A/N: First and foremost, I'm so sorry this is late! *bows in apology* I didn't have acess to my computer yesterday night so I couldn't upload it...
Also, thank you so much to all of those who reviewed ^^ It never ceases to make me happy :D
On that notish... I'm going on vacation ( a real vacation not just laying around my house summer vacation vacation XD) Actually, I'm taking a road trip across the country to go visit family who lives on the other side. In light of this, the next chapter might be a little later then usual as I can't type in the car... thank you for understanding! I'll try to get it up on time I really will.
Onward!
O ~ O ~ O
Arthur shifted his weight around, pushing himself to his tiptoes in a futile attempt to glance the headmaster as he proceeded towards the front of the room. Damn. He swore inwardly. I guess I'll just have to wait until he get's up here. Arthur couldn't believe he hadn't noticed the large chair atop a small flight of steps when he had entered the room. It was just, there was so much else to look at and see, the oddly placed object must have passed by his conscious. Now, he could see clearly enough that the seemingly misplaced piece of furniture had to belong to none other then the man who now held the rapt attention of the student body.
He peered to the side, watching as heads began to turn towards the short, stone staircase. He must be close. Ever so slightly, Arthur glimpsed the top of a head, adorned rather graciously with light blonde hair, poking over the mass of students as its owner ascended the steps. As he worked his way upward, Arthur managed to make out more of him, albeit only the back. What had appeared to be short blonde hair, actually turned out to be quite a bit longer then he had imagined. So long in fact, that the man had it tied back in a loose ponytail, making Arthur wonder for a second weather their headmaster wasn't actually a female.
To his side, a handful of teachers, as well as four students (one of which being Laura) settled beside the chair, standing at a sort of military attention. Suddenly, the man turned and looked at the students, mouth pulled into a stern line as he looked over the group. Arthur arched his eyebrow's is surprise. He looked young; much too young to be the headmaster of a school like the national academy. Pale blue eye's swept over them, as if measuring their reactions, staring them down. His jaw was stone set, pronounced and a tad bit intimidating, although not at all ugly. Somehow, the face looked familiar. He glanced around the group, eye's flitting instantly to Ludwig. That was it. He reminded Arthur suspiciously of the blonde German. Same intense blue eye's, strong facial features, even their hair was the same color and swept back in a similar fashion (minus the pony tail on Ludwig's part of course). Now wasn't that interesting.
"Welcome." The headmaster boomed suddenly, deep, masculine voice echoing through the hall. "As you all must have noticed by now, if you had not paid attention to your announcements in homeroom, we have been graced with four new teams this year, as well as a plethora of new students. I expect you all to treat them with the utmost respect, and to aid them when they need help, are we clear?"
"Yes headmaster." The room chorused. The man's tense shoulders seemed to relax slightly, and his sternly drawn mouth pulled into an approving, almost warm smile.
"Good. Now that formalities are out of the way, let's give our new comers a hand." The room, instantly less tense, burst into a loud round of applause and cheers. Arthur felt his cheeks go warm as he felt the eye's of the students around them fix warmly on their table. Next to him, Matthew shifted uncomfortably, wringing his hands together and looking to the ground. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was nervous. In fact, the whole group seemed a little put off by all the sudden attention, even if it was welcoming. All except for Gilbert of course, who was grinning proudly.
Arthur watched as the headmaster held his hands up for silence and the room grew slowly quiet, the sound of clapping and chatting students dying from the room.
"Now, I would like all of you to sit down, except for our new groups." He ordered them. Arthur felt his blood rush at the thought of having to stand alone in front of the calculating eyes of the rest of the school. Well all right, not alone, he supposed. But certainly not among the masses that they had recently been standing in. The room filled with the sound of bottoms hitting benches, the wood screeching against the stone floors, until it was once again silent.
"Very good." He said, nodding his head. "Now..." He trailed off, surveying the room. "We will start with your house." He informed them, nodding towards their table. Us? Arthur felt his heart leap in his chest, glancing nervously to his teammates who all looked as dumb struck as him. Clearly, no one was expecting such a formal introduction.
"State your house name." He requested, crossing his arms and waiting for a reply. Who wanted to be the one who spoke up in front of everyone? Arthur cast a look at Francis, who merely shrugged lightly as if it wasn't his problem. Damn bloody frog. He swore inwardly. Not that he was all to willing to volunteer either...
"Imperaturi." Feliciano piped up suddenly, smiling brightly. "That's our house." Arthur could practically the collective sigh of relief from the rest of the group. For once, it seemed they were all praising the peppy Italian's air headedness that gave him the courage to speak up.
"Imperaturi." He said slowly, as if mulling over the name. "That is quite an interesting name, particularly it's Latin translation. Does one of you happen to speak it?"
"Two of us." Feliciano chirped. "My brother and I, but we're not all that fluent." Soft murmurings of disbelief broke out amongst the students, but were quickly silenced by another raise of the headmaster's hand.
"Ah. I see, so you must be our international group." He mused. "Our very first. I daresay you should all be proud to have been chosen for such a house."
International? The word bounced around the room inquisitively, breaking the silence that the headmaster had just previously restored. They really were an oddity in the teams, weren't they?
"If you don't mind," The man began again, breaking off the student conversation. "Could I have the name of your leader?"
Leader? Arthur felt the unspoken shock rippled through his team at the request. They hadn't been informed that they needed a leader. What were they supposed to say, 'we don't have one'? Not in front of the headmaster, and certainly not in front of the whole school.
"Wouldn't that be Ludwig?" Francis murmured in his ear.
"I guess but don't he and Alfred kind of share the responsibility?" He hissed back quietly.
"What do we say?" He caught Roderich's voice whisper to Ludwig on the other side of the table. The whole group had broken out into a chorus of curious mutterings, wondering what they were to do in such a situation, while all the while, the headmaster stood patiently waiting, eyes on them as he waited for an answer.
"Uh, sir?" Alfred's voice rose suddenly, forcing the group to quiet and turn their attention to him. Arthur felt his breath catch in his throat. You idiot! Don't screw anything up! He begged silently, suddenly wishing it had been Ludwig who had spoken instead of Alfred.
"We weren't under the impression we needed to choose a group leader." He stated blatantly. "After all, isn't the point of the houses to enforce teamwork? What's the use in that if there's one person ordering everyone else around? Seems a little bit roundabout."
You twat! Arthur hissed inwardly. Of all the things he could have said, it had to be something like that? Arthur readied himself for the worst, waiting for the headmaster to begin lecturing them about talking back to the elders and being disrespectful and whatnot. But to his surprise, it never came. The man only allowed an amused smile to find his lips and let out a low chuckle.
"That is a very accurate statement young man." He agreed. "It would defeat the point of the house system now wouldn't it?" Arthur felt himself visibly deflate with relief. He wasn't mad. Some how, that goddamned idiot had pulled them out of trouble yet again.
"The house leaders are merely for formalities; announcing group happening's when necessary, vouching for their house, delivering group opinion. The leader themselves, actually have no more power then any of the other students in the house. They simply act as a mediator at times." He explained. "I suppose group mediator would be a better term for it, would it not?" Alfred nodded.
"In that case," Soren said suddenly. "I guess our mediator would be Alfred. All in favor?"
Arthur glanced around at the rest of the students, all of whom were watching with interest at the events unfolding before them. It seemed a little odd to be conducting a vote like this, but whatever. Five hands shot up instantly, Soren's, of course, Matthew's, Antonio's. Elizaveta's and Kiku's. Then, slowly but surely, everyone else's hand rose as well. Gilbert seemed a little disgruntled at not being suggested, but non-the less, raised his hand in support of Alfred.
He felt his own hand twitch at his side as he watched the others go up. It wouldn't look good if he was the obvious outlier in the group. Not for their house or for himself. Suppressing an annoyed sigh, he lifted his hand into the air just as Ivan and Romano's went up. That was the last of them then.
"It looks as if a decision has been reached." The headmaster nodded. "That wasn't so difficult, was it?" He added, ALMOST teasingly, although Arthur had a hard time picturing a man like him saying anything in that manner. "Very well, Imperaturi, I wish you luck." They all nodded and quickly slid back into their seats. God that was mortifying, although Arthur would never admit it aloud.
"Can we have the next group?" He asked, eyes flitting to a group at the other end of the room, with a carving of an open book at the head of their table.
"We're the Cædmon house." A tall, brown haired boy informed him immediately. "I have been chosen as our mediator."
"Cædmon." The headmaster mused thoughtfully. "If I remember correctly, he was the earliest English poet, at least who's name was known..."
"That is correct sir." The boy replied swiftly. The headmaster nodded, waving for them to sit down.
"Very good then. Next group?"
Arthur suppressed the horrible embarrassment gnawing at his gut. That group had been so sure of themselves and precise, while they had stood floundering like idiots for God only knew how long. It seemed as if they really were going to turn out being the least cohesive group of the 24... Still, he couldn't help feeling even the tiniest hint of pride that it had been a member of their group that had coined the phrase 'mediator' as opposed to leader. Not that he was proud of Alfred, just glad that they hadn't looked like complete screw-ups.
"We're Vhenelment." A shorthaired blonde replied. "And uh," he glanced around his group. "I'm the mediator for us..."
Arthur felt himself relax ever so slightly. Well, they hadn't been perfect either, although you couldn't call their introduction nearly as horrendous as theirs.
"Excellent." The headmaster said. "Our last group of course, is replacing the former Script house after their graduation to international. It is a pleasure to welcome you all as members of a fine house." Arthur couldn't quite get a look at them, as their table was situated at the complete opposite end of the room. But something about one of them, at least from his angle, seemed vaguely familiar.
"Now that that is finished, you are all welcome to eat lunch. Oh and another thing, these four students," he stated, gesturing to Laura and the three boys standing beside her, "Are our schools four student leaders. They act as substitutes for teachers when they are not present, and they have the right to order anything of any student, as long as they are not abusing their privileges. We have them to keep order around the school, when it is needed. Please do not hesitate to ask them if you need help. That is all." With a final nod at the students, he stepped quickly down the steps and was met by polite clapping before he disappeared out the door, along with the small group of teachers that had accompanied him. The room instantly became noisy, as students at every table began to eat and chat amongst themselves.
"Well that was interesting." Antonio chuckled, slumping against the table.
"No kidding." Yao muttered. "I thought we were going to die. Seriously, what kind of introduction was that anyway?"
"He could have asked us more questions though." Ivan put in, startling Arthur. No matter how many times the tall Russian spoke, it never ceased to surprise him. He supposed that Ivan was going to take some serious getting used to...
"True enough." Yao shrugged. "Well whatever, I'm just glad we get to eat."
"I don't actually believe you eat." Ivan said incredulously. "You are so very tiny after all."
"Who asked you?" Yao grumbled irritably, once again shocking Arthur with his boldness around Ivan. He seemed to be one of the few of them who wasn't the slightest bit wary of the enormous boy, and it baffled Arthur to no end. Ivan could easily snap someone like Yao in two. Yet the Chinese boy acted as if he was speaking to some one much younger and much much smaller then himself.
"No one, I suppose." Ivan replied evenly, eyes glinting. "But I am entitled to my input am I not? It is one of the luxuries that I have most appreciated since moving to this country. In my home, people were not so lax with their tongues."
"Neither were they in mine." Yao snorted. "Which is why I take any opportunity I can get to say what I want to. Kiku can you give me some of that... stuff next to you?" He asked, abruptly turning the conversation. Ivan didn't seem the least bit put off by it. In fact, his eyes still held that odd sort of glint that they had when he was speaking with the onyx haired boy. Arthur silently prayed for Yao's safety before turning to lunch.
"That was amazing Alfred." He heard Matthew say to the American. "I can't believe the courage it must have taken to say that!" Arthur snorted. More like idiocy.
"Arthur you're not going to eat?" Francis inquired, helping himself to a delicious looking sandwich. Arthur nodded.
"Yes of course I am frog." He muttered, grabbing a similar looking sandwich. "I was just thinking is all..."
"Bet I can guess what about." Francis bragged in a singsong voice. An image of Alfred flashed in his mind, and Arthur nearly choked on his food.
"Excuse me?" He coughed, shooting his friend a pointed glare. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but do NOT make such assumptions."
"I thought you said you didn't know what I was talking about." Francis snickered, dodging a well-aimed punch.
"Never mind that." Arthur spat. "Just drop it Francis."
"What ever you say Arthur." Francis replied nonchalantly.
"Hey guy's! Whatcha talking about?" Arthur nearly jumped out of his seat, turning to see Laura, once again standing behind them, smiling brightly. This time, Lars accompanied her.
"Ah noth-"
"Oh just Arthur's love life, what else?" Francis chuckled before Arthur could get a word in.
"I'm going to make you wish you hadn't said that." Arthur growled, grabbing the front of the French boy's shirt menacingly. Even as friends, they'd had their fair share of fights, and Arthur usually came out on top. Although in all honesty, he was a little out of practice, despite all his scuffling with Alfred as of late.
"Hey you two no fighting in front of a school leader." Laura warned seriously. "I could report you two." Arthur instantly withdrew his hand, snapping it to his side.
"Oh don't worry I won't." She laughed. "I know you guy's are friends, so it's cool. Just don't beat each other up on campus ok?"
"You know you shouldn't be encouraging that sort of stuff." Lars sighed.
"I'm not encouraging it." Laura argued. "I'm just being less uptight then Jack, Finn and Kail is all. They're the three other leaders you saw up there." She said, turning her attention back to Francis and Arthur. "Now what were we talking about?"
"Laura!" Elizaveta cried, popping out of her seat. "Hey you showed up again!"
Laura smiled excitedly, as if she was seeing an old friend, not someone she had met only once several days before. "Oh my gosh Lizzie! I completely forgot to say hello before!" She cried happily. "Hi! I'm actually a student here ya know? It's kind of confusing but whatever, it's good to see you again!"
"Yea you too." Elizaveta laughed, greeting the other girl with a high five as she walked around the table. "If I had known you'd be here, I would have brought that book! What are you guy's taking about?"
"Arthur's love life." Laura giggled.
"We are not!" Arthur growled.
"Really now?" Elizaveta smiled. "I'd like to here about that."
"Well you don't get to because I don't have one." Arthur muttered, slamming his head against the table in embarrassment.
"He keeps saying that." Francis sighed.
"He's just being modest." Elizaveta chuckled. "After all..." She leaned over and whispered something in Laura's ear that positively lit her face up.
"Really!" She squeaked. "Aw man can I switch houses with you? You're so lucky to be staying with a group of only guy's!"
"What's with all the noise?" Alfred piped up over the girls, standing to greet Laura.
They took one look at him and burst into another violent fit of giggles. "Nothing, nothing." Laura laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. "Oh man I should introduce you to Lili and Mei, Lizzie. Oh it is ok if I call you that right?"
"Yea of course." Elizaveta chuckled. "And who are they?"
"Only like my best friends." Laura stated brightly. "You three would get along so great, I can totally tell. Mei's a fan too. Lili is a little more nervous about the whole thing but she still gets into it from time to time. You should have seen her boyfriends FACE when he found out. It was too funny! Of course he's a total sweetheart, so he got over it and they're still together." Laura went on. Arthur stared at the girl, trying desperately to make sense of the conversation. He got nothing.
"Oh this again." Lars grumbled, rolling his eyes. Arthur glanced up at his annoyed face. It was clear he'd heard this all before, and knew exactly what was going on. "You and your obsession with that stuff... it's not healthy you know."
"Oh it's fine." Laura insisted. "Don't be such a stick in the mud. Oh right, Lars this is Elizaveta. Elizaveta this is Lars, he's a... member of my house."
"Nice to meet you." Elizaveta said politely, shaking his hand.
"Yea... likewise." Lars replied.
"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Alfred whined. Arthur glanced to the side to see the American still standing there, hands on his hips.
"It's best if you don't know." Laura chuckled. He tossed her a look.
"No really man, you don't want to know." Lars assured him.
"Guess I'll take your word for it." He replied, casting a wary glance at Elizaveta and Laura. "Oh yea I didn't introduce myself huh?" He said, sticking his hand out. "I'm Alfred Jones."
"Lars." The ash blonde boy replied, shaking Alfred out stretched appendage.
"Do you have a last name?" Alfred asked, rolling his eyes.
"Yea, but that's exclusively for people I'm close to." He replied smugly. They stared each other down for a second, before the pair burst out laughing, passing each other a high five. Amazing. All he had to do was say hello and he already had a friend. Arthur felt a twinge of jealousy tug in his gut. Compared to Alfred, he was just...
"Hey, what time does lunch end?" Alfred cut into Arthur's thoughts loudly.
"In about ten minutes." Laura confirmed. "So hurry up and eat, because you might want to get a head start to your next class. Oh! And don't forget to run by the history hall in the west wing. That's where the point tally's are kept."
"Point tallies?" Arthur asked, cutting back into the conversation. She nodded.
"Yea. You guy's should already be up there."
"Well if I'm on that side of school." Alfred reasoned. "I don't know if I want to go out of my way running around like that... isn't there an easier way to check?"
"Most teachers have it on their computers if you ask." Laura informed him.
"Sweet." Alfred grinned. "I want to see how we're doing."
"It's the first day you idiot." Arthur snorted. "We probably don't have any yet. If it weren't for me we'd be down points."
"Oh would you quit harping on that?" Alfred muttered.
"Not until you admit I'm right and if it weren't for me you would have lost points." Arthur insisted stubbornly.
"See? These two are always at it like this." Francis chuckled from beside him, breaking off from his conversation across the table with Antonio.
"Really?" Laura asked curiously. She didn't sound the least bit upset that students were fighting. More intrigued then anything.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Alfred asked stiffly. "It's not like I'm the one who starts it anyway. It's always him."
"Oh yea right." Arthur growled. "Sure, it's always my fault. Typical."
"It is." Alfred hissed. "If it weren't for you, my arm-" He stopped suddenly, shaking his head. "No, never mind." He muttered, rubbing his hand over his injured arm. Arthur winced, remembering the boy's pained face as he popped his arm back in, as Arthur looked over his ripped up skin, while they carried each other home... It was making him nauseous.
"Sorry." He offered lamely, not wanting to think about their experience in the woods any longer.
"It's fine." Alfred replied.
"Wait, Alfred did something happen to your arm?" Laura cut in worriedly.
"Oh my goodness!" Elizaveta cried. "We completely forgot to tell someone! Alfred's arm got really beat up yesterday. Ludwig did a good job of patching it, but we were afraid it needed stitches..."
"It doesn't need stitches." Alfred insisted. "It'll be fine."
"No no, you need to go to the nurse." Laura insisted. "Oh gosh Alfred, why didn't you say so in the first place?"
"It doesn't hurt." He muttered begrudgingly.
"Don't care. You need to go to the nurse ASAP."
"But what about class." Alfred argued.
"No but's." She insisted firmly. "The nurse's office is in the north wing. It's not hard to miss. Do you have anyone who has the same class next?"
"Dunno." He sighed. "I think I have PE."
"Wait, you have PE?" Arthur asked incredulously. "There's absolutely no way..." He rummaged through his backpack, yanking out the schedule. Last two were after lunch today, so that meant... "PE!" He yelled. "I have it too, are you serious?"
"Perfect!" Laura smiled brightly. "Arthur, you take him down there, and once the nurse has looked him over you two can head over to class together."
"Not a chance." They growled in unison.
"Go." She said, pulling Arthur to his feet. "That's an order as a student leader."
"Good luck!" Francis laugh, a bemused expression adorning his face.
"You ass." Arthur seethed at him. Francis simply chuckled and turned back to his conversation with Antonio.
"Hey where are you going Al?" Soren asked, suddenly realizing that his friend was leaving.
"Nurse." He grumbled. "Leader's orders..."
"Do you want us to take you?" Matthew offered.
"No no he's got that covered." Laura insisted, shoving the two of them in the same direction. "Arthur has PE next too, so he's going to take him." Soren gave her a look that said 'do you know what you're doing'?
"Go!" She insisted. "I don't want you being to late. If you are, tell coach what happened and that Laura told you to go. He'll understand. Oh and you guy's will probably be in the gym sine the storm clouds moved back in."
"They did?" Arthur exclaimed, turning towards the wide glass windows. Indeed they had. How did he miss something like that?
"Yup. The gym isn't to hard to find, I promise." She insisted. "I'll see you guy's later, alright?"
"Come on." Alfred sighed in front of him. "Let's just go and get this over with..." Nodding in agreement, Arthur followed behind him, giving a last glance at Laura waving goodbye before looking ahead and fixing his eye's on Alfred's back. He kept no less then five feet behind him the whole way there.
O ~ O ~ O
"You're going to need those stitches in for a couple weeks." The nurse informed Alfred as he leaned back in a wooden chair. "I'll call you back in when they should come out. You're very lucky Mr. Jones. Whoever wrapped your wounds was very skilled, and that kept it from seriously bleeding out and becoming infected. I had to inject a small dose of medication to numb the pain, seeing as you were cut up pretty bad. You might feel a little dizzy and... strange in a couple minutes, but it passes quickly."
"Thank you." Alfred grunted, eye's clamped shut at what Arthur could only guess was the still present pain from the stitching. Clearly whatever she had given him hadn't kicked in yet.
"I'll be back in ten minutes, I'm going to go down to the gym and tell coach myself about this. He's not to keen on letting students out with just a note from me. Thinks they fake them or something." She sighed. "Don't leave the room, and don't touch anything. Mr. Kirkland, I'm counting on you to watch him when the drug starts taking affect. Don't let him do anything stupid."
"You mean more stupid then normal?" Arthur snickered, crossing his arms. She waved him off, gathering a handful of papers.
"Just behave yourselves."
He nodded and with a final glance at them, the older woman disappeared out the door. Great. Stuck here for ten minutes. Arthur thought miserably. He glanced back at Alfred who was squeezing the edge of the chair so tightly it looked like it was about to snap. Did it really hurt so badly? The skin was raw, and she had put a lot of antiseptics on it. Arthur reasoned. And the stitches themselves couldn't have been too pleasant either. Alfred looked like he was in absolute misery. An image of him the day before in the woods flashed through his mind again. He violently shook it out, turning his attention to the lazy ceiling fan spinning around above them.
"Mnn." Alfred groaned, hunching over in the chair. "Ah god."
Arthur felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle. Maybe that numbing drug hadn't been such a good idea... He glanced at Alfred and then back at the door. It would do no good running after her now. Besides, she'd already told him to stay with the American.
"Ah... um does it hurt." He asked tentatively.
"Not anymore I just feel... weird." Alfred panted. "I wonder if it was ok for me to take that? Oh fuck what if I'm allergic to whatever it was?"
"I'm sure you're fine." Arthur insisted, looking away. His hands twitched, and he glanced back at the writhing boy. It wouldn't hurt to help him just this once... and then Alfred would owe him again. After all, he still owed him for the Francis thing. He didn't think it could hurt if he added something else to his payment.
"Do you want me to get you water?" Arthur asked, pushing himself to his feet. Alfred nodded weakly. Ok, water. Arthur thought, digging through the nurse's cabinets until he happened upon a stack of little plastic cups. Perfect. He strode over to the sink, filling the container a little over half way before venturing back over to Alfred in his chair. He really wasn't looking great. Arthur lowered himself to the floor, sitting cross-legged in front of the sweating blonde and handing him the cup.
"Here." He offered. Alfred took it immediately, drinking it down in three large gulps.
"Don't do that! Then you'll have a stomach ache you twat." Arthur snapped, reaching out in an attempt to snatch the cup from his hand. Apparently, the drug hadn't had any affect on Alfred's reflexes, because mid swipe, the boy clasped his fingers firmly around Arthur's wrist.
"Hey let go." He growled, trying to yank his hand away. Alfred shook his head, still breathing hard.
"Let go." Arthur insisted, shoving Alfred's shoulder. "Come on you idiot."
"Don't wanna." Alfred muttered, not meeting his eyes.
"Any why not?" Arthur snarled, still desperately trying to free his hand.
"Your skin is cold." Alfred replied, head hanging so that his face was completely shadowed by his bangs.
"To match my cold heart right?" Arthur replied stiffly. "Well I'm glad my lack of human emotion is of some use to you, you- augh!" He flinched as a drop of Alfred's sweat plopped onto his skin, rolling gently down is arm. The heat was incredible. He must have really been burning up.
"Dear god you're boiling." Arthur hissed, wiping the salty water off his skin. "Let go of me and let me feel your head. I know it's just the drug, but it's not good if your temperature goes to high." He insisted. Reluctantly, he felt Alfred unclamp his wrist, and Arthur pulled back quickly, still not quite sure what to make of the situation. Was this panting, mess of a boy really the same one who had stood so defiantly before the headmaster, and the whole school, not even an hour before?
Slowly, Arthur pressed his palm to Alfred's perspiring forehead. Alfred let out a soft 'ah' at the sudden cold feel on his skin, but otherwise kept perfectly still. "You're really warm." Arthur muttered. "Do you want me to get you ice?" Alfred shook his head, catching Arthur off guard by leaning into his touch.
"Your hand is enough." He replied wearily. Arthur felt blood rush to his cheeks, and no matter how hard he pushed it down, it simply would not go. Alfred was acting so strange. So, un-Alfred like. Not that he really had a right to say that, considering they had known each other three days and wanted to pummel each others faces in more then half the time. Even so...
"Alfred, you really have to-" THAT caught the other boy's attention. Arthur realized instantly that he'd accidently said the Americans name, and he swore inwardly at his screw up. His glazed over cerulean eye's suddenly snapped to attention, and as if he just realized what was going on, yanked his face away from Arthur's hand, pushing the chair back.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit." He swore, still breathing heavily, but eye's clearly much more alert. "What happened? Where's the nurse? And why the fuck are you STARING at me like that?" He snapped.
Arthur shrugged, trying to think of something desperately off the top of his head to come back with. "You were acting strange, that's all." He replied nonchalantly. He fought back the urge to wipe Alfred's sweat on his pants, fearing that if he did, Alfred might suspect something.
"Ah god my head." He moaned. "Hurts like a fucking bitch. Ugh I feel miserable. Must be the after effects..."
"Yea, guess so." Arthur stammered, scooting himself away from the chair and standing up. "The nurse should be back in less then five minutes..."
"She left?" Alfred cried, clearly surprised.
"You don't remember? She said she was leaving just after she mentioned the affects of the drug..."
Alfred shook his head, lying back in the chair. "I don't remember anything." Thank god. Arthur breathed inwardly. His hands still felt odd from the touch of Alfred's skin.
"What the hell were you doing down there?" Alfred asked suddenly, as if just realizing Arthur's position when he had come to his senses.
"You wanted water..." Arthur muttered begrudgingly. "And you wouldn't lift your head up so I sat down to give it to you."
"Oh..." Alfred responded lamely. "Well uh... thanks I guess..." He trailed off, staring at ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "So then... why were you touching my face?"
Arthur felt his stomach jump into his chest, blood running cold. "Wha-what?" He stammered, clenching his fists at his sides as if he couldn't believe Alfred would ever fathom something like that.
"You... weren't?" Alfred frowned, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He doesn't remember clearly. Arthur realized. He must have some vague feeling that something like that happened but he's not sure.
"Of course not." Arthur shot back. Better to flat out deny everything then have to deal with explaining what had happened. Just the thought made him sick to his stomach. "You're delirious."
"Guess so." Alfred muttered, rubbing his hand against his forehead. "So..." He began. "How were your classes?" Arthur simply stared at him. Was he trying to create idle chatter? He'd never thought Alfred Jones to be the type to do that. Particularly not with someone he so clearly despised. He found himself both amused and put off at the thought.
"Fine." He shrugged. Although they had been anything but. His teachers had been nice enough, and the courses certainly had seemed interesting. The real problem lay in his introduction. It always did. The sheer moment his first period teacher had asked (with a rather taken aback look in her eye) for him to confirm his name, the whole class had burst out into chatter. He couldn't blame them he supposed. After all, Kirkland was certainly not one of the most frequent surnames in England. But after several minutes of pestering; assuring that no of course there was no relation, and yes it was just luck, and even that he honestly had no idea what they were talking about, the questions finally ceased and he was left to peace. At least, he would have liked it that way.
In reality, he had eyes glued on him the entire class. He could hear them whispering about him at the back of the classroom, pointing fingers, asking silent questions amongst themselves. The girls in particular, were a real bother. He'd been approached by far to many already today. It didn't bother him to be noticed by pretty girls of course, he didn't think any boy would be upset about that. No, it was more that he knew they were only taking notice because of the rumors. He remembered in particular, one group that had just kept badgering. In his annoyance, he had begun to finger his silver studs, which to his horror, only lead them to be more interested in him. They acted like they had never seen a guy with earrings before.
It was obnoxious. He'd almost been happier at his old school where he'd been shunned.
"You're spacing out." Alfred snorted, breaking him from his thoughts.
"What?" He blinked, emerald eyes meeting the American's piercing blue ones.
"Nothing, you just seem upset is all." Alfred replied, not breaking eye contact.
"Not really." Arthur muttered crossing his arms and looking away. "Do you feel any better?" He didn't really care either way. He just wanted to avoid the subject of his day thus far.
"Sort of." Alfred shrugged. "That was some weird stuff though."
"You'll be fine." Arthur said, waving off his comment. "You're you after all." He felt his shoulders tense up in horror, surprised at himself for outwardly voicing his thoughts. "I mean you know," he stammered, spinning around to face Alfred. "It's just you're so dense that I doubt you'd ever get yourself in serious trouble."
"I don't know if that's supposed to be a compliment or an insult." Alfred chuckled. "But thanks."
O ~ O ~ O
A/N: Again, I apologize for the lateness here... I fail miserably I know... Xd Anyway, a lot of this is just drabble I'm aware of that but drabble is necessary at times I suppose lol. Oh yea! New characters! I bet plenty of you figured out who he was as soon as I started to describe him, but the headmaster is: GERMANIA! :D Yes i know, I messed with his personality a smidge XD I think he can still be demanding and good hearted though, and I know I would hate to face a scary principle in front of the whole school... I hadn't originally planned for him to be so... not strictish? He just kind of became that way so I went with it.
Hahahaha and I'm sorry to all of you who were expecting more out of the second part, but as you may have noticed this is not M... yet... Xd I know, I'm mean XD
The yaoi chat between Elizaveta and Laura made me laugh as I wrote it, not gonna lie xD Oh and pertaining to that, I suppose I should give you the other new characters:
Lili- Lichtenstein
Mei- Taiwan
And that's it as far as that goes... I tried my hand at putting in some rochu bits this chapter. Truth be told, I do ADORED rochu, but I also really like russialiet.(i go through phases with those two pairings XD ) that being said, I don't actually read much rochu fanfiction so I'm not even sure myself what makes me like the pairing, and what makes the relationship tick, so that shipping in particular is going to give me trouble. I apologize in advance for how long it's probably gonig to take to get their relationship going Xd
Thank you for your reviews! I'll see you next chapter ^^