Half Baked

Chapter 25

Arthur's eyes lifted from his charging cord, and he looked to the guest room door.

"Arthur, are you alright?"

Arthur shook himself from his thoughts. "Yes, sorry, Oliver. I thought I heard something fall into the pool. I'll give it a look later. I was calling to ask if maybe you and Al could visit us? At the lake house."

Oliver's side of the call was silent for a moment before he spoke up. "That sounds fun!" The strain in his tone was evident. "Is that very safe?"

"Is what safe?"

"Alfred in the same room as all of us?"

"… Why wouldn't it be safe?"

Oliver's side went silent again. "Arthur. You know that I don't understand what's going on with all that…romantic stuff you're doing. Well— I understand it. You know I do. I just don't… You remember our talk about different planes? And floating?"

"Yes," Arthur answered, hesitant.

"I'm going to go ahead and admit that I can't see why you'd be with Alfred. Or why you'd want to be with him—don't hang up."

Arthur stared out the window, starting to formulate his defense for Alfred and his behavior. "I'm not going to hang up," he answered flatly.

"Good. Please understand that I care about you. A lot. And I get angry when you're mistreated, but… I understand that you have your own idea of what happiness is. I just— I don't want you to get swallowed up by something that can be avoided, you know?"

Arthur gripped his phone as he began his defense. "I'm not being mistreated. I care about Alfred, and he cares about me. It's just hard for him to be articulate."

Oliver sighed.

Arthur stared down at the floor before speaking softly. "I… Before I could stop myself, I thought… That he wasn't good enough for me." His words struggled to spill out. "It's— I hate that I thought that. I hate it. I'm not too good for him, and he's not insufficient. And— I can't just determine his worth like that! What kind of person does that make me?"

"Judgmental," Oliver stated. "But we're all judgmental. It's how we determine… Arthur, I think that thought is the part of you that's not blinded by your care for Alfred."

"Blinded?"

"Sorry— But… Alfred's not stupid. Right? Let's start there. Alfred isn't stupid."

"Right…"

"And he's been able to get across his thoughts to you many times in the past, right? Has he ever been particularly difficult to communicate with? Can he pick up on things generally?"

Arthur's side fell silent before he reluctantly answered, "Generally. Yes. What's your point, Oliver?"

"Please just— Please think about it. He knows what he's doing." Oliver let out another sigh. "I know it's hard to think about. I know you don't want to face it because it'd be…uncomfortable. But you have to. Remember when I told you about my break-up with Allen?"

"I don't need a lecture."

"I'm not— Arthur, I broke up with Allen because we'd be miserable together in a romantic sense."

"I'm not miserable with Alfred."

"…Ahuh."

"I'm not. I'm happy. He's happy."

"If I can break up with Allen, you can break up with Alfred."

Arthur pulled his phone from his ear and dropped the call. His eyes fell on the battery charge icon as his phone chirped: a text from Oliver. Arthur let out a huff before checking what it said:

Never settle for half-baked efforts. You're so much more than that. Love you.

Arthur gripped his phone and closed the text. He dropped his phone onto his bed before storming out of his room. Upon catching sight of Gil on the couch, his steps softened. He let out a small huff, not quite comfortable with Gil there and not quite offended enough to kick him out, and he stepped outside. Arthur pulled the sliding glass door closed as he lingered over to the pool.

Arthur froze when he saw Alfred's body floating in the water. Without wasting a second, he jumped in and wrapped his arms around Alfred with the intent to pull him to the pool wall.

Alfred let out a startled shout, and he gripped Arthur's shoulders.

Their eyes met with raw fear before realization washed over them. Their joined relief weakened their holds.

"God damn it, Alfred, what the hell are you doing in the pool fully clothed?" Arthur asked, weary from the potential heart attack he was sure he'd have.

"S'nothing. Just. I was… I dunno. I just fell in." Alfred's hands slipped down to clasp behind Arthur's back, holding Arthur in a loose hug. "I was getting all worked up, and the cool water just…kinda seemed like the only thing that'd calm me down. And it was nice...so I just stayed in." Alfred thought back to the sounds of nature muffled by the cool water. "I liked how…peaceful it was."

Arthur nodded softly, grasping Alfred's words. His eyes widened ever so slightly. "Your phone's not on you, is it?"

Alfred's hand pressed against his pockets before he let out a relieved sigh. "Nah. Must've left it in the kitchen."

"Good." Arthur's eyes drifted down to Alfred's chest, and he watched as the water shifted against Alfred's shirt. "What were you so worked up over? I've never seen you so riled that you'd jump into a pool."

Alfred let out a heavy sigh. "I'll… It's… What'd Oliver say?"

Arthur frowned.

"I'll tell you later. What'd Oliver say about coming up here?"

"… Do you promise?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I promise. Are you gonna tell me what Oliver said?"

"Yes." Arthur grew slightly more at ease, choosing to trust Alfred to divulge additional information later on. "Oliver is…concerned about us all being in the same room again. I, you, him, and Al. Especially since…it's never gone well. Ever."

"Alright, so are they coming over?"

Arthur winced. "I…hung up on him before we could determine that."

"What'd you do that for?"

Arthur shook his head and shrugged as if the action was no bigger than messing up any spoken word. "It's nothing. Let's get out of the pool. If we have to stay in it, I'd rather be in trunks."

Alfred's loose hug tightened into an embrace. "We can get out after you say why you hung up on your brand new buddy."

Arthur let out a pained, short-lived groan. All he had to do was explain to Alfred that Oliver hated his guts. Fantastic. "He was being rude."

"Oliver was being rude."

"Yes, he's very capable of it."

"Fucking yeah I know. You think I don't know Oliver's rude?"

Arthur pushed against Alfred's chest, and he spoke in a clipped tone, "Alright, now you know. Let me go. Let's get out."

"Was he saying stupid shit? Or making fun of you?"

"No, Oliver doesn't make fun of me or say anything stupid."

Alfred lifted an eyebrow.

Arthur pushed against him. "Let's get out."

"What'd he say?"

"Alfred, I swear to god if you don't let me get out of this pool, I'll drown you."

"You scared of being in the water?"

Arthur threw a glare at Alfred and paired it with a serious frown. "No. I'm annoyed that you're forcing me to stay here while you talk shit about Oliver. He's my friend. Why would you say bad things about him?"

Alfred stared off with his own frown and annoyed glare. His embrace loosened, but he wasn't ready to let go of Arthur yet. "He thinks I'm a piece of shit," he spoke softly, almost afraid to admit he had a flaw in his ego. "He thinks that… That I just use people, right? Like. Fuck. All he knows is that I took him out that one time to figure out if you still like me, but I guess he's still fucking pissed about it."

"… Did you ever apologize to him?"

"What?"

"Did you apologize to Oliver for using him?"

"That's all you took from what I said?"

"Alfred—" Arthur pushed away from him, finally escaping his loose hug. He spoke as he swam to the pool's edge. "You're not a piece of shit. I know it. If you haven't apologized to Oliver yet then of course he thinks badly of you." He pulled himself out of the pool and stood. "And if you apologize from your heart, then Oliver will understand and forgive you. Then it won't be awkward when we're all in the same room together."

"Really. It's that easy?"

"You don't sound very enthused."

Alfred swam over to the pool's edge and hauled himself out. "Oliver seems like the type to hold a grudge, and it feels like he'd be against me no matter what. And, hey, doesn't Al still hate my guts, too? Still think it won't be awkward?"

Arthur pulled off his shirt, exasperation lacing his actions. "I don't know. I don't care right now. I just want to see them." He draped his shirt over a lounge chair and went to work on undoing his jeans. "Would you apologize to Oliver and ask him and Al to come over?"

"They'll just think I'm a crappy boyfriend. There's no point." Alfred tugged off his own wet shirt.

"Yes, there is. If you really want them to see the you that I know, then you'll apologize to Oliver and invite them over." Arthur paused in his undressing. "Besides, I'm sure neither of them expect you to apologize for anything ever. It'll be a good surprise for them, and it'll prove that you're good boyfriend material. Oh, you have Oliver's number, right?"

Alfred unzipped his jeans and muttered his answer: "Yeah. I got it from the group thing. You can take a shower first. I'll give Oliver a call."

Arthur's lips tugged into a slight smile. "And you'll apologize and invite them over?"

Alfred let out a sigh and nodded. "And I'll apologize and invite them over."

Arthur's smile grew more prominent. "Good." He dropped his jeans over the lounge chair before hurrying inside. As much as he enjoyed being in pools in general; he'd rather be clean.

Alfred watched Arthur hurry off with a frown. He draped his jeans over the lounge chair beside Arthur's pair. He let out another heavy sigh. "Shit."