The last chapter, yay! This is also the longest by far, and I had so much fun writing this one. Please enjoy & comment, favorite, whatever you guys do! Thanks for sticking with me for this series, I appreciate it.

Chapter 5:

Build-a-Bear Workshop

Alfred shuffled in the back room employee door, coming back from his mid morning break, feeling refreshed and ready for the oncoming flow of parents and their little kids. And boy, did he need to be ready.

Every day, there were two periods of times that the mall, and most importantly: Build-a-Bear Workshop, was always crowded with people. The parents and their kids were the lunch rush: they always seemed to come during weekdays at lunch, probably coming after their morning kindergarten. They could be seen at the food court, eating a quick lunch while the telltale house shaped box sat next to the child, telling the world that yes, that child went to Build-a-Bear Workshop.

The second rush was the evening rush, more diverse than its morning partner. Teenagers came to the mall after school, eating at the food court and wandering around, giggling as they made teddy bears for their friends - or more embarrassingly - their significant others. Parents who got off work in the evening were more often than not cajoled into bringing their young child to the mall, being forcefully dragged - who knew children could be so strong? - to Build-a-Bear Workshop. Only then would the child be satisfied.

And what about the weekend?

The weekend was a combination of both rushes, anyone could walk into the store at any time, and no one would judge them or even care. There had been old men treating their Alzheimer's ridden wives to a cute teddy bear, or a big sister getting a remember-me present for her younger brother before going off to college, or even - and this was Alfred's favorite - a little boy getting an adorable dog with a princess crown for the little girl with down syndrome staring wistfully in the window.

Really, even if it was just another store in the mall, it meant everything to him. Even if the store was known for being childish, even if it was just a bit expensive, or even if everyone thought he was crazy, Alfred was in love. Build-a-Bear Workshop was extraordinary, the smiles from young kids and adults alike were spectacular, the people who came in to get a stuffed animal for someone special in their life, it all added up to one thing: the place was magical, and he would never get tired of seeing people happy.

"Here you go, your stuffed animal's birth certificate," Alfred announced happily, extending his hand. The little girl beamed, and took the paper with extreme care, her eyes sparkling. Her eyes roamed the paper, taking in every little detail, before looking up at Alfred. He smiled back at her, bending down to lessen the height differences, and commented, "Congratulations, you officially are the owner of a very cute elephant by the name of Jellybean! Now why don't you go take her home and show her your room?"

"I will!" The girl declared, and followed her mother to the exit. She held Jellybean close to her, while her mother had the house and all of the clothes they bought, leaving an arm free for the little girl. Turning around one last time before she was completely gone, she waved and called out, "Thank you!"

Sighing with content, Alfred turned around and stretched, surveying the rest of the store. All the customers seemed to be know what they were doing, or were being helped by a store employee. Antonio was currently stretching to grab some clothes from the top shelf for a little kid he was helping, Matthew was manning the stuffing station, and the rest of the crew was off helping specific customers.

A few moments later, the sliding door opened, catching Alfred's attention. He turned back around to face the front, and went up to the two young men, both taking in the feel of Build-a-Bear Workshop. One looked incredibly excited, and the other looked incredibly embarrassed. It was kind of cute, actually.

"Hi you guys! Do you need any help?" He inquired, gesturing to the store. Of course, neither of them acknowledged him at all, save for a shy nod from the brunet. The blond young man, who was absolutely ecstatic, grabbed his partner's arm and pulled him to the wall filled with the animals. More to himself than anything, Alfred commented, "Or you can just browse. It's all yours."

Backing away, he watched the couple with curiosity. He learned both their names within a matter of seconds: Feliks was the blond, the brunet had said his name in an attempt to calm him down, but it hadn't really worked. Feliks called his partner Toris, followed by a rapid fire amount of conversation.

The couple - it was obvious they were more than friends - stayed at the animal section for a few minutes. Feliks pointed out many different animals that Toris should, like, totally get. "Look, Toris! They even have a sea lion! Like, how cool is that? It's way adorable too!"

"But it's expensive…" Toris said, looking at the price tag on the shelf with wistful eyes. "I don't want to spend that much money on just a stuffed animal."

"Don't worry about it, Liet! I'm like, paying for the entire thing," Feliks reassured him. He grabbed the sea lion and pushed it into his (boy?)friend's arms. "This is like, all for you, remember? Get everything you want!"

Toris blushed, nodding as he took the limp shape of the sea lion to the stuffing station. Both Feliks and Alfred followed, Feliks getting in line while Alfred went to stand by his coworker. Matthew looked up briefly to acknowledge his friend, and smiled, before going back to work helping the child currently stuffing their teddy bear.

Alfred watched the store casually as the two talked about nothing in particular. Toris filled his sea lion with stuffing with ease, smiling shyly as he put the satin heart inside, and moved on to get the clothes. The couple was really cute together, and he couldn't help but feel a tad jealous. Especially when Toris kept blushing, picking out clothes with his boyfriend, and both of them seemed excited. Even if Alfred was a little jealous, the happiness and delight that they were emitting far outweighed any negative emotion. It made him happy, seeing two people bubbling with glee over just a single stuffed animal.

Build-a-Bear Workshop truly was a wonderful place to be.

Alfred wiped his hands on his khaki pants, trying to dry them the rest of the way. He really much prefered plain paper towel to dry his hands, as opposed to the weak hand dryers, but it wasn't his mall, or his bathrooms, after all. Checking the clock in the bathroom hallway, more as a habit than anything, he noted it was 9:30pm.

Entering the store, he glanced around, easily spotting a dark blue shirt and red vest combination uniform that stood out from the customer's clothing. He jogged over to his coworker, strategically asking how everything was going.

"How are you holding up, Feli?" He asked, taking a long look around the store. The flow of customers had slowed considerably, but everything and everyone seemed to still be in working order, so that was good. Plus, a happy Feliciano made for happy kids. They loved him.

"I'm doing great, Alfred! I'm a little tired considering it's almost closing time, and I think everyone else is too, but it should be fine now that you're back and awake," Feli chirped in response, a cheerful smile adorning his face.

The telltale ding and sliding whoosh from the front of the store alerted the two to a new customer. Without even looking, and with a certain flair that can only come with experience, the two faced each other and posed in an action pose.

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!

"My turn this time, huh?" Alfred chuckled lightheartedly, staring at the rock he had made with his hand, covered by Feliciano's small hand. They let go simultaneously and grinned at each other, with no hard feelings. Even though Alfred had technically lost, he only lost the rock paper scissors match, they both knew he enjoyed working with customers.

(The kids enjoyed the show.)

Alfred turned towards the front of the store with a smile, and quickly walked up to their newest customers. He looked down at the little boy, smiling and crouching down to eye level. The boy seemed to be about five, and wasn't wary of him in the slightest.

"Hi! Welcome to Build-a-Bear Workshop, my name is Alfred, what's yours?" He asked sweetly, still at eye level.

"My name is Peter!" The kid announced happily, bouncing up and down in place. Peter looked around the store with wide eyes, and pulled on his adult companion's shirt sleeve excitedly, "This is my big brother, and he's going to buy me a teddy bear because he was being a jerk-face and wouldn't let me take the lion from the zoo home."

An amused chuckle came from above Alfred, grabbing his attention. He looked up at the brother from his crouched position, and suddenly: he was very, very glad he lost the competition. The man was gorgeous, with piercing green eyes and messy blond hair, finished with giant eyebrows and an expression that seemed to be halfway between a smirk and a scowl. It didn't really look out place either, almost like the expression belonged there.

Alfred could vaguely hear the whoosh coming from the door again, and hardly processed that the newest people were taken care of by someone with a Chinese accent. (Yao, his mind helpfully supplied.) All in all, he wasn't sure what happened, but time stopped for a moment and he knew he was not only blushing, but probably gaping like an idiot as well.

He definitely knew he was an idiot, because the man snorted again and rolled his eyes. Crossing his arms, the older brother looked down at Peter who was giving him terribly inaccurate puppy eyes, and groaned.

"I'm Arthur," the man explained with a smirk, "Now that we have that out of the way, can you please close your mouth and get my little brother a stupid stuffed animal? It's getting late and I'm sure everyone here wants to go home soon, too."

"Oh, uh, yeah, of course," Alfred stumbled, jumping to his feet. He took one more look at Arthur, before flashing his award-winning, girl-swooning smile, and held out his hand for Peter to take. When all the smile earned was an annoyed huff and an eye roll, Alfred slightly pouted and instead lead Peter to the wall covered with various types of stuffed animals.

The hand holding wasn't necessary at all, the wall was literally a few feet away from the entrance, and Alfred usually didn't hold hands with the kids either. It probably had to do with the fact Arthur was smokin', and he wanted to impress him with his children skills.

Not really; he was just a dazed idiot.

Alfred smiled, genuinely happy, as he watched Peter gasp and take in the huge variety of animals. He looked over to Arthur, who looked more relieved than anything. As a conversation starter, he went to Arthur's side and commented, "Must be a handful, if he wanted to take home the zoo's lion."

"You have no idea," Arthur muttered, but the small smile didn't go unnoticed. He glanced at the wall as well, impressed at the different types of animals. There were even some Disney and My Little Pony characters. Peter seemed to be eyeing a King Penguin, and Arthur huffed, "How can little kids be so good at guilt-tripping someone? I really didn't want to be here, you know."

"What, is this ruining your manliness?" Alfred teased, reaching to a top shelf to grab the King Penguin for Peter as Arthur scowled. He handed the little boy the stuffed penguin, ushering him to the stuffing station.

Matthew, who had been running the stuffing machine for an incredibly long time, seemed exhausted. Noticing this, Alfred smiled at his friend and offered, "Matt, if you're tired, you can leave. I'll man the stuffing machine, there shouldn't be any other people entering. Emma put the closed sign up already."

"You're a life saver, Al," Matthew admitted, sighing in relief. He stretched, standing up and giving the seat for the machine to his coworker. The two brothers stood there quietly, Peter being surprisingly polite and quiet while the two friends conversed. Smiling at Alfred, he continued, "If Emma put the sign up, no one else should be coming in. Make sure these guys have a great time."

"I will! See you, Matt," Alfred called to his friend as he walked away. Plopping down in the spinning stuffing machine chair, he turned to Arthur and Peter and grinned. "I'll make sure you two have the most fun you've ever had!"

Arthur laughed sharply, rolling his eyes.

"That means you too, Arthur," Alfred retorted, eyes sparkling. Grabbing the box of small satin hearts, he held it out for Peter to take one. Alfred traded the heart to Peter for his penguin. "Okay now Peter, I'm gonna put your penguin on this small pipe, okay, and I'm gonna stuff it. While I'm doing that, rub the small heart in between your hands. Can you do that for me?"

"Yup!" he squealed in response, furiously warming up the heart with his hands. Peter watched in awe as the penguin went from completely limp to filled more than halfway with stuffing. The penguin was taken off and held out for him to feel, if it was soft or hard enough for him. When Peter shook his head, Alfred filled the animal up a tad more, holding it out again for the kid's approval. The blond child broke into a bright smile, nodding his head feverishly, "It feels great! Now what, now what?"

"Now, you see that heart you're still holding, Peter?" Alfred reminded, waiting for Peter to nod again. When he did, Alfred looked at Arthur with a smirk, and started his Build-a-Bear Heart speech. "You've already warmed it up, that's wonderful. Now you have to hold it against your own heart, to share the love. Help your penguin understand what it means to love. You have to be a good role model for your stuffed animal, okay, Peter? Remember that."

"Yeah, I can do that!" Peter exclaimed, his hand holding the satin heart to his chest. Arthur put a hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh. Glaring at him, Alfred huffed and turned back to the fidgeting child to finish his speech.

"Very good! And now, for the finishing touch, kiss the heart to show you'll love your penguin forever and ever!" He ended his speech with a flourish, a charismatic smile adorning his face. Peter kissed the heart with surprising care, and Arthur laughed. He actually laughed.

Trying not to smirk, Alfred quickly made up some lie to mess with the man. He faked a sad look, glaring at Arthur, and hung his head low. "I'm sorry Peter, but your big brother Arthur laughed. It made the heart lose some of it's love, now we're going to have to have him kiss it as well!"

Peter gasped, horrified. He looked between his brother and the employee, seemingly very upset. Staring at the heart in his small hand, he whimpered and glanced up at Arthur sadly. He held out the heart for his brother to kiss, to make it better.

"No," Arthur refused, "You're kidding me, right? This is ridiculous. The heart is fine, just put it in the penguin, Alfred."

Peter looked at Alfred expectantly, as if what his brother said was true. He shook his head sadly, and confessed, "It's not a happy heart until he kisses it for you, Peter. I'm sorry."

"ARTHUR!" Peter shrieked, eyes wide in panic. When he still didn't take the heart, Peter stomped his foot and threatened, "I'll tell Auntie Elizabeth and you'll never hear the end of it."

"Holy crap, fine, just don't tell her," Arthur grumbled in defeat, taking the satin heart. Staring at it with disgust, he paused, sighing, before bringing it to his lips and kissing it quickly. He flushed, holding it out in front of him, and snapped, "There, Peter. Finish your damn penguin."

Alfred smiled, taking the heart and put it deep into the penguin's stuffing. Briefly, he glanced up to make sure that no one else had come in. No one had, and it seemed Matthew and Feliciano had already left for the night. It wasn't a real big deal, there were only a few customers left to take care of, and each customer had an employee watching over them. He stitched up the stuffed animal, making sure no stuffing and the heart would somehow escape.

"Here you go, Peter," he smiled, handing the penguin to the young boy. He stood from his chair and started walking, "You ready to get your penguin some clothes?"

The two brothers followed Alfred past the stuffing machine to the area where the miniature clothes line the walls and shelves. All three of them stared at the walls, sometimes even the employees forgot how many different stuffed animals and different clothes there actually was. For a split second, he wondered if anyone had actually taken the time to do the math - how many combinations could there possibly be?

"You know, I was fully expecting to have a miserable time here," Arthur mentioned off-handedly as he stood next to Alfred, watching with slight interest as Peter mixed and matched clothes. He glanced sideways at the store employee, who was smiling as if he was waiting to be praised for something. Smirking, Arthur continued, "I wasn't wrong. However, what I wasn't expecting is for a young man, who is way too attractive for a children's store by the way, to actually try and get me to enjoy this place."

Alfred laughed good-naturedly, sneaking another glance at him before turning his attention back to Peter. Apparently, the penguin definitely didn't have a gender, or if they did, didn't conform to the boy/girl clothing ideals. Peter went from pretty pink princess dresses to a baseball player from the Chicago Cubs, to what seemed to be a yodeler, complete with the feathered hat and overalls.

"Am I making your visit better or worse?" Alfred teased, winking at the other man. He wasn't sure what an exasperated huff and crossed arms meant from Arthur, but he hoped it was good. "I'll take that as 'way better'. Don't worry, I totally understand."

"Don't be cocky," Arthur swiftly retorted. He was about to continue his little conversation, but Peter came up to him, holding out the clothes he had supposedly picked for the penguin. Arthur sighed in exasperation, staring at his younger brother with disbelief. "Really? Are you kidding me?"

Peter pouted, instead holding them out for Alfred to approve. Laughing, Alfred took a closer look at the clothes. There was a black leather motorcycle jacket, with a pair of dark skinny jeans and black combat boots. Nodding his approval, he remarked, "The outfit would look really cool on your penguin, no doubt about it. They'll be the coolest penguin in the arctic circle."

"I don't - I don't even know where to start where any of this," Arthur protested weakly, "First, Alfred, that was so cheesy it was ridiculous. I don't even think Peter understood what you meant. Second, Peter, you want your penguin to be… a motorcyclist? Is that it?"

"Not a motorcycle rider, Artie," Peter denied seriously, shaking his head. His eyes lit up, smiling as he continued, "Auntie showed me a picture of what you looked like when you were younger! She called it your… um, what was it again… yeah! 'Punk Phase'! I modeled my penguin after you!"

"Um… uh, you what?" Alfred asked in between giggles. He looked at Arthur, his face was so red he thought for sure the man would explode. Giggles turned into full out laughter when Peter ignored Arthur's (angry? embarrassed? constipated?) expression, and dressed his penguin carefully. "Your brother had a punk phase?"

"Yup, he did," Peter chirped easily in response. Grinning victoriously as he finally got the penguins legs into the jeans, he described the picture he saw in full. "If I hadn't known, I wouldn't have known it was Artie. He had spiky hair and a bunch of piercings, and was wearing a crazy amount of black. It was really cool, so I made my penguin after him."

"Don't you say another word," Arthur interrupted, glaring at Alfred before he could respond. The flush had lessened considerably, and it was obvious that he was irritated more than embarrassed. He pinched his nose in an effort to calm down; it probably wasn't a great idea to kill his little brother in a public place. He scowled at Alfred, who was still smiling a really obnoxious smile, and quickly defended himself, "Like you never had a stupid phase. Don't think you're any better than me."

"Oh no, I don't think I'm better than you," he explained with a soft smile. After the penguin was fully clothed, he tapped Peter on the shoulder, and pointed him to the next part of the Build-a-Bear experience: making the birth certificate. The little boy skipped happily away, with Alfred following closely behind him. When Arthur didn't follow, Alfred glanced over his shoulder and added, "I was thinking how hot you would've looked in your punk phase."

"Here you go, Peter," Alfred announced, handing him the birth certificate.

He grinned as Peter bubbled with excitement, jumping up and down. The kid showed Arthur the birth certificate, as if he hadn't already known what it read. Arthur had typed it for goodness' sake. The stupid penguin was named Chilly, for what reason, he had no idea. But he typed it anyway, because he was that good of a brother.

Actually, he just wanted to go home.

"Okay, we have the birth certificate. Happy birthday, Chilly," Arthur complained irritably, "Now can we go?"

"Nope! As much as I like ya, Artie," Alfred announced, completely ignoring the glare he earned, "You can't leave till you pay. And would you look at that, everyone else has already left! Why don't we get you checked out?"

"You're an ass," he grumbled, covering Peter's ears momentarily.

Arthur followed the employee to the front register, and realized that yes, everyone had already left. A bunch of the lights in the mall were off as well, save for a few lights to navigate the hallways to leave, so it really was just them. They stopped in front of the register, and Arthur dug through his wallet for his card, handing it to Alfred. Even though he should probably care how much Peter would be making him spend, he really didn't feel like it.

"Not gonna even check the price, huh?" Alfred pointed out, chuckling. He swiped the card, easily handing it back to Arthur as he signed his name on the receipt. Finishing the last step of how to Build-a-Bear, Alfred ducked under the desk and pulled out the cardboard box in shape of a house. He put the certificate and a bunch of coupons in the house, and came around the front desk to give it to Peter. "Here ya go. You can either put Chilly in the box, or hold it. It's up to you!"

"I'll hold them, thank you Alfie!" Peter beamed, hugging Chilly to his chest. He shoved the box to Arthur for him to hold, making it much easier to snuggle Chilly. Of course, he was oblivious to the irritated eye roll from his brother.

Alfred smiled, watching as they two walked away. Suddenly, he panicked: he would probably never see them ever again. Even Arthur called him attractive, that had to mean something, right? What if he was waiting for something to happen?

"Wait!" He shouted, sighing in relief when Arthur turned around. Alfred jogged to the desk again, finding a mini teddy bear he kept, and grabbed a piece of paper, scribbling something almost intelligible on it. He rolled it up, shoving it in the bear's arms, making it look like it was holding the slip of paper. Glancing up, he made sure Arthur hadn't left, and ran to catch up with him. He hoped he wasn't blushing as he shoved the teddy bear into his hands, mumbling, "I forgot to give you this."

Arthur laughed, a knowing smirk on his face. He took the paper from the bear, opening it up, continuing to smile. Of course it was Alfred's number, what else could he have written? He patted Peter's head, telling him to go ahead, but not too far ahead. Smirking, he looked back at Alfred, he countered, "Do you do this for all the hot people that come in here?"

"Nah, just you," he smiled in reply. Alfred stretched his arms above his head, trying to seem nonchalant as he casually noted, "You're the hottest, anyway. So…"

"Good answer," Arthur approved with a lopsided smirk. He looked behind him to see his younger brother falling asleep standing up, and turned back to face Alfred. Looking everywhere but actually at him, Arthur coughed and reluctantly admitted, "Maybe this visit wasn't entirely miserable, after all."

"Yeah, maybe it wasn't," Alfred agreed happily, waving as he turned around and walked away.

Once Arthur caught up with Peter, the two brothers turned around and waved back. He watched happily as Peter grabbed his brother's hand, swinging them as he snuggled Chilly with the other arm. Arthur turned one last time to slightly face Alfred, and he held his free hand up to his face, making a phone with his pinkie and thumb. It looked ridiculously silly: a full grown man doing that action with a cardboard Build-a-Bear box hooked around his wrist. Of course, it ceased looking ridiculous when Arthur winked and mouthed I'll call you.

It's amazing, what can happen at a Build-a-Bear Workshop.

fin