A/N: You know you're a hetalia fan when you bring your union jack on vacation with you because you don't want it alone with your French flag for a whole two weeks…

Thank's for all your reviews on the last chapter! It was nice to get them as I was driving across the nothingness XD I'm sorry this is late, but I did warn you guys so I hope you aren't to upset… Aghh I feel like I ha something important to say but I don't remember… frowns oh well it'll come back to me…

Onward!

O ~ O ~ O

Their trip from the nurse's office to the gym was uneventful. Save for taking a wrong turn or two, the duo managed to make it to class without any trouble (although they were quite late). Alfred's arm was still numb from the drug that the nurse gave him, but for the mot part, he was feeling better then ever. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something, and it bothered him to no end. Arthur had told him that before he'd asked for water, Alfred had jut laid there nearly passed out for several minutes, but Alfred didn't quite buy it. In addition, there was that last bit... he had been so sure that he felt the Britons hand on his forehead before he was shaken from his stupor. Well, never mind that. He thought to himself. It's over now, just focus on the present.

Their coach had been a tad bit peeved at their late arrival, despite the nurse's interference with the situation, but when they mentioned Laura, he visibly brightened and shooed them into the locker rooms without another word. They found their uniforms sitting on their gym teacher's desk and inspected the insides for nametags, or some sort of size indication. No such luck.

"Did they sew these too?" Alfred marveled, staring at the front of gray shirt. "But how are we supposed to know which one belongs to me, and which one belongs to you?"

"Your last name is on the back of the shirt you idiot." Arthur sighed, picking up the remaining shirt and navy blue pants. "See? Jones." He said, turning the shirt around in Alfred's hands and pointing to his last name.

"Oh whaddaya know?" Alfred exclaimed, pushing aside the sarcastic tone to Arthur's voice. "So yours says Kirkland then?"

Arthur bristled visibly at the mention of his last name (which Alfred found peculiar. Who flinches at their own name) but quickly abandoning his discomfort, rolled his eyes and nodded in response.

"Obviously."

"Right." Alfred replied lamely, wondering why he even asked in the first place. Of course it said Kirkland, what else would it say? After a bit more exploring of the massive locker room, they retreated to their own respective parts of the room to change in privacy. Alfred tugged on the ends of the shirt, smiling at the fit. It was absolutely perfect. All except for the chest again... he shrugged it off. Probably just his imagination. After all, those measurements had been spot on after all.

"Hey Jones, are you coming?" Arthur called, poking his head around the corner to see if Alfred was done.

"Of course." Alfred replied, releasing the fabric from his hands and dusting them off absentmindedly. Arthur snorted, as if amused at finding the other boy admiring his garb, but said nothing, simply nodded and disappeared around the corner.

With a last quick tug on his shirt, Alfred jogged out behind him.

O ~ O ~ O

PE, as it was, was more like an overall sports class then any sort of training. After a couple laps around the monstrous gym (Alfred guessed it was about a little less then half the length of a football field) their teacher split them up to climb the rock walls of the building. Their teacher was an interesting sort. He gave no name, only insisted that they call him Coach, and to forget about formalities. He was loud and rather brash, but amusing nonetheless, as it was abundantly clear he had favorites already, and made no show of hiding this fact from the rest of the class.

That aside, the boys were met with another surprise besides their exuberant teacher.

"Berwald!" Alfred had exclaimed in a surprised, but quite pleased tone. He was happy to see the quiet Swede was also in their class, as it would give him some one other to talk to then Arthur. In fact, he couldn't have gotten luckier, as far as how the groups worked out. He was belaying for Berwald on the east wall with a group of other kids. Arthur was on the west with another boy from the Kindred house. Meaning he didn't even have to look at him if he didn't want to. And obviously, he didn't.

"You ok up there?" He called as his teammate shifted between one rock and another. He'd been stuck at the same point for a couple minutes, bouncing back and forth between two foot holds as if he was trying to make up his mind as to which way would be the more logical path.

"Hm." He responded, staring up at the all to far away glass ceiling. On a bright day, Alfred imagined that the sky light roof of the gym let in an incredible amount of light, and a gorgeous view of the mountains that they were pressed up against. Today however, the only view they were getting was of raindrops pattering against the glass, and the thick, low clouds from which they poured.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." He replied, more to himself then Berwald.

"What w's that?" Berwald called down.

"Oh, nothing!" To be honest, Alfred was glad it was Berwald who was braving the wall first. He wasn't afraid of heights per say, but he certainly wasn't fond of them, and he'd never climbed a rock wall before, so watching some one who obviously had more experience was helpful to say the least. Plus, if he remembered the path the boy took, he wouldn't have to map out his own and that would save him a heap of time and trouble.

"I th'nk I'm gonna get d'wn." Berwald admitted. "I don't th'nk I can make it fr'm this angle."

"What? Nonsense!" A voice boomed from behind him. Alfred nearly let go of the rope in his surprise.

"Of course you can make it. Now keep going." Coach insisted, tapping his foot against the old hardwood floor.

"I don't know Coach…" Alfred said. "If Berwald doesn't think he can make it, I think you should just let him come down. It'll be safer." For both of us. He added inwardly. If Berwald fell because he lost his footing, Alfred wasn't all that sure he could hold him up, and he didn't like the idea of the Swede falling on him. The blonde wasn't overweight by any measure, in fact for his height, Alfred would guess he was just about even, perhaps even a little bit under. Even so, he was tall and broad, and probably a good bit heavier then Alfred could hold because of it.

"No Alfr'd I'll keep go'n if that's wh't he wants." Berwald responded with a grunt, hauling himself upward unsteadily.

"That's a good lad!" Coach laughed heartily. "Most of you kids argue with me now a days. It's good to see a well brought up boy once in a while. Why when I was a boy-"

"Wah!" The room echoed with a cry from the other end of the room, interrupting coaches sermon Alfred turned his head to see what had happened, not daring to completely turn for fear that he would be unprepared if Berwald slipped suddenly. He choked back laugher at what he saw. Arthur was swinging limply from the side of the wall, eyes wide in surprise an arms flailing about as he tried to grab hold of the wall. His ginger haired partner was clenching his eyes shut as he tried to keep the bushy eye browed blonde up, despite all his thrashing.

"What's going on over there?" Coach shouted, mouth turning down in annoyance. "No playing around!"

"We're not!" Arthur gasped, scrambling to find his footing. "Sorry I just slipped is all."

"You sound like a girl when you scream!" Alfred offered, holding back a snicker. The room burst into a fit of amused giggling, and Alfred grinned triumphantly as Arthur shot him a smoldering glare.

"I don't see YOU climbing the wall." The Briton spat. "Why don't you try it before you start acting all high and mighty?"

"Alright you two, settled down." Coach cut in. "I'm all for house rivalries but take it some where else so I don't get in trouble for letting you fight."

"We're on the same team." Alfred grumbled.

"Oh, are you?" Coach raised his brown eyes brows in surprise. "You could have fooled me. In that case, I could take points from you for arguing ya know."

"Please don't." Berwald yelled down, apparently having cleared his hurdle.

"Why do you care? Don't tell me you're on the same team?"

Berwald nodded. "Yes, the three 'f us are 'n the same t'm."

Coach sighed. "Well if that's the case I'll let you two off the hook. But you're darn lucky to have Berwald here on your side or you wouldn't be so lucky."

"Thank you." They responded in unison.

"Alright, back to climbing, all of you!" Coach ordered, clapping his hands. "We've got another hour of class left and I don't want it wasted with staring!"

O ~ O ~ O

"I don't think I'm very goo at ropes." Alfred concluded, plopping down on one of the locker room benches. He hadn't fallen like Arthur, thank goodness for that, but his performance had been less then graceful, while Berwald had made it to the top on his first try, earning the team 10 points for it.

"You'll g't the hang 'f it." Berwald insisted, pulling his school uniform out of his locker as hoards of other boys poured in. "It j'st takes pr'ctice."

"Yea I guess." Alfred shrugged.

"Don't be so down Al." A brunette by the name of AJ said, patting his back. "Rock wall climbing is a bitch at first, but you get used to it after a while. Builds up your arm strength." AJ had been standing next to him while he spotted for Berwald, and as they waited for their partners to finish, the duo had struck up a conversation and hadn't ceased their chatting even when it had been their turn to climb. AJ was a loud, energetic freshman, much like himself, who had been placed into one of the existing houses, so wasn't new to the school (as of today anyway) or, apparently, to the walls.

"I've never had much upper arm strength I suppose." Alfred chuckled. "Oh well."

"App'rently n'ther does 'rthur." Berwald sighed, pulling off his gray shirt. "I don't kn'w what we're g'nna do with you tw' as far as competin' goes."

"Hey I'm not super weak." Alfred replied defensively. "I'm probably stronger then Arthur, and Francis, and Lukas, and Kiku, and definitely Tino." Berwald visibly perked at the mention of the smaller blonde and nodded, folding his shirt carefully as he placed it into his gym locker.

"Tino is pr'tty small." He agreed. "Alth'gh I wouldn't c'nt him out compl'tely."

"Seems like you two get along pretty well." Alfred commented, tossing a glance at Arthur as he entered the locker room.

"W'll enough. Though I d'nt think 'e l'kes me very m'ch. Oh hey 'rthur." He said, abruptly changing subjects and addressing the perturbed looking blonde. "What happened?"

Arthur shrugged, reaching up to his ears and twisting the cold metal balls around as a scowl settled itself on his face. "Nothing, it's fine." He replied, waving it off. A couple of the boys laughed as he stepped further into the locker room, teasing him about his reaction to the fall. Arthur blatantly ignored him and thrust a metal key in Alfred's face.

"Coach said to give you this. It's your locker key. The door number is on it of course."

"Thanks I guess." Alfred muttered, taking the key from his hand. "I'm honestly surprised you gave it to me. I at least thought you would have licked it or something…"

"Who say's I didn't?" Arthur replied, nonchalantly wandering over to his door. Alfred frowned and stared at the little scrap of metal as if the Briton had just handed him a ticking bomb.

"Gross. I don't want to touch your spit, Kirkland."

"Then you can give it back." Arthur said, pulling his (neatly folded) school clothes out of his bag and setting them down on a bench.

"Bastard." Alfred hissed, glancing at the number. 506. Just two down from Arthur. Go figure. He swore inwardly. God, what horrible demonic force keeps forcing us together? It's starting to piss me off. Snatching his own bag up, he plopped it down next to Arthur and forcing the key in the door, yanked it open.

"Oh I wasn't expecting you here." Arthur smirked, glancing at him. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"Oh shut up, you're just still mad about what I said in gym. Well it was true, you do scream like a girl." He growled.

"Who asked you, you tosser?" Arthur snapped, shoving him.

"Guy's knock 't off." Berwald warned from behind them. "We g't lucky th't Coach d'dnt take points aw'y 'cause of your f'ghting before, b't there's no gar'ntee he'll do it again, and you're gettin' loud."

Alfred snatched a peak over his shoulder and saw that he was right. Even though the noise hadn't disappeared, the majority of the boys were all looking at them, some with annoyance, most with amusement.

"Sorry." Arthur apologized.

"Yea, me too." Alfred put in. Berwald let out a gruff 'hm' and wandered back to his locker next to AJ.

"Look what you did you got us in trouble." Alfred hissed quietly once the room got noisy again.

"I got us in trouble? I beg to differ, you're the one who started yelling."

"But you-"

"Forget it." Arthur sighed. "Just get changed, we're going to be late for next period at this rate."

"Yea…" He agreed begrudgingly, tossing Arthur another glance. The Briton was staring down at the ends of his shirt as if he was trying to decide what to do with it. Isn't he the one who just said we should hurry and get changed? Alfred growled inwardly. So what's he doing just standing there? He shook his head and began pulling his shirt off. Whatever it is, it's his problem. He tsked under his breath at the cold air that swarmed his body as the fabric disappeared. When had the locker room gotten so cold?

Slipping his dress shirt back on, he fumbled with the buttons and gave another look at Arthur. He was still standing there, looking petrified as ever.

"What is the matter with you?" He finally asked, rubbing his arms to warm himself. "Are you cold or something?"

"Shut up!" Arthur snapped, turning to glare at him. "No, I'm not cold, not like you. That's pathetic; really, it's like a sauna in here. I can't believe you're actually cold."

"Geeze what's with you?" Alfred grumbled. "All I did was ask if you were cold. And for your information, it's like 50 degrees in here…"

"Well I'm not." He grumbled. "Mind your own business."

"Well you were the one who was saying how we need to hurry up. Aren't you going to change?"

"Of course!"

"Then hurry up! Everyone's almost gone, and the bell is going to ring in a minute."

"Right…" He trailed off, tugging at the bottom of the shirt slowly, tentatively, as if he were afraid. His eyes were continuously flitting about the room, as if he was waiting for everyone else to disappear. He's not embarrassed is he? Alfred snorted softly in amusement. He always figured guys like Arthur were so supposed to be brash and unafraid of anything. He had seemed that way up until now anyway… but that peaked the American's curiosity. What could he possibly afraid of? There were guys in the room that had been much scrawnier then him. Did he have some weird birthmark or something? Now he really wanted to see. Blackmail was a lovely thing, after all.

"Come on, there's barely anyone left, just take it off." Alfred insisted.

"What's it to you?" Arthur hissed. "Why don't you hurry and change? My affairs are none of your business."

"Cause you're being a hypocrite about this, and if you're late we're gonna lose points." Alfred pointed out. Arthur sighed in defeat, shaking his head as if he was asking himself why he was even having this conversation. Honestly, Alfred felt the same way. In one fluid movement, the Briton yanked his uniform off and snatched up his dress shirt before Alfred could say 'hero'. A second later, he was buttoning the top button and giving Alfred a satisfied smirk.

"There. Now you get moving too."

Suddenly, he's so much more confident. Alfred realized. He'd barely been able to glimpse the other boy's milky white abdomen before the shirt covered it up, but in that second, he could of sworn he'd seen something marring it, just above his hip. So he is hiding something. Alfred decided. Some horrible scar? A tattoo? God, would he love to know. That would be one more thing he'd have to use against the British boy, and he liked his arsenal to be full before going to war.

Begrudgingly, he turned back to his own clothes and hastily pulled on the rest of his school uniform just as the bell rang.

"Come on you twat, let's go." Arthur said, straightening his tie. "And for cripes sake, can't you tie that thing properly?"

"No. Matty did it this morning." He admitted, struggling with the long piece of cloth.

"Here let me do it." He growled, yanking the tie out of his hands and tugging it around his neck. Alfred glanced down at the fuming Briton as his fingers fumbled with the knot. He was standing a little to close for Alfred to be comfortable. He could easily reach up and knock Alfred in the jaw, or break his nose, or- his breath caught in his throat as Arthur's hand brushed against his neck in his effort to get the tie done. Yea. Definitely to close. This was not happening again.

"There." Arthur sighed, pulling back to admire his handiwork. "You're to tall, so I had a little trouble with the knot, but it'll do."

"Thanks." He said awkwardly, grabbing his bag off the bench. "Are we going to go?"

Arthur nodded, glancing at the clock on the wall. "I suppose we are."

O ~ O ~ O

"And so, welcome to criminology." Their teacher, Mr. Kaebern, announced brightly. "There are only a select number of you here, because there are only a select number of you who are apt for such a class. And so, I am proud to welcome you chosen few here today."

Alfred had to be honest. He hadn't really believed the piece of paper that had told him he had a class called criminology. What high school taught that? But after some searching, he finally found it. It was in the wing that was being rebuilt, so he had been around and under more then a couple broken staircases, leading him to wonder what exactly it was that had put the place in such a state.

There were only thirteen of them in the class, including himself, and no one that he recognized. Suddenly, he was wondering what kind of class this was exactly.

"Today, we will be having a pre-test. The first part of one to be specific. We will continue next class, because it is a long test, and I guarantee that none of you will finish it in the time allotted."

The class groaned, Alfred along with them. Just what he needed, a test on the first day of school.

"Don't worry." He chuckled. " I promise, this test is going to be a tad bit different then one of your normal ones. Here," He said, holding up a cream colored envelope in his hands, "I have 13 pictures, and 13 clues. Each of you will be getting one of each. In this school, I have hidden the objects presented to you. Your job, is to fine your object using only the clue I have given you. You will have today in class, and when I see you all again on Wednesday. We will discuss results on Friday when we have our shortened class period. Does everyone understand?"

Alfred felt excitement twinge in his gut. A scavenger hunt? Awesome! This class wasn't so bad after all. He was always good at hide and go seek, so this shouldn't be any different.

"Excuse me sir." A brunette named Kara from the back of the room called suddenly. "I hate to sound rude, but what does this have to do with criminology?"

"Ah that's the question, isn't it?" Mr. Kaebern laughed, pushing his glasses up off the bridge of his nose. "One that I hope you will have learned by the end of this test. Now, when I hand you your paper and clue, you may be off. No conferring with others, no cheating. Oh, and don't bother looking for them outside of class, I will have the objects removed when the test ends today. Speaking of which, I want you all back at 5 'till the final bell, all right? No later."

"But what if we use those 5 minutes to find the thing we're looking for?" Argued Greg, a spiky haired blonde boy who had already proved himself to be a troublemaker. Not that Alfred was to much better himself.

"I already told you, what you're looking for won't be there at the end of the testing period. No more questions, you're all wasting precious time." He clapped his hands "I'll hand your things out now."

The few students that seemed to be acquainted already broke out into nervous chatter. What kind of test was this? Alfred was itching to get started. This would be a piece of cake.

"Here you are, Mr. Jones." His teacher said, placing a white envelope on his desk. "I wish you luck."

Alfred nodded vigorously, and before the man could even give another letter away, he was out the door.

When he was a good ways away from the room, he ripped open his envelope, eager to find out what his object was. Gently, he pulled out a small semi gloss photo, tilting it away from the light to get a better look at it. It looked like a brass key. A large key at that, one of those old types from the middle ages that they used to lock prisoners up, or to close vaults. He felt around the rest of the envelope and frowned. Where was his clue? The back of the photo maybe? He wondered. He flipped it over. Bingo.

"This key leads to something you need." Alfred read aloud. He glanced at the bottom of the photo for continuation. There was none. "What the fuck?" Alfred muttered, flipping over the image again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He sighed, running his hand through his hair and looking back at the clue. How was he supposed to find one key in a place this big? And with a clue that didn't even hint at the location. Just that whatever it as, apparently Alfred needed it.

"Damn." He swore, stuffing the photo in his pocket and looking around. Where was he supposed to start with this?

"Think Jones." He muttered under his breath. If he couldn't use the clue and the picture itself, maybe something Mr. Kaebern had said would help lead him to it.

"Oh, and don't bother looking for them outside of class, I will have the objects removed when the test ends today."

Well there was that, to start with. He was going to be taking the objects away at the end of the test, so that meant that they had to be somewhere easily accessible, and most likely, somewhere where students wouldn't be to see him do so. So not outside. He thought. And probably not in the halls anywhere. We would see him creeping around. But wait… he frowned.

"I already told you, what you're looking for won't be there at the end of the testing period."

What they were looking for wouldn't be there at the end… but the end was 5 minutes before class ended. So unless he started taking objects away before the test was over, there was no way to ensure they would be gone. Unless…

"Of course!" He exclaimed, starting hurriedly down the hall. There were other people in on it! When the clock hit 4:50, they would take the objects away and no one would be the wiser. Mr. Kaebern wouldn't even have to leave the room. And no one would be suspicious of a couple teachers or students wondering around. Heck, if the items were in classrooms (which he highly suspected), the teachers would only have to stick them in their pockets and there would be no trace of what they were searching for.

"So, there are other people in on this, and it's more likely then not, in a classroom. It could be under the watch of either a student or a teacher. More likely a teacher, but who knows. Maybe he gave them to his old students…"

And he couldn't rule out the fact that they were a small class, in a very VERY well connected school. It was probable that he had access to their schedule, their teammates, perhaps even more information that Alfred was sure was circulating through the system. And who was to say the object was in one place? Maybe the person who was watching it also had it on them. So not only would he have to figure out where it was in the school, but who was holding on to it. And then he would have to be sure, before he went and asked.

No matter how you thought about it, it was impossible. They had simply been given to little information, and to broad a range of answers. That being said, it would make sense to start with his own classes, and people he knew, if he could find them that is.

"I'll start with English." He decided. He wouldn't have any trouble getting Ms. Walker to let him snoop around a little. She was easy going, and liked him. And if she did have the key, she would probably tell him. PE would be pretty easy too. He could just sneak into the lockers while Coach was out in the gym.

No, the real problem came with biology. There was no way Mr. Palmer would just let him burst in and start rummaging through stuff. I'll figure it out on Thursday. He decided. Hopefully, one of his earlier guesses would be correct and he wouldn't have to check there. And of course there were his other classes that he hadn't been to yet.

"Ok, English…" He trailed off, looking around. Crap. He had left his schedule in the classroom (who would have thought he needed it?) and he couldn't remember what room he was. Or what wing for that matter.

"Augh." He grumbled. "I'll wander and see if I can find familiar ground. And I can look around while I'm at it. Not that I think it will do much good but it can't hurt while I'm lost anyway.

He sauntered down the hall, peering around corners and trying to get his bearings. He must have wandered for about 20 minutes, until finally, he plopped on the ground and let out a frustrated growl. This was getting him nowhere! There had to be someone who could tell him which way to go…

A surprised shriek echoed suddenly through the halls, yanking him from his thoughts and pushing him to his feet. Sounded like a girl tripped around the corner.

"Hey are you ok?" He called, jogging around the bend. A person lay sprawled on the floor, books in a piled mess around them. They groaned pushing themselves into a sitting position and as if just realizing he was there, nodded vigorously.

"Yes I'm ok!" He (Alfred realized by the obvious uniform difference that it was most definitely not a girl) stammered, hurrying to gather his books off the floor.

"Hey let me give you a hand." He offered, crouching to grab one of the hardbacks. The Count of Monte Cristo.

"Oh no it's ok!" The flustered brunette insisted. "I'm terribly sorry to have troubled you. I was just on my way from the library and I couldn't see over my books so I uh…"

"You walked into the wall?" Alfred guessed, handing it to him. The boy nodded sheepishly, accepting it gratefully.

"Yes… I suppose I checked out one to many…"

"You think?" Alfred chuckled. "How many do you have here? Ten?"

"Fifteen, actually." He replied, picking up a paperback called 'War and Peace' near Alfred's knee.

"Fifteen?" He gaped. "And this stuff looks like some serious reading…" He wasn't lying. Even he recognized the Count of Monte Cristo, and he guessed there wasn't a book in there under eight hundred pages.

"I like to read." He chuckled, restacking the books carefully. " You could say it's a hobby. Keeps my mind off things."

"Geeze, I could never read this much in one sitting." Alfred admitted. "I don't even know if I've read this much in my entire life." The boy laughed.

"Oh I'm sure you have, if you made it here." He assured him, struggling to pick up the looming stack of literature.

"Thanks. And why don't we split it in half?" Alfred offered. "I'll walk with you to where you need to go so you don't end up dropping it again."

"Oh would you?" The boy exclaimed, green eyes lighting up. "Are you sure it's not to much trouble? I mean, I would hate to bother you, really. And don't you have class?"

"I could say the same to you." Alfred chided. "Come on, it's fine. Just lead the way."

"Thank you." The boy said graciously, picking up 6 of the books from the pile.

"Any time." Alfred laughed. "Just don't walk into things anymore."

"I'll try." He smiled, starting down the hall. "My girlfriend's always going on about that. She say's I should be more careful, and that one of these day's I'm going to kill myself with a book."

"She sound's smart." Alfred laughed, jogging to catch up with him.

"She is." The boy said, face lighting up at the mention of her. "She's smart, and beautiful, and really sweet, once you get to know her. Although I suppose she can seem a little rough around the edges once you first meet her. But one she warms up to you she's just the most darling girl."

"Sounds like you really like her." Alfred offered.

"Yea." He sighed, smiling warmly.

"So you guys have been going to this school together for a while then?" He inquired.

The boy shook his head. "Oh no. Actually, we're both freshman."

"Seriously?" Alfred gaped. "But that means you were going out before you got here right? So you both got transferred here?"

He shook his head. "Wrong again! We met when school started. We're not part of the new houses, we just got placed into some of the old teams. We both ended up in Republic, so that's how we met."

"Republic?" He asked, cocking his head. "Wait, so Laura's in your house?"

"Yea!" He smiled. "That's right, she is. She actually introduced my girlfriend and I."

"No kidding." Alfred chuckled. "That sounds just like her. So you guy's must of hit off right away huh?"

"Well not really." He smiled. "Actually, she really hated me for the first week. But then when our team started planning for the first challenge, we got to talk more and she warmed up to me. I'd liked her from the first day of course so I was really glad that we were becoming friends. Of course I never dreamed we'd start dating, so you can imagine my surprised when she asked me to be her boyfriend."

"Sound's like something out of a book." Alfred chuckled. "So you guy's have been dating for about a month then?" He nodded.

"Yea. About a month. She was really sweet about asking me. She said she was nervous, because it had been a while since she'd really liked someone. Apparently the last boy she liked broke her heart, poor thing. I can't imagine what boy out there would ever break up with a sweet girl like her."

"Well she's got you now, right?" Alfred grinned, nudging him lightly. His green eyes lit up, and he blushed fiercely.

"Yea. And I'm going to take really good care of her." He promised, more to himself then Alfred.

"I'd bet my life on that." He smiled. How weird. He didn't even know this kid's name, and yet he knew more about him now then some of his own teammates. An image of Arthur flickered in his head, but he shoved it away.

"Oh! Well here's my stop." He said suddenly, halting beside a pair of doors. "Thanks so much for your help! I probably would have tripped again if it weren't for you"

"Like I said, no big deal." Alfred assured him, placing his own stack gingerly into the boy's arms.

"Well, I'll see you later…" He tilted his head, asking a silent question.

"Alfred." He told him. "I'm Alfred."

"My name's Toris." He smiled pushing the door open. "I'll see you later Alfred."

And with a swing of the oaken wood, he was gone. It was then, that Alfred realized he had forgotten to ask for directions.

O ~ O ~ O

A/N: Yay! Only one day late!

So I was zonked last night, and only managed to fiish half of this… and then finished it today lol. I'm just so happy to be here at last… groans But god, the humidity. Seriously, how do people live like their swimming in a bowl of water? I want my 110 and dry back! XD Oh well, it's only for a while. And I actually get to see fireworks for the fourth of July here, so that's awesome! Im wondering if some of you aren't in my neck of the woods right now… I know I passed by two of my reviewers towns on my drive XD waves

Anyway… I think that's all …. Oh! New character ! yay! And he is a hetalia charater of course :D

Toris: Lithuania

Lol and I'm sure all of you can figure out who his Girlfriend is…

Well, until next week :D Oh and I'm sorry this is so short ahaha...