Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

AN: Sorry about the delay! College life is busy. Additionally, this chapter is a lot longer than last chapter. It's 2400ish words, which surprisingly takes a while to write.

In other news, I went to see Rocky Horror last night, thus losing my Rocky Horror virginity. Other than not understanding what was going on, it was so much fun! Also gave me a few more plot ideas…no, no cross dressers unfortunately. College can occasionally be fun though, as I'm finding out. Halloween was great! I was a ram! And I went to chemistry review in full costume…which was awesome! I hope everyone else had fun on Halloween, or more than me. I couldn't do anything because of the mountain of homework that appears daily. Fall is really pretty, but I wish it would snow. I love snow. Okay, if you're still reading this, I am sorry. I have been inside writing this chapter and doing homework alone all day and it is lonely. Enjoy the chapter!

The week dragged by. By Wednesday's afternoon meeting, Kiku was exhausted and dreaming of Friday. He followed Feliciano into the nearly empty meeting room. Antonio was setting up the projector. Vash was in a corner, moodily writing in a notebook. Dr. Edelstein and Dr. Hedervary entered the room, already deep in conversation.

Dr. Roma entered and sat down. "Elizaveta, I was looking for the paper and I couldn't find it."

"Oh, I must have forgotten it. I'll get it now." Dr. Hedervary got to her feet and dashed out of the room.

Feliciano turned to Kiku conspiratorially as Frances, Gilbert, and a few others entered. "You know, I think Dr. Hedervary and Dr. Edelstein are having an affair. They're both married, but they're always spending time together and they're always talking—"

"What are you talking about?" Gilbert slid into the seat next to Kiku while Frances took the seat on Feliciano's other side.

Feliciano blushed faintly. "Dr. Hedervary and Dr. Edelstein—"

"What about them?" Frances asked eagerly. "Were they making out in the eighteen degree room again?"

"They're…having an affair?" Feliciano was pale, but Gilbert and Frances burst into laughter.

"What? What is so funny?" Feliciano asked.

Gilbert finally managed to catch his breath. "Elizaveta and Roderich….are married! But to each other!"

Arthur walked over and nudged Gilbert with his notebook. "Move over. And what's so funny?"

"Why should I move over? You don't have to sit here," Gilbert grumbled, but he obediently moved into the other seat so Arthur could sit next to Kiku. "And we're laughing because Feli here thought Elizaveta and Roderich were cheating on their spouses, not realizing they were married to each other."

Arthur chuckled, giving Kiku a sideways glance. "People have strange relationships here."

Kiku too tongue tied to respond. Luckily, Dr. Hedervary reentered the room with the rest of the lab and the meeting started. Kiku lowered his eyes and wrote notes diligently. Once Antonio sat down, Dr. Roma got to his feet.

"For the rest of the week and next week, I will be out of town. So, refer all questions to Gilbert or Arthur."

There was then the big rush to get out of the room at the same time. Kiku stood up, Arthur right behind him.

"You doing anything tonight, love?"

Kiku glanced back at Arthur. "I…why?"

Arthur gave Kiku a small smile. "I was wondering if you'd come out with us tonight. You know, Frances, Gilbert, Ludwig, Feli."

"Thank you, but I cannot. I have to get my arm looked at." Kiku hid his disappointment. He would have liked to spend more time with Arthur. And everyone else, he mentally justified. Not just Arthur.

"Damn. Well, I hope everything's all right with you."

"It's just my arm," Kiku said, glancing up at Arthur.

"Yes, but that arm is attached to something very important, love."

Finally, the door opened up and they could leave the meeting room. Arthur was hailed over by Dr. Roma, leaving Kiku to figure out what Arthur meant.

Thursday dawned early. Kiku was rocketing around his small apartment, full of energy. He felt like he had a test later that day, like he was back at university. He didn't know what was going on inside his head that was making him feel like he'd drunk five cups of coffee in one sitting, so he just decided to ignore it.

He went to work early and immediately started his tasks for the day. He flipped flies, cleaned the dishes (the beakers, well plates, and stirring rods), and collected virgins. Even though it was Felicano's turn to take care of tips, Kiku put them into boxes then went to autoclave them. Arthur followed him into the room.

"You're not going near that machine, love."

Kiku deliberately picked up the gloves. "And who exactly is going to stop me?"

When Kiku looked up, Arthur was nearly face to face with him, pinning him against the counter. Arthur had a half smile. "I am."

Kiku's words caught in his throat. He stuttered, his face flushing. Arthur took advantage of the moment and pulled the gloves off Kiku's hands. "I'll handle this, love."

Kiku could only lean against the counter, heart hammering. Arthur finished, turning back around. "I'll get this when it's done—Kiku, are you feeling all right?"

Kiku nodded too quickly. "F-fine."

Arthur gave him a skeptical look. He stepped closer. "Are you sure? It's—"

Kiku shook his head. "I'm not a child, I don't need your help!"

He went to the fly kitchen, closing the door behind himself, breathing hard. What was going on? Why was he being so irrational? After a few more minutes of panicky, incoherent thoughts, Kiku started making fly food.

Gilbert opened the door an hour or so later. "Kiku, we're going to lunch, you coming?"

Kiku shook his head, intently concentrating on measuring exactly the right amount of yeast on the ancient balance.

"You all right? Arthur said—"

"Contrary to what Arthur thinks, I am not helpless." Kiku winced at his own tone.

Gilbert held up his hands. "Whoa, just saying, you've been a little weird today. If you need, you can take off. Nothing major's going on here."

"I am fine, thank you." Kiku picked up the yeast and carried it over to the cauldron.

Gilbert sighed. "If you say so."

He wasn't being fair to Arthur and he knew it. Arthur was just worried about him. Still, Kiku didn't want to be treated like a child and he didn't want to deal with how being around Arthur made him dizzy.

Gilbert grabbed Arthur's arm and steered him away from Feliciano, Frances, Ludwig, Antonio, and Vash. Arthur gave Gilbert a confused look, but he didn't fight. Gilbert pulled Arthur to the stairs.

"I don't know what you did, but Kiku's pissed, so you better fix whatever you did."

"I didn't do anything!" Arthur said defensively.

"That is not a good answer." Gilbert sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Just go apologise to him, make it convincing. Turn on some of that British charm, I know you've got it somewhere."

"Bloody hell, shove off! I don't need a dog telling me how to act."

"Then stop acting like a child and fix whatever you messed up."

"I didn't—"

"Gil?" Matthew had paused a few stairs below their landing.

"Hey Mattie. Come on. I'm done here." Gilbert gave Arthur a pointed look before walking over to take Matthew's hand a little timidly and led him to the cafeteria. Arthur leaned against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

Kiku went to lunch once he was sure all his coworkers were back. He slipped back into the lab unnoticed. Good. He picked up a slide box and his notebook, going to the fluorescent microscope room. He'd been meaning to take pictures for a few days now, so why not hide in there? It was dark, quiet, and, most importantly, a certain British person preferred to use the other microscope room.

He'd been working for an hour and had barely made a dent in the slides he had to photograph. It took forever for the picture to actually be taken by the computer, usually about three minutes, plus you wouldn't know if it was in focus or had the exact right placement until after the picture was taken, so it was an extremely time consuming process that left most people in a thoroughly bad mood. Kiku was no exception.

He jumped when the door opened and turned around to see who it was. Glowering, he forcefully turned back to his microscope and ended up shaking the microscope, essentially promising that the picture would be blurry.

Arthur put down his slide box and notebook, giving Kiku a fleeting glance lost in the darkness, then worked on turning on the other microscope. Kiku's picture was blurry. He deleted the picture and started the process again. They sat in silence for four pictures, by Kiku's count.

"Kiku—"

Kiku stood up quickly and went to the door. When he tried to open it, it didn't budge. He tried again.

Arthur cleared his throat. "Kiku, I—"

"The door is locked."

Kiku said it flatly, glaring at the doorknob. Arthur laughed and attempted to cover it up with a cough. "It sometimes sticks, love."

Kiku tried the door again. It still didn't move. Arthur got up and tried the door, but to no avail. Together, they tugged on the door, but it still wouldn't move. Kiku leaned against the door, defeated. He looked up at Arthur, their faces lit up by a bluish-white light from the computer.

Arthur shook his head. "I'm sorry about earlier, love. I didn't mean…I just…"

"Wanted to help me. I understand. I am s—"

Arthur pressed a finger to Kiku's lips. "It's my fault, don't apologise. I am sorry."

Kiku finally nodded. Their eyes met as Arthur's hand dropped to Kiku's shoulder. They both leaned forward when the door was shoved forward, throwing Kiku against Arthur.

Ludwig stepped in, blinking in confusion. "Sorry. Is everything okay?"

Kiku and Arthur separated hurriedly, nodding. Kiku quickly gathered up his things, saved the photographs. "You can use this microscope, Ludwig. I'm done."

"Thank you?" Ludwig seemed to be trying to work out what had been happening.

Running out of logical things to do, Kiku decided to completely reorganize the lab. This was a highly necessary task, but one that no one did. This was because the lab lived in a constant state of chaos and the simple organization of glassware might stop the lab's functioning. However, Kiku was a very neat and organized person and working in this level of disorder had been annoying him. Normally, it was fine. Then today happened and Kiku was getting bothered by the smallest things. He started with just putting away some stirring rods and then he had completely reorganized the drawer. So, he just kept at it, organizing all the rest of the drawers near that counter. He worked around the lab, finally coming out of his daze when he was in the cold room, putting away a newly labeled and properly sorted box of antibodies.

Gilbert walked in. "Kiku! It's almost eight. What are you still doing here?"

"What?" Kiku looked up surprise. "But…"

"Yeah, everyone left. I thought you had too." Gilbert put his DNA samples on a shelf.

"I lost track of time…what are you still doing here?"

"Had to finish up extracting this DNA. You really cleaned up this place. Looks like we won't have any excuses for using the wrong antibodies." Gilbert's smile faltered for a second, then passed. "You should come with me tonight."

"Where?"

"My brother and I are having a party. It'll be awesome! Come on! Live a little."

After a few minutes of Kiku trying to explain to Gilbert that he really shouldn't, Feliciano and Antonio looked in and asked if they were ready to go. With a sigh, Kiku gave in. Feliciano had an unfair advantage; he could give this unbelievably sad look that made just about everyone bend over backwards to help. So, Kiku ended up in the back of Antonio's car next to Feliciano and his twin brother, Lovino, who was a medical student. Feliciano was chatting happily with Antonio while Lovino cast the two of them disparaging looks.

When they pulled to the house, the party had already started and quite a few people looked drunk. Kiku followed Gilbert inside and just sort of stared. The house was bigger than it looked on the outside and impeccably neat, but there were people everywhere.

"Drinks and…not sure how to describe it over there. It's a candy party? Feli came up with it." Gilbert clasped Kiku's shoulder and then went over to Matthew who was chatting with Arthur's cousin, Alfred. Feliciano grabbed Kiku's arm, handed him a drink, and dragged him around the house, introducing him to everyone.

Kiku sipped at the drink. It was sickly sweet, but fairly good. Feliciano's chattering became a little less annoying after the second glass. It was past eleven when Feliciano found Ludwig and retreated into a corner, leaving Kiku alone on the couch. Antonio and Lovino walked through the room, Lovino looking very fed up about something while Antonio seemed a little sad.

Lovino grabbed Antonio's arm. "Don't pretend this is nothing! I know what it is, bastard!"

"It is nada, Lovi! You're being unreasonable. I care about you and only you." Antonio kissed Lovino's forehead. "And if you can't believe that, then maybe this isn't right."

"Get back here!" Lovino followed Antonio out of the room as Alfred came in and spotted Kiku.

"Didn't think you'd come here," Alfred said, sitting down next to Kiku, putting his arm across the back of the couch. "Arthur told me you're not a fan of parties."

"I am not."

Alfred grinned and leaned a little too close. "You're interesting, you know that? You don't like parties, but you're here, having a good time…could be a little better—"

"Alfred, get over here."

Kiku and Alfred looked up in surprise at a very tall man with silver hair. He looked foreboding and angry. Alfred immediately jumped to his feet. "I-Ivan, what are you—"

"Let's go." Ivan nodded once in acknowledgment to Kiku, then grabbed Alfred's hand and pulled him out of the room. Kiku shrugged, a little confused, but Alfred could handle himself. He didn't seem that drunk.

"I was just talking to Kiku! Come on, ease up, Russki!" Alfred protested. Ivan gave Alfred a slightly disgusted look. "You were flirting with him."

"So? You haven't made any claims."

Ivan sighed and glanced away. "What do I have to do, Alfred? I can't keep chasing after you."

"W-what?" Alfred blushed, turning away. "Stop playing games, Ivan."

Arthur wisely slipped out of the room to let Alfred and Ivan sort it out. He went into the living room to where Kiku was sitting. He sat down next to him.

"Hello, Kiku. How are you?"

"Fine. You?"

Arthur gave Kiku a concerned look. Kiku was slurring. "Fine, love. How much have you had to drink?"

"Not a lot. It's more sugar than alcohol."

Arthur smiled a little. "Wrong, love. That's…skittle vodka. It's strong and sweet, so you don't realize just how strong it is."

Kiku leaned forward, holding his head. Arthur moved closer, ready to help him. "I'm feeling it now…"

"How about you go lie down?" Arthur helped Kiku to his feet. "You can sleep this off."

Kiku nodded weakly, still holding his head. "Thanks, Arthur."

"It's not a problem, love."

Kiku looked up at Arthur. "Why do you say 'love?' You're always calling me that. It's a British thing, I thought, but you never call anyone else that."

Arthur put his hands in his pockets, blushing a little. "It's…just a sign of affection, love. Don't read too much into it."

"You used it again. What aren't you telling me?"

"It's…it's a you thing. I only call you 'love.'"

Kiku leaned in closer. "And why's that?"

Arthur glanced down, then back into Kiku's eyes. "Because, you're you, Kiku. And I...like you."

"I like you too." Kiku said it without thinking.

"W-what?" Arthur couldn't believe it.

"I like you too."

Then, Kiku leaned up and kissed Arthur gently, wrapping his arms around his neck. Arthur's hands immediately went to Kiku's waist.

The first kiss was gentle. The second kiss was more passionate.

"Kiku, Kiku, wait," Arthur murmured, trying to get Kiku to stop distracting him. "You're drunk. We really shouldn't do anything."

"I'm not drunk," Kiku retorted, but he unsteadily sort of collapsed against Arthur.

"Shh, love. Let's get to bed, all right?" Arthur easily scooped Kiku up into his arms and carried him upstairs.

AN: Sadly, my coworkers did actually throw a candy party and did make Skittle vodka. They also made alcoholic gummy bears and gummy worms and other sugar-y alcoholic things. The problem is that because it's sweet, the drinker does not often realize how much alcohol is in the drink. It's very easy to get very drunk very quickly on Skittle vodka, hence why Kiku was drunk after two and half. Plus, I figure he really wouldn't have that high of a tolerance. Also, the lab I worked in did exist in a constant state of chaos. It was very, very disorganized and the act of putting something back where it belonged could severely upset the balance of the university. Finally, there was a married couple very similar to Elizaveta and Roderich in my lab...they each had their own people and different last names, so two of my coworkers didn't realize the two of them were married and thought they were having an affair!

Next chapter I will try to get up soon, but I've got a prelim this week, then one right after Thanksgiving break and then finals. But I'll try! Thank you all for reading and reviewing!