The woman glanced up in surprise as Alfred asked for a man's wedding ring, and then smiled softly. "He's a lucky guy. How long have you been together?"

Of course, America couldn't answer that truthfully. Hell, he could barely pull off his current "legal age" of twenty five. Soon he'd have to start over again, and scrap his favorite identity for about twenty years.

"Five years. Officially three, but there was two years where it was on and off."

She smiled, pulling out the rings. "Well, look and see what you like."

Alfred gazed at the bands of metal. He and Kyle had promised to split paths in two separate cars and meet up for lunch. He hoped Kyle wouldn't come here and see him.

Officially, of course, they would never be married. At least not in any sort of way two nations married. But their governments couldn't stop the personifications from marrying using their human aliases.

He and Kyle had never felt the need. For one, they were still technically a young couple compared to the others. Of course, Europe was a mess of ex's and current and future partners. Meanwhile, Kyle and Alfred had both been separated from anyone they might be comfortable dating by oceans and mountains and continents.

But Alfred was ready to state to his president and his congress what he was. If they didn't like the answer of "raging homosexual", then they could all go and fuck themselves.

He finally picked a ring. It was a simple gold band, and the woman smiled.

"Wait, can I get this engraved?" He asked as she took it.

She nodded. "Yes. You can pick a font and type the message into a computer, and the engraving will be done in a few minutes."

Alfred nodded, and she showed him over to the machine as he typed in the phrase he wanted. She smiled when he showed her.

"He might laugh, but he'll love it."

"Yeah, he'd better!"

***

Kyle hated when he was flocked in a store like this. The second he spoke with his accent, it was like all the nearby women just gravitated towards him.

Finally, he shook his head as one woman expressed just how much she'd like him to take her home with him. "Look, lady, my boyfriend is the jealous type, and he doesn't believe in sharing."

That put an end to that, and he breathed in a sigh of relief as he looked over all the pieces of jewelry/adornments he could buy for said boyfriend.

The young man behind the counter glanced at him. "Can't decide?"

"Nothing seems to say 'I'm perfect for the person you love'." Kyle commented wryly. "It's hard to buy things for the man who has everything."

The man laughed. "Ah, one of those people. My dad was like that."

"What did your mom do?"

"Well, bought him more things that basically were useless. She always had a saying, though. 'If a man has everything, it means he has the person he loves the most too.'"

Kyle smiled. "Sounds like your mom was a pretty wise woman."

The man nodded, and then looked at Kyle. "So, you thinking about marrying your man?"

Kyle chuckled. "Yeah, if I can convince him."

"Wedding watch or ring?"

Kyle shrugged, and the man pulled out a pocket watch. Kyle blinked at it. It was old and clearly needed some polishing. He stepped over and glanced at it, and nearly laughed when he saw the name engraved in the lid.

The young man behind the counter smiled. "Did I chose a good one? A woman came in and sold this to us a few weeks ago. Normally, we won't buy things like these, especially when they've been personalized, but this was such an antique."

Kyle grinned. "It's perfect."

They discussed the price, and then Kyle paid up. He smiled as the man tucked the watch into a box.

"So, tell me... did the woman who sold this to you have a story behind it?"

The man smiled brightly before he began.

***

They met up at a restaurant, both grinning as the snow began to fall.

"So, presents found?"

"Indeed they are."

Alfred laughed, and Kyle grinned.