Hello all of you lovely readers out there who are lucky *cough* enough to read my story!
Arthur arrived back home as quickly as he could, trying to distance himself from his obnoxious younger brother and that insufferable cousin if his. The nerve of those two, really! They had the audacity to suggest that he, a refined gentleman, would have inappropriate feelings for Miss Laurinaté. And when he defended himself, they were impudent enough to say that he wasn't mature enough to have more than a silly little infatuation!
Given, he had called the Lithuanian woman "love" once or twice, but back home, that was a very acceptable informal greeting. It wasn't as if he didn't find Viktorija unattractive, either. She was a very fetching creature, and Arthur was pretty sure one would have to be dead not to recognize that. She also seemed to be very sweet from what the Englishman could tell, very agreeable…
But his thoughts digress, back to why the American and the frog were complete idiots. Arthur, immature? Please, Alfred tests video games for a living and Francis hasn't had a stable relationship since…well, ever actually. Reading fantasy novels doesn't make one immature. He just happens to like that genre. The various articles of clothing that have unicorns on them were gifts from his grandmother, which he happened to love very much. Turning down one of her gifts would break the poor old woman's heart.
Arthur fumed as he very nearly stomped to the kitchen. A nice cup of tea would probably calm him down. He almost threw the kettle on the stove and slammed cupboards shut as he looked for the tea(which he happened to overlook once, making him even angrier).
He leaned against the counter as he waited for the water to boil, taking deep breaths. He had noted that the cupboards seemed a bit bare. He should probably inform Alfred of this so he would give that poor girl some grocery money sometime soon. It was no fun trying to make meals out of nothing, Arthur knew.
The Englishman made a mental shopping list as he walked to his bedroom. After changing into a pair of unicorn covered pajama bottoms(a gift from his grandmother, mind you) and a grey t-shirt, Arthur grabbed a pen and paper to take with him back to the kitchen. Once there, he found he had a bit more time than anticipated to write down what he wanted for groceries as he realized he forgot to turn the stove on to heat the water. The blonde sighed as he did so, having calmed down greatly since he first stormed in. Speaking of which, shouldn't he's bumbling brother be home by now?
"Hey, Iggy! You home?"
Speak of the devil…
"In here Alfred," Arthur called a bit tiredly, and the American materialized in the doorway.
…and the devil shall appear.
"You okay bro? You looked pretty pissed when you left."
"Well, bro," the older man said, pouring the hot water into a mug, "You and our delightful cousin certainly hadn't done anything to provoke my foul mood. I do believe that my current demeanor is due, in fact, to the overdone fish I had the displeasure of eating at dinner."
"Are you being sarcastic?" Alfred said. He continued after his brother scoffed, "Well it wouldn't have mattered anyway, I didn't understand, like, half of what you said. Look dude, I'm sorry that your first day here wasn't exactly the best, but-"
"My day was perfectly fine," Arthur remarked, "It was dinner that was a total fiasco."
The American took a moment to process what had been said. Apparently, "fiasco" wasn't grade school vocabulary here in the states.
"Didn't you hide in your room all day?" he eventually replied after a silence long enough for Arthur's tea to finish steeping.
"Perhaps that's how I prefer to spend my time."
"Being alone with a freakin' book?"
"Maybe," Arthur replied coolly, taking a sip of his tea, "Oh, and you might want to restock on groceries. The kitchen seems to be getting awfully low on food."
And with that, the Englishman took his tea and his shopping list to his bedroom, which he didn't emerge from until the following morning.
When he did, he found himself to still be a bit exhausted. But he pulled himself out of bed at a more reasonable time this morning. He had to get used to it by next Wednesday, after all. So Arthur Kirkland, unicorn-pajama-bottoms clad and sleepy eyed, stumbled into the slightly less harsh morning light of the pure white living room, unaware of his severe behead at eight-thirty in the morning.
"Good morning, Dr. Kirkland," the same, cheerful voice from the day before greeted,
"Would you like some breakfast."
"I'll think I'll make it myself, thank you Miss Laurinaté," he replied, giving what could only be interpreted as a very groggy smile. The brunette smiled back, much more genuinely, making Arthur feel a bit guilty at his half-assed attempt at facial expressions.
He wandered into the kitchen, finding that the kettle was already filled with hot water. He was very grateful of this, mostly because it would mean less waiting time for his precious tea, which was basically his lifeblood at this point in the day. Arthur managed to find the bread and work out how to use the toaster before his tea was ready. He turned to slump against the counter, only now becoming aware that Viktorija had followed him and was standing in the doorway, hands clasped in front of her, looking as if she were awaiting orders.
"Can I help you find anything, Dr. Kirkland?" she asked, eager to do something.
"Er-is there any strawberry jam around here, perchance?" he hesitated.
His eyes had widened as he slowly processed the situation. Him. Embarrassing pajamas. Bed head. Couldn't figure the damn toaster for three minutes. Viktorija. Watching the entire time. 'Well bloody done.'
"Here you are," the brunette chirped, presenting a small jar of deep red fruit preserves. She smiled so sweetly that Arthur took a moment to realize that she was talking to him.
"Oh, um thank you," he replied, chuckling a bit nervously, "Ah, tell me, Miss Laurinaté where is Alfred?"
"Mr. Jones leaves everyday for work at around eight o'clock."
Arthur nodded, taking a longer than normal sip of his tea.
"If you won't be needing me for a couple hours, Dr. Kirkland, I have to go grocery shopping today," Viktorija said after a long silence.
"Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to accompany you," Arthur said, having finished putting jam on his toast, "There are a few things that I would like to get that are probably not to my brother's tastes."
"Oh, I wouldn't mind. You're welcome to join me then, I suppose," she replied timidly, "We'll leave when ever you're ready, Dr. Kirkland."
Arthur took a bite of his toast as he watched her go, chewing slowly as he though over what had just happened. 'It wasn't inappropriate to offer to go grocery shopping with her, was it? No matter, what's done is done.'
The Englishman quickly finished his breakfast and changed into a tan sweater and a pair of jeans before trying to put his hair into some kind of order.
'I swear to God,' he thought, 'Father must have had horrible hair to manage, because he's passed it down to all of his children.'
Finally giving up on his ever-messy blonde mop, Arthur went out into the sitting room, where he found Viktorija. She had had changed from her uniform into something a bit more casual, a fawn brown knit sweater dress. He paused, a bit awestruck at how breathtaking she looked in casual clothes. 'Just imagine how'd she look in formal attire…'
Yeah, well...yeah. Thank you to everyone who can be affiliated with this piece of teh fandom for being so! Laters!