Alfred- Junior

Arthur- Senior

"We have to do what?"

"Oh, relax," Elizabeta said, waving Arthur off. "It's not like you have to go on a date or anything, it's just one dance."

Arthur's mouth hung open incredulously, and he spun around in his place to see if anyone else was as shocked and disgusted as he was. "Really?" he exclaimed. "None of you see anything wrong with this?"

"It's a fund-raiser," Emma sighed, appearing at Elizabeta's side. "Coach asked us to put one together and-"

"And this is what you came up with?" Arthur cried. Elizabeta tutted, her hands flying to her hips in irritation.

"If you don't want to participate you don't have to," she stated. "Though you will be letting down your entire team if you don't," she muttered as an afterthought.

Arthur pursed his lips and turned his nose into the air. "Easy for you to say, you're not the one being auctioned."

Kiku, who had remained fairly silent through Arthur's little tirade, despite looking extremely uncomfortable about the whole situation, finally spoke up. "Arthur does make a good point. Why is it just the males who would be, uh, auctioned off? Why are the women not going to participate?"

"Because that would be sexist," Mai giggled with a grin. Arthur furrowed his brow.

"Now you wait just a tick-"

Across the room, Francis clapped his hands enthusiastically. "Well," he exclaimed, "I think it is tres magnifique! What better gift for our team to give the singles on the day of l'amour than moi?""

"Yeah!" Alfred chirped in agreement, to Arthur's horror. "It's just like, one dance, right? I think it'll be fun! Plus, it'll cool to help out people who are lonely on Valentine's Day!"

Thankfully, there were a few other guys that didn't seem entirely thrilled to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, but there were enough excited about the idea that the girls brightened and started describing the event to the rest of the team.

"The girls will handle everything else about the dance," Angelique explained. "We got decorations, food, music, posters, tickets, everything! All you guys have to do is show up, look nice, and dance nicely with whoever buys you."

"And please do not show up drunk," Katyusha reminded everyone timidly. Gilbert groaned somewhere in the room. "We don't need the track team getting a bad reputation."

Elizabeta held some papers above her head in order to get attention once again. "Okay, if you're going to do the auction, come over here and fill out this biography, we'll read it when you are up. Be. Appropriate," she snapped, her eyes flying automatically to Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio. "I mean it! Oh, and if you want to let your whole team down, go meet up with Kat and Nat, they'll have stuff you can help with. Everyone has to help with something!"

Arthur rolled his eyes, turning and walking immediately in the direction of the Braginski sisters. There was no way he was going to get himself wrapped up in that mess. Not a chance. Hopefully there was still a spot open helping with decorations- or better yet, bringing food.

"Artie!" Alfred exclaimed, suddenly blocking Arthur's path. "You're not gonna get auctioned?"

"Of course not," Arthur huffed, trying and failing to get around his obnoxiously energetic roommate. He blushed despite himself when all he was met with was well-muscled chest for his efforts. "It's demoralizing and archaic. Besides," he trailed off, "no one would bid on me anyway, so why face that humiliation?"

Alfred's handsome face immediately fell, his eyes widening comically. "What? Dude! Of course you'll get bid on!" Arthur scoffed. "No, seriously dude!" Alfred insisted, "I can think of like, ten girls off the top of my head that would totally bid on you!"

"Name one."

"Oh. Uh..."

"That's what I thought."

Alfred quickly jumped in Arthur's way once again, holding his hands up to block him. "Wait! Uh, Myrtle!"

Arthur blinked. "Myrtle?" he asked, deadpan. "Myrtle who?"

"...Moaning?"

"Oh bloody hell, get out of my way. Hopefully Katyusha still needs someone to bring sweets."

Alfred's face morphed into compete (and totally unnecessary) horror. "Wait what? Hold up a second there, bro!" He jumped in front of him yet once again. "Are you sure you don't wanna be auctioned off? I really, really think that would be the best course of action here."

Arthur's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I am not auctioning myself off. Now, please move out of my way. Thank you."

Alfred reluctantly scampered off, much to Arthur's relief; the boy had been an absolute nightmare lately. He wasn't sure if it was just because Valentine's Day was coming up and the fates decided to remind Arthur of what he would never have or what, but Alfred was everywhere and anywhere lately. It seemed like wherever Arthur turned, Alfred was there being loud, obnoxious, and ridiculously perfect and handsome and it was really starting to grate on his nerves.

When he finally reached Katyusha and Natalia, the younger of the the sisters was glowering at the small group of males around them while Katyusha seemed to be talking animatedly with a blushing Matthew.

"I really think you should do it!" she was chirping. "The girls would be falling over themselves for a chance to dance with you!"

"No one even knows who I am!" Matthew argued frantically, his face a bright, florescent red.

"Do not be silly." Katyusha shook her head, grabbing Matthew by the shoulders and spinning him in the direction of Elizabeta. "Вперед! Go!"

Matthew groaned miserably as they passed each other and Arthur offered him a sympathetic smile. Across the room, Alfred whooped in joy and engulfed his brother in a crushing hug.

Arthur shook his head and approached the girls with a sigh. "Hello ladies, anything I can help you with? Snacks, perhaps?"

Katyusha coughed politely into her hands. "A-actually I think we are okay with food, Arthur. Natalia needs help with decorations though! Don't you, sister? Don't you need help?"

Natalia crossed her arms across her chest. "Whatever. All I really care about is dancing with big brother."

"S-see? Wont decorations be fun?"

Arthur wasn't about to argue that yes, Natalia certainly needed a very good deal of help, but that was neither the time or the place so he simply sighed with a nod. "Yes, I suppose they will be. What do you need assistance with?"

O

If nothing else, at least Arthur knew that the flowers would look bloody brilliant at the dance.

He had only been given a small budget, so red roses like he had planned had been out of the question, but thankfully the flower shop had a sale on red and pink carnations, and while they weren't exactly the most romantic of flowers, at least he was able to get enough of them to make a decently decorated room.

Throw in a few bags of $1 fake rose petals to spread over the food table, and Arthur thought he did a bang-up job, indeed.

"Oh Arthur, these are lovely!" Elizabeta gushed. "Did you see the table, Lili? Doesn't it look pretty?"

"Very pretty," the younger girl agreed, placing a plate of pink-frosted sugar cookies next to a beautifully crafted vase of carnations. "You did a very good job, Arthur."

Arthur allowed himself to enjoy his praise for a bit as he circled the rented-out activity room to check on his flowers. He checked his watch, noting that the rest of the team would be showing up shortly, and took a deep breath. In all actuality, there was no reason for him to be nervous; his job was complete, the room looked beautiful, and once the students started to arrive, he was essentially allowed to relax.

But there was still something weighing on his chest.

Namely, a certain roommate of his that was being auctioned that night.

When Arthur left the apartment, Alfred had still been standing in front of the mirror, trying to get his cowlick to join the rest of his hair and failing spectacularly, looking dreadfully handsome in his dress shirt and tie.

"I don't think that one lock of hair is going to be enough for someone to decide they don't want you anymore, Alfred."

The boy's eyes met his in the reflection of the mirror, and Arthur couldn't help but smile at the adorable little pout that graced the younger's lips. "Dude, it looks like I have an antenna."

"You always look like you have an antenna."

"Shut up." He spun around and held his hands out at his sides, an imploring look on his face. "Ignoring that, how do I look?"

Amazing, gorgeous, like the most attractive man I've ever seen? His mind supplied for him, but those thoughts were quickly banished to the area reserved especially for Alfred-related thoughts. "Very nice," he decided on. He bit his lip and turned to the door to hide the blush he knew was creeping up his neck. "Just make sure you are there by 6:30!" he snapped.

"Got it! See ya there!"

And it was currently 6:37 and Alfred had yet to make his arrival.

Roderich had taken the stage to set up his equipment, having been talked into playing DJ by Elizabeta, so little snippets of very non-Roderich songs started playing periodically though the speakers. Lovino and Feliciano had already hit the refreshment table, only to be chased away by Lili, and Kiku and Yao had taken the first shift at the ticket table under the watchful eye of Monique.

"Young Alfred is going to be here tonight, oui?"

Arthur groaned, cursing to himself and turning to face the frog with a scowl. "As far as I know."

"Good, he is sure to be our biggest sale, after all," Francis replied with a smile. "After moi of course."

Arthur pursed his lips. He knew what Francis was trying to do and it wasn't going to work. He wasn't going to be jealous that the entire student body would soon be bidding for Alfred's affections. He wasn't going to be jealous that one of them was going to get to hold his hands, that one of them would get to sway rhythmically with him in time to a slow, romantic love song. On Valentine's Day.

Nope, none of that was going to make him jealous at all.

"Is there something you want, Bonnefoy?" he snapped. Francis grinned.

"Oui! I just wanted to remind you that the auction is open for all members of the student body."

Arthur scoffed. "Honestly? I am well aware th-"

"Including the members of the track team." At Arthur's silence, the Frenchman winked and waved him goodbye, wishing him au revoir as he crossed the dance floor to join Gilbert and Antonio.

Arthur huffed, shoving his hands into the pocket of his trousers- and pulling out a crisp fifty dollar bill that definitely hadn't been there a minute ago.

Damn that frog to hell.

O

Alfred and Matthew arrived together at about five until seven, Matthew a nervous wreck and Alfred looking more than a little ruffled with his brother's wrist in his own iron grip. There was probably some hilarious shenanigans that he would have to ask Alfred about later, but for now, he wouldn't think about that.

The guests were beginning to arrive and Roderich had an upbeat song playing over the speakers, encouraging people to hit the dance floor. To everyone's surprise, Lili was the first one out there, dragging her less than thrilled brother Vash to join her, and as Elizabeta skipped around the room, reminding people of the upcoming auction in T-minus one hour, more and more people were running out to join the fun.

"Wow Artie, this place looks great!"

Arthur jumped, spinning to face to Alfred who seemed to have materialized behind him. "Ah, yes. Thank you," he sputtered out, painfully aware of the money sitting heavily in his pocket. "You've cleaned up well." More than well, but that was beside the point.

Alfred blushed lightly and ran a hand self-consciously through his hair. "Yeah, I gave up on my cowlick. Mattie would have ruined anything I did with myself anyway," he laughed. "He's fine now, but I had to physically pick up him and carry him across campus to get him here."

Arthur chuckled, glancing at Matthew talking pleasantly with Gilbert and Francis across the room. "Any reason why he was so nervous?"

"Nah, who knows? Probably nervous about the auction. I keep telling him he's gonna be fine!" Alfred bit his lip and looked at Arthur from the corner of his eye. "You would have been fine too, ya know."

Arthur flushed, not even realizing why something as silly and insignificant like that could get him blushing like a school girl. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you are trying to sell me off," he snickered, trying his hardest to keep his voice cool and even.

Alfred smirked, taking a swig from his cup of punch and causally tossing it in the garbage. "I told you already, Artie. I want to make sure no one is lonely on Valentine's Day."

Arthur could any gape as he walked away, wondering just what was going on in that boy's head.

O

Everyone directed their attention to the stage as the music was cut off and Elizabeta tapped on the microphone to test it. Emma stood next to her, giggling and holding the biographies of the guys to be auctioned to her chest.

"Hey everyone!" Elizabeta chirped into the microphone. "It's the moment you've all been waiting for!"

People cheered as a large group began to form at the front of the stage, digging around through pockets and purses to see how much of a spending limit they would have for the night.

Elizabeta waited for the excited whispered to calm down before speaking again. "Okay, so here's the deal! We'll start the bidding at one dollar and go up by one dollar for each bid, unless someone bids otherwise. You'll have three chances at the end of each bid, and if you win, you get your guy for one dance and once dance only." She grinned. "Unless, of course, you both wanna take it further!"

There were a few distinct cheers and claps at that, and Arthur blanched to himself in disgust.

"Alright guys, come up on stage when I call your name, okay?" Emma handed Elizabeta a paper. "First up is Lovino Vargas!"

There were a few half-hearted claps as the angry little Italian walked up to the stage, the look on his face making it completely obvious to everyone that this was the last thing he wanted to be doing. At the front of the stage, Feliciano and Antonio cheered enthusiastically.

"Lovino is a long and triple jumper who joins us all the way from the beautiful country of Italia!" Elizabeta began, reading off of Lovino's bio. "He is a -cough- real Italian Stallion, and would like to tell the audience today that he likes his lovers like he likes his pizza: hot, round, and covered in tomato sauce." Elizabeta blinked and raised an amused eyebrow in Lovino's direction, but the Italian was looking rather like a tomato himself.

A tomato bent on murder.

"THIS IS WHAT YOU WRITE ABOUT ME, HUH?" he exclaimed, pointing a menacing finger directly at his brother.

Feliciano flinched away and held his hands up in surrender. "But big brother! You asked me to write out a biography for you and you told me to make it sound like something you would say but you didn't tell me what you wanted to say so I just had to come up with something on the spot! And you like pizza don't you, bother? I know you do!"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN SAY THINGS LIKE THAT, STUPIDO!"

"Ahh! I'm sorry, please forgive me!"

Elizabeta cleared her throat and smiled weakly to the audience, who, to their credit, didn't seemed phased at all at the Vargas brother's antics. "Anyway. Can we start the bidding at one dollar?"

"One dollar!" exclaimed Antonio. Elizabeta beamed.

"We have one dollar! Do we have two dollars?"

"Two dollars!"

"Ah, Antonio," Emma giggled, "You don't have to bid again if you already have the current bid!"

"Two dollars!" Elizabeta continued. "Do we have three?"

"Three!"

"Three dollars! For... Antonio. Again."

"Seven!"

"Stupido idiota!" Lovino exclaimed, "Don't bid against yourself!"

"Twelve!"

Finally, Elizabeta jumped into action. "We have twelve dollars! Going once, going twice, SOLD! Thank you, Antonio!"

Antonio skipped up on stage and gathered up his "winnings" into his arms before dragging him kicking and screaming into the crowd. Arthur followed them with his eyes as they passed and shook his head; they would be making out in ten minutes, tops.

Elizabeta continued through the list with pretty much the expected results; Berwald intimidated anyone else out of trying to bid on Tino, Elizabeta forced Roderich on stage and offered him out to 'all those lonely gentlemen out there' before ultimately buying him herself, Gilbert ended up with a rather unsightly young woman with a mullet, and in a rather heartwarming change of events, Katyusha won Matthew with a twenty dollar bill and a whole lot of blushing on both ends.

Both Francis and Feliciano earned a(n unfairly) good bit of money for the team, as did Ludwig and Ivan, surprisingly, though the later in a completely unwanted victory to his little sister, and before Arthur even had enough time to mentally prepare himself, Emma was announcing it was time for the last bid of the night, Mr. Alfred F. Jones.

It really shouldn't have bothered Arthur that an excited hum rushed over the crowd of people as Alfred shyly took the stage and waved. It shouldn't have mattered to him at all that there was a distinct ruffle of people holding money at the ready, and throats were being cleared to be prepared when the big moment came.

It should't have. But it really kind of did.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen!" Elizabeta crooned into the microphone. "Alfred here is a 400 runner from the big apple! He enjoys long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners (at McDonalds)-" the crowd giggled, "and cuddling up on the couch with a scary movie or super hero action flick. He likes to think of himself as a hero in fact, and hopes to find that special damsel in distress here tonight! Give it up for Alfred!"

Alfred was grinning from ear to ear as the audience whooped and cheered, obviously nervous and excited at this whole thing. Arthur scoffed.

"Okay," Elizabeta continued, "can I get one dollar?"

"One!"

"We have one! Can I get two?"

"Two!"

"Three!

"Five!"

"We have five! Do I hear a six?"

"Six!"

"Seven!"

"Seven fifty!"

"Fifteen!"

Elizabeta beamed, pointing frantically to each bidder. "Fifteen! We have fifteen! Can we make it twenty?"

"Twenty!"

"Twenty! Do I have twenty-five?"

"Twenty-five!"

The battled seemed to settle between a pair of girls Arthur had seen around campus but never knew, and honestly, from the look of them, he was extremely grateful for that. They looked like twats; not even close to the kind of girl that Alfred should associate himself with.

"Forty-five dollars!" rang out a new voice suddenly. Proud, strong, and... French?

The room collectively turned their heads to the corner of the room where Francis stood, a wad of twenties in his outstretched fist. Arthur could only gawk as he walked across the floor and stood directly at his side, calm and cool and completely in control.

"What do you think you're doing, you git?" Arthur hissed under his breath.

"What does it look like, mon ami?" he replied easily, like the arrogant idiot he was. "I am bidding for a dance with Monsieur Jones."

Elizabeta and Alfred's eyes were both wide at the sudden addition to the battle, but like a champ, Elizabeta cleared her throat and carried on. "Forty-five dollars!" she exclaimed. "Do I have forty-six?"

The room was deathly quiet. Arthur was fairly certain he could hear Lovino and Antonio making out behind the refreshment table. It was rather disturbing.

"Okay... Forty-five it is! Going once?" Elizabeta asked. Oh god, the frog was really going to win that dance, wasn't he? "Going twice? S-"

"FIFTY DOLLARS."

Bloody hell, that was his own voice, wasn't it?

If the room was quiet before, it was downright silent now, but despite the uncomfortableness, Arthur held his head high. It wasn't like he wanted a dance with Alfred or anything, after all. He just wanted the frog to keep his slimy hands off of him. Because they were mates. And mates look after each other like that. Quite.

And he wasn't going to think about the fact he was falling right into that frog's plan, either.

"We have fifty!" Elizabeta exclaimed excitedly, though whether it was from making so much money or because it was Arthur that was bidding on Alfred, Arthur didn't want to know. "Do we have fifty-five?"

"Fifty-five."

There was a collective gasp as Francis held his hand in the air once again. Arthur's eyes narrowed challengingly.

"Sixty," he spat back.

"Sixty-five."

"Seventy!"

Blue eyes met green in a heated stare-down, neither party willing to back down. Francis's lips twitched into a small smile.

"Seventy-five."

"Eighty!"

"Eighty-five."

"ONE HUNDRED."

Even the very air that they were all breathing managed to still, all eyes on Arthur Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland, who was now turning a ghostly white as reality was sinking in.

Francis held up his hands in surrender. "That is too rich for my blood, mon cher," he chuckled.

Arthur's entire face bloomed from white to red in a single heartbeat, and a quick glance to Alfred proved that his face was currently doing the same.

"SOLD!" Elizabeta cried, holding Alfred's arm up in the air in victory. "To Arthur Kirkland, for one hundred dollars!"

Oh bugger.

O

Roderich just managed to put on a slow and romantic song before being dragged off the stage as the other guys and their respective winners started matching up.

Francis brushed by Arthur with a small chuckle and smile and pat him on the shoulder. "I would have given him to you even if I did win, you know," he laughed, gesturing to the attractive young lady hanging off his arm. "I already had a partner, after all."

And Arthur probably would have killed him, if not for the nervous cough behind him stealing his attention.

"So, uh, I guess you won me, huh Artie?"

Arthur blushed, biting his lip and turing slowly to meet his fate, thankful Alfred seemed to be just as nervous and awkward as he was.

"Though I gotta say, I think you got ripped off. My dancing is seriously not worth a hundred bucks."

Arthur shook his head, managing a short laugh of his own. "You know me, couldn't let the cheese-monkey win." Alfred laughed, breaking the tension a bit, to Arthur's relief. "We don't have to dance you know," he sighed, against his not-so-better judgment. "I'll still have to pay Elizabeta of course, but if you wanted to just pass on the dancing, I wouldn't-"

"No! I mean- aw shit."

Arthur chuckled despite himself, fully aware that his face was probably positively glowing. "Why Mr. Jones, are you asking me to dance?" he teased, because it was easier than letting his real emotions show.

Alfred laughed a bit too loudly and ran a hand through his hair. "Well you kinda paid for it and everything..."

"More like will be paying for it ten dollars a week for five weeks, but close enough, I suppose."

Alfred grinned, holding out his hand for Arthur to take. "Well, what do ya say?"

Arthur smiled in return, for once relishing in the tingles touching Alfred's hand sent throughout his body rather than suppressing them. "Only because it's Valentine's Day."

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! For some reason this chapter was really tough for me, which is silly because I've been to like 3 of these auction off track guy dances. XD Plus it didn't help that IT WOULDN'T END. Oh my gosh, this thing just kept going! XD

So I think the next chapter will be going waaay back in time a bit to Alfred and Arthur's first meeting. :D No clue WHEN that will be up, but keep an eye out for it! ;)

Hope you enjoyed this everybody! Keep up all the wonderful reviews, you guys don't even know how much I love them and love all of you!
-Car