(This takes place during mid September)
It was a full week until Arthur felt like he wanted to run from his till, pushing every possible thing out into the path he made behind him, in order to get away.
He had all but forgotten that horrific encounter with the tall American the week before, choosing to push the incident as far into the back of his mind as he could. However, the following week, on the same day, at around the same time as the first ordeal, about an hour before Arthur's shift was scheduled to end; the horror flooded back to him in the form of blonde hair and an obnoxious, American, spectacled grin.
'Oh no. NO. Not you…!' but there he was; all grins and sunshine, looking around him like a puppy having the time of his life. Arthur considered his options, glancing around quickly; he wondered if he could risk hopping off his till to busy himself elsewhere. No chance of that; it was rather busy today so he'd have to stay at his post. He considered just thinking 'sod it' and running for his life, praying that he'd make it to the pass-code protected door and hiding in the staff room. But he thought that vaulting over the till counter was probably in bad taste. It seemed that he'd just have to pray that he wouldn't be forced to serve the man; he checked the time on the screen in front of him.
Wait. Was that? YES!
He logged off his till immediately.
"Francis!" he all but yelled, startling the Frenchman and causing him to spin round.
"Oui?" he questioned, bewildered. Arthur ignored him and power-walked past the manager and away from the tills.
"I'm going on fitting rooms!"
Arthur actually rather liked manning the fitting rooms. Yes, there were always the horrible, butchered cover songs that played over the speakers and people sometimes didn't put things back on the hangers correctly, which meant more work for him, but it was very easy work. All he had to do was stand there and take people's items when they didn't want them. Greet them, ask how many items they have, give them a small disk with the corresponding number, and take back the disk when they were done, along with any items they didn't want. Simple as 1, 2, 3. Hardly any pressure at all really; he was practically getting paid for standing around for an hour or two (depending on his shift).
Little did he know that not even ten minutes in, he'd have hell to deal with all over again.
"Hey, Eyebrows!"
It was like the American had a bloody radar on where Arthur was so that he could annoy him endlessly; if he wasn't working, Arthur would have launched himself at the man to punch that grin right off his face. How dare he speak to him in such a manner! And that nickname!
"I beg your pardon, sir?" his voice practically came out as a growl; he was holding back his anger rather admirably if he did say so himself; a few years ago, he would've already broken the American's nose, whether he was on the job or not. Of course the taller man's smile never even faltered, he just laughed a little too loudly.
"Well I never found out what your name was did I?" he said as he scratched his cheek. "And I guess those eyebrows of yours make an impression!"
OOOOHHH GOD this man was ASKING for it. Just like an American to blurt out the first thing to come to his mind without thinking the sentence through whatsoever! Arthur's fists began to shake a little; the Englishman (ever polite) simply rolled one of his shoulders, passing it off as getting rid of an uncomfortable twinge from standing too long. The blonde American pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose absentmindedly before extending his hand; his giant grin dissolved into a smile that was more sheepish.
If Arthur wasn't fuming with rage at that moment, he might have almost allowed himself to consider it to be somewhat 'charming'.
Almost. Somewhat.
"I'm Alfred." He introduced himself with normal volume, almost timidly averting his gaze for a second before looking back to the Englishman. "Alfred Jones. Um, nice to meet you…" He seemed unsure of what to say; his regular grin returned as he further extended his arm with what looked like determination. "What's your name?"
Arthur couldn't really find an answer; he searched in his mind but came up empty handed. It wasn't because Arthur found the sudden change of attitude surprising, no it wasn't what the man had said; far from it, his silence was due to the pure stupidity of the man.
'Is he THAT oblivious? Is he THAT utterly stupid? I'm wearing a bloody NAME TAG!'
Arthur ignored the offered hand completely in favour of crossing his arms over his chest, leaning his shoulder against the wall of the fitting rooms entrance; he raised an eyebrow, fighting the smirk from his face when he saw the dejected look that flashed over the man's expression, lowering his hand.
"Bob." He replied dryly; his cheeks puffing out slightly as he uttered the single, sharp syllable. His attempt at condescending sarcasm went completely overlooked as the (apparently very stupid) young man just smiled more, almost as if he'd accomplished something.
"Bob, huh?" Arthur stopped himself from scowling. 'Bahb…' Good LORD, that accent was annoying; he wanted to tear out his own ears! The taller (idiotic) blonde continued with a chuckle. "It's funny, even names as common as 'Bob' sound fancy and sophisticated in your accent!" Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose; he really couldn't take much more of this. He WOULD just ask the man to kindly piss off but he was a customer so that was out of the question. But did he really have to be that stupid? 'Alfred' seemed to be confused about how Arthur was acting, completely missing that he was an utter fool; it seemed the best approach was to be direct with the man.
"If you don't mind me asking, Sir. Are you being serious right now?" Arthur said, still pinching the bridge of his nose but allowing himself to look up at the man. Said man simply cocked his head to the side.
"Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't I be? I wanted to know what your name is."
This was ridiculous.
"Yes, I'm sure…" Arthur continued, this man certainly was a rather open chap wasn't he? "But that's not actually my name."
"But you said it was."
"I was being sarcastic."
"That wasn't very nice."
Arthur inhaled, long and deep through his nose; he dragged his hand down his face in slight desperation. He had never had to deal with someone so stupid before; he was starting to lose his resolve.
"Yes, and I'm sorry for that but I – Hello! How many items do you have?" he turned his attention to a woman awkwardly coming up behind Alfred (not sure if she should interrupt the two men), his voice instantly becoming polite and slightly cheerful. The American jumped slightly and shifted out of the way as Arthur gave her a little disk with a '4' on it and ushered her through. When she was out of sight, he put his hand on his temple, willing the oncoming headache to go away.
"I'm very sorry for the inconvenience," Arthur started patiently, if not a little frantically, he was NOT going to get in trouble because of this buffoon. "But if you have nothing to try on, could you please move away from the entrance to the changing rooms? You're… obstructing it a bit." Alfred didn't bat an eyelid.
"But I want to know what your name is."
"WH - -!" Arthur sputtered as he felt the heat rise in his cheeks (whether from anger or embarrassment he wasn't sure. He'd go with the former for now). He floundered for a second, not really wanting to give his name for some reason, but not wanting to deal with him any longer; he glanced around him quickly and spoke in a hushed, annoyed voice (though he didn't know why he was being so secretive).
"Arthur! My name is Arthur!"
The change in Alfred's expression was strange to see; going from dejected-and-confused to happiest-man-on-Earth in one second flat. He grinned from ear to ear, one would've thought the man had just been handed his heart's desire in a neat little package, bow and all.
"Awesome! Great to meet'cha Arthur!" the man's smile was so genuine, it was hard for Arthur to believe but he found himself doing so anyway; he looked utterly over the moon, and just from learning his name. Arthur could feel his cheeks were still red from the exhaustion of talking to the man up to this point, despite himself he was becoming a little flustered; he told himself it was still bubbling anger. Something nagged at the back of his mind but he ignored it.
"Y-yes it's nice to meet you too." He said in a rush, silently begging for the man to leave. "Now I'm sorry, but if you could- -"
"Yeah I get it." Alfred said, the grin still plastered to his face, it wasn't dimming anytime soon it seemed. "Well! Better get goin'. See ya next time Arthur!" he gave a wave and another flashy grin before walking to a different part of the shop.
'Oh God, there isn't going to be a 'next time' is there…?" Arthur thought in despair. The man really was exhausting, talking too loudly and laughing aggravatingly and smiling infuriatingly and…
His expressions really did seem genuine though, no one that stupid could act that well; but why did he seem so intent on learning a name? And without even thinking of a name tag? He was so open and forward about everything. Alfred Jones…
Arthur's cheeks still burnt; he scowled and busied himself with the clothes on the fitting room rail.
'What an absolute, insufferable git.'
~~
"Arthur…" Alfred whispered, tasting the name on his tongue. Yeah… Arthur. Arthur was a fantastic name; Arthur suited him. Arthur. Arthur was a fantastic name for Arthur. Arthur suited Arthur fantastically. Yeah. Arthur was fantastic.
Alfred couldn't stop himself from smiling; his cheeks began to hurt but he didn't care. He was too happy. He had learnt the man's name; Arthur's name. His face had been so cute! The way he spoke, the way his cheeks lit up. Oh yeah. That was fantastic. He had learnt something new about him, and he wasn't going to stop there. His plan was working out fantastically.
'Fantastic.'
Now this is just a hunch, but I'm pretty sure that Alfred thinks this whole situation is fantastic! *slapped* (haha). Oh Alfred, you ARE a cutie, but you're SUCH a twit! Oh yes Arthur, you know he's wiggling his way into your heart *hit* Also this is how i imagine Arthur to be saying 'Bob': watch?v=QkT6KJytilI (sorry about the bad quality XD) I love that man XD
Oh my goodness everyone, I can't believe the overwhelming positive response I've had on this fic! It's so touching and your reviews mean so much to me! Thank you all so much! (love to you all~)
I also thought I might as well say that the events that happen in this story are based on events that happen in MY workplace (except the romance obviously X'D *forever alone*); for this reason, you will never learn the name of the shop XDD not that it matters XD. The updates will be slower now, but I've made plans of pretty much the rest of the fic; all I need to do is write it up properly X'3
Thank you all so much again for all your support and reviews! they are my life blood :3 You have no idea how much it means to me :3