Chin resting in hand, Alfred sat by the window of the hotel suite's living room and sighed heavily. The skies outside were a sullen, angry black-mottled gray, and the ground was wet with the light rain that continued to fall. Lightning flashed in the distance, attracting Al's attention, and the following rumble of thunder put creases in his forehead. Another sigh left him—at this rate, his plans for taking Arthur on a date would have to be postponed.

At least he invited me to his place.

It was a comforting thought. If they spent the day together at Arthur's apartment, it was almost guaranteed they'd end up in bed.

Or the couch, maybe the kitchen counter.

That, at least, would be more than worth postponing for, but still. He'd already packed and didn't want his efforts to go to waste.

The rain drops tinked against the window pane as he sat and stared and thought. If it picked up too much, his plans would end up with them wet and cold and miserable, and if the lightning got too close, well…Alfred shuddered just to think about it and quickly guided his mind elsewhere. Sure, the weather could ruin it, but if it kept to light drizzles, it would be really nice to be surrounded by the sounds and smells.

Alfred's third sigh was absent-mindedly happy. It would be so nice to sit with Arthur and watch the rain…

Imagining it was enough to convince the blond to get up and start gathering the supplies he'd prepared. Rain or shine, he was taking Arthur on this date.

"Feliks!" Head in the fridge, Alfred deafened himself by shouting. "What'd you do with my food?" If the blond nymph had eat it after promising not to, then—

"It's in the oven, Incubutt. You're welcome."

Straightening and nearly hitting his head in the process, Alfred finally noticed that the oven was on low. The food he'd prepared last night was visible through the glass front of the door, safely packed and being warmed.

"When'd you do this?"

"An hour ago." Feliks was smug when he appeared and leaned against the wall behind his crouching friend. "It should be ready to go, just don't burn yourself."

Alfred looked at the other blond for a moment. "It was Toris' idea, wasn't it."

Immediately offended, Feliks' jaw dropped and he huffed before walking away. "Ungrateful asshole!"

"Tell Tor I said thanks!" Alfred called after the nymph, grinning. He didn't really know which of his friends had thought to warm up his food, but Feliks would pass his thanks on to Toris or keep them for himself, so it didn't particularly matter. All Alfred cared about was that he was going to be on time to pick Arthur up for their date.

X

"He can't be serious. Did he even think to check the weather?"

Frowning to himself, Arthur paced his kitchen then paused to look out his window yet again. The rain almost seemed to mock him from the other side of the glass, promising to make him cold and uncomfortable as soon as he stepped out his door. No part of him wanted it, yet Alfred was on his way to pick him up and take him on this mystery date he'd been planning.

Arthur shook his head and resumed his pacing. "It's mad, going out in weather like this. I won't do it. He'll just have to wait for a sunny day."

As firm as he was saying it to himself, he knew saying it to Alfred would be a different story entirely. Those blue eyes would look at him so sadly that he'd have no choice.

It doesn't matter how he looks at me. I'm not going out in that rain. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Still, he wasn't at all looking forward to having to refuse the American. Arthur fretted and fussed around his kitchen, tidying up messes that weren't really there and straightening already-straight utensils. Why on earth was he so nervous? It wasn't his fault the weather had turned sour overnight. Alfred was just going to have to accept it, and besides, Arthur would cheer him up somehow. They could have hot cocoa and snuggle on the couch and watch a long, romantic movie. Then they could stay on the couch for a bit, and kiss, and Arthur would tell him to wait for a couple of minutes and go into his bedroom to change into what he'd bought with Gilbert. Then Alfred would come to find him, and Arthur would kiss the American with everything he had. They'd find their way to bed somehow, Alfred's clothes would vanish, he'd leave little marks all over Arthur's body to claim the Brit for his own and then, only when Arthur begged him, Alfred would remove what litthe clothing he had and—

A sudden roar drowned out the rain and Arthur jumped, ripped out of his daydream It was a few seconds before he realized he'd imagined all of that and hadn't actually seen Alfred yet, and then his embarrassment at having thought it made him glad he was alone. He couldn't bring himself to wonder what Alfred would say if he caught Arthur fantasizing about him.

God, no that could not happen.

Still deeply embarrassed, Arthur busied himself with refolding the towel draped over the edge of his sink in order to give himself a chance to calm down. Thoughts like those were dangerous at best; he needed to be more careful with how his mind wandered.

Arthur's hands smoothed the towel out then stilled, his eyes staring into the sink without seeing it. Embarrassing, sure, but…it would be a nice way to spend the afternoon. Better than going out in the rain, at least. Why should he be embarrassed? He was a grown man and so was Alfred, fantasizing about his boyfriend was normal.

"I'm not embarrassed," the golden blond said softly, almost as if he were informing the sink he was still staring at. "He's my boyfriend and I'm not embarrassed to want to make love with him."

It wasn't entirely true, but Arthur meant it as much as he could. He wasn't embarrassed to want the American, just shy about expressing it. Yes, that was the proper word.

Shy.

"I'm not as brave as I used to be." Turning, Arthur leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, a breath leaving him. "I'm not the man I wanted to be."

Before he had time to think about that in any depth, eager knocks sounded at the door and Arthur realized the roar that'd startled him must have been Alfred's motorcycle.

That lunatic is driving it in the rain?

Expression stern, Arthur crossed the kitchen and pulled his front door open and immediately began to lecture the blue-eyed blond on his front stoop. "Alfred, you should know it's da—ah!"

To his surprise, the Briton found hands on his hips, yanking him forward so hi chest was pressed against Alfred's slightly damp one. Blue eyes smiled down at him from that handsome face, completely unperturbed by the other man's alarmed expression.

"You talk too much," the model teased as he leaned and kissed the smaller male.

As indignant as he was, and despite his interrupted scolding, Arthur took less than a second to wrap his arms around Alfred's neck and return the kiss. They moved farther into the apartment without separating, Alfred kicking the door shut behind them to muffle the sounds of the rain. His fingers slid around to the small of Arthurs back and rubbed as if they meant to pass straight through the layers of fabric separating them from the Brit's skin.

"Mm…git…"

The breathy insult only made Alfred laugh as he pulled away from the shorter blond and grinned down at him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Artie."

Arthur rolled his eyes and gave the American a quick kiss before he stepped back out of Alfred's arms. "It was a clever way of trying to distract me, but I'm not interested in going out in that weather."

"Aww, but Artie, I have everything ready to go!"

"Alfred, it's pouring."

"It's not that bad. Come on."

"No. I'm not riding your motorcycle through a storm. We'll be soaked to the bone and catch our deaths."

"We will not. I have parkas and an umbrella." Alfred smiled charmingly and pulled Arthur close again, looking straight into the golden blond's eyes. "Come on, Artie," he murmured, swaying them just slightly, "don't you want to know what I've been planning?"

Damn that stupid bloody smile and those stupid blue eyes. Alfred was a git whose only purpose was to torture Arthur at every possible opportunity, he was sure of it. There was no other reason for such a perfect man to exist.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Alfred's expression stuck somewhere between puppy eyes and irresistible charm, until Arthur sighed and hung his head.

"Fine. But you owe me."

"Yes!" The bespectacled blond's enthusiasm did little to reassure his boyfriend. "You won't regret it, Artie! It'll be great, I promise!" Unzipping his jacket, he produced two tarp-like items that he shook out and presented to Arthur. "Here, put this on over your clothes."

Lips slightly pursed, Arthur took one of them and held it at arm's length, scrutinizing it. Was this some sort of parka? It was heavier than any parka he'd ever seen. Weren't they usually made of thin plastic? Why did this one feel like leather? Eh, it was probably just sturdier for motorcyclists. Arthur shrugged and found the opening in the bottom, lifting it over his head and letting gravity pull the entire thing down over most of his body. The weight of it pressed down on his shoulders, promising that it wouldn't go anywhere while they were driving through the rain; the bottom edge was below his knees.

Alfred grinned, more than comfortable in his own heavy duty parka. "Told ya we won't be soaked."

Arthur shook his head and sighed quietly before slipping his hand into Alfred's. "Let's just go on this mystery date of yours."

"You got it!"

Eager, the blue-eyed blond pulled at Arthur's hand, leading him back towards the front door and out into the rain that continued to fall. Down the few steps to the sidewalk and to the bike before Alfred stopped, picked up the helmet he'd brought along for Arthur, turned, and grinned. "Put your hood up." He reached and tugged the parka's hood up over Arthur's head before the Brit could even move, then helped him put the helmet on over it. "It'll keep it up, you'll stay pretty dry. I probably should've told you to wear a scarf."

"Well," Arthur's voice sounded muffled to him, thanks to the parka and helmet, "you pulled me out here too fast for me to lock the door, so I can go inside and get one. Do you want to borrow one?"

"Yeah, that'd be great, thanks."

Feeling awkward and heavy in his gear, Arthur made the trip back up the steps to his apartment. The light rain left water beaded on his parka and dripping as he walked—he really hoped it wouldn't puddle on his floor and damage it. So he was quick to pull two of his thicker scarves from the hall closet then stepped back onto the entryway rug, checked that there wasn't too much water on the floor, and backed outside, pulling the door shut as he did. His keys jingled in the lock, barely louder than the sound of millions of tiny drops of water hitting the street and buildings, then he was done the steps and on the back of Al's motorcycle, his parka tucked underneath him to keep it from flapping in the wind and letting water underneath.

"Here," he handed one of the scarves to the taller blond then set about tucking the other around his neck and under the hood of his parka, smoothing the extra up under his helmet to keep his nose and ears warm. "Ready!"

"Hold on."

As always, Arthur wrapped his arms around Alfred's middle and propped his feet up as the American brought the bike to life and moved away from the curb, his helmeted head tucked against Al's shoulder. He could barely hear the rain at all over the sounds of the bike, and was surprisingly warm inside his parka—he'd expected it to be a much colder ride, but it seemed like Alfred really had been prepared, and as they drove through the city streets, Arthur wondered why he'd ever bothered to think otherwise.

X

The parkas did a wonderful job of keeping Alfred and Arthur dry and warm as they drove. Arthur had thought the wind would chill him to the bone even if the rain couldn't reach him, but even it was powerless against the thick fabric. So, despite the weather, the golden blond was smiling as he hugged close to Alfred's back and watched the countryside pass by.

It'd surprised him when they'd left London, mostly because he hadn't expected someone like Alfred to want to leave behind the lights and sounds of the city. But the English country was beautiful, even with such dreary weather, and being surprised already only made Arthur even more curious about what else the American had planned. He'd said a picnic was involved, hadn't he? A country picnic? That sounded like fun, or at least, it would be if it wasn't raining. The parkas made the ride bearable, but he didn't know if he'd be able to sit on a damp blanket on soggy grass and mud while it rained and try to pretend he was having a good time. As much as he wanted this date to go well and wanted to make Alfred happy, this might be a little much for him.

Please don't ask me to do that. Please have something else planned, or at least be prepared.

If he could have, Arthur would've leaned back enough to actually look at the other man, but he was hugging too close to Alfred's back, and the ash blond was wearing a helmet, anyway. There was no point in looking if he wouldn't even be able to see his face.

I'm going to kiss him as soon as we stop.

That unfortunately, wasn't for another half an hour, at least, and by then Arthur was starting to lose feeling in his legs. Mostly because he'd been sitting the same way for so long, but also from the cold, in part. The parka only went to just below his knees, after all, so his shins and feet were mostly exposed. His shoes were water-proof, but his trousers were another matter entirely. If they weren't careful, the Brit was going to catch cold, and he was more than a little relieved when he noticed Alfred was slowing down.

"Are we here?" His scarf muffled his voice, but Alfred tilted his head back to catch the words and nodded.

"Almost!"

A gloved hand was offered, and Arthur took hold of it as he straightened and swung his leg over the back of the bike. Unfortunately for his numbed shins and ankles, his full weight hit before he was ready and the golden blond fell, clutching at Alfred's arm.

"Shit—!"

Chuckling, Alfred reached over and gripped the Briton's arm with his other hand, helping him stand and then holding onto him for a few extra seconds to make sure his boyfriend wasn't going to lose his balance again. "You good?"

"Yes," Arthur was too busy looking at the ground to make sure his feet were stable to notice that Alfred had put his helmet's visor up at some point and was smiling at him, clearly amused by his clumsiness, but his expression also betrayed that he was very fond of the man he was holding up, "I think so."

"Good. Let go whenever you're ready."

The golden blond nodded and slowly released his grip on Alfred, straightening cautiously. "I'm all right now, thank you." He smiled at Alfred, finally noticing the way the American was looking at him, and felt his face grow warm, his smile turning bashful. "What?"

"I," Alfred began then stopped, his eyes saddening just slightly, and his smile faltered before returning fully, if not a little forced, "…I'm just glad you agreed to come with me.

That's not what you were going to say.

But Arthur kept that thought to himself. "So am I." He turned to examine their surroundings as Alfred dismounted the bike, looking for anything that might be familiar. Nothing stood out to him-it was just a random stretch of road out in the country, nothing but tall grass, shrubbery, and trees as far as the eye could see. They weren't even near any houses or the major roadways.

"Where are we?"

Alfred stood beside the Brit, helmet under his arm, and surveyed the place he'd chosen to stop. "No idea."

It took a few seconds for Arthur to fully register what the taller blond had said, then a few more passed before he faced his date. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know where we are." Alfred was now in the process of pulling cloth-wrapped bundles out of his bike's storage compartment and so didn't see the incredulous way Arthur was staring at him. "This just looked like a nice place to stop."

He couldn't be serious. He'd brought Arthur all the way out here for a mystery date in this dismal weather and he didn't have a plan? He didn't even know where they were? They could have stayed at Arthur's and snogged all afternoon and they were out in the middle of nowhere instead?!

"Alfred," there was little hope of disguising the impatience in his tone, "please tell me you aren't serious."

We could have been shagging by now.

"Hm?" The bespectacled blond straightened, his arm snow full, and paused to find Arthur with a hand over his eyes. "What?"

This was insane. What on earth were they doing out here?

"Hey, relax," Alfred chided gently, nudging Arthur with his shoulder, "I know what I'm doing. Now stay here and don't look until I tell you."

Lovely. More surprises.

"All right."

"Thanks, Artie." He kissed the shorter blond's cheek before hurrying away from the road. There was a small dear trail wandering off into the trees that he was tempted to follow, but there was no knowing how long it would take him to find something interesting, so he ignored it and found a nice flat spot under a nearby tree instead. The bundles he'd been carrying were set down off to the side, and Alfred got to work.

First, he made sure the area was free of any large sticks or rocks that would be uncomfortable to sit on, then he unfolded the large brown tarp he kept with his bike and spread it out over the wet grass. A thick blanket came next, covering the plastic and muffling the tarp's crinkling crackling sound, then the food he'd made was neatly arranged off to one side beside the extra blanket he'd brought just in case. For the final touch, a third, thin, lightweight blanket was tossed up and draped over the tree's lowest hanging branches to help keep the rain at bay.

Standing back, Alfred admired his work before walking back towards the road to fetch his dubious boyfriend.

"Okay!" He took Arthur's hand and gently turned the green-eyed blond to face the makeshift shelter. "You can look!"

The American's eagerness practically radiated from him, putting a smile on Arthur's face before he'd even opened his eyes. Spread out blankets and food beneath a tree, a picnic, just as Alfred had said, and—was that a bottle of wine?

Cheeks darkening, Arthur laced his fingers through Alfred's and squeezed the taller male's hand gently. "It's lovely, Alfred."

"Thanks." With a gentle tug, he led Arthur down the small hill towards the blankets and sat, grinning with self-satisfaction. Rather than let the other blond sit beside him, however, he used the hold he still had on Arthur's hand and pulled the green-eyed male down into his lap, hugging him close and placing a gentle kiss on his ever-darkening cheek.

Arthur shifted momentarily to get comfortable and settled back against Alfred's chest, glad that his parka's hood was still up and would at least mostly hide how red he was. It wasn't the affection that was making him blush, necessarily, it was the fact that he'd wanted to stay home and potentially have sex when Alfred had planned such a cute date for them. It had been a long time since he'd been the one with a dirtier mind than his partner and he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it. But he was warm and happy to be in Alfred's arms, and that was enough for now.

Shifting again, the Briton nuzzled his face into Alfred's neck before kissing the suntanned skin. "I think you should open that bottle you brought," he murmured, breath tickling the larger male, and felt his companion's chest expand in a deeper-than-normal breath.

"You got it, sugar."

Mm….if Alfred was going to use those petnames, maybe his thoughts weren't as innocent as Arthur had assumed.