A/N: Exams are over and I'm practically a senior! So hopefully this means that I'll be able to update and write fics faster. Hopefully. But anyways, here's part 2! I'm thinking about making this a 3 or 4 part story. Maybe longer if more ideas start forming. I dunno. Anyways, I hope you like it!
"Why are we at a club?" Arthur shouted to Sandra over the booming music.
"Because! Exams are over and we totally passed and it's your birthday so shut the fuck up and have fun!" she shouted back to him.
"But I don't even like clubs…" Arthur mumbled as he made his way to the bar to drink away the feelings of how much he did not want to be there.
Taking his beer from the bartender, Arthur spotted Ariadne with Mal, who happened to be making out with his biology lab partner, Dom. And Arthur thought his life couldn't get any weirder. He decided to just leave them be when Ariadne caught sight of him. Without a choice, he made his way over to them and greeted them awkwardly.
"What are you doing here?" Ariadne shouted.
"Apparently, I'm celebrating my birthday except I'm pretty sure my friend is off sucking her girlfriend's face off," Arthur explained.
"It's your birthday?" Arthur nodded.
"Why are you here? You're obviously not having fun." Arthur shrugged
"Come on, let me show you something," Ariadne insisted with a smile as she told Mal that she was leaving and received a loud, "Mmfrmm."
Ariadne grabbed Arthur by the hand and bolted out of the club.
"Where are we going?" Arthur shouted.
"You'll see!" Ariadne laughed.
They ran through Washington Square Park, past the performers and past the chess players and straight through the fountain (which was still on, mind you) and out through the arch.
"Look up!" Ariadne said, pointing to the top of the arch.
"Look at all the details! Isn't it beautiful? It's modeled after the Arc de Triomphe. I've never seen the real thing, but I'd imagine it to be wonderful," she explained in one breath, wide eyed and smiling.
"How…" Arthur panted, wanting to ask how she could even breathe at the pace she was running, but decided he might have died if he wasted his breath asking her.
"Can you please tell me where we're going?" he asked her instead.
"Just be patient! We're almost there," she barked.
They arrived at an apartment building where Ariadne buzzed a person who had the misfortune of being named Harry Ho.
"MOVE BITCH, GET OUT THE WAY, GET OUT THE WAY BITCH, GET OUT THE WAY!" a voice crackled over the speaker.
"Hi, Ho," Ariadne greeted with a smile.
"Ariadneeee!" he shouted, emphasizing the "e" at the end of her name.
"Are your parents in?" she asked.
"Are they ever in?" he asked sarcastically.
"Good point. We require your roof, please!"
"We? I swear, if Mal is there with you, I will kick her out. She already did enough damage last time she was here."
"I swear she's not down here. Just let us up, Harry Ho!" Ariadne laughed and with what seemed to be a sigh over the speaker, the gate opened.
"Forgive me for prying… But who the hell is Harry Ho? And is that seriously his name?" Arthur asked, his face twisting in disbelief as Ariadne laughed.
"It's an unfortunate name, I know. But yes, his name really is Harry Ho- he's Asian. And he's my sister's boyfriend. His family's been looking out for us for, like, ever," she explained as they marched up 5 flights of stairs (Ariadne insisted that Arthur desperately needed to get in shape).
"God, if my sister married him, she'd be Penelope Ho! Imagine that!" she laughed as she flew up the stairs.
"Open up, Ho!" she shouted as she pounded on the door of room 501.
The door flew open, revealing a 5'5" Chinese man (who still seemed to tower over Ariadne) with spiked black and red hair.
"Hey, Ho! Let's go!" Ariadne joked as she flung her arms around him.
"You really need to stop teasing me about my name, little girl. I get enough of that from Penny," Harry groaned, patting the tiny brunette on the back.
"I thought you said you were going to use the roof… Please tell me you aren't going to defile the roof with him. How old are you, Ariadne? Like, 15? Isn't that a little illegal, hmm?" Ariadne and Arthur turned red.
"I-I'm 18, you jerk! And it's Arthur's birthday!"
"Oh? And how old are you now, Arthur?"
"I'm 21…" Arthur mumbled quietly, his face still flushed bright red.
"21! Best year of my life! Well in that case, happy birthday!" Harry congratulated as he shoved a case of beer into Arthur's arms and slipped the key to the roof into Ariadne's hand.
"Now get out. I have paperwork to finish," Harry said as he ushered the couple out of his doorway.
-
"Harry's parents own the apartment complex," Ariadne explained as she pushed Arthur into the elevator, deciding to spare him from walking up another 8 flights of stairs.
"But they're never around ever since Harry insisted on running the place for them. They're probably in Paris right now- that's where they always go this time of the year," Ariadne continued. Arthur could see her eyes brimming with desire at the mention of Paris.
"Mal's dad teaches architecture in Paris. What I would give to go to school there," she groaned as Arthur watched in amusement.
He really shouldn't have laughed at her the first day he saw her in the library. Ariadne was a quirky girl who obviously loved architecture more than anything in the world, Arthur realized. She was chatty and one of those people everyone seemed to be friends with- nothing like Arthur. Whereas Ariadne was bubbly and spontaneous, Arthur was rigid and didn't think of anything but studying.
"Are you just going to stand in the elevator forever or what?" Ariadne asked when the door opened but Arthur remained inside, lost in thought.
"Oh. Sorry…" he muttered, embarrassed she caught him staring into space.
"Don't apologize," Ariadne laughed, "hurry up or we'll miss it!"
"Miss what?"Arthur asked as Ariadne grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Her hand was small and warm in his and it made him feel like he was going to throw up, but at the same time, he felt as if he was flying. He tightened his grip on her hand unconsciously as she led him up the stairs to the roof.
"You'll see in a second. God, if we miss it, it's all your fault, slowpoke," Ariadne teased as she unlocked the door and threw it open.
Arthur's eyes were met with twilight falling over New York as the lights of various buildings blinked on.
"This is one of the best views of New York, I think. Harry says the reason his dad bought out the complex was because of the view. Plus, it's got a great view of the Empire State Building. Look, look!" she cheered, pointing at the Empire State Building as its lights went up as well.
"It's… Beautiful. Thank you, Ariadne," Arthur said with a smile as Ariadne grabbed a bottle of beer from his arms and cracked it open.
"Happy birthday, Arthur," she said, smiling a toothy grin that Arthur would store in his memories.
"Are you sure you should be drinking?" he teased, opening a beer of his own.
"Well, what's college without a few drinks?"
"Touché," he chuckled, clinking his bottle with hers.
-
"What're you majoring in anyways?" Ariadne asked, slurring her words. She'd spent the past hour chatting away about her life because Arthur refused to open his mouth.
"Law," Arthur replied simply, shifting in his seat on the ground next to Ariadne.
"Pfft. Shoulda known," Ariadne laughed.
"What happened to your parents?" he asked her suddenly.
"How'd you know about that?"
"Well, you said Harry's parents have been taking care of you forever, so…"
"Yup, definitely a lawyer." Arthur laughed.
"My parents died when I was really little. I think I was 5 or 6? I dunno," Ariadne explained.
"Oh… I'm sorry…" Arthur apologized awkwardly.
"It's fine, really. Penny and I got shipped to our Aunt Cara, but we moved out when I turned 12. Not that she was like, evil or anything- she was old and frail and living off a pension and it sucked seeing her face when we had to pay bills, so we moved out. We moved into this complex and Harry's parents were nice to us. Penny was in college so she wasn't at home a lot and it was hard for us to pay rent so his parents would always pay for part of it when they thought we weren't looking," Ariadne laughed.
"What about you? How are your parents?"
"My parents…" Arthur sighed as his father's stern, stoic face came into view in his mind.
"I grew up in the Upper West Side. My dad wanted me to go to Harvard or Yale, but I didn't even bother to apply. I wanted to go to West Point, join the army, you know? But my dad forced me to go to NYU."
"So then why don't you switch schools?"
"I dunno. I grew up here… It'd feel… Weird, I guess."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't run off to West Point." Arthur raised an eyebrow at her.
"Because then nobody would have taken me back to my dorm when I fell asleep at the library," Ariadne explained quickly, flustering as Arthur laughed.
"Yeah, well it better not happen again- you're heavy as hell." They laughed briefly and then an awkward silence enveloped them.
"Well. I want another beer," Ariadne proclaimed, reaching over Arthur to grab another bottle.
"Wha- no! Ariadne you've had like 4 already!" Arthur protested, trying to hold her back.
"You can't keep me away from my beer!" she laughed, reaching towards the beer against Arthur's grip on her waist. He pulled her back and they tumbled over one another as Ariadne wrestled against Arthur to get to the beer.
"Fuckin' hell!" she squealed, her fingers just barely grazing the tip of the bottle.
"I give up," Ariadne groaned, her body flopping onto the ground.
"Ariadne. You're heavy," Arthur muttered, trying to push her off of him. Ariadne's head buzzed as she got up to her elbows and knees to prevent crushing Arthur. Arthur sat up and as his eyes shifted up, he realized his face was only inches away from Ariadne's.
"Oh. Sorry…" he muttered, moving his face away- as Ariadne's face inched closer. He could feel her soft breathing on his lips and decided, what the hell as his lips parted and met hers. Ariadne moved one leg to the other side of Arthur's body as he sat up completely, pushing her down into his lap. He smiled into the kiss hearing Ariadne let out tiny whimpers of pleasure.
"I love… I… I love… architecture…" she muttered when she broke away. And then it hit Arthur- Ariadne was totally, completely plastered.
"Ariadne, don't. You've had a lot to drink tonight," Arthur told her when she moved back in to kiss him again. And then when Arthur thought she was going to protest, Ariadne turned her head to the left and threw up next to them.
"Well. That's…. Great…" Arthur muttered, rubbing her back.
"I feel…" Ariadne groaned in between hurls.
"Like shit? Yeah, that usually comes hand in hand with throwing up," Arthur mused. Ariadne coughed and with a groan, she fell in Arthur's lap.
"Ariadne?" he asked, shaking her arm before realizing she had passed out.
And for the second time in his life, Arthur had to carry Ariadne home.