So this is the farthest I've gone so far in a fic actually, so here's chapter 2!

Enjoy~

Of course, kids at school started to realize I was a bit different.

I mean, I was okay. I passed classes just fine, didn't speak up too loud, and for the most part I just tried to ignore others. Apparently, even just ignoring people was a huge giveaway that "Hmm… I think there is a homosexual among us.."

People think that New York is more tolerable with comic book nerds and anal sex, but I didn't live in the city. I didn't live where the girls wore nicer clothes, or where guys had at least some tolerance to the thought of maybe some dudes like dicks in their face. Upstate was like a different world compared to the Island, meaning less porn and more good christian morals. Well, at least where I had lived.

Dad seemed to have intricately picked a town in PA that would be anti-gay or "anti anything that isn't what we accept and are," so after no seeing anyone in the halls holding hands with the same sex at school, I knew it was going to be that kind of town. Not like dad probably knew it would be, he didn't know I was gay. Also he liked to blindly do things without making sure of things like what fucking town we're selling our souls to.

The kids at school gave me weird looks from behind their lockers in the hallways, or while I was washing my hands in the bathroom. (Apparently that's a crime) Arthur didn't seem to notice though, or if he did, he didn't seem to care.

"How many of those shirts do you own?" He asked me sourly in English class one day.

"These?" I pinched the end of my favorite Captain America t shirt I got at the Disney store. I almost cried when they had adult sizes. "I have about 3 with good ol' Cap on them." I smiled at him, hopefully he would see how awesome it is.

Then again, he could also just shake his head and lean back in his seat, his feet on the basket of the desk in front of him. Ignoring me for the rest of the period.

I think that's sort of how he liked to socialize, just a few broad topics here and there. Still, I didn't feel like we were really building a friendship. I watched how guys normally interacted, and besides the punches and dick jokes, they seemed pretty close and loyal to each other. I didn't know why I felt Arthur would be a good friend, still, I wanted to know more about him.

"What are you doing later?" I asked him in Chemistry after two periods of boring classes.

"Going home…?"

"Haha, me too." Dammit.

"You take more notes than I do," He was turned around in his desk in front of me, looking upside down at my full page of notes. "I almost thought that was impossible for someone to do." He smirked.

"Well, I like science." I replied, to which he 'hmm-ed' and faced the front of the room again.

I really had hoped he hadn't found that strange, I didn't try to talk to him for the rest of the day. Still, we still silently acknowledged each other's presence.

On my way to the buses after the bell for the last class rang, I found a dollar hidden inside the pocket of my Bomber jacket. This jacket never seemed to fail me in times of hunger, if that makes sense.

I stopped by the vending machines in the lunchroom across the main staircase, sliding my dollar into the slot and praying it'd actually work this time.

"I'm going to laugh if it doesn't work." I heard a familiar voice say behind me, from the smug English accent I could tell it was Arthur.

"Shh… It's concentrating."

If you've never ordered anything from a vending machine, and for the most part if you're an American with an impatient complex of hunger you have, it's like waiting to see if a college accepts you or not.

The bag of Doritos hit the glass and my entire life flashed before my eyes.

"Aw, come on!" I whined and gently punched the glass as I heard Arthur behind me laughing for the first time. You'd think hearing someone's laugh for the first time you'd be happy, but he was just cruel.

"Arthur, you jinxed it!" I yelled as if someone had just died in my arms.

"Oh calm yourself, Alfred. This is probably it's way of welcoming you to Rowling High." He smiled evilly at me.

"I… I think I might've missed the bus too." I said, looking around me I noticed the small crowds of kids had gone, and only a few sports clubs and other teachers had stayed behind.

Arthur had noticed as well and had a look of concern at me. He rolled his eyes and sighed and my misfortune.

"Would you like to walk home with me?" He asked,crossing his arms.

I felt myself heat up in my entire body. I smiled excitedly but I wanted to make sure he'd not take it back. "What?"

"Are you deaf as well as blind? Come home with me." He began walking away slowly to the front entrance of the school.

I agreed and rushed over to him. I'd have to call my dad to tell him where I was, but I could do that once I had a phone in front of me.

Arthur lived almost two blocks away from the school, meaning two blocks of what would be like 5 in Manhattan, so it was pretty close. I liked walking through neighborhoods most of the time anyway, it sort of reminded me of childhood. Not mine exactly, but in general, suburban houses make me think of the 1950's, Golden Retrievers, and children.

The streets were completely flat, and even though it was January, I couldn't see any traces of snow from the past week or so. Thinking about it, I asked Arthur what his favorite weather was and he said rain.

"Not the heavy, downpour that bangs your window while you're trying to sleep," He told me, his black messenger bag slapping his leg with every step. "More like, the rain that sort of drags your eyes down and makes the end of your boots wet. Also the sky would be completely gray."

Now that Arthur and I were talking more today than we ever had before, I started to like the way he talked. He sort of had an Abraham Lincoln voice but more sarcastic and British sounding. I told him that after a silence, and he just lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, you sound like a bowl of oatmeal," He improvised. "Crying."

Arthur, the punk kid with green hair, an ear pierced and a lighter in his coat pocket just made a really childish joke.

And I think the real reason I smiled was because I started seeing him differently than anyone else had probably ever had.

AN: So I'm really on a roll with this fic, I really like writing in Alfred's POV. Most of the time I write in Arthur's, but I always make him too loose. Kinda makes me sad since he's my favorite character ;-;

Anyway, please leave a review! I love receiving critiques on writing actually, so go for it uwu