Video Games Ch.3

The next day, you woke up and didn't know what was going on. 'Where the hell am I?' thought, as you removed yourself from the tangle of blankets on the floor. You tried to pry both eyes fully open, but to only slight avail. Only one eye opened, however. And as you tried to stand, pain exploded in your face. Then you remembered; you were at Alfred's place, and the pain was from the fight the night before.

You groaned as you touched your now swollen eye. Then, went through your morning procedure- yawn, and stretch out. Then looked at the clock, which read 10:30 am. Damn, you slept in. Then, as you heard footsteps in the hall, you straightened up, to hear Arthur knock lightly on the door.

"May I come in __? Are you decent?" Arthur said softly through the door.
"Yeah, sure" you replied, slightly surprised.

He came in- he was wearing his uniform, you noticed- and he looked at you gently. He was in his Police uniform, looking as though he was about to leave for work. He leaned in quite a bit; so his face was a mere inch from your own. His breath smelled like he had already had breakfast, and his eyes were like sparkling emeralds as always. He studied your eye closely, as you blushed at the close proximity.

"Wow, quite the morning shiner Al gave you, huh? You should put some ice on it" He said in his accent as he straightened up and sighed, "I trust that while im at work you can take care of Alfred and Matthew?"

"Uh, um, s-sure", you stuttered, still slightly fazed by the close proximity from a moment ago.

"Good girl. Alfred and Matthew are eating breakfast in the dining room, you should go eat some before they devour everything like the teenage boys they are", he laughed.
Arthur walked out of the room and into the dining room, with you tailing close behind. You inhaled the smell of pancakes, which was heavenly. Alfred always made the best pancakes, like, EVER. Matthew was already sitting at the table with a plate of pancakes completely drenched in syrup (if there was ever one thing Matthew loved, and could eat more of than Alfred, it was anything with syrup). He, like you, hadn't bothered to change out of his nightclothes yet. He was wearing his favorite; red and white maple leaf pajama bottoms, and a large t-shirt-that Al had gotten him last Christmas- with his favorite hockey team logo on it. Alfred, however, was already dressed. He was wearing a pair of jeans, socks, and a black shirt sporting the US flag.

"Mornin' ___", Matthew managed to say through a mouthful of pancakes. He noticed your eye and got up, got an ice pack out of the freezer, and handed to you, all in one fluid motion.

"Thanks, and good morning Matt", you said, taking the ice pack and swinging a chair out so you could sit at the already set place. You were ready. "Good morning Al".

You picked up the plate and prepared yourself. Because in the next moment, Alfred- who had just finished making a perfect pancake- flung the pancake at you. Which you expertly intercepted from its path to your face, with the plate.

Standard pancake procedure.

"Morning ___", he chirped, gleeful as ever.

"Don't throw the pancakes Alfred, and don't talk with your mouthful Matthew. And I'll be home late tonight; I have to take over someone's shift. So order pizza or something tonight, the moneys in the usual place. Oh, and __'s in charge!" Arthur said with a wry smile, and hurried out the door with a quick 'goodbye', before Alfred could complain to him.

"Aw man, he always leaves you in charge!" Alfred said, swinging himself into his chair as you all dug into the pancakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A bit after lunch, some of the kids around the neighborhood came around and knocked on the door. After Matthew opened the door and stood there-talking to the figure in the doorway for a moment- you could hear his footsteps as he neared the couch were you and Al were seated. You looked up curiously, but Alfred kept playing his Nintendo.

"Hey, some of the kids around the neighborhood wanted to know if we wanted to play some street hockey with them" Matt said with a sparkle in his eye.

Al paused his game for a moment and looked up.

"Are we talking older or younger kids around the neighborhood. I don't want to get stuck playing with Peter and Lily again" Al grimaced.

"Apparently both. From what I heard, they all decided to get together to play for once. There's going to be a lot of people".

"Hm, makes for a good game, but I dunno. I think I'll just sit and watch. I mean, jeez, if I play, everyone will chicken out from my epic heroity!"

"Uh, I think you mean 'heroism'" you chided.

"Pfft, whatever".

Matthew turned to you "How about you, ___, will you play?"

"I think I'll play a bit, I want to see a few of the others, and sounds like a good way to burn off some energy. At least it's better than Al's idea of ding-dong ditching houses."

"Hey! That was an awesome idea!"

Hence, the simultaneous rolling of eyes that came from you and Matt.

-Le timeskip-

Ten minutes later, you and Matt were skating out of the driveway and into the street, while Alfred got himself a shady, comfortable patch of grass to watch from. You looked around at all of the participants of your game. You could see Peter standing with Lily and chatting animatedly, while Vash stood watching from the side. Francis and Gilbert were doubled over laughing, while Ludwig was listening to Veneziano talking about something while Lovino sat and grumbled. It made sense, as Francis and Gilbert were friends, that Francis would bring the German and 'Prussian', as they came from your neighborhood. There was also Yong Suo, and his sisters, Mei and Sakura, who were lounging around under a olive tree.

You thought you could feel someone looking at you, so you turned. There, a few yards away, was your second best friend, Elizaveta. Your mouth dropped open in surprise as she beamed at you and skated over.

"Lizzie" you said, your mind unbelieving of what your eyes were showing you, "I thought you weren't coming back to America until after high school!"

"Ja, hello, good to see you too" she said, looking smug, "but mein grandmother is sick, so my family decided to stay for a few weeks, since it is summer."

You two hugged for a minute, and started talking like normal. You had known Elizaveta since the beginning of middle school. And, she was your best girl friend. Her family, however, had decided it best for her to go and study in Europe until she was out of high school.

By now, most people had laced up their skates, but a few weren't done yet *cough* Feliciano *cough cough*. So you figured you had time to chat for a bit.

"So, how is everything?" you said.

"Well, school is going well enough. And I haven't been sick in awhile."

"No! I meant, how are things going with you-know-who?" you smiled.

"Oh! Well, things are going really well. We see each other often, and he's always got some new song to play for me." Elizaveta replied, brightening instantly. She had a boyfriend, who had been her pen pal for a long time. She was finally able to meet him when she went to Europe. His name was Roderich Edelstein, and before she met him in real life, he normally sent her sheets with music he came up with. Ever since they had hooked up, he now played it on his piano. You had seen him in pictures before, and had even talked on the phone once. He was a good guy. Although, he was a bit awkward about going on dates, or being with her in public. It was rather comical.

"Hey, Elizabeta, are you seriously talking about music, vhen you could be talking about
ze awesome me?" said an obnoxious, heavily accented voice approaching.

You and Elizabeta whipped around to see Gilbert skating toward you. His Crimson eyes shining with the same old arrogance and overinflated ego as ever.

"Hello Gilbert. Still the same as ever I see" Lizzie said coldly "still hitting on younger girls then?".

Lizzie and Gilbert had never been on good terms. Gilbert would hit on her relentlessly, and she would point out how childishly he acted. Which never ended up well, seeing as how Gilbert was your neighbor, and the older brother you never had.

Francis then decided this a good time to come over and join the conversation. Oh boy.

"Ah, ma chere, love has no limits, even for age" Francis said, answering for Gilbert.
Lizzie cursed at them both in Hungarian, as they slapped high fives. You wondered where Ludwig was when you needed him.

"Hey, Gil, could you seriously not hit on Lizzie every time you see her? It's unawesome, and she had a boyfriend you know." You were starting to get bored.

"How could I not hit on ze frau?  She knows she wants to become one vith ze awesome me and- vait, vhat was zat about a boyfriend?!" Gilbert said, his eyes narrowing in what appeared to be anger. But in a moment, he tackle-hugged her. "How sweet, mein liebe has finally gotten herzelf a boyfriend!"

Elizabeta's eye had begun to twitch.

Gilbert pulled away for a second, "But, ill have you know now, if he breaks your heart, I vill have to break his face" he pecked her on the cheek with a 'kesesese~'. "See ya ___" He said with a wink at you.

Then, he and Francis skated away to pester the others to hurry up, leaving you to laugh, and Lizzie to rub her red cheek and curse herself for not bringing her signature frying pan.

After that bit of drama, you were all finally sorted into teams. You were on a team with Matt, Ludwig, Peter, Lizzie, Sakura, and Yong. On the other side were Vash, Lily, Mei, Lovino, Feliciano, Francis, and Gilbert. You were all satisfied that the lineup was equal. It was a bit scary though, when Matt took Ludwig's roll and shouted at everyone to settle down and start. Most of them ignored him though.

-(Later again. I do too many time skips, I know)-

After about a hour and a half, you all decided to take a break for half-time. The score was now 10-8, with Gilberts team in favor. You had to admit, it wasn't easy. It wasn't that your team was bad, but there were some problems. Vash and Lovino tended to scare the livin hell out of Peter, Sakura, and Yong. And while you were generally just trying to keep your distance from Francis (who tended to grope you whenever around), Elizaveta kept losing her temper to Gilbert. Also, Ludwig was pretty good at playing, mostly as the goal keeper, he had a bit of a soft spot for Feliciano, which left room for Lily to score, because she was pretty damn fast.

Matt was getting frustrated. He scored a third of the goals on his own, because he was extremely good at hockey. And he tried to keep you all in line, but it kept falling apart. So he too was, while reluctant, happy to have a break.

Everyone sat down in the grass in a park not too far from where you were playing. There had been a few people watching you play, which included Yao, who was Sakura, Yong, and Mei's brother, who brought sodas for everyone to drink while catching their breath. There were also Katya, and Natalia, who were sisters who lived down the block with their brother, a boy who was surrounded by cats talking sleepily with Sakura, three boys that were cousins that were sitting with Lily, Peter, and a chick that was decked out in 'wicked hipster pink'. you didn't really know much about beside their names (Eduard, Ralvis and Toris).

You were pretty surprised that there were this many people coming to watch you all. It seemed like everyone you knew and their mothers were here! (I HAD TO MAKE THE JOKE. Sue me). But then again, aside from the spectrum of people you could see, you felt like you were missing someone…. Someone important…..

Just as you thought of him, you felt something EXTREMLY cold and wet go down the back of your shirt. You scrabbled to extract it from your back, rolling in the grass as a natural reaction. You managed to get it out, remembering exactly who it was you were missing, as said person sat next to you laughing- Alfred. AKA the biggest jerk known to best friend-kind. You turned and gave him a death glare, to which he responded by smiling innocently.

"You know, sometimes, you can be a real pain in the-"

"Hey, Alfred!", you were interrupted by a group of girls, who you recognized as popular (or as I like to call them, untouchables) girls from your school. The kind that wore too-short shorts and tops so small they may as well have been bras.

Alfred flashed you a glance, but you waved him off, meaning he should go calm his raging fangirls. He stood, brushed himself off, and jogged over to chat with them, and they *cough* *cough* FLIRT *cough* with him. You felt like there was a sharp pang of pain in your stomach as you watched one of them reach over and touch Als arm while giggling at something he said. He didn't bother to remove her hand, causing another sharp pain.

So, you did the best thing you could think to do.

"STFU, I just fed you not to long ago! Y u gotta hurt meh?!?" you yelled at your stomach while punching it. Sometimes, you had to act like a little weird. So, while you were clutching your stomach from self-inflicted pain from punches, you barely noticed walk over to you until she spoke.

"Konnichiwa _____-san. Do you mind if I sit with you?" she asked in a soft tone. (Random comment: I think that she's concerned for your sanity… I should stop commenting )

"ah- what? Oh, yeah, sure." You replied, sitting up again.

You both sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, taking small sips. Sakura was a bit of a loss for what to say. And you were just staring into space. But Sakura finally asked up the nerve to ask a 'personal' question.

"Um… ____-san…. You like Arfred-san, don't you?" she asked you timidly.

You deadpanned before answering.

"What? No, not like that. I've known him most of my life. He's like my brother, I suppose." You responded calmly. However, thinking back to the earlier feelings of when you saw Al with those girls….. perhaps it was jealousy?

'no, I don't get jealous. But still…. Now im doubting how much of what I just told Sakura was true. Damn it!' you felt like slamming your head against something hard. Preferably a wall or desk. (BECAUSE I COULD. *headdesks*)

"Wait, why are you asking?" you said to Sakura.

"Werr, and pardon me for being straightforward with this, but it is because I have seen the way you two are arways together. And the way he rooks at you seems to be that of something more than friendship. He also tends to rook at his brother-Arthur, right?- in a strange way whenever his brother talks to you."

You had to take several seconds before taking this all in.

"Arso," Sakura continued, "I courd not herp but notice that when Arfred-san went to talk to those girls, you were arso looking at those girls rike that. I know it is probabry not my prace to say these things, but if there is one thing I rearned from being with Hercures *que Sakura blush*, it is that you can not ignore this.

-in your brain-

'does not compute. Does not compute! DOES NOT COMPUTE.' Shouted a few of your brain cells.  You brain cells were running around in confusion trying to understand everything Sakura had just said.

'EVERYBODY CALM DOWN' shouted one of them, 'Carl, Bob, Joe, Becky, pull yourselves together. This is a teenage girl! We should be able to comprehend the emotions judging on the perpendicular angle at which the Dopamine is interacting with Alfred!'

All of them stopped- they had always thought they were all named Steve. Their heads exploded.

In the end, you understood what she said, but it confused you to no end.

-Back to reality, where heads tend to not explode so easily-

Well. This was just craptastic. Not only had a few of your brain cells exploded, but now you had to realize that you were in love with your best friend, which could cause your friendship to fall apart. Nice one brain.

Sakura watched you sort things out in your head. She then stood, and made her way over to Lizzie, who was talking to Ludwig. Sakura said something to Lizzie, and gestured her hand to you, then Alfred, then back to you, then to the girls who were talking (flirting) with Alfred. Lizzie seemed to ponder this for a moment. She came to an apparent conclusion, stood, excused herself from Ludwig, and disappeared. You watched this happen, confused, but shrugged it off and went back to staring into space, and drinking your soda.

-Lizzies POV-

"Hey, Natalie, could you do me a favor?" I asked.

"What is it you want? Im trying to think of where big brother could be hiding" Natalie said irritably. She had a thing for her older brother, who hid from her often. Poor girl.

I quickly explained to her about ____s situation with Alfred. And asked her if she could make the girls flirting with him go away. Natalie and I weren't close, but I knew her. And she liked ____ all right, mostly because ____ would tell Natalie where Ivan was from time to time. For 'fun'.

"I will do it. _____ has helped me in the past, so I will help" Natalie said.

We made our way over to where Alfred was talking to the girls. Natalie has this….. Ability, so to speak, where she can influence and atmosphere to change. She did it though, and the girls decided to go, leaving Alfred- who couldn't sense the atmosphere to save his life- slightly confused.

I watched Alfred shrug it off, and go sit on his own, talking to the air. What and oddball. I wished _____ luck.

-Normal POV. (OH DEAR GOD. IM TERRIBLE AT FIRST-PERSON POV. DON'T MAKE ME DO IT AGAIN)-

After half time, there were some changes in the line-ups. Alfred came in, so that Matthew could referee. Toris and his friend- who you learned was, despite looking more feminine than you probably ever would, a guy- Feliks replaced Lily and Vash.

You all played for another hour- having fun, trading blows, and occasionally falling and scraping your knees and elbows. You noticed that whenever something was about to happen to you, Al came over and prevented it from happening, but you brushed it off, and tried to cover him as well.

One thing stood out though.

All while this was happening; Alfred kept avoiding eye contact with you. Also, you ended up getting clipped by Yong on his way to the goal. You fell backward, expecting that you would fall flat onto your butt, which would probably hurt like hell. However, the impact that you predicted did not occur. Alfred somehow made his way over to you quickly, and caught you.

"Thanks, but you didn't have to do that Al", you said, grateful to be spared the fall, but embarrassed at having to have him catch you.

"Its cool. Just be more careful" Al said. You thought he sounded almost mad. You wondered if you did something to possibly offend him. You would have to ask him later.

-Le timeskip to end of game-

When the game was over, Matthew announced the results. Gilberts team had one. Matthew hadn't been this pissed since Alfred and him had tried to play catch. There was a lot of taunting from the other team- Francis and Gilbert mostly- and Matthew challenged them to a 10 point round. A few people declined, including Alfred and yourself. You were too tired and sore. All  you wanted to do was take a hot shower.

So you said goodbye to everyone, and started down the street with Alfred to his house.

-Le timeskip to a little later-

Later, ou were sitting on the couch, playing Left 4 Dead 2 (yes, another zombie game. Don't judge me), and you were in gaming mode. You had taken a shower not to long ago, so your (h/l) (h/c) hair was still damp, and your towel was wrapped around your shoulders. You were wearing a black t-shirt that had 'BITE ME' in large red letters written across it, and a pair of dark blue shorts, not short-shorts you couldn't stand those, regular shorts.

Alfred walked down the hall behind you. You could hear him. You looked over from you game for a moment and glanced at him. BIG MISTAKE.

Your mind went into overdrive, as you whipped your head back around to the screen. Half to keep you from staring, and half to keep you from blushing and/or nosebleeding.

Alfred was wearing a pair of black sweat pants, and no shirt! You had never really noticed how muscular he was. you mentally slapped yourself. It was just Alfred! There was no need to start acting like a teenage girl that fangirled whenever a guy took off his shirt.

You calmed yourself down, and distracted yourself with Left 4 Dead 2 again.

Neither of you said anything as you cleared your head with zombies, and Alfred came around and sat next to you.

Al watched as you once again immersed yourself in the game. He watched as you mercilessly slaughtered all that got in your way. You both sat in this awkward silence for a few minutes, while he stared at you. The silence was starting to become unbearable.

"Hey, ____" Al said, sounding uneasy.

"Hmm?" you replied attractively (sarcasm)

"Do ya mind if I do something?" Al said.

"Sure, whatever" you replied, assuming he would start messing with your hair like he did sometimes when he was bored.

You felt Alfred shift his position on the couch, so he was facing you. He cupped his hand and put it on your cheek, turning you so that you faced him. Then, he leaned over, and brought his lips onto yours in a gentle kiss.