Bonfire Toffee
"I must warn you, Bonfire Night is quite, well… unusual," Arthur had told him, rather cryptically, the previous day. Thinking about it, Alfred was more than accustomed to the Englishman's equivocal way of speaking and should have mulled over the words a little longer. Maybe then he could have ducked out this so called Bonfire Night which, so far, had entailed standing in sludgy turf in the cutting cold and sticky rain, watching screeching fireworks and an effigy of Guy Fawkes being eaten away by fire. The last part was pretty disturbing.
Alfred could concede that, yes, a guy in a feathery hat trying and failing to blow up some government building was pretty cool. Back then. Nowadays, Alfred was convinced that the Brits only continued to celebrate the fifth of November so they could sate their deep-seated masochistic tendencies. Glancing around, there didn't seem to be a single soul enjoying themselves. Then again, the indigenous people of England weren't exactly the most expressive. Stiff upper lip and all that.
Especially with Arthur. Alfred never knew which way the wind was blowing with Arthur. Was he angry or was he shy? Did he like Alfred or did he want to hit Alfred on the head with a blunt object? Alfred had no idea.
A violent shiver wracked Alfred's body. The cold was rapidly inching itself towards extremities that Alfred would much rather keep at body temperature.
He surreptitiously eyed Arthur. The slight Briton was bundled up in a mossy-green ski jacket, his chin nestled into a woollen scarf that obscured most of his face. Even so, Alfred could watch the firework show, smoky and erratic, in Arthur's pupils. Arthur caught him staring.
Alfred coughed awkwardly into cupped hands and pretended to resume watching the fireworks. One of them, white in colour, burst apart with so much force it seemed like it had torn the sky open.
"Alfred," Arthur's voice rang out, sharp and soft all at once. "Do you want to try some?"
In the smaller man's glove-covered hand was a small gathering of, what appeared to be, congealed tar on wax paper.
"The hell is that?" Alfred regarded it like a hostile alien entity.
Arthur made a small scoffing sound of disapproval. "It's treacle toffee, or bonfire toffee. It tastes nice." Alfred figured this was another one of Arthur's attempts to poison him with traditionalEnglish cuisine. Alfred was a firm believer that it could only be called cuisine if it was edible. "Just sodding take one!"
"Okay, okay! Jeez."
Taking one turned out to be a difficult task as the sticky sweet had melded into one but Alfred eventually managed to tug a square free and nearly broke his teeth when he tried chewing on it.
"Don't chew it, you idiot!" Arthur admonished. He was probably frowning; Alfred couldn't see much of his face. His nose had pinked with the cold though, that was pretty cute.
Alfred tested out sucking on the sweet when he noticed Arthur was watching him expectantly. "Well?"
It's actually pretty good.
"It's gross," Alfred lied, pulling a face. Arthur rolled his eyes and shoved the rest of the toffee into Alfred's hand.
"There's no pleasing you, is there?" the smaller man grumbled. "Here, hold this. I'll go and get us some sparklers."
The Englishman reappeared ten minutes later bearing an unlit sparkler in each hand, Alfred was so preoccupied with eating toffee that he didn't notice Arthur return until he felt the smaller man's eyes on him.
"Whaph?" Alfred said inelegantly around a mouthful of sugar.
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "The toffee can't be that gross since you've eaten bloody half of it."
Alfred looked away guiltily, having been caught red-handed. He wrapped the toffee in the paper and pushed it into his pocket. "Yeah, well, you took forever and I got bored."
"Of course," Arthur said sarcastically. He motioned for Alfred to take the sparklers then pulled a lighter from somewhere within his coat.
The thickness of his gloves made it impossible to flick the lighter and Arthur ended up dropping it altogether.
"Bollocks."
"I'll get it."
Alfred handed the sparklers back to Arthur and pulled his gloves off with his teeth before stuffing them into his other pocket. He picked up the lighter and, unthinkingly, wrapped an arm around Arthur's waist and brought him closer. Alfred didn't hear the small catch of breath; he was too busy trying to ignite the sparklers.
Both of the sticks burst into life simultaneously, golden, star-shaped sparks bouncing in every direction. Alfred smiled victoriously.
"Woohoo!"
It was only when he attempted to take one from Arthur, and the man's hand wouldn't budge, that Alfred realised how close they were.
Alfred's heart thudded and he didn't feel nearly as cold anymore.
Screw it, Alfred thought, I'm gonna kiss him. If Arthur didn't want to be kissed, he'd definitely let Alfred know about it. Alfred might as well put himself out there and hope for the best.
He looks like he wants to be kissed, Alfred observed optimistically.
Squeezing his hand against Arthur's waist, Alfred encouraged the smaller man to come closer and Arthur hesitantly obliged. Taking a deep breath and ignoring his hammering pulse, Alfred gently pushed Arthur's scarf out of the way and he leant down until their noses almost bumped together.
Arthur remained stone-still and Alfred, couldn't for life of him, read the man's wide, evergreen eyes. In a moment blind panic and mortification, Alfred began pulling away until Arthur pushed himself on to his toes to reach Alfred and their lips met clumsily.
After some embarrassed laughter and realignment, they finally shared their first kiss, tinged by the taste of treacle toffee.
"What took you so long?" Arthur whispered, his breath tickling Alfred's lips.
"You didn't exactly make it obvious," Alfred replied, grinning. "I promise it won't take so long next time." He hugged Arthur closer to him, moving in for a second kiss. Arthur wrapped his arms around Alfred's neck. "Uh, Artie…"
"What?"
"Do you mind letting go of the sparklers? I really don't want to end up like Guy Fawkes over there," Alfred said, taking a cursory glance at the blazing bonfire where the remains of the effigy could barely be distinguished.
Arthur laughed and released the sparklers. "What do you think of Bonfire Night then?"
"Best night ever."
Happy Bonfire Night everyone!
Originally for the 365daysofusuk drabble calendar on tumblr.