It was easier than Arthur had anticipated to sneak away early Saturday morning. To his extreme fortune, on Friday night there had been a large hunt involving the whole clan for "bonding time" that had lasted late into the night, so when Arthur rose to go and meet Alfred, everyone had still been asleep. He wasn't even going to try denying his excitement for their outing today, but whether he was more excited about leaving the forest or seeing Alfred again was up for debate. Of course, if he was asked he would deny that his enthusiasm was for anything other than learning more about humans.

His past few days had been decent. Perhaps his brothers had realized that they had crossed a line on Wednesday, as although they still teased him, it was highly watered down from their usual bullying. This suited Arthur just fine, as not only was he happy to be rid of them for a while, but not seeing them as much didn't give them time to question why he had been away for several hours on Wednesday and perhaps they wouldn't even notice the all-day disappearing act he was about to pull. That thought gave him hope as he settled onto the triangular rock to wait for his predictably tardy friend.

The Naga had been tracking the movements of a squirrel a few feet away from him when Alfred came bursting loudly into the clearing. He had been contemplating making a meal out of it, but the loudness of the American sent it scampering immediately off into the trees and out of sight. Arthur sighed, thanking the universe that Alfred didn't have to hunt for food or the human would have starved to death long ago.

"Hey, Arthur!" Alfred greeted.

"Hello, Alfred," Arthur responded, hesitantly waving his hand like Alfred had shown him and hoping he was doing it right.

"Alright!" Alfred said as he reached Arthur's side. "So here's how this is gunna go down. I parked my car at the very edge of the woods so that when we get there nobody will be able to see us and we can get in and go on our way. Sound good?"

"Just lead the way," Arthur said airily. He didn't honestly care one way or the other how they got to Alfred's car as long as he was finally going to get out of these woods.

During the entirety of their walk to the car, Alfred chatted animatedly about his previous night out with his friends. Arthur was unsettled during the descriptions of the general mayhem they had caused, but Alfred assured him that it hadn't been that big of a deal. In turn, Arthur glided over the last few days of his own life, not having nearly as much to tell since he tended to do the same thing day after day.

When they finally got to Alfred's car, the human immediately opened the door for the Naga and gestured expectantly to the interior. Arthur's eyes widened upon seeing the vehicle for the first time. It looked like a giant metal cage and in his mind he couldn't help but think the words "immediate, painful suicide". Slithering cautiously towards it, he paused a few feet away from the open door to cross his arms over his chest and glare suspiciously. He trusted Alfred to not put him in any danger intentionally, but he had once read a book where someone had died in a vehicle and although this had seemed like a great idea on Wednesday, he now was wondering if they should just go back to the clearing and sit on their rock.

Alfred caught the mistrusting glare and chuckled. "I know this'll be really weird for you, but I promise I'm an awesome driver! We're just going around town anyways, and there aren't any dangerous roads."

"…Alright," Arthur conceded, gliding the short distance left. He stopped when he was right at the entrance to the car, unsure of how to get into it without help from Alfred, but unwilling to ask. Luckily, he didn't have to, as Alfred had anticipated the issue and moved to Arthur's side, wrapping his arms securely around the Naga's waist and hoisting him into the seat. Arthur let out an undignified hiss when he felt himself being lifted, but relaxed upon realizing what was happening. Smiling at his friend, Alfred made sure the length of Arthur's tail was in the car and shut the door to move around to the other side and climb behind the steering wheel.

"There's a blanket, shirt, and hat under your seat," Alfred informed the other. "Put on the shirt since we'll be in public and make sure the blanket covers your tail. The hat is to cover your ears."

Arthur was silently impressed with Alfred's foresight, but didn't comment on it while doing as instructed. He could understand that he needed to cover his ears so that the humans they drove by wouldn't look into the window and be alarmed by the appearance, but he hated how they restricted his hearing as soon as he pulled on the wool garment. The shirt, however, seemed wholly unnecessary. It was constricting and too large; the only attribute was that it smelled heavily of Alfred, which for some reason lent him a form of comfort. Hearing the other's laughter from the seat next to him, he turned his head in order to glare.

"Don't laugh at me!" he cried indignantly.

"Sorry, sorry!" Alfred said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "It's just…you look cute."

Arthur felt his eyes widen, coughing and turning away to hide the blush that had risen to his cheeks at the comment. He was sure the human meant nothing by it, but it didn't stop him from feeling embarrassed and slightly giddy. He had never been complimented in such a manner before and it was only natural to react that way. Doing his best to recover quickly from the flattery, he turned back to find that Alfred had his own matching blush.

"Why do I have to wear the shirt?" Arthur asked, pulling unhappily at the fabric to lighten the slightly awkward atmosphere that had cropped up.

Alfred chuckled, glad for the subject change. "Because people'll look at you weird if you don't. It's not acceptable for us to just go around naked," he explained.

"That's utter rubbish," Arthur stated bluntly, frowning when Alfred began to laugh at him. "Why are you laughing now?!"

"Sorry, sorry," Alfred apologized, rubbing his eyes. "It's just…the way you put that. You're so English!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Arthur scoffed. "I'm a Naga, not English."

Alfred merely shook his head. "No, England is a place. You're English if you're from England. I know you've never been there, but you have the accent and the phrases down perfectly."

"…I see."

Arthur still didn't fully understand, but completely lost the urge to question it further when the Alfred turned the key in the ignition and caused the car to make a low vibration and growling sound. He clutched the blanket on his lap tightly, looking around the car frantically for the source of the noise.

"Alfred, why is the car making those sounds?"

The human looked over in surprise at the clear sign of distress in Arthur's voice and reached over to lay a comforting hand on his clothed shoulder. Arthur relaxed, figuring he wasn't in any immediate danger if Alfred wasn't panicking.

"It's okay, it's just the way the car functions. It won't hurt you," he soothed. Arthur remained tense for a moment before exhaling, releasing his death grip on the blanket.

"Alright."

"One more thing…" Alfred bit his lip nervously. Arthur looked over skeptically, wondering what other surprises the car ride would have in store for him.

"Don't freak out when we move, okay? It's what's supposed to happen," Alfred warned, returning his hands to the steering wheel and waiting patiently for Arthur to give his consent to start driving. In response, the Naga merely nodded and nestled himself further into the seat. However, when Alfred pulled a lever of some sort, Arthur returned to clenching the blanket with wide, terrified eyes. He tried his best to not voice his panic and accept that this was a normal function of human life, but the sensation took quite a while to get used to. To begin, Alfred was kind enough to drive slowly around the parking lot in circles to allow Arthur to adjust. When it was clear he wasn't going to suffer from motion sickness, they were off.

"We can't really go into any places because people would freak out, but I came up with some cool ideas while I was out last night," Alfred informed.

Arthur nodded, too busy watching the scenery fly by at unprecedented speeds to hold any sort of real conversation. As a Naga, he could move fairly quickly, but never in his life had he imagined seeing the world move by like this. He could barely make out the sight of something before it was disappearing behind the car.

"So first I thought I could show you around the campus where I live and study. You seemed pretty interested in that and I can explain more about the way everything works," Alfred proposed.

Arthur wrenched his eyes away from the window to look over at Alfred. "That would be wonderful. How far away is it?"

"Just down the road a ways. The dorm building is just around this corner and then the academic buildings are a short drive away from that," Alfred chirped.

In short, Arthur loved the university. There were numerous people sprawled outside in the grass and walking around the buildings, enjoying the fresh morning air. He couldn't believe how many people were in this area alone, but Alfred explained to him that there were many more in the surrounding towns. Just how many humans were there in the world? He had to wonder. As the duo drove by the buildings, Alfred pointed out his dorm building, explaining that he shared the building with nearly two hundred others to sleep, study, and eat. Occasionally, they would pass someone Alfred knew from classes and he would wave out the window in greeting, giving Arthur information about each person and relating memories involving them. Thankfully, they didn't pass any of his close friends—they were still sleeping off the night before—as they would have grilled Arthur about his friendship with Alfred.

Arthur was even more fascinated by the buildings containing classrooms and libraries. He had always been curious and eager to learn, so naturally entire structures dedicated to knowledge were of interest to him. Arthur admired how Alfred's enthusiasm for his education rolled off him in waves, leaving him entranced as he watched the younger boy gesturing dangerously with his hands, especially when they passed the science building where Alfred took most of his classes. Although he still didn't know much of the finer details, Arthur felt he had exponentially increased his knowledge of Alfred's life. Before, he hadn't really been able to picture what his friend was talking about, but now that he had seen at least the outside of the buildings, he could relate more. It disappointed him faintly that he couldn't go inside, but he had a feeling that he would have been too overwhelmed to absorb anything if they had.

It was almost noon by the time Arthur felt he had sufficiently seen the place that Alfred was spending four years of his life. By that time, he had begun to notice the other boy's stomach rumbling loudly and was getting tired of pretending he didn't notice.

"Alfred, if you're hungry we should see about getting some food," he offered, feeling rather peckish himself.

Alfred grinned sheepishly, covering his stomach with his hand. "Yeah, I guess we probably should." Suddenly, he gave a bright, excited smile. "I have the absolute perfect place! Oh my gosh Arthur you are going to love it!"

Arthur raised his eyebrows at the energetic student, but conceded to eat wherever Alfred had in mind. He wondered where they could possibly be going, since Arthur couldn't get out of the car, but he trusted the American to have a plan.

The plan turned out to be something called a "Mc Donald's" as Alfred was oh-so-happy to inform him. Arthur was stunned to know that there were places humans could go to get food without even stepping one foot out of their car. He wasn't sure what to do first: commend them on their innovation or mourn how incredibly lazy the idea was. In the end, he went with sitting silently as Alfred ordered food for the both of them, reassuring him that he would be "completely in love with" everything there. He had his doubts at first, but he couldn't stop his mouth from watering as the smell of cooked meat filled the small space of the car.

"What…is this?" Arthur asked as he poked through the contents of the bag Alfred had handed to him. He couldn't help but notice that Alfred had kept four bags entirely to himself, but wasn't going to question it.

"I got you a double cheeseburger and a large fries. Your soda's right here," Alfred got out through the large mouthful of…something…he had just bitten into, gesturing at the space between their seats.

"Yes…I heard that when you ordered. But what is it?" Arthur reiterated, pulling what seemed like a hot, greasy stick out of his bag.

Alfred finished chewing his bite and swallowed heavily, sipping on his drink before answering the perplexed Naga.

"It's called a French fry. They make it out of potato. It's good, just try it!" he encouraged, shoving a handful of his own fries into his mouth.

Arthur watched the other boy chewing before hesitantly lifting the fry up to his own pouty lips and taking a small bite. He chewed thoughtfully, letting the flavor and texture absorb onto his tongue. He wasn't sure how to feel about it. It seemed odd to be eating something other than meat and various fruits and vegetables, but he thought that perhaps it was something he could get used to. Noticing that Alfred was waiting intently for a reaction, he looked over at the other boy and gave a small smile of approval.

"See?" Alfred grinned. "Try the hamburger, too. It's just meat and bread and cheese. You have cooked meat, right?"

"Of course we cook our meat!" Arthur exclaimed with a look of disgust. Honestly, the assumptions Alfred sometimes had about his species were ridiculous. Choosing to ignore his friend for the moment, Arthur turned to his food and plucked the hamburger out of the bag. He found that this, too, wasn't half bad. Like the fries, it would take some getting used to, but it was a welcome change from the monotony that was his usual diet. His soda caught his interest, and although it didn't exactly taste good, the bubbles kept him entertained. They ate quietly (or at least as quietly as possible when Alfred was eating at such a rapid, disturbing pace), enjoying the novelty of each other's company and the unhealthy food.

When they finished—somehow Alfred managed to eat all four bags of his food before Arthur finished his—Alfred started up the car once more and they pulled out of the fast food parking lot.

"Where to now?" Arthur asked curiously. He was already thoroughly impressed by Alfred's university and the surrounding town-he wasn't sure what else he could possibly see for today.

"Mmm," Alfred hummed thoughtfully. "There's this park we could go to. It's really secluded so no one would notice if we walked around."

"Sounds fine," Arthur nodded. He settled into his seat and contented himself with regarding the world out the window, marveling at how completely different it was from his own. The blanket was soft and warm on his lap, keeping his partially cold-blooded body at a comfortable temperature. He found that instead of frightening him, the motions of the car were now working to gently lull him into a calm state of mind. Feeling his eyes starting to slip closed, he was suddenly jolted out of his slight stupor when Alfred made a sharp yell.

"I forgot to put on the radio!" he despaired. Arthur shot him a confused look, wondering why this was such a bad thing. The human reached over next to what he called the "steering wheel" and turned some sort of dial. Arthur was confused until suddenly music was coming from seemingly nowhere, flooding the small enclosure in noise and a loud bass line. Alfred grinned over at his companion. "The radio lets us listen to music in the car."

Arthur perked up upon hearing the song: he had no idea that cars could play music. He could feel his ears twitch slightly under his hat, eager to pick up the melody. He startled when Alfred suddenly began to sing along loudly and off-key, bobbing his head in time with the rhythm. Arthur looked on in horror; it wasn't that Alfred had a bad voice, necessarily, it was just that he didn't seem to have any comprehension of the notes or pitch. Arthur longed to learn to words simply so he could teach Alfred how it should be done properly. Still, it was rather endearing with the way the boy seemed so happy and enthusiastic, singing song after song as they drove down streets and past businesses and people walking on the sidewalks.

After several songs had gone by of the ear-splitting vocals, the endearing effect was rapidly wearing off and Arthur was reaching his limits. His sensitive ears, although partially protected by his hat, were beginning to ache. He should find the gentlest way possible to politely ask Alfred to stop singing…

"Alfred for fucks sake shut your bloody trap!"

Nailed it.

Alfred cut himself off right in the middle of a long high note, looking over at the Naga in surprise before laughing and lowering the volume.

"Sorry, Arthur. I'll stop. We're here, anyway."

Sure enough, Arthur returned his gaze outside to see that they were pulling up alongside a park. Unlike the couple others they had passed around town already, this one seemed to be significantly more secluded with several different kinds of trees bordering the lot, providing cover from any onlookers that happened to pass by. Multitudes of shrubs and grass surrounded the trunks, some flowering and some clearly bearing fruits. The foliage spread deep within the park, emulating a forest right there in the middle of the town. Arthur didn't know what to think of the fact that he felt more at ease in the strange world just from the sight of it.

Alfred killed the ignition and promptly hopped out of the car, heading around to Arthur's side to help him off the seat.

"Not to downplay your idea," Arthur said with a deadpan expression as he promptly removed the shirt once he reached the ground, "but why would we come here when we can walk around the woods near the university any time?"

Alfred smiled at Arthur's eagerness to ditch the clothing. "Because, those are the woods near the university. They're your woods. I wanted to go on a walk with you in a part of my world."

"Oh…that's rather…" sweet, Arthur realized. However, he didn't voice this thought and instead smiled softly at his friend. "Let's get to it then."

Alfred cheered at the victory, locking his car and pocketing his keys. Arthur followed along happily as the pair left behind the vehicle and hiked into the shade provided by the trees. They couldn't have picked a better day for being outside—the air was light and fresh, the ground springy beneath them, and a few fat clouds floated across the sky. They were far enough away from the main section of the town that passing cars couldn't be heard and if it weren't for a distinct unfamiliarity in the trees around him, Arthur could almost fool himself to believe he was deep within his own territory instead of a small park. There was a well-maintained path that the two were following, made not of concrete like the others he had seen that day, but of soft pine straw.

"The trees seem lonely," Arthur suddenly commented, nearly colliding with Alfred when the student stopped short.

"What?!" Alfred shouted hoarsely, looking as if he had just seen a ghost.

Arthur gave Alfred a strange look before blushing, realizing his words may have seemed strange to the human. "It's this thing my mum once told me about the trees. Since we've always been surrounded by nature, almost all of our stories revolve around our environment. She told me that even though trees have a lot of friends all around them, they can never hug or offer comfort to one another. That's why they have branches: to try and have some form of contact," he broke off, wondering if Alfred was even remotely interested. Seeing the look of rapture on the human's face, he finished his explanation. "I suppose at this time of year, I think of the trees as being lonely since the foliage is just barely returning after the cold months."

Alfred looked around thoughtfully, absorbing what he had just been told. His dream from the other night made a little more sense…

"I like that idea," he said finally. Sparing a smile in the Naga's direction, he kept walking, hearing Arthur begin to follow him seconds later. They continued along a path, admiring the natural peace that always seemed to accompany parks and occasionally stopping to pick berries from bushes. More like, Arthur would pick them and Alfred would wonder how Arthur could stand to eat the fruits when it was still so early in the season and they weren't even close to being ripe.

"This is nice, right?" Alfred asked after a while, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking hopefully at his friend. "Today, I mean." Arthur allowed a smile to grace his features, finding the slight nervousness of the boy to be amusing.

"Yes, Alfred. This is lovely," he admitted, pleased with his immediate reward of a happy noise from the human.

"Great! 'Cus I was worried, ya know? That you would decide you didn't like the human world all that much or something."

Arthur chuckled at the notion. "I don't think that's possible, Al."

Alfred suddenly stopped in his tracks for the second time that day, whipping around to look at his companion. Arthur froze when he saw him stop walking, fearful that Alfred had detected another person nearby.

"What did you just say?" Alfred asked with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape.

"Umm…" Arthur faltered, hoping it hadn't been weird to say how much he liked Alfred's world. "I just meant that humans are very fascinating…"

Alfred shook his head. "No, I mean, what did you just call me?"

"Al?" Arthur said hesitantly. Was it not acceptable to shorten someone's name for humans? Before the thought could go any further, however, Alfred was practically tackling him in a hug, forcing him to let out an oof!

"Nobody has called me that since middle school!"

"Erm…" Arthur awkwardly tried to return to embrace. "Is it a…good thing then?"

Alfred picked his head up from where it was resting on Arthur's shoulder and gave him a bright smile.

"Yeah! I really like it!" he exclaimed. Arthur blushed at the proximity and gently extracted himself from the enthusiastic American's grip, slithering away several feet and clearing his throat.

"Well I'll keep that in mind, then." He turned his head to see Alfred smiling off into the distance and took the opportunity to observe his friend. He really was quite attractive… Wait, what?!

"Hey, Arthur, look!" Alfred suddenly shouted, pointing out something next to the Naga's head. Arthur turned, alarmed, but was only met with the sight of a butterfly fluttering several inches away from his face. He inhaled, feeling a silly, awe-struck smile spread over his features as it came closer and perched on his nose, causing it to tickle slightly. The two wings opened and closed lazily as Arthur watched Alfred approaching out of the corner of his eye, eventually kneeling down to be at face level with Arthur's nose. The two locked wonder-filled eyes as carefully, Alfred reached out his hand, one finger extended, and tried to coax the butterfly away from Arthur's face. As soon as Alfred made slight contact with its appendages, however, the majestic being hastily took flight and shattered the moment.

"Damn," Alfred muttered, looking disappointedly at the retreating insect and rising to his feet. "You still wanna keep walking? Er…slithering?"

Arthur shrugged indifferently. "I suppose."


Half an hour later, the pair had their fill of meandering through the park and decided to head back to the car. Much to Arthur's displeasure, Alfred convinced him to put the shirt and hat back on, saying that they couldn't go around without certain precautions. The only saving grace for the Naga was the blanket, which he found he was quite fond of and needed no prodding in order to happily nestle himself under it.

"You can keep that, you know," Alfred said as he attempted to suppress his chuckles. Really, how could Arthur manage to look annoyed and pleased at the same time?

Arthur's eyes lit up at the proposition. "Really?" Alfred nodded. "Thank you so much! Er…I mean, it's the least you can do after forcing me to wear the stupid clothing. I don't have anything like this and it's quite wonderful…"

This time, Alfred couldn't help but release a small chuckle. "I'm glad you like it," he said as he started up the car again. "What do you want to do now?"

"I don't know," Arthur murmured absentmindedly, too absorbed in fingering the edges of the soft blanket to pay much attention. "It's your town."

Alfred pouted, upset that a scrap of fabric was more interesting to his friend than he was. He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, trying to come up with another idea. Something fun that didn't involve them getting out of the car... "I've got it!" he exclaimed, putting the car in gear and pulling away from the park. "There's one more thing around here you'll enjoy." At least that caught Arthur's attention.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You'll see," Alfred said, winking playfully.

Ten minutes later and Arthur was certain he never wanted to go back to his clan.

"What do you call this?" he said in amazement, looking out at a collection of cars that were clustered around what appeared to be a thin wall.

"It's a drive-in movie theater!" Alfred explained happily. "They used to be super popular a few decades ago, but now you can rarely find them. Most theaters are indoors. Lucky for us, this town is pretty old-fashioned!"

"Movie…" Arthur repeated to himself, trying to recall the word. "You told me about that. Those are the captured people, yes?"

Alfred grinned at the phrasing. "Not exactly captured. They are just recorded while acting in order to tell us a story that'll play on the screen up there."

"Fascinating," Arthur breathed, staring intently at what he guessed was the screen. "So what exactly do we do?"

"Just sit here, pretty much. A guy will come around once the movie starts and collect money. 'Til then, I'm gonna go get some snacks!" Alfred gave a thumbs up as he hopped out of the car, hurrying off in the direction of the concession stands. Arthur watched him go, feeling rather giddy about the whole thing. He could see other people milling around the few dozen cars parked in the large grassy lot, presumably headed for the same thing as Alfred. He marveled, not for the first time that day, at the sheer variety of everything around him. He didn't understand the need for cars of every shape, size, and color imaginable, but they were fun to look at nonetheless. More so, he loved to see the different types of clothing everyone wore. Although he didn't enjoy having to wear the shirt and hat, he could appreciate them on others. He rather liked the way some wore open things Alfred had called "skirts" while some wore articles that clung to both legs, called "pants".

When Alfred returned, it was with a massive armload of food and a robust "Check it!" Arthur sniffed in disdain at the snacks that were undoubtedly devoid of any nutrition whatsoever as Alfred somehow managed to fit them all in the area between their seats.

"Say hello to popcorn, hot dog, ice cream, and candy bar!" Alfred said enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together. "Trust me, after you've tried this, you'll have officially been introduced to the best foods America has to offer."

Arthur looked skeptically at the food. "If you say so…" His sensitive nose was protesting the sheer amount of butter and fat coating everything, but it seemed as if the candy was acceptable. Just as he was about to reach over and pluck something out of the pile, however—

"Shit!"

Arthur looked over at his companion, withdrawing his hand from the food suspiciously and raising his eyebrows at the outburst. Alfred had a panicked expression on his face and his hands had flown into his hair, staring at something off in the crowd.

"Something wrong?" Arthur asked in a monotone voice.

Alfred nodded, releasing his hair with one hand and pointing to something outside the car. "See those two people over there? The girl and guy now walking over here?" His words were rushed, worried.

Arthur followed the direction of Alfred's finger and spotted what he assumed was the pair of people indicated: one guy with silver hair holding the hand of a girl with long, brown hair.

Alfred didn't wait for Arthur's statement of having seen them. "Those are two of my close friends, Elizaveta and Gilbert. Ah, man! I didn't think they'd be here tonight," he whined before looking at Arthur to make sure nothing suspicious was showing. "Just let me do the talking. Even though it's getting dark out I wouldn't want to risk them seeing your teeth."

"Alright…you think they will stay long?" The two were almost at the car by this point.

"No," Alfred said after a moment of thought, "they'll wanna get back to their date. Just…act natural!" He proclaimed as a bit of last minute advice as he rolled his window down to talk to his friends. Arthur snorted, wishing he could reply that if he was acting natural, he sure as hell wouldn't be wearing the shirt and hat, let alone be sitting in a car about to watch a movie.

"Hey, Alfred! Didn't expect to see you here," the boy—Gilbert, Arthur assumed—greeted.

Alfred smiled at his friends. "Yeah, well, same can be said to you two!" Arthur tried to make himself smaller under the blanket, half hoping they wouldn't notice him and ask questions like Alfred seemed to fear and half hoping they would so he could talk to new humans.

The silver-haired boy shrugged. "We just felt like going out again after last night and this movie is supposed to-"

"Oh my god!" Elizaveta cut him off with a loud squeal. All three boys winced at the shrill tone. "Are you Arthur?"

Arthur peered around Alfred to smile at the cheerful brunette. He was about to answer in the affirmative when he remembered Alfred's request to do all the talking so the others wouldn't notice his sharp front teeth.

"The one and only!" Alfred responded for him nervously. Elizaveta's smile widened ten-fold and Arthur thought that if it had gotten any bigger, her jaw may have broken. Practically pushing Gilbert away from the window, Elizaveta leaned forward and thrust her hand across Alfred in order to reach the passenger seat.

"Alfred has been quite secretive about you, the little dog! It's so wonderful to meet you in person," she enthused. Luckily, Alfred had shown him how to shake hands before, so Arthur clasped her hand as normally as possible and bobbed it up and down.

"Likewise," he managed to get out in order to avoid seeming rude and trying to move his lips as little as physically possible. He watched her face carefully for any sign that she had noticed his teeth and thankfully found none. Releasing his hand, Elizaveta withdrew herself from the car and smoothed her shirt of ruffles caused by her maneuver. Gilbert waved from his position near the window, unwilling to throw himself essentially across Alfred's lap as his date had just done. Arthur didn't like the mischievous glint in their eyes.

Apparently, neither did Alfred. "Yup, well it's cool you guys got to meet him. Hope you enjoy the show," he said abruptly, clearly trying to get them to leave. It seemed for a moment as if they may, but then something caught Gilbert's attention.

"Hey, isn't that your shirt, Alfred?" he asked, pointing at the article on Arthur's torso.

"Um, yeah?" Alfred said without looking, for once cursing the lifetime of friendship that allowed the albino to pick up on things like that.

"Interesting." Gilbert smirked, sharing a look with Elizaveta.

"Indeed," finished the brunette, covering a wicked grin behind one hand.

"Yup," Alfred stated awkwardly, biting his lip between his teeth. He started tapping his hands on the steering wheel—a nervous or thoughtful habit, Arthur noticed. The four of them remained silent for several moments, two in glee and the other two in apprehension.

"Well, I hope you two enjoy the movie," Elizaveta said before winking and walking away. Gilbert turned to follow her, but not before leaning down and whispering something into Alfred's ear that caused him to blush a brilliant, vibrant red and produce a noise that sounded like a cross between a gasp and a squeak.

When the pair had walked a safe distance away, Alfred rolled up the window and quietly returned to devouring the obscene pile of food. Arthur debated momentarily about asking what Gilbert had said, but figured that if Alfred wanted him to know, he would tell him.

"They seemed nice," Arthur said conversationally. Alfred gave him a partially forced smile as he bit into something rectangular and brown.

"Yeah," was the only reply on the subject of his friends. After a moment, Alfred held out whatever he had just been eating. "Want some chocolate?"


Nearly three hours later, Arthur discovered several things. First and most important: chocolate was the most amazing thing ever created. He hadn't even encountered half the things that had been created, but it didn't matter because nothing could ever beat the delicious, sweet chunk of divinity. Second: "hot dogs" were a sorry excuse for food. Third: people apparently dedicated lots of time and energy into making movies solely for the purpose of wowing an audience with fire, explosions, and cars crashing together. Fourth: Alfred absolutely adored this kind of movie. Finally: Despite not being able to follow what was supposed to be happening (although, Arthur suspected that there wasn't much to follow anyway), Arthur kind of enjoyed them too.

When the movie was over and words moved across the screen to list who had been involved in making it, Arthur and Alfred reluctantly agreed that Arthur needed to be getting back. It was getting pretty late in the evening and the Naga was doubtful that nobody in his clan had noticed his absence throughout the entire day as it was: prolonging his time away would only make it worse. As they drove back across the town to the woods near Alfred's university, Arthur wondered if he would able to simply return to his everyday life. Now that he knew what was really out there in the world, his existence in his clan's territory seemed duller than ever. There were so many things he had seen and learned about since that morning and he knew that it was only a small fraction of what was out there in the rest of the world. He wanted to try more foods, he wanted to see more movies, he wanted to go inside buildings and meet more people and travel around to different towns, areas, countries and try new things and..and—and!

"We're here," Alfred said gently as he pulled his car alongside the woods. Arthur pulled himself from his inner thoughts, quickly pulling off his hat and shirt to hand them to Alfred. "Want me to walk you to our rock?"

"No, that's fine. You should be getting back to your dorm," Arthur replied, gathering his new blanket into his arms. Alfred nodded before getting out of the vehicle and walking around to Arthur's side. Once Arthur was placed safely onto the ground, he smiled at his friend through the darkness. "Thanks for today. It meant a lot to me," he admitted.

"I know," Alfred smiled. "I had a really great time."

Arthur nodded and looked down at the ground. Neither made any motion, unwilling to part.

"Meet you in the usual spot next Wednesday afternoon?" Alfred eventually asked.

Arthur nodded again, but still made no move to leave.

"Have a safe trip back, Arthur," Alfred said softly before suddenly leaning over and kissing Arthur gently on the cheek. Both froze at the unexpected contact; Alfred clearly had not realized what he was doing before he did it.

"I, Um—I…that," Alfred stammered helplessly. "Sorry," he settled on, blushing in mortification.

"It's alright," Arthur managed after several tense seconds. Drawing up to his full height, he still only came up to Alfred's chest, so he pulled down on the boy's shoulders until they were at eye level and returned to kiss to the cheek, enjoying how soft Alfred's skin was under lips.

"There, now we're even." Laughing quietly at Alfred's surprised expression, he slithered away to hide his own embarrassment, calling "goodnight, Al" over his shoulder as he went. Nearly three long minutes had gone by before he heard the distant rumbling of a car coming to life and pulling out of the parking lot.


A/N: I'm sorry this took so freaking long to update! Epic fail :/ I've just been so busy with school and life that I haven't had time to focus on this, so I've just been doing random one-shots. My work load has lightened significantly though, so I should be more regular about updating until the end of this. I hope the length and fluff makes up for the wait! :D

Also, we aren't getting a cover image :( My artist friend decided she couldn't take on another side project. Sooo if any of you wanted to draw something for this I would literally love you forever and ever and sing your praises :D

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has favorited, reviewed, and followed this so far. You people are wonderful and I smile like a total fool at inappropriate times whenever I remember everything said in the reviews. Much love 3