Despite Arthur's wishes, one nearly hour had slipped on by without much of a protest by any other individual within the library. Our miserable Arthur here had clocked on for the day, and bid farewell to the little old librarians sitting in their swivel chairs behind the oak counters, before venturing around to uncover where Alfred vanished off to during his one hour wait time. Yet after a quick comb through the first floor, Alfred was found safe and sound snoozing at a table by the tour guided to Europe-and with Arthur poking his shoulder three times, Alfred was back in the land of the living. "All right, Watson, how do you want to proceed?"
Alfred blinked rapidly up at Arthur, his eyes adjusting yo the brightness of the fluorescent lights shining down on him, before lifting his head up from hid makeshift pillow his arms crossed together to created. Rolling back his shoulders, he produced a closed mouth groan before saying. "I don't know, I've never been on an investigation before." He admitted while popping his neck, which caused Arthur to flinch at the noise. "Can ya at least tell me one thing?"
"What is it?"
"What grade are they?"
"Ours, why? Did you think a freshman was flirting with you?"
"No, dude. I was just seeing if I could get somethin' outta you."
"Marvelous question, then." Arthur replied, pulling out a chair right across from where Alfred was situated and plopped himself down with a sigh of relief-since his aching feet were immediately cured. "It's all you're going to get from me."
A smirk wormed its way onto Alfred's lips, a victorious smirk of sorts, as he leaned back in his chair. "That's all I need, you see. It's only out grade we gotta start lookin' at! Now, we need to make a list!" Alfred looked over at Arthur with pleading blue eyes, his charms causing their conversation to halt momentarily as Arthur had to speak to the librarians and coax a piece of paper and a pencil out of them.
"We already have a few people we can throw off the list right away! My bro, Ivan, you-"
"Wait-wait-wait." Arthur raised a finger up to silence Alfred in his tracks. "Me?"
"Yeah, you can't be the writer, right? Why would you help me?" The American explained.
"Oh... Uh..." Arthur uttered, any feeling other than grumpiness being thrown our the window with that simple phrase. "That makes sense, I suppose." He muttered, just a tint of sadness lingering around in his voice. "Who else?"
"Anyone currently dating! Prom's comin' up in two months, lots of people have dates."
"For prom or as lovers?
"First, never say 'lovers' again, dude." Alfred said. "Second, both."
Rolling his eyes, Arthur placed his arms over his petite chest, trying to offer up a checkmate for this little detective work that Alfred dragged him into. "And how are we going to get that information?"
"Aren't you in journalism or somethin'? Interview out whole grade!"
Check and mate, Arthur. I sincerely hope you enjoy socializing with your peers.
The Englishman's shoulders scrunched up as the new revelation frightened him just a tad bit. "Being friendly and social isn't my forte now..." He argued, staring down Alfred with fury in his green eyes and fury in the furrowing of his brow. "You're the one who roped me into this! You should do it!" His voice was rising in such a quiet environment, that a few eyes had hit their table.
"Hey, you voluntarily agreed to help, dude!" Alfred said in his defense, actually being a polite child since he kept his voice in a hushed tone.
"You gave me a sob story!"
"You still said yes!"
Arthur groaned rather loudly and slumped back in his plush chair, before sliding down in his seat causing him to look like a pouting child at a dining table. One of the little old lady librarians slowly made ger way over to Alfred's and Arthur's table, while they sat in complete and utter silence, and politely told Arthur to hush up before softly patting his shoulder and offering a sweet smile as she disembarked from the table.
Glancing everywhere but at Alfred, Arthur's mind was in shambles as he came to a verdict-one he would later cone to regret. "I'll do it... But I'll need to go home and get some questions ready, god be willing that this does work."
Alfred's face lit up like an overly decorated Christmas tree, mouth agape as hr presented Arthur with a toothy grin. "Awesome bro!" He exclaimed, his voice sounding strained as he attempted to keep his voice down. "Gimme your number so you can keep me updated!"
Well, Arthur wasn't completely dreading his decision anymore. And with a slight blush dusting his cheeks, Arthur tore a corner off the paper in front of him and scribbled down his number-making it legible for Alfred's sake since cursive is a dying art. "Here." Arthur slid the piece of paper over to Alfred as he stood up before he became even more flustered. "I better get going home now. Thank you for your time."
"I can give you a ride home, dude. I kept ya here."
Aren't you on a lucky streak, Arthur! However, the Englishman here was beyond flustered and downright rejected Alfred's offer and fished his phone out of his pocket to text his mother and begged her to pick him up. Following a confused chuckle, Alfred bud Arthur farewell before making his leave to his car parked up front.
Sighing to himself, Arthur's mind was racing before he scavenged the library for how-to guides for falling in love, as well as cheesy romance novels to gain some inspiration from, and went out to his mother's car with a stack of books reaching his nose. Miss Morrígan being able to read the spines of the books when Arthur set them in the back seat. 'Totally in Love! A Teenagers Guide to Falling in Love!' and 'How to Fall in Love.' also 'How to get your Crush to Notice you!' and let's not forget 'Love or is it Teenage Hormones?' Miss Morrígan was seriously doubting her son's sanity.
"Poppet?" Miss Morrígan called out once her son was situated in the passenger seat. "What are all those for?"
"Oh!" Arthur let out, biting his bottom lip as he came up with a response. "I'm writing an article for school... About the bloody prom and all that. And I haven't a clue as to what questions to ask, so I checked out those books for inspiration, Mummy."
"Uh well... You certainly are an odd duck..."