Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, meh
A/N: So I noticed more and more people questioning Artie's behaviour in the reviews xD I was trying to give the impression he was sort of shy and didn't know how to handle it, hence his somewhat annoyed and laidback attitude, and surprise when Alfred makes moves on him. Arthur had never even though about being gay, keep that in mind as well. So, not knowing how to act, he tries to act the same as towards others.. but nicer lololol. Don't worry, it's allll going to change soon~!
And BitchinPenmanship, you have NO idea how happy your review made me. Asldfk. :D Thank you so much!
Hope you guys enjoy the fourth chapter~!
Chapter 4
"Get up, sourcils, you missed first and second period."
Arthur opened his eyes groggily, for a second wondering where the hell he was before he recognized the white ceiling. Why was he here again? He carefully collected his memory of the weekend. Saturday, ignored his parents, got the house for himself, deleted Alfred's text asking if he felt like shit or not. Sunday, homework… and a somewhat one-sided fight with his mother. He scowled when he remembered she said Colin would be coming the weekend after next. He had promptly replied that he was away for the weekend (he'd stay in the park if he'd had to), and his mother forbad him from sleeping over at someone else's place, though mildly telling him he could go to a party or something. Arthur had kicked a tantrum, left the house, and had crashed at Francis his house for more drama. Usually he'd jump for the opportunity to fight with his mother, but this was an inevitable thing. No matter how much he'd scream, Colin was still coming.
He hated Colin. Of course, everyone hated their siblings. But he really did. From the moment Arthur was born to the moment Colin left for Scotland, he had made his life a living hell. Aiden had naturally followed, and Ian had ignored all of them, so it was really just Arthur on his own against his two oldest brothers.
If there were any social traumas he'd have, it was because of them. And despite the few scars he got from when he was pushed too hard or had been hit with something, his mother stuck to the belief it was how they showed Arthur their love. The thing that somehow upset Arthur the most was, that they left Peter alone. But he wasn't jealous or something. In a few years, he'd most likely be leaving for England and then he'd never be forced to see the idiot duo again.
He promptly had left the house and walked over to Francis his house, muttering his brother's name and pulling out the spare bed himself. Francis had just let him do whatever he wanted, still on the phone with Matthew, and Arthur had fallen asleep before Francis had been done. It was quite comforting, to know that he had the key to Francis his house and could crash here whenever he liked. He wasn't as annoying in here either. Francis had a little sister he continuously fawned over, and it'd be no good if he still acted like a sex-deprived pervert then.
"I said, get up." A pillow was thrown into his face.
"Bastard. You could've woken me up earlier." Arthur mumbled, sitting up and ruffling through his hair.
"I don't start until third period, and I wasn't going to drive your royal British butt to school earlier than that. We leave in ten minutes. Go do something about those eyebrows of yours. What if they're contagious? Oh god, they can't ruin my face!" To avoid any more rambling, Arthur quickly got out of the bed and went into the bathroom to clean himself up a little.
The drive to school was fairly short, comparing how this was by car and Arthur usually went with the bus or by foot. They went separate ways in the school, and Arthur was just in time for history. He sat down next to Kiku, who saw that Arthur was in a bad mood, and decided to leave him alone. That's probably why Arthur liked Kiku too.
He scanned the class, his eyes meeting the blue eyes of Alfred almost immediately. Alfred grinned sheepishly, and Arthur glared at him harshly, turning around. He opted not to pay him any attention today, and was halfway through the class when his mobile phone buzzed in his pocket. He frowned and checked it quickly.
From: The Hero!
10:01 A.M.
I thght hangovers ddnt last 4 long?
That prat!
To: The Hero!
10:02 A.M.
I will ignore you if you continue to misuse the English language. And is that supposed to mean something?
He pressed send and pushed his phone back into his jeans, turning his head slightly and catching Alfred's amused gaze. He shot him another glare and straightened, trying to focus on the book in front of him. Hadn't they had enough of this subject already? You can only talk about the second world war for so long.
There was another buzz, and he reluctantly checked his phone.
From: The Hero!
10:04 A.M.
I apologize, good sir, what I meant to ask is: I thought hangovers only lasted for one morning? You look chagrin. Even more so than usual.
He ignored it.
From: The Hero! Dude I can see you ignoring me, not cool.
10:05 A.M.
Arthur was slightly amused at the last one, and pointedly decided not to respond to the last one either. He made a show of putting his mobile phone back into his pocket, knowing Alfred was watching him.
At the end of the class, Arthur tried to make haste in leaving the classroom, but the overzealous American was still faster than him. "Hey Artie!"
"It's Arthur, twat."
"Artie, Arthur. I wanna compare timetables!" Alfred said with a big grin, his own slip of paper already in his hand. Arthur frowned, did he even have his timetable? He memorized it at the beginning of the year. Instead of searching for it, Arthur sighed and yanked the piece of paper out of the other's hands.
"I don't know why. We have history, chemistry, physics, algebra, social sciences, and English together. Wait, you have Technology Education and programming? I'm surprised you don't have football or baseball or something overly boyish like that, with a body like yours." Arthur realized what he said, and blushed in embarrassment, ready throw out some insult.
"I did have football actually.. but I decided I might as well put more time into my studies. Besides, I go to the gym every now and then!" He said cheerfully, a red tinge painting his cheeks. Arthur scowled when he realized girls would fawn over that blush, whereas Arthur just looked like a lobster when he blushed. "And it kinda helps with all the great careers I want to choose from… might as well get all the knowledge I can get my hands on!"
"Careers?"
"Yeah, y'know, something heroic! I wanna work for NASA, but that's a far-fetched dream, so maybe a scientist or something…"
Arthur was momentarily stunned. This was still Alfred F. Jones, right? Naïve, innocent, blabbering idiot? And this guy had two electives, whereas Arthur only had Spanish as an elective. Not that he was saying he didn't think Alfred could do it… it just kind of surprised him. He'd expected him to play sports and be lazy about his schoolwork, but apparently he's pretty serious.
"You all right?" Alfred said, waving his hands in front of Arthur's face. "You're not down with a fever, right?" Arthur snapped out of his thoughts when Alfred's hand gently touched his forehead, and only then did he notice he was slightly warm. What the hell!
Arthur slapped the other's hand off. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, we have algebra." Alfred followed like an obedient puppy, rambling away about the weekend and a new game he bought, and how scary it was. He only paid half a mind to what the other was saying, until Alfred changed the subject.
"So when do you wanna go to see that movie?" He asked cheerfully as they entered the classroom. Arthur froze, before shrugging. "How about Thursday night?" Arthur didn't have anything to do on Thursday, and he couldn't make up something either, so he just nodded.
"Sounds like a plan."
"Great! I'll pick you up at… five? Sound good?"
Arthur's eyes twitched lightly. This sounded so much… like a date. Ugh, of course it was a date. Right? Arthur knew it was a date, but did Alfred knew? He seemed naïve enough to not know. Making sure no one was actually eavesdropping in on them, Arthur glanced at Alfred and frowned.
"You don't have to pick me up, you know."
"I want to!"
"People will think it's a date with how you're acting." Arthur replied calmly, his mind racing as to figuring out what Alfred was thinking. Alfred only smiled sheepishly.
"Oh… you don't like that?"
The question was so simple and hesitant, that Arthur couldn't do anything but shake his head. Damn those blue eyes. Normally something like that didn't work, but Alfred just nailed the kicked-puppy look. "Is it a date?"
"Only if you want to be." Alfred eventually offered, a bright smile on his face and his cheeks tinged a deeper red now. Arthur wondered why this was going so easy. It wasn't supposed to go this easy, and it certainly wasn't supposed to make Arthur feel relieved or happy that it was going this easy! Arthur didn't reply because the teacher walked in and told them to take their seats, but as he glanced forward to where Alfred sat, he met the blue eyes cheerfully glancing back at him.
On Wednesday evening, Arthur finally decided to show up for a family dinner, figuring he'd escape the house in the weekend anyway. His mother took his showing up as an offer of peace, and neither spoke of the incident that happened on Sunday. She probably thought he was going to stay home too, but boy, was she going to be disappointed. It would be better if he wasn't here after all.
"Do you have any plans this weekend?" His mother asked him, and Arthur felt a twinge of anger that she really did expect him to stay home, but that she was kind of enough to let him go out for a party or something if he wanted to. Arthur's fingers tightened around his spoon, but he shrugged.
"I've got a date tomorrow." He decided on randomly throwing out, and both his parents and Peter looked up in surprise. Hell, it wasn't that strange, was it? He went on loads of dates! …Okay, maybe not. That's mostly because he wasn't very comfortable with people, but whatever.
His mother smiled widely. "Oh, how nice! Who's the lucky girl?" Oh, right. Arthur wondered if he should tell them it's very much not a girl. But that would be a little too direct, wouldn't it? He had to break it on another moment, when his parents thought he was getting serious with this girl, and got excited for it, and then, then he had to tell them it's actually a guy. It was going to be one hell of a night when it'd happen. "How old is she? Is she from your school?"
"One of my classmates, yeah. Sixteen." He figured Alfred was sixteen. He was in the same year as him, and he heard him brag about his birthday being on some kind of special American day, which was probably Fourth of July. Arthur loved his homeland, and therefore did not participate in holidays like that. Although he had to admit Gilbert always threw one awesome party around that time.
His father nodded approvingly while his mother gushed about how fun dates were and, were they going to the movies? And dinner? Arthur just nodded, preferring to keep silent from there on, ignoring Peter's bantering over how 'a stupid guy like Arthur doesn't get dates'. Peter later told that he was going to one of his friends after school tomorrow. That was just perfect. No one would be around to see Alfred picking Arthur up. He'd have to keep that in mind of who would be home whenever this would happen again. Ugh, did he seriously already thought of second dates?
He didn't see Alfred until one of his last periods on Thursday. Alfred sat down next to him, ignoring the scandalized cry of betrayal from Francis, who just sought up Matthew in return. Arthur snickered when the American first followed Francis with his eyes, and looked at him and Matthew. When the Brit next to him shuffled about, he was distracted again.
"You're not chickening out on me, are you?"
"Why would I do that?"
"You've been pretty much ignoring me." Alfred said with a laugh, motioning to his phone on the desk. Arthur rolled his eyes, not offering a response, and Alfred dropped the matter just as easily. Which was actually kind of likeable, he wasn't too nosy, but he was curious enough to make Arthur feel a bit wanted.
"I do hope you don't plan on taking me to some preposterous place, such as McDonalds. Then you can count on me ignoring you."
Alfred chuckled. "Dude, you sound so old. Preposterous? Seriously? And no, we're not going to McDonalds. There's this small Italian place nearby the cinema, and Lovino told me you knew it." Lovino? Arthur scanned his mind. Antonio's boyfriend. He did go there once with Francis, Antonio, Ludwig and Gilbert. "I kinda wanted to play safe.. what do you think?"
"It's…good enough I guess." Arthur offered eventually, wondering why he was so warm again. Perhaps he should open a window, lord knows how the teachers never properly air the classrooms. Alfred nodded and turned around to get his books after that, leaning back while listening to the teacher drone on about something. Arthur wanted to pay attention, he really did! But somehow the guy next to him just distracted him with every damned movement! Arthur wondered what kind of music Alfred liked. Was he a pasta or a pizza guy? Why the fuck didn't he just ask? Why was he behaving like a girl? Arthur groaned, slumping on his desk and getting a rather strange, questioning glance from Alfred, but he ignored it.
"What time are you out?" Alfred whispered, and the Brit straightened, thinking. He had one more period after this… normally two, but his Spanish teacher was sick, and today she was on leave.
"After next period. Why?"
"I don't know, we could just, hang out after school. Go the park or mall or whatever, grab dinner and watch the movie."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. He was actually rather against the idea. Not because he didn't like those places – too crowded – but also because he needed to mentally prepare for a bloody date. Didn't Alfred want time for himself too, before a date? Or perhaps Arthur should take Francis on for those socializing lessons, perhaps it wasn't Alfred who was doing it wrong, but he himself. It didn't matter, actually.
"I… kind of… need to do something at home." Arthur said, lamely, clearly faking an excuse. If Alfred saw through it (of course he did, even he wasn't that stupid), he didn't show it, and he merely shrugged.
"Ah, too bad. I'll just pick you up at five then."
Of course Arthur didn't have anything to do at home. Well, he could do some chores, but nobody would scold him if he didn't do them. He'd usually do them anyway, but whatever. He just wanted to be alone before he went out. The idea of the entire evening out with Alfred, overly enthusiastic, happy Alfred, kind of scared him off a little.
By the time he got home and five rolled around, he hadn't calmed down in the slightest. Damn, he was probably even more agitated than normal. He hoped Alfred wouldn't mind the occasional snap or insult. He never seemed to do so, and while Arthur normally tried to keep himself in check, he wondered if it was going to work tonight. Thank god for the movie. He could act like one of those pricks who didn't want to talk during a movie. He'd jumped once the doorbell rang, surprised Alfred actually took the trouble to rang the doorbell instead of honking, and darted out of his room, leaving it in the disarray he put it while finding something suitable to wear, and nearly collided with the other when he opened the door.
"Woah, steady." Alfred said with a laugh, holding Arthur's shoulder to prevent a collision. Arthur breathed out and muttered a 'whatever' – he could do this, calm down, there was nothing wrong with this, he wanted this, he needed this for his plan. Alfred had already turned around to walk over to his car, and Arthur quickly followed, dropping into the familiar leather seat.
He wasn't prepared for this at all, but he supposed that's how dates were supposed to go. He just wondered if this was going where he needed it to go.
