"Arthur, cher, you must calm down," Francis said, rubbing soft circles on Arthur's back. Arthur wasn't ashamed to say he'd been crying the whole damn night, but he wouldn't have allowed himself to be this emotional if it were anyone but Francis. "You have barely told me what the problem is, I only know it was about Alfred."

Just hearing his name sent Arthur into another uncontrollable wave of sobs. "Francis, you fuckhole, don't talk about him, just shut up."

"I'm afraid that's not something I can do, Arthur," Francis said with a soft sigh. He was used to Arthur's freak outs and breakdowns, they were far from news to him. "Just calm down and tell me what happened."

"I don't fucking want to, I'll get over it," Arthur snapped.

Francis rolled his azure eyes, finally having drawn the line. "Arthur, get over your emotional self and tell me what happened. If you don't, I might as well kick you out onto the street and let you get over it by yourself. How am I supposed to help you with your petty troubles if you don't tell me what your petty troubles are?"

"It's not a petty trouble this time!"

Francis raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Fine, I'll tell you, you stupid frog," he hissed.

"Ah," Francis sighed, back to smiling again, "there is the pissy Eyebrows I know."

Arthur curled his nose, glowering at the Frenchman seated to his left. "Oh piss off, wine breath."

"I'll have you know, Arthur, I do not drink while we are in school or I would be kicked out."

"I'm amazed you have any restraint at all, Francis," Arthur huffed raising his eyebrows. "It's quite a shocking trait for someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Francis asked. "I'll have you know, Arthur, that you called me close to midnight from across town, sobbing like a maniac and asking for a ride, I could barely understand you. When I got there I expected you to be piss drunk or beaten to a pulp but there you are sitting in the driveway like a lost puppy. I help you into my car as if you were drunk, and you sob the whole way back to my house, the whole way to my room, and through the whole night. It is now eight in the morning, you have yet to tell me what is wrong, I have work in three hours, and I have every right to punch you after all of that," he said. Arthur felt shame wash through him, but Francis continued. "Yet here I am, I made you lavender chamomile tea, I will soon be making you breakfast, and I am sitting here patting your back, all because I care for you. Do not talk to me about restraint."

Arthur groaned and rolled his bright, yet exhausted, green eyes. "Thank you for the monologue, it was appreciated."

"Now tell me Arthur, what happened with Alfred?"

Groaning again, but giving in, Arthur gave a small nod. "I won't even bother with all of the bullshit, you know I... like him," Francis interrupted him with a short, knowing 'hm', "but I haven't exactly been honest with it or with him. We were at that stupid fucking party and he started snogging with some girl, I don't even know her name! I doubt he did either! I was just so upset, I couldn't even think straight."

Francis gave a long sigh, and shook his head.

"What's your problem, frog!?" Arthur snapped, instantly getting defensive.

"Arthur, this is most certainly a petty trouble that I didn't really care to hear, but I suppose now the damage is done. At least you finally admitted your feelings for him," Francis said.

"This is nothing like anything else I've ever told you about!" Arthur snapped.

"Oh, Arthur, but it is," Francis responded calmly with a small smile. "What was the last problem, you got a B on a test you studied for all night?"

"Of course I was upset about that, I studied all night!"

"Well, yes, Arthur, but your lack of sleep caused the lower grade. Really, cher, all of your problems are easily solved, it's ridiculous."

Arthur was indignant, he'd never heard something so ludicrous in his life. "Well then how would you solve this problem, ever wise frog?"

"Arthur, there isn't even a problem. Does Alfred know about your feelings?"

"Well, no, but I don't see why this matters!"

"Arthur, Alfred has no idea what you feel for him, is this correct?"

"I just fucking said that!" Arthur snapped.

Francis sighed, finally standing up and stretching, sore from sitting for so many hours. "Arthur, if Alfred has no idea how you feel, why should he cater to those feelings he has no idea about?" With that, Francis left his room and went to the kitchen, getting everything ready to make breakfast.

Arthur sat stupidly for a few minutes before collecting himself. "That's nonsense! I never said anything like that!" The anger boiling in his stomach cooled as he thought more, and eventually he felt like rolling over and never getting back up."He's fucking right, that bastard is always right, he's the damned worst... Damn it, Alfred..."

.

The worst part about Alfred's new relationship with Penny was that she followed him everywhere like a duckling. She sat in on their tutoring sessions, and stole Arthur's job from him most days, even though he wasn't much of a tutor to Alfred and just sat there.

From across the cafeteria during lunch Arthur could see the two of them sharing lunch. She sat unnecessarily close to him at all times possible. She batted her made-up eyes and puckered her fuscia lips and grinned with her too-white teeth. Everything about her seemed so unreal, like a porcelain doll. It was unnerving.

"Arthur, are you even paying attention?"

Penny was suddenly in his face, snapping her fingers with candy apple fingernails. He brushed her hand aside, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What am I meant to be paying attention to?" he asked, tone and words sharp.

She gave him a look, clearly questioning his bad attitude without saying anything about it. "Alfred, you're his tutor."

"Penny, it's okay, he spaces out," Alfred said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder and smiling at her. Penny huffed and rolled her eyes, but left the situation alone.

"What don't you get?" Arthur sighed, standing and going over to Alfred's side of the table.

"Well, here it says that I have to identify why this character went through all of these actions and how it relates to the main plot."

Arthur nodded. After that, he didn't hear a word. He just glowered at the back of Penny's head as she played games on her iphone. He couldn't understand why Alfred liked her, but as he thought about it, it made more sense. Alfred considered him as a long-time friend, and nothing more. It was silly of him to think the star quarterback or whatever he was with his perfect good looks and his befuddlingly charming attitude would be another other than straight as a rail.

"So what do you think?" Alfred asked.

Arthur blanched. He hadn't chosen the best point in time to space out, but there was no time like the present to fix such a problem. "I think that you're over analyzing the character and his actions, try to stand back from the English teacher's point of view and try to see it how Alfred would see it. I guarantee you'll think of something."

Alfred beamed at Arthur. "Thanks!"

Penny glared.

Even as Arthur sat back down her hazel eyes were still locked onto him. His phone buzzed a few seconds later in his pocket.

Nice bullshit

Arthur moved his gaze from the brightness of his phone to Penny. She had one eyebrow raised.

How did you get my number?

Alfred gave it to me

Of course he did. Please just leave me alone.

Arthur never had it in himself to be rude to a girl, he always had to act like a gentleman. Even if the situation before him made him want to scream and throw things like a child. He would never stoop to doing something like that.

Penny didn't text him back, and Arthur was infinitely thankful for that. The last thing he needed was his current one-way arch nemesis to continue pestering him. Honestly, Penny was a nice girl, she just happened to be in the right place at the wrong moment.

"So, Arthur, where did you vanish to on Friday? You had me really worried," Alfred said, setting his pencil down.

Arthur frowned. He couldn't just say he'd seen Alfred shoving his tongue down Penny's throat, and from there started crying like a child and ran to the safety of Francis and his familiarity. "It was late and I was ready to go. You obviously were not, so I called Francis."

"I thought you hated him?" Penny asked. "I thought he went to that stuffy private school?"

"He does," Alfred said. "But they're family friends."

"I wouldn't say family friends," Arthur said. "More like my mother knew his mother's sister and my mother and his mother both had children around the same time and they decided it would be a great idea for both of us to grow up together. It was torture."

"But you don't complain about him as much as you complain about your cousins," Alfred stated with a snicker.

Arthur rolled his eyes dramatically. "Don't bring them into this, I get enough of them already."

"I didn't know you had cousins," Penny said.

"Many of them," Arthur growled, "nearly everyone in my family has three hundred children."

"Why were your parents different?" she asked.

"My mother realized how much of a shit I was, and knew how horrible my cousins were, so she decided against it."

Penny and Alfred both laughed, even though Alfred had heard the story hundreds of times before. Arthur caught himself smiling a little bit, but then forced it back into his usual frown. He couldn't let either of them know he was starting to enjoy himself. Of course it was only because he was talking about himself, but a smile was a smile.

Arthur, deciding to turn the conversation around, rested his chin in his palm nonchalant. "Have you told Penny about Matthew?" he asked.

"Who's Matthew?" Penny asked, turning her curious hazel eyes to Alfred.

"He's my step-brother, and he's home schooled so I tend to just forget about him."

Penny laughed. "Alfred, you're horrible..." she said softly with a smile. She began to lean towards Alfred, her eyes fluttering shut.

"So I'm told," Alfred responded, his voice low like hers. He leaned forward as well, eyes closed as he pulled her into a sweet kiss.

Arthur physically recoiled, and the pit of his stomach felt tight, like the feeling before getting sick. He stood and packed up his things. The couple separated from their kiss when they noticed him, and Alfred nervously laughed.

"Artie, I'm sorry, I just forgot you were there."

"That's fine," Arthur snapped, tossing one strap of his backpack over his shoulder, "I need to leave early anyways."

He didn't even know what time it was, but he doubted that it was the end of their study session. All that mattered was getting out of that library with those two and getting to the bus and then going home where he would be safe from Alfred and Penny and their kissing and their relationship. Already, he could feel the burning at the back of his eyes and it was becoming harder to breathe evenly.

"You don't care," he said, his voice breaking. "You don't care." He was hoping the words would harden his heart. "You don't care," he snapped, his eyebrows furrowed as he angrily planted his feet on the concrete sidewalk at the bus stop.

A/N: Mm short chapter is short I apologize.