Title: Lust and Patience
Genre: Humour, Supernatural, Romance
Word Count: 1,417
Character(s)/Pairing(s): America, England, France, brief mentions of Prussia and Greece | Eventual America/England
Rating/Warnings: M. For language and possible allusions to sex in future chapters.
Summary: AU. In which Alfred and Arthur are the shoulder devil and angel to a boy named Francis. Chaos ensues.

There has always been a constant struggle between the good and the evil, a fight between the angels and the devils. Ah, fret not though; it is not as dramatic as it sounds. None of those fights in mid-air with bloodied torn-out wings or crashes straight into the very core of Earth like you see in movies.

Things are a lot more subdued in reality. So much so that you probably didn't think they exist. Picture this; an angel with wings as white as snow on your right shoulder and a devil in skin-tight blood red costume on your left. Familiar, yes? You have probably come across them in cartoons on television but they are slightly different, a little more... Specialised.

There are seven classes of angels; Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness and Humility. Countering that, seven classes of devils; Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. The angel on a person's right shoulder represents the best trait of a person, while the devil on the left his worst.

Our tale begins in a humble little home high up in the clouds, where an angel of patience by the name of Arthur Kirkland, resides. It was just like any other peaceful day with a delightful cup of tea by his side, that is, until the Heaven's messenger, Wang Yao crashed right through the doors of his home. Taken by surprise, Arthur jumped a little. Honestly! He thought he had locked the door up properly this time!

"Mister Kirkland! You have a new client!"

Brilliant green eyes blinked as its owner absorbed the information. It had been some time since he was given an assignment and to be honest, he was getting a little used to having absolutely nothing to do. So to suddenly get this was a little...

"When do I have to report in?" he asked as he stood up, his white wings fluttering at the motion.

"As soon as possible! Immediately!" the brown-eyed angel said in a panicked voice as he fumbled around in his leather bag.

Arthur groaned in slight annoyance as he snapped his fingers, a luggage appearing mid-air by his side on cue. "Why wasn't any notice given prior to this?"

Wang Yao said nothing and merely bowed his head in apology. Arthur sighed as he packed a few belongings; he hated being called on last minute like this.

"Assignment details?" Arthur asked after much silence.

"Francis Bonnefoy, a boy that is to be due 6.37 PM GMT—" They have just recently adjusted their timing to coordinate with the GMT, to better suit their work in the mortal world, which was probably the reason why the timings are in such a mess now. "—today, in France. Paris. Ah, here!" Wang Yao finally found the envelope he had been looking for and threw it over to Arthur, who gracefully swiped it out of the air.

"Very well." the angel replied as he gave the information in the letter a quick scan. "I will be down over in a moment."

Wang Yao nodded and took a quick departure, snapping his fingers and moving on to the next unlucky angel that was to be sent to the mortal world under such short notice.

Arthur briefly wondered about his new working environment; the place France, the client and most of all, the devil he would be stuck with for the rest of the mortal's lifeline. Memories of his previous assignments piled in, making him shudder in dread. Hopefully, this would be a tolerable one to work with. He had been stuck with a Pride previously and it wasn't an experience he wished to relive. That thing just wouldn't shut up for a minute about how awesome he is.

"Please, pleasegive me an easy one this time." he begged and with a deep breath of reassurance to himself, snapped his fingers and quickly teleported to his soon-to-be client.

Arthur appeared on a bedside table in a hospital. He looked to his left and there laid a beautiful blond woman with violet eyes, the mother to Francis Bonnefoy. He averted his gaze to her shoulders and there theywere, an angel and a devil on their respective sides, both with similar anxious expressions on their faces.

"Hello," Arthur greeted them briefly and was only responded with a nod of acknowledgement from each. He didn't press further; they were a little busy at the moment with the excitement of seeing their client go through such a moment. It was heart-warming to see that, at times like these, the angels and devils could actually bond. It was rare but it was there. He smiled a little at the thought before looking over the trio to to the other bedside table to check if Francis's shoulder devil has arrived.

And surprise, surprise. It was empty. He rolled his eyes and flung his luggage to the side, which disappeared into brilliant sparkles just before it hits the wall.

Since he arrived slightly early, he still had a little time to kill. With lack of anything better to do, he tried to climb up the fruit basket that sat on the table. Wait...

What was he? An idiot?

Arthur flapped his wings and was surprised by the amount of effort he needed just to lift his feet off the ground. It had been perhaps a few months since he had took flight so it felt a little strange. He wasn't given much time to ponder over it though since two things happened.

The expectant lady groaned and there was a puff of red smoke on the other bedside table that was previously empty, signalling the arrival of the devil for the tot that was about to come.

"Ah-ha! Just in time! Fuckyeah!"

How rambunctious, thought Arthur as he inwardly cringed in disapproval. Just when he had hoped for a bearable partner to work with, all of it was dashed in just that first impression. He shouldn't have expected much, really. All the devils were more or less like that. Well, except for that one Sloth he worked with quite some time ago... Heracles Karpusi, was it?

As the devil danced around to celebrate his impeccable timing, Arthur took the opportunity to inspect him. Jet-back hair with a lone strand that stuck up stubbornly above the others, navy blue eyes, black-rimmed spectacles, black jacket and dark horns that curled downwards, much like a ram. The grin on his face was absolutely much too wide, causing wrinkles to tug at the edge of his eyes. The angel itched to reach out with an iron to get the crease out of his otherwise perfect face but managed to refrain himself from doing so.

He waited for a few minutes, giving his new partner time to acknowledge his presence. When it seems to Arthur that the devil wasn't going to take notice of him anytime soon or was just plain ignoring him, he decided to take the matter into his own hands. He cleared his throat.

Nothing.

He cleared his throat again. Louder this time.

Still nothing and what kind of celebration dance included pelvic thrusts?

"Excuse me?" he spoke up.

The devil was repeatedly punching the air in front of him now and Arthur started to think that maybe he wasn't doing a celebration dance, but a workout.

"Mister."

But still the devil continued to disregard his presence, and Arthur could actually feel his patience running thin, something that did not happen very often. Not wanting to shout, he snapped his fingers and in an instant, a bucket of water appeared over the devil's head.

With a smirk, Arthur snapped his fingers again and the bucket responded by tipping its contents over on the devil's head. Navy blue eyes soon landed on Arthur and the angel cheered inwardly in triumph.

"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Arthur Kirkland."

The devil said nothing and flew over to Arthur. He had expected some sort of revenge from the other but instead of having his feet set on fire or something like that, Arthur was given a hand to shake. He stared, momentarily stunned by the devil's friendliness and mentally checking off possibilities of which class the devil might be.

Envy, Pride and Wrath were definitely out and judging by his earlier antics, Sloth was off as well. Maybe he was an Obnoxious? Oh, wait. That class doesn't exist...

"Ello there~ I'm Alfred Jones, devil of lust, at your service."

Well, shit.

Author's Note: I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Feel free to leave comments, thoughts and feedback on my writing! I strive to please, so it'd be great if you can help me improve since I know my writing isn't the best (and very choppy) ;n; Updates for this will be... Relatively slow, unfortunately... And I do apologise for that.