn't crush the boy's dreams like that and decided to play along somehow.

"Thank you Matthew. We'll talk about it when you're older?"

He got a nod in exchange and a small hug.

"Of course. Because right now you're too old, so I need to grow up to be older so it doesn't look like you're too old."

He looked a bit confused by what he said himself, but shrugged it off to reach for his cup again, drinking more, quite obviously enjoying it. As if on cue, the discussion was closed by those words;

"I really like your tea."

This sentence was also the start of a small change to Arthur's teatime tradition. From this day on, Arthur always had a cup ready for the little Canadian, who tried to be here as much as he could, and to this day they still sometime share a cup. While Arthur thought it was a silly children's idea and the memory got buried somewhere in his long life experience, Matthew still remembered it and was grateful for it, if it wasn't a little embarrassing. He just wished people would notice him more so he could actually be a gentleman to them, but that's an entirely different story.