The light breeze tickled Matthew's face as he pulled out his iPod to check on the song that was coming on next. As he read "Training Wheels," he smiled to himself softly and shoved the music-playing device back into his red maple leaf hoodie pocket. He then set his hand on the park bench instead of putting it in his pocket along with the iPod, just because he enjoyed how the bench had absorbed the heat, and it was transferring to his hand. It was just at this moment that Gilbert had spotted Matthew and snuck up behind him. He grasped the top of the bench and put all of his weight on it. Matthew was oblivious to him- until he saw the pale hand out of the corner of his eye very fuzzily, due to his glasses not working on his peripheral vision. He turned his head to face him, bringing his legs onto the bench and turning the direction of his whole body in general in order for him to face the albino Prussian without hurting his own neck

"Whatcha listening to?" Gilbert asked, pushing Matthew's headphones down onto his neck, making the Canadian able to hear him clearly.

"Oh, this?" He asked rhetorically, pointing to his headphones. "Just some Melanie Martinez, but I doubt you know who she is…"

Gilbert's expression turned to surprise as he backed up into the grassy area behind the bench for dramatics. "Are you kidding me?" He shouted, his hands in the air in a one-third shape. "Melanie Martinez is the best!" He yelled louder, jumping at best and bringing his hands down to his side and into his un-zipped jacket's pockets. He then proceeded to walk back up to the bench nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just made a big deal over a music artist.

Matthew chuckled and put a faux questioning face on. "What's your favorite song by her?" He asked, the laughs chipping away at his questioning face.

Gilbert spun himself around and hummed as he thought about his answer. He squinted intensely, obviously not thinking as hard as he was trying to portray to the blonde Canadian currently looking at him. "I'd have to say Carousel." He answered, raising a finger. "Sure, the lyrics aren't the best, but the music sure is!"

Matthew's face lit up as he got onto his knees -still on the bench- and turned to face Gilbert, his hands on the backrest of the metal seat. "Yeah! But, if we're talking lyrics, I'd have to lean towards Training Wheels." Matthew stated, half expecting the other to be surprised, given the very straight-forward message in the song.

Instead, Gilbert nodded and smiled. "I'd say that too." He agreed, now tapping his chin. "I don't usually go for romantic music, but that song is just too good to resist."

Matthew's ocean eyes widened with pure happiness and surprise, due to him now knowing that he and Gilbert had more in common than he had once believed. Matthew didn't quite know what to say, but Gilbert sure did. "I could serenade you if you'd like…" He offered, a small smirk perking up the left corner of his lip.

The now flustered Canadian's face pinked a bit as he looked around for other people. Surprisingly, he didn't see a single person other than the flirty albino, waiting for an answer. Matthew knew he needed to think faster, but he didn't want anybody else to be around. Given the nice day, for Canada at least, it puzzled him why nobody else was around. He then remembered. Oh! That's right! Today is National Beaver Day! Everybody's at the Natural Science Museum, waiting to see the newest beaver exhibit. Matthew then turned his head back to Gilbert, who's smirk had grown to the point that it was visible to the other. "That would be lovely." He answered, making a single nod to Gilbert.

"Awesome!" Gilbert replied right before clearing his throat. As he began to sing "Training Wheels," Matthew's face turned a new shade of pink. Gilbert's normally exceptionally raspy voice was exceptionally sweet-sounding as the words seemed to just flow out of his mouth smoothly. Matthew listened quietly, swaying his head back and forth to Gilbert's wonderful melody. As Gilbert's voice engulfed the entirety of Matthew's attention, he rested his elbows at the top of the back rest of the bench, and rested his head in his palms.

Halfway through the song, Matthew began to notice a little peeping sound that was oddly familiar and fitting for the time. He looked around, only to see Gilbird resting in his owner's white hair, cheeping the tune out. Matthew soon eased back, relishing Gilbert's wonderful voice. His peacefulness soon ended, though, as the song ended. With the last note Gilbert stepped back in front of the bench.

He sat up, straight as a board, and began to clap rigorously. Gilbert smiled, his face a light shade of pink, and took a playful bow as Gilbird peeped in a somewhat thankful manner. "Oh, I am definitely serenaded!" Matthew complimented, his face back to just a light shade of pink.

"Well that's good…" Gilbert chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Because I may or may not have practiced for months…" He added quickly and mumbly.

Matthew's light pink face deepened into a blood-red. "Wait… Really? In that case," He said quietly, beckoning the other to step closer to the bench with a couple of hand movements. When Gilbert stepped as close as he could, which was pretty close, Matthew gave him a hug. "Thanks, Gil."

Gilbert's immediate reaction was to hug back quickly, shooting his head past the other's shoulder so Matthew couldn't see his newly bright red face. "No problem, Mattie…" He replied coolly, although his mind was racing with confused thoughts, each one telling him something different. Does this mean something? No, no we're just friends. Could he possibly like me like that? Do I like him like that? Thoughts still competing in his mind, Gilbert realized how soft the Canadian's hoodie felt underneath his fingertips. For the entire hug, Gilbert relished everything about it.

And so did Matthew.

After a few more seconds, Matthew pulled away, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his iPod, yanked the headphone cord and shoved it back into the pocket, and slid his finger across the screen. Before he hit the final button to his plan, he looked at Gilbert and grinned. "Get ready," He warned playfully, hitting the play button.

Gilbert instantly recognized the beginning tune, bouncing slightly out of excitement. He rushed up to the bench, lifting Matthew off of it and carrying him over to the grassy clearing bridal style. Before Matthew could even react, he was set down. "Nice one Mattie!" he said before starting to sing along. He got really into it, so much so that he even closed his eyes. After a minute or so he peeked open one eye and nudged Matthew. "C'mon, sing with me! You know you want to!" He teased.

Matthew shrugged and sighed happily. "Okay, sure Gil." He gave in, beginning to sing. The other smiled and closed his red eyes again. Not interrupting his singing, he reopened his eyes, to check if Matthew's eyes were shut or open. Just to his luck, they were closed. He didn't want the Canadian to know that he just wanted to look at him. After a couple of seconds, Gilbert's mind sparked a risky idea. Soon enough it was in action. Gilbert pressed his lips against the startled Canadian's, which were quite soft compared to the Prussian's. A few moments later, moments that Gilbert treasured, he pulled away and resumed as if nothing had ever happened. Matthew, however, froze, almost as red as the other's eyes.

When the song faded out, Gilbert was stifling a smirk as he asked as innocently as he could, "Why are you blushing?"

Matthew shook his head, eyebrows furrowed, hiding a smile underneath his hands. "What do you mean why? You should know better than anybody else!" He fumed jokingly, muffling it from his hands.

Gilbert couldn't help himself and ended up bursting out in laughter after a few more seconds. He got a grip of Matthew's wrists and pulled them away from his face, relishing the soft touch of the hoodie for the second time. "I'm sorry Mattie, you were just too cute to resist!" He apologized through snickers as he watched Matthew's face grow even redder.

"Well, Gil, you're pretty lucky…" Matthew blurted before he could stop himself.

The Prussian raised an eyebrow at this, smiling. "Oh?" He said in an obnoxiously taunting voice.

"And why is that, exactly?"

The blondie opened his mouth to say something, but before he could continue, his thoughts took over his brain. Should I say it? I mean, he kissed me so…

"I'm waiting…" Gilbert teased in a sing-song voice, cutting off the other's thoughts dead in their tracks.

After running the words through his mind a few more times, Matthew finally said, "Well," He cleared his throat, the one thing he forgot to do. "Because I enjoyed it." He stated bluntly, a faint brave smile on his lips.

Gilbert's face changed from smug douchebag to surprised dweeb in two seconds: the time it took his brain to process what Matthew had said. "You… What? Really? Mein Gott!" He stammered, very unlike his usual extremely cocky attitude. The albino soon snapped and realized how insecure he sounded and picked up his sentence with, "Psh, I-I mean, of course you did! I am the awesomest, after all!"

Matthew chuckled quietly, nodding. "Mmhmm." He agreed calmly.

Gilbert pursed his lips and blew a breath of air into his cheeks, crossing him arms over his chest. He blew the air out dramatically, holding up a finger as he opened his mouth to say something, although nothing came out. Closing his mouth and putting the finger down, Gilbert let out an impatient hum. "Oh, come here already!" He yelled, wrapping Matthew into a strong embrace.

Matthew was struck with the with the sudden hug so quickly that his first reaction was letting out a small, quiet shriek. The yelp caused him to squeeze his eyes shut, so he blinked them open right after and returned the hug. "You know you can't be that sudden around me!" Matthew mumbled loudly, red-faced from embarrassment of shrieking. Right then, he sure was glad Gilbert couldn't see his face.

"I know, but you gotta understand Mattie! If there's someone cute in front of me, I'm gonna hug it!" He explained, pulling out of the hug for effect.

Before Matthew heard cute, he had a whole second argument planned in his head. He opened his mouth to say it, but froze when he re-thought about Gilbert's word choice.

The white-haired male smirked and sarcastically asked, "Did I stutter?"

"No I just-"

"I meant what I said."

"So are you trying to say-"

"Yes. Yes I am Mattie."

Before anymore could be said, Matthew took a breath to regroup his thoughts together. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them to look Gilbert straight in the eye. "Before I do this, you have to promise that you're dead serious."

Gilbert raised an eyebrow, a faint smirk appearing on his face, "Do what?" He inquired, a look of curiosity and mischief plastered all over his face.

"Promise first."

Gilbert chuckled quietly as he placed a hand over his heart. "I promise I was serious;" he swore, overly enunciating each syllable. "Dead serious." The ex-nation lowered his hand, now smiling. "Now, what was it you were going to do?"

Matthew took a step forward towards Gilbert, then paused for a second. The blonde nation leaned in, planted a kiss on the other's cheek, and without even waiting to see his reaction, Matthew leaned in towhisper four simple words in Gilbert's ear:

"I like you too."