Arthur felt strangely alive sitting on the bench, surrounded by the comforting noise of the wind and the shuffling of feet. The noise brought about by the quiet nature of the part was of great contrast to the never-ending taxi beeps and the yelling of venders across the busy streets of New York. The British art student was still adjusting, it was different in so many ways from the home that he knew. Why did he even decide to study abroad in the first place? It wasn't like he knew anyone over in America. But... the allure of New York, the place where all dreamers are supposed to pass through... It was too much for Arthur Kirkland to pass up when offered the chance.

He still had tough classes, and his classmates teased him about his accent, and the people weren't the nicest in the world, and his roommate was a little...

The blonde shuddered, reminded of his French roommate's schemes.

Well, ok. So there were a lot of downsides. But the upsides... The upsides were worth it. Central Park being the biggest one. From his first time going through the field of green peace in the middle of the urban jungle, he had picked out his bench. Whenever he had time, he would retreat to his quiet bench, always taking his sketchbook and several pencils. Then he would sit there, waiting for the familiar surge of inspiration to take hold of him and pull him into another drawing, the sound of the nearby fountain urging him to sketch faster.

While Arthur was used to a certain amount of noise coming from tourists and other passerbyers, today was different for some reason. The blonde glanced up from his half-drawn page, searching for the source of commotion. He scanned the small crowd gathered around the apparently famous fountain, until his eyes finally rested on the cause of the disturbance.

It was... a guy. Arthur easily placed his age at around 20, much like himself. He had dirty blonde hair and glasses, and was wearing a black jacket and jeans. That's all that he could pick out from his distance, but there was something more... Oh! He had a guitar, acoustic by the looks of it.

Arthur was used to musicians coming to share his spot, but this was different somehow. The small crowd gathering around the guy was rather impressive, and it took Arthur a second before he could pick it up,

"iWhat am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you,

And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're ok

I'm falling to pieces, yeah,

I'm falling to pieces~/i"

He was singing. The tall blonde was singing, spinning around and sending flirty looks at all the girls surrounding him. He jumped up onto the edge of the fountain, strumming the guitar and continuing to sing strongly. iHe's actually pretty good.../i Arthur noted, raising an eyebrow as he continued to watch, his sketch forgotten. The singer started the waltz around on the ring of the fountain, his small posse following him around,

"iThey say bad things happen for a reason

But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding

'Cause she's moved on while I'm still grieving

And when a heart breaks no it don't breakeven even... no~/i"

The singer looked directly at Arthur, grinning as he made eye contact, before giving him a not-so-subtle wink and putting his focus back singing. The Brit rolled his eyes, finally looking back down to his sketch, hiding the slight blush that grew on his face. He flipped to a new page, and began sketching again, looking up at his new artistic muse every now and then.

"What ya drawin'?" Arthur didn't even look up, he was used to people asking about his art. He was in his final phase of outlining, pressing extra hard with his dark pencil in order to add emphasis to the guitar his figure was holding. He was actually quite impressed with it himself, and as he went to add the glasses -the final touch- the American's voice spoke up again,

"Hey! That looks like me!"

…

WHAT?

Arthur's head snapped up, coming literally nose-to-nose with the tall blonde while his pencil scratched a stray line across his drawing. He turned slightly red, quickly craning his neck to avoid the awkward lack of personal space. On the upside however, Arthur finally got a look at his eyes: a stunning, bright, sky blue. The art student cleared his throat, embarrassed at being caught,

"W-ell I um, well- um." He was at a lost for words, having not counted on actually talking to him, "Um, yes, it iis/i you." He answered, wincing at his stutter, "I-I'm sorry about that... I think. I mean- um-" He sighed, giving up, "I'd appreciate it if you backed up a little."

"Oh! Sorry about that." The other blonde apologized, backing up. He had his guitar hung over his back, and he tucked his hands into his jean pockets as he straightened up. Smiling, he continued, "I'm Alfred, by the way. Alfred F. Jones. Broadway wanna-be." He gave a small laugh.

Arthur sighed, "Arthur Kirkland, pleased to make your acquaintance." Still sitting on his bench, he offered out his hand for Alfred to shake.

The American just slapped it in a high-five instead. Oblivious.

Arthur just retracted his hand and deciding not to say anything, "Broadway huh? I didn't peg you as the type."

"Oh, I've been trying to make it for a while now. No luck so far, but what I've learned is all ya' gotta do is keep the faith!" Arthur marveled at the face he never frowned, even when he was talking about the fact he was constantly being rejected, "I've got an audition coming up soon, in fact. But what about you? You're not from around here, I can tell."

"I'm from the U.K., I'm just studying here in New York for a while. It's so... different here. Just outside this quiet park is a giant city that's waiting, it's definitely interesting. At the very least, it's more then enough inspiration." He gave a small smile, a wave of homesickness suddenly washing over him.

"And I know I already asked this, but what are you drawing?" Alfred once again stepped forward, only this time sitting down next to the Englishman to get a better look at the drawing. Arthur looked as well, but was shocked at the pencil streak crossing through the middle of his paper.

iI must have done that when I noticed him! Drat, it was so good-looking too.../i Arthur pouted, suddenly depressed. He had actually developed an affinity for the picture, seeing as how he didn't normally draw from life, it was a serious accomplishment for him. But now there was a line though it that no amount of erasing could make disappear completely.

"Oh God, did I cause that?" Arthur swung his head around to face the American, confused at how he was able to almost read his thoughts, "It's all over your face, I really did, didn't I?" It was the first time the energetic blonde had frowned through the whole time, but almost as fast as the frown appeared, it disappeared as he got an idea, "Hey, let me buy you a coffee and you can re-draw it." His stunning smile was back on his face, and Arthur glanced away, averting his eyes back to his drawing just to avoid eye contact,

"Um, sure. That sounds... nice."

Arthur and Alfred sat across from each other in one of the fifty Starbucks in the city, Arthur shifting uncomfortably in the hard seat while Alfred obliviously continued talking, once again his smile never leaving. The Brit fingered the coffee, rubbing against the cardboard that prevented the cup from burning him. He had never really liked the drink, preferring tea instead. But being the polite man that he was, he just sucked it up and took a couple sips, and after successfully burning his tongue, he decided to let it cool for a bit.

"So have you always been drawing?" The American asked, watching as Arthur slipped his sketchbook out of his bag.

"No, not always." He grabbed his set of pencils and flipped to a new page, flattening the slight crinkle out of it with his hand, "It was during high school and we had a class trip to Paris and visited several museums." He smiled, remembering seeing the Effie Tower for the first time. "After that, I got a sketchbook for my birthday and have just been drawing ever since. I've never really thought of it as a career choice until recently."

"Did you draw any French girls?" Alfred asked in a joking tone, taking another sip of coffee.

"Um, yes?"

"Wearing a necklace?"

"Yes."

"iOnly/i the necklace?"

"N-No! What would give you that idea!" Arthur turned red, not out of anger but embarrassment. What on earth was he implying! He wasn't ithat/i type of artist!

"Jeez! I was only joking! Please, pleaaaase tell me you've seen that movie." Alfred laughed, apologizing in his own way.

"What movie?"

"Titanic of course! Me and my b-girlfriend used to watch it all the time." He laughed, quickly covering up his mistake. Arthur just raised a thick eyebrow in response, noticing it. But he decided not to say anything,

"I've heard of it, but I've never actually watched it. I heard it was sad though." Arthur put his focus back on the drawing, glancing up at Alfred as he started to sketch again.

"Then what do you watch?"

"I don't watch a lot of TV..."

"Then iwhat/i do you iwatch/i~?" He asked again, taking another sip of the warm liquid.

"I mainly read, and hold still, would you? If you keep moving I'll never get this done."

"Oh, sorry. But you're still avoiding my question~"

"... Harry Potter, Dr. Who, and Sherlock." Arthur muttered, holding up his sketchbook as a sheild, averting his eyes as he sketched.

"Harry Potter? Dude, that's like my favorite movie ever! Right next to like, Iron Man."

Arthur brought the book down, although continued to sketch, "Really? I mean, I know it was a big deal over where I'm from, but I never thought it was as big over here-"

"It was huge! Still is! I was almost in tears for the last five minutes of 7 part 2, I couldn't believe it was over!"

Arthur blinked, surprised, "Same here. Except with the whole movie." He smiled, putting his eyes back on the paper.

"Hey Arty, could I ask you a favor? I know we just met and all, but-"

"Go ahead, ask away. And keep still."

"Ok, well, you know how I said I had an audition soon? I wanna show you my audition song."

"Sounds fun." Arthur smiled, not looking up.

"Well um, I need a partner."

Both of them were silent.

And then both of them turned bright red.

"N-not like that!" Alfred quickly took back his statement, feeling embarrassed, "I mean like a duet partner! N-not like that!" He repeated, taking the last sip of his coffee and looking away.

"No. It's fine Alfred." Arthur hid behind his sketchbook again, waiting for his blush to die down. He was also hiding his slight smile.

"I would love to actually." He signed his signature on the bottom of the picture, before turning it around to face the American. It fully captured his beautiful smile and big eyes, and Arthur was overwhelmed with pride.

"In fact, let's call it a date."

And they did.