A/N: I had always planned to end WWS with Arthur and HK's relationship being unsatisfying, awkward and without any real conclusion, but I also love the idea of the two of them together so much that they get another chance. I also decided to post my story about WWS's most angst-ridden couple on my birthday, because I frickin' adore them :3

Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.
The Invitation belongs to Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
Ultimate X-Men belongs to Marvel Comics.
Leonce and Lena belongs to Georg Buchner.

Arthur rubbed the palms of his hands onto his pants nervously. Today was the day. He could hardly believe it was finally here.

The sound of Mr. Hubbard's speech droned on in the background as Arthur sneaked a glance to his left. He and his fellow seniors were all garbed in the same bright blue robes, along with a graduation cap. Those who were in the National Honour Society also had gold tassels draped around their necks – a group that included Arthur himself, Yao, and even Francis. Huh. Go figure. Observing his classmates, it was interesting to notice how some of them, like Gillian and Antonio, were wearing expressions of utmost glee. Obviously, some people couldn't wait to get out of school. Others, such as Roderich and Vash, were sitting as solemnly as they possibly could.

"And now, the diplomas." Mr. Hubbard nodded towards the homeroom teachers. "Each student will be called by name, with a note of what they plan for the future. First, we have Sadiq Adnan."

Arthur joined into the polite applause as the person on the other end of the line stood up and approached the podium. Still feeling amazed at the surrealism of this ceremony, he allowed his eyes to wander out into the crowds of friends and family that filled the auditorium seats. He squinted, wondering where exactly his own parents were.

"Gillian Beilschmidt. Gillian will be taking a gap year to do some traveling."

The girl leaped to her feet, letting out a loud whoop of delight as she practically ran over and tore the scroll out of Mr. Hubbard's hands. Pumping both fists into the air, she turned to the audience, beaming.

"FREEEEEEEEDOM!"

Ignoring the scandalized looks on a few teachers' faces, she cheerfully marched back to her seat amid laughter from the audience. Arthur couldn't help smiling himself, and continued people-watching. He finally located his parents, with his younger brother Peter sandwiched in between. Near them, Francis's mother, grandfather, aunt, and the Vargas girls also watched. On the other side of the auditorium, he noticed that Alfred and Maddie were also in attendance, just to show solidarity towards their friends. Alfred spotted him looking and shot him a thumbs up. Five rows down, Arthur saw the Wang family. Yao's father, looking exceptionally proud, was filming the ceremony on a camera. His mother was sobbing and clutching a Hello Kitty doll dressed in graduation robes, as the youngest sibling, Tian Wei, held a bouquet of flowers. Next to her, HK sat quietly. Arthur felt his stomach flip again.

"Arthur Kirkland."

Jolted back to the stage, Arthur hastily stood up and began shuffling towards the podium.

"Arthur has been accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He begins in the fall."

Now that he was actually near the front of the stage, the applause seemed completely deafening. Arthur quickly turned around, suddenly feeling very embarrassed. But as he turned back to his own class, the first sight that greeted him were Gillian, Antonio and Francis in the front row, all grinning excitedly at him and clapping. How on Earth did those three manage to sit together at graduation? Unbelievably, even their last names ended up side by side alphabetically. Arthur quickly walked past them back to his seat.

"Mathias Kohler."

Arthur sank back into his seat as the boy next to him eagerly stood to receive his own diploma. The remainder of the ceremony continued without a hitch, and before he knew it, Arthur was standing up alongside the rest of his class.

"I proudly present to you, the Hetalia High School Class of two thousand and..."

The last words were drowned out as the audience clapped heartily, with a few cheers thrown in (courtesy of Alfred, mostly). Gillian, Antonio and Francis craned their necks around to smirk mischievously at the rest of the class.

"'Kay, guys! One, two, three!"

Amid shouts of joy and laughter, everyone tossed the bright blue graduation caps upwards. For a moment, they all froze in the air before crashing down upon the stage.

"Heads up!"

"Ow!"

"Crap, where'd mine go?"

A few minutes later, the auditorium was a complete mesh of people, students, teachers and audience alike. Families hugged and friends doled out congratulations on the stage, in the aisles, and in the seats. Arthur waded through the sea of robes until he finally reached his own parents, who smiled at him.

"I can't believe it, you're all grown up," Mrs. Kirkland sighed as she embraced him tightly.

"Mum, I'm the fourth one to go. Surely you can't say you never saw this coming."

"Yes, true," she laughed as she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "But you never get used to it."

Mr. Kirkland shook his hand formally. "This officially means that you're your own man now, son. Hope you pick all the right choices."

"Err, okay."

His parents gestured to the small figure standing off to the side, who was wearing a peculiar mixed expression of irritation and forlornness. In his hands was a small, neatly wrapped present.

"Peter, what do you say to your brother?"

Peter frowned, glancing down at the gift. "Can I have your side of the room when you go?"

"Peter!"

"Fine!" The younger boy thrust the package into Arthur's hands. "Happy graduation or whatever, jerk."

Arthur shrugged and took it. His mother smiled happily at him. "Open it."

Ripping the light blue tissue paper off, Arthur realized he was holding a book. The Invitation by Oriah. On the cover, there was the picture of a yellow flower. He flipped it around and read the inscription on the back.

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare
to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know
if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dream, for the adventure of being alive…

"It's a lovely book. I can only hope that it will help you through anything you have struggles with," Mrs. Kirkland said.

He gave her another hug. "Thank you."

"Hey, Artie!"

They all turned to see Francis with his mother and grandfather. The taller blond bounded over to sling an arm over his shoulder. "Let's commemorate this moment, hm?"

Before he could protest, Gillian popped up on his other side, effectively preventing any chance of escape. "You can't get away from us this easily, Artyfarty pants!"

Arthur sighed. "Fine. Where's Antonio?"

"Good question. But I have a better one: where's Lovina?"

"Right."

As if on cue, the brunette came stomping back to them, with the remaining Bad Friend right on her heels. Lovina wrenched her wrist out of Antonio's grasp.

"I don't WANT to be in any of those stupid pictures, you bastard! I'm not graduating, you are!"

"But Lovi…"

"Your dumb friends are waiting," she interrupted, shoving him towards Arthur, Francis and Gillian before going to stand with her grandfather. He beamed at them and held up a camera, providing a complete contrast to the frowning girl next to him.

"Okay ~ ! On the count of three! One, two…"

As the camera flashed, Francis dove in to plant a kiss on Arthur's cheek, just as Gillian suddenly decided to yank hard on his robes, pulling him down so she could bestow an affectionate noogie upon him. He yelped and fell over, landing at Antonio's feet. The Spanish boy just smiled down at him.

"Y'should be more careful, Arthur!"

Arthur groaned as he pulled himself back up on his feet. "Something tells me that I won't miss you guys all THAT much…"

"Ah! I'm hurt, Artie." Francis clutched his chest melodramatically. "Cut straight to the heart. I will pine over you forever."

Gillian plopped his cap back onto his head. "Don't lie! You're totally going to miss our awesome. You'll leave this ROOM and want it back."

He rolled his eyes and walked back to his family. Peter was posing for a photograph with Berwald and Tina, who had often babysat him when he was younger. His parents were in deep conversation with Ms. Roma and the Beilschmidts – Mr. Kirkland waved Arthur off.

"I know you want to talk to your friends, so go ahead and meet us in half an hour."

Arthur nodded and walked away. Francis, Gillian and Antonio had disappeared to bother other people, so he began looking around. Recalling the last person he noticed in the audience before he got his diploma, he scanned the crowd for a head of black hair.

"Artie!"

He was attacked with a huge bear hug from behind, causing him to trip and fall backwards. Looking up, he saw Alfred's excited face radiating absolute happiness.

"Happy graduation!" Alfred squeezed him again, and Arthur thought he was going to pass out. "You're done! Finished! Everything!"

"Hi, Arthur. Congratulations," said another voice. Arthur looked over to see Maddie smiling back at him, almost apologetically.

"Thanks, guys."

Alfred grabbed the small gift out of his hands. "What's this?" He peered down at the cover. "A book? Lame."

Arthur snatched it back, scowling. "Just because you don't read doesn't mean books are lame."

"Hey, I totally read. What else do you think I do with my super cool comic collection? I have almost the entire Ultimate X-Men series now!"

"Hey, Arthur!"

The three of them turned around to see the entire Wang family standing behind them. Yao waved excitedly.

"Wanna get a picture, aru?"

"'Course he would!" Alfred suddenly grabbed Maddie by the arm and began dragging her away. "Oh look, there's Elizabeta! Let's congratulate her too."

"Umm, okay?" Maddie looked perplexed, but Alfred looked over his shoulder to throw Arthur an enormous wink. The recipient felt his cheeks heat up, and hoped Yao didn't notice.

Mrs. Wang held up a camera of her own. "Say cheers!"

"...Cheers?"

Yao turned to Arthur, looking exceptionally pleased. "Thanks! Maybe I'll see you again before we all leave, aru."

"Yeah, maybe."

"We should just have a big reunion. Okay, well, I gotta go find other people, aru. Bye!" Yao's sleek ponytail was set swinging as he wandered off into the crowd, his parents following him. One Wang family member stayed behind, however.

"Hey."

"Hey, Arthur. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

The younger Asian boy edged closer to him. Arthur held his breath, but all HK did was reach up and flick the tassel on his cap to the other side.

"It's supposed to be on the right side after you've officially graduated."

"Oh. Okay."

HK folded his arms and eyed Arthur through his jagged bangs. "London…that's really far away. How long is the flight?"

"About seven or eight hours."

"Hmm, that's not too bad."

"Not too bad? Are you serious?"

"To China, it's about fifteen hours nonstop."

"Oh, right."

There was another awkward pause. The noise of all the other people around them talking, laughing, cheering and hugging surrounded the two boys. Arthur felt very odd. He'd only felt strange talking to HK for the past two months. Before that, they'd been fairly close, and he wanted that back.

"Stoplight Theatre is putting on Leonce and Lena next Thursday. You wanna come with? Weekend shows are pay what you can."

"Sure." HK hesitated before glancing up at him again. "Just us?"

"Yeah. Why, you want to invite someone?"

"No, that's totally fine." HK looked past Arthur to where Tian Wei was motioning at him. "Gotta go. See you then."

"Okay." Arthur felt the younger boy's arm brush against his as he walked past him, not looking back even once. When HK was gone, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. So, first task done. But did he have the courage to keep on going to the next one?

At least he had a week to think about it.

A/N: You know all those teen movies that show the cap toss? I thought I'd depict something that they never do – the caps landing. Look, it's a piece of thick cardboard with four sharp corners haphazardly being chucked around. Those things are DANGEROUS. But on the other hand: awww, our lovely little class of Europeans (plus Yao...) are graduating! Congrats, guys!

Arthur gets to go to RADA since one of my acting instructors went there. She was in the same class as Alan Rickman, and they did The Bacchae together! :O Cool, huh?

I hope there are some people out there actually interested in reading this. I know UKHK isn't a very popular pairing, but I love them with the passion of a thousand Spains! R&R please!