Chapter 3

Alfred could only stare back at the angel, who merely sipped on his magically conjured tea. Finally he managed to stutter, "Wh-What?" like the brilliant wordsmith he was.

Arthur reiterated, "I need your help to find someone I can love. Because, honestly, I haven't the foggiest where to begin."

"Ah," Alfred felt himself flush, although he wasn't sure hat he thought Arthur was saying the first time that caused him to blush, "Yes, well, the first thing would probably be to get you out to see lots of people."

Arthur raised his bushy eyebrow and said sarcastically, "Oh really? And where exactly would that be?"

"To be honest, I don't know," Alfred answered, completely missing the sarcasm, "I'm not all that familiar with New York's hot-spots yet," he thought for a moment, "But, I don't have a friend who I would bet money on knows some good places to go."

"Just to be clear, we are talking about love and not just picking up girls or some nonsense. And I don't want to be dragged around to dozens of bloody 'dance clubs'."

"Where would you plan on meeting girls then?"

"I dunno. Tea shops, bookstores maybe…"

Alfred snorted, "I've never even seen a tea shop and no one reads books anymore."

Arthur reddened indignantly, "J-Just because you are too bloody…!"

He was cut off by Alfred standing up and patting his shoulder once, "Look, don't worry. Leave it to his hero and you'll be head over heels by Christmas."

"Eve."

"Hm?"

"My deadline is Christmas Eve."

Alfred paused, slightly taken aback, before regaining his enthusiasm, "That too! Either way, man, I've got you covered." He took Arthur's now empty mug and took it to the kitchen, "And you're gonna crash here until you move in with your new girl, 'kay?"

From the couch Alfred heard a mumbled, "Git," and he couldn't help but smile.

~X~

"I'm now positive I hate you." Arthur, Alfred, and Gilbert's trio (the self-proclaimed "Bad Friends Trio") were at the new club downtown Gilbert asked Alfred to come to the previous night. After making the call to his friend and explaining the predicament (he knew a guy that needed to get laid and he needed his help) Gilbert got the Trio together and readily agreed.

It was like trying to pull teeth to get Arthur out of the house though. "I told you, I'm not going to some bloody club! I'm a grown man, this…"

"Artie, you said you needed my help!"

"Do NOT call me that!"

Eventually, though, Alfred managed to convince Arthur to change his clothes and come along. The Brit was now in simple jeans and a white button down shirt, with the first button undone. In the dance club now, however, Alfred spotted a slight problem. In the dark, the faint gold glow around Arthur's head was slightly more noticeable. Of course, he didn't mention this to his friend, but made sure to keep them in the slightly more lit areas of the building.

They were now sitting at one of the tables waiting for the Trio to arrive, while Arthur looked like he was trying to fend off a headache due to the music. Alfred didn't mind it. "Don't Trust Me" wasn't his favourite song, but it was fine for the club. Suddenly, "ALFRED!" Only one person could make himself heard in such a loud club. Alfred swiveled in his seat to see the Trio make their way over to their table. Behind him Alfred heard Arthur groan and he grinned.

"Gilbert! Glad you guys could make it," he turned to Arthur when they arrived at the table, "Arthur these are the guys I enlisted to help us. The obnoxious one is Gilbert," Gilbert waved enthusiastically as he and his friends took their seats, Francis sat right beside Arthur and was slowly closing in on his personal space, "The creeper beside you is Francis."

Francis flipped his hair and whipped a rose out from somewhere, "C'est très agréable de vous rencontrer, mon cher."

Arthur scowled, "Bloody frog. Get away from me."

Francis' blue eyes widened, "Why, he's English!"

Alfred ignored the two and finished the introductions, "And the pedo over here is Antonio," Antonio smiled good-naturedly and waved, "And you three, this is Arthur." Arthur nodded, still glancing at the slowly encroaching Frenchman.

"So, Alfie," Gilbert purred, leaning into the blond, "Where'd you find the guy?"

"Well, Gillie," Alfred smiled but his mind was racing, he wasn't very good at making up stories on the spot.

"I was drunk and Alfred ran into me on his way home," Arthur explained, still trying to inch away from Francis, "I don't remember anything but evidently I latched onto him and followed the poor lad home, spewing out all of my problems," he sighed convincingly, "Then I passed out."

Alfred blinked a couple times then realized he should agree with the story and nodded. "Good thing you brought him to us," Gilbert fake-whispered to Alfred, "This guy sounds like a mess."

"Mon cher, if it is love you need help with, then look no further!" Francis struck a pose with his rose, causing a few nearby girls to squeal and sigh, "When it comes to l'amour the French know all."

Arthur looked at him, "Right," he turned back to talk to everyone, "Where do I start?"

"Mi amigo, finding love isn't a recipe, there's no directions. It's something that just happens," Antonio smiled while Arthur tried to hide his disappointment, making Alfred grin slightly.

"Wait," Gilbert cut in, "I thought we were just trying to get the guy laid."

"Oh, well, that's another thing entirely," Antonio leaned back in his chair and grinned, "Girls in America find the English accent very attractive, you should have a very easy time of this."

"What?" Arthur was confused, "No, I'm trying to…." he broke off, his face reddening slightly, before bursting out, "I don't know what the bloody hell you guys are talking about and if you're not going to help me I'm just going to leave. This whole thing is a bloody waste of time."

Gilbert, who loves to irritate people, smirked, "Don't get your panties in a bunch. We're trying to figure out what it is exactly you want."

"Just help him find a girl," Alfred tried to clarify.

"Ah, but Alfred, love doesn't just come with women." Francis leaned suggestively into Arthur who promptly pushed him out of his seat. The other three burst out laughing while Arthur cursed under his breath, his face red again.

Alfred didn't laugh as hard as the other two. He's been watching Francis' behaviour and, frankly, he didn't like it. Not to be misunderstood, Francis is a really good guy. It's just… he has a tendency to lead people on.

When the laughter died down Alfred noticed something peculiar about Arthur, "Dude, that's not English. What are you saying?"

Arthur stopped mumbling and looked as if he were caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do, "Er… well… nothing. It's nothing."

"Well now you have to tell us," Gilbert leaned in closer.

Before Arthur got a chance to retort Antonio spoke up, "Amigo, Arthur, the brunette two tables down has been watching you for a while now. Perhaps you should ask her to dance, no?"

They all automatically looked back to the table full of girls who instantly started to giggle at their looks. "Looks to be about one for each of us," Gilbert observed with a grin, "You guys in?" They snickered and nodded while Arthur decided to look rather indignant.

Francis looked pointedly at his Spanish friend, "Wouldn't your Lovi be a little hurt?"

Antonio smiled again, "I'm just gonna dance. What's wrong with being nice to a girl?"

"Lovi?" Alfred scanned that name back through his memory, "You mean that guy back from our high school years?" he looked at Gilbert.

The albino nodded, "Yeah, the Italian twins. Mein bruder has been dating the younger one for a while now and when Antonio saw Lovi he was smitten," Gilbert shook his head sadly, "Now he's wrapped around the little idiot's finger and there's no way to pry him off."

"Gilbert, you wound me," Antonio's grin turned slightly wicked, "If you knew what he could do you would not be feeling so sorry for me."

The table fell silent before the other two members of the Trio started to try and pry dirty secrets out of their friend. After five minutes of no such luck they decided to try their luck on the girls.

~X~

Towards the end of the night, though, things turned out differently. Alfred, who intended to try and stay away from people tonight, found himself stuck with a bleach blond named Vicky with no way to tell her politely that he was not interested. Gilbert was drinking beer at the bar with some new guys and from the sound of them they were from the Nordic countries. Francis and Arthur were alone at a table seemingly just talking. After a few glasses (bottle at least) of rum Arthur really started to warm up to Francis. For some reason it really pissed Alfred off.

"And then mom and dad decided they didn't want to give me the car after all! Can you believe the stupid bitches! They always liked my brother better and…" Alfred carefully tuned out the blond as he watched the other two. Francis laid his hand on Arthur's arm and was whispering something in his ear. Even in the dark Alfred could see Arthur's face flush darker and he nodded.

He, being the hero he was, wasn't going to let Arthur sleep with… wait, he was jumping to conclusions. But he wasn't going to let him leave with Francis, not while he was drunk anyway. Bad things would happen.

When Francis stood up he was all set to jump up as well and grab Arthur but Francis just leaned over and pecked Arthur on the lips.

Alfred froze. Why did he suddenly feel like punching Francis' pretty face into a pulp? "Hey, are you even listening to me?" The girl's voice sounded shrill in the night club and Alfred really just felt like leaving.

"No, I need to go now." He left the girl to gap at his departure as he made his way over to the still flustered Brit. He put on a smile as he sat down beside him, "Hey, so what's going on? You ready to leave?"

Arthur nodded slowly before looking up at Alfred, "He called me lovely. He's taking me on a date tomorrow." Arthur then promptly passed out.