Chapter 9

Arthur was sitting on the grass and watching the others play with the soccer ball, Al was the only one having some difficulty since he only plays baseball, Arthur laughed as he saw Al attempting to kick the ball, but failed. Al sighed and kicked the ball hard out of frustration, almost hitting Arthur, Arthur moved with the ball almost hitting him. Al ran over and grabbed the ball before it rolled away then to Arthur.

"Arthur! Man I'm sorry, are you hurt?" he asked clearly concerned.

Arthur nodded, and then he stood up and took the ball from Al, "you really need self-control or you're never going to hit the ball properly," he stated, then he placed the ball down to his feet, "try hitting with the side of your feet, it gives more control that way," then he kicked the ball and passed it to Yao. Yao caught the ball with ball and passed it to Ivan, and then he passed it to a nearby person.

Al watched Arthur with his arms crossed, "since when were you an expert on soccer?" he said as he reached and gently flicked Arthur's nose.

Arthur touched his nose and glared at the teenage American, Arthur slowly let go of his glare and started to laugh, and then he sat down on the grass and looked up in the sky. Al sat next to Arthur and sighed as he looked at the sky also. Arthur looked at Al and felt a light blush coming to his cheeks; he looked away nervously and looked down at the grass. Al looked at the corner of his eye and smirked as he saw the action, but then it went down into a frown quickly.

"It's almost the end of the day…" Al sated, Arthur who nodded and gave a small hum in agreeing, "what are you doing after school?" Al asked.

Arthur thought for a second and frowned, "I should probably go to your house to collect my stuff and then go back to my home…" he said.

Al gave a worried look to the Brit, and sighed, "Yeah… I mean if that is what you want then you should do it," he said and looked at Arthur, and Arthur locked eyes with Al, "and if anything… anything happens, don't hesitate to call… or come to my house, my door is always open," Al said.

Arthur gave a nod and small smile, "of course I will," Arthur said and stood as the bell rang, "we should go," he stated.

Al nodded and walked next to Arthur, "yeah,"

They both walked to their classrooms and done their lessons and walked out when the final bell rang everyone walked out with their friends or went home to do homework. Arthur waited by the front gates for Al and the others. Arthur saw only Al come out, Arthur raised a brow.

As Al had come up to Arthur, Arthur opened his mouth, "where are the others?" Arthur asked.

Al sighed and laughed a little, "the idiots, Yao and Ivan, were being too loud and obnoxious, so they have to stay after school, Francis is with Lovino, Antonio, and Gilbert, and he said they were going to hang out at Gilberts house," Al had explained to the Brit.

Arthur nodded and sighed as he began to walk at Al's side. They made it to Al's house and had gone inside to collect his stuff; once everything was a counted for, Arthur had looked up at Al and smiled a little.

"Thank you for all the things you've done for me," Arthur said sheepishly, while have a light pink painting on his cheeks as he walked down the stairs and to the front door as he stepped out and turned and looked at Al.

Al smirked, "nah it's no problem, you needed it, I could tell," he stated and looked away when he felt his face get all hot.

Arthur shook his head at Al's action he walked in front of Al and hugged him, "I mean it,"

Al sighed and buried his head in Arthur's hair, "I am too,"

After sometime had passed they let go of each other and Arthur turned and walked toward his home, he sighed as he looked at the ground, for some time had passed Arthur made it to his house, he walked up the walk way and then he came up to the front door, he put the key in it and unlocked it and opened the door, noticing that his mother was not on the couch, he sighed.

"She must've gone to work…" he said quietly.

Arthur went upstairs and put up his items and walked back down to get himself something to eat, once that was done he walked into his room and closed the door sat on his bed and worked on his homework, when he finished he put his homework back into his backpack and took of his clothes, leaving on his boxers and wore a oversized white shirt and walked out to bathroom cleaned his face and brushed his teeth, he sighed as he walked out of the bathroom and back to his room and climbed on his bed and covered himself by his blanket, he sighed in content and snuggled into the pillow, and then fall into deep slumber.

Arthur had heard a loud slam, he gasped and sat straight up looking around, he looked at his door with wide fearful eyes, then he heard angry footsteps coming to his room, Arthur breathed heavily as the door slammed opened reveling his mother and horrifying expression she is now wearing. She stepped forward toward the small Brit.

"Where the bloody hell have you been, you piece of shit!" she yelled when she was now facing Arthur closely, having Arthur to close his eyes at smelling her alcoholic breath.

Arthur felt his eyes began to water, "a-at a friend's house…" he answered truthfully, unfortunately it wasn't good enough for his mother; she grabbed his shoulders and roughly threw him roughly on the floor; Arthur gasped as he hit the floor.

"This house not good for you?!" she sneered, "you don't love me, Don't you?"

Arthur shook his head having the tears slowly made their way down his cheeks, "no, I do love you… a-and the house is-"

"I don't want to hear it!" she screamed and stepped back and looked around and spotted a gym bag; she grabbed it and threw it at son, "go… I don't want to see your bloody face around this house no more you're nothing but a disgrace in my eyes," she spat, "be gone by morning or else!" then she slammed the door.

Arthur watched the door slam and flinching at the sound, he quickly looked around, he felt his eyes water even more and had the tear fell more freely down as he slowly took his clothing from the coat hangers and roughly shoved them into the bag as sobs had passed his lips, he used his arm to wipe are the tears angrily.

"There's nothing to cry about…" he mumbled and looked at the door carefully, "you'll get through this… maybe she'll forget about it, who am I kidding? She'll never, I'm just a sad excuse for a son… and a friend, maybe it'll be better if I am gone," he mumbled to himself.

He sighed and made up his mind, he got up and went to his wallet, he checked and smiled at the amount of money he'd been saving up for the past years, "that's enough money…" he mumbled and took the bag of his needed personal items, and then sneaked out of the house without a word.

He kept his down and mindlessly walking, until he hit a wall, but it wasn't a wall it was a door, he looked around curiously and knocked on the door, cautiously stepped back in case he needed to run, Arthur gasped as the door open.

"What? It's like 1 in the morning and I'm trying to-" Al was cut off by the sight of Arthur, red eyes, tear stained cheeks, red face, "what happen?" he asked.

Arthur stood wide eyed and hiccupped and after that there was more and soon he was sobbing, Al grabbed the bag and pulled Arthur gently inside the house, he set the bag in his room while Arthur was calming himself in the living room, he sighed and turned to his door and walked back to the living room, 'what happened when I was gone?'

Al sat next to Arthur and looked at him worriedly, "hey did… did anything happen?" Al asked.

Arthur looked up from his hands to look at Al then back to his hands, "am… am I a disgrace?" he asked feeling tears coming again.

Al was taken back and sighed, "No," he stated, and wrapped his arms around Arthur's shoulders and pulled him close to his side, 'should I?' he asked himself. He took a deep breath and looked at Arthur he grabbed the Brits shoulders and turned their bodies so they were facing each other, "you're not…" he started off, "You are the most kindest person I've ever met in my whole life… you'll always smile brighten my day," he took a steady breath, "that's why you're not a disgrace, so don't ever think that way again," Arthur looked at Al with disbelief. "Arthur," Al started slowly.

"Alfred?" Arthur said slowly using the American's real name, with a blush hinting at his cheek making his freckles more visible on his cheeks.

Al blush a little and looked to the cushions of the sofa, then looked back up to the broken Brit, "I…" he started off, "I… I think we need to call the cops, or some kind of service that'll help you," he stated, "you're getting abused and it's not healthy, you need help! And I can't stand seeing you put a show for nothing… I…" Al's eyes widened, 'what was I going to say,' he asked himself, "I care for you…" Al whispered.

Arthur stared in astonishment, seeing such a strong person break down so easily because of him, he bit his lip nervously, "do you think… I could stay here one more night?" he asked.

Al smiled and nodded and hugged the small form, "you're always welcome here, understand?" he stated.

Arthur smiled and wrapped his around Al, "yes," he answered.

Al let go of Arthur, "want to watch a movie before we go to bed?" he asked.

Arthur nodded, he did need something uplifting, "okay," he whispered.

Al got up walked to the DVD case and opened it as he looked through the movies he had, he decided on Mall Cop since it was a kind of a comedy and Arthur need to be cheered up. He put in the DVD and walked to the remotes and got the DVD player remote and the TV remote and turned on the TV and played the movie as it was menu.

As the movie finished Al put the DVD back into the case and put the remotes back where they belong, he looked behind him and saw Arthur sleeping soundly; he smiled and picked up the Brit carefully so he wouldn't wake him up. He went up the stairs to his room and placed him on the bed; Arthur stirred slowly and opened his eyes slowly.

"Al?" he asked slowly.

Al looked at Arthur, "oh hey, it's time to go to sleep, since it's almost 2:30 a.m. we need our sleep for school," he said.

Arthur nodded and pulled of his clothes, then he had a change of clothes thrust into his hands Arthur looked up and saw Al smiled, "don't worry I had made up the clothes so we can wash the ones you brought tomorrow," Arthur blushed and looked down and put on the shirt, and left the pants since he didn't want to do anything else just sleep, he saw Al in just shorts and no shirt. Arthur blushed and looked away.

Al just chuckled and crawled on the bed and lay down, "you coming?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

Arthur smiled and nodded as he crawled and lay down next Al and place his head on his chest as if it was the place he fully belonged. "Goodnight," Arthur said sleepily.

"Night," Al said and draped his arm around Arthur's waist and fell asleep.

Sorry this is such, such a late update…

I feel awful…

Anyways I finally updated it…

Review please cx

Love Ya Poppets