Hello, my pretties! I'm really very sorry that this is so late. I know I promised less than a week between updates but I accidentally left the first part of this chapter at my grandparents' house and I couldn't finish it until I got it back this morning. Still, I'm sorry and I hope it doesn't happen again.

Thank you to Usagi323 for being the 200th reviewer *o* Mind seriously blown. I don't know what to do for those kinds of things so...cake?

Enjoy!

Alfred stared in awe as Ms. Héderváry crawled up Gilbert's body, locking their lips once again as she nearly sat on top of the senior. His hands were wandering up and down her body and the curve of one knee became visible between her legs through her skirt. She propped herself up on one arm as the other hand ran through Gilbert's hair. Alfred couldn't move, and he definitely knew he couldn't look away.

A hand closed on his arm and he let out a tiny squeak as he was pulled away and behind a tree. He tripped over something on the ground with a crunch and stumbled forward. A moment later he felt a hand covering his mouth and the warmth of a large body behind him. At once Alfred became hyper-aware of Ivan, of the fingers of the enormous hand on his cheek and the arm looped around his waist. They sank to the ground, Ivan whispering an almost nonexistent "Shhhhh..."

Ms. Héderváry's eyes shot open as Alfred's foot crunched on the ground and she pushed herself up. "Gil," she hissed. "There's someone there."

Gilbert seemed very disoriented as he propped himself up onto his elbows and blinked into the woods. "It was just a rabbit or something," he said, looking very eager to get back to what they'd been doing. For just a split second his eyes met Alfred's, but it didn't seem as though he'd seen the two boys hiding in the brush. "Come on."

"I don't know," the older woman said, biting her lip. Gilbert took hold of her chin, bringing her head around lightly into another kiss.

"It's okay. If there was anyone there I'd kick their ass."

Ivan sucked in a breath and if Alfred hadn't known better he'd have thought the arms around him tightened. The shorter boy could feel Ivan's chest pressing into his back, and for some reason he couldn't make himself pull away. He hoped Ivan didn't notice how he relaxed a little in the vice-like grip.

Ms. Héderváry smiled a little, but she still looked worried. "I know." She stared at Gilbert fondly for a moment before looking away. "I know."

"What's up?" Gilbert asked softly, nuzzling into the teacher's neck. She glanced back into the woods, shrugging.

"Nothing. I just feel like...I'd feel better if we were inside. Not just...out in the open like this."

"Mmm..." Gilbert hummed absently. "We can do that." He started to kiss down her neck, and she giggled a little before pushing him away. He smirked. "Playing hard-to-get, huh?"

"I'm hard-to-get until you graduate," she countered, raising an eyebrow. Alfred glanced up at Ivan. The taller boy's face was unreadable as he watched the conversation between the two people sitting on the large rock.

"Sure, sure," Gilbert admitted. "Let's go."

Ivan pulled Alfred back farther into the brush as Gilbert stood and helped Ms. Héderváry up from the rock. Alfred lost his balance with all the pushing and shoving and landed on his butt, sitting rather awkwardly on Ivan's lap. The taller boy made some kind of choked sound and he stiffened. Alfred didn't move, watching in complete silence as the two other people started down the path, hand in hand.

Their voices eventually died down, after what seemed like an hour. Alfred reached up to pull the hand away from his mouth, and for a moment it wouldn't budge. Then Ivan seemed to regain control over his body and he jerked it away. Alfred pulled himself out of the other boy's lap, putting some distance between himself and Ivan.

"That was interesting," he said as he turned around, sitting on the ground opposite the taller boy. Ivan still looked a bit flustered.

"We must report them," he said after a moment of thought. "That is illegal."

Alfred's eyes went wide. "We can't do that. It's not cool."

"I don't know that 'cool' is what we are aiming for here, Alfred."

"But...but if we rat 'em out then I still have to do the whole movie thing with them and...he might kill me."

"Then I will tell them."

"But you can't," Alfred argued, biting his lip. "I mean...it's not like they're hurting anyone, right?" He really had no idea why he was defending Gilbert and Ms. Héderváry. He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong, technically. But for some reason...he wasn't sure...hell, they just fit together. It worked. And Alfred, after all, was a romantic.

"Alfred, I think it is cute how you are defending them. I really do. But I will not take part in any illegal activities."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Unless you're planning to start fucking Ms. H too I don't get how it's illegal."

Ivan's face flushed horribly and his mouth parted a little. He just stared at Alfred for a moment. And then: "What? What does that...how...ч-что? Нет! Никогда!" He reverted back into Russian, surprising Alfred.

"It's okay. Sorry. I was just joking..." Alfred said, furrowing his eyebrows. Ivan sighed, closing his eyes.

"Я зна-I'm sorry. I know. But we have to tell someone about what we saw."

"Why?"

Ivan didn't answer for a moment. His hands came up to massage his temples and he sighed again. "Never mind." He shook his head. "Never mind. We must work on the project."

Alfred blinked. "Right. Yeah. Okay. So, um...it was gonna be right over there..." he pointed at the infamous rock. "But I'm not so sure now."

Ivan's eyes ran over the rock for a moment. "It is not that bad."

"Yes. It is, actually."

"Your opinions do change so fast. I can almost feel the whiplash," Ivan mused, looking down his nose at Alfred. "One moment you are defending the every wish of criminals, and the next you are afraid to touch a place they sat."

"They were totally making out, dude."

"I could see that, dude," Ivan answered, sounding remarkably as though he were high. It was such an odd combination of accents that Alfred couldn't help but laugh.

"You're like some foreign stoner kid," Alfred said, grinning.

Ivan raised one eyebrow. "I think you are letting your imagination get ahead of you, Psyche."

"Shut up." Alfred wandered over to the rock, putting his foot up on it. It jutted out over a sudden hill, and there was a view of much of the town. He seemed to have deemed it safe to use, because then he stepped all the way up onto the large boulder. Ivan wasn't far behind.

Alfred strode confidently over to the edge, protruding a foot or so beyond the curve of the hill. There were little pen and marker marks here and there, whether with profanity or saying who had been there when or who loved whom. The two boys ignored all these, Ivan coming up to look out over the mountain just behind Alfred. They stayed quiet for a moment.

"So I was thinking that Psyche could be here," Alfred said after a short pause, gesturing down at the rock below him. "And then Cupid could come from over there." His finger came up to point toward the path from which they'd come. "So the camera could be sitting up on that branch there. It'd give a good wide shot. But not like a panoramic view."

"Wonderful," Ivan said, smiling lightly. "And so we play the shooting scene?"

"You make it sound like you're some kind of assassin."

"Would you rather I refer to it as the 'Love Scene?'"

Alfred's eyes shot open. "Hell no!" Ivan sighed but the smile didn't leave his face. "That's just kind of…"

"This is a love story, Alfred. I hope you realize this."

"I know," Alfred said, perhaps a bit awkwardly. "It's just weird. Makes it sound like we have to kiss or something."

Ivan made a small noise in the back of his throat which he quickly disguised as a cough. Alfred looked at him a bit funny and he waved a hand in dismissal. "Allergies."

"Whatever. So I'll just be here, like…" Alfred bent his knees, crouching down and putting one hand on the rock for balance. "…this." He stretched out, lying down. "Then you have to come from over there."

Ivan stared at Alfred for a moment before nodding and walking over to the mouth of the pathway. When he reached it he stopped, looking back to Alfred for further instruction.

"Farther!" Alfred called. Ivan went a bit down the path, hiding his body behind a tree. "Okay, now I'm going to pretend to be asleep and you have to come up here and do whatever you're supposed to do!"

Ivan nodded again, starting back up the path and into the small clearing surrounding the rock. Alfred peeked with one squinting eye, watching Ivan as he approached.

"No no no," he said suddenly, opening his eyes and propping himself up onto his elbows. "You have to be all sneaky. Like I'm not supposed to know you're here. It would ruin the effect. You're supposed to be creeping into my room, right?"

"Fine," Ivan said, looking at Alfred a bit skeptically. He returned to his spot just outside the clearing, waiting for Alfred's signal.

"Go!" Alfred called, closing his eyes and falling limp on the rock. He heard a couple steps over to his left but then there was silence. He shifted a little to make himself more comfortable, trying not to chew on his lip as he waited for Ivan to start. It wasn't like the large boy could be this quiet when he walked. He wasn't a cat.

Alfred thought he heard another small crunch and then nothing. He was getting a bit nervous. Maybe Ivan could be that quiet. Maybe he left or something, and Alfred was just lying here like an idiot. He took a breath, trying to calm himself. If he was nervous during rehearsal it'd be even worse when they were filming.

Ivan took a light step, landing almost entirely on his toe. Then he took another, letting it down as slowly as possible. There was no noise with the step, his eyes locked on Alfred's motionless form. He felt his chest tighten for just a moment, and he swallowed. Another step. This time there was a twig and it cracked. Ivan froze, waiting to see if Alfred would open his eyes.

And immediately he felt like an idiot.

Of course Alfred's eyes wouldn't open. He was acting for God's sake. And Ivan was being stupid, sneaking around like he was actually trying to trick someone. He'd gotten a bit carried away.

At once the footsteps returned, quieter than the first time but still noticeable. Alfred relaxed, pinpointing with his ears Ivan's location. He was very close. Only a foot or so away from the rock. Another step and he was right there. Alfred felt the hair on his arms prickle.

Then there was the shuffling of cloth. Alfred could almost hear Ivan crouching down next to him, and then the rustling of his sleeve as his hand came back. Pulling an imaginary bow. He could picture with clarity exactly what Ivan was doing; down on one knee, arrow ready. In just a second he'd get up, Cupid refusing to shoot Psyche.

All of these visions, so exact in his mind, were probably why he was so shocked when he felt a hand on his cheek.

Immediately Alfred's eyes shot open. His hands nearly slammed into the rock as he braced himself, staring up in astonishment at an equally surprised Ivan. The hand recoiled and Ivan stood. He backed away a little.

"What was that?" Alfred asked, but he couldn't make the words as forceful as he wanted. Ivan shrugged quickly, trying to look as unsuspecting as possible.

"Hand slipped."

"From what?"

"Never mind," Ivan said, swallowing. "I think we can do this without practice. Let's go back."

Alfred watched Ivan for a second before he got up. They started back down the path in silence, and all that Ivan could think was, Stupid. Couldn't be more stupid.

"It was kind of weird. Like he was touching my face and stuff."

Alfred's mother's eyebrows shot up. "Did he do anything else?"

"Nah," Alfred said with a shrug, taking a sip of his soda through the straw. The unwrapped hamburger sat on his lap as he looked out the car window, fresh from the McDonald's drive-through. "'Cept he was acting all funky about it later. Like pretending he didn't do anything."

"Well," Alfred's mother said. "Just make sure he doesn't do anything else like that. He seems like a good kid."

"He's okay."

There was a bit of quiet, the natural lull in a conversation. Then, "Did I tell you about the other movie thing?"

Alfred's mother shook her head. "What 'other movie thing?'"

"There are these three guys in the year ahead of me who're making a movie. Like, I kind of get what the plot is about, like in this school and there's drugs and stuff. And two of 'em are gay together. But that's not the point. 'Cause they were filming this scene in the English room and they started this fight. I guess it was in the script. So I thought it was real and tried to stop it. And apparently I got recruited into the movie, because they didn't want to redo the scene. So yeah. I'm gonna be in a movie."

Alfred's mothers sat quietly through all of this, a light smile forming on her lips. "You see? You're making lots of friends."

Alfred sighed. His mother had been fairly obsessed with how many friends he'd made since he'd entered high school. Apparently whenever he made one it was like some huge celebration. Alfred didn't get the point.

"I guess. There's this one guy, the main character. I think. He's all punk and stuff. His name's Arthur."

Alfred's mother seemed to think about this for a moment. "Arthur what?"

"Kirkland. I think. I don't remember. It's kind of a weird last name."

"Right…" Alfred's mother brought both hands onto the steering wheel. "What does he look like?"

That was unexpected. Alfred wasn't quite sure why his mom seemed so interested in this one kid. "He has blond hair. Kind of short and messy. Like someone shaved Legolas and it grew back a little." Alfred contemplated this. "Only not. Like that color. And he has a lot of piercings and stuff. And…" he paused for a moment, searching in his mind for an eye color. The only time he'd really been close enough to see was…oh yeah. Immediately his mind shot back (as it had been doing at fairly unfortunate intervals) to earlier that day. Had it really only been a few hours? Since Arthur had been holding him down and…ugh. "Green eyes. His eyes are green."

"Hm." Alfred's mother looked a bit troubled by this. Alfred couldn't fathom why. "Are you good friends with him?"

"Not really. I guess. I don't think he particularly likes me…" …scratch that. "Yeah. We kind of are."

"What does he wear? Usually?"

Alfred blinked, and the pieces started falling into place. "Like…like plaid pants and stuff. Skinny jeans. Like emo stuff…but with color. Punk, I guess." But there was no way what he was thinking could be right. No way. No way at all.

"Do you know how old he is?"

No way. No. "17. Maybe…maybe 18…I think." No way.

"Oh," Alfred's mother nodded, still looking a bit perturbed. "Okay. Thank you."

"…why?" Alfred thought he had the answer, and it disturbed him. Arthur…he was gay, right? And taken. So there was no way…

"No reason. Just thinking."

Alfred looked down at the hamburger still sitting on his lap, picking it up to take a bite. There was a long stretch of silence as he ate and his mother drove, until there was no more fast food and they were home.

"You're going to lose this time," Kiku said calmly, nose wrinkling a little as his thumbs twitched over the game controller. He managed to land a hit on Alfred's character, using the moment of weakness to unleash a combo he'd been saving up the whole battle.

"Yeah you are."

"That's…" but Kiku didn't try to continue. With Alfred conversations of this mundane variety would be circular and endless. And Alfred was perfectly aware of this. He smiled evilly in the glow of the TV, putting his full body into the next attack. Kiku's character was suspended in midair, in a constant state of flying backwards as punch after punch was delivered straight into his stomach. Alfred's character spun around, finishing the obscenely large combo with a kick straight into the air. Kiku's character fell to the ground in a heap, and the "Battle Over" sign came up.

"I think that's a new record," Alfred said with a smirk. "Twenty-three seconds." With that he stretched and set the controller down on the bed.

That day at school had been rather uneventful. Just classes and more classes. Alfred had decided that a boring day needed to be punctuated with interesting things, so he'd invited Kiku over for some good ol' fighting games. Head to head.

There was a light buzzing noise coming from just under Alfred's leg. He scooted over, retrieving his thus-far forgotten phone from under a layer of blankets. He flipped the phone open.

"My character had less health. You didn't give me enough time to—"

"Wait wait wait. Shhhh!" Alfred waved his hand at Kiku, eyes glued to his most recent incoming text message. A large smile stretched across his face.

"Who is it?" Kiku asked lightly, leaning in a little.

"Sunflower!" Alfred said happily. "She didn't say anything for days and now she's back. Look!"

Kiku's eyebrows rose a little as he glanced over the message. A warm smile stretched across his lips and he looked back up at Alfred. "Wonderful." Alfred nodded enthusiastically.

I'm sorry it's been so long, my love. And I think you may be able to meet me soon.

So there is plot in our midst! Bwah hah haaa!

Review? And if you can point out any typos I'll give you a pony. Poland's pony.