So sorry for the delay! I was at a youth camp all week, so I wasn't able to post on time! But thank you so much for all your love for the story, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, too!

Love?

Chapter 10: Maybe

"Dancing in the dark, middle of the night. Taking your heart and holding it tight. Emotional touch, touching my skin. And asking you to do what you've been doing all over again. Oh, it's a beautiful thing. Don't think I can keep it all in. I just gotta let you know what it is that won't let me go.

"It's your love. It just does something to me. Sends a shock right through me. I can't get enough. And if you wonder about the spell I'm under, oh, it's your love."

―"It's Your Love" by Tim McGraw

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

The room is dark. Outside, the bustle of late night traffic is a low buzz that blends with the air conditioning near the window, but the curtains are drawn to block out the light that creeps around the edge of the heavy fabric. Alfred finds that it's the same as when he first arrived home after Christmas: the pillow in his grasp can't compensate for Ivan's absence and the white noise in the room isn't as nice as Lapushka's roaring purrs. Not that he'll ever admit to missing that furry nuisance.

But at the thought of Ivan, his mind wanders. It happens far too often since the camping trip.

"Ya tebya lyublyu, Fredka."

Alfred sighs heavily into his pillow.

"Al, if you sigh one more time, I will put you outside," a muffled voice says from the other bed. Even without looking, Alfred knows that Matthew has his face buried in a small mountain of pillows while he's cocooned in the blankets. And yet, the Canadian always wants the bed next to the air conditioner.

Alfred glances at the alarm clock on the nightstand. Nearly one in the morning. "It's been two hours, and you're still awake, too. What's keeping you up?"

There's a long pause. Then Matthew mutters, "Thinking of places to take Gilbert."

Alfred swears he can feel the heat on Matthew's cheeks from his own bed. "I want to take Ivan blacklight bowling. If you're that nervous, we could do a double date."

"I'm not nervous," is the immediate reply. Then more quietly, he adds, "But that sounds good."

Alfred laughs. "Ivan is either going to be awesome at this or absolutely horrible."

"I can only imagine what Gilbert will do if he's bad at it. He'll probably blame everything on the lighting or something because it's blocking the awesomeness."

"Dude, you picked an idiot!"

"So did Ivan."

"Hey!"

There's a pause for laughing.

After a minute, Alfred asks, "Mattie, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"How do you know if…if you love…someone?"

Yet another pause. Alfred hears rustling and glances at the other bed to see Matthew's dark figure sitting up in bed, though slightly blurry without his glasses. "Do you really think that I'm the person to ask?"

"Well, you're unbiased."

"I don't think you're using that word correctly."

"Whatever." Alfred shrugs. "Just…he said it, but I think it was…you know, the sex talking."

More rustling, and Matthew stretches out to touch his toes. "Ivan doesn't really strike me as the type to say things he doesn't mean while he's caught up in the moment."

"No, but…I told you; he doesn't know what emotions he's feeling. So maybe he's just confused."

"Al―"

"Hear me out, Mattie. I mean, he thinks that he's perfectly fine when he's sad, and he even thinks he's happy when he's crying…and…and he didn't even understand why he was crying."

"Has he ever mislabeled when he was truly happy?"

"I don't think so."

"And does he throw around words like 'love'?"

"No."

"Then why do you think he's confused?"

Alfred doesn't reply.

"And for the love of maple, if you're that worried, talk to him about it. Isn't communication supposed to be that number one rule of relationships?"

"Yeah, but…" Alfred tightens his arms around his pillow. "That's easier said than done. I mean, it's not like asking about dinner."

"It's not supposed to be easy."

"You're not helping."

"I told you that already, but you insisted on asking." Matthew lies back down, curling up in a ball. "Goodnight, Al."

"Night." A pause. "Thanks, Mattie."

"You're welcome."

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

When Alfred arrives home, the first thing he does is ask Francis where Ivan is.

The Frenchman glances up from chopping peppers. "The yard, I believe."

"Thanks."

In the yard, Ivan is lying on the same sheet, but he has a pillow under his head and a book in hand while Lapushka and Hero are curled up on his torso.

"You slept out here, didn't you?" Alfred asks as he walks down the steps.

Ivan smiles, setting his book aside. "You said Hero was not allowed in the house. What was I supposed to do?"

"Leave him outside? Did that never occur to you?" Alfred chuckles and lies down beside the other.

"I would never do such a thing," Ivan says as he scratches behind Hero's ear. "What if I did that with everyone? You would have spent Christmas as an ice cube."

Alfred rolls his eyes, but he doesn't object. Instead, he leans forward to press his lips to Ivan's. The Russian smiles and brings a hand up into Alfred's hair to keep him in place as their lips move against each other. Trying to avoid the cats, Alfred braces his weight on his forearm beside Ivan's head and lets the other hand trace Ivan's cheekbones and then down his jaw. Alfred's fingertips feel like they're on fire wherever they touch and even when he has to break away because his lungs are burning for oxygen, he wishes he never needed to. Vampires must have it really easy, not needing to breathe and all.

Ivan's head drops back onto his pillow, but his half-lidded eyes are bright and his lips pull into a smile that makes him look so much younger. "I missed you, too."

Alfred can't help but return that smile as he sits up and pets the two sleeping cats. "So I talked to Mattie and we got stuff straightened out. I was thinking about a double date tonight."

"He would go with Prussia, da?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Where will we go?"

"Blacklight bowling."

Ivan blinks. "Bowling. That is where one rolls the ball to knock away bobble heads, da?"

"Uh, pins. You knock down the pins."

"Right. Pins."

"So you've never been bowling before?"

Ivan shakes his head. "Nyet. I apologize that I will not have the experience to participate properly."

"Dude, you can still 'participate properly' or whatever!" Alfred rolls his eyes. "I'll teach you all the stuff, and then you'll be a pro!"

"Then I will look forward to it."

Alfred glances down at the cats. Hero is splayed out on his side, and Lapushka is in a similar position, but he has one paw over Hero's stomach with his tail curled over their hind legs. "So you're adopting Hero?"

"At this point, I think Lapushka would smuggle him home if I did not."

"It's a good thing they get along, I guess."

Ivan nods. "And Lapushka is training Hero as well. Or at least Hero copies Lapushka. They seem to talk to each other quite often."

Alfred opens his mouth to reply, but then he looks back at Ivan. And if Arthur thinks Alfred's puppy eyes are bad, he should just look at these big, violet eyes. Alfred swears that Ivan is trying to pull his heart straight out of his chest with the pleading look Ivan is giving him.

"What is it?"

Ivan glances down at the cats for a moment and then back at Alfred. "They become overheated very easily, and Lapushka did not want to leave Hero to bathe."

"Okay, okay, Hero can come in! Geez, just stop with the puppy eyes!"

Ivan beams. "Thank you, Fredka!"

"Yeah, yeah."

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

"Watch and learn, Matt. We can beat those Dumkamphs any day!" Gilbert says as he picks his ball.

His bowling ball already in hand, Matthew raises his eyebrow at the other. "I'm sure, Gil. Just blow them away with your awesomeness."

"You know it, baby!"

Alfred smirks and holds up his ball. "In your dreams! A Canadian and German knock-off can't beat an American and a Russian. We're superpowers!"

Ivan rolls his eyes in unison with Matthew.

"Prussia is so much better than Germany!" Gilbert says. "Just try your superpowers in the lane!"

"Will do!"

Matthew and Ivan follow their eager partners to the lane. It's nearly midnight, but the blacklights haven't come on yet. Ivan's glad though; he still doesn't know what he's supposed to do exactly.

Gilbert has to go twice to get all of his pins. Then Alfred goes and knocks down his pins on the first try.

All the while, Matthew explains the rules and basics. After hearing that Alfred got a strike, Ivan tilts his head slightly and asks, "But strikes are bad, da? When one earns three, one runs out."

Matthew furrows his brow. "Are you talking about baseball?"

Ivan shrugs.

"In bowling, strikes are good."

Ivan nods.

Ivan takes his ball from the rack in the center of their little nook. There are three holes at the top of the ball in a triangle that looks like a stereotypical ghost's face, but he doesn't understand which fingers go in which hole. After a moment of just staring at the ball, a warm presence presses against his side. "Here, you put your thumb here." Alfred points to the largest hole. "And then your middle and ring fingers go in the other two."

And that's great. Now he has his fingers in the right position. But he still doesn't know how to roll the ball. He glances at Alfred.

An arm wraps around his waist and leads him towards the lane. "Be careful; the floor is really slippery."

Alfred holds Ivan's wrist while he stands behind him and peers down the lane from the other side. "So you're going to swing your arm back and take a few steps, and then you bring your arm forward and release. Just try to get the ball down the middle."

When Ivan tries the first time, Alfred follows through with him, but the ball goes in the gutter about halfway down the lane. Ivan sighs. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, silly," Alfred says, laughing. "Come on, you get another try. Want to try on your own this time?"

Ivan nods.

It's actually easier without Alfred behind him. Less distraction and he has better control of his body. So Ivan tries again, adding more force behind the roll and trying to regulate his swing. He releases a bit too late, so the ball more or less just drops on the lane paneling and then wobbles into the gutter.

"It's not as easy as it looks, but you'll get the hang of it," Alfred says as Ivan sits beside him.

When the screen shows that it's Matthew's turn, Gilbert grins and says, "Want me to help you out, babe? I can probably lend you some awesome skills."

Matthew glances over his shoulder at the albino, brandishing his ball in one hand. It's a size nine, the same size as Alfred's and one above Ivan's and Gilbert's. "How about this: you can help me when my score drops below yours. Is that fair, babe?"

Gilbert nods with expectant eyes.

Alfred chokes on a laugh and murmurs to Ivan, "That's not happening."

Before Ivan can ask what he means, Matthew is stepping into his execution. The ball rolls straight down the lane and clatters into the pins, knocking them all down with an almost explosive force.

"Hm, I'm out of practice," Matthew comments to himself as he settles into his seat again. Gilbert is still gaping.

"Dude, if I beat you, you owe me nachos," Alfred says.

"And if I win, you owe me…" Matthew pauses, glancing at the floor for a moment. "A CD of my choice."

"You're on."

Gilbert finally closes his mouth. Then he says, "You're pretty good, Birdie."

"Imagine that," Matthew replies, but a smile tugs at his lips regardless.

It takes three rounds for Matthew to miss his first strike, but Ivan finally keeps the ball in the lane long enough for it to take out three pins. When the Russian returns to the nook, his eyes are childishly bright and his smile lights up the area more vibrantly than the blacklights. "I did it!" Before Alfred can say anything, Ivan lifts the American in his arms and spins him around. "I knocked over pins! Three of them!" He kisses Alfred on the cheek. "Did I do well?"

Alfred laughs. "Yes, sunflower, you did good."

Matthew chuckles with a little smile. "And he thinks that it might not be love." Then he adds, "Touch me and you're going to be the next pin I strike."

Gilbert snatches his arm away from Matthew waist.

Several minutes later, Alfred wins the round and he goes with Matthew to get his nachos. Meanwhile, Gilbert runs to the bathroom. But as he walks back to the nook, he passes Ivan, who is poking keys on a vending machine before he pulls out a bag of gummy worms from the bottom.

"I never thought you were the gummy worm type," Gilbert comments.

Ivan shakes his head. "Nyet, they are for Alfred. He enjoys them."

Once Ivan walks away, Gilbert sneaks over to the vending machine, eyeing the gummy worms. Twins like the same things, right? Then he sees gummy bears.

Matthew returns to the nook with a very happy Alfred trailing behind him. "Next round is mine."

"Bring it on, bro!" Alfred says around a mouthful of chips and cheese.

Rolling his eyes, Matthew leaves Alfred with Ivan at the table beside the nook and sits down in his seat. As he pulls out his phone, he wonders where Gilbert disappeared to. Then he frowns down at his screen. Maybe he left. Probably has better things to do than hang out with me and two lovebirds.

A moment later, Matthew senses someone beside him and he glances up. Gilbert's face is red, only a few shades lighter than his eyes.

"Gil, what―?"

"I got you bears." Gilbert thrusts a plastic package in front of Matthew's face.

"Bears?" Matthew takes the bag and glances down at the colors he can see through the clear parts of the plastic. Then he smiles. "You got gummy bears?"

"J-ja."

Without further ado, Matthew opens the package, fumbling with it for a moment. After the first little bear disappears in his mouth and flavor bursts on his tongue, he smiles and looks up at Gilbert. "Thank you."

"No problem! You know, gummy bears are awesome, so of course I would get them for someone as awesome as you." Gilbert's cheeks are now as red as his eyes, and Matthew thinks that the albino looks as cute as he does ridiculous.

"Right." Matthew pops another gummy bear in his mouth before he stands up long enough to give Gilbert a kiss on the cheek.

Gilbert smiles. "So you like them?"

"I love gummy bears. Not as much as maple syrup, but still."

Still stuffing his face with nachos, Alfred glances at his brother and lets out something akin to a snort.

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

By the time Ivan and Alfred lie down in bed with a squeaky clean Lapushka and much less clean Hero, the clock reads nearly midnight.

"So you're going to take Hero with you?" Alfred asks. The mentioned cat is spread out with his back aligned with Alfred's legs. Lapushka is in a similar position against Ivan, and the two felines have their legs tangled together while Lapushka grooms Hero's cheek.

Ivan glances down at the cats. "I would, but I believe that he has chosen you over me." Then he stares at Alfred with heated seriousness. "You must take very good care of him."

Alfred chuckles and kisses Ivan's cheek. "Yeah, I will if it means that much to you. But I still blame you for getting that fur-rat attached to me."

"And I am sure it is not the other way around and you are attached to him."

"Of course not."

They fall into silence, but Alfred isn't asleep or even close. And so after a few minutes of quiet breathing and darkness, he murmurs, "You still awake?"

"Da. What is it?"

"Do you remember…um, when we slept together…you know, on the camping trip?"

Ivan is quiet for a moment. "Very clearly. Why do you ask, myshka? You do not recall?"

"No! I mean, I remember," Alfred says. His hand is resting on Ivan's hip, but he trails it to the small space between their chests and takes the Russian's hand in his, interlacing their fingers. "You said…that you loved me."

"Da, I did."

"Did you mean it?"

Another pause. Alfred shifts his legs a bit.

Then Ivan leans forward so that their foreheads and noses touch. "I believe so. I have never felt this way towards anyone else, but…when I am with you, I feel warm, even in the snow, and I always want to smile. And when you hurt, I hurt, and when you laugh, I laugh. I think that is love, da?"

Alfred smiles and laughs quietly. "Yeah. I think so. I-I mean…I think I love you, too."

Ivan laughs, too.

They lie there together and hold each other. Laugh. Kiss cheeks and noses and share Eskimo kisses, but nothing anymore heated. And Alfred swears that this feeling could never be love. Nothing could ever describe this, never mind a single word.

Author Note: That was pretty quick, I know, but I'm not really one for the drawn out explanations and confessions. So one more chapter to go! If you're looking forward to it, please, Please, PLEASE REVIEW!

A hint for next chapter:

After the song ends though, Matthew says, "Al, this is just depressing. Get something through the speakers to dance to."

"Like what? Disney?"

Ivan thinks Alfred is joking. But then Matthew nods. And Alfred reluctantly releases Ivan and moves to where his phone is plugged into the television speakers.