Arthur always enjoyed the holiday season. The sights and sounds of carols being played on the radio, Christmas lights shining in the night, snow crunching underneath his feet, and Christmas movies on the T.V. to name a few. But there was one thing Arthur came to dislike during the season, and that was the mistletoe. Now the reason behind this is that every Christmas after he started seeing Alfred, whenever they were under a mistletoe, Alfred would steal a kiss from him. Arthur enjoyed this ritual in the beginning, but soon things got out of hand. The saying goes "you can never have too much of a good thing." Well Alfred took it too far; he always carried mistletoe with him and would hold it above his head whenever Arthur was in his sights, which was all the time. It was cute the first few times, and Arthur would give in, but now it was just irritating.

"Oh Arthur," Alfred sang in a cheery tone, "look what's above my head." He pointed up as if Arthur didn't already know the mistletoe was already there. It was always like this from the moment he got up in the morning to when they went bed.

"Must you do this all the time Alfred?" Arthur sighed. "I believe the mistletoe starts to lose it's meaning after the hundredth time in a day." He did enjoy receiving kisses from his other, but you can only take so much.

"Why do you got to be so stingy Arthur?" Alfred pouted. "Get in the spirit of the season."

"The season isn't about mistletoes and kisses Alfred," Arthur replied sternly. "The Christmas season is about giving to those in need."

"Exactly! And I'm giving you my kisses, because you are in need of them," he said, flashing his signature grin.

Arthur started to feel a headache coming on from this conversation. "Fine Alfred, I give up."

"So you'll give me a kiss then," Alfred said as he started to pucker his lips.

"I said no such thing. I was simply saying I give up on this conversation." Arthur turned his back on the American. "I'm going out to take a walk." He put on his jacket, pulled on a pair of mittens, and wrapped a scarf around his neck. He opened the door to a snowy landscape, leaving Alfred standing alone.

"What a sourpuss," Alfred said under his breath as the Brit left.

Arthur walked along the streets in the gentle snow that was falling. He loved Alfred, he truly did, it's just, Arthur hated being pushed into situations. He sighed, creating a puff of white. That was another reason he enjoyed the holiday season: visible breath. As he walked, he listened to carols that were being sung, and began to feel better. He couldn't go back to Alfred quite yet; he still needed some time to think about their spat.

He stopped at a bench that was cleared off of snow, and sat down. He spread his arms out on the backrest and turned his head up towards the clouded skies. He felt each cold snowflake gently melt on his face. What was he going to do with Alfred? Arthur just didn't know how to get it through that thick American skull of Alfred's that he enjoyed the spontaneous kisses more than the planned ones. He sighed and reached for his phone in his coat pocket to call up the only person he could trust with relationship advice, even if he hated talking to him.

Arthur opened the door to the café and was greeted by the burst of heat on his face, the smell of coffee, and the cozy atmosphere. He glanced around trying to find a blonde mop of hair.

"Arthur, over here," he heard his name being called with a French accent. Why was he doing this again?

He walked over to the Frenchman, "Good evening Francis." He removed his scarf, mittens, and jacket, and placed them on the back of his chair. He pulled out his chair and sat down across from the man when a barista came to take their orders.

"So Arthur," Francis started, "what makes you want to talk to me, a poor lonely frog as you like to say."

"As much as I hate to admit it, you know what you're talking about when it comes to relationships."

"Oh mon Dieu, a compliment from the Brit! What have you done with the real Arthur?"

"I am Arthur!" He was getting just as big of a headache from Francis as he did earlier from Alfred. "Can we be serious a moment here Francis, otherwise I take back what I said."

"Fine, what is it that you need to ask me, the guru of relationships, about?" The barista came back with tea and coffee. "Merci," Francis said with a wink, making the barista blush as she walked away.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Back to what I was saying," he said sipping his tea. "It's Alfred. He carries this damned mistletoe everywhere he goes, and when he sees me he puts it above his head and asks for a kiss."

"And what is so wrong about that?"

"He does it all the time when I see him, and he won't give up! He's a persistent little bugger. Anyway, how do I get it through his thick head that I don't want to be bombarded with all these mistletoe kisses?"

"Did you enjoy these kisses in the beginning?"

"Well," Arthur could feel the heat rise to his cheeks talking about Alfred's kisses. There wasn't a hint of lust in them; they were gentle and kind. Arthur could feel Alfred on his lips just talking about it. The way he wrapped his arm around Arthur's waist to hold him.

"I take that as a yes," Francis replied as he noticed the pink cheeks from the non-responsive Brit. "If you enjoyed them before then he probably thinks you still do."

"But don't you think it's a bit much," Arthur said as he snapped back to the subject at hand.

Francis gasped. "There is no such thing as too much love! Love is the essence of our being and we need to embrace it! All you need is love! When you love someone you accept them for who they are, including their faults."

The last sentence clicked in Arthur's mind. "Thank you Francis! I'll just be leaving now and go see Alfred." With that Arthur grabbed his outerwear, and put it on walking to the door.

"Okay then, see you later. What! He left me to pick up his bill!"

-Meanwhile at McDonalds-

"Ah man, Matt what do I do! Arthur's mad at me and I don't know why!" Alfred complained to his brother, while taking a bite of his cheeseburger.

"Well, what were you doing before he left?"

"Okay so here's what happened." Alfred said between a sip of his shake, "I saw Arthur in the hallway, so I pulled out my trusty mistletoe, which hasn't been very trusty. I tell him that it's above my head, and he mentions something about the mistletoe losing it's meaning. So I said that he needed to get into the Christmas spirit, and he said that the true spirit is about giving to those in need. Then I said I was giving him kisses because he was in need of them. And then he just left."

"I see," Matthew pondered. "Did you ever think that maybe people don't want to do everything you do?"

Alfred thought about this for a moment. "Well I guess not."

"Maybe Arthur doesn't want to be forced into those kind of situations."

"But why wouldn't he? He's said that he loves me, and he kisses me all the time, except when I have the mistle-" Alfred stopped. "You know what Matt I'll see ya later." Alfred rose to his feet, with his burger in one hand and shake in the other, and left Matthew alone.

"I think he only realizes it once he says it himself," Matthew said to himself sighing.

Arthur could see Alfred walking up the street to their building. Both their paces quickened, and they greeted each other at the front door.

"Arthur-"

"Alfred-"

"You go first."

"Alfred, I just want to say that I love you and that I accept you for who you are. If that includes giving you a kiss every time you hold a mistletoe above your head then so be it, although I would prefer it if you didn't do it every moment of every day. What were you going to say?"

Alfred stared and blinked a couple of times. "Well I was going to say that I'm sorry for pressuring you into trying to give me a kiss with the mistletoe, but now I might just change my mind. How about this: you give me mistletoe kisses, and instead of 100 times a day I'll cut back to 99," he grinned.

"Try maybe 10 times, and you got yourself a deal," Arthur smiled back.

"Okay fine, 10." Alfred grabbed the mistletoe from his pocket and put it above their heads. "I think I would like to use my first one right now."

Arthur just shook his head and wrapped his arms around the American's neck. "I knew I was spoiling you with 10." Arthur closed the small remaining gap and pressed gently against Alfred's lips. Alfred wrapped his free arm around Arthur's waist, deepening the kiss. There was a new addition to Arthur's list of favorite things during the holiday season: mistletoe kisses.