World War II was finally over. Things like these are never really easy, but we had somehow survived.

I looked to my left and saw Alfred. He was smiling proudly at himself, because our victory had been mostly thanks to him. He had bombed Kiku's country, destroying huge portions of it. At that moment, the small Asian man lie in the hospital, Ludwig and Feliciano by his bedside, as we, Alfred and I from the Allies, were celebrating our victory.

We were at Alfred's house alone. I don't honestly know what the others were doing, but it was getting late and Alfred and I were drinking,

Alfred took another swig of his beer, swallowing and following it with a happy, almost cocky, laugh as he described in detail the way that Kiku had surrendered. I laughed a little with him, truly proud of this man for having done something so dreadfully wonderful. Something terrible, yet at the same time, something that helped to end possibly the worst war that any of us had ever been a part of.

I had never really been the best father figure, or rather, older brother figure, for Alfred. But even so, it was nice to see that he had grown up well.

/Very/ well.

As I took a few more drinks from my beer, (mine was better than his because it wasn't that disgusting, bloody, American crap), I started to think more about him. I wasn't listening so much to what he was saying, but rather, I was listening to his voice. It was proud and strong, but with a sweet undertone that I had noticed every time we spoke to each other. His eyes were such a beautiful blue behind those glasses, reflecting my own green eyes as he spoke. His lips were curled into a smile as he laughed again, switching the story from winning World War II to something that he had remembered from his childhood. Again... I was too busy just listening to his voice and looking at that... that... that face. There was something about it that held my gaze.

"Right, Iggy?" He added to the end of whatever he was saying, patting my shoulder somewhere between firmly and delicately.

"Hmm? Oh. Umm... yes. Of course." I said looking at him with a light, almost awkward laugh. Alfred stared at me for a moment with a confused expression.

"Ya all right?" He asked, gripping my shoulder lightly.

"Yeah." I responded with a nod. I really was fine.

Kind of.

The whole time that he had been talking, all that I could think of was how attractive he looked.

This wasn't the first time I had thought this way. I had always loved Alfred like my son or my brother, but since about the time of his revolt against me, the Revolutionary War when he had gained his independence, I started to notice that my feelings for him were changing. They were starting to scare me. Distract me. They were...

They were becoming stronger, and not in a way that I had wanted them to.

So, I had started to yell at him. Argue with him. I became sort of a bloody brat, in an attempt to make myself honestly dislike him. But it didn't work. /All/ of my attempts remained in vain.

He took my face between his hands, squishing my cheeks a little.

"Iggy~?" He said it in almost a sing-song voice, looking directly into my eyes with a smile, moving closer to me.

Those blue eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes. Those soft lips so close to my own...

I quickly turned away, pushing his hands back before I looked at him again. I glared, trying to distract him from the blush that I was sure had spread across my face.

"Stop being so bloody annoying, you git!" I crossed my arms with a frown, "Don't touch my face. Keep those disgusting, American, hands away from me."

Alfred frowned and sat back in his chair, "Hey, calm down Arthur. Geez-um. You're such a baby." He rolled his eyes and returned to drinking his beer.

Good. Things were normal again. I could breathe again.

I had looked away, but as I looked back at him, I noticed his frown wasn't the normal playful or kind of angry one. It looked sincerely sad, and those blue eyes weren't as bright as they had been just before.

He shifted a little and there was a glare from his glasses, masking his eyes.

"Sorry, Arthur. I didn't know that I upset you that much..." His voice trailed off at the end and I choked a little.

He didn't know that he upset me this much.

He didn't know.

He didn't know anything.

I took a deep breath and managed to speak a reply.

"Yes, well... I just don't like being touched." I leaned back in my chair, my arms still crossed as I looked away again. I didn't want him to see that I had that same, sad, frown that he had. I didn't want him to see that I actually cared about him more that I would ever admit.

Then, a strange sensation overtook me as I felt a warmth against my cheek. I could hear his steady, yet nervous breathing in my ear as his lips pressed against my skin.

I almost gasped as he did this, scaring me slightly, but exciting me at the same time. I had wanted this for such a long time, even if it was only a small kiss on the cheek.

He pulled back, whispering another apology.

I didn't look at him out of fear that these emotions flooding through my body would overtake me more than they already were. I was afraid to feel this way about somebody, especially Alfred.

"H-Hey... Artie? A-Are ya mad at me now? I'm sorry..." He spoke, but I couldn't tell what emotions were in his voice. For a moment, I thought that maybe Alfred had been feeling the same way about me that I had been feeling about him.

And in that same moment, the one thing that I was so afraid of letting happen, happened.

I lost all control of myself. My emotions for this boy finally became overwhelming, and I kissed him. Not on the cheek.

No.

I kissed him on the lips.

I kept my eyes closed, unable to see his reaction to this. But, when I went to move away, I felt arms pull me closer. I was already at the edge of my chair, and now I thought that I might fall out of my seat. But, all that mattered was that he was kissing me back.

When the kiss finally broke, I gasped lightly, taking a few deep breaths, looking down.

"A-Artie?" He whispered, his hand touching my cheek again, pushing some hair away from my face.

I still couldn't look at him. I really couldn't. My face was flushed, and my heart was racing fast.

"H-hey. Artie? Iggy? You okay?" He tilted my face up to see his own. He was blushing a light shade of pink. For the few moments that neither of us spoke, I could hear his breathing. His heartbeat. Then, his lips touched mine, gently, for the second time.

Another long kiss as he pulled me onto his lap, his arms around my waist, mine around his neck.

His tongue slipped into my mouth and searched around, touching my lips and my teeth, and eventually my tongue.

Our tongues wrestled together for a few minutes, tangling and untangling as they fought for dominance. I felt his fingertips on my back as they slid under my shirt, feeling the skin there. It was incredible to have him this close, to feel his lips, his hands. He massaged me gently on my lower back as we both refused to stop.

After a few more minutes of this kiss, we finally stopped. He kept his face close, resting his forehead against mine. He did that cute little laugh that he always seems to do, kind of a smirking laugh, his eyes closed a little before he kissed my lips lightly for just a moment. He held me on his lap like this for a while as we just breathed... in and out.

"Hey, Iggy?" He whispered.

"Hmm?" I managed to breathe out the reply.

"Was that an accident, or was it for, like, real?"

"I..."

"Iggy..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm happy that we kissed. It was pretty awesome." His smirk and light laugh again.

"Yeah..." It wasn't really much of an agreement, or much of a response. But, I was still confused. I didn't know what to think. What to feel. I didn't know anything at that moment. All I knew was that I had wanted this for such a long time, but now... now I felt like I wasn't sure if I had wanted this or not. I was terrified to be this close to the boy that I had once raised.

Perhaps what we were doing was inappropriate, no matter how perfect it felt.