The A-Z Club Chapter Five
Warnings: swearing, suggestion of casual sex, some other stuff, probably.
Monday morning, and Arthur had surprised himself by being on time for school without having Francis to drag him out of bed. He wasn't entirely sure whose bed he was in, actually, but he was acutely aware of the figure sleeping next to him. His head hurt, and it was far too early to effectively function. He climbed out of bed and started to pull his clothes on, thankful that Francis's mother had washed them on Friday night. The machine in his own home had been broken for nearly a year. All his clothes looked the same, anyway. A darkly coloured t-shirt over a long sleeved one, usually they had some kind of a band stamped over them. Jeans, always jeans. If it was cold he'd wear a plaid shirt and his coat, if it was warm he'd go without. It was simple and effective wardrobe, paired with his trusty biker boots, he was prepared for anything. The jeans he wore today were loose, so he stole a belt from the wardrobe of the sleeping man. Unfortunately, the only belt he had was bright pink, which wasn't Arthur's favourite colour to wear to school. The only other option was to wear the tight pair Francis had got him for his birthday. But those jeans left nothing to the imagination and were sparkly and encrusted with rhinestones because as sophisticated as Francis claimed to be, he was actually incredibly tacky. They used to dress up in feather boas and their mothers's lipstick, after all. Arthur hoped the pink belt would look laid-back and I-don't-give-a-fuck.
It took a lot of fucks to not give a fuck.
88
"Kirkland!" Phillips yelled, almost as soon as he walked through the main entrance. Arthur smiled.
"How can I help you, sir?" Arthur said, as cheerfully as he could muster on a cold Monday morning without any tea in his system.
"My office, now." Phillips said. Arthur followed him, wondering at first what he possibly could have done already. Oh yes - he'd forgotten about finishing his detention.
Arthur turned into Phillips's office. He was shocked to see the actual Principal stood in the corner, hands behind his back. Phillips he could handle, he could enrage, because Phillips was all bark and utterly ineffectual. Principal Harris, on the other hand, was not.
"You're in for it now." Phillips hissed in his ear, shutting the door behind them.
"Sit down, Mr. Kirkland." the Principal said. Arthur sat.
"I expect you know why you're here, Mr Kirkland."
"Yes, Principal Harris."
"And why do you think that is?"
"I left detention early."
"And?"
"I'm not entirely sure." Arthur says.
"Your attitude and behaviour are unacceptable, Mr Kirkland. You don't take anything seriously. We've given you chance after chance. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Arthur stared into Harris's cold grey eyes.
"No retort, Kirkland?" Phillips said.
"I thought it was a rhetorical question."
"You can't speak to me like that." Harris said. "Who do you think you are?"
"With all due respect, sir, I was talking to Mr Phillips 'like that'."
Phillips was turning purple.
Harris sighed. "I'm beginning to regret my decision, Kirkland. But since I've already made it, I'll keep to it. We - well, I, have decided to give you one last chance. A toe out of line, no, a hair, one more failed grade, one more detention, a cut class, an angry teacher - you are gone from this school, Do you understand?"
"Perfectly." Arthur said. Phillips looked annoyed by this ultimatum. Arthur would have to make sure his final show was a good one. But it had to wait until after Christmas, at least. Until then, he had to be on his best behaviour.
88
Arthur didn't like Alfred's house. It was nice enough but it was too big, too clean, and too white. Well, it was really more of an ivory colour than pure white...He did not feel as though he should be walking around in such a place. Even Francis's house had a distinctive home-like feel to it, something more lived in, less show-room.
"Want a drink of anything?" Alfred said, leading them to the kitchen. "We've got coke, water, coffee, orange juice, milk..."
"Can I just have water, please." Arthur said, interrupting Alfred before he could list the entire contents of his refrigerator.
"Sure." Alfred said, taking out a coke for himself and handing Arthur a bottle of mineral water.
"Your house is nice." Arthur said, for lack of anything better to say as they walked up the stairs. Alfred made a disgusted sound.
"It's ridiculous. Mom occasionally has these fits of like, uncontrollable boredom and she redecorates as much of the house she can get her hands on. Except my room." Alfred said.
Alfred's room was neater than Arthur thought it would be. Neater than any teenage boy's room should be. The walls were a deep blue, like the curtains and the bedspread was striped deep blue and light blue. It was a large room with a lot of books and a big desk, a television and game system facing a small couch, like a mini living room.
"I like it." Arthur said, looking at Alfred just in time to see Alfred shove something quickly into a closet.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Was it porn?"
"No, Arthur. Ew." Alfred said, he was blushing. Arthur grinned.
"It was porn, wasn't it? Don't worry. You don't have to lie to me." Arthur said, laughing as Alfred backed up against the closet door so he couldn't get past.
"It's not porn. It's private." Alfred said. "I forgot to put it away."
"Is it -" Arthur began, but Alfred looked a bit put out. He decided not to tease the kid any further. "Don't worry, if it's private. I shouldn't pry."
"You can't tell anyone." Alfred said. "Only Mattie knows."
"I won't breathe a word."
Alfred opened the closet.
"It's a blanket. That I sleep with, sometimes. And a stuffed alien."
The blanket was a fleecy, colourful one with Captain America on it, and the alien was weird looking and grey.
"Why did you hide it?"
"It's childish. Dad thinks so, anyway. I bet no-one else has this sort of thing."
"Alfred, I bet half the kids at school have some sort comfort thing." Arthur said.
"Do you?"
"No." Arthur lied. "But I know people who do, for a fact."
Alfred put his blanket and alien back in the closet and looked down at his feet. Arthur almost felt bad for lying.
"Is that a telescope? Do you use it to spy on your neighbours?" Arthur said, noticing it and attempting to steer the conversation away from the blanket.
"No! I just like space." Alfred said. "All if it, moons and planets and black holes, and stars, I used to have glow in the dark star stickers, all on my ceiling. But I threw them out when I stated high school. I wish I hadn't."
"Space." Arthur said. Alfred nodded, without a question.
"I'm nerdy jock." Alfred said. "I even want -"
He cut himself off, it was a stupid thing to tell Arthur. They were barely even friends, and he hasn't told anyone.
"Want what?"
"Don't laugh." Alfred said, sighing. Arthur hadn't made fun of him about the blanket.
"Okay."
"Promise."
"I won't laugh at you, Alfred. I promise."
"I wanna be an astronaut. I know it's stupid, like something a kindergartener would say but I've always wanted it. My dad wants me to get a sports scholarship and then play professionally, and that would be cool and all but I don't know many NFL players that astronauts on the side, you know?" Alfred said. He looked up at Arthur.
"It isn't stupid." Arthur said. "It's good to have goals."
Alfred smiled at him. "You're not as scary as I thought you were."
You don't know the half of it, Arthur thought.
"Shouldn't we get started?" He said instead.
"Alright-y. What exactly about history do you hate? Is it the revolutionary war, because I can totally see why, I mean we kicked your ass and..."
"We're studying the Civil War." Arthur said.
"Ok, so the civil war was a war, and it's not what I thought it was, like I thought it was a war that was fought really civilly, all polite and stuff. But it's not that, it's actually..."
"Alfred, I know what a civil war is. I'm just not good at studying." Arthur said.
a/n: thank you to those who followed and read the last chapter :)
Please review and save a stuffed alien's life. From the wild.