Sitting at the foot of his bed with a costly cigar between his fingers Arthur stared at the Green Day poster on the wall. He just loved the main guy's pants. He put out the cigar and watched the smoke flow softly. "Shit, I forgot to do my homework." Arthur flew out of bed and grabbed his backpack only to find an empty cigarette box. "Oh joy, I'm out of smokes too," Arthur groaned sarcastically. "This is a bad time."

The butler cracked the door open and peeked though, "Sir, Alfred is on the phone." The butler pasted him a small cell phone. Arthur sprung to the phone and silently thanked his butler. "I'll leave you then," He smiled and left the room.

"Arthur, Arthur, Arthur! Guess what?" Alfred shouted joyously from the other end.

"What, what is it Alfred?" There were some strange squeals in the background that Arthur couldn't understand.

"Ma got an effing huge pay raise and Mattie and I are getting paid to do stuff around the house," Alfred sang into the phone. He was cheerful and most likely dancing around. "Isn't that amazing?"

Arthur smiled, "That's wonderful!" Arthur heard his name screamed from somewhere downstairs. He sighed, knowing the scream belonged to the bastard of a father. "Alfred, I have to go, love you." Closing the small red cell phone he could hear his name being screamed a second time.

Grumbling under his breath he went to his father. A black wall phone lay torn and broken at his father's feet. Mr. Kirtland was red with anger as he glared at his son.

"Do you know what that call was about? Well do you?" He yelled, kicking a part of the phone at him for emphasis. "I lost the business! All of it! Gone!" Mr. Kirtland screamed loudly, slamming a fist onto his desk.

Arthur flinched and took a step back away from his father. He looked down at the phone with understanding, "But, how? I thought it was going well." Arthur said, not daring to even look at his father.

Mr. Kirtland laughed, "Well? Doing well? Stupid twit, it's been going downhill ever since we left home. I hope you're proud of yourself! You've finally ruined me." Mr. Kirtland said, no longer yelling but instead shaking with anger. Arthur did feel somewhat happy; happy that this man was finally getting what has been coming to him. Arthur struggled not to smile in front of his father. "You're going to love this then, I'm disowning you as soon as you're out of high school, then I'm going home."

"That day won't come soon enough." With that last few words Arthur boldly gave a smirk and returned to his room after stealing the cook's cigarettes.

Alfred joined his mother in a dance. Matthew and Gilbert watched from the couch, smiling and laughing. Rock music from the late 80's played loudly. Miss. Jones spun around with the raise written on some off white paper. "I'm treating you all to dinner tonight, even you freaky albino guy!"

-The next day/school-

"Hey, Arthur? Why did you hang up on me yesterday?" Alfred whispered during their one class together.

Arthur frowned, "Oh, it was nothing really. My father just wanted to yell at me, nothing new." He wasn't ready to tell him everything yet, it was still too soon. He was also having a really strong craving for a smoke, it was causing him to fidget; tapping the toe of his foot, chewing the tip of his pen, and rocking his chair. Alfred, being as clueless as he is, didn't notice all the strange behaviors.

Arthur was so glad he stole that new pack, it was going to have to last him the whole week. It was driving him crazy. He wouldn't have to be limited if it wasn't for two things; the cook was trying to quit, and the butler stole his fake I.D.

"Hey, what movie do you want to see Friday?" Alfred asked with a playful smiled.

Alfred smiled back. "I don't care, Season of the Witch maybe," Arthur said, remembering seeing a preview for it on TV.

Alfred laughed, "That dose sound like your type of movie. So we'll meet at the foot of the stairs after school and go straight there. Then you can come home with me and have a nice home cooked meal." Alfred gave another smile, a joking wink, and a sweet casual touch of the very tips of their fingers.

"If we weren't in class right now I would kiss you."

-Meanwhile-

"Alright you jerk wads. I'd like to have a talk with you all," Number 23 said, his fingers folded together under his chin. Number 19, 11, the two others who had help beat up Arthur, and the rest of the team sat around him. Number 14 fidgeted around in his seat. "I'm really disappointed in you guys, treating poor Arthur like that. I hate to break it to you but they're going to date no matter what you do to them." Number 23 was gay too, so when he found out about what they had done he was more than angry.

"You're right. We were stupid for treating them like that." Number 11 said while looking down. "Number 19 and I will make it up to them." The team left one after another until only Number 23 and 14 were left.

"That was really nice of you. Thanks for sticking up for Arthur," Number 14 blushed lightly and fidgeted with his shirt.

Number 23 smiled at him before taking his hand. "Well, I had to. After all, I want them to accept us." He kissed the top of the other's hand.

Number 14's blush reached the top of his ears. Number 23 then kissed Number 14 softly on the lips, cupping his cheek. "You're so sweet, I love you," He said, blushing and hugging his boyfriend.

Arthur walked to his next class. Francis slapped his butt as he was walking by which caused him to drop all his things. To make matters worse he could see Number 11 and 19 coming his way.

Number 19 kneeled down and helped to pick up the things off the floor. Standing, he handed them back to Arthur. "Hey, can we talk please?" Number 11 asked, holding a book to his chest.

Arthur glared at them, not wanting to be tricked again.

"Please, we wanted to tell you we're sorry," Number 19 said shamefully.

Arthur glared at them again, "Sorry! Sorry for tricking me! For beating me up, making me think Alfred hated me, for being such awful people?" Arthur growled, balling his hands up. They both looked down at their feet. "I'll tell you what! After the freaky German saved me I went to Alfred's house and he kissed me! We even skipped that dance to have a date! So you're sorry, well-"

"Please, we're sorry. We even want you to start sitting at our table. You can even have Number 14's spot, right next to Alfred." Number 11 said.

Arthur's glare eased up at Alfred's name. "Really, you swear?"

"Yes, we swear! And if that creepy French dude messes with you just let us know. We'll teach him a thing or two" He punched the palm of his hand.