Fanfic: Play the Song Again Tonight (And I Will Dance)
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Title: Play the Song Again Tonight (And I Will Dance)
Author: slashy_lady
Recipient: shibbyone
Rating: PG13
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Alfred and Arthur/AlfredxArthur
Disclaimer: The characters involved in this story do not belong to me, nor do they have any connection to real person(s). No infringement intended.
Some Kind of Summary: Alfred Jones had a night full of fun and a morning full of surprises.
Note: Written for shibbyone as part of usxuk's 2011 Secret Santa Fic/Art Exchange. Thank you for such a fun prompt.
The prompt being used is: '(Since I'm studying abroad right now) another AU: Alfred is studying abroad in London for a semester, and one Friday night he meets a mysterious, sexy Brit who takes an interest in him, and they have a grand ol' time. The morning after, once they get over the initial awkward of a one-night stand, they get to know each other and realize they might actually be good together. (Sorry if that's really descriptive o_O)'
*******
Alfred Jones woke up that morning in an unfamiliar room.
He was not a morning person, never had been in any sense, so it was understandable that he needed a few moments to orientate himself before he came to the realization that oh, hey, the room seemed unfamiliar. It was the cornflower blue bed sheets that first clued him. It looked and felt nicer than his bed sheets. The bed, too, felt way more comfortable than his own bed now that he thought about it. Moreover, he was pretty sure his windows were not positioned that way.
Being confronted with those facts, it was not really hard for Alfred to decide that he definitely did not sleep in his bed last night, which brought him to the important question of ‘where the fuck am I’.
The answer came to him quickly enough. Bits by bits he started recalling the previous night: the bar, the blond stranger whom he chatted up, the brief drive to his new friend’s flat, the sex…
Alfred broke out a grin when he came to that part. Oh, yeah, he remembered that alright. He scored a big one the night before and damn, it was nice. Though that made him wonder where his host could possibly be, leaving him naked in his bed like that. And, speaking about naked, Alfred steadily got more alarmed when he realized that he could not find his clothes anywhere within his vicinity. Thankfully he could spot his glasses lying on the nightstand, which he quickly put on in hope that they could somehow help him locating his missing clothes.
Still, the glasses did not negate the ‘naked without any idea where his clothes might be’ factor.
While he was still debating the pros and cons of leaving the bed bare ass naked to search for his clothes, the door leading to the room opened to admit a man whose gaze instantly sought Alfred’s. Alfred recognized him at first glance-that blond hair, those green eyes, that face. And he congratulated himself for having such a good taste. The ‘stranger at the bar’ looked even more dashing in the morning light.
“You’re awake,” his host said slowly. It was then that Alfred’s mind gave him a name. Arthur, he had introduced himself to Alfred as Arthur. He remembered it, how he said his name after Alfred had kissed him for the first time.
“Hey,” Alfred said, smiling. “I don’t seem to remember where I put my clothes…”
“They’re… in the laundry,” Arthur said. He shrugged faintly and gestured to the other side of the room. “You can shower, if you like. I have some spare toothbrushes in the medical cabinet, and towels. I can get you some of my clothes… for you to wear, I mean. And I’m sorry about your clothes.”
Alfred frowned. “Sorry that you add them up to your laundry pile?”
“What? No, I’m sorry that I spilled my beer on your shirt,” Arthur said before he threw him a curious look. “You didn’t remember, did you, about last night?”
Somehow Alfred could hear the unspoken question of ‘do you even know who I am’ at the end of Arthur’s sentence. He could see it in his eyes, that look of disbelief mixed with affront and disappointment. And that was surely not the kind of talk he’d like to have when he was still sitting in bed with only a sheet protecting his modesty.
“Oh, hey, no, I mean,” Alfred said quickly. “My memory about last night might be a bit blurry but I do remember… about you, uh, us, Arthur, I do remember.”
He could see the touch of relaxation on Arthur’s face, as if he was glad to know that Alfred remembered his name, which made Alfred wonder if Arthur remembered his name. Did he even tell Arthur his name the previous night, he wondered. And he also wondered why it made him feel so apprehensive to know whether Arthur remembered his name or not.
“Well, okay,” Arthur said. “Perhaps I should search for some clothes for you.”
“Right,” Alfred said. “I’ll take that shower then.”
There was a terse moment when Alfred and Arthur were just kind of staring at each other before Arthur very pointedly closed the door. It was then that Alfred dared to make a dash from the bed to the bathroom. And only when he was safely inside that locked bathroom did he let out a relieved sigh. Damn, he thought, that was awkward.
*
Alfred Jones was no stranger to the concept of one night stand.
He might not be doing the whole ‘picking up a cute guy in some gay club’ so often lately considering that the start of a new term was always hellish. Add to that the fact that he was still not that familiar with the city, considering that he only came there a month ago for his exchange program. His life so far had been spent in trying to get used to living in his dorm, coming to classes, slaving his ass off doing projects, and not getting lost in the process.
The night before was the first time that Alfred ventured a night club with the intent of getting some ‘fun’. And he did get it, when he saw that lone guy with the most vivid green eyes sitting alone at the bar. He did get it when they proceeded from flirtation to kisses to more as the night wore on.
Yet for all the things that had happened, Alfred could not remember ever having a more awkward ‘morning after’ than what he had at that moment.
*
Coming out of the bedroom freshly showered and wearing the clothes that Arthur had prepared for him, Alfred faced the sight of Arthur sitting at his breakfast table with two mugs of steaming something in front of him.
“Hey,” Arthur called, smiling faintly as he gestured for Alfred to take a seat. “I don’t know how you take your tea. Or even if you drink tea. Americans prefer coffee, I think.”
He did prefer coffee but it would seem really rude to Arthur if he dumped his tea to the sink. So he sat down and curled his hands around the mug of tea in front of him. At least it was warm.
“So I guess…” Alfred tried to say the same time Arthur said, “I don’t normally do this.”
Blinking, Alfred needed a moment to think before he said, “Sorry, what?”
Arthur fiddled with his thumbs before he sighed. “I don’t normally do one night stands. This is not my scene. And I’m not… I just don’t know how to act in this kind of situation and I might have made you feel awkward. Even I feel awkward. So, I’m sorry.”
Ah well, Alfred thought, that somewhat explained the awkwardness on Arthur’s part. It was pretty flattering, though, to think that Arthur who, according to his words, did not normally do ‘one night stands’ somehow regarded him interesting enough to make him step out of his comfort zone. Flattering, yes, and also sweet, the way he was so self conscious about the awkwardness between them.
“That’s kinda cute,” Alfred said before he could stop himself.
Jerking his face up sharply, Arthur gave him one very nasty glare. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t mean… I’m not making fun of you,” Alfred said, raising his hands up in the gesture of surrender. “Seriously, I don’t. I just think it’s so generous of you to tell all that to me. And you’re super nice, really, you are. And you shouldn’t feel sorry. You let me shower and lent me your clothes and did my laundry and you even made me tea… uh, which is really… warm, thank you, by the way.”
Alfred knew that he had a tendency to babble when he was nervous or feeling out of his depth. It was really not cool to find that apparently said tendency still persisted. Not cool and not welcomed, at all.
“You’re welcome,” Arthur said. “It’s just basic hospitality.”
“So, anyway,” Alfred said with a grin. “What now?”
Arthur frowned at him. “Have you missed the whole ‘I don’t know what the heck I’m doing’ statement just now?”
“Er, yeah, no, I mean,” Alfred tried to explain. “I’m not normally this pathetic, I swear, I just need some caffeine to act like a functional human being. No offense to your tea, but I’ve tried, for serious, when I first came here and made some effort to go native. I think I drank the entire pot and my brain was still thinking that it’s a very good idea to go vacationing to dreamland.”
Okay, babbling tendency, observed and confirmed once again. Fuck.
“Do you also normally love to prattle?” Arthur asked. “Or is it another one of your caffeine deficiency consequences?”
“Afraid I can’t blame the caffeine for that,” Alfred answered honestly.
Arthur chuckled. “You did talk a lot last night too.”
Alfred did not doubt that. Even though his memory on their previous night was not exactly crystal clear-he blamed the combination of lack of caffeine and excess of alcohol for that-he could still remember talking with Arthur. He remembered how he told Arthur that he was new to the city. He remembered telling him the subject he was taking at the local university and the projects he was currently working on. Alfred couldn’t help it. He was a talker and when he met someone he liked, he would always try to impress them, more often than not by talking. Well, his twin said it was closer to bragging but, whatever…
“Ah, yeah,” Alfred said. He rubbed the back of his neck before he simply said. “I think I'm having a major crush on you.”
It was weird. Alfred had meant to start by mentioning that he had had a good time with Arthur the previous night, hinting that he wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of seeing him more, then after that casually mentioning that he would like to exchange their numbers. Nothing in that plan even came close to the words he had just let escape from his lips.
He blamed his caffeine deprivation.
“That was direct,” Arthur remarked.
“That was not how I planned it,” Alfred grumbled.
“Ah,” Arthur said. “Something that you can blame to lack of caffeine in your morning again?”
Alfred shrugged. “Somewhat. I just…” he sighed before running his hand through his hair. “I want to tell you that I enjoyed our time last night. You were there, looking so… beautiful-”
Arthur snorted. “Beautiful?”
“Beautiful,” Alfred insisted. “That was my first thought about you when I saw you last night, and that’s why I hit on you. But you’re more than that. You’re smart and witty and fun and… did you seriously make a paper on gender binary and rock music?”
“You remember that?” Arthur said. “Well, yes, that’s one of my papers, as a matter of fact. I’m studying anthropology for my master degree now.”
“That sounds really cool,” Alfred said.
Arthur smirked. “I somehow think it’s probably not as cool as building awesome killer robots to protect the world.”
“What? Oh my God. Fuck! Did I tell you that?” Alfred said in between his laughter. “Yeah, I’m doing AI. And, yes, the reason why I picked this major is something to do with… um, robot superheroes, hey, don’t laugh!”
In all honesty, Alfred really could not begrudge Arthur that much for laughing since he was laughing himself. Perhaps he should have felt a bit affronted. Arthur was laughing at him, after all.
“I thought that’s a kind of dream that no kid over the age of ten would have,” Arthur said. He was still snickering.
“Yeah, they pretty much left it when they figured out that the long road to awesome killer robots involved complex math problems,” Alfred said. “Thankfully, I’m excellent at math.”
With one last snicker, Arthur put his elbow on the table. He rested his chin on his palm and scrutinized Alfred with an expression of exasperated fondness on his face. The way he smiled was enough to make Alfred yearn to kiss him again. There was just something about Arthur, something intriguing and absolutely interesting.
“You’re a very interesting guy,” Arthur remarked, as if echoing Alfred’s own thought.
Alfred plastered his most self-assured smile as he asked, “Interesting enough to merit a second date?”
Frowning, Arthur said, “I’m not aware that we already had our first date.”
“Well, last night…”
“…was you intruding my alone time drinking peacefully at the bar.”
“Okay, then how about now? I’m sure breakfast…”
“...in my kitchen with only two cups of tea that you won’t even drink is not fit to be considered a ‘date’, surely.”
Alfred gave Arthur an annoyed glare, which seemed ineffective for Arthur merely smirked smugly under his glare.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m at all opposed to the idea of you taking me out on a date,” Arthur said, very casually, as if it was nothing of importance. “By the way, you are taking a class on Morphology this semester, right?”
“Yep. I need that for my NLP course,” Alfred scrunched up his face, a bit taken aback at the sudden change of topic. “Did I tell you that last night?”
“Oh, yes, you did,” Arthur said. His smirk grew wider, somehow, and it made Alfred wary. His wariness soon proved to be reasonable when Arthur said, “Though perhaps I might have forgotten to mention that I’m your TA for that class, Mister Alfred F. Jones.”
There was a giddy feeling in him when he heard Arthur saying his name, a kind of elation in finding out that apparently Arthur remembered his name. But it was totally trumped by another thing that Arthur had just revealed, namely the fact that Arthur was his TA for a class which he knew would be the death of him. He surely recalled now how he bitched about that particular class in front of Arthur last night. He even might or might not be bitching about the people responsible for grading his assignments for ‘not being bright enough to share his grand vision’.
Dear God, Alfred thought, did he even go as far as promising painful death and STDs to his lecturer and his 'minions'? Was that why Arthur was staring at him like that? Did he lace the tea with arsenic?
Alfred had shiver down his spine at that. He could only throw Arthur a disbelieving are-you-for-fucking-serious glare, which the latter only returned with a smile. He fucking smiled after he just fucked with Alfred’s mind, smiled so calmly like a gorgeous, cunning, sadistic guy he was.
Alfred thought that he might be falling in love. He thought he might be falling hard.
“You’re totally badass,” he said, breathless.
“I aim to please,” Arthur said with a shrug. “So, still wanting to go out with me?”
“More than ever,” Alfred said reverently.
“Such nerve. Nice. I like that in a guy,” Arthur said.
“Okay…” Alfred said, taking a deep breath. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get breakfast somewhere and I’ll get my much needed doze of caffeine because I refuse to deal with all this without a decent cup of coffee. Then we’ll talk and have fun and I’ll kiss you at least once, preferably after the coffee part. And then I’ll ask you out and you’ll say yes, with a smile, without even once mentioning how bad I was doing in my latest paper for that wretched Morphology class.”
Arthur blinked at him. “Do I even have any say in this?”
“You are very much allowed and even expected to say yes,” Alfred said.
Arthur did not exactly say ‘yes’. He merely snorted and stood up from his seat, mumbling “I do hope this breakfast you mentioned is not your idea of our first date”. But that sounded close enough to a ‘yes’ in Alfred’s ears. So he grinned. He rose from his seat to approach Arthur and he took Arthur’s hand, squeezing it briefly.
“No,” he said. “No, our first date will be way more magnificent than that, with dinner in some fancy restaurant and movies and romantic walk and flowers and fireworks…” he saw Arthur twitching, “…er, okay, no fireworks, but it will be spectacular and special and awesome. This evening, what do you think? I’ll take you out and you’ll have the best date ever.”
“You seem to already have a solid plan already,” Arthur said. “There’s only this one thing I’d like to change.”
“You finally decided you want the fireworks after all?” Alfred asked hopefully.
“I want a kiss,” Arthur said in a no-nonsense kind of voice that Alfred found strangely hot. “As in, now, instead of later after you get your coffee.”
“Oh,” Alfred said. Seriously, with Arthur straightforwardly asking for a kiss from him like that, it was not so strange that he felt a bit overwhelmed. Screw falling in love, Alfred was totally plummeting without any chance of stopping for Arthur.
He moved closer until he could touch Arthur’s cheek with the back of his hand, until he could stare right into Arthur’s eyes with mere inches separating their faces.
“Yeah, alright,” he said, “Yeah, that sounds more awesome than fireworks. Okay.”
Then Alfred kissed him and he found that kissing Arthur did not only sound more awesome than fireworks. Kissing Arthur definitely felt more awesome than fireworks.
End
(A/N: Merry (early) Christmas, all~)
Title: Play the Song Again Tonight (And I Will Dance)
Author: slashy_lady
Recipient: shibbyone
Rating: PG13
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Alfred and Arthur/AlfredxArthur
Disclaimer: The characters involved in this story do not belong to me, nor do they have any connection to real person(s). No infringement intended.
Some Kind of Summary: Alfred Jones had a night full of fun and a morning full of surprises.
Note: Written for shibbyone as part of usxuk's 2011 Secret Santa Fic/Art Exchange. Thank you for such a fun prompt.
The prompt being used is: '(Since I'm studying abroad right now) another AU: Alfred is studying abroad in London for a semester, and one Friday night he meets a mysterious, sexy Brit who takes an interest in him, and they have a grand ol' time. The morning after, once they get over the initial awkward of a one-night stand, they get to know each other and realize they might actually be good together. (Sorry if that's really descriptive o_O)'
*******
Alfred Jones woke up that morning in an unfamiliar room.
He was not a morning person, never had been in any sense, so it was understandable that he needed a few moments to orientate himself before he came to the realization that oh, hey, the room seemed unfamiliar. It was the cornflower blue bed sheets that first clued him. It looked and felt nicer than his bed sheets. The bed, too, felt way more comfortable than his own bed now that he thought about it. Moreover, he was pretty sure his windows were not positioned that way.
Being confronted with those facts, it was not really hard for Alfred to decide that he definitely did not sleep in his bed last night, which brought him to the important question of ‘where the fuck am I’.
The answer came to him quickly enough. Bits by bits he started recalling the previous night: the bar, the blond stranger whom he chatted up, the brief drive to his new friend’s flat, the sex…
Alfred broke out a grin when he came to that part. Oh, yeah, he remembered that alright. He scored a big one the night before and damn, it was nice. Though that made him wonder where his host could possibly be, leaving him naked in his bed like that. And, speaking about naked, Alfred steadily got more alarmed when he realized that he could not find his clothes anywhere within his vicinity. Thankfully he could spot his glasses lying on the nightstand, which he quickly put on in hope that they could somehow help him locating his missing clothes.
Still, the glasses did not negate the ‘naked without any idea where his clothes might be’ factor.
While he was still debating the pros and cons of leaving the bed bare ass naked to search for his clothes, the door leading to the room opened to admit a man whose gaze instantly sought Alfred’s. Alfred recognized him at first glance-that blond hair, those green eyes, that face. And he congratulated himself for having such a good taste. The ‘stranger at the bar’ looked even more dashing in the morning light.
“You’re awake,” his host said slowly. It was then that Alfred’s mind gave him a name. Arthur, he had introduced himself to Alfred as Arthur. He remembered it, how he said his name after Alfred had kissed him for the first time.
“Hey,” Alfred said, smiling. “I don’t seem to remember where I put my clothes…”
“They’re… in the laundry,” Arthur said. He shrugged faintly and gestured to the other side of the room. “You can shower, if you like. I have some spare toothbrushes in the medical cabinet, and towels. I can get you some of my clothes… for you to wear, I mean. And I’m sorry about your clothes.”
Alfred frowned. “Sorry that you add them up to your laundry pile?”
“What? No, I’m sorry that I spilled my beer on your shirt,” Arthur said before he threw him a curious look. “You didn’t remember, did you, about last night?”
Somehow Alfred could hear the unspoken question of ‘do you even know who I am’ at the end of Arthur’s sentence. He could see it in his eyes, that look of disbelief mixed with affront and disappointment. And that was surely not the kind of talk he’d like to have when he was still sitting in bed with only a sheet protecting his modesty.
“Oh, hey, no, I mean,” Alfred said quickly. “My memory about last night might be a bit blurry but I do remember… about you, uh, us, Arthur, I do remember.”
He could see the touch of relaxation on Arthur’s face, as if he was glad to know that Alfred remembered his name, which made Alfred wonder if Arthur remembered his name. Did he even tell Arthur his name the previous night, he wondered. And he also wondered why it made him feel so apprehensive to know whether Arthur remembered his name or not.
“Well, okay,” Arthur said. “Perhaps I should search for some clothes for you.”
“Right,” Alfred said. “I’ll take that shower then.”
There was a terse moment when Alfred and Arthur were just kind of staring at each other before Arthur very pointedly closed the door. It was then that Alfred dared to make a dash from the bed to the bathroom. And only when he was safely inside that locked bathroom did he let out a relieved sigh. Damn, he thought, that was awkward.
*
Alfred Jones was no stranger to the concept of one night stand.
He might not be doing the whole ‘picking up a cute guy in some gay club’ so often lately considering that the start of a new term was always hellish. Add to that the fact that he was still not that familiar with the city, considering that he only came there a month ago for his exchange program. His life so far had been spent in trying to get used to living in his dorm, coming to classes, slaving his ass off doing projects, and not getting lost in the process.
The night before was the first time that Alfred ventured a night club with the intent of getting some ‘fun’. And he did get it, when he saw that lone guy with the most vivid green eyes sitting alone at the bar. He did get it when they proceeded from flirtation to kisses to more as the night wore on.
Yet for all the things that had happened, Alfred could not remember ever having a more awkward ‘morning after’ than what he had at that moment.
*
Coming out of the bedroom freshly showered and wearing the clothes that Arthur had prepared for him, Alfred faced the sight of Arthur sitting at his breakfast table with two mugs of steaming something in front of him.
“Hey,” Arthur called, smiling faintly as he gestured for Alfred to take a seat. “I don’t know how you take your tea. Or even if you drink tea. Americans prefer coffee, I think.”
He did prefer coffee but it would seem really rude to Arthur if he dumped his tea to the sink. So he sat down and curled his hands around the mug of tea in front of him. At least it was warm.
“So I guess…” Alfred tried to say the same time Arthur said, “I don’t normally do this.”
Blinking, Alfred needed a moment to think before he said, “Sorry, what?”
Arthur fiddled with his thumbs before he sighed. “I don’t normally do one night stands. This is not my scene. And I’m not… I just don’t know how to act in this kind of situation and I might have made you feel awkward. Even I feel awkward. So, I’m sorry.”
Ah well, Alfred thought, that somewhat explained the awkwardness on Arthur’s part. It was pretty flattering, though, to think that Arthur who, according to his words, did not normally do ‘one night stands’ somehow regarded him interesting enough to make him step out of his comfort zone. Flattering, yes, and also sweet, the way he was so self conscious about the awkwardness between them.
“That’s kinda cute,” Alfred said before he could stop himself.
Jerking his face up sharply, Arthur gave him one very nasty glare. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t mean… I’m not making fun of you,” Alfred said, raising his hands up in the gesture of surrender. “Seriously, I don’t. I just think it’s so generous of you to tell all that to me. And you’re super nice, really, you are. And you shouldn’t feel sorry. You let me shower and lent me your clothes and did my laundry and you even made me tea… uh, which is really… warm, thank you, by the way.”
Alfred knew that he had a tendency to babble when he was nervous or feeling out of his depth. It was really not cool to find that apparently said tendency still persisted. Not cool and not welcomed, at all.
“You’re welcome,” Arthur said. “It’s just basic hospitality.”
“So, anyway,” Alfred said with a grin. “What now?”
Arthur frowned at him. “Have you missed the whole ‘I don’t know what the heck I’m doing’ statement just now?”
“Er, yeah, no, I mean,” Alfred tried to explain. “I’m not normally this pathetic, I swear, I just need some caffeine to act like a functional human being. No offense to your tea, but I’ve tried, for serious, when I first came here and made some effort to go native. I think I drank the entire pot and my brain was still thinking that it’s a very good idea to go vacationing to dreamland.”
Okay, babbling tendency, observed and confirmed once again. Fuck.
“Do you also normally love to prattle?” Arthur asked. “Or is it another one of your caffeine deficiency consequences?”
“Afraid I can’t blame the caffeine for that,” Alfred answered honestly.
Arthur chuckled. “You did talk a lot last night too.”
Alfred did not doubt that. Even though his memory on their previous night was not exactly crystal clear-he blamed the combination of lack of caffeine and excess of alcohol for that-he could still remember talking with Arthur. He remembered how he told Arthur that he was new to the city. He remembered telling him the subject he was taking at the local university and the projects he was currently working on. Alfred couldn’t help it. He was a talker and when he met someone he liked, he would always try to impress them, more often than not by talking. Well, his twin said it was closer to bragging but, whatever…
“Ah, yeah,” Alfred said. He rubbed the back of his neck before he simply said. “I think I'm having a major crush on you.”
It was weird. Alfred had meant to start by mentioning that he had had a good time with Arthur the previous night, hinting that he wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of seeing him more, then after that casually mentioning that he would like to exchange their numbers. Nothing in that plan even came close to the words he had just let escape from his lips.
He blamed his caffeine deprivation.
“That was direct,” Arthur remarked.
“That was not how I planned it,” Alfred grumbled.
“Ah,” Arthur said. “Something that you can blame to lack of caffeine in your morning again?”
Alfred shrugged. “Somewhat. I just…” he sighed before running his hand through his hair. “I want to tell you that I enjoyed our time last night. You were there, looking so… beautiful-”
Arthur snorted. “Beautiful?”
“Beautiful,” Alfred insisted. “That was my first thought about you when I saw you last night, and that’s why I hit on you. But you’re more than that. You’re smart and witty and fun and… did you seriously make a paper on gender binary and rock music?”
“You remember that?” Arthur said. “Well, yes, that’s one of my papers, as a matter of fact. I’m studying anthropology for my master degree now.”
“That sounds really cool,” Alfred said.
Arthur smirked. “I somehow think it’s probably not as cool as building awesome killer robots to protect the world.”
“What? Oh my God. Fuck! Did I tell you that?” Alfred said in between his laughter. “Yeah, I’m doing AI. And, yes, the reason why I picked this major is something to do with… um, robot superheroes, hey, don’t laugh!”
In all honesty, Alfred really could not begrudge Arthur that much for laughing since he was laughing himself. Perhaps he should have felt a bit affronted. Arthur was laughing at him, after all.
“I thought that’s a kind of dream that no kid over the age of ten would have,” Arthur said. He was still snickering.
“Yeah, they pretty much left it when they figured out that the long road to awesome killer robots involved complex math problems,” Alfred said. “Thankfully, I’m excellent at math.”
With one last snicker, Arthur put his elbow on the table. He rested his chin on his palm and scrutinized Alfred with an expression of exasperated fondness on his face. The way he smiled was enough to make Alfred yearn to kiss him again. There was just something about Arthur, something intriguing and absolutely interesting.
“You’re a very interesting guy,” Arthur remarked, as if echoing Alfred’s own thought.
Alfred plastered his most self-assured smile as he asked, “Interesting enough to merit a second date?”
Frowning, Arthur said, “I’m not aware that we already had our first date.”
“Well, last night…”
“…was you intruding my alone time drinking peacefully at the bar.”
“Okay, then how about now? I’m sure breakfast…”
“...in my kitchen with only two cups of tea that you won’t even drink is not fit to be considered a ‘date’, surely.”
Alfred gave Arthur an annoyed glare, which seemed ineffective for Arthur merely smirked smugly under his glare.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m at all opposed to the idea of you taking me out on a date,” Arthur said, very casually, as if it was nothing of importance. “By the way, you are taking a class on Morphology this semester, right?”
“Yep. I need that for my NLP course,” Alfred scrunched up his face, a bit taken aback at the sudden change of topic. “Did I tell you that last night?”
“Oh, yes, you did,” Arthur said. His smirk grew wider, somehow, and it made Alfred wary. His wariness soon proved to be reasonable when Arthur said, “Though perhaps I might have forgotten to mention that I’m your TA for that class, Mister Alfred F. Jones.”
There was a giddy feeling in him when he heard Arthur saying his name, a kind of elation in finding out that apparently Arthur remembered his name. But it was totally trumped by another thing that Arthur had just revealed, namely the fact that Arthur was his TA for a class which he knew would be the death of him. He surely recalled now how he bitched about that particular class in front of Arthur last night. He even might or might not be bitching about the people responsible for grading his assignments for ‘not being bright enough to share his grand vision’.
Dear God, Alfred thought, did he even go as far as promising painful death and STDs to his lecturer and his 'minions'? Was that why Arthur was staring at him like that? Did he lace the tea with arsenic?
Alfred had shiver down his spine at that. He could only throw Arthur a disbelieving are-you-for-fucking-serious glare, which the latter only returned with a smile. He fucking smiled after he just fucked with Alfred’s mind, smiled so calmly like a gorgeous, cunning, sadistic guy he was.
Alfred thought that he might be falling in love. He thought he might be falling hard.
“You’re totally badass,” he said, breathless.
“I aim to please,” Arthur said with a shrug. “So, still wanting to go out with me?”
“More than ever,” Alfred said reverently.
“Such nerve. Nice. I like that in a guy,” Arthur said.
“Okay…” Alfred said, taking a deep breath. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get breakfast somewhere and I’ll get my much needed doze of caffeine because I refuse to deal with all this without a decent cup of coffee. Then we’ll talk and have fun and I’ll kiss you at least once, preferably after the coffee part. And then I’ll ask you out and you’ll say yes, with a smile, without even once mentioning how bad I was doing in my latest paper for that wretched Morphology class.”
Arthur blinked at him. “Do I even have any say in this?”
“You are very much allowed and even expected to say yes,” Alfred said.
Arthur did not exactly say ‘yes’. He merely snorted and stood up from his seat, mumbling “I do hope this breakfast you mentioned is not your idea of our first date”. But that sounded close enough to a ‘yes’ in Alfred’s ears. So he grinned. He rose from his seat to approach Arthur and he took Arthur’s hand, squeezing it briefly.
“No,” he said. “No, our first date will be way more magnificent than that, with dinner in some fancy restaurant and movies and romantic walk and flowers and fireworks…” he saw Arthur twitching, “…er, okay, no fireworks, but it will be spectacular and special and awesome. This evening, what do you think? I’ll take you out and you’ll have the best date ever.”
“You seem to already have a solid plan already,” Arthur said. “There’s only this one thing I’d like to change.”
“You finally decided you want the fireworks after all?” Alfred asked hopefully.
“I want a kiss,” Arthur said in a no-nonsense kind of voice that Alfred found strangely hot. “As in, now, instead of later after you get your coffee.”
“Oh,” Alfred said. Seriously, with Arthur straightforwardly asking for a kiss from him like that, it was not so strange that he felt a bit overwhelmed. Screw falling in love, Alfred was totally plummeting without any chance of stopping for Arthur.
He moved closer until he could touch Arthur’s cheek with the back of his hand, until he could stare right into Arthur’s eyes with mere inches separating their faces.
“Yeah, alright,” he said, “Yeah, that sounds more awesome than fireworks. Okay.”
Then Alfred kissed him and he found that kissing Arthur did not only sound more awesome than fireworks. Kissing Arthur definitely felt more awesome than fireworks.
End
(A/N: Merry (early) Christmas, all~)