The Clock That Stopped (Hetalia Fanfiction)

Shock, Friends and Maple Tea

Arthur decided that it was probably time for him to leave too. By now, the rain had stopped so he just carried the umbrella in the crook of his arm.
Whilst walking home, he saw the flower shop that the Frenchman worked in. Arthur paused for a minute to get a proper look at the little shop. The lights were off downstairs and not a lot could be seen, showing that it was closed, but there was a light glowing through one of the two windows upstairs, which meant that he was home. Arthur remembered that he still had the man's umbrella, but he thought that it may seem rude to just show up at his house at a time like this.
"I'll return it to him tomorrow", Arthur murmured to himself as he began walking again

It had been a long day for him, and he wanted just to be in his bed as soon as possible. It wasn't long before he was home again. Arthur cooked himself a badly burnt dinner, which seemed to always happen because of his atrocious cooking skills, though by now he was used to it and couldn't taste it. He then went through to his bedroom and began to undress.
As he was lifting his shirt over his head, something peculiar caught his eye, causing him to do a double take. Looking down at his wrist, Arthur got a severe shock when he saw that the clock was at 0. It definitely wasn't like that yesterday, for Arthur had made a habit of checking at least once per day.
At first, he was speechless. On one hand, he was immensely happy due to the fact that he had met his soulmate today. On the other hand, he was frustrated because he had met two people today and hadn't bothered to check his clock at the time, so he had no idea who it was. Arthur was torn between jumping for joy and throwing his chair out of the window.
"But who could it be? I met that French bloke today, but then I also met Matthew...", Arthur thought aloud
"I suppose there's no point in getting so worked up over it tonight, I'll try to figure it out in the morning", he said as he finished getting ready and clambered into bed, before soon falling asleep.

As the sunlight coming through the window found it's way into Arthur's eyes, he awoke and sleepily sat up.
"What time is it?" he asked before yawning and glancing down to his bedside table where his alarm clock sat.
"BLOODY HELL!" yelled Arthur
The time displayed was 8:45, he was supposed to be awake by 8:00 so he could get to work in time. He shot out of bed and frantically tried to pull on his clothes. After sorting himself out, he dashed through to his front door
"No time for tea this morning", Arthur sadly sighed, "I'll just have to have a cup during my break"
Leaving his apartment, he ran down the stairs of the building and was soon sprinting down the street, dodging other pedestrians as he went.
On his way, he passed the flower shop from yesterday, but he didn't have the time to stop and look at it right now. He did manage to get a quick glance at it as he ran past, and as he did, he saw that the owner of the shop was looking out of the window. They held eye-contact for a split second before Arthur had ran past, and he could have sworn that the Frenchman had smiled at him.
As Arthur got closer to his work, the last thing to hold him up was the traffic lights. He and a small crowd of other people were waiting at one side of the road for the traffic to stop. Shuffling impatiently on the spot, he took off like a rocket once the lights had changed. Running along the pavement, he turned the corner and was finally at his workplace.
The library looked small on the outside, but on the inside it was huge, with rows after rows on both floors of bookshelves full of all different kinds of books. Arthur stumbled through the door where he immediately met one of his co-workers. The younger male was in the middle of sorting through a shelf when Arthur had arrived, but had now stopped what he was doing to talk to Arthur.
"Late again Arthur?" his co-worker said in a strong Norwegian accent
"Hello Lukas", panted Arthur, out of breath from the running
"Oh Arthur, you're here at last!" came a cheery voice
Arthur's other co-worker, a Spanish man named Antonio, appeared from one of the rows, carrying a stack of books.
It wasn't unusual for Arthur to be late to work, but his friends weren't really bothered by it. It had gotten to the point where they joked about it, and were surprised if he was ever there on time.
"It's my alarm clock, there's something wrong with it, it never wakes me up at the right time", said Arthur with a slight laugh
"Speaking of clocks, how did it go with your soulmate?" asked Antonio
Arthur's heart skipped a beat. He had forgotten that Antonio and Lukas didn't know what had happened on that day.
"It went fine", rushed Arthur, "I'd better get started"
The English gentleman quickly departed from the group to go and find something to do. Lukas studied him carefully as he went, he could tell that there was more to it than Arthur was letting on.
"I wonder what's happened to him?" said Antonio with a confused expression
Lukas didn't say anything, he was thinking about what could have possibly happened.
"Lukas? Any ideas?"
"...It didn't go as planned, that's all I can say for now", said Lukas before getting back to work
Antonio was still a bit confused, but he decided to try and talk to Arthur about it during his break.