England, 1958

"You know those things give you cancer."

Arthur looked up at Alfred, who he invited to his house to pay a visit while he was in town. He lit the cigarette hanging out of his mouth and took a drag.

"What? And suddenly you're going to stop smoking?"

Alfred chuckled and made his way over to Arthur and clapped him on the back. He was stunning. Hair combed in a neat fashion, and his clothing suddenly so liberal. Jeans and a flannel shirt, something Arthur could never pull off as well as the American. No, Arthur was partial to his own leather jacket and black jeans, which he wore so well.

He watched as Alfred took a seat beside him and tossed him a cigarette

"Don't bitch, just take one."

He sat back and grinned as Alfred stuck it in his mouth and lit it immediately, sprawling his considerably larger body on the sofa.

"How've you been, Artie?"

Arthur shrugged.

"I've been worse."

Losing a large portion of his colonies took a toll on his confidence, though he'd never admit it aloud. Honestly, things were rather…mediocre. No bad news, but nothing to be overjoyed about, other than the fact that Alfred was sitting with him. Yes, Alfred, who suddenly seemed so much sexier than he ever had been before. He was handsome and smelled wonderful, and now he sat in an almost compromising manner just two feet from Arthur.

"Yeah, well, the damn reds are launching shit into space. That's no good."

Arthur shrugged.

"I dunno, Alfred. Sputnik seems like a rather amazing feat."

"Nothin' my boys can't do."

Just another problem, in Alfred's opinion. Not that Ivan Briganski and the rest of his Soviet gang were particularly trustworthy, but still, Sputnik was definitely a huge accomplishment for mankind as a whole.

"Sure, lad. Should I bother asking your opinion on Yao?"

Arthur figured he might as well get all the berating out of the way before he actually tries to talk to him.

"And Mao Zedong's dumbass five-year plan?"

Alfred rolls his eyes.

"Because, you know, every other 'five-year plan' those dumb-ass commies come up with has worked."

Naturally, Alfred spirals into an entire anti-communist rant, consisting primarily of conscious streams of thought that don't always make a lot of sense, but Arthur tolerates it. It was nice to see someone passionate about something, even if their ideas were completely ludacris. Arthur found himself becoming fixated on Alfred, primarily his mouth, as he spoke. Just the way he licked his lips between words and sometimes had to pause in the middle of a sentence to swallow and rehydrate his throat got Arthur thinking unspeakable things.

"Artie?"

Alfred snapped his fingers in Arthur's face.

"You alright?"

"Oh- Uh…"

Arthur shuddered and came crashing back down to reality.

"Right, sorry."

Alfred gave a toothy grin.

"I know I'm pretty damn handsome. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you wanted to give me a kiss."

Arthur's face went bright red.

"I-I beg your pardon?"

His thoughts went racing. Had he just been found out? No, impossible, no one knew.

"Relax, Artie, I'm only joking with you. I'm no fag."

Arthur paused.

"A fag?"

"Yeah, man. You know. A queer."

The word took a moment to sink in. He had never heard Alfred use such derogatory language toward homosexuals, and Arthur couldn't help but feel shot down completely.

Maybe he should do it now. Tell him how he really feels about him. Kiss him. But then what? Alfred made his stance very clear and he would probably shun Arthur forever if anything like that ever happened.

"No, I understand."

There was a prolonged silence. Arthur put his cigarette out and stood.

"…beer?"

Alfred looked up with his eyes and removed his glasses.

"Yeah, sure."

Arthur walked to his kitchen and reached into his refrigerator and produced two glass bottle. This was awful and he wished Alfred would just leave his house and England. He convinced himself that he never wanted to see the fucking American again and that there were other ways to be happy without him. He didn't need Alfred.

Here is a rather short chapter that has been sitting around for a while. It's about time I get it up.

Pop culture in America and England during this time period is very interesting and will start to play a larger role in upcoming chapters.

In 1954, data was released that revealed cigarettes can cause cancer. Fun fact.

There is more mentions of Ivan and Yao concerning the space race and the People's Republic.

Thank you for reading and please review!