Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter! I moved about a month ago and on top of that, I have 3 jobs so my time is scarce :'( I actually wrote this chapter while I was at my fulltime job because for once I had nothing to do...so hopefully that doesn't mean I'm getting let go or something! Yikes!
Arthur Kirkland wasn't scared.
So what if the fraternity house was colossal, with dimwitted Americans stationed every few feet, chanting "MU ALPHA NU, THE MANLIEST CREW" at the line of potential recruits heading inside? Arthur swore he would be deaf after this, maybe that was for the best.
That was no reason for Arthur to feel intimidated. The frat boys were just trying to rile everyone up, trying to demonstrate their narcissism with unnecessary brashness and idiocy.
Ludwig turned to him briefly. "Are you alright, Arthur? You are looking a little green in the face."
"Hm? Oh, yes. Quite good thanks."
After the hundred or so potential recruits were ushered into the house and scrambled for seating in the large atrium, the speeches began. The first person that took the position at the podium was a lanky guy with an aura of insanity, almost like he had been abducted by aliens and lived to tell the tale. And honestly, if it wasn't for his young face, he could have been mistaken for an old man what with the grey-ish sheen to his hair and all.
"What's up bitches! My name is Tony, and I'm the f*cking amazing Recruitment Chair for Mu Alpha Nu. Any questions you have about the recruitment process you come to me, but I'm about to go over everything so don't f*cking ask something I already explained. Got it?"
There was a collective confused and slightly uncomfortable agreement from the crowd. Arthur was just appalled. This was supposed to be a formal event, so why was this member cursing like a sailor on holiday?
After that, Tony proceeded to delve a little into the history of the frat, when it was formed, the ideals they uphold, and the types of events they do to have fun.
Arthur was growing increasingly bored as it wore on, until Ludwig nudged him to get his attention. Ludwig pointed up to the stage where multiple frat members were seated and whispered to Arthur that the white-haired one was his older brother, Gilbert.
Arthur's mouth fell open in shock; the guy on stage looked nothing like his German roommate, he also had the feral smirk of a cat stalking its next victim. Arthur shuttered discretely. "He looks...fun," he whispered back to Ludwig.
"Um, what the f*ck! Can't you see I'm still talking? Didn't you ever learn it's f*cking rude to interrupt, blondie?"
Arthur's head snapped to the stage to see the Recruitment Chair staring at him angrily, as well as every other person's head turn to his direction to see who had dared speak while Tony was discussing all the hot chicks he met at the annual winter formal.
The English boy blushed despite himself, but wouldn't let himself be disrespected so easily.
"Terribly sorry mate. Please continue with the pointless drivel you call a speech. I'd love to hear more about your sexual escapades rather than information that actually matters, like how to be initiated perhaps?"
Gasps wrung out throughout the crowd, and Ludwig's brother let out a loud "OHHHH" from on stage. There was an attractive blond boy in glasses seated next to Gilbert that leaned forward to get a better look into the audience at Arthur, intrigued grin on his face.
Tony's face was growing redder by the second, not from embarrassment, but anger. Before he could explode, Gilbert piped up. "Don't worry about it, Tony! That kid was just talking to my baby brother out there!"
Ludwig slunk deeper into the seat and covered his face with a hand.
"No need to be ashamed of it, Luddy! See him over there guys? That's my little bro, you can see that I got the awesome genes in the family, but he's the freakin' beer extraordinaire so he'll be great at parties!"
Gracious for the distraction away from himself, Arthur allowed his body to relax, although he felt bad for Ludwig who was now getting all the attention thanks to family love.
Eventually the crowd settled and the speech resumed, with Tony looking a little more on edge than earlier and muttering a "f*cking limey" under his breath. He then started to discuss the initiation process, much to Arthur's smug satisfaction.
"Alright, so in order to join the f*cking greatest fraternity on the planet, you need to prove yourself worthy enough to wear our pin. We accept only the best of the best, so you'll have to show us that you have what it takes to be a M.A.N.
"There is a one-week period of time that you will have to prove yourself. We call it 'Knockout Week'. Basically, every damn pussy in this room will be paired up with one of our frat brothers, and each of you will have a week to go through different activities and games that your partner picks for you. If you are able to demonstrate confidence, assertiveness, and dominance, you will earn your initiation and show the world you're more f*cking manly than anyone else."
There were so many things wrong with this situation that Arthur didn't know where to start; thankfully, other people in the audience were feeling as unsettled as he was.
"What kinds of 'activities' will we have to do?"
"Do we have to spend every single second with our partner?"
"Why's it called ' Knockout Week'?"
"Do some people not survive?"
The entire audience erupted in a cacophony of panic.
One of the other boys sitting on stage stood up and held his arms out, an attempt at easing the crowd's anxiety. Unfortunately, large, intimidating Russian men tend to have the opposite effect. "Calm down, da? If all of us could do it, you can too. The week will pass by with most likely zero casualties. There was only one person who a few years back that did not make it."
All the Executive Board members bowed their head and put a hand over their hearts. "Rest in Peace, Davie," the attractive blond on stage said solemnly.
Unsurprisingly, this did little to quell the anxiety of the crowd and Arthur knew he couldn't just sit back and watch.
"Excuse me, Tony? Yes, I have a question. Does the Greek Life Association know about this 'Knockout Week' of yours? Have they approved all the activities the recruits will do? Because it sounds like it's hazing. Which is illegal in case you were unaware."
Silence echoed back to him as the room grew deadly still.
"Ugh, you again?" Tony's eyes narrowed and he scowled, making him look like a pissed off space creature. "Sounds to me like you're a f*cking sissy who knows he can't handle it. What are you gonna do? You going to call the head of Greek Life right now and tattle tale? 'Cause I'll tell you right now that it's a really bad f*cking idea." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the large Russian. "That right there is Ivan, he takes care of all the misconduct and behavior problems from members and potential members. You do NOT want to get on his bad side, Limey."
Ivan's smile stretched across his face and Arthur swore he had never seen something so menacingly sweet in his life.
"Are you actually trying to threaten me? Because I'll tell you right now, I'm the last person you want to see angry." Arthur stood up from his seat as tall as he could manage. "I'm already dominant and aggressive, I don't need to prove that to anyone through humiliating and potentially life-threatening tasks."
"That's such a load of horseshit! You're like the least masculine guy in this whole room!" Tony shouted, bristling.
Well that was just plain untrue. The Englishman looked very masculine at the moment, if he did say so himself. The modern-style sweater vest fit his torso very nicely and was quite manly! And his pants were a little tighter than his usual but it just made him look fierce!
...okay, maybe he looked a little gay but that didn't mean he was weak in any sense!
"Is this some sort of homophobic propaganda? Because if this is your way of telling gay men they can't join, I'm definitely reporting this fraternity to the Board." In his peripheral, Arthur saw Ludwig gasp since he basically outed himself as homosexual in front of the entire audience. In fact, a lot of people were staring at him like he was absolutely insane. They all turned Tony for his rebuttal.
"That's not true at all! We have plenty of gay guys in the frat, and the president is even openly bisexual! So why don't you shut your f*cking mouth since you obviously have no idea what you're talking about?"
"Either way! What you're doing is illegal and I won't allow it!"
At that point, one of the other frat boys on stage finally piped up, the blond boy next to Gilbert. Arthur could tell even from the middle of the room that the boy was bloody gorgeous. Damn those stupid meat-headed Americans.
"Dude, just stop. Seriously, who pissed in your tea this morning?"
...And that was why Arthur would never be more than physically attracted to someone like him.
"I beg your pardon." The Englishman responded icily, directing his glare to the blond and crossing his arms. He felt Ludwig gently pull on his shirt, murmuring a "maybe you should sit down..." He ignored it.
"You know you don't have what it takes to get in so you're just trying to overcompensate."
"And what makes you so sure?" It took everything in Arthur's willpower not to go up there and strangle him. For some reason, this boy's words had a stronger effect than Tony's did.
The blond frat boy shrugged. "I've seen your type, man. You're a small guy and all talk; you won't start anything because it'll be a death wish. So just save yourself the trouble and GTFO." The fraternity brothers in the room laughed obnoxiously, chanting taunts at Arthur to leave and never come back.
Well, this wasn't going as planned...
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that last thing? Honestly you shithead Americans can't even uphold the standards of the traditional English language, it makes me sick."
The American rolled his eyes. "Dude you're acting like such a prissy bitch right now. The girls I've fucked are less whiny than you and that's really saying something. I think I'll start calling you Princess," he said with a gleeful expression and a wink.
Arthur felt his blood boil. "...What did you just say to me..."
The boy attempted an awful English accent: "Oh my darling Princess, do you need an escort out the door?" At that point, most of the audience was laughing and a couple frat brothers were rolling on the floor breathless.
Most people in Arthur's situation would have conceded defeat; they would have seen it as a lost cause and succumbed to the humiliation. Arthur knew for a fact he had royally destroyed his chances of induction. His father would not be happy with him, but more importantly, the 20 year old's pride was taking a serious hit, in front of a large group of his potential classmates, no less.
No.
This wouldn't stand. Arthur Kirkland was a proud man with something to prove. He would show that stupidly sexy American moron that he was the most manly in the entire room.
A/N: Next chapter will be Rated M and feature Alfred + public humiliation. That's where the real UKUS comes in ;)