AN: Hi guys- sorry for the long wait between updates. School kicked into high-gear for the end of the term and decided to punch me in the face.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, Megamind, or Indiana Jones- though I wish I did. -looks at empty pockets- ...on with the show!
As the semester wore onwards, both professors became more comfortable with their students; they could now pick out who had the dry sense of humor and who would giggle like an immature middle-schooler when bodily functions, or sex, or something equally crude was mentioned. Alfred had even gathered a regular lunch group filled with- surprisingly- students whose main priority was learning. Those with crushes usually backed off once they realized that Alfred was (apparently) completely oblivious to their affections. Even those who had clung to frail straws of hope and had joined the lunch group swiftly came to understand that their professor was a bit of a nerd, and that lunchtime would be spent talking about the intricacies of Star Wars or going into depth about the wonders of a human femur and how the design factored into the building of the Eiffel Tower.
The first few times that Arthur had joined Alfred for lunch when his students were about, the atmosphere became stiff and awkward. He had made to leave, sensing the students' discomfort, but Alfred had pulled him back.
"C'mon, Artie! We need more opinions, and I know you're full of 'em."
"Don't call me Artie," Arthur grumbled, but sat down nonetheless. Slowly, the conversation returned to the table, instigated and encouraged by Alfred, of course. It wasn't as easy as it had clearly been before, but it wasn't as terrible as it might have been, and Arthur found he was beginning to enjoy himself (Especially when he learned that most of Alfred's students referred to him as 'Dr. Jones', even though the American did not have a doctorate). After a few days he was as much a part of the group as any of them and was reveling in the perspective the students gave when he didn't have to instruct them. It was simply amazing how creative and thoughtful they could be when they weren't being demanded answers from.
"Well, yeah," Alfred chuckled one night when they were washing dishes together. He handed Arthur another wet plate to dry and continued. "Of course they're more thoughtful. They're relaxed, they're talking about the things they're interested in. They've given the subject thought in their free time and they don't have the stress of being on the spot and possibly getting the question wrong. They're not being graded, so they don't have to give a 'right' answer. It's meant to be fun."
"I suppose," Arthur sighed, "And these little round-tables have given me some ideas for the curriculum, but you're also meant to be laying low and not giving the school any reason to investigate you too deeply."
"A teacher should be able to teach his students without needing to be stuck to a certain classroom, time, or curriculum!" Alfred retorted passionately, the light reflecting off of his glasses hiding angry blue eyes as he glared at the glass he was washing, "I'm not doing anything wrong- neither of us are even very much older than them, not really- and they're legally adults now! And… why does everyone think it's always about the sex? Why can't we have nice, friendly chats and be supportive of our students- be real mentors- without being labeled as sexual deviants?"
The glass shattered in the American's grip and Arthur grabbed a handful of paper towels, his face going pale. Alfred hissed, blood dripping from between his fingers and turning the dishwater an ugly, opaque rusty-pink.
"Here, let me see..." Arthur said softly, taking his partner's injured hand, "Can you open it for me? There's a lad... let's try to wash it out..."
He turned on the tap and let cold water flow out. Alfred grunted in pain when his palm was held under the gentle stream, but otherwise said nothing.
"I'm sorry, love. I know that teaching is important to you- and I agree wholeheartedly that teaching shouldn't be confined to a classroom- I just want to make sure that you don't lose this job because someone thinks otherwise," Arthur murmured, trying to soothe the other man's tember as he began picking glass from Alfred's hand and inspecting it before holding it under the running water again, "Since you're so adamant about not even using my money until the end of the year."
"It isn't fair..." Alfred muttered, like a child who has clearly lost an argument but is unwilling to let the issue go.
"I know, love. But we have to keep hoping for change, don't we?" Arthur smiled, "Look how far things have come: We're not being executed or sent to mental institutions just because we love men, we- you- could join the military and not have to hide the fact that you have a male partner. Things are changing, Alfred, and we're not old men yet- despite what you say about me- we may very well see things get much, much better before we reach middle age. We just have to have heart."
Feeling satisfied that there were no more glass shards in Alfred's hand, Arthur gave him paper towels to hold while he found the first-aid kit. After that it was a matter of disinfecting the cut (which made Alfred howl more than the initial injuries) and bandaging him up.
"You should probably go to the hospital for this," Arthur fretted.
"Nah. It's fine. Hands just bleed a lot because they've got lots of veins and arteries and capillaries," Alfred explained calmly.
"Thank you for the lecture, Professor Jones. Still, I..."
"Honestly, Arthur. You're such a mother hen- I should get you a puppy or something to fuss over."
Bright green eyes looked up from their task when Alfred mentioned his partner's oddly feminine fussing-qualities. A strawberry pink blush streaked across his cheeks and his tongue darted out to lick dry lips.
"I-it would be nice to have more than just the two of us," Arthur said, quickly glancing aside. Alfred frowned at him curiously. Had he insulted the Brit somehow? Why was he blushing and being all adorable? He only did that when he was trying to deny something that knocked at his pride, like when they first admitted that they were attracted to each other.
Wait.
Mother. More than just the two of them...
OH.
Hmm... it would be nice... but there was too much drama and uncertainty in their lives right now. And if Alfred knew Arthur like he thought he did, his partner wouldn't broach the subject for fear that he was 'tying Alfred down'.
Just something else to talk about when they talked about resigning from teaching.
Alfred's students were concerned the next day when they saw the bandage on his left hand. It was one of the rare days when he found it difficult to keep the class on track as he attempted to lead them through a review for their first exam the following Monday.
"So, remember guys: What it means when we say that all living things have a universal genetic code is that-"
"Dr. Jones," a student piped up, "Dr. Jones, what happened to your hand?"
"I cut it on some glass. No worries, though. My roommate patched me up. Now, when we say that all living things have a universal genetic code, it means that the genetic code of all living things has the same chemical bases: Adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. The order of the chemicals and the length of the code is what-"
"Your roommate is Professor Kirkland, right?" someone else asked.
"How did you- yes, that's right. Now guys, can we please focus? On DNA?" Alfred reminded the curious class. Seriously, sometimes having a class so enthusiastic about learning was a bit of a pain. "Now where was I? Oh, right. The order of the chemicals and the length of the code is what differentiates organisms. A more complex organism, like a dog or a human would have a longer genetic code than something like bacteria."
By sheer force of will he managed to get them through the review, but Alfred was still anxious about his class' test results come Monday. It was pretty cool that they were concerned about him, though. And today was Friday- awesome! Maybe he and Arthur could skip town for a couple days and go on a real date.
He pulled the English professor from his office so they could continue to the cafeteria, with less sputtering from Arthur than he had gotten in the past. The shorter man was half-resigned to this new tradition, and half-eager for Alfred to come and find him. He even smiled a little as his door open, putting the final corrections to an essay that was laying on his desk beside a pile of other papers that bore similar marks.
"I assume your fans were in fear for your life?" Arthur teased as they waited in line at the register. Alfred pouted, munching on a french fry (not as good as a french fry from McDonald's, or Burger King, or even Wendy's, but it would do under these circumstances).
"It's weird how often you're right about things. Maybe you should take a break from it some time."
"Only when you stop looking so damn put-out when I am. It's rather amusing."
"I am so not paying for your lunch today."
"Fine, I'll just pay for both of ours, then."
"You play dirty, Kirkland," Alfred grumbled, unable to stop his partner from informing the cashier that, yes, their meals should be charged together.
"You've only just figured this out? Oh, look. They've already assembled! Hello, hello. How are you?"
Arthur sat at the table, exchanging the usual British small-talk that most people found quaint. It was boring as hell when anyone else did it, but in that smooth English accent, it was unfairly charming.
"So, what's the good word, huh?" Alfred said cheerfully, sitting across the way from Arthur, "Any plans for the weekend?"
The group mentioned their various activities: movies, homework, family obligations. Eventually the conversation turned to 'shipping', and Alfred and Arthur found themselves hearing various sides of several heated debates.
"Oh, come on! Megamind and MetroMan want each other so badly! There's so much UST there that you could cut it with a knife."
"No, I can't believe it. Megamind's head-over-heels for Roxanne."
"He has a crush on her. He has way more history with MetroMan."
"Yeah, as enemies."
"Didn't your parents ever tell you why kids tease each other? It's because they like each other but don't know how to say it!"
The two professors exchanged glances. Who knew that their students paired two men together? True, there were the counter-arguments for heterosexual couples, but none of it came off as 'because it has to be a man and a woman'. Each argument had its own evidence and held up much better under scrutiny than the arguments made by some politicians. Alfred was about to take the plunge into the conversation with his own opinions, when one of their companions smoothly diverted the topic.
"The bigger question here is inter-species relations, really. Technically, they're both aliens. Roxanne is a human. And if they're dating each other it's the same problem, since they're from different planets and Megamind's people are less humanoid than Metroman's. Also, since we don't know anything about their home worlds, and neither do they, we can't even be sure if their worlds even have something equivalent to our concept of gender."
Alfred looked at the speaker in surprise. She was one of his students, and academic, and usually very quiet. She took meticulous notes, often with additional comments or diagrams in the margins from what he'd seen. Polished One of those "still waters that run deep" types, apparently. She never came to class in pajamas or sweatpants, like some of his students, and even then, jeans were a rarity for her. There was a secretarial air about her.
"I've never thought of it like that before," Arthur mused, a finger on his lips as he looked upwards in thought, "I'm sorry, what's your name again?"
"Anna, professor. Anna Kern."
"Are you familiar with the works of Shakespeare, Ms. Kern?"
"Oh, yes sir!"
Alfred had to chuckle to himself as Anna and Arthur went off on their own little tangent, bantering about the gender roles in the Bard's work and whether his portrayals of women were sexist. It was a conversation that he wasn't even going to try to follow, and most of the other students seemed to have the same opinion. At somewhat of a loss for anything else to say on the previous subject, he decided to incite another topic the best way that he knew how.
"So, who would win in an all-out fight? Avengers or the Justice League?"
AN: Some minor plot progression and character development! Woo! Sorry for a lack of dramatic stuff- I don't want to just dump plot points out pell-mell (it's about the journey, right?), and I kind of like this slow building of stuff. I'm trying for subtly here. No, really.
Science-y-stuff is actually taken from my notes in Biology and Zoology. You have learned something by reading this chapter. Muahaha.
Next update will probably be in the new year, and I'll try to crank out some USxUK to make it all fair.
Last of all: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (few days late from the start, but I think I'm still covered), Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Yule (also a couple days off of that), Season's Greetings (and whatever else I forgot) and a happy and healthy New Year's to you and yours.