"Come on, Arma!" Alfred yelled through the doughnut in his mouth up the stairs as he slipped on his suit jacket and adjusted his brief case. He couldn't help it! He got all manic in the morning, having to get dressed all nice for his job as a real estate agent, and making sure he dropped off Armel at school right on time! No later, no earlier! He didn't want his poor, brave little man to freeze out there in the fall cold!

Being a single Dad was hard, alright?

It was very hard sometimes! Alfred knew he was rather masculine - went to the gym, loved football, video games, going for a few drinks every now and then, and wearing boxers….. Well, let's just say, he didn't have that overtly feminine touch his wife use to have.

And, let's just say, she really had it… He honestly didn't want to think about her right now…

Anyways, it was hard! He didn't know how to nurture like women did! He knew how to toughen his son up! Teach him the beauty of being nerdy or liking football! Alright?! It's just what he did! H-he didn't clean around the house like women, or bake like women, or dress in stylish outfits, or-or smell like lilies!

Sometimes... The lack of feminine touches around the house made him consider going back into the dating ring once more, but… Something was always holding him back… And, to be honest…

He wasn't sure what - or well, if he was sure, he was sure that he didn't want to be sure about that… If that made any sense.

B-besides! He was as sure as sunshine that being The Hero and a working, white collared Father was enough already to keep him busy! H-he didn't need to find a husband -

Damn it!

Okay! So he wasn't being completely honest…. And that he maybe…. Liked…. Okay, he knew it.

He liked men.

Much, much more than women.

And he was ashamed to admit it.

H-he had loved his wife and all, don't get him wrong! I-It was just-

"PAPA! Have you seen my pretty pony socks!?"

… Just n-nevermind! He didn't have time to think about that just now! He h-had Fathering priorities right now!

"Top drawer and to the left, sport!" Alfred called back as he snapped his doughnut in half in his mouth and practically sucked it in, chewing it quickly and swallowing it as if it were just a doughnut hole.

If anyone asked, it was a special talent from college and not some sort of side effect of his super appetite!

…. Get it? Lame puns?

"Thanks, papa!" Armel ran out of his room, grinning while dressed in a red-striped shirt, baggy, red shorts, and his pretty pony socks. He jumped onto his father's legs. "Let's roll!"

Causing Alfred to laugh and shakily wonder if his son was gay too…

….. Or metrosexual, he supposed. There was always that…

Laughing it off worryingly, Alfred scooped his son up and balanced his coffee and brief case as well. Looking over at his son's bag, he levitated it over to them and started to carry them to the car. "Now, you're not going to make multiples to get out of doing school work so you can go play outside," he gave a humored sigh, "right, sport?"

Armel gave a grin and shrugged slowly. "It's hard to control, papa~"

Alfred narrowed his eyes and gave an unamused look as his eyes started to glow, "So is laser vision, but -"

"I won't!" Armel squeaked, making another one of himself behind Alfred and then phasing as one into that one so he could hide. "I-I won't!" He sounded rather worried.

Realizing that threatening to zap your child with gamma rays was borderline abusive/a really bad idea, Alfred groaned and ran a hand down his face, using his other hand to levitate his son back over to him, "Calm down, calm down - I'm not going to set anyone on fire!"

"Not even your nemeciese?" Armel asked, eyes wide and his pronunciation lacking on "nemesis."

"Even my nemesis," Alfred promised begrudgingly, his heart hardening at the thought of Professor Dreamweaver. That shmuck…. he didn't want to think about how much he hated the bastard right in front of his own, innocent son. "I promise I'll let Dreamweaver have it easy this time."

If he shows his face around here…. Considering the fact he hadn't… Been seen at all for a week and a half! Which was very odd! Usually he saw the bastard all around town and had to fight him over children almost every minute (or at least that's how it felt!)

So… Why wasn't he around?

"Okay, papa!" Armel smiled and hugged his father. "I'm all ready for school! Do you think the girls will like my pony socks?!"

Alfred felt his distracting thoughts slip away as he smiled softly and nodded, leaning in and kissing his son's cheeks. "Of course they will, sport~ Everyone loves ponies!"


Arthur felt like laughing as he walked around the city. Being a journalist could be quite fun sometimes, especially when he was assigned to find any information on his alter ego while looking for a scoop. The newspaper was getting quite antsy at "Professor Dreamweaver" not making an appearance in a week and a half, so really everyone in the company was assigned to find something and anything on him.

And it wasn't like Arthur could tell them that the "heinous villain" was retired, because how would he explain his knowledge? No, he'd just let the general public panic and wonder over it.

"Anything suspicious…" Arthur muttered to himself, walking around dressed as a businessman, since that seemed to be the best disguise sometimes. Well, that, and his ability to illusion himself blending into the wall was a big help, too. Anyway, he was having a bit of trouble finding anything out of the ordinary. If he was in dire need of a story by the end of today, he'd go investigate that hotdog stand over there - he swore the teller dropped almost every hot dog.

Hm, maybe he could ride the bus - if not a story, there were always interesting things to find there! With this in mind, he went over to a bus stop, finding that he didn't have to wait long before boarding.

"Hello, Bertrice," Arthur greeted the lady with a bag over her head. Whenever he rode the bus, she was always there, too… Though she usually just nodded at him instead of speaking - like today.

He chose a seat in the back; he hated how bumpy it was, but it was the best vantage point to spy on the passengers

Unfortunately… everything seemed to be too normal that morning - everyone was either half asleep, fully asleep, staring out the window, or locked in a meeting with their phones. There was nothing to make a story of here! He was going to get off at the next stop, but before he could even stand up - he entered.

Ludwig Beilschmidt - owner of a huge beer corporation. He was obviously on his way to work, dressed in his signature, navy blue suit and tie - all business wearing his glasses. The only thing off about him was that he had shifty eyes, and was clutching his laptop bag like it contained a lethal weapon…

Jackpot!

No one seemed to notice the respected man as he walked down the aisle, and he didn't notice Arthur, thanks to his little power~ Ah, such wonderful things illusions could do.

He watched anxiously as Ludwig sat down in the seat right in front of him, quietly slipping out his computer. Arthur waited a few seconds for the machine to turn on, and then a few more moments for him to get on what he was going to look at. Then, he slipped his camera out of his pocket and slowly sat up to look over the seat. Let's see what's got you so nervous, Beil - SHIT!I

Arthur blushed darkly when he saw what was on the man's screen. P-porn…! Not only that, but a dog was involved, and, and did people even bend that way…?! He was pretty sure this was going to be burned into his retinas forever!

He immediately closed his eyes, but his need to report the news trumped the crawling sickness he felt inside him. Holding the camera up, he shot the picture - flash and click off, of course, so as not to make a sound. He quickly sat back down, holding a hand to his head and groaning quietly. He was going back to the office - immediately.

And if he ever caught his daughter looking at things like this when she was older - n-not that she ever would! No-no, of course she wouldn't… she was a beautiful, little girl!

Anyway, Arthur was going to get off at the next busstop, but the thing was… Ludwig hadn't gotten off yet. Figuring it would be a good idea to actually count how many stops he missed because of his sexual endeavors, he forced himself to sit down and watch him, sighing every now and again. Sometimes being a journalist could be tough…


Nine.

He missed nine bloody stops. Arthur almost shouted in joy when he put his laptop away and stood up to walk off that horrid bus. His legs had been cramping and, unfortunately, his imagination had kept wandering off, wondering what he could possibly be looking at now…

But now it was over! The bus ride of disgust was over!

He stretched once outside, and started walking. He was in the new part of town, where all the new houses and apartment buildings had recently been built. This part of town was fairly quiet, since not a lot of people had moved in yet, and it was a nice change from the bustling sounds of the main part of their city. He decided he could take a nice walk before getting on another bus back to headquarters and writing about something that honestly disgusted him. Because, honestly, if he had to think about that poor German Shepherd again, he was sure he was going to cry…

Just as he was walking, however, he saw a young man juggling some picket signs around… Dressed in a nice suit, carrying a briefcase in one hand and signs in the other arm… He had sandy blonde hair, and -

Wait a tic…. Wasn't that -

"Alfred?" Arthur called out to him, smiling a little when the man turned his head. So it was! "Alfred! Funny running into you here." He jogged over to him, getting a closer look at what he was holding. "Are you a real estate agent?" He supposed he never really asked what he did…

What had they even talked about that Tuesday!?

Alfred gave a loud laugh and adjusted his glasses. Dropping the signs into the grass, they tumbled down into a pile at his feet as he leaned in and hugged Arthur, as if they hadn't seen each other in ages! "Yeah! I am!" he then chuckled warmly and practically rubbed cheeks with him till… Well, he noticed he was doing just that and let Arthur go with a light blush, now looking sheepish as all get out. "A-and fancy meeting you here! Right on the field!"

"R-right-O!" Arthur replied, blushing a little too now and resisting the urge to hold a hand up to his cheek. What had that been about?! "I just got off the bus," he laughed a little and held up his camera. "Found out that the owner of Beilschmidt Beer likes to watch some very… interesting porn on the bus."

Alfred's jaw practically dropped to the ground as he saw the pictures, his face halfway blushing and halfway looking a little green out of disgust, "O-oh my stars and garters -!"

"Vile, isn't it?" Arthur asked, putting it away with a sigh. "This is the kind of thing we need to protect our children from!"

The poor American looked ready to faint as he swayed about and mumbled almost deliriously, "I-It seems like something The Hero should t-take care of!" He swallowed thickly and tried to straighten himself. "C-considering that that Dreamweaver bastard hasn't shown his stupid face in a long time!"

"Hm, yes," Arthur snickered to himself. "Why do you suppose that is? Think he gave up?"

"Maybe he moved to Iowa to go fuck cows."

Arthur burst out laughing at that, actually - the notion was just so ridiculous! "I-I'll be sure to mention that idea in the population consensus…!"

Alfred gave an unamused nod as he scowled a little and went to pick up his signs. "Anyway, how's your daughter?"

"She's doing well," Arthur said, smiling dreamily as he thought of her. "She still calls me Mama, but I'm getting used to it~ She's such a cutie - I just love her to death!" He sighed and looked at Alfred. "And your son?"

Alfred first gave Arthur a dazzling smile as he patted his back and complimented, "You're doing great, Artie!" before laughing and reporting, "he's fine! Decided to woo the girls at his school with his pony socks!"

"You're kidding," Arthur laughed, ignoring the compliment (though still feeling a bit embarrassed from it). "He certainly knows how to get to a girl's heart, doesn't he?"

"Why of course!" Alfred chattered with amusement as he gave Arthur another cheery, pleasant smile. "He just loves all the girls in his class - I get to hear about them all the time and see what sort of hair brained scheme he makes up to make them like him even more than they do!"

Arthur laughed and held a hand up to his mouth, as if to hide his smile. "What a cheeky little boy! Better raise him to be a gentleman!"

Alfred smirked a little and leaned in, gripping Arthur's chin and leaning in close to whisper saucily against his lips, "Well, wouldn't that be something you're capable of~?"

Arthur gasped a little and stared up at him with wide eyes - he felt his cheeks enflame as he stared into that admittedly drop-dead-sexy look Alfred was giving him. Wh-what had gotten into the man?! "I, I -"

He gasped again when he felt as the world was backing away from him - like he was coming out of a dream… and he found that Alfred was simply smiling and babbling happily to him about something, instead of grabbing his chin and… Well, you know the rest.

… What the devil had happened?! Had he, had he imagined that? But the last time he had imagined something like that was when he was in high school, and he was suffering from the hormonal changes. He shouldn't be having such imaginations now!

… He blamed the bus porn.

A-and the fact that Alfred was…. Alfred was….! N-not supposed to be his type, if you caught his drift -

Interrupting his thoughts, Alfred gave a grin as he scooped his signs up, and his brief case, and started to take his leave, "Hey! Would you and your little girl like to come over for dinner this Friday? Once we're both off work?" If Arthur wasn't mistaken, he swore he saw a light blush on Alfred's cheeks as he started to walk backwards. "I'll cook you something really Americana! A-and we can make iced tea!" he stopped and tilted his head, almost like a precious, sweet, little puppy dog asking to go on a walk, or for a ride in the car, "W-what do ya say?"

"What do I… say, ah…" Arthur felt flustered from his previous imagination as he gave Alfred a small smile. "Um, sure! We'd love to! Should I bring a dish, or…?"

"If you want!" Alfred jested as he turned around and started to walk away. "Either way, I'll see you Friday evening! Till then, take care!"

"You got it!" Arthur called after him, smiling when he heard that signature laugh of his. Honestly, it was a wonder no one else had figured out he was really The Hero yet! It seemed so obvious to him!

He shrugged it off and began walking his own way, back to headquarters and whistling a happy tune all the while.


Author's Note, TheGuardianKnux: Oooooo things get, like, so intense! Ooooo! OOOOOOOO! *Wiggles arms in a ghostly manner* Bet you all wanna know what happens next, oooooo!

Annzy: Oh my gosh Knux XD *flattens your arms* Calm yourself! They'll find out soon enough~

Knux: WHAT WOULD BRIAN BOITANO DO -!

Annzy: … What does that have to do with anything? O.o

Knux: 8D Nothing! I just like to ask pressing questions because my meds make me all crazy! :D

Annzy: … Okay then XD Anyway! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed so far ^^ The support is greatly appreciated :)

Knux: Yeah and stuff! No one's made me feel… Feel…. Something vaguely resembling human emotion! Oooooo! So that's good…. OooooOOooOooOoOo.

Annzy: … Until next time, everyone!