Blue Raspberry
Title: Blue Raspberry
Genre: Family/Friendship/Romance
Pairing(s): USUK
Word Count: 1,677
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: Matthew and William were very prepared to help their brothers through their relationship troubles. Part of the ' Strawberry Ice Cream' universe. Done for the ' Something There' prompt.
Arthur was pacing. And muttering to himself.
It had been quite funny for the first fifteen minutes and William had recorded a video to save for blackmail, but then it had started to get dull. His brother freaked out a lot. He could always message one of his friends to go out and do something else with them but it was so hot and he really did not want to move from this spot.
"Arthur, this is getting really boring," William pointed out lazily as he turned his head towards the fan as it drifted around to him. "Why are you being so uptight about it anyway? Alfred's your friend."
Arthur turned around to face his brother, looking amazed that anyone could not understand what he was going through. William rolled his eyes at the thought that people called him the dramatic one. In public, Arthur was calm and cool but in private he was just a big bundle of nerves. And it was his twin brother who received the brunt of his neurotic behaviour.
"Yes, Alfred's my friend. And before last Wednesday, he was only my friend. And after that, he's now my friend who I... who I..." Arthur faltered at the last hurdle and William decided that he should help him out.
"Who you secretly adore and worship."
"No!" Arthur's denial was quick, as was his blush. It was hilarious and William was glad that he decided to stick around for this. "I just like him... as more than a friend." William managed to stir himself to move to give Arthur a slow clap. His brother threw a pillow at him and William knocked it away, too lazy in this heat to dodge.
"So what happened last Wednesday?" William did not know Arthur could blush that much at a simple question. If only he had a camera to hand.
"Er... We had gone to the pool like always.... and we were changing into our swimming costumes." Arthur stopped, his face now so red that it would put a tomato to shame. William guessed the rest though and a devious smile crept across his face.
"You liked what you saw." There came another two pillows in quick succession but William was laughing too hard to bat them away. He would have never guessed Arthur to be sneaking a peek in the changing rooms. It was just so un-Arthur-like. He was always rattling on about privacy and dignity, normally when one of his brothers walked in on him when he was in the shower.
The pillow fight settled down quickly because it was too hot, even for Arthur. William still chuckled now and again but had himself under control. "Don't be a pervert, Will," Arthur said, collapsing on the bed.
"So says the one peeking on his best friend," William said with a grin. Arthur buried his face in a pillow and groaned but William was completely unsympathetic. "Art, why don't you just tell him?" Arthur looked at him as if he wondered if William had hit his head in the last thirty seconds. It was a familiar look.
"I can't tell him."
William felt like groaning. Of course Arthur could not make this simple. "Why not?" He asked, knowing he would regret asking this question but curiosity pushing him to ask anyway.
"Because he's my best friend. Just because there's something more there doesn't change that. Telling him about what I feel will change that and that is one thing that I can't lose." Arthur stared down at the bed, lost in thought. William sighed but he couldn't disagree with that. After all, he did not know how Alfred felt.
Maybe he should give Matthew a ring.
After Arthur had gone to go out with Alfred, he spent so much time with the other boy, it was quite obvious what was going to happen, William quickly called Matthew. Alfred's brother picked up straight away, sounding exhausted.
"Hey Matt," William said, looking around to make sure that no one was listening in. The last thing he needed was for Alistair or Patrick to hear and tease Arthur about his older brother having to sort out his love life. Arthur could hold a grudge for a long time, if that happened, William might be looking at the silent treatment for the whole summer. It would be nice to avoid all the talk about Alfred and over-analysing his every word but he did end up missing his brother after a while. And they shared a room so the silent treatment always made it awkward.
"Hey, Will, how are you?" Matt was polite even with how tired he seemed but he sounded happy to hear from him at least.
"Fine, thanks. You? You sound exhausted." William moved out into the garden to flop under the shade of the rose bush. No one could overhear him here without him knowing.
"Oh, it's just Alfred being ridiculous. Woke me up at six this morning because of a dream he had to do with Arthur and he was freaking out about it." William knew Matthew got on with Alfred really well, better than him and Arthur, but six o'clock on a weekend morning would try anyone's patience.
"This dream wouldn't happen to be about how much he loves and adores Arthur and wants to marry him and adopt tons of small children, would it?" There was stunned silence on the other end of the line for a moment.
"That is always very eerie how you can do that."
"As much as I would love to claim credit for my mystical powers, I guessed that because Arthur has been exactly the same. He's not going to say anything of course because it might destroy the friendship they have, so, in other words, he's going to drive me crazy the rest of the summer."
"I told Alfred that it's going to destroy his friendship if he keeps this a secret and Arthur finds out that he's keeping this a secret. I hope this waking me up freakishly early in the day doesn't continue over the summer."
"And I hope Arthur doesn't pick up that habit." William thought it over but knew that Arthur, while he woke up early, enjoyed the time when no one else was up. There was no chance of him waking up anyone else intentionally. "Anyway, what do you think we should do? You know, to help them along since they're helpless without us."
"Are you suggesting we match-make?!" He thought that Matthew did not have to sound quite so amused. It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion.
"I was just thinking about you," he replied in a innocent, insincere tone of voice. "After all, you're the one looking at losing your lie-ins for the rest of the summer holidays."
"You're evil, you know that."
"But of course you'll help because he's your brother and you want nothing more than for him to be happy." William smirked, even though Matthew couldn't see it.
"I hate you."
"Love you too. Shall we discuss our plans to help our foolish little brothers?"
Matthew sighed. "Sure, why not. I've got nothing better to do with my day." There was a loud bang on the other end of the phone and William narrowed his eyes at the sky.
"Matt? What was that?"
"Alfred's home. How was your date with Arthur?" The last question was directed to Alfred and William listened in, knowing that Alfred talked loud enough for him to hear. "It was great, Matt, really good! I took your advice and told Arthur how I feel. We're going on a date tonight to that really posh cafe that Arthur likes that does the really nice ice cream. Maybe I'll get mint flavour or maybe I should get raspberry. They do blue raspberry and it turns your tongue blue!"
"Wait, what?" William asked loudly, sitting up straight, unable to believe his ears.
"You're dating?!" Matt asked, just as loudly and there was a burst of laughter from Alfred before he fell quiet. "He's gone. I can't believe they're dating!"
"Neither can I. Were Alfred and Arthur actually emotionally mature for once?" William asked, completely shocked. His brother was notoriously bad at sharing his true feelings with anyone, it had caused friction in some of his relationships, and from what he heard from Matt, Alfred hadn't seemed that much better.
"I can't believe it. It's Alfred... and Arthur. I thought it would take months, years to get to this point. It's only taken them a week. Do you think it's a sign of the apocalypse?"
"If I start seeing the dead walking, then I'll let you know. We might need to stock up on dried foods and weapons," William said seriously. He heard a door slam from inside the house and guessed that Arthur was home. "I think Arthur's home. I need to clarify this, it's just too weird."
"Yeah, me too. I'll talk to you later, Will."
"Bye." William hung up before walking into the house. Arthur was home and he was humming as he put some of his clothes in the washing machine. Arthur was humming. It was weird. "Arthur?" Arthur looked around and smiled at his older brother. He was really relaxed and William stared. "How did it go with Alfred?"
"Really good. We're going on a date tonight. It didn't ruin our friendship after all." Arthur gave a vague smile, obviously lost in his thoughts and wandered out of the kitchen. William stared at the door for a moment in complete shock. That was all he got? Where was all the discussion, the over-analysing, the neurotic freak-outs? This calm, rational person could not be his brother, it was just too weird.
In the back of his mind, an annoying little voice pointed out that he was just sad that his little brother didn't need his help, like he always had. For once, he had managed to sort things out on his own and William was not involved. It would take some getting used to.
Apparently, I've created a new AU, something I promised myself I wouldn't do. Oh well. Anyway, I decided to go down the route where Alfred and Arthur just get together with no fuss or anything because you hardly ever see that.
Genre: Family/Friendship/Romance
Pairing(s): USUK
Word Count: 1,677
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: Matthew and William were very prepared to help their brothers through their relationship troubles. Part of the ' Strawberry Ice Cream' universe. Done for the ' Something There' prompt.
Arthur was pacing. And muttering to himself.
It had been quite funny for the first fifteen minutes and William had recorded a video to save for blackmail, but then it had started to get dull. His brother freaked out a lot. He could always message one of his friends to go out and do something else with them but it was so hot and he really did not want to move from this spot.
"Arthur, this is getting really boring," William pointed out lazily as he turned his head towards the fan as it drifted around to him. "Why are you being so uptight about it anyway? Alfred's your friend."
Arthur turned around to face his brother, looking amazed that anyone could not understand what he was going through. William rolled his eyes at the thought that people called him the dramatic one. In public, Arthur was calm and cool but in private he was just a big bundle of nerves. And it was his twin brother who received the brunt of his neurotic behaviour.
"Yes, Alfred's my friend. And before last Wednesday, he was only my friend. And after that, he's now my friend who I... who I..." Arthur faltered at the last hurdle and William decided that he should help him out.
"Who you secretly adore and worship."
"No!" Arthur's denial was quick, as was his blush. It was hilarious and William was glad that he decided to stick around for this. "I just like him... as more than a friend." William managed to stir himself to move to give Arthur a slow clap. His brother threw a pillow at him and William knocked it away, too lazy in this heat to dodge.
"So what happened last Wednesday?" William did not know Arthur could blush that much at a simple question. If only he had a camera to hand.
"Er... We had gone to the pool like always.... and we were changing into our swimming costumes." Arthur stopped, his face now so red that it would put a tomato to shame. William guessed the rest though and a devious smile crept across his face.
"You liked what you saw." There came another two pillows in quick succession but William was laughing too hard to bat them away. He would have never guessed Arthur to be sneaking a peek in the changing rooms. It was just so un-Arthur-like. He was always rattling on about privacy and dignity, normally when one of his brothers walked in on him when he was in the shower.
The pillow fight settled down quickly because it was too hot, even for Arthur. William still chuckled now and again but had himself under control. "Don't be a pervert, Will," Arthur said, collapsing on the bed.
"So says the one peeking on his best friend," William said with a grin. Arthur buried his face in a pillow and groaned but William was completely unsympathetic. "Art, why don't you just tell him?" Arthur looked at him as if he wondered if William had hit his head in the last thirty seconds. It was a familiar look.
"I can't tell him."
William felt like groaning. Of course Arthur could not make this simple. "Why not?" He asked, knowing he would regret asking this question but curiosity pushing him to ask anyway.
"Because he's my best friend. Just because there's something more there doesn't change that. Telling him about what I feel will change that and that is one thing that I can't lose." Arthur stared down at the bed, lost in thought. William sighed but he couldn't disagree with that. After all, he did not know how Alfred felt.
Maybe he should give Matthew a ring.
After Arthur had gone to go out with Alfred, he spent so much time with the other boy, it was quite obvious what was going to happen, William quickly called Matthew. Alfred's brother picked up straight away, sounding exhausted.
"Hey Matt," William said, looking around to make sure that no one was listening in. The last thing he needed was for Alistair or Patrick to hear and tease Arthur about his older brother having to sort out his love life. Arthur could hold a grudge for a long time, if that happened, William might be looking at the silent treatment for the whole summer. It would be nice to avoid all the talk about Alfred and over-analysing his every word but he did end up missing his brother after a while. And they shared a room so the silent treatment always made it awkward.
"Hey, Will, how are you?" Matt was polite even with how tired he seemed but he sounded happy to hear from him at least.
"Fine, thanks. You? You sound exhausted." William moved out into the garden to flop under the shade of the rose bush. No one could overhear him here without him knowing.
"Oh, it's just Alfred being ridiculous. Woke me up at six this morning because of a dream he had to do with Arthur and he was freaking out about it." William knew Matthew got on with Alfred really well, better than him and Arthur, but six o'clock on a weekend morning would try anyone's patience.
"This dream wouldn't happen to be about how much he loves and adores Arthur and wants to marry him and adopt tons of small children, would it?" There was stunned silence on the other end of the line for a moment.
"That is always very eerie how you can do that."
"As much as I would love to claim credit for my mystical powers, I guessed that because Arthur has been exactly the same. He's not going to say anything of course because it might destroy the friendship they have, so, in other words, he's going to drive me crazy the rest of the summer."
"I told Alfred that it's going to destroy his friendship if he keeps this a secret and Arthur finds out that he's keeping this a secret. I hope this waking me up freakishly early in the day doesn't continue over the summer."
"And I hope Arthur doesn't pick up that habit." William thought it over but knew that Arthur, while he woke up early, enjoyed the time when no one else was up. There was no chance of him waking up anyone else intentionally. "Anyway, what do you think we should do? You know, to help them along since they're helpless without us."
"Are you suggesting we match-make?!" He thought that Matthew did not have to sound quite so amused. It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion.
"I was just thinking about you," he replied in a innocent, insincere tone of voice. "After all, you're the one looking at losing your lie-ins for the rest of the summer holidays."
"You're evil, you know that."
"But of course you'll help because he's your brother and you want nothing more than for him to be happy." William smirked, even though Matthew couldn't see it.
"I hate you."
"Love you too. Shall we discuss our plans to help our foolish little brothers?"
Matthew sighed. "Sure, why not. I've got nothing better to do with my day." There was a loud bang on the other end of the phone and William narrowed his eyes at the sky.
"Matt? What was that?"
"Alfred's home. How was your date with Arthur?" The last question was directed to Alfred and William listened in, knowing that Alfred talked loud enough for him to hear. "It was great, Matt, really good! I took your advice and told Arthur how I feel. We're going on a date tonight to that really posh cafe that Arthur likes that does the really nice ice cream. Maybe I'll get mint flavour or maybe I should get raspberry. They do blue raspberry and it turns your tongue blue!"
"Wait, what?" William asked loudly, sitting up straight, unable to believe his ears.
"You're dating?!" Matt asked, just as loudly and there was a burst of laughter from Alfred before he fell quiet. "He's gone. I can't believe they're dating!"
"Neither can I. Were Alfred and Arthur actually emotionally mature for once?" William asked, completely shocked. His brother was notoriously bad at sharing his true feelings with anyone, it had caused friction in some of his relationships, and from what he heard from Matt, Alfred hadn't seemed that much better.
"I can't believe it. It's Alfred... and Arthur. I thought it would take months, years to get to this point. It's only taken them a week. Do you think it's a sign of the apocalypse?"
"If I start seeing the dead walking, then I'll let you know. We might need to stock up on dried foods and weapons," William said seriously. He heard a door slam from inside the house and guessed that Arthur was home. "I think Arthur's home. I need to clarify this, it's just too weird."
"Yeah, me too. I'll talk to you later, Will."
"Bye." William hung up before walking into the house. Arthur was home and he was humming as he put some of his clothes in the washing machine. Arthur was humming. It was weird. "Arthur?" Arthur looked around and smiled at his older brother. He was really relaxed and William stared. "How did it go with Alfred?"
"Really good. We're going on a date tonight. It didn't ruin our friendship after all." Arthur gave a vague smile, obviously lost in his thoughts and wandered out of the kitchen. William stared at the door for a moment in complete shock. That was all he got? Where was all the discussion, the over-analysing, the neurotic freak-outs? This calm, rational person could not be his brother, it was just too weird.
In the back of his mind, an annoying little voice pointed out that he was just sad that his little brother didn't need his help, like he always had. For once, he had managed to sort things out on his own and William was not involved. It would take some getting used to.
Apparently, I've created a new AU, something I promised myself I wouldn't do. Oh well. Anyway, I decided to go down the route where Alfred and Arthur just get together with no fuss or anything because you hardly ever see that.