Wind howled through the trees with every blow, the soft whistling in time with the tune a small boy hummed as he kicked the stones on the floor with his feet. Hands buried deep in his pockets, his eyes were glued to the ground as he walked. He was far from lonely but today he was just not in the mood for games. In fact, he had his bright blue oceanic eyes set on another prize. Momentarily stopping from kicking the pebbles, he locked his eyes on the prize he was looking for. He had turned down various offers to approach this guy so he sincerely hoped it would be worth it.
Alfred had always dreamt of becoming friends with everybody in his class - the more the merrier as his mother says. The quiet boy buried in a book across the playground was one of the last to cross off his list. He'd heard he was a bit of a reject and didn't have any friends so Alfred had decided to take it upon himself to change that. Feeling particularly confident, he took his hands out of his pockets and strolled on over.
Looking at the book in front of him with a discontented sigh and turning each page slowly the blonde frowned and lazily looked over the large words that were printed on it's thin pages, not paying much attention to the book in front of him and seeing it more of a distraction than anything more. The weather had taken a turn for the worse lately and the warm winds had started to become bitter with cold as the signs of winter were starting to approach more and more quickly every day, making it less than desirable to sit outside. Not that Arthur had much of a choice. The noisy hustle and bustle of the warm lunchroom was not an option, especially with all of the other children from his class inside of it! None of them knew how to behave or speak any quieter than shouting - obviously their parents didn't teach them their proper manners just as his own did.
Shivering from the cold and pulling his jumper down below his palms in an attempt to savour some heat, Arthur quickly glanced up once he heard the noise of footsteps approaching, frowning as he saw another boy heading towards himself; quickly recognising it as one of the pupils from his class. Nobody had approached him before, most quickly lost interesting after the first day he moved to the school, writing Arthur off as uninteresting and dull. Unsure of how to react he quickly turned his attention back to the pages of the book and hoped that the odd boy would leave him alone.
Hands on his hips, Alfred grinned mischievously. He knew nobody had dared to speak to the quiet boy but that aside, he was more than happy to make his day by giving the almighty friendship of the one and only - Alfred F. Jones. Of course, the F standing for "Freedom", after all, he was born on the 4th of July, and not for something old and boring like "Franklin" as his mother told him. Alfred Franklin Jones sounded silly anyway, it was bad enough he was called "Alfred" - what an old-fashioned name. Why couldn't he have a cool name like some of the other boys in his class like Hunter or Joshua or something? But no, he was just plain old Alfred. At least "Al" sounded a little bit cool. Realising he was getting lost in his own thoughts, he turned his attention back to the green-eyed boy who seemed to have noticed him. He frowned when he saw him turn his attention back to the book in his hands. How could that stupid book be more interesting than him? His presence alone should have him fawning in his seat.
Alfred rooted for a sudden more childish turn in events. As he felt so betrayed by the literature in the small boy's hands, quickly, he swiped it from him and held it up so he could get a better look. Wanting to feel smart, he soon pulled a face at the words he didn't understand.
"What're you reading?" he asked slightly mockingly, spinning it around in his hands.
Blinking up in surprise as soon as the book was ever so rudely pulled out of his hands, Arthur scowled and looked up to the blond in front of him. Standing up from the bench he was happy to find he was ever so slightly taller than the boy in front of him, surely that meant he was more important and had more authority therefore should be respected. His brothers always told him that. "You have to respect your elders" And elders meant being taller of course, adults were always taller than him! Especially his father, Arthur hoped he would be as tall as his father one day. Overall it made a lot of sense to Arthur and he was happy that he was able to understand the way his elder brothers spoke, and a sense of achievement was strongly inside of him.
But more importantly whoever this person was they had no right to just snatch his property away from him like that! Didn't anybody tell him that it was rude to act like that?
"H-Hey! Give that back, it's mine!" he frowned seeing no reason to reply to the other boys question, if he was going to act so rudely towards Arthur then he wouldn't dignify him with a response.
"So what?" he responded with a scowl. Who did this kid think he was? Did he even know who he was talking to? How dare he. Looking back at him, he felt slightly intimidated by the boy's height. That didn't seem to halt him though, after all, there was other big kids in his class and he didn't feel intimidated by them so there was no reason to be scared, right Alfred? "Sharing is caring!" He spat this at him; beginning to panic.
Alfred was a loss of what else he could say. He was starting to get distracted by those large eyebrows on his face anyway. Jeez, they were like dead caterpillars on his face - awful! He couldn't help but screw up his face as he attempted to resist a laugh. Yes, thinking about those gigantic monsters on his face was easing the situation for him. Laughing a little, he threw the book back at the blonde boy. "Whatever, it's probably some stupid book anyways,"
Clumsily catching the book as it was suddenly thrown back at him, Arthur held it against his chest tightly so that the other wouldn't be able to take it away again. There was no way he was going to trust him now, not after he had almost stolen his book! Thieves where not to be trusted that was something that he was certain of.
Arthur didn't seem to be able to wipe the scowl from his face as soon as he noticed the boy in front of him was stifling a rather obvious laugh not bothering to turn away or cover up his grin. What was he laughing at anyway?
"It's not a stupid book! You wouldn't understand it anyway..." He paused unsure of what else to say before quickly adding onto his comment "It's for... smart people!" He made sure to put emphasis on the words smart, getting gradually more and more annoyed by the rude Americans presence. Why did he approach him in the first place?!
Alfred frowned. Did he just call him dumb? He most certainly was not dumb at all, no way, he was totally the smartest kid on the block and if was going to battle him in a battle of wits he would most definitely win! See look, he did know smart words. Plus, there was always the fact he was a proud American and nothing said America better than freedom and intelligence. He had both! Well, that and perhaps burgers. Now he was getting hungry thinking about food. Judging from the other boy's accent he clearly wasn't American at all, teacher did say he was from some other country but what did other countries matter anyway? No country was better than good ol' United States in Alfred's opinion.
"I'm smart!" he quickly protested, pointing to himself by banging his fist lightly on his chest and leaning towards him. "If anyone is stupid it's you! Everybody knows the books with pictures are the best," Of course, he meant comic books - the ones with superheroes were the best. He was going to be a comic book artist when he grew up anyway, it was guaranteed!
Arthur almost scoffed at the others words. He wasn't exactly sure what he meant by "books with pictures" but if he had any clue to what the blond was talking about, it was probably those silly comic books Arthur often saw the other children from his class reading. There was definitely nothing smart about that! He himself had tried to read one of them before, and a lot of the women inside of the comics almost had almost no clothing on! That was definitely indecent, but maybe that's why they liked looking at those books... Arthur didn't understand the fascination in it, there was nothing better than a proper book! Nothing like those stupid comic books with half naked women inside of them.
"I am not stupid!" He clutched the book tighter to his chest getting frustrated at the conversation and feeling the pages bend against his fingertips. "There's nothing stupid about reading books! Those comic books are just silly... They aren't even real!"
He ended up folding his arms as the other boy spoke. Somehow he'd gone into that mode where everything the other boy said sounded like "blah blah blah I'm a stupid foreign boy I don't know anything because I'm not American". Deep in his gut somewhere he sort of liked the other kid, he hadn't had this sort of conflict for a long time. Other children in his class tended to kiss the ground he walked on - he was popular after all even if he was little bit chubby and short but he was cute! (That's what the girls said anyway before squealing something about cooties and running away. Girls were weird.) Even if he looked easy to bully, he liked to think he had quite the fist on him, that's what the other kids got if they picked on his brother anyway. He knew this blonde boy had gone too far when he had started insulting his precious comic books. He had stepped one step too many over the line.
"Comic books aren't silly! They're totally real!" he yelled at him, feeling slightly insulted and tears beginning to prick at the edges of his eyes. He didn't like to think about the fact he was a bit of a cry baby; how uncool. Desperately he wiped at his eyes during the battle he was beginning to lose. "Superman would hate you! Non-believer!"
Arthur faltered as soon as tears pricked at the edges of the American's eyes slightly taken aback by his sudden angered tone - even if he had deserved it for stealing his book, it still didn't seem right! It did not seem okay to make another person cry, he knew his parents would certainly agree with that... but there was no way Arthur was going to forgive the other boy so quickly! The American shouldn't of insulted his book and tried to take it away from him if he hadn't wanted Arthur to yell at him as well, especially since Arthur had been right all along. The person who should be apologising was him, but Arthur was not stupid and knew the other boy was much too stubborn to apologize.
"Superheroes can't be real! My brothers told me that things in comics aren't real and they wouldn't be wrong! Older people are always right, the people on TV are always right, and they're older." he insisted, smiling somewhat arrogantly that he had such a clear and completely factual reason behind his statement. There was no way the American could disagree with that.
"Well what if that's what adults want you to believe?! Superheroes don't go around telling people they're superheroes stupid!" he exclaimed, defending his comic books desperately. There was no way superheroes aren't real. Feeling personally offended, he decided to take things one little bit further. "What would you know anyway? You're not even American! This is America! You shouldn't even be here you stupid-head! Go home!"
He didn't intend to hurt the boy but things were getting a little more heated now and he wanted him to feel just as offended as he was when he made fun of his comic books and had the audacity to say superheroes didn't exist. It was just a harmless argument right? So long as nobody else intervened it'd be fine in the end and all over a stupid book that got all of his attention. Alfred supposed that maybe he couldn't be friends with everybody but he was more than persistent to make him his friend now they had argued.
"I-" Arthur paused. Even though the prospect of superheroes being real was obviously stupid. (The blond was silly for thinking such things were real, the only stories that were real where things like Sherlock Holmes, he had to be real with all of the books that had been written about him. Not that Arthur had read them personally, the big words inside of the heavy books that lined his mothers shelves and other rooms inside of their house confused Arthur to no end.) But... it did almost make sense and he almost found himself believing what the American was saying until he shot out another few comments at Arthur that were seemingly unnecessary not to mention extremely rude!
"It... It doesn't matter if I'm not American! Americans are stupid anyway... and If I could go home I would! I don't even want to talk about comic books with you!" He frowned and looked towards the floor glancing across his and the other shoes, he hadn't wanted to come to America with his parents but there had been little choice in the matter. Arthur had desperately begged his Father to allow him to stay with his Grandma in England, but the same answer had constantly been thrown back at him, never changing in the sightless and being a constant disappointment. "Your home is where your family is Arthur, we're your family and you are coming with us. You, your brothers and your mother. No questions asked" his father was a strict man of which Arthur knew not to question once he had made a clear point but it didn't seem fair.
"Yeah! Well!" Alfred was now beginning to stutter. He was beginning to lose everything he built up to say and argue. His hands curled into fists and his stubby nails cut into his palms. If he wanted to go home so badly why didn't he? He didn't even like America and nobody who disliked the States should be allowed in them in his book. His mother had always said that or something like that. She was a strong patriot and the bravest woman in his book. Alfred didn't see why she couldn't be a superhero (in fact, maybe she was?) "America is the best country so suck it!"
He becoming more and more aware of how immature he was being but it was completely necessary. Had he not said anything about his comic books being stupid they would have never got into this mess. He wondered if he hated him. Hate was a pretty strong word. Bravely, he spoke up again. "What's your name anyway? Else I'm gonna have to keep calling you stupid-head,"
Deciding to ignore his comment on how America was the best country when it obviously wasn't Arthur just sighed, There just seems to be no reasoning him! He would have to try and convince the blonde otherwise that infact there were better countries than America. England being one of them, perhaps the only one. That is, if the two ever spoke again... Not that he wanted to, the American was just ignorant and plain annoying! But Arthur knew his thoughts were a little bit foolish. Honestly it was both of their faults that they had gotten into this argument but he wasn't going to admit that anytime soon. Slightly apprehensive about answering his question for a reason Arthur was unsure of, he decided to just tell the boy his name.
"It's Arthur.. But I'm only telling you so you'll tell me your name! And I'm not a stupid-head.. Don't call me that, or i'll call your picture books silly again." He almost pouted and looked back up the other. Honestly being intrigued to what the boy was called, maybe something stupid like Rusty. Americans seemed to have funny names for each other. If he had a name like that Arthur doubted he would be able to hold back his laughter.
Ah, Arthur huh? At least they was in the same boat now with stupid old names. He almost didn't want to tell him his name in case he laughed at him but what was the chances when he had a stupid name himself? Art sounded like a weird nickname so he took it upon himself to find a better suitable nickname for him since Arthur was so boring.
"Okay Artie. My name is Alfred but you can call me Al," he told him, wiping away any remaining tears in his eyes and grinning. He managed to loosen his grip in his fist and put his hand out since that what his mother always told him was polite to do when you meet someone for the first time. Although, he guessed it wasn't very polite of him to steal his book without putting his hand out to shake first. "You're still a stupid-head but whatever,"
Alfred. It seemed to instantly remind him of a story his mother had once told him about "Alfred the Great" who was a great king of England a very long time ago, but Arthur didn't want the American to become even more egoist therefore deciding to withhold this information. Being compared to someone with "Great" in their title would definitely boast Alfred's ego and that was something Arthur would like to avoid at all costs. Although he was ever so slightly pleased to notice the blond had gotten over being upset so quickly, a little bit too quickly. But nethertheless...
"You'll call me Arthur" he reaffirmed, not liking the shortening of his name. It seemed improper.
"And I'll call you Alfred..." They didn't seem to be close enough to use nicknames yet, nicknames should only be for best friends and family. And the two of them were nowhere near that. Looking down at Alfred's hand he blinked in confusion for a second then noticed the boy expected him to shake his hand, awkwardly returning the gesture Arthur hesitantly grabbed Alfred's hand. Unsure of how to do it properly, nobody had told him how to shake hands before. He felt foolish for not knowing how to such a simple action.
He shook his hand vigorously. He wasn't sure if he was just warm but Arthur's hand seemed rather cold against his own. Cold hands, warm heart they say. Did that mean he had a cold heart if he had warm hands? He hoped it didn't work like that, he liked to think he was a nice person aside from the fact he pinched others books from people - that was completely acceptable in his eyes though. The other kids seemed to think he was great, the teachers not so much. He wasn't the smartest kid in his class but he didn't think he was stupid either; not like Arthur implied because he was simply American. Now they'd shook hands, he wondered if that patched up any hurt feelings. Somehow, he doubted it.
"Whatever you say Artie," he said carelessly, not caring much for using his full name. He would prefer it if he had shortened his name but there was no use arguing about it.
Arthur just furrowed his brows at Alfred's use of his shortened name, there didn't seem to be a way to convince him otherwise. Shaking his hand in return with an improved vigor - it was actually quite fun. And maybe getting a little bit carried away Arthur eventually let go of Alfred's hand, bringing it back up to his chest to clutch onto the book. It was surprising how warm Alfred's hand had been compared to his own, then again he had always had cold hands. Not that he knew why, after asking his mother that very question Arthur hadn't received much in reply. There was probably nothing to worry about and the thought was quickly out of his mind, marking it down as unimportant.
"It's Arthur.." He sighed but held little anger behind the statement, the entire mood seemed to have became more light hearted and any negatives feelings were currently left behind. For now at least. He had no doubt that the two of them would have their fights in the future..
"Artie," he responded with a little chime in his voice and using that same boyish charm. He resumed back to his grinning and was happy with the fact that the tension had settled down. No longer did he feel the need to cry; he hated that anyway. It was an awful feeling when you could feel the tears choking you in your throat. He hated that he cried over stupid things, Matt always said that if you cry too much then all of your tears will float away and you won't have any left for when you really need to cry. He never knew where his brother heard these things but it did seem scary after all. He didn't want to use up all his tears. Thinking about it sort of made him upset so he stopped and looked back at Arthur instead. Seeing those bushy eyebrows only made him want to giggle again.
All of the negativity seemed to have gone now. He thought that maybe they could be friends now their argument was over. Even if it was only a short one. Maybe Arthur felt the same way? Feeling it necessary, Alfred decided to apologise. That's what the adults would want. "Sorry about snatching your book," He choked out the most sincerity he could.
Arthur just groaned lightly in reluctance seeing as Alfred wasn't going to stop calling him by that ridiculous nickname, the only reason he didn't want to be called by such a name was because it sounded childish. And no matter how old he was, Arthur hated to be considered childish. He couldn't wait until he was older in a sense, then people would take him more seriously, mostly his brothers. They always seemed to pick on him and using the fact he was younger as an excuse! Which was completely unfair, it wasn't his fault he was younger... even though adults and older brothers were meant to be smart, they didn't act so intelligent sometimes. Arthur had once seen a tv show where two adults had accidently made a baby, he didn't understand how babies were made... but surely you can't make one by accident! Adults could be so silly.
Breaking out of his thought and noticing Alfred had apologised for his actions, he felt a small sense of embarrassment that he hadn't been the one to apologize first. That was definitely the adult thing to do, and he was meant to be the mature one! He was taller, therefore the most mature.
"I'm sorry I called your picture books stupid then.." He sighed and tried to put a sincere tone in his voice as well seeing as Alfred had done the same, but his just didn't sound as convincing as Alfred's. He wasn't sure why.
"They aren't silly," he mumbled but not loud enough for Arthur to hear him. He appreciated the apology so he figured that he must of appreciated his too. Burying his hands back in his pockets, he kept up his smile. Now he was left with nothing more to say. An awkward silence grew between them as the wind continued to breeze through their hair and howl through the gaps in the leaves of the trees. Suddenly, a familiar ringing broke the silence and blocked out the sound of the howling trees.
Saved by the bell was a saying that was fitting in this situation. Alfred looked up at Arthur as the noise filled the playground. With a cheeky grin he figured out just what to say; "See ya around Artie,"
Waving to Alfred half-heartedly as he started to walk off Arthur decided to send him a small smile in return before he left; unsure of how else to say goodbye and still feeling slightly confused by the events that had just occurred. There was no doubt he would end up seeing Alfred again, he had at least a couple of classes with the American, he was sure of it. Slowly walking across the playground and back to the main building whilst attempting to avoid the other hectic children who ran across the stretch of gravel, seemingly not caring if they walked into Arthur or not as several of them clipped his shoulder as they walked past; not even stopping to apologize or glance in his direction. He was left to deal with his own thoughts, the walk to his next class wasn't a long one yet it gave him enough time to think about what had just happened.
"See you around.." He muttered pulling down his sleeves to the bottom of his palms once again, walking through the cold playground and wondering if things would be any different from now on.
Alfred didn't stop coming to bother Arthur every break. Whilst they hit a rough start, he found himself coming more and more attached to the taller boy. His other friends didn't seem to like it much but he didn't seem to care. Progressively he grew a little more interested in the books he read and the things he liked to do at home although Arthur didn't grow any more fond of the "Artie" nickname he had been given. Their acquaintanceship progressed into friendship and somehow Alfred found himself spending breaktime sat on that bench beside him and sharing lunch with him.
Perhaps approaching him had been a good idea after all. Maybe they'd be friends for a month or two, maybe a year. Or perhaps they would be friends for a long time, who knew? The future had always been full of secrets.