Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia (Usuk would already be canon if I did)

Hope you like my story :)

The loud ringing of the bell cut through the chaos of the hall. The remaining students quickly darted into their classrooms, emptying the busy corridors. Alfred stood, alone, looking down at the paper in his hands. He knew he probably should be a little more concerned that he was late, but he figured the teachers wouldn't be too angry with him. It was his first day, after all.

"Room 206," he muttered to himself, scanning the map of the school that Mattie had given him earlier that day. "206….where the hell is-"

He was abruptly cut off as someone rounded the corner in a blur, immediately crashing into him, sending Alfred toppling to the ground. He groaned a little, and started to say something, but the words died in his throat. He had looked to find whoever had collided with him practically laying on his chest, their eyes locked together. And man, were they green. Alfred could feel them piercing his, intent but not exactly cold either. Just...bright. He coughed a little, clearing his thoughts. The other student didn't move, still looking down at Alfred.

"...Do you think, you could maybe...get off me?" he asked, laughing a little. The blond boy turned scarlet, and seemed to snap back to reality, jumping off of him quickly. He hurried around, collecting the papers that he had been carrying, now strewn across the floor.

"S-sorry," he muttered, not looking at Alfred, "Didn't see you there." Alfred turned around, bending over to pick up some of the sheets.

He spoke cheerily, "Hey, no worries, I'm fine." He handed him the papers, and then stuck out his arm. "My name's Alfred, I just moved here." The boy across from him looked at his hand warily, then after deciding something, shook it firmly.

"Nice to meet you," he replied, having apparently recovered from their mishap. Alfred noticed his face for the first time, and was met by two gigantic bushy eyebrows, monopolizing his thin face. The other boy spoke with slight British accent. "I'm Arthur. Welcome to our school."

Alfred flashed him a grin, his teeth blindingly white. "Thanks!" he said enthusiastically, then frowned a little. "It's nice...just a little...confusing." Arthur chuckled softly.

"Yeah, I understand this must be a little overwhelming for you, the building is rather large." He paused for a moment, thinking, then a look of horror dawned on his face. "Oh, bloody hell, I am so late! Mrs. Shepard is going to kill me!" He fumbled with the pages in his hands, dropping half of them on the floor.

Alfred scooped them up quickly, then smiled again. "Hey, I have English with her next, too! Do you mind….?" He gestured down the hall, and Arthur blushed again, snatching the papers out of his hand.

"Of course not, but we have to hurry, its on the other side of the school." He started walking quickly down the hallway, and didn't turn around to see if Alfred was following. Of course he was, and he laughed a little before running to catch up.

Arthur sighed a little as he watched the teacher introduce Alfred to the class. He rested his head on his hand, doodling on his notebook. He had gotten over his initial embarrassment in the hallway, which had just been emphasized after his not-too-subtle staring. But honestly, he had caught more than a little by surprise, one minute sprinting through the school, the next straddling a stranger with the bluest eyes he had ever seen...He shook his head a little. He wasn't going to try to deny the fact that Alfred was attractive, okay, extremely so, but it wasn't a good idea for anyone if he started thinking like that, because at the end of the day, he was still Arthur, the school's favorite and full-time punching bag: the laughingstock. And, if he was judging based on the reactions of the girls in the class when they walked in, Alfred wasn't going to have any problems fitting in, or getting a girlfriend, for that matter.

Mrs. Shepard had finished her introduction, and motioned for him to take a seat, gesturing….right at him. Bloody hell. The entire room turned around to stare at him as Alfred made his way to the empty seat on his left, pausing to wink at a group of giggling girls. Arthur almost rolled his eyes, but settled for scoffing to himself. He's a complete idiot he mused. Hardly worth breaking your heart over. And if there was one thing that he learned, it was to never let yourself get attached or care too much. You only ended up getting hurt.

Alfred sat down, lounging carelessly in his seat, dropping his backpack under the table. Two girls sat in front of him, whispering furiously, staring at Arthur. Alfred looked at him with a grin, and pulled a binder out of his bag, taking out a pen. It was halfway through class when Arthur could actually make out what the girls in front of him were saying, and they didn't seem to try to be hiding it.

"Poor Alfred," one whispered, voice laced with fake sympathy. "I can't believe that Mrs. Shepard made him sit next to him." The other one nodded. "I know, right? I feel so bad. I would probably just die before I talked to that loser, I mean honestly, can you name one person who can actually stand him?"

Arthur could feel his face heating him up, and stared determinedly down at the table, scribbling furiously. He snuck a look at Alfred, who was sitting extremely still, his shoulders tensed. The girls just continued talking, either not realizing or simply not caring that they could hear every word of their conversation.

"Remember when James tripped him at lunch-" The blond girl cut her off, giggling. "Oh my god yes, that was hilarious, his lunch went everywhere." The other girl started laughing, even louder than her friend. "Yeah, and Freshman year, before homecoming…" That was apparently extremely funny, because they both starting laughing hysterically. Arthur, however, went completely white, and looked like he was about to throw up. Alfred, who had of course, heard their entire conversation, decided that was enough.

"Yeah, the look on his face was priceless. I can't believe he actually wrote that letter. Did he seriously believe that-" She stopped talking abruptly, and they both turned to face Alfred, who had just leaned over and tapped their table with his pen.

"Hey, sorry," he smiled, but Arthur could tell it was a little forced. The girls, however, did not seem to care, and giggled. "but do you think you could quiet down?" he continued, looking a little apologetic. "I am kinda trying to hear what the teacher is saying…"

They looked at each other and giggled some more, muttering apologies. The look on Alfred's face became serious, however, and they stopped laughing.

He continued, leaning forward even farther over the table and lowering his voice. "You really should be more careful what you say, you might end up spreading rumors that could hurt someone." Arthur gaped from behind him, but Alfred just kept talking. "You guys wouldn't want that, would you?" He winked playfully, but it was obvious that he wasn't joking. The girls looked at Arthur quickly, and nodded a little sheepishly, staring at Alfred as he leaned back again, then turned around again, giggling into their hands, but thankfully not saying anymore. Arthur was still dumbfounded, but thankfully remembered to close his mouth. It was probably the nicest thing anyone had done for him since he arrived at this infernal school, but the girls mostly just reminded him that this was never going to work. Not even as a friendship. He had gotten used to being by himself, and honestly, it was comforting. There was something safe about it, and it was the only way to prevent himself from getting hurt. So he pushed all thoughts of Alfred into the back of his mind and turned to him instead.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," he said icily. "I can take care of myself." He ignored Alfred's brief look of surprise, and didn't speak to him for the rest of class.

Alfred blinked owlishly through his glasses, staring at the doorway that Arthur had just stormed out of the moment the bell rang. He hoped he was alright. Those girls had said some pretty terrible things about him not five minutes ago. Still...he seemed pretty angry at him for stepping in, like he hadn't wanted him too. But who wouldn't do that, right? He tried to concentrate on the classroom numbers as he walked out of the english room and down the hall, but the image of Arthur's panicked face kept distracting him. And everytime he shook his head to get rid of it, he just saw a pair of bright green eyes instead. He almost ran into someone, and found himself staring at an almost perfect replica of himself. He broke into a grin.

"Mattie!" he shouted, wrapping an arm around him. The smaller boy just grimaced embarrassedly, struggling not to collapse under his brother's significant weight. It wasn't that Alfred was fat, he was just so strong, and he didn't realize it. It made for a dangerous combination. Other people stared amusedly at him, and they could hear a distinct, "Who's that guy with him?"

Alfred smiled down at Matthew. "See?" he said encouragingly. "People know who you are, I knew you were just exaggerating."

Matt rolled his eyes, and they had just reached their lockers when they heard someone else reply, "Yeah, I mean, I knew that Alfred just moved here, maybe he's new too?"

Alfred looked sheepishly at his brother, who just sighed and started to dial his locker combination, pulling out a few books after he had unlocked it.

"Come on," he said quietly, but Alfred knew that was just his normal volume. "I told everyone I would introduce you." He closed the door, revealing Arthur, who was standing at a locker not a few feet away. Alfred grinned, the sight of his classmate cursing at his lock as he struggled to open it demolishing any memories of him being unfriendly earlier. He walked over to him, and leaned up against the surrounding lockers.

"Hey," he said cheerfully, and grinned when the other boy jumped. "Sorry," he said, seemingly not at all affected by the other's glare. Arthur sighed and closed his locker.

"What do you want, Alfred," he said resignedly, already starting to walk away. Alfred just bounced in front of him, seemingly filled with constant, if not excessive, energy.

"Me and my little bro are heading to the library," he said, pulling Matthew from out of the crowd. "You feel like joining?" Arthur almost said yes, but then caught himself. What was he doing? Just keep your distance and he'll forget all about you, he reasoned to himself. He felt a pang of sadness, then quickly forced it down.

"No, I really don't. And I'd thank you to move out of my way, if you would be so kind." Alfred looked a little surprised, but then shrugged.

"Okay, maybe some other time then!" He walked away, practically dragging another boy that Arthur had never seen along with him. They did look remarkably similar, so perhaps they were related. He shrugged. It didn't matter, he wasn't going to talk to them again anyway. He tried not to be too disappointed by that.

When Alfred and Matthew walked into the library, the room was in a complete state of chaos. Matthew just walked in and sat down at a table, pulling out some of the books he brought. A short asian boy was sitting next to him, and he looked up and stared at Alfred.

"Hello," he said politely. "You must be Matthew-san's brother. My name is Kiku." Alfred stuck out his hand and shook Kiku's enthusiastically, completely unaware of how uncomfortable he was making him. Matthew sighed inwardly. Well, he supposed, I guess Alfred's obliviousness is just part of his charm. He stood up and cleared his throat.

"Um, excuse me, everyone." He paused, but no one seemed to notice. "Hey, guys…" Matthew groaned and went to sit down. Alfred grabbed him by the arm and hauled him back onto his feet.

"Oh come on, Mattie," he said, grinning. "Don't give up that easily!" Alfred coughed loudly, and everyone looked up. "Hey!" he said, not fazed by the gazes of everyone in the room. "I'm Matthew's brother, Alfred. I just moved here and this is my first day!" He grinned enthusiastically, and the others seemed a little stunned. One of them, a sunny looking brunette who was sitting next to a rather grumpy-looking one, smiled and waved to him.

"Hello!" he said back, matching Alfred's tone. "I'm Antonio, and this," he threw one arm around the boy on his right, and laughed when he protested and squirmed out of his grip, "is Lovino! He isn't usually so rude I promise." A few of the others snorted.

"Trust me," a blond sophomore with a subtle french accent said, "he is." Alfred just laughed loudly, clapping Kiku on the back, who was looking more and more unhappy with sitting next to him. "I'm Francis, by the way," the boy said flirtatiously, and Matthew rolled his eyes. Francis looked accusingly at him. "And you completely forgot to mention your handsome-tall-blond brother, mon ami."

He winked at Alfred, who just laughed again, this time hitting Francis on the shoulder, who winced and rubbed it tenderly. "Your friends are great, Matthew! I'm going to love it here!"

Gilbert, who was sitting near Antonio on the opposite side of the room, cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted over to them. "How can you say that if you haven't even met the most awesome one here yet!" When everyone just looked at him blankly, he threw his hands up into the air. "Uh, duh? Me!"

Francis rolled his eyes again, and Alfred noted that he seemed to have a habit of doing that. "Ignore him, " he said with a wave of his hands. "that bete German can't tell an eclair from a pancake." Alfred wasn't exactly sure that he knew what an eclair was either, but he decided to keep that to himself. "So…" he said, trying to think of something to talk about. "...do any of you guys play sports?"

Francis rolled his eyes (again) and examined his nails, and Kiku's shoulders spasmed in what appeared to be a shudder. Matthew's eyes lit up however, and he spoke proudly."Oh, yeah, you guys! Did I tell you that Alfred was the star quarterback in his old football team?"

Francis took a break from his preening to look at Alfred appraisingly, and even Kiku returned from whatever horrible memory he had been reliving. Emboldened by the fact that people were actually listening to him speak, Matthew continued.

"Oh, yeah, he was great! I went up to watch some of his games, he was terrific." He frowned a little, but continued. "I, uh, don't really know too much about football, but from what I could tell, he was the best one on the team. They won almost all of their games!"

A tall, strict looking blonde boy walked over to their table, and a much shorter boy trailed behind him happily. The taller one stuck out his hand. "My name is Ludwig," he said gruffly, shaking Alfred's firmly. "Matthew didn't tell us you played football."

Alfred lit up, happy to be talking about one of his favorite subjects. "Yup," he replied, punching Matthew "lightly" on the shoulder. "I was the team captain last year, too." Ludwig's eyebrows raised appreciatively, and they probably could have talked about it for the entire period had the brunette next to him not interrupted.

"Ve~," he said happily, "Alfred, if you're Matthew's brother, how come you didn't live with him before?" The table went silent, and they all looked around awkwardly. Well, everyone except Alfred.

"Ah, well you see, he's my half-brother, technically." He ruffled Matthew's hair. "But we don't really introduce ourselves like that, it makes it sound less real." Alfred shrugged. "I love him as my little brother, I really don't think our parents changes that."

The small Italian boy almost started crying, and lunged across the table so he could hug Alfred. "Awwwwww!" he cried. "That's so sweet!" He clung to him for a few more moments, then sat back in his chair. "I'm Feliciano, by the way," he added as an after thought.

Alfred laughed. "You seem like a very nice guy," he said, and Feliciano blushed. "Very sincere," he added thoughtfully. "Everyone here has been pretty nice, actually. Even Arthur-"

Francis cut him off, with raised eyebrows. "Wait," he said dramatically, "You can't possibly mean, Arthur Kirkland, could you?"

Matthew gasped. "Oh, is that who you were talking to in the hallway, Alfred?" His older brother nodded.

"I sit next to him in my English class, we kinda crashed into each other this morning in the hallway…"

Francis started laughing. "Oh, mon ami," he said. "I can't believe you were talking to Arthur Kirkland. Oh-ho, I hope you weren't too turned off by him that you want to move back now!" He wiped a few tears from his eyes, still chuckling to himself.

Alfred cocked his head to the side. "Why, what's so bad about Arthur?" Francis immediately stopped laughing at him, hand still raised to his eyes.

"You aren't serious, are you?" He looked at Alfred, and must have seen that he was, in fact, not kidding, because he continued. "He is probably the biggest joke in the entire school. He has zero friends, and its because literally no one likes him."

Alfred's eyes narrowed. "Okay, but why is that? He didn't seem so bad to me. He was pretty nice, actually."

Matthew raised his eyebrows. "I will believe that when I see it," he said. "And maybe not even then. He doesn't say a word to anyone, and if he does, it's usually just 'Get the bloody hell out of my way', or 'What are you looking at?' He really isn't that pleasant."

At this point, Alfred's eyebrows were furrowed in frustration and his mouth was pulled into a distinct frown. When he spoke, his words were laced with annoyance."Well, maybe that's because people aren't nice to him. I heard some girls talking about him earlier, something about homecoming…"

Francis grimaced. "Oh, I remember that," he said. "Honestly, I can't think of a time where someone had ever been more embarrassed. The whole school was there, and no one will ever let it go." He shrugged. "It probably wasn't that nice, but he was just so pathetic and uptight, it probably did him some good."

Alfred shook his head. "Well, obviously not! This all sounds really unfair to me…stuff like this never happened at my old school."

Francis just sighed. "Well," he said, not unkindly. "You're new here, and it probably seems very different...but really, it's not that bad." He waved his hand. "Really, Arthur's the only one who seems to be targeted, but he really is such a loser…"

Alfred put up a hand. "Hey, look, you seem like an okay person, but I really don't think you should say stuff like that. Arthur was pretty nice to me, people really shouldn't be so hard on him...or anyone for that matter. He definitely doesn't deserve the treatment he's getting."

Francis looked a little surprised, and spoke as if he was hurt. "Mon ami," he said primly. "I am just trying to help, you know. It probably isn't a good idea to try to befriend him...people might shun you too! Really, it's for your own good, otherwise what happened at homecoming-"

Francis was cut off by the sound of books dropping from a shelf behind them, and they all turned in time to see a shorter, blond figure rush out of the library.

"Oh god," Matthew said softly. "That wasn't…?" The question hung in the air, and Francis had the decency to look guilty.

Alfred, however, looked furious. He stood up and glared down at the french boy. "I am going to go see if he's alright. You," he pointed at Francis, "should apologize."

Francis looked scandalized. "I," he huffed, "am going to do no such…" he trailed off as Alfred jabbed a finger at him.

"Yes, you are," he said shortly, not allowing for argument. "You are going to tell him that you are sorry for what you said, and that you didn't mean it. By tomorrow." He turned away from him and spoke directly to Matthew. "I'll see you after lunch, okay?" His brother nodded and Alfred ran out of the room after Arthur.

Arthur ran from the room blindly, not really sure where he was going. He just knew that he couldn't stay in that library anymore, listening to what he knew everyone thought of him. He threw open a door and ran inside, throwing himself onto a collapsable chair. Tears streamed down his face and he mentally berated himself. You already knew that you were hated, he thought. Really, they had just been voicing what he had known for years. He really was uptight, and he did keep a distance from people, but it was a safe distance. He was comfortable in his isolation, honestly. At least, he thought he was. He angrily wiped the tears away from his eyes and laughed humorlessly. Since when did you get so emotional, he chided himself. Honestly, this is just embarrassing… He had reached his limit for today though, between the girls in English and Alfred...Oh gods, he thought, Alfred's still in the library, Francis is going to tell him...He sobbed again, then took deep breaths. So what? He was going to find out why you're such a joke anyway...why do you even care so much? He knew it was ridiculous, but he couldn't help himself. He had tried to pretend all day that he didn't, that he didn't care what Alfred thought, but images of him and his blue eyes had been nagging him for hours, always in the back of his mind. It wasn't like he was actually going to be 'your friend' anyway. Just get over it, he's not-

His thoughts were interrupted by shouting from the hall, and he froze, hoping no one would realize he was in here. Speaking of which, where was he, anyway?

"Arthur? Arthur!" The shouting became louder, until the door to the auditorium opened, the lights flickering on to reveal Arthur curled up in the seats of the audience, shoulders hunched over. Alfred walked down the aisle, sitting in the seat next to him. He reached over hesitantly, touching him on the shoulder. "Hey….Arthur?"

He turned around, glaring at him, and Alfred had the sudden urge to wipe the tears off his face. "What do you want," he asked shortly, but it sounded hollow even to himself.

Alfred just looked at him for a minute, and he stared straight back, refusing to look away. "I'm really sorry for today," he said finally, and Arthur was shocked to see that he really meant it. Alfred grabbed his arm, and looked him in the eye. "I'm really sorry that you heard all of that, but no one meant it, its not true-" But Arthur had already pulled his arm out of his grip, and stood up. Alfred realized, with a start, that he was shaking.

"You don't get it, do you?" he said, and he laughed bitterly. "That's exactly the problem. They mean everything they say, and why shouldn't they? You have only been here for a day, you don't know that it's all true." He spat the last word out. "Just stay away from me, Alfred, you'll be better off for it." His voice got quieter against his will, and he could feel his eyes welling up again. No, you're better than this, he thought, and he steeled himself. He took a deep breath, but still couldn't meet the other's eyes. "I want to be left alone. Just go." Alfred opened his mouth to protest, but Arthur cut him off. "Alfred, please. I really don't want to talk." He looked like he wanted to say more, but he just nodded instead, and bent over to pick something up.

"Here," he said, handing him a stack of books. "You dropped these in the library, and I figured you wanted them, so…" Arthur looked down and took them carefully out of his hands, staring at the cover, still not looking at him.

"Thanks," he said. Alfred nodded again, and turned around slowly to leave. He almost called out again, telling him that he didn't mean it, he wanted him to stay, but he couldn't force the words to come out. Besides, he thought after the other boy was gone, he probably didn't want to stay anyway...just forget all about this and move on. But as he watched the door to the auditorium close, he sighed. If only it were that easy.