MAY 23rd, 2012

11:30 AM

"We will now be taking a thirty minute recess! Everyone must be back here by noon." Informed the judge.

Arthur, unsure of what to do, waited for the room to become noisy before turning to Alfred, who spoke before Arthur got the chance.

"Dude you looked awesome up there!"

Blushing a bit, Arthur said, "R-really?" Realizing he must've looked like a total idiot, he shook his head and grunted, "Well, I'm just doing my job."

Alfred's features softened a bit as he smiled widely. "Thank a ton, bruh. You're really saving my ass here."

"Hold on there, we haven't won just ye-"

"No, seriously," Alfred cut him off. "If we win, lemme buy you a drink or something, okay?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow at him. What exactly was he saying...?

"A-as friends I mean." Alfred quickly added, seeing Arthur's expression.

Right. Friends.

"Okay." Arthur said quietly, trying to hide his disappointment. He'd almost forgotten, he hadn't yet told Alfred about his realization. Now would probably be a horrid time to tell him, considering the scenario they were in. Wait a minute, did Alfred just offer to buy him a...?

"A drink, Alfred?"

"Yeah?" Alfred cocked his head to the side, slightly confused.

Arthur started chuckling. "You're nineteen you bloody git."

Alfred winked and put a finger to his own lips. "Shh! Fake ID." Arthur would have gotten mad at him if it weren't for two reasons: one, he felt like Amelia had said that exact same thing to him at the bar. And two, Alfred, as always, was so bloody cute.

"You git, we're in a court room." Arthur said in a hushed tone.

"You honestly think that in light of the situation any of these people are gonna give a damn whether I have a couple of beers now and then? Hell, half the people in this room probably think I drink the blood of children for fun." Alfred laughed and his blue eyes glittered with amusement. For good measure he gestured to the people on the more, um, conservative side of the room.

Arthur couldn't help it, he let out a small laugh at Alfred's commentary. It wasn't even that funny, he was just, as he'd said before, so damned cute. The small outburst earned him a couple of glares from that side of the room, only causing Arthur to turn red.

Alfred, far too amused at this whole thing, was smiling brightly beside him. "Why aren't you leaving like the other lawyer did?"

Arthur paused and glanced at where the other lawyer ought to be, which was empty, as Alfred had said it was. "Well... I didn't want you to have to sit here all by yourself for half an hour." He looked down while he said this, not particularly wanting to meet Alfred's eyes.

"Aw, that's so sweet, dude! Thanks!" Alfred said in his usual loud tone.

"No problem." Arthur muttered.

Why wouldn't Arthur meet his eyes? This whole thing was so confusing for Alfred. He couldn't quite get a decent read on this guy. One second it seemed like he was... flirting (?)... and then the next he was totally dead serious.

Now Arthur was just sitting there, staring straight ahead, without a single word.

Well this was awkward.

When Alfred had called his sister the other day to chat, they'd shared stories from their individual lives like always. Alfred decided to talk to her about Arthur, to which she replied, "Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Followed by her uncontrollable giggles. When he kept demanding she tell him what she was talking about, she just kept laughing harder and harder, causing him to hang up in a confused huff.

He tried to break the silence. "So... do you think we're gonna win?"

Arthur glanced at him. "I think it's certainly a possibility, but we're going to need some much more solid evidence to really convince them of anything."

Alfred's heartrate picked up a bit. "And... you have that evidence, right?"

"Well..." Arthur wouldn't look at him. That was a bad sign.

"You don't?!" Alfred's eyes widened.

"Calm down, you twat. I'll think of something, and I'll get you out of this bloody mess. I promise, alright?"

Alfred swallowed hard, still a bit nervous. "Alright..." After a few silent moments, Alfred whispered, "A-Arthur?"

"Yeah?" Came his mildly annoyed voice.

"I'm scared."

Arthur looked up at Alfred, meeting his eyes. Had he heard him correctly?

"You're what?"

"I-I said I'm scared." His eyes in that moment resembled that of a toddler who couldn't sleep until you shut their closet door and checked under their bed for monsters. Arthur wasn't sure whether to tell him to grow a pair or to hug him. Both maybe?

He exhaled slowly (when had he started holding his breath?). "I am too."

Alfred's expression changed to something that Arthur couldn't quite name. Pity? Confusion? Sadness? A combination of the three? He looked at his watch; he was running out of time. If he was going to tell Alfred the truth, he had better do it soon or else he might never get up the courage to do it.

"Alfred?" He said, his voice trembling a bit.

"Yeah?" Alfred replied, voice seemingly hopeful. Was that a good sign?

"I- I..." How could he possibly say it?

"You what?" His hopeful tone changed into deeper confusion.

"I love-" He choked a bit. "WORKING AS A LAWYER." He rushed out. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He wanted to go die. How obvious was that? Oh god, why had he said that? What was he thinking? There was no way that Alfred was going to fall for that! It was obvious that Arthur was about to say-

"That's cool, dude!" Alfred smiled brightly, seemingly unaware of the inner struggle that was happening inside of Arthur at that moment. His dumb face made Arthur want to strangle him and kiss him at the same time.

"Git." Arthur mumbled, his cheeks turning pink.

"What was that?" Alfred said, his words absolutely dripping with innocence.

"Nothing." Arthur replied.

Not the end! GOTCHA!

I like to keep my readers guessing. Tune in next time for the next chapter of "Our Cause"!