Hetalia - America/England - chap 2
Title: My reason to smile
Chapter: two
Author: coooodes
Pairing/Characters: Alfred F. Jones/Arthur Kirkland (America/England)
Rating: R/NC-17
Warnings: girl on girl on boy, boy on boy, bit of sex and violence so to speak
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or any of the characters...
A/N: I will be cosplaying these characters in the near future and since we're gonna be casual I thought "why not just write a fanfiction about it and then cosplay them from that one?" So now I am :) Alternative universe you guys! Forget everything you know about the characters if you can ;)
Summary: Alfred is having a boring day, a real boring one... There is nothing to do and nothing there to make him happy... except for his younger brother, but he lives in Canada and can't come home in weeks. Their mother is a pain in the ass too, always nagging about relatives coming over and that he should clean his room... If only he even knew his cousins name? And why is he going to stay in Al's room anyway? Ever heard of privacy?! Personal space..?
[ Chapter one]
"Mom, we'll be fine, kay?" he sighed and put the clean dishes into the cupboard, something he almost never did but she had told him to do it so that their guest would see he wasn't useless. (Which clearly indicated that she thought he WAS useless when saying that). He didn't really believe that was the whole truth though. If he knew her well enough, he'd say she wanted him to do that in front of Arthur so that the new family member knew HE should do stuff like that as well. He was sure his mother had gotten quite a shock when she'd seen him...
Arthur had grown up in England with his family, who were related to Al on their fathers side, brothers, if he remembered correctly. His father didn't speak much about his family. He never had, which made it hard for Al to know of course. It had been decided in the spur of the moment that Arthur would be staying at their place. His mother had always been so kind to the poor woman married to her husbands annoying brother. She must have thought that the English little boy would be an angel sent from the skies above to save her messed up family. Instead, she had gotten a boy with boots, stretching in his ear, messed up hairdo and clothes she would never have let Al or Matt ware, ever.
Now she was standing in the doorway with her handbag tightly clutched between her arm and her body, faking a smile every time she looked over at the staircase where the newcomer had run to change from his so called "traveling clothes". She was going to one of her book-club meetings and for some reason she thought the two of them could not be left alone in the house just because he was a bit different from what she had pictured him to be?
"You know..." he added when he saw her giving the staircase one more strangled look of worry. "...he doesn't know anyone around here, right? He couldn't master a crowd or get anyone here quickly enough to burn down the house before you get back anyway..."
"What are you talking about?" she laughed nervously when looking back at him, her smile as fake as ever. "I'm not worried about anything like that... It's just... He's been away from his mother for a long time already, maybe he..."
"Mom, he's older than me? AND more rebellious apparently... bet he doesn't care one bit about being away from home, yeah?" he realized as soon as he'd said it that he probably shouldn't have, but he didn't stop even though she looked horrified. "I'll make sure he gets to bed in time, that he isn't hungry when he does and that he brushes his teeth. Just go so that you won't be late, okay?"
She didn't want to. Probably because of her own damn parental headache but he knew there was a part of her that just wanted to get out of this house for a while. He didn't blame her. He could hear the toilet getting flushed, knowing that if Arthur came down with an even more challenging wardrobe sample, she would have a heart attack. So he stopped with what he was doing and watched the time, giving her a meaningful nod against the clock on the wall above her head.
"Oh well..." she sighed and smiled tiredly. "I'd better be going then. There is food in the fridge and I have my cellphone on and..."
"Just go mom, I know!"
As soon as the door closed behind her back he could hear steps in the staircase and a pair of differently colored socks appeared. He pretended not to have been looking when the english boy re-appeared in the white kitchen. Instead of looking at him, to see what he was wearing now, he kept putting things where they were supposed to be.
"Your mom really doesn't seem to like me, huh?"
Al almost dropped a bowl at the sudden question, looking back at his cousin with a soft smile, prepared to speak but loosing the words for a second, just looking at him. He had seated himself on the edge of the table, which was stable enough to take his weight but his mother would still have freaked. He was wearing the same tight pants but the sweater from before had been exchanged to a T-shirt with 'The six pistols - God save the queen' printed on it. His green eyes were bright but slightly worried and Al was awe struck once more, not even knowing really why.
"I don't know about that?" he then said, as soon as his voice returned to him of course. "I bet she was just a bit surprised when she saw you... and she is usually all stiff anyway" He smiled but added. "Not that you look bad or anything..!"
The other one chuckled slightly and the sound was like a fucking summer breeze. Alfred could feel goosebumps down the small of his back and had to grip the bowl tightly not to drop it again. "If you say so" Arthur then said and shrugged.
"You hungry?" Al then asked when he could hear Arthur's stomach grumble all the way from where he was sitting and he smirked inwardly as he saw blush rising on the older one's cheeks. "We've got... hmmm..." he opened the door to the refrigerator, trying to see something eatable through the forest of vegetables his mother had bought. "Some bread I think, peanut butter, jelly, ham, cheese, hmm... some milk..."
"Have tea?"
Arthur was suddenly behind him, looking over his shoulder into the fridge. Al jumped in his clothes by the sudden closeness but then nodded slowly. "I... think so" he answered and walked over to one of the numerous cabinets. "My younger brother always drinks it, I can't understand why but he does... and I think he left a whole bag of it when he moved..."
"He's the one who lives in Canada? Matthew?" Arthur asked back from somewhere behind him and Al had to laugh a little.
"You seem to know more about my family than we know about yours..."
"Well, my mother always talks a lot about your mother" his cousin smiled back. "They like to be on the phone for hours... it's a pain in the ass. Guess my mother didn't tell yours about... well, my way of life since she thought I wouldn't get to stay here if she did"
Alfred nodded, understanding that he must be talking about the way he dressed and looked. His mother would definitely not have let him stay there if she'd known. She would have said something about having enough as it is with two teenage boys and a terrible husband or just the truth, that there weren't really enough room. Not that that would stop her for inviting people she wanted over... just that if she would have asked Al, he would have told her that there was no way his cousin could sleep in his room. This one seemed nice enough though... AND it would piss her off from now on, so he was cool with this.
When the water had come to a boil and the tea was cooking, Al took the spare time to show their guest around the house. That needed to be done after all. Arthur was politely interested, even though Al could see his eyes blinking tiredly sometimes. He wasn't a bad guy just cause he liked dressing differently from what they were used to after all... His mother was just stupid.
"Do you want to play?" he asked as he saw Arthur's fingers twitch at the discovery of the old guitar they kept next to the sofa in the living room. His cousin lightened up immediately and seated himself while Alfred went to fetch the tea. Even when he was in the kitchen the fragile notes reached his ears as if he was sitting right there, playing a song he had heard once before... even though he couldn't really place it.
He stood for a moment and just listened. While doing so even the tea smelled good and in the spur of the moment he poured himself a cup as well. He would regret that, he was sure, because tea tasted like peeeee and he knew THAT for sure.
"Oh God..." his cousin half moaned as he drank the scolding hot liquid with his eyes closed, as if it was the most glorious and wonderful thing in the world. Al just couldn't hep laughing before looking down at his own cup with brown, see-through drink.
"How can you like this...?" he asked before tasting a little of it, burning his tongue and coughing immediately. "It's so fucking bitter..!"
Arthur laughed and looked at him over the edge of the pink cup he had been given. "You really hate it that much?" As Al nodded, of course, his cousin shook his head and got up from the sofa, walked into the kitchen and came back some minutes later (after making a lot of noise in there) with a bowl of sugar and a bottle of milk. "I'll make you like it, yeah?"
"I dare you" Al chuckled. The sight of him, the mischievous smile on his face, the glimpse of it in his eyes was priceless. He really wasn't like anyone around here, their eyes dead next to these green ones... The only eyes that could kind of compare were those green ones of the girl he had just had sex with, and that had been only because of the fact that sh head been so filled with lust... This guy, his eyes were sparkling, even though he was not about to have sex... And now THAT thought had gotten into his head. And fuck, he was blushing.
Arthur had not noticed though. He was already pouring milk into the blue cup belonging to Al and when he received a raised eyebrow, he just laughed. "Don't give me that look Al" he then said and poured two spoons of sugar into it as well. "it's just like it is with coffee..." he stated and turned the spoon a couple of times in the cup before handing it to him. "...when you're learning to drink coffee, you have a lot of milk and sugar... Try it, it's much more fat in it now, like you want it, right?"
"Yeah... right" Al grinned back, then looking down suspiciously at the tea, which was not see-through anymore and had taken the colour of... well... It looked like brownish milk. He couldn't really hide the disgust in his face it seemed, because Arthur laughed again. Didn't say anything more this time though, just seated himself again and took his cup to his lips with the same face of bliss as before. Al looked at him with a crooked smile before looking back down at his own tea again. "Here goes nothing..."
Before the liquid hit his lips, there was warmth flowing into his face, almost like the breath of someone standing really really close to him. He almost smiled, no matter how much his guts turned, knowing that this would be like drinking warm pee. It didn't though. Which made him open his eyes in surprise.
It wasn't really good either. But it really didn't taste like shit. The milk had totally wiped the bitterness away and instead made room for the real taste of it all... and the sugar just made it... even better. After just two or three mouthfuls he was almost sold on it. It was fucking delicious when you'd gotten used to it.
"Told you so" his cousin chuckled and Al could do nothing but admit that he had been had. He kept drinking his tea, wondering slightly why the hell his brother hadn't told him about this? It was cosy in some weird way, just sitting there, drinking in silence. The TV wasn't even on, that must be the first.
The rest of the evening was spent in calm as well. Even though Arthur might look like he was totally badass, Al had started suspecting that it was more a way to dress than a way to be and behave. He was fun though, his english was fucking hilarious at times and his stories about his home even more so. There seemed to be so much to see over there, and how could it really be so different from in the US? Arthur didn't seem to have noticed all the difference yet though, since he hadn't been out much since he got here. Al felt a bit sorry for him. He'd surly miss home soon... poor guy.
"You sure you'll be comfortable here then?" he asked as he and Arthur had put the madras out on the floor in his room, the wrinkled sheets looking highly uncomfortable for Al's own taste. "Bet you have like the best bed at home, huh?"
"I'll be fine" the other one laughed and threw his pillow in his face. "And no, I don't. My bed is the most run down in the house and I almost never get to sleep alone in it cause my brother always jumps me"
"Cosy..." He had already forgotten what the conversation was all about. He was tired, he had noticed it during the evening when they had warmed some pizza for dinner and he had almost fallen asleep in the sofa. Now, as he lay down on his large bed, he could feel his eyes slowly closing and the warmth of sleep already pulling him in. He was only partly conscious of the fact that Arthur was still looking at him.
"If I get lonely I could just join you up there" he half whispered and it took a long time for Al to even comprehend what he had said. When he did he just smiled and nodded with a mumbling sound. "Sleep well cousin..."
***
"Hey... Al? You sleeping..?"
"No..." he yawned, then realized that he had been. He didn't have the energy to correct himself though. What time was it anyway? It was still black outside and the wind made the tree-branches hit his window like nail drawn across it. "What is it...?"
Arthur was sitting on his madras, his knees drawn up to his chest and his blanked covering them. He looked terribly small and the expression on his face could not possibly be anything else than loneliness. He was smiling a little now though and rested his head against his knees while looking back up at his cousin, who had now started rubbing his eyes tiredly to try to wake up.
"Dono..." he answered and sighed slightly. "Guess I'm a bit homesick already... oh fuck, my mother's gonna freak out"
"Dude..." Al smiled, glancing at his clock and almost getting a heart attack when seeing it was only half passed two. "Don't worry, kay? You'll be as good as new tomorrow... right?"
"You think?" He was looking slightly more optimistic now, but not enough for Al's taste and even if he was trying to smile wider, it was obvious he couldn't.
"Come up here then..?" he said before thinking it through, but when those green eyes brightened immediately after the proposition, he couldn't really take it back, could he? "Don't even ask if I'm serious, just come here."
Arthur asked a little, his voice shaking slightly but Al tried not to think about how terrible this must be feeling. Those clothes, the cover... He must be so vulnerable on the inside... so lonely. He wasn't wearing those clothes now, the armor of confidence he was always getting dressed in. His blue PJ's were too big for him, making him look even smaller than he really was. His blond hair was all messed up and his fingers cold. Al flipped the covers away and made sure to leave some room for that cold frame and the trembling voice next to him, closing it again around them both.
"Just... wake me up if I start kicking in my sleep, kay?" he then said and smiled slightly. He wasn't used to sleeping with other people. He and Lauren weren't exclusive and even if they had been, he wouldn't have stayed over at her place and she never came over to his house. He didn't really like it. The slight nod from his cousin however made him calmer and he smiled a bit. This might be what Arthur needed, so he'd give it to him... That was the least he could do for him.
"Thank you Al..."
The sleepiness was just adorable and he couldn't stop himself from looking down at the green-eyed one again, but Arthur had already drifted of into sound sleep. His eyes where twitching a little underneath his eyelids even, a soft smile playing on his relaxed face.
"Good night Arthur"
***
The morning hit him like a punch in the face once again and he groaned loudly when he realized he really had to go up. It was monday after all and school was not going to wait for him. He turned around slowly, face to the wall, trying to get the light out of his head.
Wait... where did...
He sat up quickly, so fast his head didn't quite follow and he had to take a deep breath and close his eyes not to faint. There was no sign of Arthur, which made him breath out at first. He had been worried that he had kicked the poor man out of the bed and knocked him unconscious. Which apparently he hadn't since he wasn't down on the floor, nor was he anywhere to be seen. Since Al was still out of it, he didn't really understand any of this... Was it all just a dream? That had been the first question to pop up into his head but since there was a madras on the floor, it couldn't be.
He got up and got dressed, instead of trying to figure it out. Maybe Arthur had just woken up when his mother called from downstairs and gone down for breakfast or something. Didn't have to be more complicated than that.
The blue-white football-sweater was comfortable enough for him to want to sleep in it and when he sat down to put his socks on, he wanted to just lie down again and sleep for hours. He didn't though. Instead he tried to make himself stand up, which was more than he really had the energy to do. He almost fell as he opened the door to his room, laughing tiredly at himself.
He was distracted though by the smell of food coming from downstairs, sniffing curiously because frankly... they never really ate breakfast in this house. That was probably why he was always so hungry at school. Mat always used to pester him about it, wanting him to eat more in the mornings and less hamburgers. That wasn't gonna happen.
"Mom?" he asked as he entered the kitchen, but she wasn't in there. He smiled a little as he saw his blond cousin standing by the stove, too preoccupied with turning fried eggs in the pan to notice him come in. "Cooking breakfast for me, are you?"
Arthur jumped a bit at the sudden question but then laughed as he looked back to see Al in the doorway. "Oh yes..." he answered and nodded towards a plate with sausage and beans. "I couldn't really sleep this morning either, so I got up and made my way to the nearest store... though I don't know if it really was the closest, I saw it on the way here … anyway, I bought us some real, English breakfast!"
Al felt his stomach grumble like a volcano os he saw the sausages frying in the pan. He had read about people from England eating weird things for breakfast but he didn't mind at the moment, even though he saw the beans on the plate. He hadn't been this hungry on a morning ever, the fried eggs smelled delicious too and he couldn't wait to dig into it.
"And don't worry about me poisoning you" Arthur added as he put a full plate down on the table where he had already put a cup of coffee for Al's mother and two cups of tea for the both of them. "And it's plenty of fat for your taste to, I can imagine"
"Thank you darling" he chuckled and dug the sausage first, groaning with pleasure at the taste. "Where did you even find this? I've never eaten this kind before?"
"I'll keep that a mystery" his cousin chuckled back and seated himself opposite him by the table. Al threw a glance at him, biting his lip involuntary when he saw cuts on the other one's hands, some old, some new... He wondered slightly where they came from, they looked a lot like paper cuts or those kinds of wounds you get when you accidentally cut your fingers on the knife.
"You need a bandaid for that..?" he asked and nodded towards the index finger on Arthur's left hand, which was cut pretty deeply, still bleeding.
"If it's not to much trouble?"
"Don't be silly" Al smiled and got up, fetching a small bandaid form a red box inside one of the cabinets. "Remember where they are in case you cut yourself again, clumsy asshole"
"Fuck off" came the answer and Al couldn't hold back a laugh. Arthur was chewing away, hungry like a monster of some sort. He couldn't blame him though, he must be missing it all, the food, the weather (not that he knew how the weather was in England), the people... He hoped that life here wouldn't be hard for him. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who deserved to get a hard time after all...
"So..." he said after gently putting the bandaid onto Arthur's slightly trembling finger. He didn't ask about it, the guy was probably just in pain. "Ready for your first day at school?"
"Hell no..." his cousin smiled. "Not until I've eaten twice my body weight"
"That won't take so long, will it?"
Chapter three
Chapter: two
Author: coooodes
Pairing/Characters: Alfred F. Jones/Arthur Kirkland (America/England)
Rating: R/NC-17
Warnings: girl on girl on boy, boy on boy, bit of sex and violence so to speak
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or any of the characters...
A/N: I will be cosplaying these characters in the near future and since we're gonna be casual I thought "why not just write a fanfiction about it and then cosplay them from that one?" So now I am :) Alternative universe you guys! Forget everything you know about the characters if you can ;)
Summary: Alfred is having a boring day, a real boring one... There is nothing to do and nothing there to make him happy... except for his younger brother, but he lives in Canada and can't come home in weeks. Their mother is a pain in the ass too, always nagging about relatives coming over and that he should clean his room... If only he even knew his cousins name? And why is he going to stay in Al's room anyway? Ever heard of privacy?! Personal space..?
[ Chapter one]
"Mom, we'll be fine, kay?" he sighed and put the clean dishes into the cupboard, something he almost never did but she had told him to do it so that their guest would see he wasn't useless. (Which clearly indicated that she thought he WAS useless when saying that). He didn't really believe that was the whole truth though. If he knew her well enough, he'd say she wanted him to do that in front of Arthur so that the new family member knew HE should do stuff like that as well. He was sure his mother had gotten quite a shock when she'd seen him...
Arthur had grown up in England with his family, who were related to Al on their fathers side, brothers, if he remembered correctly. His father didn't speak much about his family. He never had, which made it hard for Al to know of course. It had been decided in the spur of the moment that Arthur would be staying at their place. His mother had always been so kind to the poor woman married to her husbands annoying brother. She must have thought that the English little boy would be an angel sent from the skies above to save her messed up family. Instead, she had gotten a boy with boots, stretching in his ear, messed up hairdo and clothes she would never have let Al or Matt ware, ever.
Now she was standing in the doorway with her handbag tightly clutched between her arm and her body, faking a smile every time she looked over at the staircase where the newcomer had run to change from his so called "traveling clothes". She was going to one of her book-club meetings and for some reason she thought the two of them could not be left alone in the house just because he was a bit different from what she had pictured him to be?
"You know..." he added when he saw her giving the staircase one more strangled look of worry. "...he doesn't know anyone around here, right? He couldn't master a crowd or get anyone here quickly enough to burn down the house before you get back anyway..."
"What are you talking about?" she laughed nervously when looking back at him, her smile as fake as ever. "I'm not worried about anything like that... It's just... He's been away from his mother for a long time already, maybe he..."
"Mom, he's older than me? AND more rebellious apparently... bet he doesn't care one bit about being away from home, yeah?" he realized as soon as he'd said it that he probably shouldn't have, but he didn't stop even though she looked horrified. "I'll make sure he gets to bed in time, that he isn't hungry when he does and that he brushes his teeth. Just go so that you won't be late, okay?"
She didn't want to. Probably because of her own damn parental headache but he knew there was a part of her that just wanted to get out of this house for a while. He didn't blame her. He could hear the toilet getting flushed, knowing that if Arthur came down with an even more challenging wardrobe sample, she would have a heart attack. So he stopped with what he was doing and watched the time, giving her a meaningful nod against the clock on the wall above her head.
"Oh well..." she sighed and smiled tiredly. "I'd better be going then. There is food in the fridge and I have my cellphone on and..."
"Just go mom, I know!"
As soon as the door closed behind her back he could hear steps in the staircase and a pair of differently colored socks appeared. He pretended not to have been looking when the english boy re-appeared in the white kitchen. Instead of looking at him, to see what he was wearing now, he kept putting things where they were supposed to be.
"Your mom really doesn't seem to like me, huh?"
Al almost dropped a bowl at the sudden question, looking back at his cousin with a soft smile, prepared to speak but loosing the words for a second, just looking at him. He had seated himself on the edge of the table, which was stable enough to take his weight but his mother would still have freaked. He was wearing the same tight pants but the sweater from before had been exchanged to a T-shirt with 'The six pistols - God save the queen' printed on it. His green eyes were bright but slightly worried and Al was awe struck once more, not even knowing really why.
"I don't know about that?" he then said, as soon as his voice returned to him of course. "I bet she was just a bit surprised when she saw you... and she is usually all stiff anyway" He smiled but added. "Not that you look bad or anything..!"
The other one chuckled slightly and the sound was like a fucking summer breeze. Alfred could feel goosebumps down the small of his back and had to grip the bowl tightly not to drop it again. "If you say so" Arthur then said and shrugged.
"You hungry?" Al then asked when he could hear Arthur's stomach grumble all the way from where he was sitting and he smirked inwardly as he saw blush rising on the older one's cheeks. "We've got... hmmm..." he opened the door to the refrigerator, trying to see something eatable through the forest of vegetables his mother had bought. "Some bread I think, peanut butter, jelly, ham, cheese, hmm... some milk..."
"Have tea?"
Arthur was suddenly behind him, looking over his shoulder into the fridge. Al jumped in his clothes by the sudden closeness but then nodded slowly. "I... think so" he answered and walked over to one of the numerous cabinets. "My younger brother always drinks it, I can't understand why but he does... and I think he left a whole bag of it when he moved..."
"He's the one who lives in Canada? Matthew?" Arthur asked back from somewhere behind him and Al had to laugh a little.
"You seem to know more about my family than we know about yours..."
"Well, my mother always talks a lot about your mother" his cousin smiled back. "They like to be on the phone for hours... it's a pain in the ass. Guess my mother didn't tell yours about... well, my way of life since she thought I wouldn't get to stay here if she did"
Alfred nodded, understanding that he must be talking about the way he dressed and looked. His mother would definitely not have let him stay there if she'd known. She would have said something about having enough as it is with two teenage boys and a terrible husband or just the truth, that there weren't really enough room. Not that that would stop her for inviting people she wanted over... just that if she would have asked Al, he would have told her that there was no way his cousin could sleep in his room. This one seemed nice enough though... AND it would piss her off from now on, so he was cool with this.
When the water had come to a boil and the tea was cooking, Al took the spare time to show their guest around the house. That needed to be done after all. Arthur was politely interested, even though Al could see his eyes blinking tiredly sometimes. He wasn't a bad guy just cause he liked dressing differently from what they were used to after all... His mother was just stupid.
"Do you want to play?" he asked as he saw Arthur's fingers twitch at the discovery of the old guitar they kept next to the sofa in the living room. His cousin lightened up immediately and seated himself while Alfred went to fetch the tea. Even when he was in the kitchen the fragile notes reached his ears as if he was sitting right there, playing a song he had heard once before... even though he couldn't really place it.
He stood for a moment and just listened. While doing so even the tea smelled good and in the spur of the moment he poured himself a cup as well. He would regret that, he was sure, because tea tasted like peeeee and he knew THAT for sure.
"Oh God..." his cousin half moaned as he drank the scolding hot liquid with his eyes closed, as if it was the most glorious and wonderful thing in the world. Al just couldn't hep laughing before looking down at his own cup with brown, see-through drink.
"How can you like this...?" he asked before tasting a little of it, burning his tongue and coughing immediately. "It's so fucking bitter..!"
Arthur laughed and looked at him over the edge of the pink cup he had been given. "You really hate it that much?" As Al nodded, of course, his cousin shook his head and got up from the sofa, walked into the kitchen and came back some minutes later (after making a lot of noise in there) with a bowl of sugar and a bottle of milk. "I'll make you like it, yeah?"
"I dare you" Al chuckled. The sight of him, the mischievous smile on his face, the glimpse of it in his eyes was priceless. He really wasn't like anyone around here, their eyes dead next to these green ones... The only eyes that could kind of compare were those green ones of the girl he had just had sex with, and that had been only because of the fact that sh head been so filled with lust... This guy, his eyes were sparkling, even though he was not about to have sex... And now THAT thought had gotten into his head. And fuck, he was blushing.
Arthur had not noticed though. He was already pouring milk into the blue cup belonging to Al and when he received a raised eyebrow, he just laughed. "Don't give me that look Al" he then said and poured two spoons of sugar into it as well. "it's just like it is with coffee..." he stated and turned the spoon a couple of times in the cup before handing it to him. "...when you're learning to drink coffee, you have a lot of milk and sugar... Try it, it's much more fat in it now, like you want it, right?"
"Yeah... right" Al grinned back, then looking down suspiciously at the tea, which was not see-through anymore and had taken the colour of... well... It looked like brownish milk. He couldn't really hide the disgust in his face it seemed, because Arthur laughed again. Didn't say anything more this time though, just seated himself again and took his cup to his lips with the same face of bliss as before. Al looked at him with a crooked smile before looking back down at his own tea again. "Here goes nothing..."
Before the liquid hit his lips, there was warmth flowing into his face, almost like the breath of someone standing really really close to him. He almost smiled, no matter how much his guts turned, knowing that this would be like drinking warm pee. It didn't though. Which made him open his eyes in surprise.
It wasn't really good either. But it really didn't taste like shit. The milk had totally wiped the bitterness away and instead made room for the real taste of it all... and the sugar just made it... even better. After just two or three mouthfuls he was almost sold on it. It was fucking delicious when you'd gotten used to it.
"Told you so" his cousin chuckled and Al could do nothing but admit that he had been had. He kept drinking his tea, wondering slightly why the hell his brother hadn't told him about this? It was cosy in some weird way, just sitting there, drinking in silence. The TV wasn't even on, that must be the first.
The rest of the evening was spent in calm as well. Even though Arthur might look like he was totally badass, Al had started suspecting that it was more a way to dress than a way to be and behave. He was fun though, his english was fucking hilarious at times and his stories about his home even more so. There seemed to be so much to see over there, and how could it really be so different from in the US? Arthur didn't seem to have noticed all the difference yet though, since he hadn't been out much since he got here. Al felt a bit sorry for him. He'd surly miss home soon... poor guy.
"You sure you'll be comfortable here then?" he asked as he and Arthur had put the madras out on the floor in his room, the wrinkled sheets looking highly uncomfortable for Al's own taste. "Bet you have like the best bed at home, huh?"
"I'll be fine" the other one laughed and threw his pillow in his face. "And no, I don't. My bed is the most run down in the house and I almost never get to sleep alone in it cause my brother always jumps me"
"Cosy..." He had already forgotten what the conversation was all about. He was tired, he had noticed it during the evening when they had warmed some pizza for dinner and he had almost fallen asleep in the sofa. Now, as he lay down on his large bed, he could feel his eyes slowly closing and the warmth of sleep already pulling him in. He was only partly conscious of the fact that Arthur was still looking at him.
"If I get lonely I could just join you up there" he half whispered and it took a long time for Al to even comprehend what he had said. When he did he just smiled and nodded with a mumbling sound. "Sleep well cousin..."
***
"Hey... Al? You sleeping..?"
"No..." he yawned, then realized that he had been. He didn't have the energy to correct himself though. What time was it anyway? It was still black outside and the wind made the tree-branches hit his window like nail drawn across it. "What is it...?"
Arthur was sitting on his madras, his knees drawn up to his chest and his blanked covering them. He looked terribly small and the expression on his face could not possibly be anything else than loneliness. He was smiling a little now though and rested his head against his knees while looking back up at his cousin, who had now started rubbing his eyes tiredly to try to wake up.
"Dono..." he answered and sighed slightly. "Guess I'm a bit homesick already... oh fuck, my mother's gonna freak out"
"Dude..." Al smiled, glancing at his clock and almost getting a heart attack when seeing it was only half passed two. "Don't worry, kay? You'll be as good as new tomorrow... right?"
"You think?" He was looking slightly more optimistic now, but not enough for Al's taste and even if he was trying to smile wider, it was obvious he couldn't.
"Come up here then..?" he said before thinking it through, but when those green eyes brightened immediately after the proposition, he couldn't really take it back, could he? "Don't even ask if I'm serious, just come here."
Arthur asked a little, his voice shaking slightly but Al tried not to think about how terrible this must be feeling. Those clothes, the cover... He must be so vulnerable on the inside... so lonely. He wasn't wearing those clothes now, the armor of confidence he was always getting dressed in. His blue PJ's were too big for him, making him look even smaller than he really was. His blond hair was all messed up and his fingers cold. Al flipped the covers away and made sure to leave some room for that cold frame and the trembling voice next to him, closing it again around them both.
"Just... wake me up if I start kicking in my sleep, kay?" he then said and smiled slightly. He wasn't used to sleeping with other people. He and Lauren weren't exclusive and even if they had been, he wouldn't have stayed over at her place and she never came over to his house. He didn't really like it. The slight nod from his cousin however made him calmer and he smiled a bit. This might be what Arthur needed, so he'd give it to him... That was the least he could do for him.
"Thank you Al..."
The sleepiness was just adorable and he couldn't stop himself from looking down at the green-eyed one again, but Arthur had already drifted of into sound sleep. His eyes where twitching a little underneath his eyelids even, a soft smile playing on his relaxed face.
"Good night Arthur"
***
The morning hit him like a punch in the face once again and he groaned loudly when he realized he really had to go up. It was monday after all and school was not going to wait for him. He turned around slowly, face to the wall, trying to get the light out of his head.
Wait... where did...
He sat up quickly, so fast his head didn't quite follow and he had to take a deep breath and close his eyes not to faint. There was no sign of Arthur, which made him breath out at first. He had been worried that he had kicked the poor man out of the bed and knocked him unconscious. Which apparently he hadn't since he wasn't down on the floor, nor was he anywhere to be seen. Since Al was still out of it, he didn't really understand any of this... Was it all just a dream? That had been the first question to pop up into his head but since there was a madras on the floor, it couldn't be.
He got up and got dressed, instead of trying to figure it out. Maybe Arthur had just woken up when his mother called from downstairs and gone down for breakfast or something. Didn't have to be more complicated than that.
The blue-white football-sweater was comfortable enough for him to want to sleep in it and when he sat down to put his socks on, he wanted to just lie down again and sleep for hours. He didn't though. Instead he tried to make himself stand up, which was more than he really had the energy to do. He almost fell as he opened the door to his room, laughing tiredly at himself.
He was distracted though by the smell of food coming from downstairs, sniffing curiously because frankly... they never really ate breakfast in this house. That was probably why he was always so hungry at school. Mat always used to pester him about it, wanting him to eat more in the mornings and less hamburgers. That wasn't gonna happen.
"Mom?" he asked as he entered the kitchen, but she wasn't in there. He smiled a little as he saw his blond cousin standing by the stove, too preoccupied with turning fried eggs in the pan to notice him come in. "Cooking breakfast for me, are you?"
Arthur jumped a bit at the sudden question but then laughed as he looked back to see Al in the doorway. "Oh yes..." he answered and nodded towards a plate with sausage and beans. "I couldn't really sleep this morning either, so I got up and made my way to the nearest store... though I don't know if it really was the closest, I saw it on the way here … anyway, I bought us some real, English breakfast!"
Al felt his stomach grumble like a volcano os he saw the sausages frying in the pan. He had read about people from England eating weird things for breakfast but he didn't mind at the moment, even though he saw the beans on the plate. He hadn't been this hungry on a morning ever, the fried eggs smelled delicious too and he couldn't wait to dig into it.
"And don't worry about me poisoning you" Arthur added as he put a full plate down on the table where he had already put a cup of coffee for Al's mother and two cups of tea for the both of them. "And it's plenty of fat for your taste to, I can imagine"
"Thank you darling" he chuckled and dug the sausage first, groaning with pleasure at the taste. "Where did you even find this? I've never eaten this kind before?"
"I'll keep that a mystery" his cousin chuckled back and seated himself opposite him by the table. Al threw a glance at him, biting his lip involuntary when he saw cuts on the other one's hands, some old, some new... He wondered slightly where they came from, they looked a lot like paper cuts or those kinds of wounds you get when you accidentally cut your fingers on the knife.
"You need a bandaid for that..?" he asked and nodded towards the index finger on Arthur's left hand, which was cut pretty deeply, still bleeding.
"If it's not to much trouble?"
"Don't be silly" Al smiled and got up, fetching a small bandaid form a red box inside one of the cabinets. "Remember where they are in case you cut yourself again, clumsy asshole"
"Fuck off" came the answer and Al couldn't hold back a laugh. Arthur was chewing away, hungry like a monster of some sort. He couldn't blame him though, he must be missing it all, the food, the weather (not that he knew how the weather was in England), the people... He hoped that life here wouldn't be hard for him. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who deserved to get a hard time after all...
"So..." he said after gently putting the bandaid onto Arthur's slightly trembling finger. He didn't ask about it, the guy was probably just in pain. "Ready for your first day at school?"
"Hell no..." his cousin smiled. "Not until I've eaten twice my body weight"
"That won't take so long, will it?"
Chapter three