The Art of Holding Hands
There's probably going to be quite a few fics like this, so here's my version. I hope you like it because it took a lot if time out of my gift fic schedule. Enjoy~ Please note that this probably isn't my best, but I liked the concept, so I wrote it.
Arthur ducked below a fist aimed for his head. It wasn't the first time he and he American jock had gotten into a fight and when Alfred got to blows, he was highly predictable.
"Seriously, I don't understand why you keep trying, love. Surely you know you can't hit me," the Brit taunted.
Alfred laughed, attempting to knee the older student's stomach. Arthur dodged again.
"Come on, fag. Not my fault you take fucking dance class!"
"I'm not a cigarette, golden boy," he spat, venom dripping from his tone. He may have been from across the pond, but during his stay in America, had acquainted himself with the slang.
With this, he landed a kick to the boy's cheek. "And capoeira is not dance class, ignorant wanker!"
Alfred's fingers dug into the Brit's hair and yanked hard, illiciting a scream from him.
"At least I'm not 'wanking off' to pictures of other guys!"
The Brit was thrown into a nearby locker. Satisfied with his victory, Alfred started to walk off before a fist collided with his jaw.
"You can't beat me that easily, golden boy!" Arthur counted, spitting the name like bile.
Alfred elbowed the British student in the gut, forcing him to double over. Enraged, Arthur landed a kick to the other boy's lower leg, forcing him to his knees.
"Damn queer," Alfred muttered before punching Arthur in the groin.
The Brit let out a cry of pain, dropping to his knees as well.
"Git! Unlike you, I need those!"
The American tackled the shorter boy, forcing his back to the ground. The two rolled around and tussled for a bit. Arthur's nose was bloodied and both boys bore several bruises on nearly every bit of exposed flesh. It got to be so ugly that many if the spectators, just expecting to watch the English boy get beat up ended up abandoning the scene, fearing that they may get in trouble.
It took Mr. Beilshmidt, the German language teacher, a considerable amount of force just to pry the warring boys away from each other. He held the both of them up by the collars of their shirts, like a mother cat would her kittens, and looked them stern in the eye.
"The two of you are going to Principal Vargas' office. Now!" he demanded, letting both of them go.
"Yes, sir," the both said simultaneously as they brushed the dust off their shirts.
•••
The principal looked over the two boys before him, looking over the incident report.
"Fighting. Slander. Bullying. These aren't minor charges, you two. Arthur, one of the best students in the entire school, seemingly so college-bound and Alfred, our greatest athlete and a near shoo-in for a scholarship, I really don't want to suspend you two boys."
Arthur's face ran sheet-white. "S-suspension! Principal Vargas, you can't! I'm an exchange student! If I get suspended, I'll never get into college back home! Please, I'll do anything!"
Alfred rolled his eyes. He'd never been suspended before, but Gilbert had (much to the dismay of his older brother, the teacher that broke up the fight) and he said it wasn't that bad. The kid hated school and suspension was just doing whatever the hell you wanted and then getting to skip out on the boring parts.
"I was just getting to that, Arthur. You see, the great state if Arizona allows me to issue corporal punishment, so, I'm giving you a choice: be suspended for three weeks or hold hands in the lobby all day tomorrow. I believe Arthur has made his choice quite clear. Alfred?"
Principal Vargas raised his eyebrows at the blonde in question.
"No way! I'm not holding hands with the homo!" Alfred objected.
"Need I remind you that during your suspension, you will not be allowed to participate in interscholastic sports or attend their games. And that word should not be used on school grounds."
"B-but Roma," the jocks had a habit of addressing the principal by his first name, "that's homecoming! And the championship! You can't do that to me! It's the most important game! If I miss it our team is screwed twice over!"
"Your choice, Alfred."
The jock groaned. "Fine. I'll hold hands with the queer! Happy!?"
"Alfred, slurs aren't allowed on school grounds! You two are dismissed."
Both boys got up from their seats and started to head to their classes. Alfred gave Arthur a gruff shove.
"Just so you know, this is your fucking fault, fag!"
"Alfred, it's just one day. The worst that'll happen is we miss the work for the day and have to make it up. And honestly, it's holding hands or no homecoming and no championship. It'll be over before you know it. You'll see."
"Of course you're okay with it," Alfred groaned, "You've probably wanted to hold my fucking hand forever, you damn pussy."
"And that's why it was you who pushed me down during the fight?"
"Hey!" Alfred protested, "Say shit like that again and the next fight won't happen on school grounds and Mr. fucking Beilshmidt won't be able to save your sorry ass. Now go to class, bitch."
Arthur was given another gruff shove into his locker before walking off.
•••
The next day, the two boys were instructed to arrive five minutes early to begin their unusual punishment.
"Now, you two are going to sit in this chair and hold hands for the rest of the school day. You are not allowed to speak or otherwise react to those around you, only to each other. Do I make this clear?" Roma asked with a scrutinising eye.
"Yes, sir," Arthur responded, looking distant.
"Alfred?" he asked.
"Y-yeah, Roma. It's clear," he muttered.
As soon as both boys did as they were told, the principal left.
"I can't believe I have to embarrass myself this way!" the American groaned as soon as the Principal was out of earshot.
"Oh shut up, it's your fault, git!" Arthur muttered in response.
"No way, it's whoever snitched on us that got us in this fucking mess!"
That was unusual. Alfred hardly ever missed a beat, yet he was making up facts.
"Alfred, no one 'snitched' as you so eloquently put it, we were caught by Mr. Beilshmidt. Are... you okay?"
"What do you care, queer?" he but defensively, but with much less venom than before.
As Arthur was about to respond, the door flew open. Gilbert entered the lobby and just stared at his friend.
"Wow, Alfred. What the fuck happened?" the brutish German asked.
Alfred just kept his sky blue eyes trained on the ground.
"Seriously, I thought we hated the homo!"
The American didn't even look up.
"Don't tell me your a fag too!"
The blonde jock buried his face in the crook of his elbow.
As more of Alfred's friends flooded into the lobby, he was faced with more slurs and slander. Arthur couldn't believe exactly how cruel Alfred's so-called friends could be. Poor boy. Part of him was glad he had little friends to deal out this type of cruelty.
•••
As soon as the other students had left for homeroom, Arthur heard a quiet sobbing coming from next to him.
"Hurts, doesn't it, Alfred?" he asked.
"It shouldn't hurt if it's true," he said between sobs.
The Brit used his free hand to give a hug to Alfred.
"It hurts more when you don't have a hand to hold," he comforted.
The American jock muttered something incomprehensible.
"What was that?"
"I can't tell them I'm bi."
"Alfred?"
"I just kept teasing you because I... I didn't want them to figure it out."
"After it's all over, do you maybe want to talk about it over a coffee?"
Alfred smiled and nodded.
This story was based off an actual punishment given to two students in Arizona after a brawl. Their punishment lasted about an hour and is highly controversial. I was reading about it on tumblr while looking at some USUK fanart based off it. What do you think of the punishment? The article is found here: (just remove the spaces) gawker 5964572/ arizona-school-criticized-for-giving-students-choice-between-suspension-and-holding-hands Drop me a review, loves!
Oh, and a huge shout out to Natsume Hotaru, my epic editor, for giving me the title free of charge!