Title: Not Just Another Night
Genre : humor, romance
Pairings: USUK, Canada/Ukraine, Prus/Hun/Aus thingy, Portugal/Monaco
Rating: PG-15
Warnings: Gakuen AU, human names used, language because of teenage boys, an inappropriate name for a penis
Summary: Anyone who tells you that prom is just another night is totally full of it. Because it's probably one of the biggest nights of your life...especially if you're the boyfriend of the student body president.
Note: This is a part of my Persistence AU and takes place after The Art of Persistence. This is the PROM story, folks. Enjoy and remember comments are love!

Not Just Another Night

I've probably already mentioned this, but prom is pretty much a big deal. Like, huge deal really. I mean, think about it! All the girls go crazy because they've got to have the perfect dress and the perfect date and the perfect limousine. Their hair has got to be just right, make-up's got to look like a celebrity's, and wherever they go to dinner better have some fancy-shmancy steak and lobster combo (even though they'll just order a salad…which is so stupid because you can get salad, aka rabbit food, anywhere, not just fancy places). And, of course, their dates have gotta be perfect gentlemen and have corsages that matches whatever crazy, unique color their dresses happen to be.

You know, it's not any easier for the guys either, though that's a little something we would never mention to the girls. While we don't have to worry about all the clothes and make-up stuff, unless you're Feliks but he graduated last year so that's a moo-point, we're the ones who've got to worry about making sure the restaurant is just right and that we've got a good limo and that the corsages match. And it sucks to be the guy who doesn't, because he is so going to get reamed. We've got to worry about stepping on our date's feet when dancing and whether that ruins any chance we have with them and where we're supposed to put our hands because while we may want to put them on their hips, that could end up a very bad decision. I really think prom is the leading cause for ulcers among teenagers.

But yeah, sounds pretty stressful for everyone, right? Exactly—now imagine you're the student body president and it's your job to organize this extravaganza so that after all the hair and dinners and limo rides, when the people finally arrive, it's everything they've imagined prom to be. Because the guy may mess everything up or the girl could have some sort of hair-dress disaster, but if they walk into the prom itself and it's awesome, all that crap from before kind of just melts away. And people don't talk about their algebra class ten years in the future, they talk about their prom. So, while prom is a huge deal for most people, it's a super-crazy-humongous deal for Arthur Kirkland, the love of my life and resident student body president for Hetalia Academy. Which means it's a super-crazy-humongous deal for me, Alfred Jones, boyfriend and prom date for Mr. Arthur Kirkland.

And, in Arthur's own words, 'woe upon me if I do not understand or get how important this blasted prom is!' Direct quote, only Arthur uses words like 'woe' seriously in a conversation. It's not like I even needed that warning anyway—I'd have to be completely stupid to try and tease with him after witnessing how he went off on poor Bridget* for thinking that joking about not having a photographer was appropriate during a student council meeting. I'm actually still kinda pissed about that because I had freaking Hans*, huge ass football player and boyfriend of Bridget, glaring daggers at me and Iggy for days after; it is stressful having to defend your oblivious boyfriend's honor while worrying about your own future ability to have children. And no snide comments about me being gay and how that's not important because it could be, you never know! Stupid Gilbert…I don't even know why I'm friends with that dick.

Anyway, the important thing to get out of all that word vomit is that prom is super important and I have to deal with a stressed-to-the-max Arthur on top of doing all the restaurant and limo and corsage planning. Arthur's not a girl so it's not like dealing with a girl, (like poor Roderich…Liz has got all kinds of crazy ideas in her head, the least of which include a horse drawn carriage and roses somehow being sprinkled before her wherever she walks) but I still want to make sure he has a good time. I mean, he's the one who's spending all the time after school and at home making sure that the stupid table decorations are just right; he deserves to have fun at the event that is probably going to make him go bonkers by the end of the year. Plus, it gives me even more opportunity to prove just how awesome a boyfriend I can be and can hopefully be filed away to use as ammunition against him when he starts freaking out about us staying together when he's getting ready to leave for school in England. So it's two-fold really…and damn it, I am spending too much time around him and picking up all his weird words!

Currently, we're up in my room where I'm pretending to study, but really just reading a guide on my newest role-play game, and he's actually studying while also trying to do stuff for prom still. He looks funny muttering to himself, but as I like my balls where they are, I keep that to myself. I tried not to sigh out my frustration with the fact that we've been up in my room, alone, for almost an hour and me shirking my homework is pretty much all we've accomplished! I mean, my parents aren't even home and Mattie's at this girl's house for a study session— how is it that sitting here and reading is all that's happened? I failed at keeping the following sigh quiet and I'm rewarded with a bushy-browed glare from Arthur.

"For the last time, Alfred, I am busy and I will not indulge you in whatever childish antics you want to participate in." Arthur only spared me that first glance before he went right back to writing out a list for what appear to be 'acceptable' songs for the DJ. God, he's such an old man; I wonder if he was born with his brain thinking he was fifty and he's just aging mentally from there.

"There's nothing 'childish' about wanting to make out with my boyfriend."

"Then the childish antics would in fact be your attempts to distract me when both you and I have work to do."

I glared at him and scooted close enough so our knees were touching. "You are such a boring fuddy-duddy. What teenage guy passes up available kissing?"

He looked back up, a small smirk on his face, which was definitely an improvement over the scowl. "Did you just say 'fuddy-duddy'? Good Lord; and you call me an old man."

"You are one! You're like a seventy year old geezer masquerading around in a sexy, eighteen year old's body! You're making lists, Iggy, lists! What self-respecting teenager makes lists?"

"The one you're snogging." Obviously not as much as I want to right now though! Jeez, it's like he gets off on torturing me. "If it bothers you so much I'm sure I can go and make my very important lists, which are needed if you don't want prom to be an utter disaster, elsewhere."

"No! No, you have to stay here! If you leave there will definitely be no kissing!" He smiled up at me directly this time, no smirking or teasing and hot damn I love that smile. He's got a little bit of a flush dusting his cheeks, probably from when I called him sexy earlier, and he's showing just a small flash of teeth from beneath his lips—if I wasn't a guy I'd probably say his eyes even sparkle a bit when he smiles like that, but I am so they definitely do NOT sparkle. Not at all. "Stay, please, please, please stay! I promise to not make any more slurs against your lists or list-making ways!"

"See that you don't." His words have got a laugh threaded through them and I grinned when one of his hands grabbed mine, tugging me over to sit close beside him. Ok, yeah, it's not kissing but I totally am fine with snuggling because Arthur is just so cuddlable and snuggling has got to be one of the best things ever invented. Sex is probably way better, but seeing as we haven't had that yet snuggling still ranks pretty high. Oh man—sex with Arthur, yeah, yeah can't think about that right now because even though it make me super nervous, it also makes me super excited, if you know what I mean. Redirect thoughts, redirect thoughts!

"Why do you have to make a list of music anyway? Don't the DJs come with their own mixes?"

He huffs and picks back up the list—his homework has just officially lost to prom planning, he's more stressed than I thought. "Of course they do, but the last thing I want to deal with is angry parents calling into Principal Vargas about the lewd and unseemly music their children are now singing or listening to. So, I'm making a list of songs that we would find pleasant to dance to but are relatively free of vulgarity. Plus, I absolutely forbid any John Hughes songs to be played at my prom. There are plenty of more modern slow songs to choose from; we don't need girls whining about how nobody holds up a stereo to declare affections anymore."

I made a noise of understanding and peeked over his shoulder to look at the list, resting my chin on his shoulder, his hair tickling against the side of my face. I had to admit, the list did have some pretty good song choices on it; Arthur did a good job of picking all different genres, Top 40 songs, classic rock (because, let's face it, it's Iggy and there's going to be classic rock at his prom) and the generic stuff like the electric slide. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and practically leaned into his lap, which still did not stop him from scribbling in more song choices. "John Hughes songs aren't so bad. That one at the end of the library movie, what's it called…"

"The Breakfast Club?"

"Yeah, that one! That song is nice."

"And yet you've heard at nearly every school dance, I'd wager." Arthur set down the pen and turned his head a bit to look at me, annoyance and reluctant affection plain on his face. He wants to be annoyed with me but he can't quite manage it, I'm supremely awesome like that. "Wouldn't you rather hear and dance to songs that aren't entirely predictable? Keeps it more fresh, something to remember when it's all said and done—and if you get any closer to me you will honestly be sitting in my lap!"

I was nuzzling him, he likes my nuzzling even if he pretends he doesn't. "You need a break anyway! You've got like a hundred songs on that list, that's a lot—if you keep going your frown's gonna get stuck on your face forever!"

"That is physically impossible."

"I dunno, pretty sure you'd prove it possible! Come on, come on, come on, Iggy! I've hardly gotten to see you all week, and don't say seeing you at school counts because it doesn't!" I moved so that I really am sitting on his lap, straddling him and keeping him away from his precious lists. "Prom is still a whole week away and you've got lots of time to make sure all the details are perfecto!"

"A week is hardly 'lots' of time to—"

It's best sometimes to just shut him up before he can start ranting, so I leaned in and kissed him, smiling a little as I felt him gradually relax and kiss back, not without giving me a trademark glare because he just wouldn't be Iggy if he didn't. I've mentioned this a few times, but I really, really love how Arthur kisses. He's like a freaking ninja master at kissing. Tilting his head at just the right angle, applying pressure and nipping at just the right moments and spots, and making noises that make my mind think 'yummy' for some reason— I'd be totally happy if we spent all our time just kissing. Not that I don't want to do the Other Stuff, but man, kissing Arthur, being kissed by him, it's way more amazing than I ever imagined it could be. And I imagined it a lot. Seriously. He leaned back to break the kiss, and his teeth caught my bottom lip just for a second before he tilted his head up and grinned at me. I totally did NOT let out a whine or any kind of lame noise when he pulled away; nope, not even a little one.

"You are a persistent bugger, you know that?"

"Well duh! How else do you think I could chase you for so long?" He got that soft look he always does whenever I mention my long-suffering unrequited love for him; he took my hand in his own and wove the fingers together.

"One of your many virtues." He kept his eyes on the ground instead of me when he said that—he gets embarrassed by sappy things so easily; it's funny that he likes them so much. He bit his lip and met my eyes again after a few seconds, a slightly unsure expression on his face. It's kind of weird to see him look like that because he normally looks so confident and sure of himself, but I know he's really stressed out about the prom and making sure it goes good, so I don't tease. "Do you think that—that is with all the preparation and the different décor that you've seen—are you looking forward to—?"

"Iggy, prom is going to be amazing. You've organized all these really cool decorations and have triple-checked all the different reservations for food and pictures and stuff and it's going to be awesome. Quit worrying about what'll go wrong, because even if it all goes to shit, I pinky-promise you that you'll still have the most kick ass time ever with me!"

He met my smile with a blank face for a few moments before he let out a breath and nodded. "Of course, yes, yes you're right, it will go swimmingly. And even if it doesn't, I have back up plans in place for worst case scenarios."

"Exactly! So can you please take a small, teeny-tiny break from all the prom madness and make out with me?" I gave him a pout, which has never failed me before when it comes to Arthur, and grabbed both of his hands, tucking them under my chin. He looked back at me with that arched eyebrow thing he does when he's trying to figure out if I'm being serious before he laughed and tugged me down with his hands.

The next hour was going to be a hell of a lot more fun than the first.

"So, have you guys, you know, done it yet?" I groaned and tried to not to look Elizaveta in the eye, settling for kicking a snickering Gilbert under the table. I can't tell you how many times this stupid question has been asked since me and Arthur started going out. It's actually a little disturbing how many times.

"Liz, can you please just let me eat my pudding in peace?"

"That's a no then. Christ Al, you've fucking pined after the guy for years and you still haven't nailed him yet?" I really, really do not know why I stay friends with Gilbert.

"Oh, shut up, Gilly. I think it's really sweet, waiting for the right moment and everything!"

"That's because you're a chick, Lizzie; you girls buy into crap like that."

"Don't call me that!"

"Why, does it bother you? Remind you of the annoying Disney brat whom you loathe for stealing your nickname?"

It sucks that Elizaveta is going to prom with Roderich and not Gilbert because it's me and Mattie who have to deal with the fall out between them. I'm pretty sure the only reason she's going with Roderich is to piss Gilbert off because he never asked her and she secretly wanted him to. Mattie and I are thinking of just locking them in a bathroom at prom until they, ah, work out their problems. We can find someone else for Roderich; he's a pretty likable guy, if a little boring and pompident. You like that? That's my new word for being pompous and arrogant, which were both on my newest vocab assignment, because those words just sound so stuffy. Pompident is so much better. Arthur thinks I'm 'massacring the English language' but I don't see how making an awesome word out of two un-awesome words is anything other than heroic and legendary.

"Can you both just shut up? I really don't need to think about my brother having sex while I'm eating." Mattie glared at both of them with all the power of a pissed off puppy and took a defiant bite of his sandwich. "Least of all with the guy who's basically my second older brother, ick."

"Don't say 'ick,' Matthew! It sullies their love!"

Mattie caught my eyes and rolled his in time with me—we love Elizaveta but she's a bit on the crazy side when it comes to the idea of two guys doing the dirty. She's only gotten worse since Mei* gave her those Japanese comic books. "Whatever. Where is Arthur anyway? I thought you said that he had some last minute prom stuff he wanted to run by us."

Mattie's a year younger than me but he's going to prom with the busty and weepy Ukrainian cheerleading beauty known as Oksana Bazan who's a junior like the rest of us, Arthur excluded. I may like guys but damn, the girl's got one hell of a rack; I can't tell you how proud of my brother I was when he told us that's who he asked to prom. Oksana's a little bit of a drama queen, which fits well since she's in all the school plays in addition to being a cheerleader, but she's a nice enough girl and I know that Mattie's liked her ever since he helped out in the play last semester.

"I am not answering anymore of his prom questions. I don't give a shit if the napkins are in concentric circles or ovals on the damn tables!" Gilbert snorted and pulled out his lighter, lighting the flint on and off compulsively. I wonder how many lighters Gil's had taken away from him since he started high school and why he keeps buying more if he doesn't even smoke. Weird pyromaniac albino. "Not like I'm going to be wasting my time sitting at a table anyway, not when I can be introducing all the lovely ladies to Gilbird on the dance floor."

'It's freaking weird you call your dick 'Gilbird.'"

"Shut up Al, it's an awesome name."

"Arthur will skewer you alive if you try to have sex at his prom."

"That's why your big brother has to take one for the team and distract our tyrannical school president so the rest of us can give into our teenage hormones. Come on, Mattie, convince him to just pop his cherry already so the rest of us can have a good time!"

"Excuse me, I'm right here!" Who the hell calls your virginity 'cherry' anymore? Mattie mimicked barfing up his food in response to Gilbert's dumb suggestion so I gave him a grateful smile. "Can we please stop talking about my sex life—"

"What sex life?"

"—shut up, Gilbert, my sex life at the lunch table? We just started dating, we don't want to move too fast or whatever."

"We? I think this is the longest Artie's gone since he was fourteen without getting some. Pretty sure it's all you, Hero." Ok, so not cool. We've already had the discussion that talking about Arthur's pretty extensive sex life is totally off limits when I'm around. Elizaveta smacked Gilbert, hard, from across the table, a not-very-happy frown on her face.

"Oh grow up, Gilly. There's nothing wrong or 'un-manly' about waiting to have sex when it's with someone who matters! Just because you think it's unnatural or 'lame' or whatever doesn't mean that it is! God, you are such a pig sometimes, I don't know why I—oh never mind, I'm leaving before I stab you with your own spoon! I'll see you two later; give Arthur a kiss for me, Al!" She huffed and grabbed up her books, storming off without looking back. Gilbert watched her go with a frown and he grumbled into his mashed potatoes. Mattie did not look even a little sympathetic.

"You know, you may want to stop antagonizing her if you ever want her to give you a chance. The whole 'pulling pigtails' flirting method is starting to get really old really fast."

"Whatever, Matt. I don't even like her—she's stupid and whiny and a complete nag." Gilbert was still mumbling to his mashed potatoes.

Mattie caught my look and rolled his eyes again. "Anyway, Arthur?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. He said he'd meet me for lunch but he probably got caught up in another 'prom disaster'—you should've seen him yesterday. They got too many streamers in blue and not enough in red, I thought he was going to have a heart attack."

"Have you tried telling him to relax? I'm sure prom is going to be fine."

"Why no, I haven't tried that over and over again, what a great idea!" I glared at him and he looked a little sheepish. "Of course I've told him to relax and that prom'll be awesome but do you really think that's going to get through his head when he's all worked up? Remember, this is the guy that nearly had a nervous breakdown helping you plan my sixteenth birthday party."

"Ah, right. Forgot about that. That was a fun week."

I snorted and he grinned back at me. Gilbert was playing with his lighter again and failing at ignoring Elizaveta, who had migrated to Roderich's table near the music rooms. Before I could say anything else though, someone plopped himself in the chair beside me, completely sneaking up out of nowhere like a creeper and I jumped a little bit in surprise. If I let out any noise, it wasn't loud enough that anyone really noticed though…I hate being sneaked up on. Even if it was Arthur doing the sneaking; he looked tired and ready to punch something.

"Iggy!"

"Hey Arthur."

"Eyebrows."

"Hello, hello and shut up you wanker."

I grinned at him and wrapped an arm around Arthur's waist, giving him a loud and noisy kiss on his cheek just because I knew that it would ruffle his feathers a bit—I'm convinced it cheers him up to scold people. He frowned and made a show of wiping off his cheek, muttering about manners and 'common decency'; he had just a hint of a smile on his lips afterwards though which meant mission Cheer Up Iggy accomplished and I am always right in anything about Arthur. "Lunch is almost over, you know. Did you even eat anything?"

"I had a scone."

"I meant food that won't potentially kill you."

"That is my mother's cooking you're insulting, Alfred." He smacked the hand that was resting on his hip but he still didn't sound like he was really upset. The thing you gotta know about Arthur Kirkland is that he's only ever really mad about half of the time—the rest of the time his grumpiness is purely for show. "I wasn't that hungry anyway, too much to do, really. But I've confirmed that the DJ will play the song mixes I provided for him and that the backgrounds the photographers will be bringing aren't going to be scenes of castles or bloody moonlit lakes. Nearly called off the whole thing when Lovino asked me if 'beach backgrounds' would be appropriate."

I chuckled because I knew Arthur long enough to tell when he's telling a joke. He's got that weird kind of sense of humor where you can't tell if he's joking or not half the time—it's old man humor, I tell him. He calls it 'mature,' which you all know is another word for 'old man.' Matthew gave a small huff of laughter too though—Gilbert just smirked moodily at his lighter.

"Alfred mentioned that you wanted to ask us something about the prom?" Mattie had finished his lunch and was leaning forward attentively. Mattie has always liked Arthur, ever since he was little and Arthur let Mattie play with us even though I didn't want him too. He finds Arthur's little quirks endearing too, though in an entirely platonic way. And now I have an unwanted image of my boyfriend and little brother in my head, yuck.

"Oh that, well, it wasn't really— it was more of a personal question about prom not your opinion or anything."

Gilbert grunted in relief and focused his attention back on the rest of us. "Thank fuck. Listen, I like you Artie, but if you keep asking me about decorations and shit, my dick's going to fall off and then I'll have to kill you for depriving the ladies of the world the joys of Gilbird."

I glared and Arthur rolled his eyes. "I still don't understand what you possible think is enticing about the name 'Gilbird.' Sounds like some sort demented fish."

"Fuck you, Eyebrows, it sounds awesome just like the rest of me."

"Anyway, what did you want to ask us?" Mattie gave Gilbert a look before he smiled at Arthur encouragingly.

"I was just wondering if you and Oksana would be interested in going with Alfred and I as a group? A Limo rental would be far cheaper that way. Santos is going with Soraphine* and he seemed interested in the idea." Mattie glanced up at me and I shrugged my shoulders behind Arthur's head, letting him know it didn't matter to me whether we went as a group or separately. Frankly, this is stressful enough on Arthur as it is; if splitting the cost of a limo, even though I already told him I'd cover it and he didn't need to pay anything, which his man-pride didn't like at all, helps make him a bit more relaxed, I'll do it. Mattie smiled and gave Arthur a nod.

"Sure! That'll be fun actually—and saves me from having dad drive us to prom." We both shuddered at the very idea.

"And what about me? Aren't you going to ask if I want to join your little club?" Gilbert gave us a mock-pout from across the table; Arthur snorted and gave Gilbert a disbelieving look.

"Are you even going with anyone? I thought that you, and I quote, 'weren't going to be lame like all you dickheads who would have to dance with the same person the whole evening.' Why on earth would you want to go to prom in a group of couples?"

He called us a couple—I couldn't help the probably dopey smile that spread across my face.

"For the chance to mock you, duh."

"Yes, well, as appealing as that sounds, listening to your nasally voice the entire night telling me I'm a 'lame dickhead' isn't quite what I had in mind for enjoying my prom night." Arthur's voice dropped low and it took a lot of effort to keep my hand on his waist and not let it, you know, drift. His voice always sounds so sexy when he's annoyed or being sarcastic—it's the English accent, it makes people do and think crazy stuff. He turned a little to look at me, his head tilting to the side adorably, and he rested his hand against my knee. "It's fine going as a group, right? Bugger, I didn't really ask you but I just thought that this would work out best—are you all right with that?"

I smiled and gave him a big hug, which made him fluster something wonderful, ignoring the sounds of puking Gilbert was making. "It sounds awesome, Iggy. It'll be fun going as a group."

He smiled at me and gave my knee a gentle squeeze, pretty much melting my insides to goo; Gilbert smirked at me and made a whipping motion with his hands when Arthur turned back to Mattie to discuss details and costs, boring stuff basically. I flicked a piece of carrot at him just as the bell rang to end lunch—I pouted as I got up and gathered my things. I hated history, it was so boring and I was always so sleepy right after lunch. I waited for Arthur to gather up his things and gave his shoulder a playful bump as we made our way to our classes. English rooms are in the same hall as the history classes, luckily enough.

"You getting excited?"

"Underneath the stress of making sure this goes off without any major problems I suppose I am a bit."

I grinned at him and took his hand, happy that he didn't pull away embarrassed for once. "Good. But, I hope you know that my mom's gonna take like a bazillion pictures of us if we're going as a big group, especially with this being Mattie's first prom and all."

He got this funny, teasing look of despair on his face before he squeezed my hand, which made me kinda want to skip. Not that I really would; skipping is so lame, you always look so stupid doing it. "God help us."

I laughed and kissed his cheek. Have I mentioned that I totally love this guy?

Sometimes, everything goes exactly as it's supposed to. People show up for stuff on time, they have the comic book you want in the shop, and your parents keep their PDA to a minimum so they don't scar you for life. And it's good when stuff happens like it's supposed to. And, you would think, that if you planned and planned for something to go that perfect, that it will—fucking Murphy's law though should've warned me differently.

I wish I could say that prom went off without a hitch, that all of Arthur's planning and stressing paid off the way it was supposed to, that all of my sacrifice and boredom sitting through council meetings and picking out types of crepe paper and giving up well-earned kissing time had been paid off, but I can't. Because it didn't…at all. Just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, short of a fire burning through the room Arthur had rented in some fancy hotel for our prom. First it was the caterers who came down with the flu from some questionable meat they dared each other to eat. Then the hotel got the times mixed up, thinking that we weren't going to show up until like nine instead of seven, which had 'compelled' Arthur to drive down to the hotel in his dad's car and 'get this shit straightened out right the fuck now.' The DJ stuff went blissfully smooth, but then there had been some kind of prom décor disaster and it made Arthur drive back to the hotel almost immediately after he'd gotten back from correcting the times.

I know, it's supposed to be the Junior class's job to set up prom and with Arthur as the student body president and a senior, he shouldn't have had to set it up—but there's something I'm sure you've noticed about him by now. He's stubborn and wants things done his way and almost always figures that means he's got to take charge of everything himself. So, even though he's not really, technically, supposed to help set prom up, if there was a problem he sure as hell wasn't going to just 'not worry' about it, not while there was still life in his body. It's just as well that Arthur's a guy because if he was a girl AND had to deal with all of this crap—pretty sure my life would be hell right now. As it is, he's making other people's lives hell, not mine, because I'm 'lovely and a God-send for taking care of the limo and dinner reservations for the group,' which I am not going to complain about. Another bonus in liking guys, no weepy hysterics.

But yeah, anyway, nothing really went all hunky-dory like it was supposed to. Not even when Arthur had returned for a second time, everything 'ship-shape and under control' according to him and he finally had time to get ready. And why you might ask? Well that would be because my mom is an absolute nightmare and refused to let us all leave until she had enough pictures of us to make wallpaper for the whole damn house. She doesn't even know Santos and Soraphine all that well, you know? Why does she need hundreds of pictures of them? Anyway, the point is she took tons of pictures and our limo nearly left us—I'm pretty sure Oksana's bouncing boobs while running after the limo, near tears, had a lot to do with him stopping and coming back for us. Dinner went fine, better than most of the day actually, but I could tell that Arthur was still worried that the moment we got to prom, it would be nothing but a big mess. He was the main reason we had to rush through our food so fast so he could get there and see for himself it wasn't all burnt to the ground.

Still, for as awful as most of the day was, when we ended up walking into prom, all that awful stuff really did melt away because it looked fucking amazing. The Fire and Ice theme looked so awesome. The room was evenly split on what was the 'fire' side and which was the 'ice' side, meeting together over the dance floor with a bunch of the streamers and decorations arranged to look like icicles and flames over our heads. The DJ was set up on the 'fire' side and had some lights blinking on him in orange, reds, and yellows—he had some kind of face paint on too which made him look like a monster or something. There were desserts and drinks set up over on the 'ice' side and mounds of what looked like fake snow scattered around the tables and lining the dance floor. It even felt cooler on the ice side, probably because that's where the food and stuff was, but it just made it that much more awesome when you felt a temperature difference between the two sides. It was fucking amazing and I couldn't believe that Arthur had really done all this. I mean, yeah I could but still, seeing it was just—wow.

"This looks amazing, Arthur. Seriously, freaking cool." Matthew gave my boyfriend a big, excited smile while Oksana was looking around with teary-eyed wonder and nodding enthusiastically.

"You did good, Art. Real good—damn sight better than Feliks' prom last year." Santos looked around appreciatively with one arm wrapped around Soraphine, who looked much prettier than she usually did with her hair done up and her contacts in. She was one of those bookish girls who liked to spend time in the library outside if study hall—she and Arthur got along really well. Arthur spared his other best friend, because yeah we're best friends but so are they with their epic bromance, a relieved smile. Which is something I might've been jealous about if Santos was even the teensiest bit gay; but he's not so it's all good. He tightened his hand around mine and I sidled up a little closer to him as we started walking into the sparsely populated room. People were probably still at dinner or getting drunk before they came (people like Gilbert), but others had shown up early too so we weren't like the only ones there.

"Thank you—I had my doubts but I'm pleased it all came together."

Santos nodded, gave me a wink and led Soraphine out onto the dance floor while Mattie and Oksana went to grab us a table so the girls could keep their stuff at—Elizaveta would no doubt be attaching herself to our group later like some kind of tentacle monster. Arthur gave a short nod to the DJ, who was busy playing some Rolling Stones, and then looked over at me, his face still a little anxious but more relaxed than I'd seen it in days. "They're not taking the piss, are they? It's really all right?"

Only years of hearing Arthur say that saying specific phrase kept me from laughing, because honestly? Taking the piss? English people say some weird shit. "Yes, it's totally awesome! It's way better than last year and you're so gonna blow people's minds when they come in."

He smiled, really wide and happy, and pressed a soft, real quick kiss to my neck before he tugged me after my brother and Oksana. He's been doing stuff like that a lot, kissing in places that make my brain drip out of my ears, and it really makes me want to do stuff that I'm pretty sure will get me expelled if I do it in public. When we got to the table, I wrapped him in a big hug from behind, pressing up nice and close, close enough to hear the quick breath Arthur makes that would normally be too soft to hear. I like those noises he makes the best, the ones he thinks no one but him hears—I've got awesome hearing though, I'm pretty sure it's practically a super-power. Sonic-hearing, that's pretty bad ass. I let him go and flashed him a grin.

"We should get pictures done now, before everyone else gets here. You heard mom, Mattie—she'll ground us from the Xbox if we don't get a damn package each."

"Ok—want to get Santos?"

Arthur chuckled and I followed his eyes to where Santos and Soraphine were making out on the dance floor. "I believe he's rather engaged at moment—just leave them be, your mum doesn't care about them."

"The hundreds of pictures she took of them before we were allowed to leave disproves that theory." Arthur smirked at me in response and shook his head; he took my hand and tugged me after Mattie. "Did you want to get any pictures for your family?"

I didn't really think and I feel awful the second the words are out of my mouth, but Arthur just shakes his head and falls into step beside me, his soft smile still on his face. Arthur's family isn't as accepting as mine—I'm not really sure how Arthur's kept his pretty extensive list of ex-boyfriends in the background as far as his parents were concerned, but he did it. It's mainly his mom, she thinks he's going through a phase and is just 'confused' or whatever—being with me kind of ruins that whole thing because she knows, like really knows how close we are and she knows Arthur wouldn't fuck our relationship up just because of a phase. It's weird how that makes me feel so awesome and like total shit for feeling awesome at the same time. We don't really hang out at his house anymore—she looks at me funny, like she can't decide whether she should hate me or not. This is the woman who used to bring me over cookies whenever I was sick (not that I ever ate them, her cooking is toxic, just like Iggy's, but it's the thought that counts). I can't complain though, she's not my mom, I don't have to deal with her if I don't want to. Arthur doesn't get that choice, which sucks balls.

"I think they'll be just fine without them. Peter will just deface them anyway so it'd be a waste." He's being subtle, a word that Arthur says I don't understand but I totally do when it counts, and I can tell he doesn't want to talk about his family right now and is trying to redirect the conversation. I leapt on it because tonight is supposed to be awesome, not full of depressing thoughts.

"Peter would so do that—my offer still stands to punt him across the soccer field next time he annoys you. He wouldn't tattle, I'd tell him he's like assisting the team or something."

Arthur chuckled and gripped my hand a little tighter. "I'll keep that in mind."

We didn't say much of anything the rest of the walk to the photographer, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was nice, actually, which is strange because I generally do not like silence. Like, at all. Probably why I'm always so loud—silence is just creepy, dude. When we got to the photographer, there was one other group getting pictures, but we didn't have to wait long since most of those girls didn't want single shots, probably because they didn't have dates. Girls are funny about things like that. They got done and we got our pictures out of the way and then it was back to the dance, which had a few more people there, including Liz and Roderich—Gilbert was still nowhere to be found but I kinda already resigned myself to finding him drunk and passed out in a bathroom somewhere tonight. I caught bits and pieces of conversations and was happy that most of the people were impressed with the set-up; one less thing for Arthur to be stressed out by.

Pretty soon, aka a few limos of drunk teenagers later, prom was everything it was supposed to be. It was loud and a weird mixture of too dark and too bright. Someone had spiked the punch (a someone who had been promptly dragged out of the hotel from the ear by Arthur) and there was a lot of 'dancing' going on that basically just looked like sex going on. People sang along to songs, did the mandatory electric slide and Gilbert eventually did show up, drunk of course, and gotten kicked out almost immediately after he arrived for puking in the spiked punch bowl. I think the only people not pissed off by that was Arthur, because then he didn't have to guard the stupid bowl all night, and me because I didn't have to play second fiddle to a damn punch bowl anymore. My little brother danced, Liz got a romantic kiss at midnight, and I got to slow dance with my amazing boyfriend to a cool rock song I had never heard of before but Iggy liked. It's a good thing Hetalia Academy has got a no-tolerance bullying policy and a lot of gay kids there; it would have sucked if Arthur and I didn't get to do that.

But we did and it was awesome. Just like the rest of the night, even though Arthur and I didn't do anything, you know, like that—I don't think we need to rush any of that though. I'm pretty sure Arthur's endgame for me, doesn't matter that we're only in high school and still have got the monster-known-as-college coming up fast. That stuff'll happen when it happens. Besides, it's not like we didn't have any fun—but you know what, that's stuff for another time because I am official prom-ed out and really just kinda of want to sleep. Arthur's already way ahead of me but it's ok because he basically made prom awesome—he's allowed to pass out early without being too super-lame (not kidding, we're talking like one in the morning, we had just gotten to Gil's house). It was a good night though, and definitely one that I'm pretty sure everyone will talk about when we're old and meeting at reunions and shit.

So, yeah, prom is pretty fucking stressful and for the most part, seems stupid that we all get so worked up over it because it's just one night (well, maybe four if you go to prom every year in high school, but you get the point), but it's also prom, you know? It really does end up being one of the best nights you get in high school, if you get to share it with people you like, or a guy or girl you love.

Lucky me, I got both. Not that I want to brag or anything.

Finis

Reviews are epic love, bros.

Bridget=Belgium

Hans=Hollan/Netherlands

Santos=Portugal

Soraphine=Monaco