#dorktalia

When Arthur finally leaned forward, continuing until he was laying perfectly horizontally across Alfred's chest, it didn't seem to stop the lightly patronizing tone to his voice and body-language. "Alfred, love. Don't be a prat. Tell me." Sensing that Alfred was most likely about to protest with a story about how he 'didn't know', Arthur simply cut him off. "And the truth, please. You know you're no good at lying." 

Alfred pouted, sitting up just enough to rest on his elbows. He simply shook his head. 

Apparently not realizing that Alfred had yet to utter a single syllable, Arthur simply continued speaking as if the other had. 

"See? You can be so ridiculously troublesome sometimes. Honestly, you can be such a prat. Would it be so hard to tell me?" Arthur griped, running a hand, frustrated, through his hair. Alfred opened his mouth, apparently about to protest or at least defend himself, but Arthur cut him off. "Ugh, knowing you, you probably managed to get a sore throat or something equally annoying. Let me guess, you have allergies that you forgot to tell me about? It would explain why you're completely against talking, for once..." 

At this, Alfred just stared at him, the corners of his lips twitching up into a grin. That grin turned to a chuckle and then into a full-out belly laugh, and Arthur simply stared as he watched his boyfriend fall into hysterics. 

Given that he still hadn't said a word, Arthur simply assumed that Alfred was laughing at something unrelated. 

"Did you put marker on my face or something? Or pencil my eyebrows? Bloody hell, did you tweeze them?!" The Brit's nostrils flared, and, taking Alfred's laughter for affirmation, he pulled Alfred up to him by the shirtfront. "Now listen here, you little hooligan, I know you think it's funny to make fun of my eyebrows but just know that I already have the absolute perfect plan for revenge--"

Finally unable to handle it anymore, Alfred managed, just barely, to calm his laughter. "Arthur--" he croaked, still laughing harder than he really should have been, considering he hadn't used the restroom yet. "Arthur, listen to what you're saying, geez. Do you even hear yourself?!" 

Arthur huffed, unable to see what was so funny. "And what do you mean by that? Rest assured that you'll be sleeping on the couch for the remainder of the week." 

Alfred had to suppress laughter, finally sitting up enough to rest a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Arthur, sweetheart. You do realize that that was literally the first thing I'd said all morning? I haven't touched your eyebrows and I don't have a cold or anythin' either. You've been jumping to conclusions for the last fifteen minutes." 

If Arthur had been steamed before hand, it seemed that he'd been doused with cold water now. "You haven't... said anything?" 

"Not a word." 

Arthur blinked. "Nothing." He let out a low whistle. "Really?" 

"You have a very active imagination." Alfred grinned, sitting up just enough to rest his hands on top of Arthur's hips, tracing a circle with his thumbs over the ridges of the hipbones. "But, y'know..." 

Arthur, who was starting to (begrudgingly) realize he'd been rather quick to jump to conclusions, didn't seem to notice the flirtatious tone. "What?" 

"To make up for my silence earlier, how 'bout I pay you some lip-service?" the American suggested, tilting Arthur's chin up and catching the Brit by surprise with a peck on the lips. 

It didn't take long for Arthur to respond, however, and the shirt-front that he'd grabbed earlier was taken hold of again, though in much a much more friendly atmosphere. 

"No free sampling unless you intend to buy the whole package," Arthur quipped, pulling back for more. "Honestly, that peck was pathetic," he said afterwards, bringing a hand up to pat Alfred on the cheek, pinching it rather patronizingly. "How about something more intense, mn?" 

Alfred gave him a long look, and couldn't help a chuckle before he leaned in for another kiss. "You talk way too much," he said, grinning, leaning so close that their lips barely touched. 

Before he actually kissed him, however, he suddenly slipped up, throwing the covers off of him and making a dash downstairs. Arthur didn't have enough time to respond, though he certainly had something to say to what Alfred had shouted as he ran down the stairs: 

"You shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, babe. I never once said I was gonna kiss you!"

And, just like that, the race was on. 

Alfred stared at the boy across from him, a British transfer, Arthur Kirkland, who had been similarly ostracized, for his accent and eyebrows and love of History and English rather than for skill at Math and Science like Alfred had been. 

Though he certainly knew what, exactly, Arthur was implying, Alfred couldn't be sure. After all, perhaps the Brits used different language in this, too? 

"You what?" Alfred finally asked, cursing the way his mouth had gone dry and his stomach had already started to do flip-flops. "As in--As in friendship, right? I don't think that'd be a very good idea, I'm not really the type of guy you wanna become friends with, if you know what I mean. I have a bad reputation and all, and I don't wanna ruin yours," he said, occasionally stumbling over a word or two, given that he was rushing through it all. 

Arthur just shook his head, putting his hands on his hips as he stared at him with that piercing gaze. "No. I meant like as in the romantic sense, obviously. Who says 'I like you' when referring to friendship?" he accused, seemingly bewildered. 

"Just checking," Alfred mumbled, not meeting the other's eyes, though he did find himself continuously looking back to Arthur's lips. Embarrassed, he looked pointedly away. "Either way, my answer's still the same." 

The Brit just stared at him for a while before finally taking hold of Alfred's chin and prompting him to look him in the eye. "That rubbish about ruining my reputation simply isn't true. I've just as bad a reputation as you, and I doubt either of ours will be improving. We may as well plummet them together." 

Alfred frowned slightly, unsure what to make of the proposal. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about Arthur, to be honest. The other's gender wasn't much of a problem, as Alfred was rather nonsexual to begin with, but the mere idea of someone actually enjoying his company was somewhat laughable. 

"What say you? If cat's got your tongue, you only need to give a yes or a no." Arthur watched with a rather intense stare, never once breaking eye-contact save to blink. It was clear that he'd liked Alfred for a while, really. Those piercing green eyes never looked away and while the staring would normally make people uncomfortable, Alfred seemed to be the exception, given that it took a lot to make him uncomfortable. 

After a long silence, Alfred managed to find an answer, though it wasn't exactly a yes or a no. "But we... don't even know each other as friends. Not really, anyways. And besides, you could easily find someone better. Why me?" He gulped, a bit embarrassed at both his question and the reasoning behind it. 

After all, Arthur could find better. Alfred wasn't the tallest--though Arthur wasn't particularly tall, either--or the most athletic. Truth be told, he was average height and slightly wider than average, an unfortunate side effect of liking fast food and nearly always staying indoors to study and play video games. Arthur, by contrast, was the same height but willowy and with long, slender legs that both guys and girls would kill for, not that he often flaunted them, instead hiding them behind loose trousers. The only thing that could possibly be held against him were his eyebrows, and even they had some sort of appeal. 

Really, the only thing counting against Arthur was his personality, and even then, Alfred was certain that he'd be quite popular if he used a bit more wit rather than cutting remarks to other students. The minute Arthur learned that, who was to say that he wouldn't find someone else? 

However, when Alfred opened his mouth to say 'no', the word "Yes," came through instead. When he tried to correct himself, he only dug himself into a deeper hole. "I--Well--I mean, I don't know you all that well but I guess I could give it a shot." 

Arthur stepped back, surprised, but a rare smile overtook his features and he shook Alfred's hand vigorously. "You won't regret it, I promise." 

Alfred wondered, briefly, whether or not couples were supposed to kiss right then, as shaking hands seemed a bit odd, even to him, but he didn't press it. After all, it was odd enough having Arthur ask something like this so out of the blue; the last thing he needed to hear was that he was moving too fast. 

After a few moments of a rather awkward silence, Alfred tried to breach it. "So, um, we're... dating, then?" 

Arthur just rolled his eyes. "That would be the obvious conclusion, yes. And here I thought you were intelligent," he quipped, clearly unimpressed by Alfred's ineptitude at reading the atmosphere. "Now, as for actual dates, I was rather hoping our first one would be a study date." 

Alfred breathed a sigh of relief, nodding eagerly. "Yeah, a study date would be perfect. What subject were you hoping to study?" 

Another moment passed, and finally Arthur just sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Chemistry. I was hoping to see how good our chemistry would be if put together..." 

The American stared at him, brows furrowing for a brief moment. The statement hadn't made much sense, really, especially since Alfred was taking Physics and Arthur was taking Anatomy. Finally he couldn't help but blurt, "What? I mean--um, I don't... understand." 

"...It was intended to be a flirtatious pick-up line," Arthur informed him, lips setting into a slight frown. "I suppose it doesn't work very well..." he trailed off, apparently unsure where to go from there. "Well, at the very least I require assistance in Algebra II and Physics. I suppose we could study those, and in exchange I could help you with History and English. What do you say?" 

Alfred brightened, nodding his head somewhat eagerly. "Yeah, yeah, that sounds perfect. Um, the Library, then, right after it opens... say, Saturday?" 

Arthur nodded, shaking his hand once more. "That would be perfect, love." 

The pet-name slipped out rather quickly, and Arthur seemed quite embarrassed about it, but it was so ridiculously sweet that Alfred couldn't help but lean over and peck him on the cheek, not realizing what he was doing until it had been done. As Arthur slowly lifted a hand to his cheek, cupping the area that Alfred's lips had touched, Alfred turned away with a bright blush, hoping not to be called out on it. 

"...See you Saturday, then," Arthur said with a nod, gulping and starting away, leaving Alfred to watch, still trying to put things together about what had just happened. 

It wasn't until the last period of the day that he seemed to fully comprehend that tomorrow, Saturday, he would be waking up at seven to go on a date with Arthur Kirkland.