Alfred gently helped the Brit up, holding his hand delicately. The climbed up onto the smooth rock surface which was the cliff that had always loomed just a little over the town they lived in. They crouched down to sit beside each other, their eyes immediately drawn the star filled sky as remained by each other's side.
"Don't you ever want to just… disappear?" Arthur muttered quietly, feeling his eyes weigh down with exhaustion Alfred murmured softly in agreement, pressing their shoulders slightly closer together. The town, from up here, was like little glitters of light reflected by the stars above - the sort of sight you saw in movies. Hushed sounds filled the air as the breeze slipped through the trees. The silence was cut when Arthur let out a soft chuckle.
"What is it?" Alfred looked down at the Brit, who was still intently staring up at the sky.
"To be frank, I don't really know." He replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "I think it's just that… this place seems to make every single one of my worries melt away. Its makes my problems seem so small, so pointless and scrawny. And I like that." Arthur's gaze, drifted down to meet Alfred's soft blue eyes and a faint smile curled onto his face.
"Me too." The American replied, hypnotized by Arthur's lime green eyes – which seemed to shine as bright as the stars drifting above them. The two eventually dragged their eyes back to the sky, remaining in the comfortable silence that washed over the two.
After a while, Alfred felt the Brit lay his head on his shoulder with a soft sigh. The American froze, completely unsure of what reaction he was meant to have. It was… really nice to have him leaning on his shoulder but-
"Oh, sorry… I– I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Arthur muttered apologetically - hastily pulling away from Alfred with humiliation.
"N-No! Dude, it's fine. I just- just sorta- kinda like when you eat too much ice cream and, like, your head hurts and you can't think, except I didn't eat ice cream and I-"
"You panicked?" Arthur offered, who was wringing his hands in what seemed like embarrassment.
"Yeah." The American muttered, feeling his cheeks grow pink and his face heat up (though luckily, it was just dark enough so Arthur couldn't see this.)
"Uh. Y-you…" Alfred began, but got stuck as he felt his throat dry. "You can… still lean you head if you like."
"You don't have to do that y'know-"
"No, I-" A sudden bursting sound came rising into the sky, leaving a trail of pigment behind. It cracked into bursts of colours and soon after, more followed.
"Fireworks." Arthur said softly, his gaze now captivated by the beautiful explosions in the sky.
Oh. Fuck. It was the Fourth of July. It's his birthday.
Arthur suddenly blurted out, his eyes widened as he snapped his head to look at the American.
"Oh, god, I'm a bloody idiot! I should have remembered and I didn't, I'm so sorry, I didn't even get you a-"
"It's fine, man. Being up here with you is enough for me." He said softly, smiling the most genuine thing the Brit had even seen.
God, I love that smile. And his eyes. And him.
I love him.
I wish I could tell him that.
I really wish-
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah! Um, sorry I got a little dazed. Sorry for- no, um-" He glanced up at the American, who was still smiling so… so bloody beautifully. "Happy Birthday, Alfred."
Alfred's grin grew wider as he abruptly flung his arms around the Brit.
"Thanks, Arthur… But you totally owe me a present next time." Alfred chortled, holding tightly onto the Brit. Arthur chuckled into his chest, with his arms awkwardly caught in-between the hug. He could feel Alfred's heart beating – quickly at that.
But neither of them moved, even after the fireworks had finished. They stayed in the embrace, only reminding Arthur of the fact he was enjoying it more than he should've been.
"Erm… Alfred?"
"O-Oh right." The American quickly pulled away from the embrace, scooting back from Arthur with his cheeks lightly dusted pink again.
"No, I… I didn't mean that, I was just going to say something…" Arthur replied, the slightly chilly air now more obvious after getting so used to the warmth of Alfred.
"Oh, okay, uh… what is it?" The American asked awkwardly.
"Is it… bad that… maybe I… enjoy your company more than any normal friend would? I mean I think… Well, I don't know. I just. Really…" he paused, trying to form words, to figure out exactly what he was feeling - what he had wanted to say in the first place. Because, now, whatever that was, it had been wiped clean out of his memory with those sky blue eyes, which he got so easily distracted by.
"Uh… n-nevermind, I-I'm not sure where I'm going with… this." He quickly finished and shifted awkwardly – hoping Alfred would dismiss this easily and move on to another topic. But the American sat there, his mouth opening and closing several times in attempts to say something, furrowing his eyebrows and searching the ground as if it would tell him what to say. After what seemed like an eternal aching silence for Arthur, the American finally spoke up.
"Do… do you like me?" He said softly, his eyes pulling away from the ground to meet the Brit's hesitant green ones. Arthur swallowed, back to wringing his hands nervously again.
"I… I like you."
"Do you like like me?" The American said, raising his eyebrows and leaning in slightly closer. Arthur's cheeks were turning even pinker by the second, his heart caught in his throat, beating rapidly.
"I, uh... I-" Arthur was once again interrupted by whines of fireworks rushing into the sky, painting the dark sky bright colors again and filling the silence with hisses and crackles. Unlike Alfred, the Brit didn't look up to see, instead he lowered his gaze down to the earth they sat on, sighing softly. I don't want to answer. I…I love him. I really do. But, I don't want him to… deal with me. He deserves better. He deserves everything he could ever want.
Alfred slowly dragged his eyes back to Arthur, noticing how he was looking so intently at the ground with a… particular expression. It wasn't one he could really recognise though – the American was never one to be able to tell what people we're feeling or what they were thinking. It wasn't any different now really. Only thing was that, this time, he wished he could figure it out. It wasn't upset - Arthur's expression. It wasn't sad either. It… looked like he was deeply in thought. But about something... well, you could call it nostalgic. Like when you think of a childhood memory, you have a smile on your face and you feel warm inside. But at the same time it gnaws at you, makes you feel sad... I guess, because you miss it.
That's what Arthur's expression kinda reminded Alfred of.
But it still didn't feel right.
The American placed his hand on Arthur's shoulder hesitantly, not wanting to somehow offend him with this action.
"Arthur… I…" he paused, unsure of where he was going with it. He sighed and shook his head, suddenly pulling his hand away and instead scooting closer to the blonde, so their shoulders were touching. He reached out his hand and took Arthur's, holding it gingerly between them.
"I'm sorry I can't figure out what you're thinking or feeling, like anyone else would be able to… But I want you to know that you can always talk to me. Even if I suck so bad at advice… I know it's good to just let everything out once in a while." Alfred said softly, eyes drawn to the peaceful starlit sky, empty of fireworks for the moment. Arthur stared at the American, mouth agape and eyes wide with surprise. Why was he… apologising? He didn't need to apologise. It wasn't usual of him to apologise. Alfred, the noisy wanker who refused to lose an argument, was sitting right in front of him, apologizing for… not being able to read his mind? AS if that made him a bad friend?
What is he even talking about? He's an amazing friend.
No… he's more to me than a friend. He's… he's Alfred F. Jones.
He's the stupid American I care too much for.
The stupid, beautiful, annoyingly amazing American I felt in love with so easily.
"Alfred…" The Brit muttered, holding Alfred's hand tight and closing his own eyes.
"Alfred, I love you."
There was a silence - good or bad, Arthur didn't know. He slowly opened his eyes, surprised to meet the remarkable sky blue eyes he knew too well. The American suddenly tugged Arthur into a tight hug, burying his face in the Brit's soft shirt as the Brit's eyes flew wide open in shock of the sudden embrace.
"I love you too."Alfred whispered, nuzzling his face into the crook of Arthur's neck and closing any gap between them. Without even realising it, tears began to prick the Brit's eyes, and his arms wrapped around the American even tighter. It wasn't long before the tears escaped and streamed down his face, for a reason he barely understood.
"…are you crying?" Alfred muttered, gently pulling away from the embrace – though still keeping his arms around Arthur's torso.
"N…no. I-I'm fine." The teary-eyed Brit replied, looking away to hide his shameful tears, a faint red spreading across his cheeks. Alfred snickered at the attempted and leaned in with a cheeky grin.
"Such a softie, Artie." He said quietly, still remaining unbearably close to Arthur – the poor flushed Brit could feel his stomach churning and bubbling as he fought back the ideas of kissing him.
"Oh god, you've already started with the nicknames." He muttered, still craning his neck farther from Alfred.
"Ya know you love 'em." Alfred said with a chuckle, leaning closer still.
I swear to God there is no more space between us, you wanker.
"Shuttup." Arthur replied, the redness burning his cheeks having spread to the rest of his body and his eyes fleeting away from Alfred. The American leaned in, heading for a kiss but noticed the Brit's reluctance before he pulled away with a pout.
"…do you not wanna kiss me?" Alfred said, leaning back a bit with a frown– sending the Brit into an immediate state of panic.
"No- f-fuck, I mean yes- erm, n-no, wait- uh- I- it's a lot- I didn't –s..sorry, I'm really... u-uh." The Brit swallowed heavily, unable to continue or… or even understand what he was trying to say. He looked up at the American, feeling the butterflies flutter and stir his stomach in a not so pleasant way. He took a deep breath and leaned in ever so slightly.
Then he leaned in a little more, his lip literally trembling with anxiety.
Again, just a little more.
Suddenly, Arthur shook his head, whining as he abruptly pressed his head against the American's chest in defeat.
"Fuck, I'm s-sorry… I want to k… I want…" the Brit muttered, feeling like a completely and utterly useless coward.
"I do want to… kiss you." He finished, wanting to melt into the ground and never resurface as long as his embarrassing actions still existed in time.
Alfred chuckled.
"Arthur… I… I was joking. When I said you didn't want to kiss me - it… was meant to be a joke. " Alfred paused, feeling the Brit already starting to self-combust. "N-not that… I don't want to kiss you if you want to kiss me… uh. Does that make sense?" he finished, his eyebrows going upwards in a worried frown. He could hear the Englishman suddenly whining again, clutching his leather jacket tighter.
"You stupid, stupid, stupid…" The rest was groaned into the American's shirt – words he didn't understand or hear well but definitely knew were not good things to call people. He chuckled and gently tugged Arthur off of him, staring him straight in the eyes.
"You gonna lemme kiss you now?" He said with a cheeky grin, cupping Arthur's cheeks and leaning in slightly. The Brit's face flared back up red again as Alfred's grin grew even more idiotic.
"F...fine." He muttered, almost immediately being yanked into the kiss – unable to control the bubbly feeling in his stomach as the contact sent his toes curling. The American purposefully pulled slowly away, the smile back on his face.
"Don't get cocky." Arthur mumbled, still flustered from the kiss.
"Can't promise that, Artie."
"…I know." He said with a sigh, hiding his face in the American's chest again. It was peacefully silent for a while, Alfred's arms gently wrapped around the smaller male, pressing his cheek on the top of Arthur's head.
"Can we do that again?" The American abruptly asked.
"Do what?"
"Kiss?" Alfred said hopefully, rising his eyebrows. The Brit sighed before responding softly.
"…only because it's your birthday." Arthur replied, knowing that… really it was because… well, the stupid wanker had to be good as kissing as well.
Alfred pulled him into a kiss again, still grinning like the idiot he was.