Title: Because we have Chemistry
Warnings: None
Summary: Alfred helps Arthur as he struggles with chemistry.
I glanced at the clock with worried eyes. Damn it, only five more minutes. For five more minutes I would be safe in the realm of history; a place where I understood what was going on and felt like I could contribute to intellectual conversation. History was fairly easy for me, and though surely I couldn't get by without studying, the point was that I could understand and make do... as opposed to my next class. Fourth period was the worst of the worst, a horrible realm I would be sucked into where things didn't make sense, and I would become disoriented, lost, and forced to fend for myself. Okay, well, perhaps that's exaggerating the point just a bit, but I really did hate chemistry.
Not a moment later the bell rang, signaling the end of the block and I cursed under my breath. I scribbled down my history homework, packed away my binders and pencils, said goodbye to my professor and headed toward my impending doom.
The chemistry and science rooms were in the left wing of the building, far from all the other classes. I made my way toward my chemistry room prolonging my dreaded reality by stopping to shuffle some things around in my locker and then pausing at a water fountain for a drink even though I wasn't thirsty. But the time came, and I had to face the inevitable, immediately taking a seat in the back of the room. Usually, in other classes, I didn't mind sitting in the front. I loved asking questions, participating in discussions, and found learning fun to be frank. But chemistry was different. I hardly wanted anyone to see as I struggled to solve the problems, and so I sat in seclusion, wallowing in my own misery.
I watched as the other students sauntered in languidly, though none looking as horrified as me. Part of why I hated this class was that everyone around me seemed to know what was going on. I was the only one in the room who couldn't keep up with the talk of moles, polar, covalent and stoichiometry things, and ugh, just thinking about it made my head want to explode. Plus there was one more reason I dreaded this class, and he was smiling at me as he entered the room.
"Hi Arthur!" he squeaked as he slid his backpack off his shoulders and took the seat next to mine. This always happened, and even as I would move to different seats around the classroom to try and avoid him, that cheery smile and obnoxiously optimistic attitude would follow me everywhere.
"Hello," I mumbled out in an effort to be polite.
He sent me a thumbs up before pulling out his notes. Out of the corner of my eye, as Alfred Jones opened up his folder, I caught sight of the last quiz we'd taken, with his sloppy hand writing, and a bright red grade of 35/35 written at the top. I frowned at the sight and turned my attention back to the front of the room. I tried not to think of the fact that I'd only gotten a 21/35 on that quiz, a bloody 60%.
"What do ya think we'll do today?" Alfred asked animatedly, always oblivious to the fact that I had no interest in talking to him.
I sighed and answered quietly.
"I'm not sure."
Alfred's mouth formed a line, and as he was about to say something, the bell rang again signaling the start of a new period. I sucked in a breath and got ready. It was only an hour; I could survive sixty minutes of hell.
The professor made his way to the front of the room and rolled up his sleeves. He was a tall man, balding in the front, with specs and rather lifeless hazel eyes.
"I hope you're all aware that we have a test next class," he started much to my annoyance. Yes, I was painfully aware. "And as such, I've decided to make today a review day."
He moved toward his desk and picked up a stack of papers.
"I'm going to hand out this review sheet which is due into me before the test. You may work individually or with a partner."
The professor started passing out the worksheets and I casually laid my head down on the desk. Well at least the day wouldn't be too bad. There would be no calling on me for an answer which I couldn't give, or working on a lab and being unable to contribute anything to it. Yes, today should be fine except for-
"Hey, Arthur, do you want to work together?"
It wasn't really a question since Alfred had already pulled his chair up to my desk. He was grinning brightly and twirling his pencil between his fingers.
Let me just mention now, that another reason I really didn't like Alfred Jones was because he was just so, well, attractive. And not to say that I despised him for his good looks, but it just made me that much more self conscious around him. Not only was he good at chemistry, but he was pleasing to the eyes; the boy that all the girls fawned over.
"Uhm..." I took the sheet the professor had handed me and glanced over it. I didn't even know how to do the first problem.
"Alright, so this seems pretty simple. All we've gotta do is balance the equations and identify what type of reaction took place," he smiled and scribbled his name down on the paper. "Let's do 1-5 then check back with each other to see if we got the same answers."
I tried to get a word in, but Alfred was already immersed in the problems before I could even open my mouth. I frowned and glanced back at the first question.
_P + _O2 - _P2O5
I bit my lip, frustrated that already getting discouraged. How did you do this? I racked my brain for answers, but before I could think of one, Alfred's head popped back up.
"I finished! Are you done? Can we check answers?"
I furrowed my brows, and I could feel my face heat with embarrassment.
"I'm not done yet," I mumbled, and tried to cover up my worksheet, but it was too late, Alfred had seen my blank answer boxes.
"Hey," he lightly lifted my hand of the paper, exposing a clean paper void of even any attempts at answering the questions. He looked back at me expectantly and cocked his head slightly to the right.
"Did you not get the answers?"
"I told you I wasn't finished," I hissed out, but really did not feel confident against Alfred. He frowned as he looked back at me.
"Do you need help solving these? I don't mind."
He smiled serenely and looked so genuine, even my pride died down a bit to allow me to say:
"Well if you don't mind..."
"Course not, I don't mind helping out a friend."
He winked at me and I felt my face flush once more.
"Thank you..."
"Sure thing. So what exactly do you need help on?"
I averted my eyes, not really wanting to answer the question with "everything."
"Uhmm... could you perhaps start with the types of reactions? I'm still confused about them."
"Of course! I totally understand, those can seem really confusing until you look at them the right way. I'll show you a trick that makes them super easy to remember!"
Alfred flipped over my paper and wrote down the first formula, and he did something odd; he started doodling stick figures under each part of the equation.
"Alright let's start with synthesis since I think that's the simplest.
He finished up his drawings which revealed four stick people drawn under an equation turning phosphorus and oxygen into phosphorus pentoxide and looked up at me.
"The easiest way to think of the reaction types is as dating scenarios!" He let out a short laugh when I sent him a dubious look, but adamantly continued with his explanation. "I'm serious, look!"
Alfred used his index finger to point at the small male stick figure he'd doodled under the P in the equation.
"Okay, were gonna consider phosphorus the guy in the equation. And oxygen, she's gonna be the gal."
At this point I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh, or consider getting Alfred some mental help.
"So if you look at the equation, _P + _O2 - _P2O5 you can see how the two elements bonded right?"
I nodded at him shortly, as I followed.
"Sweet, so we can imagine that phosphorus and oxygen got together and are now a couple!" he moved his finger to the other side of the equation where his two stick figures were holding hands. I blinked for a moment, but nodded in understanding. For some reason, Alfred's odd explanation actually made sense.
"And if we did that backwards," he started doodling the next problem, which was the same equation only in reverse, "Well that's called decomposition."
He glanced up and smiled at me, before tracing the paper again.
"In this one instead of phosphorus getting together with oxygen, they break up!
"Oxygen you're way too needy," Alfred suddenly mimed in a low, gruff voice.
"Hmpf! Well I'll just go find some hydrogen to bond to then!" he replied to himself in a high pitch, valley-girl accent.
I couldn't hold in a giggle, and it slipped from my lips as Alfred looked up at me with a pleased grin.
"That wasn't even funny. It was just the voices you did," I let out another chuckle and held and hand to my lips to try and control myself.
Alfred was smiling brightly, looking at me with such excitement, as if I'd just told him he'd won an award.
"Did you like them? I can do more!"
He moved onto the next equation, a longer problem which I also was at a loss as to solving.
"Look at this one here, _Al + _H2SO4 - _Al2(SO4)3 + _H2, it's a bit more complicated!"
He grabbed at his pencil and took to scribbling yet again. When he was done, 3 stick figures emerged on each side of the equation, two of which were female, and you could tell them apart since one was wearing a bow. He pointed to H2SO4, under which there were two stick figures; one of each gender.
"Alright so this here is hydrogen sulfate. It was created when hydrogen and sulfate got together," he said pointing to one male and one female doodle.
"Oh sulfate, I love you so much!" Alfred squealed in a feminine voice, and I bit my lip to suppress laughter.
"But wait, whose that coming?" Alfred moved his head around, scanning the room as if he were actually looking for someone. "It's aluminum! And I think sulfate has got the hots for her!"
"Aw man. Check out that babe!" Alfred mimicked a bit too loudly, and I had to cover his mouth with my palm to prevent people from staring.
"Alfred, I get it, I get it. Enough with the voices."
I pulled my hand away with a small smile which he returned.
"Right, sorry, well anyway back to the problem. Sulfate sees aluminum and he thinks she's way hotter than hydrogen, so he leaves her and bonds with aluminum," he points to the other side of the equation where the two female stick figures have switched places. "Now hydrogen is all alone."
"How sad," I said with a roll of my eyes.
"It's a cruel world."
I couldn't help my lips from lifting in the corners, and to be honest, I think my opinion of Alfred Jones was starting to change just a bit. Certainly, I still found his attractive looks and exceedingly loud manner a bit annoying, but I couldn't deny how kind he was being, and just how hard he was trying to please me. It made me a bit happier to know that maybe I had a new friend in this class who could help me struggle through.
"So is that reaction called," I paused for a moment, flipping through my notes until I found the right term. "Single-displacement?"
"Yes! Cha-ching!" Alfred said pointing both fingers at me and making money sound effects. I took a deep breath, but smiled, and kindly asked him to quiet down.
And so that continued for about another forty-five minutes as Alfred proceeded to explain double displacement, acid base reactions, combustion (which he of course imitated by making several loud booming noises and drawing attention to us) and the basics of how to solve an equation. By the time the bell rang, I couldn't complain. I understood the material much better than when I'd entered the room, and Alfred even offered to tutor me after school if I wanted. All in all, in wasn't the worst hour of my life, and I hesitate to say it might even have been a bit fun considering I made a new friend.
"Thank you again, for all your help," I offered Alfred my gratitude for about the third time as I packed up my binder, and pencils away.
"Really Arthur, it was nothing. Whenever you need help, just lemme know and I'd be glad to help you out."
He smiled at me as he stuffed his own notes in his backpack, and I cringed at just how disorganized he was. I couldn't hold my scowl for long though, as Alfred's contagious smile made its way onto my face.
"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow then," I wished him goodbye, as I stood up and slung my bag over my shoulders. I hadn't taken two steps when Alfred bolted up and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, wait a second!"
I turned around to find the open and carefree Alfred that I'd known a moment before gone, replaced by a much shyer boy who was red in the face.
"Yes?" I asked, concerned that something might be wrong. Maybe this was just a onetime thing and he really didn't want to associate with me anymore.
Alfred coughed shortly into his fist, before he answered me.
"I think I've lost my atomic number. Can I have yours?"
I furrowed my brows, confused at what he was getting at.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Alfred let out an uneasy chuckle before moving to rub the back of his neck nervously.
"Are you a carbon sample? Because I want to date you."
This time, Alfred's intent was a bit clearer and my cheeks flared up at his request. Still, being a complete horrible chemistry student, some doubt remained in my mind.
"W-wait, Alfred. What are you talking about?"
He smiled sheepishly and moved to play with a loose thread on his shirt.
"Ah the chemistry pick-up lines weren't doing it for you, hah?"
We both stood there staring at each other awkwardly, taking in Alfred's comment.
"Umm so... if you don't think I'm too nerdy or anything already," Alfred started with his cheeks glowing almost as bright as Rudolph's red nose. "Would you be interested in a movie on Friday night?"
So that was how I got involved with one of the most attractive guys in school. It's been a year now, and remarkably two things have happened: Firstly, I managed to pass chemistry, and secondly, I'm still going steady with Alfred. Some people at the school think it odd. Others cheer us on for being openly gay, and dealing with a lot of the crap we get handed. At the moment though, none of that matters so long as we're happy, and Alfred does his damned hardest to make that so. We've been together for 12 months, and each Friday we have a movie night. Sometimes Alfred will cuddle next to me, and whisper nonsense that it was fate that brought us together, but I just roll my eyes at him and responded with the same thing every single time.
"It's because we have chemistry."