So guess who started university and completely underestimated how little time they'd have to actually do shit? *awkwardly raises hand* Welp, it's the holidays so let's have an update. I hope you all had a wonderful Xmas~ ^_^
Note: Katyusha is Ukraine and Eduard is Estonia
x~x~x~x~x
CHAPTER NINE- In Which An Ace Student Needs Help
"W-Wait… so you mean… this whole time you were…?" The setting sun's golden rays surrounded Lili's hair, making it look as though she was wearing a halo. Her beautiful eyes gazed up at Arthur, in awe of his true form.
"I never meant to lie to you Lili," Arthur said, running a hand through his hair as he looked out over the lake that the two of them had travelled to. He wanted to reveal himself in a place like this, where the memory could be a good one. "I had no choice but to pretend to be a girl, but I—"
"No you don't need to explain," she said, taking a step forward and shyly nuzzling against his chest. Arthur's strong arms wrapped around her lithe frame.
"Lili," he murmured.
"Oh Arthur," she swooned. "Part of me always knew. From the very moment I saw you I couldn't help but fall in lo—"
"Hush darling," Arthur said, gently placing his index finger over those soft, pillowy lips. "I know, I felt it too." He carefully moved his finger away and instead leant in, noting the cute blush on Lili's cheeks. And then their lips were connected and—
"FWAH!" Arthur yelled as he toppled over the side of his bed, pillow in his arms and his face buried in it. He groaned, shoving the pillow away from himself as if he hadn't just been snogging the thing. "Dammit," he mumbled, wiping the sleep out of his eyes before reaching over from his place on the ground to grab his mobile and check the time. "Oh Bollocks!" he yelled, standing up too fast and disorientating himself in the process. But if he didn't hurry he was going to be late! Stupid dreams about stupid sunsets and stupid lakes.
Alice made it to school about two minutes after the bell had rung but considering the fact that when she finally did put in an appearance she was out of breath and practically fainted onto her seat, she was let off with a warning.
"What happened to you?" Liz asked once Alice had groggily lifted her head up from their desk.
"Lili happened," she replied monosyllabically before collapsing once again.
Wanting to console her friend, Liz put a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder and said, "Don't forget we have DDIY this lunch time."
A defeated groan was the response.
x~x~x~x~x
Seeing as Maths was the lesson he had before lunch that day, and seeing as that was miraculously the only lesson he didn't share with Liz, Arthur meandered down the corridor on his own as he voluntarily headed towards W8. The only thing they'd truly made a difference in so far was Feliciano's love life and, now Arthur wasn't one to brag, but he basically did that one solo. Far be it from him to call DDIY a lost cause but…
Yeah okay it was a lost cause.
The only reason he persisted in attending these meetings was to be a spectator in the grand banter that Liz and Gilbert shared. Plus talking to Golden Boy about dogs was an okay way to pass the time, he supposed. So when he saw that very Golden Boy heading in the very opposite direction to W8, a girl on his arm, Arthur was positively indignant. Here he was giving up his lunchtime while Alfred was busy getting action? When the only action he was getting was with his pillow?!
(Which, by the way, would never be spoken of ever).
The universe was a cruel mistress but that didn't mean that Arthur was going to take that. If he was going to the meeting then so was Alfred, and if that meant that the guy had to suffer blue balls for a night well then so be it. He could treat it as an educational experience, because that was the reality for the mere mortals who didn't have the fortune of being the great Alfred F. Jones. And he still didn't know what that bloody 'F' stood for.
He quickly hurried after Jones and this unidentified female hanging off of his arm and succeeded in catching up to them, pulling a little on Jones's sleeve to get him to turn around. "We have club now, remember?" Alice asked, trying to sound unimpressed by the lack of commitment the so-called 'hero' was displaying but she quickly wilted when the person in question turned around and blinked at her in confusion.
Oh Jesus Christ there were two Alfreds.
This one had slightly longer hair and sort of lilac-y eyes but it was definitely Alfred somehow. His clone gone a little bit wrong or something. Or perhaps this was an evil twin? Maybe Alfred was just trying out a new look?
"Umm, I think you're after my cousin," the bloke said sheepishly after a moment. Cousin? No way could they just be cousins. Then again, when he thought about it, didn't Lili say something about confusing Alfred and his cousin back when they'd had that sleepover?
"Ah, I see, sorry," Alice said, taking a step back and actually looking at the guy long enough to notice some other discrepancies between him and Alfred. They did look terrifyingly alike though.
"People are always making that mistake," the girl laughed softly from the guy's side, "Though I guess Matthew does look a lot like Alfred."
Matthew said something in response to that but Arthur had since looked over to the girl in question and was very much trying not to stare at what were a pair of incredibly impressive breasts. Like… how did she walk? How was this girl anatomically possible? Better yet, how the hell did this Marvin person get a girl like her?!
Just make eye contact, he thought to himself, You're a girl right now. Don't stare. Staring is bad. But bloody hell they deserve an award or something! Still, they may be big, but she's no Lili. At some point during a dreamy sigh Alice was snapped out of her thoughts when the girl waved a hand in front of her face.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"O-Oh, uh, yes, sorry." She coughed into her hand to clear her throat. "Sorry to have bothered you Mickey—"
"It's Matthew."
"—Right Matthew. And… Sorry, what was your name?"
"Katyusha," the girl said, smiling warmly. "Katyusha Braginski."
"Well it's nice to—" wait what?! Braginski? That… That couldn't just be a coincidence, right? Ever since that weird meeting at the flowery café he hadn't even caught a glimpse of the Russian, no matter how much he wanted to ask questions and just talk to him. Well he may as well ask; it's not like there was anything to lose. "Is your brother by any chance Ivan Braginski?"
Katyusha looked surprised for a moment before nodding. "You know my brother?" she asked.
Alice nodded. "I'm- err- doing a project with him. But he rarely shows up to class," she said, remembering how Liz had told him the Russian hardly attended any of his classes and instead preferred to stay away from people by hanging out on one of the numerous roofs at World Academy. "So actually, do you know where I could find him?"
"I keep telling him that he should go to class properly," Katyusha sighed, biting her bottom lip before nodding. "He's usually on top of the Art Department's roof."
The Art Department? He hadn't checked that one (not that he checked all that many). Admittedly it was undoubtedly the last place he would have looked, which was probably what made it a genius move on Braginski's part. Alice nodded and muttered a thanks and another sorry before deciding to meet up with Braginski right then and there and ask what was going on. Yet just as she was about to set off a voice called out, "Hey Alice! We have DDIY now!"
Alice stopped and slowly turned around in time to see Golden Boy grinning and waving at her. Oh yeah, the whole point she was even talking to these two was because she initially thought she was preventing Alfred from skipping out on club duties. The irony of the situation was not lost. "Ya coming?" he asked, and Alice sighed as she realised that she'd have to wait one more day before she got to talk to Ivan again. She headed over to Alfred who smiled and started walking towards W8.
"I didn't know you knew Mattie," he said.
"I don't. It's Katyusha's brother really. Well… sort of." It's not like he knew much about Ivan at all. There was just a load of question marks surrounding the guy and even with the time Arthur had had to try and puzzle out the Anya thing or reflect on that fight of theirs, nothing became any clearer.
"Wait, you don't mean Ivan Braginski, right?" Alfred asked carefully. Alice nodded and Alfred shook his head resolutely. "Stay away from him."
Apparently Alice had missed the memo that informed her that Alfred was now her boss. "Why?"
"He's bad news," Jones sighed, "Always gets into fights, no regard for others. He's a total dick." He clenched his hands into fists, "Look it's kinda hard to explain but seriously, Braginski is the worst. So avoid him like the plague."
Well now Arthur was even more curious about Ivan Braginski. Was there really any need for Alfred's animosity towards him? Well, truthfully… Arthur was actually shocked that he didn't feel the same way. When someone pins you against a wall like that, even if it was just to invite him to a café, it's not the sort of thing that wins you any friends. And yet weirdly Arthur didn't hate Braginski for it, he just wanted to know what the fuck possessed him to do it in the first place.
"But your cousin dates his sister, right?"
"Oh you mean Kat? Yeah she's cool. Those two have been dating for years now. I'm actually waiting for their engagement announcement," Alfred laughed, holding the door open for Alice when they finally reached their classroom. "She's the only Braginski that seems sane though. Mattie was telling me about the other sister and yeesh, wouldn't wanna get on the wrong side of her!"
He went over to their little box and fished out the few requests that were in there, rifling through as he took a seat. Alice perched on the edge of a desk and soon the sounds of Elizaveta and Gilbert bickering approached the room.
"You do realise you're just wasted space, right?" Liz was bitching, entering the classroom with her arms crossed as Gilbert looked intently around the room, eventually getting on his hands and knees and crawling around under the desks. "What are you doing?" she asked irritably.
"Sorry, I'm just looking for a fuck to give," Gilbert answered apologetically, "Could have sworn I left one in here somewhere… hmmm, nein. Guess not. Kesese~"
"You're not funny or clever," Liz said bluntly before shooting Alice a glare, "Hey stop laughing!"
"Hey it was pretty funny," Alice said innocently, swinging her legs back and forth from atop the desk.
"Hah! I win~" Gilbert hummed. "Not that the awesome me could ever lose."
"Gilbert, what's the view like when your head is so far up your own ass?" Liz asked.
"I knew you wanted my ass," Gilbert said simply, ignoring the insult part of that and shaking his hips. "The girls all fall for me eventually. But not all can handle my awesome five metres."
"More like five centimetres."
"Ja? Wanna check?" Gilbert asked, waggling his eyebrows while Liz gagged.
They were so absorbed in their little routine that they almost missed the shy knock at the door. Alfred was the one who noticed it, looking up from where he had discarded the requests for help as they were no doubt the usual rubbish, but before he could get up to answer the door Lili nervously poked her head around it and peered into the classroom. Alice was up and over there in an instant, smiling happily and inviting Lili inside.
"Hi there," Alice grinned, "You okay Lili?"
Visibly relaxing now that she was with people she knew, Lili nodded and took a seat at one of the many desks. Liz and Gilbert at least had the decency to shut up while they had a potential damsel in distress, and soon Alfred was occupying the seat next to Lili with his charm turned up to eleven. He didn't notice the way Alice's eyes had narrowed at that.
"So how can we help you?" Alfred asked. "No problem is too big or too small!"
"Unless it's gay," Gilbert muttered under his breath, but either Alfred didn't hear it or he pretended not to.
"Oh oh, are you here for advice on how to get that mystery man of yours?" Liz asked excitedly, and Arthur deflated a little at the reminder that yes, apparently there was some guy out there that Lili had a crush on.
"I-It's not that," Lili blushed, "I was actually wondering if, umm…" She fiddled with the hem of her skirt, not being able to make eye contact.
"Hey, whatever it is, you can tell us," Alice said, pushing the idea of Lili liking someone else to the back of her mind.
"W-Well… I know I may not be much help but still, c-could I maybe… join you guys?"
"Join us?" Elizaveta asked.
"Yes. The club, I mean."
"Heck yeah you can!" Alfred grinned, "We're always looking for fellow heroes!"
"Is your brother okay with it?" Liz asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Her concern was warranted, because the power of friendship and the will of a hero were no match for Vash's weaponry.
Lili looked up then, a grim determination in her eyes that Arthur hadn't seen before. "I… I don't care if he's not," she said. "I want to do something for me, even if it may seem selfish… I really want to do some things in my own way. I love brother but sometimes I wish he'd trust me a little more. So I thought, if I joined you guys and showed him that I can help people, that maybe he'd see that I can do things for myself as well…" She bowed her head. "Is that bad of me?"
"Not at all," Gilbert grinned, "I'd say that's pretty awesome!"
"Yes, because you don't know any other adjectives," Liz rolled her eyes.
"Welcome aboard Lili," Alfred said, patting her shoulder. "It's great to have you with us."
"Thank you," Lili smiled, while Arthur was still trying to process the fact that from now on, every other day, he had guaranteed Lili time. Maybe the universe wasn't so cruel after all.
x~x~x~x~x
"Okay Art," Arthur said to himself, looking at the stone steps before him that led up to the roof of the Art Department. "You're just going to have a civil conversation with a Russian that you left concussed in the middle of the street and probably hates you. What's the worst that could happen?" Suddenly he wasn't sure this was such a good idea. Yes he had questions, but were the answers really worth his life? Plus the stairs had a chain across them and NO ACCESS written on a sign attached to it, so clearly students weren't meant to ascend to the roof. And Alice was a model student, right? No point in getting her in trouble…
"Oh this is ridiculous," he said, stepping over the chain barrier and beginning to climb the stairs. "If it turns ugly then you've beaten him before. It's not like you can't do it again." Again, he should probably break this habit he had of talking to himself, even he was amazingly good conversation.
When he reached the top of the steps he was greeted by a door but, seeing as Braginski was supposedly up here, he assumed that it would be open. It was wishful thinking really, because he didn't have anything he could pick the lock with. Well he could always kick the door down, but that seemed a little excessive and would send out the wrong message. He wasn't aiming for a fight, he was just… preparing for the worst.
Luckily the door opened easily and Arthur ventured out onto the roof. There were a couple of generators up there, and some chimney looking things that Arthur paid little mind to. There weren't any benches or greenery or even a chain-link fence surrounding it, so obviously this wasn't a place for students to hang out. Apart from one, it seemed.
Finding Ivan took all of five seconds seeing as the boy was sat on one of the generators, back to Arthur as he looked out over the campus grounds. His scarf was blowing a little in the light breeze and he didn't appear to have noticed anyone else up here yet.
Arthur took a deep breath before saying, in his normal voice seeing as Ivan knew the truth, "You know, you are a very hard guy to find."
Ivan jolted from where he was sat, cautiously turning around and looking at Arthur warily. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I came to say hi," Arthur replied easily, "Have a little chat about things."
"I don't feel like talking to you," Ivan said, turning back around.
Arthur clicked his tongue, going over to the other and leaning against the generator. "Well you see, this is where we have a problem. Because I really want to talk to you."
"Get off of my roof," Ivan practically growled, pushing off of the generator and glaring down at Arthur.
"No," the Brit said defiantly. "This can be peaceful if you allow it to be. Otherwise," he neatly jumped back, regarding the other carefully, "You haven't disabled my legs today, so I'm more than capable of taking you on."
Deep violet eyes bore into green for a moment, and although he maintained a calm exterior Arthur was nervous on the inside. What if Ivan pushed him off of the roof or something? Luckily Ivan broke the eye contact first, sighing and sitting back down on the generator, looking out over the campus once more. His posture was a little more hunched over than before, as if somehow defeated.
"How did you find me?" he asked quietly.
"I tried searching some of the other roofs but didn't have much luck. It was actually your sister who told me where you usually were."
"…"
Okay, so it looked as though he'd have to carry this conversation. Well he wasn't British if he couldn't make bloody good small talk. "You know, your sister's boyfriend looks a lot like Alfred Jones," he said casually, recalling the reaction Alfred had upon hearing Ivan's name. "Do you know him?"
Ivan's fist thumped the generator hard so that it made a dull clang. "Pig," he spat.
Arthur raised his hands, "Okay, no talking about Golden Boy. Got it." While he was interested in the history there, that wasn't the most burning question he had on his mind. For a while all was silent between them, Ivan making no effort to say anything but equally not making a move to get Arthur to leave. Arthur looked out over the expansive grounds, watching from afar as some students played tennis while others were reading under trees or on tactically placed benches. It was currently lunchtime and down below was teeming with uniformed students gossiping and playing games and laughing and generally enjoying student life. All apart from Ivan Braginski.
"You know," Arthur said softly, "What you said back at that café-" Ivan tensed beside him but didn't say anything- "About us not being the same… I'd disagree. I still don't understand Anya, so I guess we dress the way we do for different reasons, but fundamentally I don't think we're all that different."
"You don't know anything."
"I know you threw that fight," Arthur said earnestly, looking up at Braginski who had an unreadable expression on his face. "I knew it back then as well. That dead look in your eyes, the way your movements were lethargic, the fact that you just weren't there… You were looking to get beaten up that day, weren't you?"
Even though the Russian didn't explicitly confirm or deny anything, the way he flinched was confirmation enough.
"To feel so shitty that you seek out pain, if only so you can stop feeling numb. When pressure feels like it's going to crush you, to feel that helpless… I don't know what caused you to feel that way, but I know how it feels." Arthur felt Ivan's gaze on him and an odd little half smile came to his lips, "You think I fight for fun? I got into it, and ended up with my reputation, because I was angry. That was just the beginning. When things were looking up…" he sighed and decided to sit down on the ground, cross-legged, as he continued to gaze out over the school campus, "I hit the bottom. Didn't think, didn't feel. I did reckless shit like what you did with me but on a regular basis. It's a wonder I didn't get myself killed, really."
"…So what changed?"
"A hand was held out to me. And no matter how much I resisted, in the end I took it. I didn't want things to stay that way. So I accepted help and slowly got back up on my feet. You see, people like you and me, we get seen as lone wolves. People who don't need anyone else. Sometimes we may even think like that ourselves. But even wolves have packs. No matter what we say outwardly, we… we still want to be around people. We still want friends. No one truly wants to be alone all of the time."
"You're not making any sense," Ivan said, wrapping his scarf a little tighter around himself. "We're not the same."
"We are," Arthur insisted. "Because if we weren't, you really would have kicked me off of this roof. Or at least tried."
"…"
Arthur took a deep breath and mentally counted to three before saying his next line. "Even though this is gonna sound weird, and even if I don't quite get it myself, I want to be friends with you, Braginski." Christ why did it feel as though he'd just issued a marriage proposal?
Arthur looked up in time to see a look of surprise wash over Ivan's features before it was gone again and replaced by that eerie smile that made Arthur shift about uncomfortably, but he refused to back down. "Don't you get it?" Ivan asked, his voice happy and yet somehow disconcerting at the same time, "I don't have friends."
"Well then I'm here to change that," Arthur said despite thinking that he was quite possibly tying himself to a serial killer. That smile was just not right. "What's your address?"
"What?" Ivan blinked, being caught short.
"We should do something, maybe this weekend? Anyway, where do you live?"
"Don't people normally ask for mobile numbers?"
"Yeah, but you'd give me the wrong one if I asked." Arthur laughed at the way Ivan looked away as if annoyed that he'd hit the nail on the head. "Plus I don't think your sister would give out information that personal."
"I could lie about where I live."
"You could, but I'd just get Golden Boy to get his cousin to tell me where you live. This way seems a lot more painless though, right? Plus you do owe me. You left me alone at that café and I had to foot the bill. Fun fact: it wasn't cheap." He dug around in his bag, tearing out a sheet of paper and grabbing his faithful pen before holding them up for Ivan to take. "It'll be fun, I promise. And if it isn't and you still hate me at the end of it then I'll leave you alone to brood up on your roof forever."
Ivan regarded the paper for a moment before sighing and taking it, actually scribbling down his address (which Arthur was still getting that Milton guy to verify) before handing it back. The guy looked as though he had just signed his own death warrant. Still, Arthur couldn't help but grin and tuck the paper away safely in his bag.
It was only a small step, but he was closer to solving the mystery that was Ivan Braginski.
"I'll stop by on Saturday then~" he said happily, hopping up from his place on the floor. "See you then!" he waved, leaving behind one very confused and conflicted Russian.
x~x~x~x~x
Arthur didn't think that he had ever skipped before in his life, but making his way to the first DDIY meeting that contained Lili definitely put a spring in his step. Which was pretty dangerous really, seeing as the slightest aggravated movement gave some poor sod more than they bargained for because his stupid skirt would hitch up at anything. Still, Arthur didn't care if he was currently flashing the entire school as he semi-skipped to W8, because Lili would be there waiting for him~
True enough, Lili really was sat down inside of the classroom and Alice immediately swanned passed Alfred to go and greet her. Liz entered not long after him and Gilbert came in last, absorbed in some app on his phone.
"Anything new for us to do?" Liz asked, though she didn't know why she carried on asking that question when there was never anything of any worth. She wasn't surprised when Alfred shook his head, but Alice said, "Well we can show Lili the ropes."
"Oh please don't go out of your way on my part," Lili said, looking worried that she was derailing the meeting but let's be honest, they were never productive.
"It's fine, I'll tell you everything there is to know," Alice said enthusiastically, acting as though she was a model member of DDIY for once.
"Not much happens," Gilbert said from the desk he had plonked himself down on, still staring at his phone screen, "No one ever comes to us directly. It's only happened once before and we don't talk about that." Alfred clicked his tongue and looked through the pointless requests once more, and when Lili looked at Alice questioningly she did her best to avoid the question.
"Err, before we talk about that, you should know the basics," she said quickly, but before she could begin her explanation there was a knock at the door before a student that Arthur had never seen before walked in purposefully, head held high. Had Gilbert somehow reverse-psychologyed the room? Since when did they ever get a proper case?
This new student looked very studious and very proper. His uniform was sharp and crisp, not a hair was out of place, a laptop bag was slung over his shoulder, and he neatly adjusted his glasses as he looked over at the DDIY members.
"You do help with problems, right?" he asked.
Gilbert's head immediately snapped up when he heard the voice, his game long forgotten as he abandoned his mobile on the desk in favour of grinning. "Hey Eduard!" he greeted. "Was ist los?"
"You know him?" Alfred asked, standing up and beckoning the other student to take a seat.
"Ja, he helped me set up my awesome blog," Gilbert said happily.
"You have a blog?" Liz asked sceptically.
"Ja."
"You mean you're actually literate?"
"Hey, it's popular," the albino shrugged, looking over to the new student, "Right Eduard?"
"His blog does get a lot of traffic," Eduard agreed from his new position seated next to Alfred. Gilbert got up and switched desks so that he was closer to his, er, blog buddy?
"So what's up?" he asked.
Eduard paused for a moment before saying, very clearly, "I wish to be on the swim team."
Alfred blinked at him. "Yeah? That's great dude. Try-outs are in a couple of months. The season doesn't start for a little while and current members are only training every now and then. Nothing serious just yet."
"I am aware," Eduard said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "But the problem is that I can't swim."
There was silence for a moment before Liz asked the obvious question: "Then, why do you want to be on the swim team?"
"After extensive research I have determined that swimming is the best cardiovascular exercise one can do while causing as little strain to the muscles as possible. It was never my intention to get involved with sports but…" He coughed into his hand, "Well, I decided that I shouldn't really be getting out of breath by merely walking up the stairs to get to my bedroom. I spent so long studying that I hadn't realised how out of shape I've gotten."
"So you want us to teach you how to swim?" Lili was the one to ask, and when Eduard nodded she smiled. "We can do that," she said firmly before hesitating and then looking at the others shyly. "We… can do that, right? I want to help."
"Of course we can!" Alfred said enthusiastically, "I'm useless as a captain if I can't teach people how to swim and get better."
"Aren't you captain of American Football though?" Alice asked, struggling to understand how the skills required for that could possibly translate to the pool.
"I'm captain of both," Alfred winked (of course he bloody is) before nodding determinedly. "Okay Eduard dude, are you free after school tomorrow?"
"I am."
"Right. DDIY members, our mission is simple: teach Specs how to swim~"
"Specs?" Eduard asked indignantly. Alfred ignored it in favour of carrying on.
"We'll determine a more solid training regimen tomorrow. So I expect you all to show up at the pool after school, swimwear ready to go as we give our guy the best coaching ever. This is our first proper job so let's do it well!"
"Isn't this great Alice?" Liz asked, nudging her friend, "We actually have something to do and it's something fun like swimming~" When she got no response she tapped Alice's shoulder, noting the vacant stare. "Uhm, hello? Alice?"
Alice looked over at Liz blearily. "Huh?"
"Swimming?" the brunette tried again, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds fun, right?"
"Oh, yeah… swimming… great. Love it." She gulped, "A-Actually I have a shift tomorrow so—"
"My first day and already someone to help," Lili smiled, moving over to where Alice and Liz were sitting and happily leaning against Alice's shoulder, who proceeded to note that the room was actually rather hot all of a sudden. Who the hell was in charge of air conditioning? Well the bastard should be fired for doing a poor job. "It's been a while since I've been swimming."
Wait… Lili. Swimwear. Bikini. Fucking cute!
Dammit, why am I being tortured like this?! Arthur thought wretchedly. There's no way he could miss that. But…
"I have a feeling your shift is cancelled," Liz laughed after Lili had said that, sticking her tongue out playfully at the withering glance Alice sent her way.
Of all the things, it had to be sodding swimming.
x~x~x~x~x
World Academy's pool measured twenty-five metres in length and had room enough for six lanes width wise. However, seeing as the official season hadn't started just yet, the lanes hadn't been marked out yet and so it was just one big expanse of water. Only members had free access to it, and any students who wished to use the pool outside of usual PE hours either had to get permission from the current captain (Alfred 'I'm not gonna tell you what the F stands for' Jones) or book a formal appointment with that snooty receptionist. It was an indoor pool, though the structure that contained it sported many large windows to let in lots of light and even the roof was retractable. Alfred said that they only used that function in the summer when it got warmer though.
As Alice entered the pool building after school, fully clothed in her uniform, she carefully edged her way around the pool (practically plastered herself to the walls despite there being plenty of distance between herself and the water) until she successfully made it to a bench where she assumed swimmers who weren't in the current race would sit.
She breathed steadily, scrunching her nose up at the scent of chlorine but very slowly growing accustomed to it. Liz and Lili had gone to get changed and, because she was a bitch, Liz refused to grant Alice entry. Alfred, Eduard, and Gilbert had gone to the boys changing room and Alice, with nowhere to go and no swimwear to speak of, decided to just walk into the pool area and wait for everyone.
"Please tell me Golden Boy isn't going to wear speedos," Arthur quietly prayed to (begged) the gods. He had to wait and see if he had been heard as Gilbert let out an excited yell and all Arthur saw was a white blur and then a big splash as the Prussian canon-balled into the swimming pool.
When he eventually resurfaced he swam over to Alice and looked at her curiously. "You aren't coming in?" he asked. Alice shook her head. "How come?"
"Uh…" Shit she needed an excuse. "Lady problems," she said, and Gil's wide-eyed "Ohhh" was enough for him to drop the subject. That was some damn fine quick thinking right there. Hell, Arthur decided that Alice was going to be so goddamn fertile that she was perpetually bleeding and therefore unable to join in with this coaching lark. What a shame.
Liz and Lili made their grand entrance next and while Liz's black bikini suited her well and was classy (Gilbert even wolf-whistled and earned Liz flipping him off), Arthur didn't dwell on it too much seeing as Lili was wearing a sweet powder pink number with additional frills. Oh yeah, this was definitely worth it.
Lili noticed that Alice was sat over on the bench and she frowned a little, walking over and Arthur knew that if he ever needed to truly be in character and become Alice it was now. Otherwise there was a very real and dangerously embarrassing chance he'd attempt to recreate his ridiculous sunset filled dream from the other day.
"Aren't you swimming?" she asked.
"I can't," Alice said, bowing her head.
"Why not?" Lili asked, sitting down beside the other.
"U-Uh, well, without being too graphic… It looks like a massacre is occurring between my legs right now."
"Oh my," Lili said.
"Yeah," Alice said, "But you guys have fun.'"
As if on cue, the main event arrived. Alfred dramatically burst into the room (Arthur highly suspected that Alfred didn't know how to enter a room any other way and that the word 'modest' wasn't included in Golden Boy's vocabulary) with Eduard in tow. The good news was that Alfred had donned a pair of bright red Hawaiian themed swim shorts (thus further proving Arthur's theory about Alfred not knowing what 'modest' means), but the bad news was that Eduard, that poor soul, had been shoved into an unflattering pair of speedos.
"Dude," Gilbert laughed from his place in the pool, "You seriously went for speedos? How unawesome!"
There was no way that the bloke voluntarily chose to wear those.
"I'll have you know that speedos offer very little resistance and therefore make it easier to swim. The clue is in the name, is it not? Speed-os," Eduard said matter-of-factly.
Okay scratch that the boy was a nutter who had no sense of self-preservation. Still, Arthur had to admire him for having the balls to go for such a skimpy piece of lycra. Even if said balls had a perilously high chance of being seen.
"Whatever, they're still unawesome," Gilbert said, but he made a beckoning motion with his hand. "Either way, come on in!"
"I need to stretch first," Eduard said, beginning to do just that.
"Dude knows his stuff," Alfred nodded, stretching as well and again Arthur was aware of just how much puberty had gotten down on its knees and worshipped the guy. It just wasn't fair; the American had to have some sort of external flaw because Mother Nature was a bitch like that. But no, Mother Nature was apparently Alfred's bitch because every visible inch of Alfred was lusciously tanned while Arthur was stuck looking like a fucking mayonnaise sandwich. And of course he had the toned physique of an athlete, though Arthur liked to think that at least he wasn't doing badly in that department. Yet that was beside the point.
"Stupid perfect Golden Boy," he murmured under his breath. And it wasn't like Alfred was even a dick. Granted he had many dickish moments and was sometimes a twat, but Arthur really had genuinely enjoyed the time they'd spent together playing fetch with their dogs, so clearly some aspects of his personality were redeemable. "Lucky bloody bastard," he muttered, pouting at the unfairness of everything. Apparently Alfred had noticed Alice staring and he grinned at her, even sending her a wink, which caused her to quickly look away.
Oh well that's just great, he probably thought you were checking him out! he berated himself. Stupid perfect idiot…
Screw that he was going back to dreamily gazing at Lili. Yes, that was a much better use of his time.
After an age had passed Eduard deemed himself well and truly limber enough to attempt the gargantuan task of swimming and so he looked over to Alfred for advice.
"We won't do diving just yet, so for now just ease yourself in," Alfred instructed, and Lili sadly left his side to go and join everyone else in the pool. And so began Eduard's lesson, with him getting used to being surrounded by water and being shown the basics of front crawl (with additional banter from Gilbert who seemed to have an endless supply of 'getting wet' jokes, much to Liz's chagrin). Arthur mainly zoned out for most of it, occasionally being snapped out of whatever odd thoughts he was lost in when he heard Lili giggling and having fun showing Eduard how to hold his breath while going underwater or when Alfred would break the surface of the water after he'd been under it only to look like he was being filmed for some high-end commercial. So water was yet another element that Jones had somehow managed to tame. Arthur sighed when he thought about how he tended to resemble a drowned rat when he got out of the shower. Or maybe he was just overly critical of himself.
Just before the lesson drew to a close everyone was asked to say when they were available after school and the general consensus seemed to be Wednesday, so from here on out every Wednesday was officially Eduard swimming day. The named also said that he would practice on his own once he got a little better so that hopefully he'd be ready to actually try out for the team in a few weeks.
"You gotta admire his determination," Alfred was saying after they had bid goodbye to their new student. He was busy making sure the pool building was in pristine condition before he locked up. "For someone who can't swim to want to be on the actual team so badly is pretty impressive."
"I think he'll do it," Lili said, looking over to the pool, "And if he gets stuck, we'll be there to help."
"Obviously," Gilbert drawled from where he was sat on the edge of the pool, kicking his legs and splashing water about in the process. "Trust me, he's awesome enough to do it."
"Yup," Alfred said happily. "You know, it's for reasons like this that I wanted to start a club." He looked over to Alice, "Are you gonna join in next time?" he asked hopefully.
"Ah, we'll see," she said sheepishly, knowing that it was impossible for numerous different reasons. Once everything had been sorted out and everyone had gotten changed once again, they all said their goodbyes at the school gates and went their separate ways. Despite living in the opposite direction, Liz decided to tag along with Arthur for a while.
"Sorry you can't swim with us," she said, sounding genuinely apologetic, "It didn't occur to me that you can't exactly wear a swimsuit without giving yourself away."
"Yeah, not to mention the wig would get ruined," Arthur said, kicking a pebble along the pavement.
"Well you're still a student at World Academy and therefore perfectly entitled to use the pool, so we should book it sometime and go swimming. I guess it would have to be just you and me, seeing as no one else knows the truth about you."
Braginski does, Arthur thought, Though I'm not so sure I'm willing to be alone with him next to an expanse of water just yet… Ivan could drown him and make it look like an accident. "Nah, it's cool."
"No," Liz said, deciding she liked the idea, "We really should go swimming. We'll just book it after hours and—"
"Liz I don't want to swim!" Arthur said irritably.
"…"
"…"
"…Oh my god you can't swim, can you?" Liz asked, her eyes widening as she figured it out.
The Brit considered lying, but decided that ultimately he had nothing to gain from it. And he didn't consider his inability to swim as a blow to his pride either. "So?" Arthur asked defensively. "Look around Liz, does it look like we're living in the ocean to you? No. Humans live on land and I have no issues staying on it."
"That argument makes no sense," she said, "You could apply that to anything. We don't live in computers so why get good at video games? You'll never need algebra so why learn it? No one speaks in Shakespearean English so why study his plays?"
"This and that are completely different," Arthur huffed, crossing his arms, "I've never had a need to know and it's not prevented me from living my life."
"But swimming is fun," Liz insisted.
"Why would I deliberately surround myself with water when I could drown? That doesn't sound fun."
"This coming from the guy who always gets into fights. That's far more dangerous than swimming. Let me teach you!" she said eagerly.
"No way in hell."
"Why not?" she pouted, "It'll be fun!"
"Nope."
"But—"
"I'm not learning how to swim and that's that," Arthur said firmly. He wasn't about to splash around and make an arse of himself like Eduard was currently doing, regardless of the amount of patronising praise that would be hurled his way. "Now don't you have a house to get to that's in the complete opposite direction to where we're headed?"
Liz hesitated before sighing and admitting defeat for today. "Fine," she said, "But I really do think you'd enjoy swimming. See you tomorrow then."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
x~x~x~x~x
The next morning saw Alice being accosted at the front gates by a Golden Boy who was acting as if the world's greatest atrocity had occurred.
"Alice! I heard the news and I can't believe I didn't notice it sooner! But don't worry, I'm here to help!"
"What are you—"
"Let me teach you how to swim!"
That day Arthur learnt that another word Jones didn't know the meaning of was 'no'. He also swore an oath that next Wednesday Elizaveta would meet her sad end in the pool and he would take endless pleasure in the poetic irony of it all.
x~x~x~x~x
Those who know me know that I hate it when people say that England can't swim (HE'S AN ISLAND NATION PEOPLE) but luckily for me this is an AU and therefore Arthur's not subject to all the same rules (now watch as this fic descends into Free! *shot*) Trust me, Arthur not being able to swim is necessary for this fic :P
I'm gonna do my best to get another update out before I get back to Uni, so hopefully look forward to that ^_^
Up Next: How will Braginski handle his day out with Arthur? Why does the Magic Club need help? And love is in the air! The one Lili likes, it couldn't possibly be... no way!
xx-animeXalchemist-xx
