Arthur hated everything. He hated his job. He hated his uniform. He hated his manager. He hated his customers. He hated the shop. He hated the city. The hated this country. He hated the world. He could not wait to get back to his hated flat so he could promptly crawl into bed.

Which he hated.

But no. Arthur had to stay at work, serving these people and pretending to be at least civil in fear of losing his temper which would no doubt lead to losing his job. Not to mention the fact that his mind had been running wild as a herd of stallions ever since -what Arthur now called- the 'Boxing Day Incident'; mentally kicking himself for everything that had happened between him and Alfred and reliving every single mind wrenching, gut punching, cringe inducing moment every time he closed his eyes. To top it off, when he wasn't reliving the horrifyingly awkward and embarrassing moments of that day, he saw something else; and it did something to him, made him angry and happy and guilty all at the same time.

He remembered how Alfred had smiled at him when he met him after his shift; how happy he seemed to even see Arthur even though he should have been with his family. How he had listened to Arthur rant and rave about how horrible his shift had been and how the American hadn't even attempted to cut in with anything that might have been bothering him, as though Arthur was the only one that mattered. How he'd listened and didn't judge him, just taking everything Arthur said as it came; just being there for him, like a friend should do. He remembered how comfortable he was talking with Alfred about anything and everything, how all his worries and frustrations melted away after a few minutes with the man. He remembered how much it hurt to see him laughing with others and to watch as he was so shamelessly flirted with. He remembered how worried Alfred seemed after he decided to take him home. How Alfred had looked at him so softly…

Arthur still heard Alfred's words in his head; how he had apologised about the wonderful things he had done and how he looked so guilty and he just couldn't stop thinking about why on Earth would Alfred think that he had to apologise for being so kind and caring and wonderful when it had been Arthur who ruined everything and then made everything so awkward? Just the very thoughts floating in his head just made Arthur feel worse and worse, and the fact that it had been going on for weeks on end, having not seen Alfred in the shop or on the street since the damned incident meant that these thoughts and feelings were just growing and swirling around inside him in one big mess.

So he was forced to simply fester in silence, each and every new customer only serving to add to his unwarranted frustration; he was certainly finding them more infuriating than usual that day.

As he served a middle-aged woman, taking the hanger out of a coat she was buying, apparently the woman didn't know the usual policy of the shop and spoke up, holding her hand up as if to stop him.

"Oh, I don't need the hanger, thank you." She said with a slight smile and Arthur returned it curtly as he nodded; unknown to the woman, Arthur had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. 'I wasn't going to give it to you anyway you ditsy cow.' He muttered in his head.

Another woman in her twenties came in with her mother and although the mother didn't seem to be doing anything wrong, at least in Arthur's personal opinion -being a normal customer and asking about a product and such - the woman was very rude to her; telling her to shut up and muttering to herself and being an all-round cow. Again, Arthur didn't voice his thoughts because frankly they were quite sharp at this point; and as he worked, he left the mother and daughter to their own devices as the mother was practically verbally abused in public. 'Yes, that's right. Broadcast to the whole shop how much you dislike your mother.' Arthur thought harshly and inwardly sighed as he tried to serve them as quickly as possible so that they could just leave and he could get some normal customers for once.

It was as two sisters came to the till to purchase gifts for their friends or family, that these incidents and customers in general began to aggressively dance upon Arthur's last nerve. One of them –seeming to be quite a shy girl- kept obsessing over the gift they were buying: 'Will they like it? They won't like it will they? Should we change it? They won't like the colour. They're not going to like it are they?' Each time she spoke it annoyed Arthur more and more; he wasn't the only one annoyed by the girl's obsessing and it wasn't fair of Arthur to feel this way about the poor girl but of course Arthur had to bite his tongue in order to keep his mouth shut as well as keep his job. He was more than happy to clock off his till to do his duty at the fitting rooms; he just hoped that no one would bother him there.

And of course, that didn't last very long. And to his despair, it was the one person that he had be both hoping, and dreading to see.

"Hey Arthur!" Alfred grinned happily at the other man, not seeming awkward at all to approach him. Maybe he'd forgiven Arthur for being a drunken twat? Maybe they're relationship – if it could be called such- could still be saved! It seemed that Alfred was just moving on without mentioning what had happened; he still seemed rather comfortable when talking to and being around Arthur now, so it seemed that his opinion of him hadn't changed. Just the thought of that alone seemed to lift Arthur's spirits somewhat.

"Hello Alfred, how are you?" Arthur smiled slightly as he busied himself with the clothing rail; he saw Alfred's expression brighten even more and felt his own lips twitch upwards. It seemed like everything would go back to normal, and that was a huge weight off of Arthur's mind.

"I'm great yeah! How are you? How was your New Years?" Alfred asked him happily and Arthur hummed in reply.

"Yes I'm alright, working and such. Fun. My New Years was, well… I didn't actually do anything. New Years day isn't really something I celebrate really." Alfred chuckled slightly and Alfred seemed rather taken aback.

"So you didn't even get to kiss anyone when the years changed over?" Alfred tilted his head curiously and Arthur's stomach flipped.

"Wh- no. That's not really a big thing over here as far as I know. I certainly don't do stuff like that." His lips quirked upwards in an amused smirk. "Why? Did you want to come and brag over a lovely New Years kiss you received?" He teased even as his throat stung a little from his own words; it faded though when Alfred's body language turned sheepish and he scratched the back of his head.

"N-no, nothing like that. It's just that I'm used to asking that kind of thing after New Years, y'know?" The American chuckled awkwardly. "I mean don't get me wrong, I totally could have got a kiss if I wanted one!" He added quickly and Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"So you didn't get a kiss." Arthur said flatly and smirked at Alfred's expression.

"Yeah but you didn't either." They both laughed and, unknown to the other, for one moment in time, they both shared the same thought.

'There was only one person that I wanted to kiss anyway.'

Arthur blinked. Why had he just thought that? Did he really just think what he thought he just thought? Arthur didn't have much time to dwell on his confusing, muddled thoughts as he noticed that Alfred was rummaging in the messenger bag he was carrying; it was only a moment before the taller man produced a small drawstring bag, smartly tied with a pretty ribbon. Arthur looked at it for a moment as Alfred presented it to him, just staring at it as though he wasn't sure what it was.

"This is the part where you take the bag Arthur." Alfred prompted, obviously entertained by Arthur's confusion; Arthur looked from the bag, to Alfred and back again.

"This… Is for me?"

"Yeah, it's called a 'gift'. Who else would it be for?" Alfred grinned as Arthur gingerly took the small bag from him and looked at it from nearly every angle, his brow furrowed slightly.

"Why though?"

"Cause of Valentine's day!" Alfred said happily and Arthur instantly froze; he had forgotten all about what day it was, he had barely been paying attention to the calendar as the weeks carried on after the Boxing Day Incident . Why did Alfred give him this? Why did he want to? It wasn't a normal thing to do, was it? It didn't make any sense and it was, frankly, something that Arthur didn't want to add to his list of 'things to overthink about'.

"Are you- um- Giving these to… All the retail staff?" Arthur joked weakly and Alfred shook his head.

"Nah dude, just my friends."

"Your friends?"

"Yeah! Y'know, since I don't actually have a partner. I mean, we're friends right?" Alfred chuckled happily but Arthur just paused, looking down at the gift again. He wasn't really sure what he and Alfred were. Instead of answering, he put the gift down next to him so he'd remember to pick it up later.

"I don't have anything for you." Arthur told him quietly, not meeting his eyes; this was a very strange situation. Alfred simply waved his hand dismissively.

"Nah it's fine, it's probably an American thing anyway it's cool." He grinned. "You can just give me a discount on what I buy instead, 'kay?" Arthur rolled his eyes and laughed.

"No."

"Aww…" Alfred feigned disappointment and they both laughed.

Alfred and Arthur spoke for a little longer after that, the Englishman pushing the gift to the back of his mind; they soon fell into comfortable conversation as though nothing had happened. Alfred had to leave soon after he arrived, saying that he needed to be somewhere and really only came by to have a quick chat and drop off the gift; Arthur watched him go with a smile, his worries and frustrations leaving him completely. Arthur spent the rest of his shift in a much better mood, even smiling to himself every now and then; he forgot about his previous frustrations as though they had never existed, his world somehow seeming a little brighter.

Alfred seemed more than happy to still associate with him; he wasn't awkward or uncomfortable when he was around him. This came as a huge relief to Arthur; maybe everything would be fine after all, he'd never had to worry in the first place. Alfred wasn't the kind of person to let Arthur's short-sighted stupidity ruin what they had. No sooner had that thought entered his mind, Arthur frowned; what did they have? What did he mean by that? He and Alfred… Well, they didn't really have anything did they? They were just acquaintances after all.

Although…

Alfred was always kind to him, treating him like a good friend and always being there for him when Arthur didn't even know he needed it. Arthur became borderline jealous when he saw the man being flirted with, when he had no discernable reason to. And Alfred saw Arthur as a good enough friend that he would give him a gift on Valentine's day. That gift… Why had Alfred given it to him in the first place? He picked up the small bag at the end of his shift and took it upstairs to the staff room with him to fetch his things; glancing at it as he changed and put his coat on.

As he sat in his car and put his belongings beside him, his eyes were drawn to the bag once again; prettily wrapped in a way that didn't seem like the American's style, maybe he'd asked someone to do it for him? Or bought it from a shop? It wouldn't surprise him. As Arthur thought more about, it he remembered something that Alfred said in passing. Alfred was giving these out to his friends because he didn't have a partner; so he didn't want others to feel lonely. The concept itself was rather sweet, but that's not what Arthur focused on.

'Alfred doesn't have a partner…' He thought to himself as he looked at the gift on his passenger seat. Alfred didn't have a partner. Alfred… didn't have a partner.

That meant he was single.

Not that Arthur cared.

He would admit that he was a little surprised.

But he didn't care.

Not at all.

Arthur sighed and admitted defeat, picking up the bag and having a proper look at it -as if he hadn't already. Upon opening the rather fetching bag he found a small card with what he assumed to be Alfred's quickly scribbled handwriting.

'I made these myself so you better tell me they were awesome! Have a great day and enjoy!'

Arthur laughed softly to himself, practically able to hear Alfred's voice in his head, so he didn't buy it after all; he placed the card down and opened the small drawstring bag properly, pulling out what was inside. The bag was full of small, half sphere chocolates, of all different types, swirled together to make patterns; in amongst them he also found some very brightly coloured chocolates that he wasn't even sure were made of real chocolate. Just to make sure he picked up the card again and turned it over, finding another small message.

'P.S, I found out you guys have coloured and flavoured chocolate here too! I think that's awesome! Hope you like strawberry and orange!'

"Oh for goodness sake…" Arthur laughed quietly to himself; the American had actually mixed the two flavours together, Arthur was sure that they would taste as strange as they looked. He picked up one of the normal looking chocolates and prayed to God that he hadn't done something weird with it; he popped the chocolate into his mouth and bit into it. Arthur smiled softly and put the bag down again so he could start the car, chewing the chocolate slowly.

It was nice.

"And he wasn't surprised?" Matthew asked as he sat back on the sofa with a cup of coffee; Alfred was sitting across from him, hugging a cushion to his chest. This was a regular occurrence between the two brothers; Matthew had always been there to lend an ear to Alfred ever since they were children, he was practically the only one that Alfred could talk to comfortably about anything. And Matthew was happy to help as well, he cared for his brother regardless of the fact that they had different fathers; besides, it was always entertaining to see Alfred flustered as a schoolgirl, it was like a soap opera.

"Oh he was surprised alright." Alfred replied in an unusually quiet voice, looking at his coffee on the table and hugging the cushion tighter.

"I'm surprised he didn't freak out." Matthew took one of the spare chocolates Alfred had made.

"I told him I was giving them to everyone."

"Everyone who worked there?"

"No, I said I was giving them to all my friends."

"And does he consider you a friend?" Matthew watched Alfred bury his face into the cushion for a moment.

"I dunno, he didn't say anything… But he seemed happy." Alfred smiled slightly as he remembered Arthur's expression. Matthew put down his coffee and raised an eyebrow.

"And he hasn't caught on yet."

"Nope."

"Not at all?"

"Didn't bat an eye."

"How has he not got the hint!?" Matthew threw his hands in the air and Alfred fiddled sheepishly.

"I told him it was an American thing."

"That's not an American thing! That's not even an Alfred thing!" He laughed

"I know dammit shut up!" Alfred laughed and threw the cushion he was hugging directly at Matthew's face, only for his to deflect it with his arm.

"Rejected! Seriously though you should just grab him by the ears or something and just kiss him already if you're going to this much trouble and he's not even getting it." Matthew grinned.

"Shut up dude! It's called being a gentleman! I'm classy!" Alfred grabbed another cushion and launched it.

"You wouldn't know classy if it bit you on the ass!" Matthew caught the projectile and threw it back at his brother. "You're lucky Mom isn't still here, she'd be teasing you like crazy!"

"Go back to Canada!" Alfred roared and laughed, standing up as he had decided to just take the cushion and beat him with it. Matthew laughed as Alfred assaulted him, protecting his face as he grabbed his own cushion, thus commencing a very childish pillow fight that would only end in fits of giggles.

"You're the one who wanted me to stay longer! You're stuck with me for another week yet bro!" He laughed as Alfred groaned and hit him with the cushion; Matthew was glad that he was with his brother, being able to stop Alfred from overthinking too much and take his mind off things.

Alfred on the other hand just wanted to eat chocolate and hit his brother.

Well hey there. Haven't seen you guys in a while *wink*... :I Okay I know I haven't updated in ages and yes I did just squeeze two holidays into one chapter but don't tell me it wasn't worth it. XDD Sorry for always updating so slow but I will not be giving up on this story so be sure of that. All of your kind words mean the world to me and they really brighten up my day when I read them. Thank you so much for sticking around for this story and I hope you enjoy this chapter, as well as chapters to come. Thank you all so much again! :3
I can't get enough of Matthew I'm sorry X'DDD And oh! Arthur is having fun overthinking again! XD