A/N: This update came fairly

quickly. Please don't expect them to always be this

fast, like I said, erratic posting dates. I'll try to be

regular, but that never seems to work for me.

Atleast not too well.

If anyone wants to tell me what they think so far,

feel free! Reviews, or even a simple comment

is always appreciated!

After class, Arthur tried to escape the suffocation of the classroom as quickly as possible, but to no avail, due to the over-crowded hall. Had he ever mentioned how much he hated the hallways?

"Hey, Arthur wait up!" He cringed and kept walking. "Arthur, wait!" Alfred dashed up to him, grabbing his arm.

"Bloody hell, can't you see I'm trying to get to class?" He growled, pulling roughly away. "I don't need to be late again."

Alfred had an apologetic look on his face. "I was just going to ask when you wanted to get together and work on the project…"

"Trying to get a head start, are we?" Arthur sneered. "I never knew you were the type. Besides, I don't care when. It has to be done at some point, it's no use avoiding it."

"I'm not the one avoiding it." The sandy blonde replied. "What about this Wednesday…?"

Dammit. That was the one day Arthur didn't have anything planned. Sighing heavily, he resumed his apathetic façade. "Sure, whatever." Scribbling his address and phone number down on a piece of paper, he continued. "Four-o-clock. I put my number down, since you're bound to get lost. Goodbye." And with that, Arthur turned and left before Alfred could follow.

Annoying git.

Alfred sighed. Once again, his attempts to soften Arthur's personality didn't work. He didn't understand why the other boy was acting so cold towards him. What did Alfred ever do to earn his mistrust? He supposed it just came with Arthur's seemingly misanthropic nature. Aside from this point, however, Alfred was thrilled that he was going to visit in two days. He clutched the piece of paper in his hands, which were becoming damp with sweat. Why was he so nervous? All he did was exchange information for a simple visit, it wasn't even a date. They were working on a school project for God's sake! Even so, Alfred couldn't quell the excitement settled into the pit of his stomach for the rest of the day.

It was getting far too warm. Pulling his shirt off, Arthur leaned in once more to plant a soft kiss on Alfred's lips. He smiled a bit when he realized that Arthur tasted like tea. How cute… The heat in the room was unbearable now, and Alfred relaxed into the pillows as his pants were slowly removed. He stared into the emerald eyes above him, admiring the way they seemed to go on forever. Arthur began to trail kisses down Alfred's neck, producing shivers and a slight moan. He loved how Arthur could do that—set him to shivering in heat like this. He felt as if he were in a haze, feeling skin and hands and warmth, but the only thing he saw clearly were those eyes. Not the hands trailing down his body, or the playful, almost possessive grin his lover was portraying. Only his eyes. Alfred sucked in a breath as Arthur's hands moved lower, and—

He shot up straight in bed. The two blankets he had were lumped off to the side, and his shirt was sticking to his skin. Alfred bet that it wasn't really as warm as it felt. Getting up to open a window, he noticed the hard-on protruding from his boxers.

Great. He thought. That's not embarrassing.

With a glass of water in hand, he returned to bed and pulled the blankets back over him. He was about to settle down into sleep, when he stopped and sat up. The internal debate lasted only a moment, and Alfred kicked one of the two blankets off his bed. His guess was that he wouldn't be needing it.

"Shut up, Ivan!" A collective gasp went around, and the conversation continued. Meanwhile, Arthur was residing in his usual seat in the back corner of the room, when he heard a thump of books next to him.

Would it be…?

"Hey, Arthur. It's Wednesday!" It would be. That happy voice, the one that had an annoying quality to it, that kept running through his brain, pissing him off.

"That it is, my dull friend." He quipped.

"See? I knew we'd be friends eventually!" Came the reply, which sounded not at all bothered at the prospect of being called dull. Damn. I should have known better than to say that. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. We aren't, and never will be friends. In fact, the general prospect of such bollocks sickens me." Alfred just gave a chuckle, and sat in the seat next to him.

Oh, joy.

By the time class was over, they had barely gotten anything done. Alfred didn't even have a subject idea.

"It has to be something from the 1700's on, so pick something." Arthur was beginning to get angry.

"Uhh… Oh! I've got it! How about the American Revolution?"

A sigh managed to escape Arthur's throat for the fourth time during the past hour. "Due to American's being pitifully egotistical, that war was far overrated."

"Why not? It's interesting. America, gaining freedom from the cruel oppression of Britain!" Alfred swept his hand across his face, as if an image of gory battle would manifest itself before them.

"It wasn't cruel oppression, it was taxes. Like you have now. Besides, no matter how significant the war was to you, it was just another loss to the empire. It hardly mattered."

Arthur was becoming increasingly bored.

"You're understating everything! It totally did matter." Alfred's face was the spitting image of a child being told to do something unfair.

In fact, this whole conversation was childish. "We aren't doing the American Revolution. Being partnered with you is bad enough, I'm not going to let you choose that as the subject as well." And begrudgingly; "I'll… see you later." The bell rang, and Arthur walked out.

Alfred looked at the piece of crinkled paper, then nervously rang the doorbell. He hoped this was the right house. It looked nice enough, and was in a pretty good neighborhood…

"Hey." Arthur mumbled, opening the door. He had a pencil in his mouth, trying to fix something on the door. "Please come in…"

Alfred crossed the threshold into Arthur's house. Nice indeed. The carpet was plush and soft, immaculately clean. The furniture looked as if it were all carved from the same tree, and a few ornate decorations were lying about.

"Hey!" Alfred replied, a bit late on the uptake. "Nice place."

"Thanks." Arthur walked down the hall, beckoning him to follow. He opened the last door on the right, and walked inside. "Let's get this over with."

Alfred couldn't help noticing that Arthur's disposition was slightly different than that he was used to. It must just be how he acts at home, Alfred thought. He was the same, but the usual foreboding, annoyed air was gone. He was less on edge. His room was also surprisingly clean, mostly consisting of the colours olive green, and the occasional navy blue.

He watched as Arthur picked up a cup of tea from his desk, and sat down. Alfred spoke before he noticed Arthur was about to say something.

"Woah! You drink tea. I thought that was just my imagination." Oops. That hadn't meant to come out. Arthur was looking at him a bit like one would look at a grown adult picking their nose.

"…What?"

Alfred tried, and failed to cover up the slip. "What? Nothing."

Arthur shook his head, then spoke. "We should have started in on the project already, we need to pick a topic that we both agree on." A pause, then; "You can sit down, you know."

"Oh, right." Alfred sat. "I'm guessing you'll want to wash the carpet after I leave?" He said with a smile.

The slightest hint of a smirk revealed itself on Arthur's face. "Perhaps. Now, about that topic. I was thinking we could do something like…"

His voice trailed off as Alfred's mind began to wander. He's so… odd. The dream from the previous night chose that moment to re-enter his brain. Shut up, I don't need to be thinking of that right now!

He was brought back to reality when Arthur spoke in a suspicious tone. "You're face is turning red… are you alright?"

Alfred gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, yeah… I'm fine."

The green eyes rolled. "Pay attention, I don't want to have to repeat this later because you weren't listening."

The conversation went on, and it was decided that they would do the American Revolution after all. Arthur seemed much opposed, but as it turned out, nearly everything else was taken. After the necessary materials were collected and brought back to Arthur's room, They began their project.

"Since there's a lot of work, I'm going to divide it up evenly so I don't end up doing it all… Hey." A hand was waved in front of Alfred's face. "You're not listening. You've been doing that this whole time, getting that spacey look. I knew you were dull, but I didn't know you were that stupid. Hey!"

Alfred looked up, and with an absent look on his face, replied. "Huh?"

The angry, ticked-off look was back. "Pay attention, we need to get this done! Why do you even keep drifting off anyways?" Arthur was sitting across from him, leaning slightly, with a bit of an impatient posture.

"Oh… I'm thinking…"

"Thinking what? The only thing you should be thinking of is this project. I don't understand why—" Alfred reached out suddenly, and tucked a strand of Arthur's messy blonde hair behind his ear.

Arthur's voice was cut off, a surprised look in place of the previous. "Wha… What…" Came the sputtered reply to his gesture.

"It's hard to see your eyes when your hair is always in your face." Alfred's expression was completely honest, with no trace of a joke about it.

Arthur became a bit red. "What in the bloody hell was that for?" The surprised look had just left his face. "We're working on a project, not— not…" He trailed off, speechless.

Alfred stood, just beginning to process his error. "I have to go, I'll do everything you need me to, don't worry, see you tomorrow…!" He frantically gathered his belongings, and with that, rushed out the door, leaving Arthur alone and more than confused on his bedroom floor.