Starships

Chapter Seventeen

By Pixiedust291

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Arthur stirred as he moved over on his side. The plush and cloud like surface he was laying on contoured to every curve of his body. His skin felt warm and tingly all over. He opened his eyes when he felt a hand brush down his arm. Lying next to him was Alfred. The American smiled and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on Arthur's lips. "How are you feeling?"

Arthur's own smile mimicked Alfred's as he snuggled closer, purring "I'm feeling much better. How is your shoulder."

"Completely cleared up."

"Really?" Arthur opened his eyes more and looked around. They were surrounded by the special memory foam that lined the inside of medical pods and hyper sleep chambers. "Are we in the medical pod?" Arthur rose upward on his hands and knees. The thing was rather roomy, which meant it was one of the more recent and extra large models. He looked between the both of them "And we're naked."

Alfred laughed "Wondered when you were going to notice that."

Arthur blushed "W-What are you doing in here with me!?"

"You had twenty minutes left on your recovery, and it would only take twenty minuets for the machine for fix up my wound so I thought why not just do them both at the same time."

Arthur pointed a finger at him "That's a load of bollocks! You just wanted to be with me naked!"

Alfred grinned "That too." He grabbed Arthur and pinned him to the ground, allowing the Brit to feel just how excited he was against his stomach. Arthur gasped and moaned. "Do you have a problem with me being in here?"

Arthur sighed "No." He looked up at him, memorizing every dip and smooth curve of his face. His eyes scanned downward: wide shoulders, lean muscle, and a slim stomach. His eyes lingered a moment on his tattoo. The man had not been lying; three blue stars curved over each hip, with the last star positioned just the perfect distance between his groin and hip. Arthur found the tattoo not only endearing, but rather befitting of Alfred as well. He moved to trace his finger along Alfred's hips.

"It's nice." Arthur looked up to gaze into Alfred's smiling face, his expression passionate. "It's nice that you're finally looking at me, seeing me."

Arthur chuckled as he leaned up, wrapping his arms around Alfred's neck "I feel the exact same." He felt his tail move to one side. Alfred noticed it too and raised a brow at him. Arthur smirked just before he brought their mouths together.

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"Honestly where could he have ran off to." Roderich sighed in exasperation.

"Mr. Roderich I'm sure that Alfred hasn't forgotten. He's probably just waiting for Arthur to be fully healed before he asks him to join us and finds a job for him."

"I do not see why. The healing pod should have been done by now. I say lets just get this over with. Matters such as these should be dealt with promptly and without hesitation. I realize America has a relationship with the man but that should not excuse him. We must find something for Arthur to do that will benefit us." During this entire monologue both Matthew and Honda were following behind him. When Roderich entered the door of the medical bay he turned to Matthew. "Please check on Arthur and make sure he is fully healed." Matthew nodded and went over to the pod, sliding open the viewing screen. A second after he slid it open he quickly slid it back shut, his face turning bright red. "Well?" Roderich said impatiently.

Matthew turned, blocking the viewing screen with his body. "Um...He... He needs just a few more minutes."

Roderich pursed his lips "Matthew he has been in there for well over an hour. His lungs should be more then able to breathe oxygenated air again."

Matthew's face seemed to only grow redder "Yes but, he did have some bruises. Those will take some time. And I-I think Captain Vash did mention a greenstick fracture. So um... lets just give them-him maybe... fifteen more minutes?" Matthew smiled pleadingly. Roderich looked as if he were about to argue when Honda held up a hand, stopping him.

"If I may Roderich-san? Didn't Elizaveta-chan want to speak with you earlier today about something important." Roderich blinked then nodded.

"Fine. I will speak with her and then we can deal with Arthur." He turned on his heel and left the medical bay.

The moment he left Matthew breathed a sigh of relief "Thank goodness. I was so sure he was going to," Matthew turned to his side and nearly lost all color from his face as Honda walked over and slid the viewing screen open "Honda!" The Canadian yelled in embarrassment as he snapped the screen shut again.

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"You can not have so many Captains on one single ship!" Arthur argued.

"And why not? This isn't the actual military. We're pirates; we can do whatever we want." Alfred shrugged. "And I say you and Vash should keep your rank as captains. You'll need some authority for the jobs that you have been given."

"How did you even know I have nav-pilot augmentation?"

"You told me."

"I did no such thing!" Arthur argued. He sighed and sat back in his chair. It was useless to argue once Alfred made up his mind about something. "Fine. And I suppose your men are going to refer to us as Captain Britain and Captain Switzerland?"

"Nope." Alfred grinned "I was thinking they should call you Captain Kirk and Captain Vash from Dalmasca."

Before Alfred had even had the time to laugh at his own joke Arthur and Vash slammed their fists on the table as they stood up and yelled "No!"

"America-san that wasn't even funny." Honda commented as he sat next to him, drinking his tea.

"Well I though it was." Alfred pouted. "Never mind. They can just call you guys whatever you prefer then."

Arthur sat back down "I'm fine with Arthur or Captain Kirkland really."

"I wish to remain Captain Vash." Vash said as he sat back down, allowing Lili to resume her position where she had been sitting in his lap.

"Does that mean I have to call you Captain Vash?" Her voice was so sweet and delicate.

Vash blushed and stammered "Um- No you can call me... whatever you want." Lili smiled.

Alfred leaned back in his chair "What is taking Yao so long."

"Werr we have not done this in quite some time." Honda answered.

Arthur raised a brow. The two of them had been making private comments like that for the last few minuets. "Yes, which reminds me why are Vash and I here?" his eyes darted to the tall muscular man in the corner with the nearly white short hair and Ludwig, who stood next to him. "And why are those two here?"

"Oh, Ludwig and Ivan are here to assist."

"Assist with what."

Alfred grinned "You'll see."

The moment Yao and Feliciano entered with a small box Arthur immediately had the feeling that he was beat. Ivan walked up to him and poured him a glass of Vodka. He offered it to Arthur, who drank the entire glass in one swig and coughed. This particular vodka, Arthur could tell, had a much higher percent alcohol content. He then also poured a glass for Vash, who refused it. "Vashie, you're going to need it." She took the glass from Ivan and handed it to Vash.

Arthur took a steadying breath and looked toward Arthur. The American was smiling, his cheeks red, but he noticed he wouldn't meet his eye. Arthur felt himself being lifted onto the table by Ludwig. His instinct to fight only lasted a second. They obviously weren't going to hurt him. Not much anyway. They pinned him down, one man on each of his arms and one on each leg. Arthur gulped. He'd been through enough hazing in the military to know the best thing he could do was hold still and just deal with what they were about to do. A second later Vash was on the table next to him, also being pinned down. Though it seemed he was not taking it as willingly as Arthur was.

Feliciano bent over them and grinned down at him "So, what would you like?"

"What would I like?" Arthur repeated.

Toris' face entered his line of vision. Arthur had no idea when he had arrived "It is sort of our initiation. Every one on this ship has a tattoo."

Arthur blinked. So that was why Alfred had stars on his hips. "Everyone? Even you and Lili?"

Toris laughed "Yes." He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to show a tattoo of the Lithuanian flag on the inside of his wrist. "And Lili has butterflies on her back."

Vash's struggles all but stopped as his cheeks turned a dark pink, "What?" he looked toward Lili, who blushed in turn and looked toward the ground.

"The tattoos can be anything you want; though most of us try to stay with symbols of our respective countries. To show how even though we are pirates, we can not forget our root and any past struggles we faced."

A symbol. Arthur frowned. What symbol could he use? He didn't feel comfortable having the British flag on his body. He glanced over at Alfred. He wanted something personal. Something that was British but could also stand to be American as well. The only problem was there were not many symbols that he knew of that both of their planets shared. Tea?... but American's drank coffee. Then it occurred to him. He smiled shyly. "I want the national flower of both America and Britain." Everyone seemed to pause, as if confused by his words. Everyone, that was except Alfred. The American turned toward him, his expression shocked. He stepped forward until he too was looking down at Arthur.

"The national flower of America and Britain?" Feliciano asked.

"I wasn't aware they shared a flower? How strange?" commented Yao.

"What is the national flower?" Toris asked.

Alfred chuckled "It's the rose." He smiled down at Arthur, his eyes full of happiness and joy... and love. "More specifically, a red rose."

"Isn't a rose kind of feminine?" Vash asked, looking sideways toward Arthur.

"I think it's really romantic." Lili giggled.

"Yeah! Who doesn't like roses? They smell so pretty!" Feliciano added. "Where do you want it?"

"I think the back of his left shoulder would be good." Alfred turned to Feliciano and Yao "Not too big, ok guys."

"Yeah, no problem." The Italian took out a tablet from the box and began drawing while Yao activated and warmed up the polymerizer, which was a machine that alerted skin cells to produce different pigment. Painful injections with ink, that eventually faded over time, were a thing of the way distant past. When Feliciano was done drawing he showed Arthur the picture. It was of a simple design in the sense that it was just a red rose in full bloom, but the detail and shading was amazing. It looked as if it were about to come to life.

"Ready." Feliciano then handed the tablet over to Yao who then attached it to the machine, pressed the screen against Arthur's skin and flipped the one switch. Arthur sucked in a strangled breath as his skin grew hot enough that he thought it was on fire. Then Yao pulled away, smiling. "I think it looks really good."

The men released him and Arthur moved off the table, fingering his shoulder tentatively. It still hurt but the pain was dying down. He looked to Alfred and turned his shoulder toward him "How do I look?"

Alfred walked forward, embracing him from behind "You're perfect." He turned Arthur around to face him. He smiled "I love you." and kissed him.

The End

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A/N: *cheers* Yay it is done! I'm sorry to see it end, for I really enjoyed writing this, but all good stories must come to an end. I must give a big thank you to CartoonCouples101, for she was the one who came up with the idea of having Arthur's tattoo being a rose because it was the national flower of Britain. It was because of this that I did a little more research and found out that the rose is also the national flower of the US. To me, this is just more proof that Arthur and Alfred are soul mates.

Now that 'Starships' is done I can start work on my next Hetalia fanfic. I have done a sci-fi fic so I think it is about time I start on a fantasy fic. I'm thinking a fanfic the contains both USUK and UKUS so there can be some hot reversible action, as well as fantasy realms, explosive magic, Japanese culture influences, and some sexy fox ears and tails would be an wonderful read. The title of this story is 'Foxfire' and the first chapter is already posted, for those of you readers who are interested.

And yes, I have decided I will be making a sequel to 'Starships'. I realized that Arthur and Alfred's relationship is far from over. I think they need to have plenty more adventures, as well as a little surprise along the way. I do not know when I'll be posting the first chapter, but I can tell you I have decided that the title for the story will be 'Galaxies'. So keep your eyes peeled!

Thank you so much for all of your support and reviews. I hope you will find my other works to come enjoyable as well.

This story was inspired by the song "Starships" by Nicki Minaj and by the book "Blind Space" from Marie Sexton