Author's Notes:
I love you guys so much. 'Nuff said. Thank you so much to Sobubbles1, USUKforever, it's-an-Alice-thing, Mocha MintCocoa, kirklandfangirl33 and Waytomuchadoaboutnothing for reviewing. Your reviews make my life :D
This chapter's like an ascent to the climax of the story. The action is not too far away now C:
Asides that, warnings include: swearing and... that's it C: I'm saving up the violence for the climax of the story D:
Okay then, enjoy~
"So apparently, Kirkland is gonna cut the funds for the football team." One of the football players announced at their table during lunch.
"The fuck? He can't do that." Another rolled his eyes at the empty threat.
"Of course he can, he's student council president! He decides pretty much everything!" the one next to Alfred contested.
Alfred simply looked at his friends innocently, munching on his fourth hamburger as he watched the arguments and objections fly.
"We could complain to the principal if he does."
"No way. We'd just tell the coach and he'd give that little bitch his just desserts."
"Why would you even wait for the coach to make a move? If he cuts our funds, all we gotta do is beat him up after school." Another suggested, clamouring replies of agreement arising.
Alfred felt his throat lock up.
"Uhhh... guys?" he choked, putting his burger down. "Is the violence really that necessary?"
"If he takes our money to give it to some pussy-ass chess club, then yes, we'll have to give that little asshole a piece of our mind." Another one cracked his knuckles, eliciting a few laughs from around him.
"But, uhh... You started it by mocking him..." Alfred pointed out, drawing a few incredulous stares from his group of friends.
"No, we didn't. You did, Jones. You started it by telling on him every single time he tried to snooze off in class. Not that that's a bad thing, but point is, you're the main reason he hates us." Another one noted.
Alfred's breath hitched. So... Not only Arthur, but his friends were angry at him too...? But... he was just trying to have fun. Arthur's reaction was pretty hilarious the first time... And the second time.. . And the third time... And the- Oh damn it all, Alfred had done it because Arthur's expression had been priceless all 23 times.
"Were you planning on going against us, man?"
He didn't want this. Things were going too far. He hadn't wished to upset so many people.
Especially not Arthur.
Annoy him, yes. He wanted to insert himself in Arthur's life and get closer to him through whatever means necessary, but he didn't want the student council president to flat-out hate him...
"The hell, Alfred? Answer us!"
"I, uhh..." he fumbled around with his words, a ball forming in his stomach. He didn't feel so hungry anymore.
"Tell us, Jones. You with us, or against us?"
"If you're gonna insult Artie like that and gang up on him and beat him up and throw him into an alley, then yes, yes I'm against you. I want to protect Artie, I want to be his hero, I won't let you touch a single hair on his-"
"With you." He simply replied, shoving his burger in his mouth to avoid having to say more.
He would get Arthur's attention, and no one could stop him.
The next time Alfred saw Arthur was in chemistry. Everyone had slipped into their lab coats and glasses, going around collecting the material they needed for the titration test, when he spotted him. Arthur was at the front (and looking quite handsome in that lab coat of his), probably asking the teacher something.
Alfred was so busy looking at Arthur that he almost missed the teacher calling out the group names.
"Alright, so we're gonna make teams of 2, alphabetical order to keep things simple." He then started pairing the students together while Alfred tried to figure out who his partner would be.
Jones, J... H, I, J, K... The first name in K would belong to...
The two boys seemed to make the same conclusion at the same time as they immediately turned to face each other, gapes on both of their faces. Alfred, out of delight...
"Jones, Kirkland."
... And Arthur, out of horror.
It took a while for the two to get settled at their table, seeing as Arthur was adamant on not communicating with him. Sure, Alfred was delighted that he was in a team with his high school crush (don't tell anyone, though. He didn't want anyone making fun of him), but he would've liked teamwork better.
Besides, he liked chemistry, and really wanted to ace the test, Arthur or no Arthur.
"Alright, so we should get started. Could you pour the mystery solution in the Erlenmeyer? I'll fill this burette with acidic solution during the meantime." Alfred decided, letting Arthur handle his stuff while he concentrated on filling the burette with exactly 50ml of the given solution.
The two worked in silence, halfway through switching roles so that Arthur could continue with the burette while Alfred wrote something down in the report.
Arthur gulped down and looked at the laboratory gear, remembering that the teacher warned them that burettes were very fragile. He'd have to do something about his trembling hands if he was to do this correctly.
"Go on." Alfred prompted, still writing down the analysis of what had happened up to now.
Not wanting to disappoint any more than he had to, Arthur nodded and gulped down, opening the burette latch and waiting for a millilitre to drop into the solution. When it did, he jerkily closed the hatch and pulled the Erlenmeyer out from under it, mixing the two substances together and watching for a colour change. The base substance, though, remained fuchsia red. Looks like they'd need more.
His hands shook, helping the mixing process a bit, but when he turned around to set his Erlenmeyer on the table again, a sudden wave of dizziness overtook him, and he stumbled, falling to his knees with a surprised yelp. The Erlenmeyer smashed against the floor, ruby liquid flowing through the cracks in the tiles.
Almost unconsciously, Arthur found himself apologizing. Over and over and over again. And he didn't know why. Arthur Kirkland never apologized. Why was he apologizing now? It felt like it wasn't even his voice speaking in a rushed, panicked tone. Like some other part of him that he'd kept locked up since forever.
Through his apologizing, he heard students laughing and clapping cynically around them, partly masked by the sound of Alfred's worried voice in his ear. Alfred was speaking to him. What was he saying? It was hard to understand when it wasn't even him inside his own body. He felt like he was drifting away.
"Arthur... something... Stop...nothing... say..."
Arthur slowly became aware of a warm pair of arms circling his shoulders, supporting him in his sitting position. One hand was grasping his right one, and his left one was burning for some reason. Slowly, he felt his conscience being tugged back into his body, and the world suddenly rushed back. He jerked in Alfred's arms and took a shaky breath, looking up at him. Panicked green met worried blue, and the world froze for a second before Alfred's words rushed back to his ears.
"Arthur, please say something... Stop apologizing, it's nothing... Just please say something else..." the blond was whispering, every word breathed so close to Arthur's ear driving him that much closer to the edge.
"Uhh..." Arthur finally stammered, his gaze straying to the failed experiment on the ground. "Bloody hell, this sucks." He dumbly muttered.
Above him, Alfred chuckled, relieved, and slowly pulled him up from the ground.
"That's my Artie alright."
"My name's Arthur, and I don't belong to you, bloody git." Arthur swore before sharp pain assailed his left hand. Gasping, he clutched it to his chest, swearing softly. Suddenly, his hand was pulled away by the teacher, who inspected the shard of glass in his hand and sighed.
"Alright, Arthur, come with me. We'll bandage your hand while Alfred restarts the experiment. You can just stick to filling the analysis afterwards." He decided, gently leading Arthur away.
Once at reasonable distance, he sat Arthur down and pulled the first aid kit out, frowning.
"Why did you collapse?"
"Like I chose to collapse in the middle of an experiment." Arthur huffed, putting his hand out.
"Were you injured before today?"
"No, but I have been feeling sick for a few days now. I just got hit by a wave of dizziness, is all." He muttered, not telling the truth, but not lying either.
After so many years of practice, he'd figured out that the best lie was on the very edge of truth.
"Go get some rest at the infirmary."
"I can't, sir, I don't want to let Alfred work alone."
Lie. He just didn't want to miss out on any more lessons... Or was it a lie at all? Maybe he subconsciously liked spending time with Alfred.
"Then after detention, go straight home to bed."
"I will, sir."
Lie. The winter dance's blueprints still hadn't been started and it was in a month. Plus, his father's bedroom probably needed cleaning, judging by all the awkward noises that were coming from it at around 2 in the morning last night.
"And tell your father. He should take you to a doctor if the sickness persists."
"I'll tell him that."
Lie. Big bloody lie. Like the man would even give a flying fuck what his son did in school. He couldn't care less about his accomplishments, so why would he care about the bad things that came with school?
"Good. Now there, you're all set. Get back to work and take it easy." The teacher smiled, patting Arthur's bandaged hand comfortingly. If Arthur were a cat, his fur would have bristled at the motion. "And remember, Arthur. If you ever need to talk..."
"I know, sir, I know." Arthur muttered, swiftly turning around and heading back to his workstation, ignoring the furtive glances and whispers destined for him and him only.
...OOOOOOOOO…
By the time Arthur was done with detention, it was already dark outside. His hand was numb from writing so much, he still felt humid and sticky, he was hungry and so tired . He'd almost fallen asleep three times while copying the dictionary, and had mostly spent his detention time trying to keep himself awake instead of actually copying.
Thankfully, the teacher hadn't commented on the measly three and a half pages he'd accomplished and had let him off with a warning.
The cold winter chill ran through his body as the wind howled. Snow would start soon, and Arthur was not looking forward to it. He sneezed into his scarf and buried himself tighter in his winter clothing, shivering when the still-humid patches of his clothing came in contact with the cold wind.
The last thing he needed was to get sick.
Thankfully, his father worked late on Thursdays and went to a bar after that, so Arthur had the house to himself until up to midnight. The downside was that his father came home with a whore (or two, sometimes) 50% of the time, so after midnight, there would be really loud sex until the early morning hours.
Arthur did his best to ignore it and get work done. He hated Thursdays.
Unfortunately for him, there was a surprise waiting for him when he stepped inside their flat. A package, with a note on it, destined for him. A delivery.
"Well shit. It's my only day off from you and you still make me work my arse off. Bloody hell." Arthur grabbed the package, ripping the instructions left for him off of it and glaring daggers at the address written on the yellow post-it.
Sometimes, his father would leave packages for him to deliver places. He never told him what was inside, but frankly, Arthur didn't care. Whatever it was, it was getting them money, and it was helping them live. So Arthur did it.
And even though he felt light headed and knew that with this delivery, he'd probably be back in two hours, if not more, he quickly changed into his street clothes and slipped back into the darkness of the streets.
Sounded like another sleepless night to him. He really shouldn't have made it a habit of accumulating those one after the other.
Author's Notes
There are going to be many repetitions and non-grammatical sentences in this fic, with lots of commas and uninterrupted mental rants, because, well, the entire point of having psychological play with the characters is messing up their mind. That's right, the fic is going to have lots of repetitions and mental rants because I looked for giving it an effect of madness, an aura of confusion.
Asides that, not much to say here. I hope you liked it, hope you'll look forward to the next chapter, and PLEAAASEEEEE REVIEWWW~
