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"So now what?" Alfred said, leaning on Arthur and breaking their contented silence.

Arthur spun them around to face the convention building.  "Now we go find a load of that Pocky stuff." He started to walk off.

Alfred chuckled, took his arm away from Arthur's shoulders, and followed behind.

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Looking around, Alfred realized there was nothing more awesome than where he was now.  Not even Prussia.  He chuckled at his overused joke, making Arthur turn around out of curiosity.

"What is it?" he said.

Alfred shook his head.  "Just look around."

Arthur looked around, still confused.  "I see…grass covered in cosplayers, cosplayers covered in grass…and a whole lot of animal ears."

"I know, right?  Isn't it perfect?" he said, smiling.

Arthur snickered to himself.  "Since when were you the sentimental type?" he muttered, thinking it was quiet enough so that Alfred wouldn't hear.

"Hey!" Alfred said, turning to face the Brit directly.  He poked him playfully in the chest.  "It's your fault I'm like this.  For some reason."

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Arthur said.

"I have no idea.  Let's go get that Pocky."  He kept walking.

"Alright…" Arthur trailed off, equally as confused as he had been before.

Alfred took a breath.  He had been kind of out of it when he'd said what he did, but it was kinda true.  Like, this morning in the hotel room…after having that weird-ass dream…and earlier with the whole hand-holding thing… he thought.  Well, whatever.  Maybe coming out just does that to people.  He shrugged and resumed his normal otaku-fuelled train of thought.

"So ya know there's like 20 flavours of Pocky, right?" he said.

"No I did not know that.  Like what, for example?"

Alfred held back a giggle.  Arthur was actually intrigued by the stuff.  "Um…I think the most out there one is lychee.  But there's vanilla, chocolate, strawberry – which is the one you had – almond, um…milk…and other random flavours."

The duo turned into the convention building, the pleasant sensation of the air-conditioning hitting them full in the face.

"Aw, man that feels good…" Alfred said, stopping in his tracks and feeling the coolness rush over his sweaty body.

Arthur nodded, feeling equally grateful for being out of the sun.  "But you'd better move, as you're standing in front of the entrance."  As he said it, a giant brown box with eyes tried to squeeze in the doorway behind Alfred.  Arthur watched it hobble past him curiously as Alfred sidled over to him.

"What is that thing?" Arthur said.

"Dude, it's DOMO."

Arthur scoffed.  "Excuse me?" he said.  As if he were supposed to know what a Domo was.

"Yeah, to be honest, I don't really know where Domo comes from.  He's just otaku-fully famous for being Domo.  Now quit stalling and let's go get that Pocky!"  He grabbed Arthur by the hand and started dragging him to the dealers' room.

Arthur felt himself flush bright red.  Wha…?  Why am I…?  Why now…

"Whoa."  Alfred said, stopping suddenly for about the hundredth time since they started walking.

"What now?"  He sighed.

"Do you feel that?" he asked, turning around.  Arthur noticed that Alfred's cheeks were about as red as his own – well, what they felt like.

"…What?" he repeated.

"Here."  Alfred moved their hands – still clasped – upwards (making Arthur's red cheeks even more apparent) and rested Arthur's palm on his chest, where his heart was.

Arthur focused his attention on his palm.  He didn't feel much at first.  Then Alfred shifted their hands slightly to the left…

B-dmp.

B-dmp b-dmp b-dmp b-dmp b-dmp b-dmp b-dmp…

Arthur's eyes widened as he noticed how abnormally fast Alfred's heartbeat was.  He glanced up to the other's face.  "What is…?"

Strangely, Alfred laughed.  "I dunno.  Something's going a bit crazy in there."  He looked back to Arthur.

"Well…are you alright?"

Alfred smiled.  Arthur looked truly concerned for him.  "I feel fine.  Actually…" he bit his lip.  "Really, really fine."  He subconsciously clutched Arthur's hand closer to his chest, expression turning serious.

Arthur held Alfred's gaze wordlessly, taking a small step forward.  Alfred did the same.

"What's happening here…?" Alfred whispered for only Arthur to hear.

"I have no idea," Arthur whispered back.

They could hear each other's soft, slow breathing, a sharp contrast against the feeling of Alfred's blood pulsing at hyperspeed.

Arthur's eyes were the first to flutter shut.  He was now blind to the outside world, knowing – yet not entirely sure of – what would come next.  Then came the now-familiar yet still new and unique feeling of Alfred's lips brushing against his own.

It was quick and chaste, but full of endless amounts of unspoken and confused feelings.

They opened their eyes at the same time, each about to say something – until they realized that there was someone standing near them.

Alfred jumped about a meter in the air, letting go of Arthur's hand in shock.  "Jeez, Kiku, way to make an entrance there!" he said, face still flushed.

Arthur also flinched at the Japanese boy's presence, as well as the presence of a camera in his hand.

"S-sorry Alfred-san…and Arthur-san," he stuttered, bowing, visibly embarrassed.  "I did not recognise you until after I took a picture."

Alfred and Arthur shared an awkward look.  "Er…it's okay, I guess," Alfred said.  "Can I see it?"

Kiku nodded, turning on his fancy-looking camera and showing them the last picture.  Arthur squinted at it, blushing and avoiding eye contact with the American.  It may have just been the photo quality, but it seemed as though they had been captured in a – for lack of a better term – picture perfect moment.  He cocked an eyebrow, noticing the image's similarity to…

"Hey Kiku, it looks like the cover of that doujinshi I got from you," Alfred said, apparently noticing what Arthur had seen as well.

Kiku smiled slightly.  "Hai.  That is why I wanted to take picture of you."

"Kay that's cool with me," Alfred said.  "But…" he pursed his lips and gave Arthur a timid sideways glance.

Arthur just shrugged and looked away.  "Alright," he mumbled.  Then he turned to Kiku.  "Nice costume, by the way."  They all paused to take in Kiku's red ripped vest and jean shorts, the straw hat (which was quite fitting to the small Japanese man), and the odd little Sharpie job underneath his eye representing a scar.  Arthur looked up.  "What was the character's name…Rupee?  Something like that?"

"Luffy," Alfred whispered, barely suppressing a laugh.

"Right.  Luffy."  He smiled at his dopey-sounding error.

"Thank you, Arthur-san."  Kiku bowed again.  "I hope to see you later on this weekend."

"And you," Arthur said, he and Alfred waving as Kiku started to walk towards a chain of tables with a sign over it reading 'Weapons Check', leaving him and Alfred on their own again.

"So…" Arthur began.

"Yeah…I guess we're off to dealers now then," Alfred said.  Arthur just nodded and started walking again.  They were both trying to avoid talking about the one thing that was making both their heads spin with confusion.

Alfred was still sort of in shock.  He was usually the first to take things in stride, to ignore the weirdness of whatever was going on.  For example, the first time he and Arthur had kissed.  He'd been stunned but had gotten over it in a few seconds.  They had still managed to continue on as they always had.  It was even easier to ignore the second time, and was barely noticeable the third.  For some reason, this tiny brush of the lips was enough to make his blood run hot.

Arthur was even more confused, having considered himself straight as an arrow for a full seventeen years, and having known Alfred – as a friend – for five.  And it wasn't as if he hadn't been weirded out by his previous times kissing Alfred.  It was just that every other time they had had an excuse…they had been…in character.  About a hundred other thoughts on the matter tried to surface, but he pushed them back down, not wanting to deal with them until it was absolutely necessary.  At that moment, it was not absolutely necessary.  He opened his mouth.

"America."

Alfred didn't reply, so he decided to repeat himself.  "America!"  Still nothing.  He took a breath.  "Alfred."

Alfred turned around.  He had obviously been zoning out.  "Mmm?" he said.

Arthur took a breath.  "I don't want this to be awkward," he started, resulting in no apparent reaction from Alfred, so he went on.  "I know we have to talk about…this, and I'm sure you know it too.  But for now…can we just…you know…?" Arthur struggled to put what he was thinking into words, hoping that Alfred would understand what he meant.  "Just…at least keep talking?"

Alfred didn't react for a few seconds, then broke into a grin.  "You like the sound of my voice?" he asked, raising an eyebrow mischievously.

Arthur felt the heat rising to his cheeks.  "Wh…Hey!  I just, um…w-"

"Cool it, buddy.  I was kidding," Alfred interrupted him, ruffling his hair and winking.

Arthur just sighed.  Typical Alfred.  He may have looked annoyed, but in his mind, he was smiling.

TBC.