Lieutenant Arthur Kirkland wondered how he had gotten to this place?

The day had started off so nice too. The skies had been so clear that he could see for miles through his navigation scope. The Captain had ordered him to set- The Lusitania- on a course for a nice quite port for once. His tea had been just the right temperature that morning. And he felt that such a day as this should be shared with one he happened to have very found feelings for. But this, this was something he was prepared for.

He had been about to knocked on the door to Lieutenant Alfred F Jones"s quarters, to only be met by a rather loud and very mechanical sounding bang. The door had blown its self outward, black smoke billowing out into the hall. And he had ducked just in time to avoid a miss directed cog, that had nearly taken off his head.

Arthur now sat on Alfred's unmade bed, legs crossed, arms folded over his chest, and trying hardest not to strangle the engineer sitting sheepishly on the work stool in front of him. Arthur rubbed his temples, willing his new head-ache to go away.

"So," Arthur began, "the reason behind your quarters exploding, again ,is because you were trying to darn your socks! Good God Alfred, if this was coming from anyone but you, I would not believe it!"

And the evidence was there. The rather menacing looking device setting on the Alfred's work table, there were spare parts littered about the room, and lastly what had once had been a much used holy sock was now nothing more than a pile of singed fibers. Arthur sighed; it was these types of things that kept him from wanting to be−um well imminent in Alfred's room. The place was a death trap, one wrong move, one misplaced article of clothing and the whole thing could blow; putting an end to a rather promising evening.

Alfred flinched slightly at Arthur's rant, and scratched nervously at the back of his head. "Well yeah, the way I figured it, was if I could invent a machine that would automatically fix the holes in my socks then it would make more than just my life easier! " Alfred's smile brighten the way it always did when he spoke of inventing or helping people, or even flying. But the smile shrank when it met with Arthur's cool gaze. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." The engineer added lamely.

"Alfred, you are an officer, you cannot go around doing things like, like this!" Arthur gestured the doorway, where the door, (with a sudden scent of the appropriate) fell off its hinge with a clatter. Alfred hissed at the sound, while Arthur merely drove his point home, "And if you needed your bloody socks fixed why didn't you trying sewing them like a normal person?"

"Because the last time I tried that I ended up sewing myself to them!" The engineer shout back childishly.

"Then why not buy new ones then? We get a wardrobe allowance as officers!" Arthur volleyed. Only to be met with stubborn silence, Alfred was pouting. And looking about the room, Arthur suddenly got the feeling that, maybe Alfred was more willing to spend money on new parts and mechanical bobbles than new socks.

Arthur found himself sighing again which he often did in Alfred's presents, "At the very least you could have asked me to mend them, I am quite skilled with a needle."

Alfred looked up the very picture of hopefulness; his face blackened his work goggles shoved up on his head making his hair stand every which way. "Really?" Those pitiful blue eyes boring in to him.

Arthur cursed himself "Yes, bring the lot by my quarters later after you've had a shower, and explained to captain why you need a new door…again."

The engineer cheered and launched himself at the man sitting on his bed, catching him in a rather tight i.e. bone crushing hug. "Thanks Artie you don't know how much that means to me!"

"Yes, yes your quite welcome, now would please go bath so that I can kiss you later and not taste axle grease."

AN: Just a short one today, more fluff! Thanks for reading and reviews are love!