Two Idiots in Love

They were sat about a foot away from each other on the park bench, not touching at all, looking anywhere and everywhere to avoid one another's gaze, and Alfred couldn't help but feel his stomach plummeting and spiralling into the depths of disappointment.

This was not what he had imagined would happen after he had asked Arthur out and gotten an affirmative from the Briton. He had expected for them to be glued to the hip, their hands intertwining, their arms around each other's shoulders, their eyes never flickering away from one another, laughing and smiling and joking and whispering sweet nothings and being overall just so comfortable with each other. How foolish of him to forget how easily embarrassed and shy they could both be.

And so, reality was cruel. They were on their very first date, just three days after they had officially started their relationship, and had retired to sit on a bench in the park, people-watching, never talking, both blushing to an insane extent, practically repelling one another, and Alfred yearned so strongly to just kick himself and lunge for Arthur already, but he couldn't, because he didn't want to frighten him off. You were meant to take these things slow anyway, right? But, then again, they were going far too slow. Why, any passer-by who studied them as they passed the bench would think they were just strangers what with how little interaction – physical or otherwise – they were having with one another.

Alfred grimaced and decided that he wouldn't stand for that. He didn't build up all his courage and stutter a confession to Arthur just so that they could fall over at first base. No, they still had so far to go, and Alfred certainly wasn't known as somebody who gave up so easily. If anything, failing to succeed at first always made him try harder than ever than feel hopeless. So he was going to try!

Staying facing forward, he glanced sideways at Arthur's hand resting on, no, clenching the edge of the bench seat (he was obviously just as afraid), staring at that hand so close yet so far, just staring and imagining easing it from its grip on the bench and cradling it in his own palm, enclosing his fingers around the soft, warm flesh of the palm and the long, bony fingers and smiling up at Arthur in reassurance with the Briton smiling back, and…

No, no, no! Alfred quickly withdrew his gaze away from Arthur's hand, over to a couple taking a walk through the park instead, because how could he possibly get up all the courage to do that?! He had used up all his courage on his confession, and now he was all out. What if he gripped too tightly and hurt Arthur? He sometimes forgot his own strength, which he had a lot of, and wouldn't be surprised if he ended up breaking the Englishman's hand, especially what with how nervous and jittery and out of control he was right at that moment. What if Arthur pulled away from his grip? There was no guarantee that Arthur even wanted to hold hands, and from what Alfred had seen of him he was actually a rather reserved person. What if Arthur didn't smile back at him? He might just frown in annoyance or grimace in disgust instead, or just keep that poker face he was so famous for. The only thing worse to Alfred than a negative expression was an unreadable expression.

There were too many risks, and Alfred just couldn't face it, so he just keep looking at the couple, watching as the man said something, obviously something funny since the woman burst out laughing and leaned closer into him as they strode along. Alfred's eyes widened and he looked deeper into the tree-filled section of the park, on the grassy area, where two women seemed to be enjoying a picnic, and were both working away on either side of a sausage until they both met in the middle and kissed. Alfred looked around more and found two guys eating ice cream as they walked together, getting more of it on each other than in their mouths, their hands which weren't busy occupying ice-cream holding each other. And then Alfred realised that if all these people – and not just the people he was seeing at the park, but the billions of people in the world – could have successful relationships, then why the heck couldn't he? These people had to take risks, to see if this was the person for them, and in the end their risk-taking had paid off, proving either yes, they were the one for them, or no, they weren't. Either way, the risks had been beneficial in the end.

Alfred glanced back down at Arthur's hand, still holding the bench seat in a vice grip, and then up at Arthur's face, so red and looking so unsure and overall just the face he had fallen for, and then for a moment, just a moment, he gained some long-lost courage, and that was enough, for in that moment he managed to reach out and ease Arthur's hand from the bench and into his own. He felt insecure once more as Arthur flinched a bit and turned hurriedly to stare, flabbergasted, at Alfred, but Alfred in return just about managed to make a smile form on his face in spite of how much he just wanted to high-tail it and run far away and never return.

Arthur stared wide-eyed at Alfred for just a minute more, and in that time Alfred wondered if maybe he had formed the wrong smile, and it was condescending rather than reassuring or something like that, but his doubts were soon lifted and his blue eyes brightened considerably as Arthur smiled so beautifully in return, his hand squeezing Alfred's back.

"Your palm's sweaty." he said.

"So's yours." Alfred replied, and then they both burst out laughing, and Alfred felt as successful as the joking man and woman, as the women having a romantic picnic, as the men acting silly with their food, and it felt good.

After their laughing fit, Alfred faced forwards again, grinning like an idiot, and Arthur faced forwards too, grinning in the same way, and Alfred heaved a sigh of relief because that's just what they were: two idiots in love.

Author's notes: You know, I sternly told myself "Walrus! You have so much college work and university planning and piano practicing to do, you simply cannot afford to write right now! Time to give it a break!", and I actually stuck to that for a few weeks...but my resolve crumbled when I came across this post on 'Imagine your OTP' on Tumblr:

"Imagine your OTP sitting beside each other at the park on their first date. They are nervous, and keep looking forward, saying nothing. Their hands are besides each other, when one of them gains the courage, and slowly curls their hand around the others hand. They keep looking forward, but they are both blushing."

I got such a cute image of Alfred and Arthur being shy on their first date that I could no longer resist the writer in me, and this was born in a matter of minutes. I kept it short, because I really don't have time for writing, but I hope that it's still just as cute as I imagined in spite of its length.
Critique is welcomed, comments are appreciated!
Thank you and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Alfred (America) and Arthur (England) belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

AnorexicWalrus~