England had begun to notice it throughout America's house. Here and there, little things, nothing he'd usually attribute to anything more than yet another passing fascination... and yet.
America had always been that way on some level - no matter how often some (England himself included) accused America of being self-absorbed and fundamentally incurious, it could not be denied that he really did love to explore, to travel, to visit his friends and fill his house with souvenirs and gifts from their lands. Still, something was different about this, and it was becoming... noticeable.
He'd finally commented when a noren appeared in the doorway of the kitchen in his main home in Virginia, but America had insisted it was a gift -- what, like I'm not gonna put up a gift from my friend? -- but he'd made frustratingly little progress in uncovering the truth of what exactly was happening between his friends...
A part of him worried it might be one-sided, and that was the source of America's unwillingness to discuss his new decor and the all-around cageyness he lately seemed to have when it came to the subject of their friend in the East. It was hard not to feel bad for America, in that case... Stupid and shortsighted as he was, he was nothing if not earnest, and young at that, likely without much experience in having unrequited feelings for an important ally.
It wasn't until weeks later, when he was paying a visit to said ally, that he saw it -- the indication that this was something much more serious, much less one-sided than he'd imagined, and clearly it had been happening under all their noses!
There, among the sophisticated decor, the sleek, traditional design of Japan's home, hung unobtrusively and yet still standing in such stark contrast to the beautiful traditional art his friend usually hung in his home that it was almost as if he'd been slapped with it...