Leave A Light On

Chapter 6

Arthur stared at the brown trunks of the trees as the pair passed them. Alfred hadn't slowed or spoken since he had begun to carry him, and the smaller boy was feeling boredom set in through the awkwardness of the situation. He kept his mouth closed, though, and stared at the snowflakes that were delicately covering the earth.

The smaller teen lifted his eyes from the scene before him to look at the person who was carrying him. Alfred had his blue eyes set forward in a straight line. Arthur could see that his jaw was clenched into a grim line. "Hey," he mumbled. The body beneath him tensed, but the other continued to walk forward. Arthur leaned his head closer to the ear in front of him. "Hey. You can't ignore me forever, dimwit."

"Fairly positive I can."

"Alfred, please, I-"

The sliver glasses did little to hide the glare coming from the larger teenager. "I don't want to hear it."

"Look," Arthur made a face as some of Alfred's hair caught in his mouth, "I know I've cocked everything up, but I really would like a chance to simply put an apology out if so you wouldn't mind."

Alfred trudged through the snow that was hindering his project, and Arthur almost worried that he would be left alone with his guilt. Headlights from passing cars shone against the boys. Finally, the sound of Alfred's footsteps was broken by words. "What the hell does cocked up mean? Who says that?"

"Plenty of people say cocked up, I will have you know!"

"Bitch, please. You're just strange."

Arthur decided to ignore the laughter that accompanied Alfred's words and argue back. "Plenty of people say that, you're just too much of a duffer to know that." He would deny the smile that twitched at his lips later.

"Duffer? Seriously? Next time you say a strange word, I'm dumping you off my back," Arthur could see the grin stretched out across Alfred's face.

"You wouldn't dare. I'd kick your sorry arse if you did, and I wouldn't feel sorry for you for a moment," Brilliant green eyes slid shut as their owner gathered the courage to speak. "Alfred, I do feel badly about what happened. You startled me, but I should not have overreacted."

"Overreacting? You held me hostage," The blue-eyed teen snarled back, all traces of the light hearted mood of before vanished inside. "With plants, I might add, which is just plain scary, and it proves that you're a freak."

"I am not a freak! Just because you don't understand something does not mean it's a freak."

"Yeah, well, you're still a freak," Alfred grumbled at his load, "And I'm still mad."

Arthur heard the fabric of their coats rub against each other as the taller teenager shifted the hold on his body so that Arthur's shoes would no longer collide with the jeans below him. The rises of chest from Arthur was halted by Alfred's broad back, leaving the teen feeling small and helpless. He waited to speak, choosing to pick snowflakes off of his crossed arms as he thought about his words.

"Alfred," the passenger slowly began, directing his eyes to the ground instead of his target, "Honestly, I was never going to hurt you."

The target of the words rolled his shoulders as he walked, choosing not to look at Arthur's face. "Then why did you threaten me?"

Arthur flinched as the clipped words hit him, but he still snapped back at him. "Why would you follow me?" He knew from the way the shoulders beneath him tensed that he had Alfred backed into a corner. Arthur smirked a little, glad of the upper hand.

"You were being suspicious and now I know you're not human, which means I was right and Matt can suck it," Alfred crowed into the night with a proud voice.

Arthur's eyes narrowed at the boy beneath him. Was he really that childish? "Please tell me that showing up your brother was not the reason for you stalking me."

"It wasn't stalking, and that wasn't my reason."

Arthur scoffed. "Then why did you point lights at my front door?"

Alfred's steady footsteps fell to a halt as his blue eyes snapped down to his passenger. "You knew about that?"

"Of course I knew about that. Next time you're setting a trap for someone, you shouldn't be so obvious about the whole thing. By the way, would you like your batteries back?"

"You-" Alfred's voice crackled with frustration.

"Yes, I did take your batteries out. It was supposed to keep you from following me," Arthur huffed in the Alfred's left ear. Honestly, what did he think happened? I was followed by this idiot? His brothers would have been ashamed. "But someone was so desperate to find out I was a witch that-"

"So you aren't a human!" The bounce had strangely returned to Alfred's steps at this revelation, "I knew it! I knew it! Matt can suck my balls because I was completely right about this!"

Arthur felt his body be jostled by the jerky movements. "Alfred."

"This is great. I can't believe I was actually right this time. This is fantastic. Oh, thank you, Arthur, you really saved my ass this time. I would have looked like a complete idio-"

"Alfred, please st-"

"Whoa, I just realized… Arthur, I am so sorry about earlier, I don't know what got into me, I was completely-

"ALFRED."

The jarring movements stopped. "What is it?"

"You're hurting me."

"Oh. Sorry about that," Alfred chuckled nervously. "You okay back there?"

"I'm fine," Arthur wanted to sigh in relief, "But please be a little more careful in the next few blocks."

The taller blonde nodded back. "Okay. But, listen. I really am sorry about this whole mess, and if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please tell me. I shouldn't have treated you like that."

"It's fine, Alfred, let's just put this whole thing behind us now. I really don't want to think about this anymore," Arthur scrunched the fabric of Alfred's clothing. "Just drop me off in front of my house. I'll be fine."

Alfred laughed into the night as they passed under a streetlamp. "What? No, just come inside mine for a bit. I want to check your bruises and stuff. Besides, I have pizza and cookies. Let's start being nice to each other with that."

"You… Want me in your house?"

Alfred hissed some air in as he turned up their street. "Yeah, sure. Why not start being friendly now, you know?" He set Arthur down and the teen was finally able to look clearly into the other's face. Snow coated the top of Alfred's head and his cheeks were dusted light pink from the nipping cold. "Plus, I owe you one. Or two, actually."

"I already accepted your apology if that's what you mean," Alfred turned the key in the gold lock and waved Arthur in first. As they entered, a blast of warm air surrounded their bodies and relaxed their muscles. Arthur took the opportunity to study the front entrance. Pale beige walls led into a spacious living room with thick carpet and fluffed couches. Grey light from the window was chased out as Alfred switched on the lights, giving the room a cozy atmosphere. It felt like parlour back home, but it had more Alfred in it.

Alfred was stripping himself of his jacket and motioned for Arthur to do the same, but he refused with a shake of his head. Blonde eyes rolled as their owner tugged the other into the kitchen and motioned from him to sit at the island. Arthur slid into the wood chair while his eyes darted nervously through the kitchen before settling on watching his neighbour rummage through the cabinets by the patio.

"It's not quite what I meant," stammered out Alfred, "and I understand if you take that back, by the way. You are completely within your rights there, I was wrong to do it. So, I am really, really, really humongous really sorry that I did this, and I really shouldn't have so-"

"I can't forgive you if you don't tell me what you did, Alfred. However," Arthur smiled pristinely, "I can tell you that I have already largely forgiven you for your bullshit."

Alfred pulled a red kit out from the cupboard and set it on the granite top of the island. "Still, I really should apologize for everything. "

A snort came from Arthur as he picked at the wet splotches in his coat. "Not needed. Throw in your damn pizza already, or I'm leaving and will never talk to you again."

"You like me too much for that."

Another snort. "Try me."

The taller teenager threw the plastic bag onto the counter and pulled out the pizza, slowly tearing open the sides before he pulled the food out. He was about to place the food on the stove, but he turned around. "Are you sure you don't want me to, I don't know, fix you up first?"

Arthur lifted an eyebrow in response to this. Why is he so persistent about this? The witch set his hand down against the counter with a huff. "And we can't do this while it's cooking?" Alfred looked like he wanted to protest, but Arthur waved his hands at him. "I am far more likely to die of hunger than these minor injuries, Alfred."

"Al." The pizza was slid into the metallic oven and blue eyes canned the directions.

Arthur flicked his eyes up from the counter. "…Sorry?"

"Just call me Al," the other teen muttered, ducking his blue eyes down.

Arthur felt his eyes widen in surprise. "Um, yeah," he coughed into a curled fist, "Okay, then."

Silence worked its way through the kitchen as Alfred moved around, pulling out cups and plates as the pizza and cookies cooked. With a heavy heart, Arthur turned his head to stare at the treehouse in the back, whose steps were slowly being covered by the sticky snowflakes.

Arthur ran his hand over the lines in the table, ignoring Alfred's busy movements around the kitchen until the red kit was slapped onto the table in front of him. Alfred's shy grin bore down on him. Arthur watched him for a moment, but chuckled when Alfred's silence continued. "Did you need something?"

The other teenager stared at him incredulously, the grin slipped into a hung jaw. "Dude, it's a first aid kit. Take off your coat so I can fix you up."

"Well," Arthur stuttered back. "That's really not necessary; I can do that at home, honestly, Al. It's fine."

Alfred waved him off instead, scooping the kit into his arms and tugging the smaller boy into the living room where he was deposited on one of the couches. He vaulted over the back to roll onto the next off the couch, somehow kicking his legs out to rest on the coffee table in front of him.

Arthur fought the urge to knock his feet off.

His glance was torn away from the abused table by Alfred's voice. "I should really help you anyways," Arthur felt his jacket torn off. When did that become unbuttoned? He watched the clothing be thrown carelessly into a neighbouring chair. "Just let me do this, okay?"

Alfred pulled a small tube out of the box and then some bandages, before he twisted Arthur's face in his hands. "Well, you've got some cuts, of to the side on your neck, but then you've got a lot of bruises too, which I can't help you with. Sorry about that, they look pretty nasty."

That was true enough, Arthur decided. He could feel the one on his cheek the most, as it was beginning to throb under Alfred's poking. "S'alright. I can fix these when I get home."

"You keep saying that, and I wish you wouldn't. I owe you one."

"And you keep saying that, which is largely unnecessary."

"Well, maybe you should stop!" Alfred countered and the pair glared at each other, the first aid kit completely forgotten. Suddenly, Alfred burst out laughing. It was a charming laugh, and Arthur found himself laughing along. As the laughter slowly faded away, the taller teen pulled out a set of bandages again to set around Arthur's body.

Alfred worked in silence, letting out a hiss when he pulled the fabric of the witch's pants to reveal a slightly swollen ankle. He sent an unsure glance up before pressing against the ankle, prompting Arthur to hit the other in the head.

"Watch what you're doing!"

"I had to check if you had a sprained ankle!" Alfred protested back, his blue eyes glaring from underneath his glasses.

Arthur matched him with his own glare. "I already know it's sprained. Unlike you, I can actually help with injuries."

"Just let me help you, okay!" His angry voice rang through the house. The two glared at each other, waiting for the other to break first. From the kitchen, a beeping sound cut through the tension. Alfred's glare intensified, but he got up to grab the food. "Pizza's done," he grumbled.

A nagging voice settled into Arthur's brain, making his glare drop. Why was he being so mean? Alfred may be stupid, but he was just trying to help. A huff escaped his lips at the thought of apologizing. There had been far too much of that today.

But maybe it was necessary. They had both pulled too much crap to just start being friends; Alfred would have to work to earn his trust. Arthur rolled his eyes as the voice began to scream in protest. Fine. He would have to work for Alfred's too.

Green eyes slid from each object in the room to occupy their owner. Everything seemed so orderly… Did they even use this room, or was it actually cleaned that often? Not even he was able to keep a room clean like that. Arthur rubbed his toe into the carpet as he waited for Alfred.

Alfred peeked around the corner before holding up a plate stacked high with pizza and cookies. "Wasn't sure how much you wanted," he mumbled as he set down the food on the coffee table. "You can put whatever you like on the television."

The remote slid into Arthur's hands uselessly. What the hell was he supposed to do with this? Oliver had bought a television, but they had never actually used it. Not knowing that was probably something embarrassing. Maybe he could just play it off for Alfred to use it.

Luckily, the other teen took the bait, and Arthur was able to enjoy a mindless plate of pizza. Silence descended on the boys as they munched on the pizza until Alfred once again broke it. "What do you think of it?"

"Hmmm?" Arthur tilted his to the side, not understanding what he meant. Whatever was playing seemed tasteless to Arthur, but he was sure Alfred would not want to hear that. But the other option was equally poor, and it wouldn't do to be rude.

Alfred rolled his eyes at him. "The pizza. What do you think about the pizza."

Lovely. It was just his luck, really. Arthur shrugged and tried to be nonchalant. "It's fine."

"Just fine? Come on," he laughed. "It's good pizza, admit it!"

Arthur sucked in a breath. "Not really," He cringed when he saw the incredulous look on his host's face. He should have kept his mouth shut. "It's okay to eat, but I know a guy who makes better."

"Whatever," Alfred scoffed as he turned on the television. "When you can give me this pizza, I'll believe you."

That's not really possible. "To do that, we would need to actually hang out more." Like that would happen. Alfred hated him and while Matthew seemed nice enough, he was busy with hockey. Arthur was doomed to spend his time alone, it would seem. The teenager pursed his lips as he stared at the coffee table.

Alfred sucked in a shaky breath before he spoke. "We could do that. I mean, there's nothing to say we couldn't be friends, it's just-"

"Highly unlikely, really. And completely unexpected-"

"Yeah, but that's not to say that we can't be friends-"

"Of course not!"

"So why shouldn't we?"

"EXACTLY."

Arthur's cheeks lit up when he realized that the two were leaning closer. He willed the blush away as the other boy began to speak. "So, um, how do we start this?"

The tense atmosphere was broken by Arthur's bright laughter.

Okay, it's fairly short for my usual. But the olympics have been fairly distracting and then I had writer's block/other ideas for stories and I GOT ACCEPTED INTO THE COLLEGE I WANTED, and excuses, excuses, excuses. I'm so sorry, guys. So, so very sorry.

Though you probably get tired of hearing this, support means a lot. Thank you so much for every review, favourite, and sunbscription I recieve. Those equal motivation guys, even when I'm dead tired and just want to crawl up and scream. So review and help me out, guys. If you don't like something or you love something, tell me so I can improve!

Until next time, I still do not own anything but the plot.