Chapter 1 – "Recuperation through Tea and Adoption"

A monotonous sound pierced through Arthur's ears and went straight through his heart. Without much thought, he grabbed the nearest thing (a glass vase) on a tabletop, and smashed the innocent décor on the carpeted floor. He didn't hear a sound, it seemed. His blood had rushed too eagerly and blunted his hearing. He looked down at the dark green carpet, stained with sparkling shards of glass and only then did he realize that he was breathing heavily.

'This simply cannot be happening.'

That was the sentence that Arthur Kirkland chanted inside his head. He rubbed his forehead in circles with two of his fingers in an attempt to tone down his temper, while his other hand was holding a phone receiver—the indirect cause of his sullenness. His heart clenched. The thought of dialing Emma once more surfaced. To make things clear. To ask why. To ask for a reset? Arthur was not sure. He couldn't have predicted Emma to say those three words. "Let's break up." Things between the two of them had been smoothly sailing.

Arthur chewed his bottom lip and decided that the massages were not enough and that tea would do the trick and calm his nerves. It always did, he reminded himself. He got up from his seat and paced towards the pantry. He frowned when he found out that he was out of tea leaves.

"Brilliant!" muttered Arthur with heavily-dripping sarcasm.

Deeming it extremely impossible for him to not get his cup of tea, he grabbed his keys and wallet. As soon as he opened the front door, he witnessed two baffled men (although one looked a little less interested), who were standing in front of a door next to his own and yammered in what seemed to be Mandarin.

"Mr. Wang, is something of the matter?" Arthur asked, curious.

Yao Wang was Chinese man who lived two floors down. He was effeminate with his slim frame and fair complexion complimented with slick long black tresses tied in a loose ponytail that seemingly always sat on his right shoulder and bangs swept on both sides. It was vaguely unsettling but not without a hint of envy from any observer.

"Nothing really to worry about, Mr. Kirkland. But I was just really wondering where our golden boy is. He told me he was going to show me the photos he took while he was in Italy," Mr. Wang answered with a smooth American accent. He turned his head toward the slightly taller man beside him who had jet black hair that leveled his chin, complete with faintly thick eyebrows that Arthur appreciated. "What about you, Hong? Have you seen him anywhere?"

The taller man simply gave a short shake of his head, signaling that he did not know as well.

"Well, we can't do anything about that now can we?" Mr. Wang said as he turned to Arthur again.

Arthur nodded in return and watched as Mr. Wang and Hong bowed their heads and left. He reflected for a short while to realize that he did not know who the pair was actually referring to.

Toris hummed a short tune from a TV commercial he didn't quite remember and stopped only to have his olive eyes travel toward the door. Then they went to the bouquet of freshly-picked sunflowers that rested on a table counter. A little later, he reached for a hand mirror to check on his wavy brown hair that fell on top of his shoulders. This was a routine he unknowingly created that started three hours ago.

There was an extremely attractive girl with long platinum blonde mane that frequented his humble pet shop about a week ago. She would only glance at the varied species of domesticated mammals and reptiles inside the shop without much word. More often than not, Toris would find himself being stared at by this mystery lady who did not even bother to mask this fact. Warm blushes would then begin to form on his cheeks. Thrice, he, being dutiful, asked her if she wanted to buy anything. She did not reply. Twice, he asked her if she just liked being with animals. Again, she said nothing. Once, out of a complete slip of the tongue, he asked what kind of flowers she liked. Without missing a beat, she replied for the first time with, "Sunflowers." Toris became awfully ecstatic by that single word and impulsively purchased the bright yellow beauties the following day. There was an unusually large number of people that time, but the blonde mystery lady was nowhere in sight.

Today was the second day of waiting. Breaking his routine, he breathed out a sigh and chose to swing the door open as a soft chime filled his ears while doing this. The warm nine o'clock morning breeze of bustling New York planted him haphazard kisses. He glanced sideways. He looked down to his laced shoes. The feeling of dejection was becoming more pronounced to him.

In his peripheral vision, he saw a white figure. He was pleasantly surprised to know when he adjusted his central vision to it, a white cat, with something black and furry wrapped around its neck, was looking at itself by the glass window.

"Hi there little fella!" hands on his bent knees, Toris greeted the furry creature. The cat looked up and meowed in what seemed to be panic.

Underneath the feline's paws was a pool of clothing, which caught his attention. "You poor thing. You didn't get abandoned, did you?"

"Your master must've thought my shop was some sort of orphanage for kitties," Toris continued to talk to the peculiar-looking cat while he picked it up and cradled it in his arms. "Well, I don't really mind anyway."

"Oh, the clothes. Klutzy me," he said, albeit more to himself. With the cat still settled in his arms, he bent his knees back down to take the pile from the ground. He was slightly chagrined when he found out he was holding a brown coat, a shirt, a pair of denim pants and a pair of… boxers. He certainly did not want to imagine what kind of owner the cat had.

Arthur pushed the glass door and the cool conditioned air assaulted him as soon as he stepped inside the familiar café.

"It certainly is good to see you, Arthur-san," someone welcomed immediately. Arthur whipped his head to his side and was unsurprised when his eyes landed on a pair of dark brown eyes that looked as if they refused to reveal the owner's innermost thoughts. Arthur, who was already immune to this, answered with, "Good day to you, Kiku."

The owner of the said pair of dark brown eyes was a short and slender Japanese man who went by the name of Kiku Honda. When Arthur had first started living in constantly busy New York, the modest café the black-haired Asian ran was his salvation. From then on, Kiku and Arthur became more than mere acquaintances.

"You look out of it. Are you having a bad day?" Kiku asked with concern.

"You read me like a book," Arthur returned, complete with a tired smile.

"Well, then you must have a seat," Kiku said, while he made hinted motion for the British man to take any vacant table. Arthur silently thanked him with a nod.

Kiku must've seen something outside as he focused his attention to something. Partially bothered, he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes and was pleasantly surprised when he saw a familiar Lithuanian conspicuously waving his hands.

"Heracles-kun, can you please get this man's order," he said to a taller man who was tending a messy table. Kiku turned back and whispered to the already settled Arthur, "I must excuse myself for now… it seems. I apologize."

Kiku beckoned the man outside to enter the café, but the man shook his head wildly in the negative. Kiku took the initiative to push the door open and greet the man with a soft smile. The smile was immediately replaced by a look of apprehension and Kiku questioned, "There isn't anything wrong with Pochi-san, is there, Toris-san?"

"No. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him," Toris, amused with Kiku's strong affection for his dog, affirmed.

"Ah, is that so? But thank you very much anyway for bringing him to the veterinarian. I couldn't really find time to bring him there," Kiku said. The relief was evident on his face.

"It's fine. Plus, the doctor was a close friend of mine. I'll bring your Pochi later for you."

"Thanks again. So is there anything else?"

"Uhm… a… that is…" Toris stuttered. He then eyed a box that was next to his foot. He picked up the box with his two hands, and carefully exposed a sleeping cat. Kiku, now fully aware, told Toris apologetically, "I would love to help, but I have already reprimanded Heracles-kun about his own cats. Last time, they finished almost half of the supplies!"

"You very well know that animals can be very good company," Toris tried to reason out timidly.

"That I know."

"I just found him this morning, but I can't keep him, unfortunately."

"Well… maybe I can find a home for Neko-san," Kiku amended after a short silence. There was a sudden peculiar glint in his eyes that slightly took the Lithuanian witness aback.

With a newspaper in his right hand, Arthur carefully brought the steaming cup of heavenly chamomile tea to his lips to taste its heavenly goodness when he suddenly felt a finger tapping his shoulder. Inwardly irritated, he turned his head to find a girl. Fifteen or sixteen years of age, he guessed. The girl wore a hefty amount of make-up and jewelry which made Arthur think, 'Amateur.' Shesmiled at him toothily and began to squeal.

"You're not the Arthur Kirkland, are you?" the girl stated more than asked.

Arthur gave a curt smile at that. He felt his confident rise up.

"Yes, I a—"

"Oh my gosh! Then you must know Alfred Jones!" the teenager said with a much higher pitch and volume. In an amazing speed and enthusiasm, she babbled, "My friends and I have been dying to meet him. I've been totally up-to-date about his activities. Recently, I've seen him bring this big white polar teddy. It's weird cuz it's so not his usual look, but somehow it's cute. My friends think that maybe it wasn't really Alfred and that it was his cousin. Or brother? I don't care. But I really doubt that."

Arthur brought his (incredibly) thick eyebrows together in a frown, which went unnoticed by the happy teenager, and felt as if he heard something fragile shatter. He convinced himself that Heracles was just being his sleepy self and thus, was reckless enough to break a porcelain object and it was definitely not his ego that was being shattered. Not wanting to hear anything more, he told her, "Actually, I lied. My name's not Arthur. I'm just a Brit who looks like him."

"Oh. Whatever," the girl mumbled. Her eyes rolled.

The disappointment of the girl was there as she walked away and Arthur felt both triumphant and peeved. 'Is there no way to get Jones out of my life?' Arthur thought morosely.

Arthur focused his attention on the paper again. He reached for the teacup. A sip was just what he desperately needed.

"Excuse me, Arthur-san," Kiku's voice interrupted his intake.

"Yes?" Arthur asked with an obvious sigh in his voice as he carefully placed the cup on the table. He looked at the Japanese man who was holding a box.

"Uhm, I am very sorry for this Arthur-san. But I have a very unique-looking cat with me. Would you like to keep it?" Kiku held the box a little higher for emphasis.

Arthur stared at the box and pursed his lips together. Taking care of a living animal was not something he thought he would need. He then declined the offer, "I'm not really a cat person, Kiku. I'm more into rabbits…" He had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from saying, '…flying mint-colored ones, specifically'. "…and maybe dogs. Lovely creatures. But I've never actually had one."

"If you don't mind me saying…" Kiku spoke as he put on a very knowing smile. He placed his mouth near Arthur's ear and whispered, "…I've heard that pets can be very good company to the lonely."

"Why ever would you think that I would be lonely?" Arthur wanted to argue.

"I didn't say it was you, Arthur-san," Kiku calmly reminded which made Arthur feel guilty.

"O-Of course," Arthur stuttered and decided to give up and give in. "Well… I guess I can find someone for the cat."

"Thank you." With that, Kiku placed the box down on the floor, bowed in front of Arthur and disappeared to the pantry.

Arthur looked at the box and back at his teacup. It produced no more steam. It was probably cold even if he did not touch it.

"Why am I forbidden to drink tea today?" he unconsciously murmured out loud.

A/N: This chapter is Arthur-centric. Therefore, it is only fair that the second would be Alfred-centric. Hopefully, I'll be posting it sooner.