Sparklers

"Hey England! Aren't these sparklers pretty?" "Yea, sure." A birthday fic for Alfred. UK/US, Drabble-ish

Just something I did for fun. Happy 4th of July's everyone!

Disclaimer

The Hetalia characters do not belong to me, they belong to Himaruya.

The plot and anything that does not belong in Hetalia belongs to me.

Arthur sat on the porch of Alfred's house, drinking tea while watching his former colony laugh and wave about a sparkler.

"Hey, England, come join me!" Alfred turned to him, waving the sparkler about wildly in nonsensical shapes and patterns.

"No." Arthur said flatly. "I'm perfectly fine right where I am."

Alfred pouted. "You're no fun anymore!"

Arthur rolled his eyes at the other nation's childish behavior. "Just because I don't enjoy the same things you do doesn't make me boring."

"Yes it does!"

"No, it doesn't." Arthur took another sip of his tea. "It simply means that I am of unique taste."

Alfred scoffed. "If drinking tea and cross stitching can be considered 'unique'. Honestly, you should do something extreme like…kayaking off 100 foot cliffs!" (1)

"No thank you." Arthur grimaced. "I think I'll pass on being smashed on dozens of rocks."

"See? Too boring." Alfred said. "You should take a risk every once in a while."

"Falling off one hundred foot water falls seems more like a suicide attempt rather than a simple risk."

"It's a very dangerous risk, then. But at least you're not sitting there drinking tea and watching the years go by." Alfred's sparkler died out and he looked a bit disappointed.

Arthur grunted and finished off his tea, standing up. "Fine then, if you're so insistent, I'll join you. Give me one of those sparklers."

Alfred beamed, and let his old sparkler drop to the ground carelessly, rushing to the package and pulled out another fresh one.

"Hold on while I get the lighter." Alfred shoved the sparkler into Arthur's hands before going back to the lawn and picking up the lighter from a small stand and rushing back.

Several minutes later and Arthur was holding a lit sparkler, the little colored sparks going off in every which direction as it slowly burned down the metal rod.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

"Yes, sure." Arthur was not too impressed. His fairies were cooler than this.

Alfred nudged Arthur. "Aren't you going to wave it about? Write your name in the air with it or something?"

Arthur stared blankly. "Is that what I'm supposed to do with it?"

"Well, that's what I usually do…I mean, it is rather boring if it's just kind of sparkling like it is now." Alfred said, as if this was the most obvious thing to do. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder about you."

"Well excuse me if I'm not the life of the party!" Arthur snapped. Alfred backed off immediately, hands in the air.

"Hey, cool down. I was just kidding Artie." Alfred tried to soothe the older nation. "I was kidding. You can do whatever you want with it...But it does look cooler if you wave it about."

Arthur scowled and reluctantly waved the sparkler about, slowly at first before he started to get into it. The lights left a trail of light imprinted on his eyes if only for a brief few seconds. He smirked, finally satisfied with the sparkler.

Alfred stepped back and let Arthur have his fun. The older nation hardly ever let himself go, even for a bit.

As the sparkler started to reach the end, Arthur remember himself, straightening. "Ah, yes. It's nice." He said stiffly.

Alfred chuckled and wrapped an arm around Arthur's waist, his other hand clasping over Arthur's own on the wand.

Arthur's cheeks flushed slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Hugging you." Alfred answered simply.

"I can see that. Why?"

"Because I love you."

The flushed darkened a little more. "Well…" Arthur struggled for a moment before giving up and leaning into Alfred. The sparkler in their hands died out.

Alfred chuckled. "I love you~"

Arthur sighed. "I love you too, you oaf."

They stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Arthur spoke up again.

"Alfred?"

"Yea?"

"Go get me another sparkler."

I read about it today. Apparently with the new technology, people can go kayaking off 100 foot waterfalls. Yea, it sounds stupid to me, but I guess it might be fun, if you're the daredevil type.

Constructive Criticism and Compliments welcome. Flames and Spams will be laughed at.

Tropi