Chapter 8

Wrapped up in a warm coat to protect him from the cold brash wind Francis was looking at Arthur from across the street.

As he watched Arthur from afar Francis could help but feel as if their current situation was like Romeo and Juliet. But instead of Arthur running away from him he would leap from the window Francis's arms ready to catch him, and they would run away back to Paris and live happily together.

"Ah~ but that is only a dream right now. Do not worry mon petite lapin for that day will come soon that I promise you."

Francis stayed watching Arthur till he could no longer be seen from the kitchen window. When it became apparent to him that Arthur wasn't going to be in the kitchen again for some time Francis walked away and headed back for his hotel room to think of the best way to win over his loves heart; all the while he could get the image of his Arthur looking in the direction that the blonde boy with glasses went running off to.

"Arthur loves me he just doesn't realise it yet. He will be mine."


Arthur sat down with his tea as he thought about what he could do with his day off. Matthew and Gilbert were spending the day together, so he would just be a third wheel for the couple and that they had already left and Arthur had no idea where they went. And Alfred had classes to attend to and he didn't know when he would be back.

"Seems like I'll be by myself today then. I don't think that I want to go outside in case I run into that stupid frog again. Damn it why can't he just leave me alone and bugger off back to France by himself."

By the time that Arthur had finished his tea he still hadn't thought about what he could do till someone got back. Eventually he decided to watch some TV in order to kill sometime and his boredom.

Unfortunately all that Arthur could find was one talk show after another.

"Oh god I don't think I can take this much longer. What the bloody hell is the time already." Arthur then picked up his phone to look at the time, but just groaned as he saw what the time was. "Urg it's not even midday yet. This day is just going to drag on and on I can tell. I need another smoke."

Arthur then left the apartment with his cigarettes and the spare keys left behind in hand and headed to the balcony. He locked the door to the apartment and pocketed the keys and then made his way down the hallway.

When he got to the balcony he was quick to light up a cigarette. As Arthur stood on the balcony he leaned on the railing and couldn't help but think how his life was turning out.

"If it wasn't for the whole frog stalking me I guess things wouldn't be too bad. Alfred and Matthew are really good to me, helping out with all the shit that's happening and well I guess Gilbert's ok, annoying as hell, but ok. I really feel as if I should do something for them to say thanks." Arthur thought for a moment as he finished off is cigarette. "I know what I can do, I'll cook dinner tonight."

Arthur then quickly ran back into the apartment and headed straight for the kitchen to see what he could make.

As Arthur rampaged through the kitchen he thought of all the recipes that he had learnt from his mother when he was younger. It didn't take long for Arthur to think of the perfect thing to make, but found that he didn't have the ingredients necessary to make it so he ran out from the apartment, wallet and keys in hand.


Alfred had just finished his first class of the day and was looking forward to the fact that he could now eat some lunch. As he walked out of the lecture room he walked over to where he planned on meeting a friend.

When he got to the meeting place he saw his friend just ahead of him. Alfred quickly closed to distance between the two of them and then hugged his friend.

"Hey Kiku how you doing bud?"

"Ah Alfred-san hello. I am doing fine, you seem happier than normal today."

"Hahahahaha do I?" Alfred let Kiku go from his hug as they continued to walk.

"Hai you do. I'm guessing that things are going ok between you and that guy you told me about."

"Ah about that things are . . . well they're still the same. I don't even know if he likes me like how I like him. I mean I've told ya how much I like him Kiku; I just need to know if he likes me back. Ah man why does this have to be so damn hard."

"Fear not Alfred-san I'm sure things will work out for you. Just take your time to get to know this Arthur and I'm sure that you'll find out in no time if he does like you or not."

"I hope that you're right bro. Hey ya want to get some lunch now I'm starved." Alfred ran a head of Kiku.

"Huhuhu typical Alfred-san easily distracted by the thought of food." Kiku did his best to keep up with Alfred's fast pace. "Hai Alfred-san I believe that there are some burgers on today's campus menu."

"Ya not joking man. Oh yeah I'm gonna to eat so many burgers."

Kiku could only laugh at his friend's enthusiastic behaviour. "All the best of luck to you Alfred-san. From what you've told me I think that you are going to need it."


Arthur stumbled back into the apartment carrying a bag of ingredients that he needed to make dinner for all four of them. He stumbled further into the apartment dropping the keys somewhere on the floor as he headed towards the kitchen, he tried to pick them up but Arthur ended up nearly dropping the bag on the floor so he decided to leave them there for the time being.

When Arthur finally made it to the kitchen he was quick to place the bag down on the kitchen counter and was relieved to finally have the heavy bag out of his arms.

"Phew that was heavier than I thought it was going to be, it also didn't help that I got lost trying to find the damned store. Now let's see did I get everything that I need?" Arthur started going through the bag checking the contents and then double checking the contents before putting anything that needed to be kept cold into the fridge so that it wouldn't go off before it was needed.

When he was done Arthur made himself another cup of tea and sat down in front of the TV, this time hoping that there was something other than talk shows on. He was this time able to find something to watch that was too his liking. After a while Arthur pulled out his phone and went to look up the recipe for what he was going to cook for Alfred, Matthew and Gilbert, to make sure that he could remember exactly how to make the dish.

After about the middle of the afternoon the door to the apartment opened and Alfred walked in looking very tired. He threw his backpack to one side of the room and then collapsed onto the sofa next to Arthur. The tension from the events that happened earlier that day seemed to disappear between the two blonds.

"Oh man I didn't think it was possible to be this exhausted after just a couple of classes."

Arthur could tell that just by looking at Alfred just how exhausted he looked, especially compared to the morning when he was so fall of energy. He decided to help the young American out, as Alfred has done a lot for him. "Is there anything that you want to drink or eat? I can go and get it for you."

"Really? Oh man thanks, some coffee would be awesome right now."

Arthur got up from where he was sitting and headed into the kitchen to make the drink for Alfred. He wasn't fond of coffee all together, always been more of a tea person but that didn't mean that thanks to all of his jobs over the past five years that he didn't know how to make a really good cup of coffee. As the water was boiling he poked his head out of the kitchen and asked how he liked his coffee.

"Alfred how do you like your coffee?"

"No milk, four sugars please."

Arthur went back into the kitchen to make the coffee how Alfred liked it. Within the next couple of minutes Arthur left the kitchen with a mug of coffee in his hands. He handed it to Alfred and sat back down on the sofa sitting just that little bit closer to the taller blond.

Alfred accepted the hot drink and happily started to drink it. He was only able to take one sip of it before he looked back at Arthur looking shocked. "This is the best coffee I've ever had. How did you make it taste so good?"

"When I was in Spain I worked in a coffee shop. The owner was very good at making coffee even if it was just from instant, and he taught me how to do the same." Arthur was trying his best to not look too smug as he gave his response.

"Wow dude that's so cool. You're so cool Arthur."

Arthur had to look away from Alfred to hide his quickly reddening face. "S-So any idea as to when Matthew and Gilbert will be getting back?"

Alfred took another sip of the coffee and gave his shoulders a quick shrug before answering Arthur's question. He could just about see that Arthur's face was red. "Hmmm not sure, it kinda depends on when they finish doing whatever it is that they are doing. I hope that they get back soon it's Mattie's turn to cook tonight."

Arthur looked back to Alfred smiling his face still a little red. "Actually . . . I was hoping that I could cook tonight, as my way of saying thanks for everything that you've done for me."

Alfred placed his coffee on the coffee table in front of him. "Nah man you don't have to do that."

"I want to Alfred. After everything that you, Matthew and Gilbert have done for me it's the least that I can do. I actually dread to think what could have happened if you didn't step in when you did when that frog found me. Thank you Alfred to me you really are a hero." Arthur smiled gently at Alfred.

Now it was Alfred's turn to blush. He wanted to say something back but found that his mind started to fail him at Arthur's smile that was meant for him and only him. Alfred started to lean in closer to Arthur, slowly closing the gap between them; but he quickly pulled away when the door to the apartment opened and Matthew and Gilbert walked in.

Matthew and Gilbert walked into the apartment with Gilbert's arm draped around Matthew's shoulders. Both of them had a happy smile on their faces, as they continued walking into the apartment they hadn't noticed Alfred and Arthur sitting not too far away. Gilbert was whispering something in Matthew's ear that caused the blond to blush as red as his hoddie once again.

Alfred watched as his brother and his boyfriend walk into the apartment acting both so lovey dovey with each other to the point that he felt a pang of jealously towards them. "Oh get a room you two." Alfred looked away from the couple and went back to his coffee.

"Oh don't vorry about zhat we plan to later on." Gilbert moved his hand from Matthew's shoulder and placed it on the blonds' backside and gave it a non discreet squeeze that caused the other to squeak a little at the sudden action.

"Sorry that we're a bit late back Al, I'll get started on dinner in a bit."

"Oh there's no need for that Matthew I'll cook tonight. I already went out earlier and got everything that I need to make dinner."

Both Matthew and Gilbert were both shocked by the Brits sudden voluntary action. "Well if you want to Arthur then I'm ok with that. If you need any help with anything then feel free to ask."

It wasn't long till Arthur was in the kitchen preparing the meal that wanted to make for the others. But he wasn't known to be the best in the kitchen; having been going from one place to another for five years never really gave Arthur a chance to cook in a proper kitchen so this was a challenge to the Brit and being the stubborn person that he was he wasn't going to give up too easily.

Alfred, Matthew and Gilbert could only sit and listen to the sounds that were coming from the kitchen as Arthur cooked. They all felt concerned every time that they heard Arthur swear or when something obviously crashed to the floor.

About an hour later Arthur finally poked his head out the kitchen and smiled at the trio. "Dinner's ready."

The trio then walked into the kitchen and were greeted by the site of the meal that Arthur had prepared for them. They sat down in their seats and looked at the food as if it was alien to them.

Matthew was curious as to what it was and so he decided to ask. "So what is it that you made Arthur?"

Arthur sat down to join the others with a proud smile on his face. "It's a British classic known as 'Toad in the hole'. Not actual toad though it's sausages cooked in a batter."

Alfred was the first one to taste the food that Arthur had cooked for them. "Wow Arthur this tastes amazing."

After that Matthew and Gilbert also tasted their meal and they had to agree with Alfred that it did taste amazing.

Arthur had trouble hiding the fact that his face had turned a prominent shade of red which Alfred found to absolutely adorable on the Brit.

Once they had finished their food Matthew had insisted that he help Arthur with the clean up since it was meant to be his turn to cook that night. After the cleaning up was done for the day, the day went by as the others had gone with only the slightest of changes, Gilbert grinned as he had dragged Matthew off by the waist and headed towards their bedroom for the night as soon as he stepped out of the kitchen.

Arthur settled down on one of the sofas next to Alfred. Both of them were quite happy sitting next to each other.

Things were peaceful until the two of them heard what was going on in Matthew and Gilbert's room. Alfred and Arthur both turned a very noticeable shade of red each as the sounds continued and they both looked away from each other not knowing what to say to the other in this situation.

Alfred gave a quick cough to clear his throat and get Arthur's attention. He nervously scratched the back of his neck as he went to speak. "Yeah . . . ah sorry about . . . that. I probably should have given you a heads up about that."

"N-No it's fine. They are a couple so I should have expected it."

An awkward silence fell between Alfred and Arthur both not knowing what to say to the other.

Alfred continued to scratch the back of his neck as he thought that this might be the best time to ask Arthur out. "Come on Alfred you can do this. You can ask him out. You. Can. Do. This."

Eventually Alfred looked at Arthur only to find that Arthur was looking at him, but he just as quickly looked away from Alfred. "So . . . um Arthur I was wondering" This caused Arthur to look back to Alfred even if it was just out of the corner of his eye. "if the next time that you don't have a shift to work and I don't classes to go to . . . do you . . . you want to hang out together. Just you and me no one else."


A/N: sorry that it's been a while since I last updated this fanfic. I had started it a while ago before I had to come back to uni and I was working on it in my spare time along with my other fanfics and I was figuring out what I wanted to happen during this chapter.

hope that everyone has had a nice valentines day and as a special treat from me to those that read my other fics I have another update planned for today, not gonna say which one it is though.

favs, follows and reviews are all welcomed, please let me know what you think of this so far.

till next time gxgirl-93 out