Characters do not belong to me.

Arthur opened the door of the house, looking out to see who it was; he hadn't planned on having anyone over today; it could have been a solicitor, for all he knew. It wasn't though; it was his closest friend, who was grinning as he looked at Arthur.

Alfred walked through the door of Arthur's house, not waiting for an ok from Arthur; a box was in his hands. He was holding it tightly; it was larger, and it required both of his hands to hold the cardboard.

"Alfred, you didn't tell me you were coming over," Arthur said. But the American made himself at home, bounding into his main room without waiting for the Brit to follow. It was the Saturday following thanksgiving; Arthur had spent much of the time with his mother, and now Alfred was here.

He liked to plan things, and know what was happening in his week; he was one of those people who enjoyed having a schedule. But Alfred, however, liked to come over unannounced sometimes, or he would decide to go to a smoothie shop or something else that required him to get in the car, just so that he could drive around with Arthur.

Not that it really bugged the Brit.

Arthur closed the door and followed Alfred into the main room, where the baseball player was having a conversation with his mother. But they stopped as soon as he walked in, both looking at Arthur. His mother had a perfectly straight face as she turned her head back to her book, but Alfred was biting his lip to keep from smiling. Something was up.

"You guys aren't telling me something," Arthur pouted. Alfred grinned ecstatically, though, while his mother pretended not to notice.

"Sit on the couch and close your eyes, Artie," Alfred said. The Brit slowly walked to his leather couch, sitting on the opposite side that his mother was on. Slowly, he closed his eyes. He heard his mother chuckle and the sound of Alfred messing around with the cardboard box. Then there was silence for a small moment.

"Open your eyes, Arthur," Alfred murmured, and Arthur did as he was told. Alfred was in front of him, holding his arms out; and in his hands, he was holding a small, gray kitten.

It took Arthur one moment to process what was in front of him. Then, slowly, he lifted his shaky hands up and took the gray kitten from Alfred's hands, setting the little cat into his lap.

"Wait, Arthur, go stand next to Alfred with the cat," his mother said. Arthur slowly picked up the kitten; it was still very young; it could fit in his hands perfectly. He stood next to Alfred as his mother produced a red digital camera, turning it on and pointing it at the two boys.

"Stand a little closer, Arthur," Arthur did as his mother asked, stepping closer to his friend.

"Okay, now Alfred, put your arm around him," oh. Now the Brit got what his mother was doing. But he felt Alfred's long arm wrap around him, making him flush to a deeper pink.

"Now Arthur lean your head into his shoulder," she continued, adjusting her hands on the camera.

"Mum," Arthur protested, but his friend cut him off.

"No, it's fine," Alfred grinned, and using his arm he pushed Arthur's head onto his shoulder. Now the Brit was flushed red.

"Perfect; now you look like a happy little family," Arthur wished he had some way to shut his mother up. But Alfred just laughed in agreement with his mother, adding to the embarrassing pain the Briton was going through.

"Yeah, Artie, we're married," he said as he turned his head and pressed his lips to the side of Arthur's head. The shorter boy almost dropped the cat, and his mother managed to flash the camera before Alfred pulled his head away from the mini kiss. Now, now the American had done it. His mother will never let him off on this one.

Arthur turned his head away from Alfred, letting his furious blush die down. He shuffled to the couch and sat down, examining the new cat he had gotten. It was still a baby, and its gray fur was soft and fluffy; Arthur could tell it was a boy, and it had ice blue eyes that flickered occasionally.

"You shall be William, and you shall be my cat; a handsome cat you will be," Arthur said out loud. Slowly he stroked the back of the kitten, which started purring and rubbing his head against the hand.

"Aww, he likes you," Alfred grinned. Arthur's mother, however, had opened up a book and had started reading it, but the small, mischievous grin from earlier had stayed. The American sat down in between the two, leaning over and joining Arthur in stroking the purring cat. William rolled onto his back, allowing the two boys to rub his belly while his eyes closed in content.

The next thing they heard was a camera flick as Arthur's mother had stuck her hand out with the camera, taking a picture of the duo petting the cat. She pulled the camera back and looked at the picture, her smile growing.

"Sorry boys, you two just look so cute right now," Alfred smiled while Arthur lowered his head down. Maybe he should have just not told his mother; it would have spared him from all the pictures and the teasing. He loved his mom, and he knew his mom wasn't being serious, but for god's sake she was ridiculous sometimes.

"It's totally fine," Alfred said, focusing on the cat again. William was purring even louder now, the two large hands rubbing all the right spots. The two watched as the kitten closed his eyes again in delight.

"He's so cute," Alfred grinned, arching his fingers to use more pressure on the kitten's belly. Arthur nodded in agreement, caught in a trance from the cat.

Then suddenly William flipped back onto his paws and jumped off the couch, with much more coördination than most young cats have. Slowly he made his way to what used to be Winston's litter box.

"How did he know where the litter box was already?" Arthur asked. He watched William as the cat dug around and did his business before covering it with the cat litter. Come to think about it, his mother had stored Winston's litter box, food bowl, and water dish underneath the counter after the cat had died.

"I had your mom introduce the cat to the house a yesterday while you were out on a walk," Alfred told the other boy.

"You guys planned this, then?" Arthur asked as William came back over and started walking around their legs in loops, rubbing against the shins now and then. The American shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"No; it was my idea, but obviously I had to check with your mother to make sure she was fine with you having another cat. Otherwise I'd get you this totally cool cat and you wouldn't have been able to have it, you know?" Alfred answered him. Arthur nodded his head. Slowly, as scared as he was, he wrapped his arms around Alfred in a hug.

"Thank you, Alfred," he murmured, feeling the taller's set of arms wrap around him.

"I did kill Winston; it was the least I could do," he said. Suddenly another camera flash came from behind them, making them drop the hug and look around at Arthur's mother who was holding her digital camera once again.

"Sorry guys, but I really like to use this camera." She grinned.

ERMAHGAWEDPAGEBREAK

Alfred sighed as he pushed the keys into his front door, turning the metal and unlocking it; he pulled it out, opening the door, and stepped into his house. He was feeling down, but he couldn't figure out why; he'd just got back from hanging out with Arthur and his new cat, and believe it or not, William is really fun to play with. He'd felt happy, but for some reason, after leaving, he felt... lost.

Alfred lived in what could be called a miniature mansion. His parents were very wealthy, so his house had 3 floors to it; Matthew and him lived upstairs. Slowly Alfred ambled down the hallway until he met his staircase and started to climb it. Fourteen stairs total, as he had known since he moved in at the age of 8. He didn't really like his step mom, but he liked Matthew, and he always wanted a brother, so it worked out. Plus his dad was still there for him; he was the one that helped him fix up his truck so he could have it.

Instead of going to his room and playing Assassin's Creed, he decided to ask Matty if he wanted to go get some dinner with him. He walked past the door to his room and over to Matthew's, not knocking from habit. He wasn't really one to wait for the 'ok' to come in.

This was one of those times he wished he had.

His brother's room itself was fine; the Canadian flag was still up, as was the hockey posters, but on his bed Matthew was making out with... oh, that wasn't a girl... and there was only one person Alfred knew with pure white hair that said "kesesese..."

Alfred stood, dumbfounded, in Matthew's doorway, while the Canadian let Gilbert maul his neck. They hadn't even noticed him yet, due to his relative quietness this afternoon. He hadn't even known Mattie was gay, let alone Gilbert, who was the wide receiver on the Football team at his school. He'd always seen Gilbert as a manly man, not a... let's go eat Alfred's brother's neck type of person.

The American slowly backed out of the room and closed the door quietly, deciding Assassin's Creed sounded much better now.

Dawws, he got him a new cat :D

So I don't know if anybody really takes time to read these, but a chapter or two ago, I told you there was a twist coming. Well, there still is... just I realized there's a couple more things I need to put in before that can happen :/ Rest assured this just won't be a bunch of fluff. I will put interesting things in here if fluff doesn't interest you enough.

Not much today, rather than thank you all for the reviews, and continue to review!

To all those in... Italy - good pasta, brethren B|