Francis refused to look at Arthur throughout Tuesday morning's lesson and for about half of the class period Arthur was afraid that he'd done something to seriously annoy the man.

The teenager glanced over at the clock behind Francis's desk. The class still had nine more minutes until the bell would ring. He began to tap his pencil onto the desk and either ignored or just didn't notice how everyone else shot him annoyed glances. Francis tensed but quickly forced himself to relax.

Arthur glanced down at his watch. Six more minutes. He tried to focus on doing his homework early like everyone else but found his thoughts going back to his tense and upset boyfriend. He tapped his pencil against the desk quicker. Five more minutes.

He didn't notice that Chelle was looking worriedly, and with slight annoyance, at him. So he kept staring at Francis with worry and continued to bite his lip and tap his pencil. The girl glanced over at Francis in confusion but found that he was doing all he could to not even look in Arthur's general direction.

Now, contrary to popular belief, Chelle wasn't a stupid girl. Not at all. And she had been spying on Arthur long enough to realize that the messy haired Brit and her cousin were actually rather close for one reason or another. And she had noticed that her cousin was happier than he had been for quite a while now and that he was most happy when Arthur was around. So it didn't shock her as much as it probably should have when she realized that Francis was the 'girl' that Arthur was dating.

"Ohhh!" She exclaimed loudly with a snap of her fingers. She covered her mouth as everyone turned to stare at her now instead of Arthur. Everyone was quiet and Chelle felt her face began to heat up. "I ah... Uhm... Found the answer to a question on my math homework?" She made up quickly, her answer coming out more as a question.

Slowly everyone went back to doing their own homework. Chelle glanced over at Francis, who had just raised an eyebrow at her, and she blushed slightly. "I'll go back to doing my French homework?" Francis nodded worriedly at his blushing cousin and watched as she just turned to stare at her desk.

Arthur meanwhile was looking between the clock on the wall and his watch. One more minute. Fifty-nine seconds. Fifty-eight. He tapped his pencil quicker. Chelle watched him out of the corner of her eye, deep in thought. She was jerked out of her thoughts as the bell rang shrilly and she quickly packed away her things, still watching two certain blondes up until she was out of the classroom like the rest of her classmates.

Arthur waited until everyone left the room before walking over to Francis's desk. "Alright you git, what's wrong?"

Francis refused to look up from the paper he was reading over as he answered back casually, "I can assure you Arthur I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about."

The British teen scowled slightly but kept his tone emotionless for the most part. "That! You always have some nick-name for me! And you've been avoiding looking at me all morning. What's wrong?"

Francis sighed but still didn't look up. "Arthur you need to go to class. My next class will be here any moment now and you're going to be late. We'll talk later. Okay?"

Arthur sighed but nodded, though he knew that Francis wouldn't look up, before leaving the room. Francis looked up and stared longingly after the teen before sighing and straightening up the papers on the desk. 'Ian's right. It's for the best.'

~oOo~

Arthur was late to lunch. Well, not really. He was late arriving in the cafeteria and his friends noticed. Vladimir chewed on his soup and tilted his head. "Trouble in paradise?" He asked after the dirty blonde practically threw his own lunch onto the table, mouth still full.

Arthur scowled and glared at the Romanian. "Don't chew with your mouth full! It's disgusting! And are you chewing soup?"

Lukas rolled his eyes and answered before Vladimir could. "Don't yell at Vlad. He asked because you look ready to commit murder. And don't ask about the soup. I don't know what on earth they put in it but don't be shocked if he dies from radioactive poisoning."

"Or I may get super cool super powers! Or maybe it's soup-er powers!" Vladimir burst into laughter at his own joke and the Norwegian and Brit just sighed and let him laugh. "Alright, fine! Maybe it wasn't that funny," "Or funny at all," Lukas interrupted. "-but whatever. Kill joys. So what's wrong with you Arthur?" Vladimir continued as if he hadn't been interrupted at all.

The Brit sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Honestly I have no idea. Francis wouldn't even look at me all morning and when I went to his classroom to talk to him he wasn't there. I even looked in the Spanish and German rooms and the two teachers just sort of looked at each other then shrugged. He said we'd talk later but when is later?"

Lukas and Vladimir stared at their obviously stressed out friend. Lukas was the first to recover and he awkwardly pat Arthur on the arm. "I'm sure it's nothing. Stressing about it will fix nothing."

The Romanian nodded and pushed his lunch aside. "I agree. It's probably just him stressing over work or something. You said he has a kid right?" Arthur nodded. Vladimir shrugged and continued, "Maybe the kid just got sick or something and he's worried."

Lukas said nothing, just watched as Arthur pursed his lips in thought. The Brit finally sighed and nodded, silently deciding to agree with Vladimir.

~OoO~

School had let out and now Arthur was at the park waiting for Francis to arrive. He began to swing with one foot nudging him forward and backward while also effectively covering said foot in a small amount of brown dirt. The teenager looked around and noticed that he was the only person at the park, and when he glanced up he could very easily see why.

The sky was now a dull gray, with huge billowy nearly black clouds in every direction. You could practically smell the rain through the bitter cold of late November and he repressed a small shudder.

He didn't seem to notice the quick footfalls behind him and so he almost fell out of the swing when Matthew grabbed onto the chain holding the swing and grinned widely with a, "Bonjour Arthur! How was your day? I got to make a turkey with my hand and paints and glue and we used cool fake feathers that the teacher got from the store! Papa's gonna hang it up on the fridge tonight!" The small child said quickly, grin never leaving his face.

Arthur chuckled and pat the blonde on the head. "That sounds lovely, Mattie! You'll have to show me the next time I come over." Matthew's grin seemed to only grow as he nodded in confirmation.

The teenager didn't notice how Francis had sighed at what Arthur had said or how quiet the Frenchman was being. "Matthieu, cher, why don't you go play on the slides? Papa and Arthur need to talk for a bit."

Matthew scrunches up his nose but does as his papa says, but not before standing up on tip-toes to whisper into Arthur's, who has leaned down slightly, ear, "Papa is just grouchy today so don't be mad at him." Arthur chuckled to himself and shook his head as the giggling four year old runs to the slides.

Francis slowly sat down in the swing to Arthur's right and the couple watched Matthew in awkward silence. Arthur began to kick himself forward and backward again. "He's such a cute kid."

"Oui." Came the simple response.

Arthur pursed his lips. "So... What exactly did you want to, you know, talk about? Should I be worried? I feel like I should be worried. I'm rambling. I'm quite sorry. I'll shut up now. You were saying?" Arthur bit his lower lip and refused to look up from the dirt below his feet.

Francis tried, but failed, to hold back his affectionate smile and was momentarily glad that Arthur wasn't looking at him. "I..." He took a deep breath and slowly let it out in a despaired sigh before continuing carefully with, "This is very difficult, ch- Arthur."

The Brit automatically tensed up. Francis rarely used his actual name, instead he chose to call the teenager by some sort of pet name and he did not like how this conversation seemed to be already heading downhill.

Francis took a deep breath. "I think it would be best for us both if we ended," he made a flippant gesture to point to the both of them, "us."

Arthur stopped swinging, and if possible he tensed up more. "What do you mean?"

The Frenchman stayed silent, eyes closed tightly. He was hoping and begging with any or whatever deity may be out there that he wouldn't have to actually say it, that Arthur would understand and just go with it.

A calmly as possible the Brit nodded. "You're breaking up with me." It was more a statement than a question but Francis still answered with a nod and hollow sounding "Oui". "Why? Did I do something wrong? I mean, I know I'm not this good at this relationship stuff but I'm trying!"

Francis hastily shook his head. "Non! It is not you! It's-"

"'Oh it's not you, it's me!' Don't give me that!" Arthur threw back, the hurt and anger pouring into each word.

Francis wanted nothing more than to grab onto the teenager and hold him in a tight embrace, promising that he didn't mean it, begging for Arthur to just understand. But he didn't. He sat in the swing and stared straight ahead.

The Frenchman shrugged. "It's the truth. I'm older than you."

"By only seven years."

"You're a kid."

"I'm seventeen and I turn eighteen in April!" Arthur's face began to turn a light shade of pink.

Francis sighed. "You should be more concerned about your schoolwork. You deserve better than what I could ever give you."

"I don't care about better I ju-" "Please don't make this harder Arthur. I have to go get dinner started," Francis interrupted, quickly standing up and walking over to the small child. He left a stunned Arthur sitting on the swings, watching him as he carried his son from the park.

Matthew waved at Arthur and frowned as the teenager hastily stood up and began to leave in the opposite direction, face turning red. Matthew looked up at his papa's face and the child's frown just deepened. "Did you and Arthur have a fight Papa?"

Francis sighed and hugged his son closer. "Something like that," he said simply. Matthew hugged Francis and didn't say anything, just stared in the direction that Arthur had left.

A/N: oh wow I feel so awful! I hated writing the break-up. I hope that it was okay. They're gonna be okay! Chelle is still a sneaky lil' thing! I've got the next chapter written and the chapter after that is nearly finished too so I'll be updating on Mondays unless I get enough people telling me to post the next chapter already. Thanks for all the positive feedback! Also, tomorrow is my three year anniversary with the bestest guy ever!~ Another P.S. has anyone else been dragged back into the Harry Potter fandom this summer? Or just me?