Later that night, the two of them sat in front of the television, watching a stupid reality show. They were waiting for the pizza to arrive, and had gotten extremely bored. They had settled on mocking the lives of a group of young adults who couldn't get their shit together. Every time something dramatic happened, the two of them would start criticizing the show down to the last detail, laughing at each other's points.

When the doorbell rang, Alfred pushed Arthur off the couch exclaiming, "Not it! My wallet's on the counter!"

The shorter glared at the reclined man, who was smirking at him as if to say, "What are you gonna do about it?" He walked to the kitchen anyway and grabbed the brown leather wallet before flinging open the front door. A young man with spiky, green-dyed hair stood there, holding a pizza box. As soon as he looked up from the box, a flirtatious smile flew to his face.

"How much?" Arthur asked, ignoring the smile.

"How about you give me your number, and I'll cover it, eh?" The man asked, his voice merely a low purr.

"Uh-"

"Thanks for the pizza," Alfred said as he slipped between them, taking the box as he grabbed the wallet from Arthur and flicked a twenty-dollar bill at the delivery man before closing the door with his foot. He innocently walked to the kitchen, the British man trailing behind, looking shocked and slightly amused.

"What was that about?"

"Oh, that was Ricky. Ricky is a douche. You don't want to flirt with Ricky," Alfred said, not looking at Arthur as he set the pizza box down and fished around the cabinets for plates.

As the blue-eyed man set plates on the counter, Arthur raised an eyebrow at him. "And how do you know?"

"Ricky and I were...a thing. We definitely had a thing. It wasn't a good thing, it was just a sex thing, you know? Didn't end well for either party," Alfred said dismissively as he grabbed a couple of pieces of the pizza and set it on his own plate, walking back to the living room to escape Arthur's look of disbelief.

"You fucked the delivery man?" Arthur said, his voice curiously an octave higher than usual, as he brought his own slices into the living room.

"Yeah, you know, it just sorta happened. I fell for his flirting. His hair was pink at the time...and it wasn't so spiky," Alfred said, looking into the distance.

"So his hair changed and suddenly you weren't into it?"

"That wasn't why it ended, I'm not that shallow. I just couldn't anymore. He held a grudge and sold some naked pictures and screenshots of sexts to Ian."

Arthur felt like the world was falling down around him as he wondered why the hell these two, apparently terrible young men, had seen his crush naked. "Ian has pictures of you?"

"I've heard he's very appreciative," Alfred nodded sagely, chewing on a long string of cheese.

Arthur lapsed into silence as he ate, staring blindly at the television. After a while he finally asked, "How'd it start between you and...Ricky?"

"I called for pizza. He flirted with me, and I, um, decided that giving him my number was worth a pizza," Alfred said, turning slightly pink.

"You are one fucked up guy, you know that?"

"Hey!"

"No, you really are."

There was an uncomfortable silence before the two of them finally looked at each other. A short pause later, they were both on the floor, laughing harder than either of them had in a very long time. They pulled on each other's shirts, trying to pull themselves up, but collapsing again and again. Eventually, they just lie there, letting the food go cold as they curled up on the floor next to each other.

"Francis?"

"Hate that frog."

"Yao."

"No, he's just a friend."

"Antonio?"

"Not after that argument, we've basically hated each other since then."

"Ivan?"

"GOD NO!"

"Um..."

"Just stop, Alfy, you won't guess," Arthur said, flicking through a magazine, his feet thrown up on the end of the couch. The man with the cowlick paced behind the couch, running through the names in his head.

"But I have to know!"

"Well lay off for a while!"

"Aw, come on, gimme a hint!" Alfred insisted.

"No! You have to guess by yourself!"

Alfred stopped pacing and looked over the couch at his friend, who's gaze hadn't left the terrible gossip magazine that he'd bought ironically when they went to the store the previous week. He was biting his lip as he scanned an article on the Royal family, his toes curling and uncurling anxiously as his eyes flicked across the page. A wave of lust rolled through Alfred as he imagined making the man a few feet away looking at him similarly, except naked and back in his bedroom, with more passion.

Suddenly the blue-eyed man turned on his heel and walked back to his bedroom, calling at him as he retreated, "Fine, I'll stop. For now!" The door was closed and locked behind him before he slumped onto the bed, feeling the growing erection in his pants. "Fuck..." He murmured.

Arthur peered at the door at the end of the hallway, where his friend had left to. He wondered if he'd hurt his feelings, but dismissed the thought. Alfred was tough, and he'd made it plain before that Arthur couldn't do much to hurt him. In the first few weeks of their friendship alone, the shorter boy had said things to him that most people would hit him for, and Alfred merely laughed and playfully punched him in the shoulder.

Over the next few weeks, Alfred would abruptly leave in the middle of conversations to head back to his room for an hour or so. Arthur started to wonder if Alfred was simply getting sick of him being around, even if he did go to work every weekday. Somehow they'd settled into a routine where Arthur made most of their meals, unless they went out to eat. It was strangely like married life, which made them each uncomfortable and gleeful.

One night, after dinner and while they were watching a rerun of Elementary, Arthur looked over at where his friend was sprawled on the couch, from his own place on the armchair. Alfred looked uncomfortable, and kept shifting. He glanced over at Arthur, trying to be discreet but failing terribly. When he knew that he was caught, he flushed red and snapped his eyes back to the television.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You've been acting weird for weeks!" Arthur exclaimed, sitting up better.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Alfred muttered in response, standing up and turning away as he spoke.

"You obviously aren't, so just tell me," The shorter replied, standing up and taking a step forward.

"It's nothing. Absolutely nothing," he said, beginning to walk away, toward the bedroom like always.

Arthur growled and grabbed the larger man's arm, meaning to stop him. He was pulled a few feet before Alfred stopped and stood eerily still. Arthur knew how scary the man that he loved could be when he was angry, although that rage had never been directed at him, unlike some of their friends.

"Please, Alfy, I can tell that something's bothering you. I just want to help."

Alfred suddenly turned and pushed the smaller man up against the wall, his hands on his wrists. Arthur's first thoughts were that he'd gone too far, that he had finally broken Alfred's patience, and that he was going to be hit. Then the unthinkable happened when Arthur flinched and shut his eyes. A pair of chapped, but still soft, lips collided with his own.

Warmth flooded the green-eyed man's stomach as the hands left his wrists and the lips retreated. Suddenly the heat that was Alfred F. Jones had pulled away, turning from him with a look of absolute horror. Arthur was stiff, his mind reeling from the turn of events.

"Wh-what the hell was that?!" Arthur exclaimed when he finally regained his ability to speak.

"I'm so sorry, Artie, I-I don't- I can't- I've tried so hard not to- and I just-" Alfred stammered, turning back and looking so desperate to explain, but not finding the ability.

"Why did you do that?" The other man responded quietly, slowly.

"I love you. But I don't want to lose you as a friend so I've kept quiet and it's really, really hard to be around you and not want you as much as I do," Alfred answered, looking extremely shy for once.

"Is this a joke? Because it's not funny."

"It's not a joke! I can't joke about this. I love you, Iggy, and I'm sorry that I just fucked everything up..." He said, turning away looking like he'd just lost the world.

All he heard was a teary, "Oh, Alfred," before he was being turned around and pushed against the wall with surprising force for someone Arthur's size. The Brit's lips slid against his own as their bodies pressed flush against each other. Fingers were tangled in Alfred's hair when Arthur nipped the blue-eyed man's lower lip, begging entrance.

When it was allowed, Alfred quickly overtook the smaller's tongue and kissed him so thoroughly that Arthur elicited a small, erotic moan. The larger's hands slid down Arthur's body, keeping him close at the small of his back. When they broke for breath, the emerald-eyed man's sparkling eyes gazed up at the sapphire pair, each of them glazed with lust. Blue looked confused though, as if he didn't possibly understand what the hell compelled green to do that.

"I love you too, git. Now, if you don't fuck me, right now, I will shoot you."