Arthur stood frozen in place, eyes wide and un-breathing. Time around him almost seemed to have slowed momentarily and his mind felt distant, his thoughts glitching up. He could feel Al's soft lips pressing against his, but he didn't know how to respond to it. It wasn't like he was stupid, he knew what a kiss was from watching other humans and such, but he'd never received a real one himself before (Scott didn't count. The things he did really weren't classed as… 'affection') and he never expected he ever would in his lifetime. It confused him greatly. Why would Alfred kiss something like him? …it must just be a mistake somehow, a joke, that's all. Surely Al couldn't have those kind of feelings for him… with his looks he could probably have anyone he wanted, so why the hell would he choose such a disgusting freak such as himself?…. But… Then again, the more he thought about it. Alfred wasn't much like other humans, was he? He was so different, he seemed so much kinder, more understanding. Just maybe, it wasn't as impossible as he first thought…

Vaguely, Arthur felt the warmth of Al's lips withdraw from his, pulling him from his thoughts and to the present. He felt strangely sad at the loss of contact, but watched silently and unsure as Al looked uneasily back at him, his light crystal blue eyes peering nervously into deep forest green ones, as if searching for something. The room was very still, but not overly tense, the only thing heard being heard between them was muffled noise of traffic from outside, a loud ticking from the old clock in the kitchen and two sets of quiet breathing.

Inside Al was panicking, his heart was beating way too fast inside of his ears and he was terrified he'd just completely screwed everything up and possibly scared Arthur away from him after being much too direct and impulsive like that. He felt so stupid. He'd finally gotten his trust and they'd just barely started to get to know each other and he'd already ruined his chances with him and probably just lost a friend… why did he always have to be such an idiot? Unknowingly holding his breath, he looked into Arthur's eyes, expecting to see rejection, maybe even disgust or fear. Instead he was surprised to see confusion. Al stared back at him, eyes locked, for a few quiet beats, but after not seeing any signs of getting a verbal response from him, he decided to search deeper into the unnaturally green orbs. He felt strange, he realised distantly. It was odd. It almost seemed like there was some sort of invisible… energy there, slowly swirling around in circles, dangerously and ominous, like a deep whirlpool, hidden secretly behind Arthur's eyes. It was almost hypnotising. Al realised he was beginning to feel uncomfortably warm and he dizzily thought that it somehow felt like his mind, like his very existence, was somehow being detached from his body and was being pulled gently, yet steadily down into the spinning depths of nothing… emptiness. Feeling a sudden stab of fear in his heart, he closed his eyes and swallowed nauseously as a strong wave of motion sickness washed through him.

Quickly after closing his eyes, everything stopped spinning and he took a shallow, steadying breath. Al opened is eyes again and thankfully the horrible feeling of mixed sickness and dizziness vanished almost immediately. Pulling himself back together and not put off by the weird event, he looked back at Arthur again, figuring it was just brain messing with him because he was too tired or the stress was just getting to him a bit or maybe he just needed a hamburger or something. This time though, he was slightly more wary and made sure he didn't look quiet so deeply into his eyes. Along with confusion he could now make out curiosity, maybe a tiny bit of sadness but he wasn't sure and just slightly, a small glimmer of… hope? His heart nearly fluttered and he felt his confidence increase. Arthur wasn't pushing him away, he wasn't angry or scared, so maybe there was a chance he felt the same way? Carefully he squeezed Arthur's shoulders (which he just noticed he'd been holding the whole time) and took another breath before speaking, still unsure about what he was going to say.

"…Arthur….. I… I'm-"

"Why?" Al was interrupted by a quiet, mumbled voice. Arthur had his face hidden now, having shifted his gaze to look at the floor. There was a small pause in which Al tried to think carefully of how to choose his next words, when Arthur spoke again. "Why would you…. do something, like that… with, with me?" Al raised an eyebrow at how Arthur had spoken. It had sounded like he was more ashamed of himself, rather than what Al had done. Feeling more confident that his feelings weren't completely one-sided, Al spoke up, hoping he would mess anything up.

"I like you, Arthur."

"…..Why?"

"… I don't know why, I just do… I like you a lot. I've liked you since we first met."

"…. But, why? I'm not… I'm just…" Arthur trailed off meekly, not wanting to finish that sentence. Al frowned, his words upsetting him. He didn't like or agree with how Arthur's seemed to perceive himself and it didn't seem like this would get them anywhere. Very carefully, not wanting to startle him, he placed his hand under Arthur's chin and gently turned his face up to meet his gaze for the second time since they'd met. His expression was unreadable, except for the slowly deepening blush forming across his cheeks.

"Arthur, do you… like me too?" Al asked clearly, but still casually not wanting to pressure him. Somewhere deep down he had a strong suspicion that Arthur did like him, but he needed to hear it himself. Arthur stayed quiet for a while and Al couldn't quite tell if he was thinking or just didn't want to answer right away. He was about to speak again when Arthur nodded cautiously. Al couldn't help as he broke into a smile. "Is that a yes?" Al asked hopefully, leaning slightly closer and moving his arm so it was around Arthur's shoulder lightly. Arthur smiled back at him in return, but Al couldn't help but notice that it looked quite pained, more like a grimace. Al frowned again and made a small humming noise in question, wondering what was wrong.

"Alfred… I'm not human…"

"… yeah, I know…"

"… then this is… I mean, it's not allowed, it's… well, it's wrong…"

"I don't care." Al stated firmly. Arthur looked at him quizzically, seeming almost sceptical but still grinned all the same. Al tightened his grip around Arthur's shoulder comfortingly. "So, what do you say?"

Arthur laughed quietly his stubborn attitude before leaning up himself so that he was closer. He was still very confused as to why Al would choose him, but he gave up on trying to figure out his reasons and just be thankful. He'd also taken a liking to the human when they'd met, it was just hard for him to ever imagine he could actually be liked back. Giving a genuine smile he carefully closed the space between them, pressing his lips to Alfred's.

.

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- end of chap. Thank you for reading! And thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! It means a lot and keeps me going. ^^

(sorry for how late (and short/rushed) this chapter is but I've been caught up in stuff and actually managed to forget about this story (yeah, my memory's really pretty bad sometimes))

- sorry for mistakes/spelling/OCCness etc… ^^