[Fic Fill] Eagle Heart
TITLE: Eagle Heart
AUTHOR: berseker
RECIPIENT: LBH (anonymous participant)
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS: US/UK
RATING: Free
PROMPT: Nations and their pets.
SUMMARY: Alfred gets a visitor. Sort of.
It was one of those days.
Not the bad ones. On the contrary, it was one of those super perfect ones. One of those that only come once in a lifetime, with deep blue skies that could be almost blinding and a soft breeze that smelled like flowers - and that would be because there were flowers here, Alfred was pretty sure it wouldn't smell like that if they were, say, downtown, God knows what would smell like then - and a few white clouds that looked almost like a painting and, and also green fields full of said flowers and other cool nature stuff, it was a nice day. A super nice day. A perfect day to stay just like he was, laying on the fields and being blinded by the sky and thinking deep thoughts about everything.
Like how the green fields looked a little like England's eyes. Or maybe it were his eyes that looked like the fields. After all, he was willing to bet England was older than this field.
How long grass lived anyway? Not as long as England, right? The guy was, like... five centuries old? No. More than that. He was pretty sure of it. Alfred tried to focus on this. It was the perfect day to ponder on his boyfriend's age.
Eeeeeh his boyfriend. This made him smile. Actually, this never failed to make him smile. Even if said boyfriend was super old. Ancient. Like-
“Are you awake?”, his boyfriend asked. Alfred turned to him, a lazy smile on his lips:
“I'm not sure... Why?”
“Because I think we should eat now. I brought some scones for us.”
“... oh. That's, erm. Really cool. Yes.”
After all, he didn't want to ruin this perfect day by insulting his (lack of) cooking skills.
He also didn't want to ruin it by eating rocks. Alfred was facing a serious dilemma now.
So he went back at his sky-gazing, and said:
“I'm just not hungry yet, so I'll just... wait here and you can eat.” and then, because he couldn't help himself, he added, “And if you survive I'll try some.”
He could feel England's eyes narrowing. And he could feel the storm building up, and threatening to crash all over him, like a wave or something, and leaving the fields in a muddy mess of... rage and burnt scones, and it was almost happening, almost, but then something awesome happened and he sat down, eyes wide with glee:
“England, look! That's my eagle!”
England frowned. He looked up:
“...that's not an eagle.”
“No, it's my eagle, I know her!”
“America-”
“Come on, don't you think I can recognize my own eagle?” he got up, even if he couldn't possibly reach her, he just couldn't stay still anymore. It was all he could do not to run after her. He waved at the bird, “England, say hi to her. Why aren't you waving? Wave!”
England didn't wave. He was still sitting. And still frowning. And looking at him as if America had just sprouted a second head.
“I won't wave at a bird. And you don't have an eagle.”
“Sure I do! She's been with me since forever now! That's- oooooh she's coming here!”
He raised his face, squinting his eyes against the sun, watching the lazy circles she was drawing in the air. He laughed out of sheer excitement:
“I haven't seen her for a while now, I missed her!”
“I can see that,” England said.
His voice was different now. Alfred looked at him, intrigued, just to find a small smile on his lips, and that soft weird look England had when he thought Alfred was being just a bit childish.
Uh.
“Hey, come on, I bet you're happy when your pets come to visit you, aren't you?”
“Indeed I am,” England said. He didn't stop smiling. It was sort of pretty, come to think about it. So whatever. Alfred grinned back:
“And it has been a long time. I thought she had gone away, but I guess she missed me too.”
“How could she not,” England murmured, but Alfred heard - it was probably meant for him to hear - and that made him feel even warmer, and happy, and this day was turning out to be even <>more perfect than before.
She looked bigger now that she was coming down. He waved again, unable to contain his joy.
“Eagles are the best things in the world. Don't you think so? Don't you think they're the coolest most awesome animals in the world?”
“Well. I'm partial to unicorns, myself.”
Alfred looked back at him.
“... erm, right. Yes. Well. I like pets who actually exist, but to each their own, I guess.”
“I don't think of him as my pet,” England said, giving a stern glare to show he had decided to be generous and ignore this just so the day wouldn't be ruined but Alfred wouldn't be so lucky next time.
England's eyes were expressive like that.
“It's a different sort of relationship,” he said. He picked one scone from the basket, and added, “I think of them as my friends.”
Alfred waited a few seconds. When he was sure England would live, and that the scone hadn't poisoned him, he answered:
“Well, I don't know. She's my friend too. But it's the same thing, I think. I mean, calling them our pets it's just a different way to say it.” he paused. “Actually, I think she considers me her pet. But that's just weird.”
“I wouldn't be surprised,” England said.
“Well, she used to sort of like take care of me. Before. A long time ago.”
England didn't look surprised. He had mentioned this before, how his imaginary unicorn was immortal and Alfred had told him he was pretty sure his whale was always the same whale too, and how maybe there were animals versions of them, like... ideas, sort of unchanging only not really. Almost as old as England.
Something like that.
It had made sense, back then. If he could be a nation, why couldn't his eagle be the super awesome master queen of all eagles? It was only fitting.
“I don't know,” England said. Alfred paused a moment, trying to remember how many times he had heard England say this. Maybe he was dreaming. Or maybe he should make him write it down and sign it.
Maybe the scones were poisoning him.
“... I see your point,” England said, “but it doesn't look proper. I wouldn't call my lion my pet, after all. It seems disrespectful.”
“… you have a lion? A real lion? That roars and all? Why didn't you tell me that? Can I see it? Is he here? Where is he? How come you have a lion-”
“Go say hi to your eagle, Alfred. We can talk about this later.”
“But a real lion-”
The eagle's shadow was bigger on the floor now, and he could hear her cry (the only part of her that was kinda sort of slightly uncool, but he wasn't going to say that out loud) and all thoughts of other animals vanished. He ran to her as soon as she landed- and it was the perfect day for some dramatic running, and the perfect field too, seriously, this day was getting more awesome by the second - and... not really hugged because you just didn't do that, but he touched her head and tried not to get gutted by her powerful beak and then he ignored the not-hugging thing and threw his arms around her neck, because he had really really missed her.
England watched him, still sitting by the basket, still munching on his scone.
“I know, I know,” he said, “But you must forgive him. He's still pretty much a child, sometimes.”
The unicorn snorted. England petted his head, a little absentmindedly.
He looked at his lion, snoring a few feet away. He was sort of awesome, as Alfred would say it. If a bit lazy. England smiled fondly at him. And it felt nice, to have Alfred in so much awe of him.
... still, he wasn't mentioning his dragon any time soon. God knows how Alfred would react to that.
~*~
Notes:
-Re the eagle's cry: as tvtropes say "All owls hoot, all big cats roar, and all birds of prey will have the cry of a Red-Tailed Hawk dubbed over (because a Bald Eagle's cry MUST be Awesome)". Alfred lives by the Rule of Cool.
-... of course England has a pet dragon, dontcha know?
- I'm sorry about the title. I have no excuse 8D