#ukreng

“Yes, but I'm trying to find something. And you're not helping.”

“I’d suggest going with another option.”

“You didn’t- You know what? I’ll just go with this one. I haven't worn this dress in a while.”

Arthur sucked his teeth and tilted his head to the side knowing well-enough what she was about to rediscover.

“Oh wait, this one has a stain. I can't go out like this.”

“Mhm, the stain on your right shoulder from when Alfred accidentally leaned over to grab something from the table….” Kat blinked and slowly turned to look at him over her shoulder. “…and spilled his drink over on you,” Arthur finished nonchalantly as he filled in a couple of squares.

“How did you know,” Kat stood stunned. She had been watching him the whole time and not once has he looked up from his newspaper. How did he know she’d be wearing that particular dress? Arthur bit the end of his pen pensively as he calculated the numbers.

“What's missing…? A six? Yes, a six..” he spoke to himself quietly. “Sorry, what did you ask?”

“You knew what dress I was wearing without looking up. How…?”

“It's very simple. You always reach for this dress when you're looking for an outfit to go out in. And you always recall — after making up your mind — that it needs to be spot-cleaned.”

“You’re right. I’ll put this in the hamper and just move on to the next look.”

“It won't match any of your shoes.”

“I-” Kat’s head swiveled from Arthur to the next item in the pile of potential choices and was shocked to find her had been talking about the right dress. The beautiful patterned and jellyfish-like dress that she simply did not have the proper shoes for. She never could find a pair that would suit it. What if she picked the option right after…?

“Too-form fitting. You don't like the way it hugs you in all the wrong places. I, for one, think it's be an excellent option.”

“It’s a company party, not a-”

“Not a birthday party. I know.”

The more that she listened to him talk, the more freaked out she became by it.

“What about this one?”

“Too warm. You’ll get overheated, especially since you're going in alone today.”

“Ugh!” Kat tossed the clothes to the side and listened to him astonishingly list the pile of clothes in the order she had them in.

“There are sequins missing from the back.”

Correct.

“Broken zipper on the side.”

Correct..

“Too chunky on bottom.”

Correct! Again!

“I do not believe a wedding dress is fit for the occasion, but it's one of my favorite options.”

Aggravatingly correct!!

“Stop that!!” Kat exclaimed. It was too much for her to process and his cocky attitude and know-it-all brain was making things far more complicated than they needed to be.

“As you wish, darling,” Arthur grinned to himself. He was happy to hear that his secret talent was finally getting the appreciation it deserved.

“It's just… all proving the point that I have nothing to wear. Arthur, your wife has nothing to wear!” Kat huffed, pushing her bangs aside.

“Oh, okay. All the three's are there now...” Arthur pensively chewed on the end of his pen and scribbled again.

“God, what am I going to do…?”

“You haven't considered the last one.”

“The last one? What's the last one?” Kat pushed the rest of the clothes off to the side, which revealed a neatly packaged dress she had never seen before.

“I thought you might need my help,” Arthur said calmly as Kat’s heart raced at the sight of a new dress he bought for her.

“You should've shown me this earlier!”

“Why don't you try it on?”

“I absolutely will.” After pulling it out of the packaging, she admired the deep blue dress that was the perfect amount of casual and formal and had just enough sparkles to make this dress stand out from the rest of her clothes. She was excited to look like an elegant walking starry sky and she knew exactly which accessories she wanted to pair it with: ones with less spandex and more lace. The dress practically slipped itself on.

“Oh gosh honey it’s-” Kat bit her nails in thought, giving her a moment to admire herself. She gasps suddenly and looks down at the hem of the dress. “It's ripped!”

“What?? It can’t be,” Arthur's head shoots up to look at her, forgetting the brainteasers and panicking over a ruined dress. “I checked it over dozens of times...”

“Made you look~” Kat smiled as Arthur finally looked in her direction.

Arthur grins. It really did for her like a glove.

“You certainly got me there.”

Kat beamed in excitement and gave him a cutesy twirl to show off her figure.

“What do you think?”

“I think it's perfect. Looks much better than it did on the mannequin ,” Arthur placed a hand on her waist and brought her closer.

“Hm? Don't you have some sudoku to finish?” She asked cheekily as her attempt at grabbing accessories was intercepted.

“Oi, that’s not fair. I had to erase a lot of words!”

“I know. But the eraser was ugly and misshapen after you borrowed it last time.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No. Please don’t ask again. It makes me uncomfortable to say no.”

Arthur groaned as he was forced into his last two options: asking Katherine or asking literally anyone else who didn’t hate him. His choices were slim. He resorted to shaving down his paper with the crappy eraser he had gotten for cheap while he contemplated the better of the two options.

So, Arthur erased with fervor, his arm refusing to slow down. And with every stroke, his anger rose. How could a pencil be so messy? Now everyone would see his shoddy artwo—

“NO!” Arthur exclaimed as his paper ripped in half. He couldn’t believe it. With a smudge, he could at least write around the page, but now that the paper was ripped, he couldn’t use it for anything good. He defeatedly dropped his forehead against the table and left it there. So much for wanting to be neat. “Ow…”

“You ripped your paper,” Kiku noted, shocked by how aggressive he was with the eraser.

“Thank you for your astute observation,” Arthur answered sarcastically.

That was it. The last straw. All that energy wasted just to rip the only sheet he had brought with him. The one paper that was going to store all his notes for the day. If Kiku weren’t so stingy with his eraser, perhaps he could’ve spared him a new piece of paper instead. Oh, who was he kidding? After seeing that fiasco, there was no way Kiku was ever going to share anything with him again.

Hopefully, no one in the back saw it too. Because if they did, chances were he had just made a fool of himself in front of Katherine. The Vargas boy was probably whispering vile into her ear, something about what a loser he was. What a snake.

Arthur glanced over his shoulder, wondering if that was the case, and found her desk empty. Great. She was probably on her way to the washroom to clean herself up from laughing so hard that she peed her pants. Classic Arthur. Always the joke…

“Excuse me.”

Arthur quickly straightened up, thinking he had just gotten in trouble, one half of the paper stuck to his forehead and his eyes wide.

“It wasn’t me!!” Arthur defended.

When his eyes adjusted, he found the pretty new girl standing at the front of his desk, looking back at him. He gulped, not expecting her anywhere near him. And certainly not staring right at him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, no, that’s… okay. Yeah, that’s fine. I was just… erm… cleaning up my desk.” Was it really warm in here? Arthur cleared his throat and began to clean off his desk. He couldn’t have such a messy desk with a girl visiting him. Surely Kiku would vouch for him that he wasn’t a slob… right?

“Hi, Kat,” Kiku greeted her shyly.

“Hi, Kiku,” Kat replied as she waited for Arthur to clean off his desk, eyeing the paper still stuck to his forehead. She smiled and gently reached forward to peel it off, unveiling a lined forehead and blond hair fraying in every direction. A tiny chuckle escaped her lips, wondering how on earth the paper had stuck on so well.

Arthur froze as he felt the page unbind itself from his skin. This was definitely one of the worst first interactions he’d ever had. Easily top three. His freckled cheeks flushed as he stared at Kat. Of course she was laughing at him.

She placed the paper back on his desk, thinking it was important to him, and returned her gaze to his face. With the way he looked at her through his brows, he seemed quite angry. Arthur, on the other hand, thought he was doing a great job hiding his embarrassment.

“Sorry, I should’ve asked. Umm...” Kat held her hands back, realizing that perhaps she was being a bit too friendly.

“No, that’s… fine,” Arthur’s voice cracked. Shit!!

Look how cute he is! Kat thought. He was so flustered by her presence that he couldn’t even introduce himself. And frankly, neither could she. With the way the Vargas boy had described him, Arthur seemed so mysterious and aloof. She thought for sure he was one of the untouchables, but the more she met his gaze, the more she noticed he was just as nervous as she was. How cute!

“I was actually, um, I wanted to properly introduce myself…” Kat smiled sheepishly, brushing her hands together. Gosh, she was nervous.

Arthur stared on as he waited for her to introduce herself. She was taking an awfully long time to say her name. Did she forget her name? Was she playing a prank on him or something? Wait, was there something else on his face? Oh God, the stupid drawing must’ve gotten stuck there, stamped from temple to temple. Arthur’s face reddened even further as his thoughts multiplied faster than the pace of his heartbeat. Perhaps he should introduce himself first…?

Kat glanced at him and noticed him getting redder. Her eyes dropped to her hands as she fidgeted with her nails. He certainly looked like he was getting mad. Maybe she shouldn’t have laughed.

“Kat. My name is… Kat.”

“Nice to meet you, Katherine,” Arthur said with a fake, low voice, doing his best to appear macho above all his embarrassing moments.

Did… his voice change? Kat wondered. And why ‘Katherine’? I just said Kat… He must’ve heard of me, then.

“Yes, it’s nice to finally meet you too…?” Kat’s words trailed off at the end, hoping he would fill in the blank.

“Oh, I’m Arthur,” he said, reaching his hand out to her. She smiled shyly at the gesture and returned the handshake. Arthur’s head dropped as he shook her hand, absolutely gushing internally over how soft her hands were and how cute her face was when she smiled at him. Oh God, she even smelled like flowers! If he was going to hear any church bells now, it’d be over for him. He would be absolutely and irrevocably head over heels for her. Arthur couldn’t handle his emotions anymore and hid his face behind his hands.

Kat was taken aback upon seeing his reaction. He certainly looked like he didn’t want to see her anymore. Maybe she shouldn’t have walked up to the cool guy and introduced herself. Was she really that unpleasant…? She looked over to her deskmate, wondering what to do, and Feliciano cheered her on with a paper flag, wishing her good luck. She glanced over to Kiku, who shrugged and curiously tried to understand why Arthur was being so weird today.

Kat gulped and looked back at Arthur, who was still hiding from her. Of all the people to like her, she really wanted it to be him. She looked around his desk and noticed the paper that had been torn in half earlier. There was some sort of drawing: a man (that resembled Arthur a bit) in a suit and a… phone booth? Was that right?

She sighed quietly to herself. If he wasn’t going to look at her, she was at least going to look cool doing what she came to do. With a dropped smile, she picked up one of Kiku’s neatly placed pens and took Arthur’s hand, setting it down on the table and revealing his not-so-innocent face.

“What-?!” Arthur asked in a flustered state, watching her scribble something on his arm. She returned the pen to Kiku, apologizing for stealing it, then turned to Arthur.

“If you ever need anything from me, you know how to find me. Okay, Art?” She looked at his scarlet face and wide eyes, leaning a bit closer. She smiled gently to soften the menacing gesture, showing off a glimpse of her pearly whites.

Arthur gulped and nodded, then kept his eyes on her as she confidently returned to her seat, sinking deeply into it as Feliciano cheered her on.

Arthur stared, mouth agape, processing what had just happened. When he saw her giggling with Feliciano and shyly glancing his way, he looked down at what she had scribbled.

“She used my pen,” Kiku said, repositioning it neatly on his desk.

“Yes. The more permanent writing tool, I suppose,” Arthur replied a bit absentmindedly as he stared at her writing.

“I thought she was nice.”

“Well, she seemed… sweet.”

“What did she write?” Kiku asked, peeking over.

“Uh… her phone number.”

“Ehh?? She did?” Kiku asked with feigned surprise, glancing over his shoulder at Feli (one of his best friends) and Kat gushing about the encounter. It seemed like Ludwig’s master plan to get Kat to strike up a conversation with Arthur was working.

“Y-Yeah…” Arthur awkwardly smiled at his arm, not sure if he was uneasy from the joy of knowing that Kat had made the first move or from the embarrassment still burning through him. Kiku noticed he wasn’t moving. Or possibly breathing.

“Arthur-san?”

Arthur gulped and took a deep breath before responding, “Yeah?”

“You should save the number before you sweat it off in gym class.”

“That’s… a good idea.”

Arthur looked over his shoulder again to watch Kat excitedly talk about how she was feeling, smiling widely and cupping her flushed cheeks in disbelief. The prettiest girl in the class and she came up to him to give him **her number.

Kiku was right. He’d better save it before he forgot… Hold on. Arthur patted his pockets, feeling less phone and more lint. Huh? Where’d it go?

“Kiku, can you call my cell? I don’t think it’s here with me.”

“It’s not.”

“What? How do you know?”

Kiku pointed to the “cell phone jail” box, where Arthur’s phone stayed fairly often.

“Damn it. All right then… text her number to me.”

“I will get caught and my phone will be taken. I don’t want to do that.”

“What a prude. Whatever.”

But Kat… she was so cool. She had made the first move when he couldn’t even get up to ask her name. For weeks! And of all the people she’d been nice to, she was certainly more forward with him. There wasn’t anyone she’d been bold with this entire time. (Arthur would know. He’s kept his eyes and ears open.) He had to connect with her somehow… before their friendship got delayed until next year. And before the bell rang!!

Arthur shot up from his desk and stomped straight towards Kat. Her smile faded into surprise the moment she saw the look on his face. Was he still angry? Oh, he looked so angry. Oh no, oh no, oh no, Kat thought.

With a quick motion, he lifted her chin and kissed her unexpectedly. Kat’s heart raced, catching up to the speed of Arthur’s nauseating heartbeat. His red face, his hiding eyes, his gruff tone. She thought for sure he was mad at her, maybe even hated her. Never did she expect the odd boy to actually turn out to be such a heartthrob.

The trio involved in the planning audibly reacted, outing themselves for witnessing a plan they didn’t expect to play out for another few months. They would surely be discussing this after school.

Arthur pulled away with a smirk just as the bell went off.

Church bells to this teenage boy.

“If you ever need anything from me, just ask. I’m all yours.” And just as quickly as he had approached her, he disappeared out of the classroom, grabbing his phone from the bin and successfully escaping before his body could combust from anxiety. He only hoped it had looked cool.

Kat covered her mouth as she processed what had just happened. She looked to Feli, now joined by Ludwig and Kiku, to confirm whether they’d all seen what just happened.

“Well? How was it, bella?” Feli asked.

Her eyes darted to each of her helpers to gauge their reactions, and then she just smiled widely.

“You guys… it was so nice,” she admitted, nearly tearing up at the thought that the coolest guy in class had just kissed her. She was very glad to have made new friends.