A/N: Thank you to everyone

who added this story to their

automatic updates and/or favorites!

I'll work hard to get the chapters updated quickly.

I seem to say something about that

each A/N….

Oh well.

Alfred slammed the door shut, provoking a shout from his mom. Mumbling a quick 'sorry' in passing, he rushed to his bedroom. It had taken him a long time to get home, nearly an hour, because he was distracted while driving. As predicted, he still got lost, even though it wasn't on the way there. His hurry to get to his room must have startled his mother, because she came knocking on the door a few minutes later.

"Al, honey, can I come in?" She said, her voice muffled through the door.

"Yeah, sure mom…" He replied in resignation. Pretending to be bust with something at his desk, he didn't look up when she came in.

"Is something wrong hun? You know you can tell me anything." She sat on his bed.

After a moment of silence; "No, nothings wrong." His smile was not at all convincing.

"I know when you're lying to me, Al. Now, you don't have to tell me what it is, but don't lie about it. I would like to know."

Alfred spun around in his chair with the same dopey, half convincing smile on his face.

"Just… just school stuff, mom." He guessed that was sort of true. "I need to work on a big project I have, my partner'll be mad if I don't finish my half for tonight." He turned back around to hide his reddening face. Even though he didn't mean partner like that, he still couldn't avoid thinking of it.

"…Alright. I'll see you at dinner, then." Alfred's mom was hesitant to leave, but leave she did.

"Yeah…" He said softly. His mom was just out of earshot.

Arthur took a drink of his tea, which was cold. He was in the same spot as he was left in, and had been for the duration of two hours. The look on his face was something akin to irritated confusion. As soon as Alfred had left, he had shaken his head to remove the piece of hair that had been tucked behind his ears. Arthur was convinced he could look no stupider than with that single chunk of hair out of its usual place. After about ten more minutes, he decided he was hungry.

Getting up, he found, proved to be a bit difficult, as his knees hurt from sitting in the same position so long. Wandering into the kitchen, he decided to completely forget the entire ordeal. He had thought about it too long already, anyways. After eating far less than he should have, he went to bed. He would do the project later.

Waking up early, as always, was excruciating. But Arthur managed to get some of the project done, then left for school. In the two classes leading up to History, he managed to complete the rest of the project. When he arrived in History class, he set his belongings down, then sat himself down as well. Before he got a chance to plug in his earphones, however, he was greeted by Alfred rushing through the door.

After catching his breath somewhat, Alfred explained himself. "I… I ran here, cause I wanted… to say sorry before too many people got here… about the other day." His panting dwindled as he waited for Arthur's reply.

It was one he didn't expect. "Why?" Arthur had decided he would ignore the incident, so ignore he did.

"For… y'know. The… the… hair thing." His look was slightly pained, and Arthur almost wanted to laugh.

"Oh, that? I had conveniently forgotten about that." Then sarcastically, "To my great delight, I now remember. How lovely." Arthur looked back down at his iPod. Today was going to be a long day.

When class began, they compiled their work. "I'm surprised you actually got it done." Arthur said. "I'll take this all home and put it together."

Alfred gave him a look of confusion. "Shouldn't we, like… put it on a poster-board or something?"

"No… it'll look better if I format it differently. We've made decent progress anyway, so we have some time to decide."

"Well, if we have nothing else to do here, I guess we have a free day!" Alfred grinned.

Arthur was going to roll his eyes when he realized that Alfred was actually right.

"Hm. I guess so." He took their work and put it in his back, then sat down, iPod in hand. Then, he was stopped.

"Hey, wait! I'm going to be bored if you're just doing that."

"What else am I going to do? It's hardly as if you can provide me with intelligent conversation." The look Arthur received in return was that of a puppy.

"C'mon! I don't want to be bored! I can be intelligent sometimes. Interesting, too. Once, I actually ended up-"

Arthur decided to humor the boy, and put down his iPod. The story droned on, and when the bell rang, Arthur found he had neither been listening, nor keeping track of time. A question jarred him abruptly out of his fog.

"So, when are we going to meet up to work on this again?"

Arthur hadn't thought of that, and decided to reply with an "I don't know." He stood. "I'll talk to you later about it. Don't worry about doing anything tonight. I've got it covered."

As he walked out of the classroom, he noticed that despite looking as if he were 'friends' with Alfred, people weren't any less intimidated by him.

Arthur didn't want to admit that that actually hurt a bit.

Alfred clutched his cell-phone in his hand, a number on the screen. Just do it, he thought. He quickly pressed 'SEND'. Pressing the phone to his ear, the breath caught in his throat as he heard a 'hello?' on the other end of the line.

"Hi, Arthur?" His tone, much to his embarrassment, sounded a bit too hopeful.

There was a pause. "…Alfred?"

"Phew! Yeah, hi. I thought I dialed the wrong number for a minute." That was a lie. He would know that voice if he heard it through a fishbowl.

"You would. Why are you calling? There's nothing you would possibly need to know."

"Actually, there is. You want to meet me at the Starbucks on 5th?" Shit! Alfred didn't mean to say that. What was it about Arthur that made him lose control of his common decency? Not, he had to admit, that he had too much of that in the first place.

"What? Why?" The tone was defensive. Alfred could tell he was losing him.

"Just, there's a few things I want to clarify, and… and my phone is running out of minutes!" That was a lie too. He had an unlimited plan.

"Oh. Sure, I guess. When?"

Alfred thought, then replied with; "How about four-thirty?" That was in ten minutes. "It'd be easiest if I got the info sooner."

A tired sigh, then, "Alright, fine. See you there. Goodbye." The line went dead.

Another meeting with Alfred. Arthur could tell you, he was entirely displeased at the prospect. Yet, he was also a bit something else. He shook his head to clear the feeling. Pulling on his jacket, he walked out the door. He didn't bother to call his mum and tell her where he was going, since she wasn't even home. He got into his car and pulled out of the driveway.

Upon arrival, he noticed Alfred's dented car already in the parking-lot. He must live close.

Arthur walked inside, and Alfred waved him over. He already had a drink. Arthur sat down, for once looking at the face of the person across the table.

"What was it you wanted?"

Alfred mumbled a 'hold on' as he looked through something on a laptop he had brought with him.

Arthur gave a sigh. "I don't know why I bothered coming; I should have known it wouldn't be anything… important…" He trailed off, noticing Alfred's brow furrow at the screen. He was chewing absentmindedly on the straw in his drink, and making a curious face.

A chorus of curses went off in Arthur's brain, all directed at the sandy-haired boy with the bright blue eyes. Was he doing that on purpose? Don't be ridiculous. Of course he isn't, how could he know whether or not… Arthur stopped. Why the hell did he care anyways? He knew he wasn't gay, and he had only known Alfred personally for a few days. How did the boy managed to infuriate him beyond reason?

Finally, after a few terribly boring minutes dragged by, Alfred looked up and smiled.

An odd sensation spread itself through Arthur's body at the sight. What was he thinking? Was he going mad? Could he be falling for this obnoxious, immature, exasperating boy?

Of course not.

It must be the loads of caffeinated black tea and little-to-no sleep speaking.

"What am I here for?" He snapped.

"Oh, right…" A sheepish look was then expressed on Alfred's face. "Actually, I… don't really know."

Don't really know.

Something inside of Arthur snapped, most likely his patience, and he stood up angrily. "I'm leaving."

"Wha…? Wait…!" Alfred stood to chase after him, but he didn't notice.

When he got outside, he walked quickly to his car. Alfred was still following, shouting protests. Arthur was almost to his car when he stopped and whipped around, grabbing Alfred's shirt. The boy looked a bit frightened, but he could honestly care less. Still holding onto his shirt, he pressed his mouth to Alfred's.

Arthur had never been one to be too impulsive, although there was the occasional bit of spontaneity. This time however, was obviously a bit different. All his reservations seemed to disappear the longer he held the forceful kiss.

When he ran out of breath and realized people were beginning to stare, Arthur pulled away, shoving Alfred back. He supposed the other boy may be more than a bit horrified, but he didn't care. He had gotten what he wanted. He slammed the door of his car, and put the keys in the ignition.

Arthur would have just left Alfred be from that point on, but unfortunately, he always was one to get a bit possessive.