Disclaimer: Own nothing. I make no money from this...etc

Note that I do not have a spellcheck. What joy.

Post cold war:

It was another perfect sunny day in Los Angeles as I made my way down the streets, aware of the big smile on my face. And why shouldn't I be happy? The country was in good shape - well, as good as it could be after a war - but hey! We won. We'd beaten those nasty communist asses good. The Solviet Union was no more and the hero had saved the world again!

As I passed a rather sleazy-looking bar I caught a few communists from out the corner of my eye, staring at me. When I focused my gaze on them I saw nothing but pure disgust on their features. I flipped them off, good old American style.

And then I suddenly stopped in my tracks, noticing the figure who stood across the road. His shades and posture reflected mine; for a moment I even wondered if I was staring into a mirror. But then he lifted up his shades and I recognised him at once. Those eyebrows were unmistakable.

The smug grin that cracked across my face couldn't be prevented. What was old man Iggy doing here in LA? Wasn't it too exciting for him?

I was about to shout out a greeting, but he beat me to it.

"Hello Alfred."

"Hey back." I said, hands shoved in my pockets. There was something about those green eyes that sent my heart beating almost twice as fast as its normal rate. I would never tell him this of course. I'm supposed to be the one charming and dazzling people!

The streets were unusually quiet so I was able to hear clearly when he next called out to me.

"What's up?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing." Damn, was this conversation actually going to go anywhere?

Well maybe it was, but I guess I will never know as the next moment my cell phone rang. The USA national anthmn baby! I held up a finger to Arthur, signalling that I'd only be a moment.

Only I wasn't. My boss was organizing a celebration on account of us winning the war and, as usual, he decided to drone on. I saw Arthur check his watch several times. Eventually he signalled that he had to go and, trying to hide my irritation, I waved goodbye. (At least I got a chance to watch Arthur's ass.)

I thought he would visit my house later that day, but was disappointed when no such visit happened. Oh well. He was probably busy drinking tea or doing whatever English people do. I watched movies that night. Action ones with a lot of guns and violence. Hell yeah! I also managed to eat my entire popcorn supply.

The next day I woke up in my bed (with my superman duvet) and don't remember how I got there. I looked at my alarm clock and groaned. Damnit. 11:30. My glasses known as Texas were somewhere on my bedside table so I groped around blindly for them. Instead I ended up clutching my hand around my cell phone. And I almost jumped out of my skin when it started ringing.

"H-hello?" I said bravely as I put the phone to my ear.

"Not that I was spying on you yesterday or anything..."

Wait. Who the hell was that?

"Wait. Who the hell is this?" I demanded.

A soft sigh. "Your brother, Canada."

"Oh." my mind raced. "Right. Hi Mattie. How ya doin'?"

"Fine. I was in LA yesterday."

"Wha-? Jesus! It seems everyone was."

"I called out to you, but you didn't hear me. Besides, you seemed pretty content staring at Arthur." There was a quiet chuckle.

"Wait. What?" I felt my face redden. "That is SO not true! He had to wait for me to finish talking to my boss, but my boss is a lameass and wouldn't shut up so he had to go."

The explanation went ignored. "So, you like him then?"

If possible I reddened even more. "Like hell I don't!"

"Yeah right!"

"Listen here-" I started to say, but my words were suddenly cut-off by the doorbell ringing. Damn it all! It was probably Arthur and I wasn't even dressed. "Okay Matt, I've got to go now. Someone's at the door."

"Let me guess, you're still in your PJs?"

"Screw you." I hung up.

My jeans from yesterday had been flung across the floor so I quickly struggled into them, then pulled on my American flag-style top. Last, but not least, Texas was placed back onto my nose.

The doorbell rang again.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm coming!"

Jesus, some people had no patience.

I ran downstairs and opened the door to see the Englishman standing there, looking as prim and proper as ever. For a moment his huge eyebrows raised, most likely at my disheveled state (get it? Because I'm American! Haha!), but then he gave a beautiful smile.

"Alfred, sorry I couldn't catch up with you yesterday."

"Heh heh. That's okay." I lauged nervously. Woah. Wait. Why was I laughing nervously? "Why don't you come inside?"

"Be glad to."

I stepped aside and cursed myself for not setting my alarm earlier.

"So anyway, what brings you to LA?"

The Englishman shrugged. "Things have been very quiet at my place and I suppose, since as the war is finally over, I wanted to see how this country was getting along."

I followed him into the kitchen. "Yep s'all good here. - Would you like some tea?" How the hell do you make tea?

Arthur shifted his tie as he sat down. "That would be delightful."

Great. I didn't even have tea. Maybe if I gave him hot chocolate he wouldn't notice the difference...? I began searching in my cupboards.

"Actually Alfred..." I heard him clear his throat. "I came here to tell you something."

"Yeah?" (Still rummaging.)

"Have you heard of the British band, Human League?"

I stopped, looking over my shoulder.

"Yeah, I have actually. They may not be American, but their songs are pretty cool."

"Good." he nodded, looking pleased. "And did you know they're having a comcert in London?"

"Nope." Where was this going? And why did Arthur suddenly look very anxious?

He wiped sweat off his brow. "Alfred, um..." after clearing his throat again: "do you want to go with me?"

I gasped.