There's More (Hetalia)

1. Deception and A Swearing Problem

"We're here! Sorry for being late," The blond haired, blue eyed nation known as America said as he walked into the meeting room. A disgruntled look-alike Canadian walked in after him.

"You're ten minutes late again, Alfred," Arthur nagged. He rolled his eyes. "Honestly. Do they not make alarm clocks where you live?"

Alfred seemed put off for a moment, before cheering right back up and saying, "Yup! I invented them, actually!"

"That doesn't mean you always wake up to them, though," Matthew pointed out.

"Well, neither do you," Alfred teased.

"Shut up."

"Are you two... okay?" Kiku asked warily.

"Huh? Yeah, we're fine! Why?"

"You do both seem bit off today," Francis observed.

"Well, we just got off of a jet," Matthew pointed out, a slight bit of sass in his voice. "It's probably just fuckin' jet lag." Alfred gave him a look. Everyone else stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you two sure you're okay?" Feliciano asked.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Yes. Let's start the meeting," Alfred said. He and Matthew took their seats.

Ludwig nodded cautiously. "Ja... ja, let's start."

The meeting, which happened to be a G-8 meeting, was definitely one of the stranger ones. America was less present, and Canada was more present in the meeting. No fights broke out either, and the nations got through their presentations with no interruptions. The orderliness and silence made everyone uncomfortable.

Finally, 11:00 rolled around, and a break was called. Everyone sat there, unsure of what to do. A few nations just stared at the two North Americans.

"Hey, Alfred," Arthur said. He happened to be sitting right next to the American. "We haven't talked in a while. How have you been?"

That was a lie, actually. Arthur had talked to Alfred two days before. He had seemed fine then, and he wondered what had happened in those two days that would make him act so strange.

"Ah, well, you know, swamped with work. Same old same old," Alfred responded. Arthur nodded in understanding, but couldn't help but wonder what Alfred's slight hesitation was about.

"I'd offer to go to dinner with Francis and Matthew, but I really need to catch up on my paperwork," he continued, scratching the back of his head. Arthur gave him a look.

Now something was definitely wrong. Alfred never just... admits when something's wrong, even if it's just paperwork. And he definitely never gives up an opportunity to procrastinate doing his work.

Alfred's smile faltered for just a second. "It's okay, though! I'll get caught up, no worries!"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Arthur asked.

"Of course!" Alfred said.

Arthur noticed something weird about the way Alfred said 'of course!' Not only was it not as cheerful as he's used to, it didn't include any American slang that Arthur was also used to but not exactly sure of the connotation, like 'dude' or 'bro'. Just the simple two words.

A terrible thought entered his head, that this might not even be Alfred at all.

He looked to Matthew, who had been on his phone for the entire break so far. He definitely had had more of a presence during this meeting. Plus, when he presented (something Matthew doesn't always get to do), he would stop himself almost every other sentence, seemingly on the brink of saying a swear word. Arthur had previously brushed it off as something he had never noticed before, but even then he didn't really believe it.