Dress up
"But I don't wanna go over to Arthur's!"
Come on, (name). Be a good girl." Fresh tears sprung into your eyes. Your nails dug into the soft material of the couch, refusing to let go.
"Let's go, baby. Daddy's gonna be late for work. Don't you like going over to Arthur's?"
"No. It's boring and his Big Brother is a meanie potato head."
"Allistor is a great guy and his mom will be home so I'm sure it'll be fine. Now, up you go." Your dad lifted you up by your arms while you kicked and flailed your arms to no avail. Finally, you gave up and slumped against his shoulder.
"Can I at least bring my teddy bear?"
"Of course you can. Hurry up!"
"Thank you so much for agreeing to take care of (name)!"
"Oh, it's no problem. She's such a wonderful dear to look after." You finally arrived at the Kirkland's and had to endure five long minutes of borig adult talk while you stood beside Arthur's mom, holding Mr. Dumbledora, your bear, which you and Arthur decided to name together.
"Alright, I'm off to work. Don't cause too much trouble for Mrs. Kirkland. Okay, (Name)?" Your dad ruffled your hair and left. You pouted and held Mr. Dumbledora tighter. Arthur's mom closed the door and turned to you.
"Hello (Name), how was your morning?"
"Good." You lied.
"That's good. Are you hungry?" You shook your head.
"Okay. Arthur's upstairs in his room. I'll be down here if you need me." She walked towards the kitchen humming and left you alone. You walked up the stairs, crossing your fingers and hoping that the Kirkland's eldest son wasn't nearby.
Arthur, your friend since pretty much birth, was a blonde, green-eyed, English boy with bushy eyebrows.
"Hey, Arthur." You greeted shyly. The reason why you didn't want to come over today was because recently, seeing Arthur made you feel weird. It wasn't a bad feeling, you just felt an uneasy feeling in your stomach and blushed whenever you saw your friend. At first, you thought you were getting sick. In panic mode, you rushed to tell your mom. She only laughed and said, "You're just growing up." Of course I'm growing up! You thought. I just turned seven after all!
"Oh, hello (name). What brings you here today?" You snapped out of your thoughts and focused on Arthur.
"My daddy brought me over. He had to work." He nodded.
"Do you want to see some magic?" He asked and you quickly shook your head, eyes widening. The last time he offered to 'show you some magic', it did not end well. You had to sacrifice your old teddy bear.
"How about we do something el-"
"I need to go out for a while!" Mrs. Kirkland interrupted you. "Allistor, take care of the kids!" She said, followed by a quick "Yes, ma'am!" from Arthur's brother. Arthur is the youngest out of four brothers, with Allistor being the oldest. His two other brothers are studying abroad somewhere in Europe.
"So what do you want to do, (Name)?"
"Hm..." You looked around. His room was pretty plain. There were a few magic sets lying around and several old toy cars, but other than that, nothing else interesting. "I don't know what to do." He slid off his bed and offered his hand to you.
"Want to go downstairs to the basement and see if we can find something?" Your face grew hot and you took his hand.
Halfway down the stairs, you were interrupted by a shout.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? It's the little lass and my little brother. Artie's girlfriend over for a playdate?" Allistor teased, emphasizing the word 'date'.
"Go away, Allistor." Arthur grumbled, trying to push his brother away.
"Hahaha. 'Ay come on, little bro, can't I join in on your fun?" Arthur gripped my hands so tight, it hurt. He ran down with me in tow and his older brother laughed, finally leaving.
"Um, Arthur? Can you let go of my hand? It hurts." You two made it into the basement and escaped the evil meanie jerk. (You could say jerk now because your daddy isn't here and won't yell at you for using naughty words.)
"Sorry, (Name)." He let go of your hand. "It's pretty dark in here...I think there's a lightswitch somewhere."
Your eyes adjusted to the dark and you could see the switch next to the door.
"There!" You pointed. It was just beyond your reach.
"Ungh! I can't get it!" Arthur complained, jumping up and down, trying to flick it on.
"Should we...ask your brother for help?"
"No way! He'll just laugh at us.." He grumbled. You two turned silent and tried to think of solutions.
"I know! (Name), get on my back and I'll lift you up, then you can turn the lights on!"
"Okay!" You climbed on his shoulders while that weird feeling hit you again.
Flick! The whole room brightened. The two of you ran around the basement searching for something interesting to do.
"I found some old stuffed animals." Arthur showed you a box full of slightly battered toys. You looked around and saw a box filled with clothes in a corner.
"Ooh! What's that?" You ran to see that the clothes were actually costumes and dresses.
"The pirate costume belonged to Allistor when he was a kid." Arthur informed you, seeing that you were interested in the costume. You looked back and forth between the clothes and the box of stuffed animals...
"Arthur! I know what we should play! Let's play dress up." He stared at you with a look of horror.
"Dress up is for girls!"
"Just do it. It'll be fun. Trust me!" You assured him with a smile and thrusted the pirate costume into his arms. He walked over to another corner to change while you put on one of the dresses. It was light blue and just a bit too long for you, but it was okay.
"Are you ready, Arthur?"
"Yes.." He sounded unsure. You rummaged through the box and took out the biggest stuffed animal you could find in there, which happened to be a tiger.
"Oh no! The Mighty Tiger has taken me hostage! Help me! Somebody. Anybody!" You pretended to faint and Arthur soon caught on.
"Argh! Who dares take me beautiful (name)? I will cut them all down!" The Great Pirate Captain hopped on his ship(A giant cardboard box) and unsheathed his sword. (A rolled up newspaper.)
"I, the great Arthur Kirkland shall save you, my lady!" The pirate began rowing while you changed roles.
"Hehe, silly pirate. Minions, after him!" You held up the tiger and spoke in a raspy voice. You went over to the stuffed animal's box and pelted Arthur with animals.
"This is no trouble for me, the great Pirate King! Argh!" He defected all the oncoming animals with his sword and made his way over to save you.
He slashed the evil Tiger with his sword, who fell in defeat.
"Oh Great Pirate King, you have saved me. Thank you." You thanked him with a kiss on the cheek. Arthur paled a bit and didn't know what to say next.
"Uh...um...I would like you to be my Pirate Queen!" He half yelled.
"I would love to." You answered and rested your head on his shoulder. And they lived happily ever after...
"Would you two buggers keep it down!?"
"Shut up ye ugly swine! I'll make you swab the deck!" The two of you giggled. "Let us go, my Queen." He whispered in your ear.
"Yes. Let's." You two ran out to hide before the eldest Kirkland could come and kill you both.
-Extended Ending-
"(Name)! Your dad's here!" Arthur's mom came back a while ago and now you two were back in Arthur's room. You had finally agreed to let him show you his new magic trick.
"Aw, I don't want to go home." You whispered.
"It's okay. You'll come back tomorrow, right?" You nodded and smiled.
"Bye Arthur!" You grabbed Mr. Dumbledora.
"Wait (Name)!" You turned around and he ran over to quickly kiss your forehead. "Okay, bye!" He pushed you out and skipped downstairs over to your dad.
"Hi baby, how was your day?" He asked as you two left.
"It was fun! We played pirates and dress up."
"Oh. Anything interesting happen?"
"Yep, I kised him." Your poor dad spent the car ride crying about how his baby was growing up way too fast while you merely smiled, excited to see what would happen tomorrow.
