This I wrote for the usxuk livejornal's sweethearts event a few years ago. I kept meaning to post it for Valentine's Day, but I kept forgetting every Valentine's Day, but six months late is better than never. Or is it six months early?

Tumi - Iceland, btw.

Enjoy.

"Hey guy," Britannia felt someone shaking his shoulder, "Hey guy, are you okay?"

He opened his eyes to see a pair of bright blue ones behind glasses staring back at him. He carefully maneuvered himself into a sitting position and glared at the sky.

"Those bastards," Britannia muttered before he felt something heavy and warm covering his shoulders. He looked over to see a jacket-less young man kneeling next to him.

"I figured you'd need it considering, you know, you're out here in the cold wearing sandals and a toga."

"What's wrong with my attire?" Britannia looked his clothes over.

"It's weird. Your eyebrows are weird enough, but you don't see people wandering around like that even when the weather's warm."

"There's nothing wrong with my eyebrows!" he scoffed and analyzed the man's outfit, "And where I'm from you'd be the one who looks weird."

"Where you're from?" the man's face lit up, "Does… does that mean you're…"

So there were still humans on earth who believed? "Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm-"

"An alien?!" the man leaned forward so he was inches away from Britannia's face, "That's so cool!"

"What?! I'm not an alien!" Britannia shouted as he pushed him away, "I'm an angel!"

"A British alien? That's awesome!" He scrambled closer and put his ear against Britannia's chest.

Britannia froze and felt his face heat up at the close proximity. "Wh-what, what the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm seeing if you have two hearts," the man moved his head to the other side of his chest, "But,you don't seem to have any heartbeat at all."

"Because I'm not an alien, I'm an angel."

The man looked skeptical sat up as Britannia crossed his arms. "If you're an angel where are your wings?"

"I lost them," he glanced back up at the sky, "I've been banished from heaven."

The man followed his gaze, "Why?"

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know you've been banished?"

"I'm here aren't I?" he lowered his head to find the man was once again staring at him, "Every Valentine's Day an angel gets banished to earth. In order to get back into heaven they need to get five TLFKs before midnight or they're stuck on earth forever. It's a very old tradition, and this year it just happens to be me."

"Sounds simple enough," Britannia raised an eyebrow, causing the man to blink, "What's a TLFK?"

"True Love's First Kiss."

"So, you're like Cupid?"

"I believe that's what you humans call it, yes," Britannia stood and took the jacket off, "Thank you for waking me, but I really must be going."

"Wait!" the man jumped up, "It's like midnight right now. You're not going to find anyone and even if you did, well, they'll make a run for it if they see you wearing that."

"There's nothing wrong with what I'm wearing!"

"Yes there is," he took the jacket from Britannia and draped it across his shoulders, "Come back to my place and you can borrow something to wear. I'll even help you with your TLFKs, 'cause I'm just an awesome hero like that."

"True love means that both parties need to be honestly in love with each other," Britannia grumbled and pulled the jacket tighter around him, "You going around kissing ten people isn't going to get me back into heaven."

"Then I'll help you hook some people up," the man grinned, "I have a few friends that could use some help with that. C'mon it'll be awesome! I'll be like your Assistant Cupid!"

"I don't need your help. I can do the task appointed to me on my own," Britannia gave one last look towards the sky, "However I have a feeling you're going to keep bothering me until I give in. It would be a better use of my time to just let you help me now."

"Damn right I would," he laughed and extended is hand, "Alfred Jones, at your service."

Britannia smirked before taking his hand and shaking it, "Britannia."

"Britannia? That's a weird name," Alfred grinned, "I should just call you the Doctor if you're not going to give me your real name."

"I'm not a bloody alien!" he crossed his arms turned away, "If you must, you can use my human name, Arthur."

"Arthur? I like it," Britannia turned back to find Alfred smiling at him, "It suits you. Anyway, we should head back to my place for some sleep if we're going to spend the rest of Valentine's Day playing Cupid."

"I suppose," Alfred grabbed his hand and lead the way.

Britannia had landed in the small town of Little Brooks. In said small town there was one grocer, one library, one coffee shop, one church, one convenience store, the park he had landed in, a post office, and not much else. It was one of those towns where everyone already knew everybody else, and somewhere in that town Britannia was supposed to make ten people fall in love with each other in under twenty-four hours. Somebody up there hated him so very much.

Alfred was certain they could do it no problem however, and after waking up at 8 AM, took him by the coffee shop in the morning to introduce Britannia to some of his friends.

"Good morning, Antonio!" Alfred greeted as soon as they walked into the shop.

"Good morning, Alfred," the man behind the counter smiled back, "I see you have a new friend."

"Yup, this is Arthur. I found him last night."

"Met!" Britannia corrected, "We met last night."

"Interesting," Britannia turned to find a blond man smirking at him from one of the nearby tables, "You always meet the most interesting people wandering around town at night, don't you Alfred? You know if you can't sleep, you could always come visit me," he winked.

"Haha," Alfred laughed, "Shut up, Francis."

"Where is he?" another man burst out of the back and glared at Antonio, "This is the third day in a row Tumi's showed up late."

"Can you blame him, Roderich?" Antonio rested his head on the counter, "You make us come in to early."

"I make you come it at the precise time you need to."

"Tumi's only 16," another man at a table in the back added, "You're too hard on him, Roderich."

"I don't believe I asked for your opinionm Ivan."

Ivan looked like he was about to argue, but at that moment the door burst open, revealing a younger, pale-haired boy out of breath. "Sorry I'm late, Mr. Edelstein."

"Don't let it happen again," Tumi nodded and followed his boss into the back room.

"C'mon," Alfred led Britannia to one of the empty tables, shouting, "Just get me my usual, Toni!" before sitting down. "Oh, do you need anything Arthur?"

"Just tea would be fine," his order was shouted across the establishment as well, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Everyone stops by here in the morning, so it's a good place for you to meet everyone."

"I don't see how meeting anyone is going to help me."

"Well, you need to make them fall in love right? Getting to know them is a good first step in that."

"Need I remind you I have less than twenty-four hours or I cannot go back home?"

"Relax, it'll be fine," Alfred turned and pointed at Francis, "That's Francis Bonnefoy. Age 26, he's some kind of poet or philosopher or something fancy like that makes him think he's better than everyone. He moved here from France several years ago."

"Alfred, I don't particularly care-"

"And that," Alfred pointed the man in the corner, "is Ivan Braginski. The two of us don't really get along. He scares just about everyone in town except me and Francis. He's usually pretty shy, but put him in the same room as Francis and he'll shut up completely."

Britannia still wasn't sure what the point of the introductions was, but it was a bit interesting getting a glimpse into how the humans behaved with each other.

"Antonio Fernandez," Britannia turned to look the barista, who was currently making his tea, "he's from Spain, I think. He speaks Spanish. Anyway, he and Francis are old friends. He's surprisingly happy with his life considering he just works at a coffee shop."

The bell on the door dinged and Britannia noticed a man who seemed to have his frown permanently carved onto his face.

"That's Lovino Vargas. He's usually that angry," Antonio noticed Lovino come in and waved cheerily at him before him a coffee. Lovino shouted at him before turning away, and Britannia saw a small smile on his face for half a moment. So that's what Alfred was up to.

Tumi came out of the backroom just then wearing an apron and grabbed Britannia's and Alfred's drinks. He carefully picked them up, put them on a tray, and walked them over to the two of them.

"One extra caffeinated cappuccino surprise with extra whipped cream and sprinkles and a tea," he announced before going back behind the counter.

"That's Tumi. He lives with his brother on the edge of town. No one's sure what the brother does, but Tumi does odd jobs around town for everyone."

"What about school?"

"The closest high school is one town over. We think he shows up there on Wednesdays, but he might be home-schooled."

The bell dinged again and another loud man wearing a mask entered, "Sadiq Annan. His family moved here from Turkey when he was little, but they all either died or left, so it's just him now." Britannia followed Sadiq as he sat down at the table near Francis. Tumi shyly came from behind the counter and gave him his coffee. Sadiq said something he couldn't quite hear and ruffled Tumi's head, causing him to go beet red and retreat into the back room for a good five minutes.

The bell rang again and a woman entered and walked over to the counter. "Elizaveta Hedevary. She and the owner, Roderich Edelstein, are childhood friends, but after she graduated high school she went off to travel the world. She recently came back a few months ago and, well…"

The shop owner Roderich had come out of the back room then to help Antonio make the drinks. Elizaveta struck up a conversation with him, which Britannia could see, even from a distance, caused him to stammer and blush a bit before he accidentally spilled her drink on the counter. He apologized as she helped him wipe it up.

"This is quite an interesting town you've got here," Britannia commented with a sip of his tea. Ivan stood and paid Antonio at the counter before heading towards the exit, eyes briefly meeting Francis's, causing his cheeks to tint pink and a quickening in his steps, "And they're all completely oblivious?"

"For the most part," Alfred took a sip of his coffee. Lovino had finished his first drink and stood at the counter to order another one. Antonio had started an in depth, one sided conversation and was so into it that he let Lovino's coffee overfill and spill on his hand.

"Well then," Tumi handed Francis his drink and shot a quick glance at Sadiq before blushing furiously and walking away, "It's a good thing I'm here."

Alfred grinned and the two of them started planning.

The First Kiss

Britannia and Alfred had spent the next few hours coming up with sure fire ways to get everyone together. By the time they were done the coffee shop had emptied out a bit, leaving only the two of them, the workers, and the Vargas brothers until the lunch rush.

"Okay, so plan six then?" Alfred winked at Britannia.

"Yes, that should work," Britannia stood, coughed, and walked over to the counter, "Excuse me, Mr. Fernandez was it?"

"Yes, but you can call me Antonio. Oh, you're Alfred's new friend aren't you? Arthur, right?" Antonio smiled at him.

"You can call me whatever you want, Antonio," he purred the man's name.

"Do you like Little Brook so far?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Britannia leaned closer to him, "I'm quite enjoying the sights."

"Really?" he laughed, "There isn't much to see, but I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

"Oh I disagree, Antonio," he rested his hand on Antonio's, "I think that there is something very worth seeing, right here."

"Is that so? What?" he asked.

"I'm looking at it."

Antonio laughed and pulled his hand away to wipe off the counter, "That's silly, Arthur. The only thing you're looking at right now is me."

Britannia was very tempted to bash his head against the counter. No wonder Lovino hadn't made a move yet, "Of course, Antonio, because I'm talking about you."

"Hm? What are you talking about Arthur?"

For the sake of his sanity, Britannia hoped that the other humans weren't this dense, "It is my personal belief that you are physically attractive and I think we should fornicate."

Antonio blinked at him, "What?"

"I want to sleep with you."

"Well, I take a siesta at three. I know you're probably tired but can you wait until then?"

Britannia rubbed his forehead, "I'm talking about sex you idiot! I want to have sex with you!"

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" Antonio smiled at him, "Sorry, but no. I'm waiting for someone else."

"Hey bastard!" Britannia turned around just in time to get punched in the face and knocked to the floor by Lovino, "This one's mine." He pulled himself together just in time to see Lovino grab Antonio's apron and pull him into a kiss.

The wand Britannia was keeping in his borrowed jacket pocket started glowing, indicating he had successfully captured a TLFK.

"Wow," Alfred chuckled as he helped him up, "I didn't think Lovino had it in him."

Britannia massaged his bruised jaw, "What the hell did you tell him?"

"Just that you had a habit of popping into town like this, sleeping with guys, and leaving them broken and suicidal once you crushed them beneath your heel."

"Well thanks," he said with all the sarcasm he could muster; "now everyone in town is going to be talking about me."

"Yeah, so when we do this plan again…"

Britannia froze at that thought. Some of those people, Ivan came to mind first, looked like they could crush him with their pinkies if they wanted to. "We're not doing that plan again. Ever."

"If you want to do it the hard way," Alfred walked over to the door and held it open, "Shall we?"

"Let's," together they walked out of the coffee shop to the crashing sounds of Antonio pulling Lovino behind the counter and Roderich shouting.

The Second Kiss

"I really don't want to help him," Alfred sighed as they watched Ivan walk into the grocers around noon.

"You said you'd help me," Britannia raised an eyebrow, "Or are you too scared to make nice for a few minutes?"

"I'm not scared!"

"A real hero helps those in need, whether they are his enemies or not."

"I am a real hero!"

"Then go in there and make nice with Ivan!" Britannia pushed him inside and waited a few minutes before following after him.

He found the two of them in the back by the cereal. As he got closer the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped a few degrees. Alfred and Ivan both had wide smiles on their faces and were laughing like old friends.

"I have been hearing some things about your friend," Ivan was saying, "His name is Arthur yes?"

"Yeah," Alfred turned away from Britannia's hiding place, "I've heard those things too, and frankly I'm appalled that someone is spreading rumors like that."

"Idiot," Britannia muttered, "You're the one who started them."

"I know we haven't gotten along so well in the past," Ivan looked at Alfred, "But I am, concerned. You have been alone ever since my sister left last year. I am hoping that you are not simply latching on to the first person who is giving you comfort?"

"Me and Arthur… it's not like that Ivan," Britannia wondered briefly about the disappointed feeling in his gut before he heard Alfred clear his throat, "Since we're on the subject of my love life, I was wondering if you could help me with Francis."

Ivan blinked, "Why would you want me to help you with Francis?"

"Well, recently I've become rather attracted to him. You and he are friends, so I was wondering if you could, you know, hook us up or something."

There was a brief pause before he responded, "I think Gilbert or Antonio would be better help then me."

"Nah, Gilbert wouldn't take this seriously, and Antonio wouldn't be able to focus now since he's got Lovino," Alfred leaned closer, "Is there a reason you don't want to help me?"

Ivan took a step back, "I, well, I just…"

"And what do we have here?" a voice whispered in Britannia's ear as an arm slipped around his waist, "It's Arthur isn't it?"

Britannia cursed his bad luck as he elbowed him in the gut, "Let go of me Francis!"

"Oh, but I've been hearing some very interesting things about you. Shall we discuss them in more detail at my place?"

"No, now let go you stupid frog!" he pushed him back even harder, "This is important!"

Francis staggered backward, knocking over the peanut shelf and causing everyone in the store to look at them, including Ivan and Alfred.

Ivan stared at the scene before realizing just what had happened and turned and left the store, leaving his foodstuff behind as he did.

Alfred stared after him, "You should go apologize."

"Who, me?" Francis asked, "Why?"

"Just, you'll see. Just go."

Francis nodded and followed Ivan out of the store. Britannia darted forward and grabbed Alfred's hand, dragging him out of the store after him.

"Where are we going?" he asked after they left.

"We have to follow them," Britannia explained, "I need to be there when it happens or it doesn't count."

"That's a stupid loophole," they halted when they found Ivan and Francis sitting on a park bench talking. As quietly as they could, they hid themselves in a nearby bush. Ivan had his face turned away from Francis, who had a hand placed gently on his shoulder.

"Arthur's only been in town for what, a day? And you're already…" Ivan wiped at his eyes and placed his hands in his lap, "its not fair Francis. Why do I have to watch you go after everyone else?"

"Ivan, mon cher, you should have told me how you felt before."

"What good would that have done?"

Francis held his chin and turned his head so they were eye to eye. Before Ivan could protest he leaned in and kissed him, "So I could have done that sooner."

Britannia's wand started glowing as Ivan just stared back at him, "O-oh, you really…"

"To be honest, I haven't made a move on you before because I assumed you didn't want me too," he smiled and cupped his cheek, "I cannot put to words how happy I am that you feel otherwise."

Britannia felt a tugging on his hand, only realizing then he was still holding Alfred's.

"C'mon," he said, "Let's give them some privacy."

Britannia nodded and stood, slipping his hand out of Alfred's as they walked away.

The Third Kiss

"So I have to ask," Britannia said as they waited outside the post office for Tumi at around five, "Is everyone in this town gay?"

"Either that or bi, yeah. Well, except Roderich. That's just how it turned out. Swedish Fish?" Alfred offered him the bag, but he shook his head.

"Before, when Ivan mentioned you and his sister," Alfred froze, gummy fish half way to his mouth, "what's the story behind that?"

Alfred played with the bag in his hands. "I, well, there's not much of a story behind that. We were together for a while, last year she left. She didn't give reason, just up and left town with no way to track her down, and I haven't been with anyone since. Natalia," he crumpled the bag in his hand, "that was her name…"

Britannia placed a hand on his elbow, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's fine. I just can't sleep sometimes, which is why I was in the park at midnight, but its okay," the hand moved lower until it was once again in Alfred's, "Now we get to make everyone else happy."

Britannia smiled at him just as the post office door opened and Tumi stepped out into the street. "There his is."

"Alright," Alfred let go of his hand, "Go get 'im."

Britannia nodded and followed after him, "Tumi! Wait a moment. I need to ask you something."

Tumi stopped and turned around. "You're Arthur right? Alfred's friend? What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you knew where Sadiq was. I wanted to talk to him about something."

His face turned pink and he looked away, "Why would I know that?"

"You two seemed quite friendly in the coffee shop this morning, so I figured," Britannia scratched the back of his head, "Well, if you don't know where he is, I'll keep looking then. Thank you," he turned to leave but stopped when Tumi grabbed his sleeve.

"I've been hearing things," he muttered, "People have been talking about you and whatever you want with Sadiq-"

"I just need to ask him something," Britannia sighed, "Honestly I don't know where everyone is getting these rumors from," he shot a glare at Alfred's hiding place, "but none of them are true. I'm not interested in Sadiq like that."

"Oh," Tumi released him, "Well, that's good then."

"Are you?"

His eyes went wide and his face went another shade darker, "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"You were awfully quick to jump to his defense," Britannia shrugged, "And like I said before, you seemed friendly with him in the coffee shop. Sorry if I'm just jumping to conclusions."

"It's not," he started, then sighed, "He'll only ever see me as a kid. I'm too young to have a serious chance."

"Maybe you should just go for it."

"Wh-what?"

"This is just an outsider's opinion, but maybe if you told him how you felt, well it certainly wouldn't hurt his opinion of you."

"But then," Tumi looked away, "But then maybe he wouldn't want to spend any time with me at all, lest he give me the wrong idea again."

"Or maybe he'll return your feelings. Think about it for a bit."

Tumi nodded. Britannia turned to leave again but was stopped by a shout of, "Hey you!" They both looked up to see Sadiq running across the street towards them.

"What do you think you're doing to Tumi?" he growled, "I've heard all about you Arthur, and I won't have you corrupting him!"

"We were just talking!" Britannia shouted back, "I'm going to go find the person who started these rumors and beat his head in. That will give them something to talk about." He turned and walked away.

"Tumi," he heard Sadiq say, "You're alright right? He didn't hurt you or anything did he-" before he was cut off.

Britannia checked his pocket and smiled when his wand lit up again.

The Fourth Kiss

"Isn't this illegal?" Alfred asked as they watched Roderich close up the coffee shop.

"Maybe," Britannia looked at his watch, "But its ten now. We're running out of time to find a legal route."

"Alright, get the bag ready," he grabbed the canvas sack they brought with him, "If this doesn't work, they're both going to kill me in the morning. Hell, if this works they'll still probably kill me."

"Less complaining, more doing," Britannia pushed him forward and he stumbled into Roderich.

"Alfred, what do you want?" he asked.

"Sorry, but I think I left my phone here this morning," Alfred forced out a laugh, "Is it alright if I go in and check?"

"I suppose if I'm with you since I haven't locked the doors yet," Roderich held the door open and Alfred scrambled in.

"Thanks dude. Really you're a life saver," he made his way to the very back and started over turning neatly stacked chairs.

"Alfred!" Roderich snapped, "Watch what you're doing! You weren't even over there this morning!"

"Yeah, I was making a call over here because of the reception, and uh," he looked up and pointed at something behind the counter, "What's that?"

"What?" Roderich turned to see just as Britannia snuck up behind him and slammed the sack over his head.

"Got him!" he yelled triumphantly just before a frying pan smashed over his head. Alfred winced in pity.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to Roderich?" Elizaveta shouted, "Did Gilbert put you up to it?"

"I, no," Britannia sat up and rubbed his head, "It's just, uh…"

"What reason could you possibly have for trying to kidnap someone?" she asked as she removed the bag from Roderich's head.

"Well, you see-"

"We needed you to come and save him so you two would kiss," Alfred blurted out.

"What?" Britannia, Elizaveta, and Roderich said in unison.

"Yeah, you see, Arthur's actually an alien and in order to go home he needs to get people to kiss on Valentine's Day or something and since you two are so obviously in love but not doing anything about it we thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal."

"Well you thought wrong," Roderich stood and dusted off his clothes, "Honestly Alfred I expected better from-" his words were swallowed by Elizaveta's lips.

"I've wanted to do that ever since I got back," she smiled when the pulled away, "I was just looking for an excuse."

"I, well, I…" Roderich cleared his throat and took Elizaveta's hand, "I've wanted to do the same."

The wand in Britannia's pocket glowed as the two started making plans for the rest of the night. They seemed to ignore them after a while, and Alfred came over to help him up.

"So you're done right?" he asked, "That was five, so you can go now?"

"Yes, wait," he counted through the kisses again, "That was only four…"

"Well we've still got what," Alfred looked at his watch, "An hour? We can find two more people no problem."

"If you say so."

The Fifth Kiss

"It's three minutes to midnight!" Britannia shouted as he ran through the park, "Everyone's asleep! No one else in this small town is suffering from untried love!" he stopped and fell to his knees, "I, I can't make it…"

"It's not so bad," Alfred approached him from behind and scratched his head, "I mean being a human isn't so bad. I know from experience."

"You don't understand," he stared up at him with a pleading look, "That's my home I can't return to. It's all I've ever known," he looked back at the ground dejectedly, "What am I going to do now?"

"Hey," Alfred moved so he was in front of him and kneeled down so they were at eye level, "Hey, cheer up. Things could be worse."

Britannia just shook his head and clutched the grass below him. Alfred sighed and cupped his chin, raising his head until he was looking him in the eye.

"I must be the stupidest person in the world," he muttered before he leaned in and kissed him.

Britannia stared at him, eyes wide and face red, as he pulled back, "What…?"

"For falling in love with you," Alfred clarified, "I wouldn't be able to keep you no matter what, would I?"

"Alfred…" the wand in Britannia's pocket glowed, bathing him in a light that gave him back his toga and sandals and returned his wings.

"Just, be happy okay?" was the last thing he heard before he was whisked back to heaven.

It was several months after his Valentine's Day with Britannia. Alfred was sitting in the park, just watching the people go by. He saw Ivan and Francis pass by before, on their way to a picnic to celebrate spring or something. Sadiq and Tumi had walked by, talking in quiet whispers that only they could hear. He could see Roderich and Elizaveta just behind the tree. Roderich had brought his violin and was playing her a song he composed just for her. Antonio and Lovino were over by the duck pond, feeding some turtles that had somehow wandered in there.

Alfred sighed and looked up at the clouds. No one had mentioned Arthur after Britannia left, almost as if the whole town forgot him except for Alfred, which was fine with him. Sometimes he was pretty sure he had made the whole angel-alien thing up to help him get over Natalia.

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted his inner musings, "Is this seat taken?"

"No, go ahead," he moved over to make room for the other man. Alfred looked over, and all thought processes froze when he saw the man's face, "Hey, do I know you?"

"I don't think so," the man looked him over, "We've never met before."

"Yeah, I'd remember someone with those eyebrows," except he did, maybe. Unless he made that up.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind," Alfred looked out over the park, "Are you new to Little Brook?"

"Yes, I just got here."

"You like it so far?"

"It's certainly looking better," Alfred turned to face him and noticed he was still staring at him. The man quickly turned his face away.

"The name's Alfred Jones," he extended his hand, "In case you were wondering."

"I wasn't," the man grabbed and shook his hand, "Arthur Kirkland."

"Arthur, huh?"

"Are you going to make fun of that too?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"No, it suits you," Alfred smiled and realized they were still holding hands.

Arthur's cheeks turned pink as he slowly pulled his hand away, "Well, Alfred suits you too."

"Thanks," he continued staring at Arthur for a bit before finally asking, "You want to go get coffee or something?"

"I'd prefer tea, but yes, if you don't mind."

Alfred stood and offered him his hand with a smile, "Whatever you want."