Title: Spelling Bee

Warnings: None

Summary: Arthur forces Alfred to help him train for the spelling bee.

"Alfred!" Arthur grunted as his friend slumped over onto his spelling book. "Alfred you can't fall asleep, we have to practice!"

The taller of the two boys moaned and covered an arm over his eyes.

"No we don't. Enough practice."

"Alfred!"

The British boy, clearly not impressed, raised two fingers to his lips and whistled like nobody's business. Alfred immediately held his hands up to cover his ears and was up and off the desk in a matter of seconds.

"Okay, okay, I'm up!" Alfred yelled at his friend, glaring at him. He dropped his hands from his ears and his eyes sagged with tiredness. "I really can't believe you're making me stay inside to practice spelling," he said with a look of disdain. "I could be playing four corners, or tag, or soccer-"

"Football," Arthur cut in and his friend glared at him once more. "Well if you love all that stuff so much, why don't you go?" Arthur asked in a huff. He held his arms akimbo and had a smirk on his lips; he knew what the answer was.

Alfred looked away as his cheeks heated. He couldn't bear to look at his friend.

"Don't make me say it, Arthur!"

"Say it!"

"Arthur!"

"Say it or I'll tell your mum about how that one time you you took a sip of her wine when she wasn't looking!"

Alfred looked mortified. That has been his most prideful moment in his 9 year life, but he knew his mother would throw a fit if she knew. She would let him have grape juice out of one of her fancy cups, but she had scolded him when he once asked for alcohol.

"Fine," Alfred sighed, admitting defeat. His cheeks were still stained pink. "I won't go outside because I like you Arthur Kirkland. I like, like you, not just like you."

Arthur smiled, a smug expression on his face.

"Right, of course you do," he said grinning and tapping the tip of Alfred's nose with a pencil. "And you know I like like you too."

Alfred blushed at this. Whenever he and Arthur talked about how much they like liked each other a tight feeling would swell up in his tummy and he'd feel quite warm inside.

"Tell you what," Arthur said sitting back down next to his friend and taking the spelling book in his hands. "If you help me practice for the spelling bee I'll give you a prize."

He pulled back with another self-assured look, and again Alfred glanced back at him trying not to look too interested.

"A prize?" the boy asked curiously, keeping his eyes on his friend.

"Yes! But only if you help me train for the spelling bee!"

Arthur handed his friend the book and pointed to a column of word on the page.

"All right so you just read the word and tell me if I spell it right, okay?" Arthur instructed with a calmer voice. Alfred rolled his eyes, bored, but nodded his consent.

"Wait, wait, I wanna know what my prize is before we start."

"Fine," Arthur responded sounding annoyed. He looked pensive for a moment before he spoke again. "I'll make it worth your while. For each word I misspell, I'll give you my carton of chocolate milk."

At this, Alfred's eyes widened. In just a matter of seconds he was suddenly more lively and a whole lot more awake.

"What are we waiting for?" he asked with renewed vigor, and immediately read the first word off the list Arthur had pointed to. "The first word is chocolate."

Arthur hummed, then spelled the word easily with a swift wave of his hand.

"C-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e. Chocolate," he smiled, when Alfred nodded. "Honestly, Al, don't start with such an easy word!"

So the American boy scanned the page for a harder one. It would be to his benefit if Arthur messed up after all.

"Spell astronaut," he said looking up, but again Arthur spit it out with lightning speed.

"A-s-t-r-o-n-a-u-t. Astronaut."

Alfred frowned, unimpressed. He wanted his chocolate milk.

"All these words are too easy for you," he said with a complaining tone.

"They're not," Arthur insisted, pointing at the book to get Alfred to start up again. "Come on."

"Fine," Alfred agreed, as he furrowed his brows and scowled at the page. "Okay, spell favorite."

Arthur even had the audacity to laugh at this one, and that made Alfred angry.

"Favourite? You're going easy on me!"

Alfred frowned, and his counterpart smiled. Arthur took in a deep breath and started to spell.

"Favourite. F-a-v-o-u-r-i-t-e," Arthur said smoothly, the letters bouncing off his tongue.

"Wrong!" Alfred yelled and was suddenly fist pumping the air. "You owe me your milk!"

Arthur looked indignant before he grabbed at the book to check his spelling himself.

"No, no, this can't be right," he said as he traced the letters with the pad of his index finger. "No. It must me a misprint. This can't possibly be."

"You spelled something wrong, Arthur, it happens," Alfred said with a grand smile. He'd settled down a bit from his earlier excitement. "And you owe me your milk fair and square."

The Brit for his part huffed and picked up the book.

"We'll see what my mum thinks about this! I'll show her the misprint. She'll tell the school so they don't make a mistake at the spelling bee on Friday."

Alfred sighed as his smile faded away. He could see the obvious frown on his friend's face, and the way his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"All right, you tell her," he said, but then added in a softer tone, "Though I wouldn't mind if you had spelled it wrong."

Arthur stuck his nose in the book and made a point of blatantly ignoring him.

"Hey!" Alfred said, as he tore the book away from his face. "Hey are you listening?"

But Arthur averted his eyes to the floor, still embarrassed over his fumble.

"Fine, Art how about I give you a word that even I can spell? Spell Kiss."

Arthur twiddled his thumbs for a moment then started.

"Kiss. K-i-s-s. Kiss."

He looked at Alfred to ensure he'd spelled it right but was instead met with Alfred lips. In the end he figured that was probably a better prize than the spelling bee trophy would ever be.