Arthur sat in a chair off to the side of the room, watching Alfred, his adopted son, dancing with the most beautiful woman either had ever seen. Arthur just sat and watched as his worst nightmare was unfolding right before his very eyes. Alfred must've been falling in love and would soon forget about him. He would become a responsible adult with a wife and possibly even children to take care of. He would be busy with them, never mind having enough time for Arthur. But no matter who Alfred would fall in love with, Arthur had loved him first, sometimes more than just a son. Arthur really loved Alfred, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he had known that Alfred would grow up and move out, but that didn't make the moment any easier on him. Arthur had silently wished for that day never to come. He was brought back from his thoughts by the sound of a door closing and a large, warm hand placed on his shoulder. He regained focus to have it immediately lost when he was captivated in the blue blue blue eyes of Alfred.

"Arthur," Alfred gave a small smile. It was the first time he had called Arthur by his name that night. The usual and expected "Dad" never came. Arthur braced himself for the news he dreaded.

"Yes, Alfred?"

"Arthur, it m-may seem strange, b-but don't hate me for what I'm about to say." Arthur looked around to discover that the woman had left.

"Alfred, I could never hate you. You're my son after all."

"Yeah, about that…" His confident smile wavered slightly. So it wasn't about the girl… "Arthur," the name again, "I've… I've…" Alfred started panicking. "I've never… I've always… For all my life, I've never thought of you as a father." Arthur's eyes widened as he was taken a bit aback.

"Yes, go on." His pulse accelerated and surely it could be heard by Alfred…

"I… I guess what I'm tryin' to say is," Alfred kept eye contact with Arthur, "she'll never have my heart." Arthur's heart was pounding so hard that he was sure Alfred could feel it and he was becoming dizzy and he couldn't process his thoughts before, "Arthur, I love you, and I have from the beginning," and he even think about what was happening as he latched himself onto Alfred's chest and began softly weeping, catching Alfred completely off-guard. Through his tears he managed to choke out a muffled,

"I-I love…" pausing to look up, "I bloody love you, but I was afraid. I was going to lose you." Arthur had to stop to catch his breath. He sighed, burying his face back into Alfred's toned chest. "I'm just glad the feeling is mutual." They stood like that for a while before finally sharing a peck on the lips and collapsing onto the sofa, entangled.

This would be the end of Arthur's worries and the beginning of something new to both of them. It wouldn't be easy at first or all of the rest of the time, but they knew that they could share this for the rest of time. Love.