The two men stood in the door-way, waving "good-bye" to the hoard of guests. They were afraid that they had been too loud for the lovely, elderly-woman who lived next door. But thankfully, she seemed pretty understanding, saying that she had "done the few boogies" in her time. Finally, the last of the guests left, the last two leaving being the Chinese and Russian duo, who were planning to get married in a couple of weeks. The Asian man left, pressing a shy kiss to the pale cheek of his 'brother'. Where-as the Eurasian left with a innocent insult to the glaring American. Despite this no fights were started, and why was that? It was New Years Eve, and they had both decided that the first to pick a fight would have to run outside stark-naked in the freezing cold and neither of them was willing enough to do that, (or spend a night in jail because some house-wife witnessed you prancing around with everything hanging out). Despite that, it had been a good night! Everyone had come round for a party in Alfred and Arthur's home: Roderich, Elizabeta, Lovino, Antonio, Gilbert, Toris, Ludwig, Feliciano, Ivan and of-course Yao. It was a bit of a strange New Year's Eve party, being that everyone left before twelve a.m., but apparently they all had something to do the next day and to be honest, the hosting couple quite wanted to be alone for their New Year's. The younger man closed the front door and sighed, it was only a short party... But hell had it been tiring! He rubbed his eyes in the desperation of staying awake, but his body screamed at him to sleep.
"Alfred, love... Do you want to go to sleep?" The soothing voice beside him spoke in a comforting-tone. Yes, Alfred wanted to jump on a bed and pass-out there, but he remembered that he had something he needed to do, and if he let this opportunity slip-by... He didn't know when he would get his next.
"No-no, not yet... Just-" he stifled a yawn. "Just come with me for a second."
The taller man took the hand of the smaller, and pulled him gently towards the balcony. The older-man, having mapped out their home, knew exactly where he was. He was confused to why his boyfriend had dragged him over to the balcony.
"Can you hear them, Artie?" The sandy-blond asked quietly. The other listened, and heard distant crashes and bangs.
"Fireworks." Arthur smiled, and sighed happily. He had always had a fondness for fireworks... When he could see, of-course. The beautiful colours that erupted from the rockets used to always thrill him, always curious to discover the next one to explode, painting the sky with its flash. The loud noises they make always managed to raise your adrenaline, unless you were a child and you were too busy covering your ears, wincing at every thud. He let his excitement get the better of him. "What colour are they?"
Alfred grinned tiredly and adjusted his glasses slightly, before gazing over into the distance.
"That one is yellow and orange... Blue, purple a bit of green... That one kinda looks red and pink. Oh, there's a Pinwheel, a gold one!" The young man went on for ages, describing each firework that burst into his view, telling his unseeing beloved exactly what he saw.
"Alfred, did you come out here to tell me something?" The Briton inquired, interrupting the list. The other man was shocked, he almost forgot what he had come out here for!
"Ah! Well, um... You see, um..." The American stuttered, he fumbled in his pocket for the box, touching it only to flinch and pull his hand away. "Well um, you... I... I- Um, you love me right?" Alfred's thoughts were now filled with angry insults at himself. 'Of-course he loves me, I'm such an idiot!'
However, the Englishman took him seriously... His loved-one seemed to be nervous, and he wanted to talk to him about something that he was worried about, he would have to help him get it out.
"Yes Alfred, I love you." He replied kindly, trying to hide his impatience. Sure, he knew that his boyfriend was struggling to get what he wanted to say out, but who wouldn't get even slightly irritated by someone bumbling on without getting to the point?
"Well... You see- I ah, I ah... I got you- No, I..." The man began to sweat and bite down on his lip, the movies had made it look so easy! But then he remembered...
...
They sat on the bench under the sun's warmth, basking in the silence... Not something often acquired in the hospital.
"Hey Arthur..." Alfred asked, gazing up at the clouds slowly drifting their way across the blue sky. The older man hummed in reply, his eyelids shut and his breathing even.
"If you got proposed to... What way would you want it to be done? If I was, I would like little penguins in tuxedos to come up to me and one is holding the ring, and that one little penguin is also holding up a sign saying 'I wub you', wouldn't that be sweet?"
The Briton replied again with a hum, before going on to say:
"If I was to be proposed to, I would like the traditional way, down on one knee I suppose... I don't think I would mind about the location, as long as there was no-one around and it was nice and quiet."
...
"Alfred, are you actually going to say something, dear? Because if not, I would actually like to go to bed."
"No, I- I have something to ask you!" Alfred grabbed Arthur's small hand desperately, he was not going to mess this up.
"What is it then?" Arthur replied, he was getting really tired, and he was pretty sure that soon it would be passing twelve a.m. and it would be the New Year.
"Art- Arthur, will... Will you..."
Ten. Nine. Eight.
He bent down on one knee still holding onto Arthur's hand, and whipped the tiny box out of his pocket, and held it out.
Seven. Six. Five.
"Alfred-"
"Arthur Kirkland, will you-"
Four. Three. Two.
"-marry me?"
One.
Time stopped for the Englishman. He could sense that Alfred's height had shrunk and was confused to why... So this was why, huh? His mouth was suddenly dry and his heart was quick, very quick. This was why Alfred was so nervous? He grinned, and listened to the cheers of his neighbours, cheering "happy new year". He agreed with them, it was a very, happy new year.
"Yes, Alfred. I will marry you." The ring was a perfect fit, probably because Alfred snuck measurements whilst the other man was sleeping. At twelve o'clock on the first day of January, Alfred Jones and Arthur Kirkland were engaged... And they couldn't have been more happy about it.