Meet me halfway

England chuckles, nodding, "Alright, love. Would you like to grab a bite to eat then?" He smiles and says, "I wouldn't want to be accused of starving you, after all..." He squeezed her hand gently and watched for her response to his suggestion, "Or would you like to order in tonight? If you'd be more comfortable eating in the privacy of the hotel, then I completely understand." He nods as if to punctuate his admittance.

Her expression didn't show it but she turned pinkish when she remembered the hand thing. Oh well. Yao could let it pass if he didn't know about it. "Sure, that'd be lovely," she gave him a shy smile. Why was she being so shy about it?? "Well, umm...I'm not sure, actually. I'm fine with anything...unless you want to come over to my house to eat." Yao and the others wouldn't mind. As long as they didn't tell them anything.

[[Probably fried rice, some vegetables and a few meats.]

England's eyes lit up at the thought, "Sure, I'd love to visit your house love. Is there anything I need to know about Eastern traditions?" He asked, wanting to make a good first impression as her boyfriend. He'd met them all before, but never as one of their sibling's dates.

England nodded before pausing and asking, "Why not look him in the eyes?" He asked, confusion dawning on his face, "Isn't it a bit impolite not to look at him when he speaks?" England wonders at this; Are cultures really thta different around the world??

"Well, a little. We don't do so unless we're close to them or we're angry. It's usually considered a 'challenge of defiance' if you're looking at your superior like that. But Yao does it anyways. Even to our boss," she studied his face, but did not look into his eyes. "Don't worry about it too much. He won't get mad at you, at least, not when I invited you over," she hesitated for a second, and patted his shoulder.

England smiled and nodded, "I see... I'll try not to, but I might slip up..." He admitted, feeling a bit sheepish at the thought, "Shall we go then, love?" He asked, giving her hand another squeeze, "It's getting a little late and they're wonder where you are."

"Ah, don't worry about it too much! You'll be fine. Just...don't expect them to be on their best behavior like they might at a conference..." then again, they were usually like that. "I...told them I might be late coming home, actually." she shook her head. "But it's fine. Let's go now..." she opened the door a creak but then stopped. "...What'll we tell them?"

England thought for a moment before replying, "Well... we could always tell them the truth." He raised his eyebrows and gave her a sinister and mischievous smile. "I'm sure they'll be perfectly horrified." He teased lightly, laughing afterwards. He beamed at the girl, and deviousness in him he'd forgotten sparking.

"..." she raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching with a smirk. "Acceptance by horrifying, sounds reasonable," she teased back. "I'm sure they'll love it. Then shall we go?" Boy, would they be surprised. In an uproar, but not like they were going to protest...it was more like a crazy reaction they had. Either way, she couldn't want to see their reactions when they said they were dating.

England walked with Beijing, not stopping until they reached her home. "Well, I think you should knock, seeing as you're the one who lives here." He says softly, "I'm sure it's most reasonable, right?" He wondered out loud. He hoped he wasn't over stepping any boundaries by being here.

She inhaled and exhaled, giving him somewhat of a grimace before knocking on the door. Inside, someone was yelling. She winced a little at the loudness. "It's me, Yao!" she shouted back. She smiled sheepishly as she looked at England again. "Sorry," she said quietly. "That happens a lot." She bounced on her heels.

England gave her a dry chuckle and a sympathetic look. He reached over and briefly took her smaller hind in his own larger one, squeezing gently in reassurance before dropping it again. He waited patiently for someone to answer the door after whispering, "It's all right love. I can handle myself."

[[...wait. what...? I'm a little confused what that should mean...]

"..." she nodded a little, giving him a small smile in return. The door opened and Soo Young was about to say something, but he just stared at them. And then he grinned. He stepped aside to let them in. Ai looked at England kind of nervously, but shrugged. Please don't ask any questions tonight Soo-Young. As they walked past the Korean, she whispered into Kirkland's ear. "I don't know if you already know this but please try not to give Soo-Young anything to misinterpret...he tends to turn everything dirty."

England hides a discreet laugh as he hears Beijing's admittance about her brother and simply nods, "Alright love, I'll try not to." He looks around and greets Soo Young with a half-bow, "Good evening Mr. Soo Young.." He said, manners being as adequate as he could make them in this situation.

The Korean just nodded back at him.
"Um,wait here," she let go of England's hand and ran into the kitchen to tell the others. She came out a few seconds later. "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes, actually. So we still have some time. What do you propose we do until then?" her eyes kept going back to the Korean hanging around in the room somewhere.

England noticed her nervousness and reached out, taking her hand, "Calm down love, it's alright. I've met them before this you know." His eyes and smile were soft and warm, "We could go window shopping if you'd like." He was thinking of buying her some sort of present any how... a necklace perhaps.

"What? Oh. I know that, it's just," she kind of curtsied-shrugged, sheepishly. "Nnnhh, I don' want them to make this date awkward." Alright, maybe she was a little nervous, but for her that was something pretty common, especially since her family was a strange one. Except that she felt a little more differently right now about it because of him. "Sure, if you're fine with it. There's a marketplace nearby actually, but it's an open market...not a mall or anything. So technically, you'd have to window shop! Uh, if you want to go," she added. Stop getting so excited, she thought, embarassed. Maybe she should get him something...to mark the night.

He chuckled and nodded, offering the small girl his arm as they walked to the door. Once they were at the market place, he asked her, "Alright, what do you want to look at love?" His heart was thrumming in his cheest. Dammit... I'm getting so excited all over again. I need to stop...

She took his arm, but held it very loosely. Once they arrived, he turned to her. "...Well...maybe we should walk around a bit, and see what catches y--our eyes." she shifted her foot, drawing a half circle in the difrt. She noticed he looked kind of funny. "Erm, are you okay? Should we rest for a little?"

"No thank you, that's quite alright." He said, "I'm just a bit excited. Would I sound too terribly foolish if I told you I was looking forward to this date so much that I changed clothes several more times than any self-respecting man should have before I settled on one?" He asked, smiling sheepishly as he looked over at her. He breathed in a few deep breaths, trying to settle himself down. He didn't want to come on too strong or anything. That would be terrible. He was always so bad at either coming on too strong or not strong enough...

She sighed in relief. He had the same feeling. "If you're excited, that's understandable. I couldn't sleep that night we decided to meet up. And no...well, maybe, it does sound a little foolish but this is the first time we've really done anything outside of the conference rooms...we...want to make the best impressions possible, right?" she tilted her head, smiling shyly at him. "I..." she swallowed. Did she want to tell him about how much squealing she did over him? "Um, never mind...it's embarassing." She was blushing just thinking about it!

((Oh dear. I'm not being so 'sweet' now. I can't 'flirt' very well >_<]]

England chuckled and bumped her shoulder again, "Come on Bei, tell me." He smiled sweetly and squeezed her hand in his before loosening his grip again. He glanced over at her and saw her blush. Bloody hell she's so damn cute... I really want to kiss her... But I'm sure her culture is more conservative about such things... He gave her an encouraging look, attempting to get her to spill her embarrassing statement.

She jolted forward a bit, not expecting him to bump shoulders with her again. She jumped a little when he squeezed her hand. "..." she closed an eye, blushing even more. Why is this making me so squeamish now...? "...W...well, if you really want to know...I...spent a good amount of time before tonight..." she glanced at him for a second before continuing. "erm...'fangirling' about tonight." ...There...! I...said it...if he can say what he said...then I should be able to...too....

England chuckled softly before giving her a shy smile, "That's nothing to be embarrassed about love." Arthur's eyes softened, "After all, I changed my clothes more times than I can count, as I told you. I..." He paused, blushing, "I also practiced a bit in front of the mirror." He gave her a sheepish smile, "Not very manly, I know, but I was anxious and quite afraid you wouldn't like me." He admitted softly.