Title: Think Twice

Summary: America/England. Christmas comes again and Alfred is surprised by the present that he finds beneath the tree.

Disclaimer: I do not own and never will.

Warning: Slash, don't like don't read.

…

Christmas alone.

Alfred didn't mind too much. At least this way he was free to eat hamburgers and drink fizzy pop instead of being forced to eat traditional meals for that time of year. Traditional meals bored him. He would much rather kill his taste buds with countless fast food meals that his nation was famous for.

Walking into his living room happily munching away on the first burger of the day, his eyes caught a splash of colour laid under the green of the Christmas tree.

'Who put that there?' Alfred thought to himself. 'There's no one around to leave me something beneath the Christmas tree. I could have sworn that wasn't there last night'. Alfred frowned before shrugging his shoulders and tearing the wrapping off the box with his usual enthusiasm.

What it contained froze him to the spot.

It was a framed picture of Arthur.

His ash blonde hair was slightly ruffled in a good way but his face looked complacent, his emerald eyes held a great deal of sadness. The dull emerald eyes stood in contrast to his ghostly white skin and dark bags beneath his eyes. Alfred sat and studied the photo, trying to place when the photo was taken. Something heartbreaking had to have happened to Arthur to make him look as ill and as close to death as he did in the photo. He had never witnessed Arthur look as he did in the photo. It must have been after he left...

… because he left.

Alfred grabbed his coat and, sticking the photo in the inside pocket, flew out the door.

It did not take him long before he found himself stood on England's doorstep, out of breath and clutching his side in pain. Breathing heavily, he started to hammer impatiently on the door, completely unaware and uncaring of the noise he was making.

"England – open up!" Alfred continued to hammer on the door. "England!" Eventually the door opened and Arthur stood in front of him, dressed casually in a suit instead of his usual green uniform. Without giving Arthur time to breath a word of welcome or insult, Alfred and launched himself upon Arthur and flung one arm around his neck while the other went around his back, holding him in a vice like grip.

"A-A-Alfred?" Arthur stuttered in surprise, his arms stuck out in open air as he mentally debated what to do with them and his eyes digging a hole in some inconspicuous area of the wall.

"I was a fool Arthur!" Arthur looked down on Alfred and his heart rose into his throat. He was reminded when Alfred was small and used to look to him when he was scared or upset. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around Alfred, and this seemed to press Alfred forward. "I should have seen it earlier. I should have acted when I finally did see it ..."

"See what?" Arthur broke in, biting back an insult.

Alfred pulled himself back enough to look at Arthur in the eyes. " That … I love you". Without any warning, Alfred closed the distance and pressed his lips to Arthur's.

Arthur was shocked, but he he fought the feeling that told him to run for the hills down and allowed the other feelings, the ones he had kept secret for far too long, to surface. Once the initial shock had worn off, he smiled. Alfred pulled back, his eyes questioning. Arthur smiled and breathed 'you complete idiot' before initiating another kiss. It was slow and gentle, but filled with passion and emotions that words would never adequately come close to describing.

Arthur pulled him further into the house and closed the door with his foot. Alfred took him by surprise though and, wrapping his arms around Arthur's waist, lifted him and caused Arthur to shout out in surprise.

"Put me down you idiot".

'The insults return'. Alfred thought smugly. 'It was only a matter of time'.

"I wanna be your heroooo". Alfred sang.

Arthur stopped struggling and studied his face intently. "That was so incredibly cheesy". Arthur emphasised each individual word, especially 'cheesy', causing Alfred to beam.

"Complement accepted". Alfred said before throwing Arthur down on the sofa and, throwing his jacket away, climbing on top of him, his fingers on one hand entwining with Arthur's while his other hand brushing through Arthur's ash blonde hair. "The view's good". Arthur blushed deeply. "After all our arguing and fighting, after all the insults that have passed between us, you chose now to fall silent?"

Arthur closed his eyes and smiled. "I insult you all the time because I love you – twat". He chuckled with the insult that he added on the end of his explanation. Alfred laughed heartily before resting his head on Arthur's chest, pleased to hear how fast and hard it was beating.

"Well, doing a quick tally of how many times you have insulted me, you appear to like me a whole lot".

After some time laid with their legs tangled together, Arthur could no longer hold back the question he had been dying to ask. "Alfred, why the sudden change in heart?"

Alfred looked up. He thought about telling a half truth, but he scolded himself for such a thought. Arthur deserved better than that.

Climbing off Arthur, Alfred stood up and, on retrieving his discarded jacket, removed the framed photo from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to Arthur after hesitating for a moment while he was weighing up if Arthur should see it or not. Relenting, he handed it to Arthur. Arthur had followed him to his jacket, concerned at his sudden sombre attitude.

Arthur's face drained of all colour as his eyes fell on the picture on his hands. He looked up. "W-w–where did you get this?"

"I found it wrapped beneath my Christmas tree". Alfred replied honestly with a small, almost unnoticeable shrug of his shoulders. "Figured it was taken after I … left".

"Alfred, photographs were not around then".

"Then what …" Alfred asked confused. The it all made sense. "Oh, Arthur". Guilt ridden, he raced forward and embraced Arthur tightly. Arthur clung to him, tears streaming down his face. It was true that that was him after the American War of Independence, but it was not a photo of what he looked like after, but how he felt. How he had not just broken, but shattered in both heart and soul.

"You broke my heart when you left". Arthur choked into Alfred's shoulder. "I've nursed that pain for centuries".

"I'm back now". Alfred soothed as he fought tears of his own. Lips trembling, he whispered, 'never again', in Arthur's ear before kissing him again to seal it as a promise.

He would never leave the best thing to walk into his life again; no matter what.

End

A/N: Epic cheesiness. I'm sorry ^o^