Arthur should have known that the constant presence of a smile on his face would alert anyone of suspicious happenings, but he was just too damn happy to worry about it. Until, that is, a certain non-friend of his approached him the evening after he and Alfred planned to become mates and began to pester him on the occasion of his elated state.

"Arthur, I beg of you. You're scaring the children with that maniacal grin on your face. Care to tell me what's got you so delighted?" Francis inquired. Arthur looked up from the rabbit he was attempting to devour and almost felt disappointed when he was unable to scowl.

"That's none of your business, I'm afraid," he answered crisply. Francis studied him carefully for several moments, making Arthur squirm uncomfortably as he attempted to be nonchalant.

"Must be quite the delicious rabbit you've got there if it's got you actually smiling," Francis noted.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he responded lazily, focusing his energy on his meal.

Francis was silent once more and Arthur made sure to completely ignore him in the hopes that he would simply go away. Arthur almost thought he had managed to evade the round of questioning when his non-friend suddenly spoke again.

"Who is it?"

Arthur nearly choked on the rabbit as he looked at Francis with wide eyes. "Who is who?" he asked innocently.

"Don't play stupid, Arthur," Francis said irritably, losing patience. "You must have found somebody you want to mate with. That's the only reason for you to be looking so happy."

"Can't I just be happy because it's a nice, sunny day?" Arthur grumbled.

"You, my friend," Francis said dryly, "are never pleased simply by good weather. Tell me who it is."

Arthur kept his eyes lowered, fearing that if he re-established eye contact he would give himself away with some sort of nervous twitch. He had a several options in responding. He could play it off and say that Francis was just imagining things, but that would likely not quell suspicions in the long run (since he knew the smile he wore would be a permanent accessory as long as he was with Alfred). There was always the flight tactic, in which he threw his partially consumed rabbit into Francis' face to distract him and then slither away as quickly as possible, followed by avoiding the other Naga for the rest of the day. He should probably save that as a Plan C. That left two options: being vague and making someone up if Francis wanted more direct answers, or telling the truth. Arthur felt it was fairly obvious which he should choose.

"It's just some bloke," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh?" Francis sounded. Arthur didn't need to look to know that he was doing his infamous eyebrow quirk. "And who exactly is said 'bloke'?"

"Um…that's private information," Arthur said.

"I understand," Francis said with a twinkle in his eye. "You want to keep it quiet until the announcement is made, yes?"

Arthur felt himself begin to panic in recognition of the deep hole he was digging himself into. "Er, no. There isn't going to be an announcement."

"Well why not?" Francis asked impatiently. "You're going to mate, right?"

"No," Arthur lied. "I'm not."

Francis looked completely flabbergasted. "Then why are you so happy?! You don't make any sense, Arthur!"

Arthur sniffed indignantly. "You're the one that made assumptions. I just want to eat this rabbit in peace."

"You look tired," Francis continued, unwilling to give up the interrogation.

"I keep dreaming of being molested by frogs. It would keep anyone up," Arthur said sardonically.

Francis huffed, but slithered off down the path in search of someone else to harass. "I'll be watching you!" he shouted back.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief and rolled his eyes at Francis' rather creepy parting words. Hadn't he been under surveillance for the past couple of weeks anyway? That's why he had been so tired. He supposed he should at least make attempts to school his expression into its natural state. If he didn't get himself under control, he could easily be found out and then where would he be? Oh well, he had more important things to worry about, such as exactly what he would say to Alfred during their unofficial mating ceremony. As he lost his mind to daydreaming, he failed to notice the smile that had once again crept onto his face like an incurable disease.

"No," Gilbert said flatly from his position sprawled across Alfred's bed.

"Look, dude, I'm sorry, but—" Alfred tried to intervene.

"No! You are not going to skip out on our awesome weekend away from this place just to spend more alone time with Arthur," Gilbert stated firmly.

Alfred chewed his lip anxiously for a moment. He had expected Gilbert to be a little upset about the news that he wouldn't be joining the rest of their friends for their weekend of fun by the lake, but he hadn't really thought about the way it sounded. Technically he was ditching his friends for Arthur, but considering their plans and the circumstances, he felt it was justified.

"It's not just alone time, Gilbert. It's a special occasion, okay?" he explained softly, twisting his hands on his lap as he fidgeted in his desk chair.

That gave Gilbert pause. "Special occasion?" His eyes lit up in understanding. "You're going to get it on, aren't you?"

"Um," Alfred fidgeted again, unable to deny it. "It's more than that. We have plans," he said vaguely, fingering the objects in his pocket. Unofficial marriage to Arthur was something Gilbert may or may not approve of, so he was keeping his plans somewhat secret.

Gilbert, however, had no interest in questioning Alfred further, only zeroing in on the first part of the statement. "In that case, I'm proud of you!" he yelled obnoxiously, sitting up and pumping his arms in celebration. The loud shout caused even Matthew to look up from his homework from where he was sitting at his desk. "Damn, I never thought I'd see the day when asexual Alfred found someone he wanted to screw!"

"Don't talk about him like that," Alfred snapped, causing Gilbert to sober his enthusiasm.

"Sorry. Really though," he said earnestly. "I'm happy for you. This is the real deal, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it really is," Alfred confirmed with a smile.

"Alright," Gilbert sighed. "You two have fun together, but next week we meet him for real, yeah?" he said firmly.

"Maybe. You guys have fun, too," Alfred said evasively, unable to promise anything. As soon as he was gone, Matthew piped up from across the room.

"Don't you think that you're maybe rushing things?" he asked carefully. "I mean, you've only known each other for about a month."

"You know, with anyone else I would agree with you," Alfred said thoughtfully, once again feelings his purchases inside of his pocket. "But this just seems so right. I've never wanted anyone in my entire life and all of a sudden there's Arthur and…I don't know, Mattie. It's like it's meant to happen."

Matthew smiled at him, reaching down from his chair to pet Kumajiro behind the ears as he did when he was in thought. "Just don't get too crazy, yeah? Kumajiro is still innocent and I'll be very upset with you if you make him witness something vulgar."

Alfred nearly opened his mouth to protest, but something his brother had said caught his attention. "I thought you said it was a girl polar bear?"

Matthew froze, looking over at Alfred with a carefully blank expression. Wordlessly, he shrugged and returned to his work.

Come Friday, as night fell and he began his journey to his and Alfred's rock, Arthur was filled with an anticipatory excitement for the events to come, but once he arrived and found himself very much alone, panic began to set in. With nothing but the chirping of insects to distract him, Arthur's mind flew around worst-case scenarios. Alfred had changed his mind, he was just joking about loving him, Alfred had died—

"Hey."

Arthur heard the softly spoken word at the same time he felt familiar arms wrap around his waist and a body press against him from behind. He nearly melted in relief and leaned back into the embrace.

"You're late," he chided, shifting his head so that his cheek pressed against Alfred's. "I started to think you weren't coming."

"Sorry," Alfred said woefully, pressing a shy kiss to the smooth place where Arthur's neck melded with his shoulder. "The guy in charge of the students in my hall was wandering around in the common area. I had to wait, like, 20 minutes for him to leave before I could come."

Arthur hummed, separating himself from the comforting warmth of the human and turning around so they could face each other. He felt something get caught in his throat when he gazed at Alfred. The boy's eyes were reflecting the silvery light from the moon and they gleamed from excitement and slight nervousness as Arthur was sure his own were doing. He allowed his vision to trail down Alfred's body, admiring all there was to see. He may not have known much about humans and their clothing choices, but he was pretty sure Alfred's clothing was fancier than usual. The gesture warmed his heart and he smiled happily at his soon-to-be mate.

"So, um, how exactly do we do this?" Alfred asked, biting his lip as he watched his love watching him.

"Well, we face each other," Arthur guided as he shifted closer, "and then take turns making promises to each other about our futures. The other confirms the promise each time. We kiss and that's it."

Alfred nodded, liking that the Naga kept it simple. He had always been of the opinion that traditional weddings were over-the-top and showy. "Okay, but can we add a couple of things?"

"Sure," Arthur said, albeit somewhat hesitantly. He was open to anything Alfred had to suggest, but he didn't want anything too outlandish. He didn't have to be close to Alfred to know the boy could sometimes get over-the-top.

"Can we hold hands while we do the promise making part?" Alfred asked, blushing slightly. "I mean, it would be fine to just stand here, but it would be really nice to touch you and that's what humans do during this."

"Oh! Of course," Arthur said, thinking that Alfred was positively adorable as he reached out and took his hands. "Like this?"

"Yeah," Alfred exhaled happily, squeezing the Naga's hands in his own.

"Alright. What else do you want to add?" Arthur encouraged.

"Oh, uh…I'll tell you when the time comes for it," Alfred said sheepishly.

"Okay. I'll go first," Arthur offered, giving the obviously nervous human a reassuring smile. Upon Alfred's nod of confirmation, he started. "Alfred, I hope for us to continue to teach each other about ourselves and our culture throughout our lives."

Alfred smiled in exhilaration that the actual ceremony part had begun. He had been daydreaming about it non-stop—especially about what they would say—as the week passed by at a torturously slow pace and he felt so deliriously joyous now that he was really there.

"I promise," he said, looking straight into Arthur's bright green eyes. Arthur smiled in return and nodded his head in indication that it was Alfred's turn. "Arthur, I want us to support each other whenever we need it."

"I promise," Arthur said immediately. He felt a cool breeze rustle past him and he somehow felt that it was meant just for him, for them, encouraging and congratulating their union. "I hope that we are always loving towards each other and make good use of the time we have together."

"I promise. I'd like to try and find a way for us to be together all the time, so that we don't have to sneak around just to see each other."

"I promise," Arthur said thickly, beginning to choke up from the rush of emotions. Alfred's words were so simple and sweet that he couldn't help himself. He felt…cherished. "I hope that we can always confide in each other and be honest and open about our thoughts and feelings."

"I promise," Alfred said with sincerity. "We should always make each other smile and laugh and bring each other up on even the worst of days."

"I promise. I hope you don't try to feed me too much terrible human food," Arthur half-joked.

Alfred laughed. "I can't promise you that one. I hope you aren't going to make me hunt animals for you."

"I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself," Arthur clarified. Dropping the humour, he said, "I hope that our love can be stronger than any boundaries set before us."

"I promise," Alfred said with a burning intensity. "We'll never be lonely again because we're together. For good," he added with a squeeze of the hands to show how much he meant it.

"I promise," Arthur whispered. "The last thing I want to say is something I once heard at a ceremony that I've always loved and I want it to be true for us," he explained, taking a deep breath to steady his emotions. "We may be two separate people, but I hope there is only one life before us."

Alfred sniffed, intense feelings of happiness and adoration welling up inside of him. "I promise." Arthur smiled brilliantly and began leaning forward for the kiss that would, in his eyes, make the ceremony complete, but he was stopped by Alfred. "Wait," Alfred said as he dropped Arthur's hands and dug through his pockets. "There's one more thing I want to do."

Arthur looked on in confusion as Alfred took what appeared to be two shiny circles from the depths of the holes in his pants. He became even more confused when Alfred took Arthur's left hand and slid one of the shiny circles onto the finger next to his pinkie.

"I went and got them in town a few days ago. They're wedding rings and humans wear them once they get married so that everyone can know they're with someone. I know we aren't exactly a traditional thing and that this isn't an official marriage, but I wanted for us to wear them. I mean, if it feels weird to you, you can take it off and they weren't by any means the nicest ones in the shop, but this is what I could afford and I just thought—"

"Alfred," Arthur interrupted. "I love it," he said honestly.

"Oh," Alfred said, relief clear on his face. "Oh, great. Here," he offered, holding out the other ring. "Put this one on me on the same finger."

Arthur gladly took the metal in his hand and did as instructed, feeling pleased. Pleased that their little ceremony had gone so well despite having little clue as to exactly what they were doing. Pleased that he had met and fallen in love with such a dorky, charming man. Pleased that they were about to consummate their love and spend their lives together.

"I now pronounce us…er…together?" Alfred said happily once his ring had been put on. He shrugged, figuring to hell with terminology, and surged forward to wrap his arms around Arthur and pull him into a kiss, something he was absolutely sure he would never tire of. The kiss was sweet and lingering and so full of hope that each man thought they would burst if they didn't keep connecting their lips over and over again until they were dizzy from a lack of oxygen.

Arthur wanted nothing more than to ravage and be ravaged by Alfred and tried to display as much by slowly sinking so that he was practically laying down on the rock with Alfred on top of him, curling his tail around the human's waist to anchor them in place. He felt Alfred carefully cup his face and his heart fluttered at how gentle he was being. Unfortunately, Alfred soon pulled back.

"Wait," Alfred panted. "W-we should go back to my room."

The statement filled Arthur with excitement for what was to come and he immediately nodded and disentangled himself. Together, human and Naga, they made their way through the forest.

A/N: Sorry for cutting it off here...but if I included the smut in this chapter, it simply would have been too damn long, so you guys are just going to have to wait. It's coming (and there will be cumming).

If you're upset about the short chapter, I'd just like to mention that I lounged around ALL DAY in leggings and an ugly, oversized sweater while I labored to get this out for you guys. I LOVE YOU. ALL OF YOU.

Also, I'm posting my already published works on AO3 just in case fanfiction realizes that I'm breaking their "no explicit sexual content" rule. So, if you prefer the AO3 format, you can find me there under the same username. The font is nice and big (just like Alfred's di-/shot)