Alfred and I - at opposite ends of my dark green denim sofa, a light red blanket draped over and shared between us - sat, curled up, both holding a warm cup of hot chocolate between our hands.
I'd invited the American to stay with me in this small, cosy cottage in the moors for the weekend so that we could celebrate the coming of the new year together. He'd accepted with great excitement at my proposal, and now here we were, sat quietly but contently in each other's company on this chilly New Year's Eve.
"Hey Arthur?"
"Hmm?" I looked over at the man next to me, who was staring into his half-empty cup of hot chocolate with slightly red cheeks. "What is it Alfred?"
"Have you ever had a New Year's Kiss?" He looked away from his cup, his blue eyes finding and connecting with my own green ones.
The sudden eye contact followed by a question such as that made my own cheeks tint red, and I looked down into my own cup, which was still fairly full.
"No... I haven't."
There was a silence after that, filled only with the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room, the hands on the clock face slowly but surely edging their way towards midnight.
"Me neither."
I was a little shocked at that to say the least. Alfred was still so young, as well as undeniably attractive. My cheeks flushed once again at the thought, and I glanced over to him to make sure that my blush hadn't been noticed. It hadn't.
I forced my mind to other places, getting lost in my own little mind palace.
That was, until a few minutes later, when a loud American voice interrupted my train of thought.
"Artie, hey Artie! It's only ten seconds to midnight, get ready!"
Leaving my thoughts, deciding that I could ponder over them later, I leaned forwards and placed my now almost empty cup on one of the worn out and faded coasters on the coffee table in front of us - an ironic name really, as unless Alfred was here no coffee was ever put on the table.
I sat up again, turning to face the American next to me, wondering for a split second how and when we had moved so close to each other.
"Wait, Alfred, what did you mean by 'get ready'? It's only another year and we've seen loads of these happen, it's not-"
My sentence was interrupted by the chiming of the grandfather clock, and not a millisecond later my train of thought was interrupted for what was the second time this evening, this time by Alfred as he put a gentle hand on the back of my head and pulled me forwards into something soft and warm.
All doubts were thrown out the window as I clutched the blanket in my hand and then proceeded to throw my arms around the American's neck, wrapping us both in the warmth of the light red fabric, forgetting about everything around us, and focusing on him. Only him and the fact that he was kissing me, that I was kissing back, that he had by now wrapped one arm around my back and was pulling me closer.
We were both lost in the sudden passion of the moment. The rest of the world was spinning on its own, rotating without us, leaving the two of us trapped in a single second.
I gasped as Alfred bit my bottom lip, my breath hitching as I felt his tongue push forwards and rub against mine for a mere second before retreating as our lips finally parted, both of us flushed a deep red and gasping for air, still wrapped up in the blanket.
A forehead was pressed to mine, a kiss planted on my nose followed by a breathless laugh and a whisper, filled with a longing affection.
"Happy New Year, Arthur."
A/N: Happy New Year to you all! I thought I'd kick off 2014 with a short, fluffy new years fic. This took me way too long to write. Mainly because I kept changing my mind, and then got frustrated and cried for five minutes - though the crying bit was mainly because I was listening to the HetaOni soundtrack at the time and it was playing the music that played when England became blind. Makes me cry every time.
Anyway, I should be updating My Fairytale soon, but until then farewell, and I hope all of you have an amazing year!