Welcome to College {Hetalia x Reader} Chapter 9

Chapter 9: After School Moments
Various (America, S. Italy, Germany, & Hong Kong) x Reader


~*~*~*~*~*


The professor’s voice continued on for the past twenty minutes, practically lulling students to sleep as they were too bored to pay attention.

One such student, a particular blond haired young man with a strange cowlick, was as bored as the rest of his peers, yet he did not feel tired. Instead, he occasionally tapped his pencil loudly on the desk, earning a glare and a sharp remark from a rather cranky Englishman seated in front of him.

Alfred, however, only rolled his eyes though he did oblige and stop tapping. He turned his attention to the windows on his left and stared out at the blue skies. Lazy clouds drifted around here and there, and despite it being February, the weather was pleasant.

‘I’d rather be outside than in here any day.’ He thought to himself. Turning his attention back to the professor, he was still going on and on about the themes and motifs present in their latest assigned book. Alfred let out what seemed to be the hundredth sigh since the class began.

Looking over to his right, the American stared at (Name) curiously. She was paying attention intently during the beginning of class, but now she was fighting to stay awake. Her eyelids drooped from time to time and her elbow was propped up on the table to support her head.

As though she finally relented to resting, (Name)’s eyes closed as she leaned even further into her hand. Slowly, her elbow slid off the edge of the table and Alfred watched in amusement as (e/c) eyes suddenly shot open and a small gasp escaped her lips. (Name) sat up in her chair, appearing dazed and slightly embarrassed as snickers could be heard around the classroom.

Luckily for her, the professor didn’t notice, as his back was to the class.

(Name) rubbed her eyes tiredly. She knew she shouldn’t have binge-watched that TV show last night. Opening her eyes once more, the (h/c) haired girl noticed a piece of paper landed on her desk.

She gave Alfred a questioning glance before opening the paper quietly.

You seem tired

(Name) rolled her eyes and wrote a response, passing it back to her friend.

Really? What made it obvious?

Alfred chuckled and tore a larger sheet of paper to continue the conversation. It went on for quite awhile, the professor never suspecting a thing.

Al: Why’re you so tired today?

(Name): Decided that watching Netflix was more important than sleep… Kind of regretting it now :/

Al: Lol, no matter how much you regret it, you’ll end up doing it again. Maybe tonight, even

(Name): Nah, I have more impulse control now that I almost fell out of my seat

Al: Trust me, (Name), you’ll be doing it again. We all do it, nothing to be ashamed about! What show were you watching?

(Name): Eh, it’s not really popular. Just something I found while searching through Netflix

Al: …You were watching anime, weren’t you?

(Name): …Maybe o.o

Al: I KNEW IT

(Name): Even through writing, I can hear your voice screaming in my head… You should watch with me! It’ll be fun!

Al: I don’t know… Kiku tried to introduce me to some anime he was watching before… I still can’t forget about those titans o.o

(Name): Come on! This one isn’t violent, I swear. You’ll love it~

Al: Alright, alright, fine. It can be like a Netflix and Chill thing!

She nearly choked on her spit when she read his latest note. (Name) stared down at the paper, feeling her face growing warmer by the second. Turning to look at her friend, he was grinning, eagerly waiting for her next response. She looked back at the paper in her hands and scribbled down a reply.

(Name): Alfred… Do you know what Netflix and Chill means?

The blond American furrowed his eyebrows when he received the paper back.

Al: Isn’t it just another term for ‘hang out’?

She breathed a sigh of relief, though the warm feeling wouldn’t go away just yet.

(Name): You really don’t know what it means? Come on, you’re always so up-to-date with this stuff, even Arty knows this phrase! This a new low, even for you, Al

Al: Sometimes I just don’t come across weird sayings! Tell me what it means, please~

(Name) stopped for a moment, wondering if she should really tell him. Ultimately, she decided against it, not wanting Alfred to feel embarrassed.

(Name): I was just kidding, it really does mean ‘hang out’

The bell rang just as Al read her note. Arthur got out of his seat and turned around, an annoyed look on his face.

“You two giggle so loudly that I thought a pair of middle school girls was sitting behind me for a moment.” He reprimanded them.

“Oh shush, Iggy. We all know you just wish you were part of this awesome note exchange.” Al answered, rolling his eyes and waving the paper in front of the Englishman’s face. Arthur tried to snatch it out of his grip, but was a second too late.

The American’s loud obnoxious laugh could be heard as Arthur continued to grab the paper, (Name) watching on in amusement.

“I’m going to go now. See you guys later!” Alfred announced, still holding the paper high above his head. Though just before he left the class, he called back to (Name). “I hope we can Netflix and Chill sometime soon, (Name)!” Before finally leaving.

More than a few heads turned at that statement as her peers stared at her in surprise. Some were grinning, some confused, while a particular Englishman was staring at the place Alfred had just stood, his mouth hanging open.

“WHAT?!” Arthur screeched, turning to the (h/c) haired girl. Her face was equally as red as Arthur’s.

So much for not wanting people to get embarrassed…


~*~*~*~*~*


(Name) finally made it to the library, still thoroughly embarrassed. Arthur had followed her down, bombarding her with questions involving Al’s terrible use of the phrase ‘Netflix and Chill.’

“What exactly are you two planning on doing?” The green eyed man asked. “Is that what the notes were talking about?!”

“Nothing! He doesn’t know the actual meaning of the phrase, Arty. God, calm down!” (Name) said, feeling exasperated.

“Good. Because if you’re going to ‘Netflix and Chill’ with someone, it should be with someone better than that wanker.”

She stopped in her tracks and gave Arthur a strange look. Raising an eyebrow, she crossed her arms. “Oh? And who do you have in mind, Arty?”

“N-no one! Forget I said anything about it!... Wipe that stupid grin off your face!” With that, the Englishman sped walked away, muttering to himself.

(Name) stared at him and laughed after a moment. “What an idiot…” She murmured. Turning to open the door to the university’s library, she walked towards where the computers were.

Sitting down at a chair, she typed into her phone: “Hey Ludwig, I’m waiting in the library near the computers”

(Name) turned around to sit properly in the chair and noticed that a USB was still inserted into the computer. Seeing a Word document tab open, she clicked on it to see if she knew who it belonged to.

After scrolling through the document, the (h/c) haired girl gave up. “Who types an essay without putting their name at the top?”

At this point, she was just scrolling up and down out of boredom. Once reaching the end of the document, she was just about to close out when a particular word caught her eye. Well, not exactly a word, but her name, actually.

“Huh?” (Name) furrowed her eyebrows as she scrolled up to the top of the paragraph that contained her name.


January 24th, 2017

Today sucked as usual. That tomato-eating bastard bothered me like he does every day, and my stupido fratello made me late to my first class. The professor wasn’t happy, with it being the first day of classes and all… I’ll have to remind myself to yell at Feli for that. The potato-eating bastard had the nerve to look at me too, but I was able to give him a nasty glare back before he turned back around in fright! Hah, serves you right, you bastardo. Nothing else interesting seemed to happen… Oh wait, I remember. I saw (Name) again for the first time since last semester… She looked as pretty as always. I’ve been noticing lately that every time I see her, I get this weird feeling in my chest. And it’s not the same as when I notice other pretty girls. When I see (Name)... I can’t really explain it. I was never really good with expressing my emotions, unlike a certain cry-baby fratello. I don’t know, when I see her, I just feel… Happier. I become more aware of how I act. I guess you could say that she makes me want to be a better person. Maybe I feel this way because we kissed during that stupid chocolate contest nonno made us do last month, or… I don’t know. But either way, I don’t want to let go of her. She seems like a special person.

-Romano


(Name) wasn’t sure why she’d read to the end. When she found out she was reading Arthur’s diary a few months ago, she stopped immediately. Feeling guilty for invading Romano’s privacy, she closed out of the document and removed the USB stick.

Yet, as she twirled it in her hands absentmindedly, (Name) couldn’t help but feel her heart beating more forcefully. Sure, what Romano had said here couldn’t be 100% counted as a confession… She wondered what he meant by ‘special.’

(Name) turned in her seat and glanced around, trying to see if Romano was still in the library. Then, she spotted him running in, looking frantic. She stood up in her seat and waved towards him.

The Italian saw her and sped walked over. “(Name)! Have you seen--”

She opened her palm and revealed the USB stick. “I just found it in the computer. I was wondering whose it was.”

Romano breathed a sigh of relief as he took the stick. “Grazie… How did you know I was asking for a USB, though?”

(Name) shrugged. “Lucky guess, I suppose.”

He nodded, looking down at it. Then, he seemingly remembered something. “You-you didn’t read anything on here, did you?”

“No.” It was the first answer that came to mind. Romano took her word for it and nodded, thanking her again before excusing himself and walking out. Yet (Name) didn't seem to catch the blush that dusted his cheeks when he turned away.

(Name) sighed, looking down at her shoes. “Should I have told him…?” Sighing once more, she shook her head and walked back to her seat by the computer.

Taking her phone out, she noticed that she’d just gotten a message from Ludwig.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes; I got caught up in something. Sorry.”

After sending out a reply, she sat back down and stared off absentmindedly.


~*~*~*~*~*


“(Name).”

Said girl looked up and saw Ludwig a few feet away. Smiling, she got up and took her backpack with her.

“It’s about time you got here! What did you have to do? Wait, let me guess, Feli had some trouble with something?”

The German snorted. “No, this time Gilbert had some trouble.”

“What was it?”

“The usual idiotic stuff he does. Anyway, let’s not dwell on this, I have a lot of work to do.” He replied. “Did you print the posters?”

“Yep!” She showed him the stack of paper in her hands. “Let’s drop off our stuff at one of the classrooms in the language hall, first.” Ludwig agreed and took more than half of the papers out of her grip. “Aw, thanks Luddy!”

He grunted, yet a dust of pink was present on his cheeks. No matter how long she’d been calling him that, Ludwig wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to hear it without getting even a little bit flustered.

“Thanks for helping me, by the way (Name).”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all! I don’t have much planned today, since it’s a Friday and all.” (Name) chuckled. “I should probably start on the English project though. But I’m still in that ‘vacation-mood,’ ya know? We’ve been back for only 2 weeks now.”

The German nodded “I get that too, sometimes.”

“Really?! Even hard-working Ludwig gets lazy?!”

“B-believe it or not, yes I do get that lazy feeling sometimes! Blame Gilbert for influencing me...”

After picking a random classroom, the pair set down their things and came up with a plan.

“Okay, we need these flyers in this entire building. I have Feli and Kiku putting them up in the science building. Roderich and Elizabeta have the liberal arts building covered.”

“What about the gymnasium?” (Name) questioned.

“I’m forcing Gilbert to post them there, since he gave me so much trouble today.”

(Name) laughed. “Well okay, then. We should probably split up so we can finish this quicker.” He nodded in agreement. Picking up half of the papers, she continued. “Hey, do you want to make this fun?”

He raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“We can turn this into like a race. Whoever finishes their stack and gets back here first wins!”

Ludwig shook his head. “Nein. We’re not allowed to run through the hallways, you know that. That, and someone could end up getting hurt. It’s not a secret that you’re overly competitive.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “Will you guys let that go? It was an accident!”

“(Name), you and Elizabeta flipped and broke the table in the recreational room.”

“Like I said, it was an accident!” Then, muttering under her breath, she added, “If it weren’t for you and Kiku winning everything, maybe the table wouldn’t have been flipped…” Looking back up at Ludwig, she pleaded. “Please, Ludwig! It’ll be fun! And it’ll let us finish this quicker! You have to loosen up sometimes, ya know. You didn’t even come to the holiday contest!”

“...I heard that Principal Vargas tricked all of you in that.”

“That’s besides the point.” (Name) sighed. “Alright fine. I’m not going to force you.”

“Thank you.”

They continued to gather all of the necessary supplies in silence until she piped up again.

“You know, Luddy? I really admire how much you follow the rules. Even though your grandfather is the vice principal and you can therefore get away with stuff, you still choose to adhere to the rules like everyone else. It’s one of the things I like about you.” (Name) admitted, searching for tape.

The blond haired German stopped his task and stared at her, surprised to hear that. No peer ever complimented him on that. They usually just complained how uptight he was, and how he never let loose.

He thought for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh, catching her attention. “...I suppose we could make this a little bit more fun.”

(Name) stared at him in surprise. “Really?”

Ludwig scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. Breaking the rules once in awhile isn’t horrible… I guess.”

A large grinned appeared on her lips as she cheered. “Yay! Okay, let’s set a time limit then! Since we each have twenty flyers, let’s set the timer to ten minutes!”

He nodded, gathering everything he needed into his hands.

They walked out of the classroom, standing side-by-side as they both set a timer on their phones.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

3… 2… 1…

Both students took off in opposite directions, posting the flyers anywhere deemed necessary. (Name) felt her heart pounding with excitement as she taped her tenth flyer.

She ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time and stopping on the landing for a moment to slap another flyer on the wall before taking off again.

As she approached the business classes, (Name) noticed with dismay that the hallway was already pasted with Ludwig’s flyers. Gritting her teeth in frustration, she turned around and ran towards the art wing, all the while, students still in class were peering out the door in confusion.

Once arriving, she skidded to a halt as she noticed that there were flyers there already. “How is he doing this?!”

(Name) turned back around and decided to run back downstairs, seeing as how Ludwig covering everything on the second floor. Upon entering the history wing, she felt satisfaction at seeing the bare walls and began to quickly tape her remaining flyers up.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, she turned to her right and smirked at the sight of Ludwig appearing at the other end of the hall.

“I’ve got this covered already,” she replied. The German frowned and took off again, leaving (Name) to finish her hallway.

Once she was finished, she ran in the direction Ludwig had gone in and realized with happiness that she only had three flyers left.

The (h/c) haired girl began to run towards the stairs again. Nearing the landing, she was about to turn and take the next flight of stairs until she saw her companion coming down. ‘He still has papers in his hands and he’s coming back down… That means there are no more places upstairs to put these!’

(Name) smirked and turned around, but as she was about to run back down, she felt herself trip. “Crap!”

The sound of papers could be heard being scattered into the air as a thud echoed in the empty hallways. (Name) opened her eyes warily, having felt herself rushing towards the floor. But upon blinking a few times, she realized in shock that Ludwig had somehow come between her and the floor.

“L-Ludwig! Are you okay? How did you manage to catch me if you were behind?!” She exclaimed in worry, looking him over to see if he had any injuries.

“I’m not sure…” He admitted. “It all happened so quickly.” Lifting his head up slightly, he asked, “How about you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, thanks to you.” (Name) got up, helping her friend up as well.

Ludwig thanked her. “Isn’t this the second time I saved you from falling down the stairs? The first time was when I met you on the first day of school.”

She furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before recalling the memory. “Oh… Yeah, I remember that.” She chuckled. “I guess I need to be more careful, huh? But thank you, Ludwig, for saving me again.” The (h/c) haired girl gave him a quick hug, to which he awkwardly returned, before the pair picked up the scattered pieces of paper and walked back to the classroom together.


~*~*~*~*~*


(Name) let a sigh escape from her lips as she finally arrived back to her dorm. Closing the door behind her, Mei suddenly ran downstairs.

“(Name)!”

“Yes?” She answered, feeling more tired than ever.

“Can you do me a favor, pleaseeee?” Mei pleaded, clasping her hands together and giving her roommate puppy dog eyes.

She stared back, unaffected. “You know that doesn’t work on me… What do you want me to do?”

“Leon needs a volunteer for his physiology project and I recommended you! He asked if you would be okay with it and I said ‘yes.’ Now, he’s coming over in about five minutes so be ready to do whatever it is that he asks of you, okay? Okay, thanks so much!” With that Mei turned around to run back up the stairs, but (Name) grabbed her right on time.

“Wait what?!”

The Taiwanese girl pouted. “Aw, come on. It’s not a big deal! Leon’s project is pretty simple anyway.”

“I’ll admit that I’m a bit irked you recommended me without even asking if I was okay with it, but I’m even more annoyed because this seems like another set up so you can make more money on your bet!”

Mei rolled her eyes. “It’s really not, I promise. Leon’s not allowed to use family members for this project, and he needs a boy and girl volunteer. He already forced Emil to help him, now he just needs a girl.”

(Name) let out a heavy sigh.

“Oh come on! Look, he’s coming over soon and it would be mean to turn him down now! Please~”

“Alright, fine.” The (h/c) haired girl relented. She walked over to the couch and sat down in exhaustion as her roommate cheered.

“Yay! Thanks a bunch, (Name)!” With that, she ran back upstairs and closed the bedroom door.

Not knowing what else to do, (Name) got up slowly and walked toward the kitchen to get a glass of water. As she was drinking it and lost in her own thoughts, the front door suddenly slammed open, causing her to nearly choke on the water.

“(Name)!”

She swallowed the last of her drink and set the cup down. “Yes?” She croaked, coughing a bit.

Leon peered into the kitchen, his dark brown bangs falling over his eyes a bit. “There you are. Thanks for agreeing to help with this.”

“No problem,” then adding more quietly, she muttered, “It’s not like I had a choice, anyway.”

They walked over to the couch as (Name) peered at the box he was carrying. “What’s in there?”

Leon shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.” He turned to his left and opened the box as (Name) tried to look around him and see what was in it. He took about a blood pressure monitor and looked over at her, his emotionless dark brown eyes betraying nothing. “So for this project, I just need a few things. Your blood pressure and heart rate at rest and during exercise.”

“Exercise?”

“I just need to somehow make your heart rate go up, not exactly exercise.”

He motioned her to extend her left arm, to which she obeyed. As Leon was attaching the cuff onto her forearm, (Name) asked, “I’m guessing you want to major in something involving physiology?”

“I plan on majoring in nursing.” Leon answered, turning the device on.

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed you wanted to do that… Huh, everyone plans on majoring in something I would never have thought they’d have interest in.”

The dark haired man chuckled lightly. “Alright, don’t move and don’t talk until I remove the cuff.”

(Name) followed his directions, simply staring at the machine as the number rose and began to settle slowly. The cuff tightened in the process, yet it never reached the point where it was painful. Once the numbers stopped changing, Leon took out a piece of paper and quickly recorded them down before removing the cuff.

“Your blood pressure is normal.” He announced, putting the monitor away and taking out a stethoscope. Placing the eartips into his ear, he said, “come closer a bit more.” Once she’d done so, Leon gently placed the chestpiece over where her heart was.

Leon listened for a few moments before nodding and moving to record his findings again. Taking the eartips out and hanging the headset around his neck, Leon stared at her.

“Okay, now I just need find a way to make your heart rate increase…”

(Name) tilted her head to the side slightly, “The easiest thing to do would be to force me to do exer--”

Leon suddenly clapped his hands loudly a mere two inches away from her face. Yet (Name) simply blinked in surprise, not even flinching.

“...What was that?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to, like, scare you.”

“By clapping in my face?”

“Surprising people can make their heart jump slightly. Did you feel anything happen?” (Name) shook her head in response. Leon sighed. “It worked on Emil… How else can I make your heart rate go up quickly…?”

(Name) raised an eyebrow. “Exer--” Yet he interrupted her again. Though this time, he did it by pressing his lips against her own. Her (e/c) eyes widened in shock, yet she did not push him away. After what seemed like minutes, Leon pulled away and quickly placed the eartips back on and pressed the chestpiece over her heart.

He listened intently for a few seconds before withdrawing and writing down the newest information, all the while smirking slightly at (Name)’s red face.

“Your heart rate shot up a lot from that, huh?” Leon questioned as he began to pack his things. “I wonder how quickly it would go up if you were doing… Other things.” Yet that last question was more to himself than to her. Standing up, he spared her a glance, a ghost of a smirk on his lips. “Thanks for helping, (Name). When I have other projects for this class, I’ll come back to you.”

With that, Leon left her dorm. (Name) sat silently on the couch, her face still burning red. She then gently placed a finger on her lips as she said loudly, “I know you’re watching, Mei.”

The sound of her roommate then giggling in their bedroom was heard as she opened the door and ran downstairs. “That was soooo cute!” Mei exclaimed happily. As she rambled on and on about how much she ‘shipped’ the two of them, (Name) rolled her eyes and got up from the couch, Mei following her.