Arthur was usually a professional man. He would do his job with people he hated, and people he loved, treating them all equally. He never really went on vacation either. He stayed home and enjoyed the quiet serenity of his alone time. Of course his cat was the only other living being he would allow to accompany him on these days. Usually the only noises in his home at these times would be birds and cars from the open window in the front room, a tea either boiling or whistling and very rarely he might have the radio or the television on. Arthur didn't need anyone. That's what he told himself everyday. He was absolutely fine being alone. In fact, he liked it better that way. And that's exactly what he told the small child on his porch, slamming the door in his small face.

"But wait-!"

"Nope. Thank you for the visit Peter!" He yelled through the door at the child who had, for the third time that afternoon, tried to sell him popcorn for his boy scout troop.

He heard a sigh through the wooden door and the crinkling of the bags as Peter picked them up and began to walk away. Guilt stabbed at his heart. He wasn't too hard on the boy was he? He heard a small hiccup and a sniff along with footsteps going down the porch steps. Arthur sighed. "Damn." He jogged to the door and whipped it open. "Peter-."

The boy was standing in the same spot smiling, an order form ready to be signed in his hand. "How many shall that be Uncle Arthur!?"

Arthur frowned, unable to suppress the small feeling of amusement in his chest. The boy was a Kirkland after all. "You remind me too much of myself..." He mumbled snatching the from away and fishing a pen out of his vest pocket to sign a form. He quickly signed his name for two bags of caramel corn and shoved the form at the boy. "Now, be on your way."

Peter handed the man his bags and smiled triumphantly. "Thank you for your business Uncle!"

Arthur grunted and shut the door, throwing the bags onto his couch. He rubbed his temples and walked into his kitchen, leaning against his counter. Summer was almost over for him and he was going back to school in a day. Not as a student of course, but as a professor. He had started teaching Honors English at the American high school three years ago, getting accepted on the spot, which he assumed was because he was from London. The students were not coming back for another two days, so he had two days in the classroom to himself, which he was fine with.

Something nudged his leg and he looked down at his cat, Jack. The Scottish Fold purred dropping down so it was laying with it's back on Arthur's foot. He smiled. "Sorry Jack, you're going to be on your own from now on during the day." The cat continued to purr, not caring at all. Arthur sighed. "I wish I was a cat. I wouldn't have to do anything. Like teach Americans how to use proper English."

"Arthur!" The tall blond haired man behind him smiled and, much to Arthur's unhappiness, hugged him. Arthur squirmed out his his arms and smoothed his blazer down.

"Francis." Arthur nodded, buttoning the middle button.

The Frenchman smiled and pushed some of his blond hair back into a messy ponytail. Sticking his hands in the pocket of his apron he laughed. "Still teaching English?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes. Still teaching people how to cook your snails?"

Francis rolled his eyes and laughed again. "I know your eyebrows are bigger than your brain but, called World Foods for a reason. I also teach art if you remember correctly."

Arthur scoffed. "If you call that art then you've got another thing coming to you, frog." Francis just smiled and lightly punched Arthur's shoulder, causing him to smile back. The two men had been friends since they were children, poking light insults and jokes against each other since they met. Though, Arthur knew he could only call him his best friend.

"Well, we had better be getting to the auditorium for the meeting." Francis said nodding towards the opposite hallway.

Arthur nodded and they made their way down the hall and into the double doors, then finding seats in the middle of the large room in front of the stage. Looking around he spotted some familiar faces. Kiku Honda, the Math teacher for both Calculus and Algebra one and two, Roderich Edelstein, the band, orchestra and choir teacher, Matthew Williams, the World History teacher, and Ivan Braginsky, the gym teacher. The room quieted down when the principal, Ludwig Beilschmidt, one of the scariest men Arthur had come to meet next to Ivan, climbed the stage stairs to walk behind the podium, beginning the meeting.

"Hello everyone. It's a pleasure to see you all again, I hope you all have a nice summer off. Welcome to the beginning to a new school year." He shuffled some papers and cleared his throat.

Francis leaned over and whispered in Arthur's ear. "Did you bring a pillow?" Ludwig was famous for delivering the most boring speeches at meetings. Arthur shook his head and chuckled.

"Before we begin, I would like to take a minute to welcome some of our new staff to the school." He looked down at his papers again and sighed. "Unfortunately our new Biology and Physics teacher could not make it today, but his name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, yes he is my brother. Please make him feel welcome when he gets here in two days." He chuckled. "And I apologize for any trouble he causes."

Arthur chuckled. "Being Ludwig's brother I'd assume he'd be just as boring as the rest of the family." Francis nodded in agreement.

"We also have a new music instructor that is here with us. We have decided to split the wind ensemble from the string orchestra classes to make it easier on Roderich. So I'd like to introduce Mr. Jones to the podium to introduce himself." Ludwig hurried off stage, quickly being replaced with a tall blond man in a pair of dark jeans, green converse and a black t-shirt that read; Guns 'n Roses with two pistols intertwined with roses. He pushed his thin glasses up his nose and grinned at the crowd.

"Eh, Thanks Mr. Beilschmidt. Wow, I feel like I'm back in High school in front of the class!" The audience laughed and he smiled again. "Well, I'm Alfred Jones, nice to meet you all. So yeah, like Mr. Beilschmidt said, I'll be teaching the band here. I'm primarily trumpet player though I do play some other instruments, but hey, I'm pretty excited to teach a high school band." He rubbed his neck. "Elementary was eh….interesting to say the least." He shook his head and mouthed what looked like; awful.

The audience laughed. Francis looked at me. "Would you look at him! He's going to be eye candy isn't he?" I didn't respond and only continued to look at Alfred on the stage.

"I don't really know what to say now but, it's nice to meet you all." Alfred smiled and walked back to his seat, which was in the very front row, right next to Matthew.

The meeting finally came to a close and I stood up and left Francis, who immediately ran to Matthew to catch up. I walked to the men's bathroom and walked inside, leaning on the counter to look at myself in the mirror. This is the last thing I needed, a new teacher who was attractive to distract me at my job. I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair, which was sticking up in every which way.

"Hi there."

My eyes snapped to the side and landed on my nightmare. It was the new music teacher, Jones. I sighed. "Hello."

He held out his hand. "Alfred." I shook it. "Nice to meet you."

I nodded. "Arthur Kirkland. Likewise."

He smiled. "Kirkland huh?" He scratched his chin, studying me. I clenched my fists, suddenly feeling self conscious as his eyes drifted over me. He snapped his fingers and grinned. "English teacher, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, I teach juniors and seniors honors English."

He nodded. "Yeah, I hated English when I was in school." He laughed awkwardly. "No offence. I'm more of a music guy." I nodded and we were both quiet for a moment. He clapped his hands together and smiled. "Hey, I bet you get this a lot but, you a Rolling Stones fan, they're like my favorite band."

I sighed. "No." His smiled dropped and I crossed my arms over my chest. "And yes, I do get that a lot. It gets very annoying."

He coughed. "Ah, sorry 'bout that." He forced a smile and stuck his hands in his pant pockets. "Well, I gotta get going to meet Mr. Edelstein." He waved apologetically and started backing up to turn around. My heart sank, thinking I had hurt his feelings and all hope of him talking to me ever again went out the door.

"I like the Beatles though."

He turned around quickly, still walking backwards, his smiled spreading ear to ear. "Yeah?" I nodded. "Well then, I'll make sure to have the kids play a Lennon/McCartney song this year!" He said adding a wink. "Later Artie."

I folded my arms over my chest. He seemed nice enough, though I didn't need to waste my time with him. He was a co worker at my job. Just a fellow teacher.

Later Artie.

My heart jumped.

"Shit."

Another Hetalia story! If you're not into UsUk and you have somehow found yourself here, I do have a FrUk story called Of Course You're Beautiful. Feel free to check it out! Remember to R&R please! Thanks! :)

Also, quick notice! Lennon/McCartney is how Paul and John put their names together when they published their songs. Just a quick reminder because some people were confused about that! :)