Chapter 5

Arthur had waked up with the sun tinkling on his skin; he got up so he was sitting on the bed. He looked at the alarm clock, '5:20 a.m.' Arthur sighed and got of the bed with his bare feet felling the cold of the floor boards of his room. Arthur shivered at the feeling leaving the warmth of his bed. He turned off his alarm clock. Then, went to go and take a quick shower. He walked out the bathroom put on clean clothes, he didn't need to put on his uniform today it was Saturday. Once he got dressed with his usual outfit a white dress shirt, with a pale pink sweater vest with a pale blue bowtie, with brown dress pants, and dark brown dress shoes. He glanced at the small mirror in his room; he noticed a big bruise forming on his cheek. He walked towards it and grabbed the cover up makeup out of a draw of his side table by his bed and opened the container and put the cover up on his face till there were no freckles and the bruise in sight, and then he put on his black glasses.

When he walked out of his room Arthur saw a sleeping figure on the couch, he smiled weakly and went to the bathroom to get to the medicine cabinet. He had grabbed some ibuprofen opened the small container and popped out two pills he closed the plastic bottle and put it back in the cabinet and closed the door. Arthur had walked into the kitchen grabbed a glass and filled it with water and he walked to the living room, to his mom and put the pills and water on the table, then he hurried back to the kitchen and went to make some eggs. When he was done he walked back to his mom and placed the eggs by the pills and water. Then he bent down and kissed her on the forehead.

"Get better mum," Arthur said sweetly then went to the front door and walked outside.

He walked down the street out of his neighborhood to get to the downtown, as he was walking he was looking for a certain building and when spotted a pink and blue sign with a cupcake on it he smiled knowing that this'll be his new job, considering the owner was kind enough for him to take the big responsibility. He entered the little bakery and was greeted by a pleasant smell of fresh pastries, cakes, coffee, and bread. He spotted a man about in his late 30's behind the counter wiping the surface with a wet rag. The owner looked up also known as, Mr. Parker; Mr. Parker smiled at the sight of Arthur he gestured the teen to come closer so he can give him instructions. Arthur slowly made his way to the counter.

"Hello Arthur," the Mr. Parker smiled.

Arthur jumped at his loud booming voice, "h-hello sir," Arthur stuttered.

The man smiled, "no need for being formal, just call me Parker please,"

Arthur gave a nod then responded, "okay,"

Mr. Parker had smile, "now, your job is going to man the register," Mr. Parker said as he patted the cash register, once he got nod out of Arthur he continued, "also since you have school you'll be coming here every weekend through 7am to 3pm, I still need you give you some freedom now, and that's all you need, also be sure to punch in when you come and leave, also here's your card so you can punch in," Mr. Parker gave the 14 year old his access card, "alright there's a apron under this counter, if you need to get a new batch of anything or need help with anything, I'm right behind this door," he pointed at the door that was behind him, there was already noises coming from what Arthur could tell was the kitchen, "got it?" Mr. Parker asked as he stood up straight.

Arthur looked away from the door and looked at the older man, "yes… um… Parker I got it," Arthur said then watched the man enter the kitchen.

Arthur walked around the counter until he was behind it, then he looked for an apron then he grabbed a light blue on and put it on. As the day shifted, he had approximately 20 customers, which was mainly greedy children dragging their mothers in the store. As soon his shift was nearly ending he gave a sigh of relief, until he heard a little bell from the door signaling that there is a costumer entering the store, Arthur straightened his posture and forced a smile.

"Hello, welcome the Parkers' Sweets; what can I get you this afternoon?"

Al was more over surprise when he spotted Arthur standing behind the counter with a work apron on, but what really caught him off guard was the way how Arthur looked. He was paler, tired, and just depressed. As Al entered the store he had saw Arthur made a fake smile, that just made his blood boil, but he restrained himself, he was going to get doughnuts for the guys while he was out.

"Really Arthur, quit the fake crap," Arthur jumped at the familiar voice, he saw Al standing there in front of him.

Arthur blush a little, and dropped his smile, "what do you want?" Arthur tried again.

Once Arthur had gestured the case, Al peered through the case, until he had spotted glazed doughnuts, he mentally counted how much he needed, 'okay so, Matt, Yao, Commie, and Francis, but not me, so 4, yeah sounds about right.' Al looked at Arthur, "4 glazed doughnuts,"

Arthur nodded, then went to work, he grabbed the tongs and placed the four doughnuts in the white bag with the stores logo on it, Arthur then walked to the counter and placed the bag on the counter next to the register and pushed a few buttons so they'll show the total on the screen, "that'll be $1.00," Arthur heard Al grunt as he took out his wallet.

"Here," Al mumbled, and gave Arthur a dollar. Arthur gave Al the bag and Al took and turned around instead of leaving he leaned against the counter, "so do you work here now?"

Arthur sighed know that getting rid of Al will be useless, "yes I do…"

Al turned around and looked at Arthur, "so when do you get out," Arthur looked at the clock.

"Um, in 30 minutes why?" Arthur asked have curiosity taking over him.

"Oh nothing," Al smirked and left bakery, Arthur blushed and looked down at the clean counter.

As time went by Arthur looked at the clock and noticed it was time to leave the bakery, he took off his apron and folded it neatly then put back where he got it from, then went in the kitchen to punch out, once Mr. Parker had saw Arthur, he smiled.

"Goodbye Arthur have a nice rest of your," Arthur put the access card in his pocket, then he turned to Mr. Parker.

"I will, you too," Arthur half-smile then took out to the door.

When Arthur was outside of the kitchen he saw a familiar figure, Arthur raised a eyebrow and saw Al looking around.

"There you are, thought you left," Al smirked.

Arthur blushed, "n-no I-I-I was just ch-checking out," Arthur stuttered. He also couldn't help but notice the felling in his stomach was fluttering and his heart was pounding.

"Do you have the rest of the day off," Al asked taking a step closer to Arthur.

"Um yes, but I got to get home to check on my mother," Arthur said trying to hurry past Al, but he arm was grabbed by Al.

Al roughly pulled Arthur outside of the store and dragged him to the closest park in a secluded area. Al sighed as he let go of Arthur.

"What's up with your mom?" Al asked, but Arthur did know that's not what he wanted to talk about, he sighed and decided to answer the question.

"My mum is… um," Arthur thought for a bit, "sick…"

Al raised an eyebrow, "really?" Al asked not taking Arthur answer as the truth.

Arthur looked down, and heard Al sighed, "Arthur you're hiding stuff from me and I plan onto figuring on what's going on in that head of yours," Al stated, as he watched Arthur raised his head to look at Al's deep red eyes.

Arthur took a sigh trying to calm down, "there's… nothing to hide," Arthur stated sheepishly.

Al shook his head, "bullshit Arthur, you're hiding stuff, and you know how I can tell?" Al asked getting angry. Arthur shook his head slowly staring at Al with wide eyes. Al groaned, "The way you looked, your hair is messy than it usually it is, your skin is sickly pale," Al yelled, but brought his voice down to normal, "but…" Al started off, walking towards Arthur, "yet we're not friends, why do I care so much?" Al said, putting a hand on Arthurs' cheek, "just tell me what made you look like this, act like this,"

Arthur stared at Al's red eyes, "I can't say… Al… I just can't, they said they'll hurt me and you, everyone that I care about, I just want to protect you, that's why I avoid you, that's why I stopped talking to you, that's why I come home cry because I know that nothing will go back to normal," Arthur said sadly, feeling hot tears fall down his cheek, with his cover up makeup disappearing with the tears. "Nothing will go back to normal," Arthur repeated brokenly between sobs.

Al started at Arthur with wide eyes, not believing on what he was hearing; he quickly wrapped his arms around the smaller Brit, "I'm sorry Arthur," Al whispered. Arthur desperately grabbed Al's shirt like it was his only life line. Al pulled back to look at Arthur's face, his eyes went wide when he spotted a nasty purple bruise on Arthurs' cheek, he placed his hand on Arthurs' bruised cheek, "who did this?" Al mumbled.

Arthurs' eyes went into shock, "Al, it was accident,"

Al sighed, "Arthur this doesn't look like a fucking accident," Al stated. "Who did it," he said firmly. Arthur mumbled something that Al couldn't understand, "huh?" Al questioned.

"I said… my… m-mum did it," Arthur said quietly, but Al heard it.

"What the hell? Why?" Al questioned.

"Al… it was an accident, she didn't know what she was doing," Arthur said looking into Al's eyes and his hand still gripping onto Al's shirt.

Al kept his hands on Arthur's shoulders, "hey, how about we have a sleepover you know like the good old days," Al smirked. Arthur gave a small smile, to Al that meant he was luckiest person in order to see a rare smile on Arthur's face, he gave one last hug. "Okay meet me at my house at 5 p.m. 'kay?"

Arthur gave some thought and smiled, "okay… I would like that very much Al, thank you," without thinking, Arthur got on his toes and kissed Al's cheek, he pulled away with a red face, "um, 5 p.m., your house, got it," Arthur said then jogged away from Al.

When Arthur jogged away, Al had a dumb smile on his face and strutted back to his house.

All I can say is… wow way over due.

But I got it out before Christmas so this is my Christmas present to the followers of this story xD

Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa (don't know if I spelled those right so sorry T.T)

Reviews please! I'm begging! D:

Anyways happy holidays again

Love ya poppets~ c: