Hola, I'm back ;) Ugh, I spent so much time bent over my laptop whilst drawing something for DA and now I'm aching from such a bad choice TT^TT Oh well, can't complain too much. Enjoy ;)
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Alfred loved this day for one main reason.
"Ow! Alfred what the—?" he got to pinch people for the hell of it. He grinned toothily at Arthur, having decided to sneak up on him during passing time to fourth period. "Why'd you do that?"
"Dude, you're not wearing green so you get pinched on St. Patrick's Day!" Alfred announced before tugging at the bottom of his green T-shirt. "And look here, I'm wearing green so you can't—Ow! Artie you can't do that!" he explained before being pinched by Arthur roughly on the thigh. Alfred continued to whine to Arthur who groaned as he continued to wheel himself to his next class, Alfred following him and complaining for complaining's sake.
Once Alfred found whining boring, he changed the subject. "Hey, you gonna do anything specific for the air show?" he asked, grinning. Even though it was in June, it didn't keep Alfred from being excited about it. "Dude, it's gonna be so awesome! Like, you're going to whoop their asses!" he laughed loudly.
"I'm going to try to make a routine for it," Arthur answered Alfred's question just after he began talking about how excited for the air show he was. "I'm going to start today after school."
"Cool! Can I come with?" Alfred asked hopefully, clasping his hands together as they stopped in front of the classroom Arthur was to enter.
"What's keeping you?" yes, what was keeping him? He didn't have to ask anyways.
"Thank you Artie~!" Alfred bent down and hugged Arthur happily, the latter simply smiling and hugging back briefly before separating from the American. "So I'll drive you to the airport then?" he asked and Arthur nodded his head as Alfred opened the door for him. "Alright, bye Artie~!" he grinned, waving quickly as the other entered the classroom, turning to look at Alfred over his shoulder as the American excitedly left, waving a hand.
Even though the thing that had happened in between them not too long ago had made them a bit awkward with each other, Arthur and David still sat at the same, scarcely populated lunch table during said meal. "H-hey Arthur?" the latter asked, leaning closer to the British pilot who hummed in response, signaling that he was listening. "Why do people keep pinching me?"
"Oh, it's St. Patrick's Day," Arthur waved a hand as if it were no big deal—which it was. "Today's the day where all of the immature band together and terrorize other people by pinching them just because they're not wearing green," he continued.
"Why is that?"
"I don't even know—they themselves probably don't even know either," Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "For all we know, they could be doing something that relates to something really cruel in the past but whatever," he continued bluntly, clearly showing his distaste for the time of year. He then picked at his food with a small huff, muttering under his voice as he did so.
"Um…okay," David itched at the back of his head and sat up straight once more. "Is it an American holiday? Like the Fourth of July?"
"Not sure about that either," Arthur shook his head. He and David then looked up when someone wearing a red, long sleeved shirt that was obviously too long, seated himself next to the two.
"Heard this was the pilot's table," he grinned toothily. "Name's Wang Yao, uh…call me Yao, not Wang," he continued with an introduction.
"Well…I guess you heard right since Arthur and I are pilots…" David answered, looking at Arthur in a confused manner. Arthur crossed his arms at how easily he was given away, but brushed it aside quickly. He looked the Chinese boy up and down, recognizing him as the boy in the front row in his English class. Since Arthur was seated behind him though, all he knew was that Yao had a pony tail—he hadn't really seen his face, which was why he didn't recognize him right off the bat.
"Ha, ha! I thought so!" Yao's already wide, toothy grin became even larger. "Me too!" that, Arthur didn't expect. "I've got an NAF N3N-3! And it's not yellow!" he continued in a prideful way.
"Oh wow really? I almost got one of those," David pointed out, a smile stretching at his lips.
"So what do you fly?" Yao then asked David specifically, leaning forward in interest. "You're the guy with the Jungmann at the Crystal Airport right?" he then searched for confirmation, turning his head to Arthur who nodded his head. Yao grinned. "Dude, you've got some amazing skills, you gonna be in the air show in June?"
"Yeah, actually, I am," Arthur sighed as if it were something wrong. He wondered if this table would actually turn into a 'Pilot's Table'.
"I fly a Stolp Starduster II," David answered Yao's earlier question. "It's brand new," he continued and Yao returned his attention to the Indian teen seated across from him. "Oh, excuse me, I'm David," he stuck his hand out and the two shook hands. "And like you heard earlier, that's Arthur," he then smiled at Arthur who nodded his head.
"Cool, yeah I think I heard you name a few times at the airport—my plane's in a different hangar," Yao said, finally turning his attention to his lunch that he had yet to eat. "Man, this is great, I've never really known any other pilots," Yao continued.
"There's also a guy named Francis you could get along with—he's our mechanic," David announced and Arthur rolled his eyes.
"Francis is someone you'd want to think about whether you want him to be your friend or not Yao, trust me," Arthur pointed out and the Chinese boy grinned while David sent him a confused look—having not seen the perverted side of Francis yet.
"Sup guys," the three looked up to see Alfred approaching their table.
"Whoa dude, back off, this is the pilot's table!" Yao announced, a wide, dominating grin stretching at his lips. "If you don't fly a plane, then you have no chance of sitting here!"
"Oh calm down Yao, he's one too," Arthur lied, Alfred smiling thankfully while David's eyebrows rose in interest.
"He—"
"Shh!" Arthur hushed before David could get anything else out while Yao sized Alfred up. Luckily for Alfred, the big leather jacket he wore helped out his physical appearance.
"So Alfred," Yao started. "What plane you fly?" he grinned, clearly interested while Alfred was clearly dumbstruck at what to say.
"U-uh—"
"Boeing Stearman," Arthur cut in before Alfred could slip up. "Though he just sold it," he continued, smiling at Alfred who once again, gave him a thankful grin before turning back to Yao with a 'yeah totally forget the model my plane is all the time'.
"Cool, I've got an NAF N3N-3," Yao announced and luckily for Arthur, Alfred's expression lit up in recognition.
"Oh dude, those are so cool! I almost got Artie a blue one back in February, but the Jungmann was cooler," he grinned and Yao's eyebrows shot up rather comically. The Chinese boy stuttered a bit, trying to form a question as to what Alfred meant by 'got'.
"W-wait, you got him a plane? Like, legit right?"
"Uh yeah…?" Alfred cocked his head to the side. Apparently being rich had become normal for Alfred and he soon found it odd that Yao was making such a big deal over it while Yao was baffled at how blunt Alfred seemed. "Bought one for him for ninety thousand."
"O-out of your pocket…? N-no, no, that's impossible," Yao laughed to himself. "That probably came out of a bank account…"
"What? No way, I totally managed to rake up that much cash in a few weeks with the help of my mom," Alfred grinned, suddenly realizing that ninety thousand dollars cash, out of one's pocket wasn't the norm around these guys, David also gaping at Alfred's words. "I'm freaking rich!"
"Then why are you here? You should be at some prestigious, expensive school or something!" Yao gasped. "My family's got no money at all! We're barely able to keep our house and I'm about to lose my plane!"
"Ugh, I'm poor too, don't worry," Arthur grunted, raking a hand through his hair.
"Same…" David rose a hand lazily, looking defeated.
"Alright, it's decided then!" Yao suddenly barked, a seemingly spontaneous grin stretching at his face. "This is the poor pilot's table!" he then pointed a finger at Alfred who cocked an eyebrow at it. "Be gone!"
"Oh just shut up already," Arthur grunted, tugging Yao back down into his seat. The Chinese boy simply grinned at Arthur before turning back to the other pilot and 'pilot'. He figured that Yao wasn't such a bad guy—energetic, but not so bad.
It was finally starting to warm a tad now that it was March, though not enough to keep you from wearing your thick winter coat and melting all of the snow. "Ugh, thanks for covering for me there," Alfred thanked for what was probably the seventeenth time that day. The two were currently approaching the hangar, Alfred pushing the wheelchair since the snow was still kind of deep. "I went totally blank when he asked me that…"
"No problem Alfred, stop thanking me," Arthur rolled his eyes. "It just came to me okay?"
"Yeah sure…ha, ha, I still think it's kinda funny how you used your old plane as the cover up and then made an excuse that I just sold it—hey, that 'money' I got for selling it probably contributed to you Jungmann eh Artie?" Alfred grinned, looking down at Arthur. The Briton simply smiled and shook his head at Alfred's idea.
When they entered the warm hangar, they found Yao, Francis and David already there, David appeared to be sleeping in the cockpit to his Starduster while Francis and Yao were talking to each other, Yao having apparently moved his plane into the hanger theirs were in. Francis was inspecting Yao's NAF N3N-3, talking about how he liked this one instead of the normal yellow ones. The Frenchman then looked up and spotted the two blonds approaching them, a grin stretching at his face. "Ah~! Bonjour Angleterre, I see that you've been making friends rather quickly no?"
"It appears so," Arthur answered as Alfred stopped him next to his blue Jungmann. "Did he introduce himself?"
"Yup," Francis nodded his head before asking Yao if he could get a look at the plane from inside the cockpit. The Chinese pilot nodded his head and the mechanic jumped in, grinning at the control panel whilst looking like a kid in a candy shop. The NAF N3N-3 was also a biplane with an open cockpit much like Arthur's and David's. "I love it~" Francis grinned. The guy really loved checking out new planes as much as checking out people that appealed to him. "Makes me want to sell my Air Camper…"
Alfred grinned down at Arthur once more. "Bonerfoy really likes planes I guess?"
"Yes he does, kind of like a new video game to you, he loves sitting in new planes he's never seen personally yet," Arthur nodded his head.
After a bit of inspection and drooling over Yao's plane, Francis jumped out and approached the couple, a toothy grin present. "Angleterre, you're not wearing green~"
"If you even dare, I'll have to kill you with a piano wire," Arthur bluntly threatened and Francis began laughing while Alfred snickered to himself over Arthur's weapon choice.
"Oh, and Francis, I've been having a problem with my engine lately!" Yao announced, Francis halting his advancing on the handicapped pilot.
"Coming," he sighed and turned around, winking at Arthur over his shoulder. The Brit simply rolled his eyes before looking up at Arthur who was still grinning down at him.
"He's with your cousin Alfred, shouldn't you be a bit more concerned?"
"No way, despite it all, I actually trust the guy," Alfred pat Arthur atop his head. "Mattie used to be so shy and still kind of is when it comes to meeting new people," the American continued.
Arthur nodded his head. "C'mon, help me up into this thing," he then requested and Alfred helped Arthur into the blue and white Jungmann. Arthur pulled on his goggles and put a headset on before glancing slightly down at Alfred, a large eyebrow cocked. "Aren't you coming?"
"Oh yeah! Sorry," Alfred's grin turned into a sheepish smile before he swung himself into the cockpit behind the pilot's and pulled on the pair of goggles sitting in the seat. "Headset please," he grinned, getting the object carelessly thrown at him. His grin widened when he put it over his head. "And what would've happened if I didn't catch that?"
"You know better," Arthur said, though he didn't look over his shoulder at the American accompanying him. "Alright, I'm going to try to string together a whole bunch of tricks, so there's going to be no break," Arthur warned as he started up the engine.
"Dude, I can do this," Alfred answered with full confidence. Arthur hummed in response and began to drive the aircraft out of the hangar.
"Alright! Your engine just had a bit of damage from that overheating you told me about," Francis grinned triumphantly as he looked down a bit proudly at his work. "It should be working like new now," he continued, stepping back from the plane after closing it up.
Yao smiled thankfully. "Awesome, now I wanna fly this baby! Arthur's already beat me to the sky!" he continued, jumping into the cockpit and struggling with pulling the goggles over his head with how hastily he was moving.
David had been woken up by the sound of Yao's plane coming to life, having woken up a bit before when Arthur's did. "Hm?" he pulled his legs into the cockpit and watched Yao, struggling to get the headset in a comfortable position as he piloted the NAF N3N-3 out of the hanger. With a smiled, he searched for his goggles which were resting by his feet. "Alright, all systems go," he pulled them on, feeling like that would've been something Alfred would say.
He pulled the plane out of the hangar, Arthur's just leaving the ground and Yao's currently taxing, waiting for the men in the radio tower to give him the positive signal.
"They could've waited for me…" Francis grunted as he threw his gloves over to his pile of tools since the toolbox had been knocked off of the table it was sitting on. He was glad Alfred came into Arthur's life because if that wasn't the case, he wouldn't be flying his plane as often as he had planned to back when Arthur was what some would call a 'lone wolf'. "Alright, I'll meet you guys in the air," Francis spoke into his headset.
"I'll shoot you down before you can even leave the runway frog."
"Ha, ha! See ya then Bonerfoy!"
"What does Arthur mean by shoot you down?"
"Francis and Arthur were faking a dogfight a while ago, I didn't participate though."
"Oh, dude! That sounds amazingly fun! Let's all have one then! I call dibs on being a PLAAF (1) pilot!"
"Oh dude, Artie, let's be the U.S. Air Force!"
"Shut up Alfred, we're going to be the Royal Air Force—pilot gets to choose."
"I'm going to be in the IAF (2) then."
Francis grinned as he listened to the four already in the air talking excitedly to each other. While they were at it, he might as well be the Armée de l'Air (3). He jumped into his plane and stared down at the control panel for a brief moment, pondering over it he actually should sell this old thing and get a new one.
Arthur watched Francis's Pietenpol from high above getting ready to take off. He then looked back up at the sky spreading out in front of him. He loved flying.
"Hey Arthur, before Francis comes up, I just want to apologize again for…that…" came David's voice on the headset he wore. With a sigh and a visible slump of his shoulders, he pressed his thumb into the call button so he could reply.
"Remind yourself that Alfred's here—and don't fret over it," he said.
Alfred cocked his head a bit at the conversation David and Arthur were holding, becoming a bit concerned. "Uh…Artie, what are you talking about?" he wondered, leaning forward a bit.
There was a brief moment of silence before Arthur answered. "I'll tell you on the way home."
"Why do you guys sound so morbid? Come on! Francis is already up here, let's get this party started!" Yao's voice interrupted.
Arthur grinned, preferring the thought of a fake dogfight over talking about something that could lead into an argument with Alfred. He abruptly threw his plane into a huge loop and when they were finally flying straight again, they were behind Yao's biplane. "I've got you now."
"Ha, ha! Catch me if you can!" and the chase was on. In the midst of it all, an 'amazing' idea struck Alfred like a pile of bricks—maybe he, Francis and Matthew (since he's good with technology) could hook up some gear to the planes and make it kind of like laser tag, just more dogfight like.
"Hey Artie! Maybe Francis, Mattie and I can rig up some equipment on the planes so that we can simulate a real dogfight!"
"HOLY SHI—ARU! Amazing idea American!"
"My name's Alfred!"
"Sure whatever! You really should Alfred!" Yao piped excitedly. His eyes were probably sparkling in sheer happiness at the current moment with how ecstatic he sounded over the headset. "Do that now and get it finished before April!"
"Dude, I can totally do that with the help of Mattie!"
"Who's Mattie?"
"His name's Matthew, Amerique," came Francis's voice, though he did sound like he approved of Alfred's idea. "But yes, that idea sounds interesting."
"Hah, I'm amazing aren't I?"
"Don't make his ego any bigger than it is," Arthur sighed in fake exasperation. "But do get it done so we can test it out."
Yao basically fell out of his plane, whistling in an impressed way as he pulled his goggles over his head, hair a huge mess. Alfred snickered at Yao. With the way he was moving, one could easily mistake him for a tipsy guy, though not yet hammered from drinking. "Dude~" Yao started, plopping himself heavily in a chair that was pulled up to the table that had some of Francis's tools splayed out on. "That was amazing…"
"Yeah, if it hasn't been invented yet, let's make a competition out of Alfred's game—spread it to the rest of the world," David grinned, seating himself in the second seat.
"Whoo~! Artie totally kicked your guy's asses!" Alfred grinned, jumping out of the cockpit of the Jungmann before helping Arthur out after unfolding his wheelchair. "Yao and Bonerfoy were a bit good too though."
"India will get revenge on you America, England," David joked and Alfred laughed despite not really liking the guy. Okay, maybe he'd been making him a bad guy in his mind while he actually wasn't too shabby.
"Ha, ha! Did you hear that England?" Alfred grinned, clapping Arthur on the shoulder.
"Whatever you say America," he rolled his eyes, putting emphasis into the country name much like Alfred had done. Alfred simply laughed and hugged Arthur, pressing his cheek into Arthur's blond hair.
Yao huffed. "Man, I wish I had someone nice. All I have is a stalker…"
"What?" Arthur's eyebrows rose a bit, concern in his voice. "What do you mean by that?"
"This guy just keeps following me and is really creepy and I tell him to leave me alone, but he doesn't. Ugh, he kind of scares me too," Yao shivered, rubbing his arms as if it were actually freezing cold in the warm hangar. "Creepy…I'll point him out during lunch tomorrow—he didn't follow me to the Pilot's Table…"
Arthur nodded and hummed before announced that he and Alfred should be heading back, the sun already setting, signaling that it was about six 'o' clock. Alfred helped Arthur into his old truck as always before stepping into the driver's seat and driving off, grinning to himself as he thought about telling his wonderful idea to Matthew. He then remembered that Arthur was supposed to tell him something.
"Oh, hey, what were you and David talking about?" he asked, sending a curious look at Arthur before returning his gaze to the road.
Arthur remained silent for a moment before sighing and answering. "Okay, so you know that one night he drove me home?" he asked, Alfred nodding his head. "…He…he kissed me."
There was a long silence before Alfred pressed his lips together into a tight line, eyebrows furrowing. "He what?"
"You heard me Alfred," Arthur grunted, furrowing his own eyebrows at the American. Arthur didn't want to repeat what he just revealed to his bespectacled boyfriend. "I'm not going to repeat myself."
"Gah! I knew that guy was—ugh!" Alfred almost slammed on the breaks, but refrained from doing so and continued driving, hands tightly gripping the steering wheel. "I'm going the kill him for doing that!"
"Alfred, I let him!" Arthur interrupted before he could continue. Alfred looked more surprised than angry now that the news had just been busted to him. "I let him do it okay? It's not his fault."
"Th-that's cheating!"
"Alfred, he's a confused guy!" Arthur argued. "He clearly didn't know what to do with himself an—"
"That's still not a good excuse to turn around and go off kissing other people!" Alfred interrupted Arthur much like Arthur had done not too long ago. "God! You're going to end up like Francis."
"Don't you dare say I'm like him!" Arthur snapped, his voice full of unadulterated anger. "Other than the fact that we can both fly a plane, we're nothing alike!"
"Oh yeah? Well I'm going to go home and tell Matthew that Francis is probably cheating on him! Because knowing the both of you, he probably is!"
Alfred ended up making Arthur get out of the car before driving off to rant to Matthew at home. When he entered loudly, Matthew being there for he decided to go over and stay with Liberty who was going downhill fast, jumped at the loud bang of the door.
"What's up?" he asked, concerned.
"Arthur's cheating on me with that David guy. I was right Matthew, oh, and guess what? Francis might be cheating on you too."
Matthew furrowed his eyebrows, a bit concerned about the sudden fit Alfred was throwing. "Okay, slow down and explain," he demanded, though his heart squeezed uncomfortably at the possibility of Francis cheating on him with someone else.
"Artie and David were talking about something that happened the day you called me to move some furniture and shit. So I asked him what he was talking about and we talked about it in the car on the way home. Apparently they kissed that night and shit and it's obviously cheating. Arthur said 'oh, but he's confused and blah, blah, blah'. So I made him go home from where I threw him out of the car…"
Matthew took a moment to digest the information he was just given before letting out a huff that sounded a bit amused at how ridiculous Alfred was being. Alfred furrowed his eyebrows, irritated at the lack of response he was getting from Matthew. "So? Are you just going to let Francis cheat on you?"
"What the hell does this all have to do with Francis and I?" Matthew asked, crossing his arms. "First, you're jumping to conclusions. I mean, yeah it's not cool that Arthur and David kissed, but the mentioning of David being confused kind of makes sense."
"Wha—how the hell does that make sense?"
"He didn't know what to do and asked for the most obvious thing, assuming that it would fix his problem. Obviously it wouldn't, but that's how confused people work. They sometimes rush things because they don't want to wait to figure it out."
There was a brief silence before Matthew continued. "And did you just say that you made Arthur go back home on his own?"
"…Yeah…" Alfred muttered, still frustrated. Matthew stood up, grabbed Arthur by the wrist and walked him to the front door. "What, what the fuck are you doing?"
"Go apologize," Matthew pushed him roughly out the door before closing it so Alfred couldn't argue. With a frustrated huff, Alfred stood up, lacking the proper jacket since he'd hung it up on the coat hanger just a few minutes ago.
"Ugh…Mattie, why do you always have to be so damn smart?" he muttered, stuffing his numbing hands into his pockets and trudged down the sidewalk that led to the front door of his home before turning a specific direction, knowing by heart where Arthur' apartment was from his home.
All the way he was staring at the ground, looking up every now and then to make sure he was going in the right direction, and muttering to himself under his breath. Within time, he had entered the apartment building, his brain barely registering that he had arrived.
He knocked on the door, hoping that Arthur would answer instead of his father. Luck was on his side and a cranky Arthur answered the door, glaring up at Alfred. "What in bloody hell do you want?"
"Mattie made me apologize and stuff. So…sorry for saying all of that."
"Psh, that was a pretty half-assed apology," Arthur grunted, still glaring up at Alfred, looking like he was about to pull the wheelchair back and slam the door on the American. "Do you have anything else to say?"
Alfred knelt down and hugged Arthur, the latter's eyes widening at the action. "Mattie knows how to talk some sense into people Artie…" Alfred muttered. "I don't know what'd I'd do without him…"
"You'd be a train wreck," Arthur muttered into Alfred's ear and the American smiled despite himself.
"Ha, ha, more like a plane wreck," Alfred grinned, pulling away from Arthur. "I guess I should try that half-asses apology out again eh?" he then asked.
"Ugh, I don't want a spe—" Arthur started, but was silenced when Alfred kissed him on the lips. He leaned back as Alfred pressed their lips together a bit further before he himself joined in, one hand being grasped by Alfred's while the other went to the back of Arthur's head. The kiss was warm and soft, though it eventually evolved into a hot, messy one that left both red faced by the time they separated. "You didn't even apologize verbally git."
"Sorry~" Alfred grinned, hugging Arthur closer to his chest. "But a make-out session is so much better than just an 'I'm sorry'," Alfred pointed out.
"Well at least this time I didn't get myself killed," Arthur sighed, leaning into Alfred's embrace as the other groaned at the memory.
"Don't remind me—that sucked big time," he shook his head. There was a brief silence before Alfred decided to speak up once more. "Hey…do you think I should try to start over with that David guy? We kinda started off on the wrong foot…"
"Yes Alfred. You should give people better chances."
"I should've said that to you way back when we first met," Alfred grinned, pulling away from Arthur and winking at the other who simply rolled his eyes at the action. "But sure, I'll give it a shot. Just don't go off kissing him again please?"
"Can do," Arthur nodded his head.
"So…what do you think sex in a plane's like?" Alfred grinned and Arthur just had to hit him upside the head for bringing up such a thing. "Ow! What? I'm seriously curious about that!" he grinned toothily at his boyfriend. "Do you think we should try it out?"
Arthur turned a light red color. "That'd be hard with how spontaneously people come and go," Arthur huffed and Alfred began laughing.
"That's why you do it at night!"
"Alfred, you have no idea how busy it is at night."
"Damn it, well, I guess I could figure something out. Hey, wanna stay over? I'm gonna tell Mattie about the dogfight simulation thing I came up with and you can keep Liberty company. She returned early with how her health is just…going down and stuff…"
"Sure thing Alfred."
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(1) PLAAF – People's Liberation Army Air Force
(2) IAF – Indian Air Force
(3) Armée de l'Air – The French Air Force
Bwahaha, I had no idea how to end this chapter, so I just came up with shit. :P Oh well. Hope you liked it ;) The problem with David is figured out (hopefully). Ugh, I finished this later than I wanted to and now I'm upset that I won't be able to get in as much reading as I wanted too TT^TT Sucks for me. Oh well. I actually do think that a laser tag based thing for planes does exist, though only in the military :P If there is actually a public one though, that'd be amazing, though I highly doubt it with how dangerous it is :P So yup. Hope you liked this chapter and peace out my friends ;D