#albgusta

Albany choked, slamming his coffee mug onto the small table sitting in their kitchen. “NYC, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Don’t avoid the question, Albany. When do you plan on confessing?” The taller boy slid into the seat across from his now bright red brother.

“There is absolutely nothing to confess.”

“Then why are you blushing?”

“I’m not,” Albany grimaced, “I’m just annoyed by the thought of him. Do you realize how many important documents he’s either lost or forgotten? How little he pays attention during meetings-“

“You pay a lot of attention to someone who apparently annoys you.” NYC smirked, relishing in the glare his brother sent him.

“He literally plays videos and music, without headphones mind you. Not to mention he’ll face time with Portland. For someone so quiet, those stupid videos are extremely loud. The only thing I’ve ever hard that is louder is his stupidly cute laugh.” Albany ranted, missing the laugh NYC forced himself to swallow.

“His…what, Albany?”

“What? He’s disruptive with his stupid phone! Were you not listening?” With that, NYC felt something inside snap a bit.

“You literally just called his laugh ‘cute’!” A twitch found its way to his eye. “You sit here and rant and rant about Augusta and all these little details that no one, and I mean no one, else notice!Boston has explicitly stated that Augusta is basically silent during meetings, yet he’s a huge distraction to you! An you unintentionally compliment him every fucking time you rant about him! And you rant about him all the damn time! Can you please just admit you have feelings for him? New York already knows I have feelings for Boston! He won’t say anything about you feelings for Augusta!” NYC took a deep breath, turning to look out over the city, ignoring Albany’s upset look.

For an hour the two stayed quietly in the kitchen, NYC moving to make them breakfast. New York wasn’t going to be home for a couple more days at the very least but he’d know if they skipped any meals. Finally, a shaky breath broke the tense atmosphere.

“He hates me, you realize that, right? Augusta, I mean.” NYC glanced up from his omelette in surprise. This was the first time he had ever heard Albany willingly talk about Augusta without ranting. “I’ve seen him send glares my way during meetings for no reason. If I approach him, for any reason, he audibly groans and grumbles until I leave him be. Before you say that he does that to everyone, he normally just sits there with a blank expression until they go away. I’m the only one he treats like this.” Albany began to shake slightly, tears welling up as he stared at his coffee.

“You…you’ve never mentioned that before. I’m sorry for pushing, Albany. Here I was, thinking it was due to pressure from New York.”

“It…it’s fine, really. If…if I was more confident and he hated me less, then I’d take your advice and confess. Sadly, I just don’t see that happening. So for now, best to just pretend like what I feel simply isn’t real. It makes it less painful than facing the truth.”

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“So, when do you plan if confessin’ to Albany?” Portland leaned on the doorway, staring into the dark abyss that was his brother’s room.

“Never.” Was the muffled reply.

“Augusta, listen closely.” Portland sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I know he’s from away but seriously? So’s New Hampshire, yet Maine acknowledges her feelings for him. Would you rather pretend to hate Albany forever? I’ve seen how he acts around you and how he acts when you avoid him. Just give things a chance.” With that, Portland pushed himself off the frame, walking back into the hallway.

“Yeah, yeah…” Augusta muttered, rolling over to face his star covered ceiling. To be perfectly honest, as much as he wanted to confess, he had no idea how. Flowers and chocolate? Nah, too cliche. A gift? What would Albany even like? Probably something expensive. For hour, at least, Augusta laid there, trying to come up with some sort of idea. Slowly, his eyelids began to droop shut once more, the warmth of his bed drawing him back to sleep. Thump.

A sudden weight lengthwise across his legs woke him right back up. Augusta sat up, sending his older brother the dirtiest look he could manage. Portland merely smiled in return, moving to sit up, both so that his wasn’t pinning Augusta down and so that there were no longer knees in his stomach. Neither one felt the need to break the silence between them.

“You could just walk up and tell him.”

“Or I could just throw myself off a building.”

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The next capital meeting was absolute chaos. It seemed like anything and everything had gone wrong for the 51 capitals. The snowstorm had been the final straw, keeping all the capitals not used to it away and causing those who were used to it to complain. Finally, D.C. choose to abandon the effort and let everyone leave.

Albany had barely gotten his papers into his bag when he felt someone yank his arm. Glancing over, he was shocked to see Augusta, the normally reserve capital of Maine, holding onto him, motioning for him to follow. If it had ben anyone else, Albany would’ve told them to leave him be. Yet here he sat, across a small table from his longtime crush, sipping on a small cup of coffee. Augusta had not spoken a word beyond ordering, choosing to instead watch passerby out the window.

“Well, this has certainly been interesting but I should be-“

“Can you stay for a moment longer?” A pause. “I am really trying, I’m just not a huge talker. Sorry.” The more soft tone caused Albany to pause before sitting down. Not once had Augusta really spoken directly to him. And he never expected it to be in such a nice, calming voice.

“Is everything alright? I’ve never seen you act like this.” He really hoped Augusta would answer, if only so he could hear his voice just a little more.

“I’m fine. Hey, what’s your fantasy?”

“I would have to say to be kissed in the rain-.”

“Dude, do you fuckin’ wanna get sick? ‘Cause that’s how you get sick.” Augusta made a grossed-out face. Albany knew the other boy wasn’t trying to be insulting but he still found it hard to hold back his own fight worthy comment. He blamed New York and NYC.

“Alright, what’s your’s, asshole?:

“Easy,” Albany was surprised to hear an actual answer. “to throw an angry moose in Masshole’s face. Duh.” Or maybe not.

“…You mean Mass and not Boston, right?” If he meant Boston and NYC found out…

“…Yes?”

“You hesitated.” He really didn’t need his brother murdering his crush. Albany moved to run his hands down his face, keeping them folded in front of his mouth.

“No, ‘m just confused. Boston is masshole-ette, not masshole. Shocked you didn’t know that.” Albany couldn’t tell if that logic was good or bad. He decided on ‘goodish’.

“….Moving on…Are all your fantasies about hurting people?” He hoped not.

“No, just most. Curling up by a fireplace in winter with hot chocolate and snuggling is one too. And you won’t get sick there! It’s perfect.” It took both boys a minute to process what Augusta had just implied, both sets of eyes widening. “Wait, shit. Nope, not how that was supposed to come out. Welp, I’m out.” With that, Augusta gave the table a shove, sliding his chair out and almost running for the door. For a moment, Albany just watched the other capital flee before his mind caught up to the situation. Tossing some cash onto the table, he chased after Augusta, finally catching up to him right inside a park, gripping his arm tightly.