Chapter One – Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy

They say that when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. Arthur Kirkland is no exception.

Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy. Where do you begin? Well, let us start at the beginning.

Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy were 'friends' long before they became a couple; actually, 'friends' is a very generous word for the relationship the two men had. In all honesty, it was more of a love-hate relationship, which consisted mostly of insults, arguments and full on fights.

Blonde hair and blue eyes; the perfect combination.

The perfect combination for a handsome French man.

The perfect Frenchman in this equation being Francis.

Francis Bonnefoy was brought up in a town not far from Paris, France, where he lived sibling less with his parents until the ripe old age of 21 when his mother and father kicked him out. From there, he decided to make something of his life. Sick of his parents telling him how he 'will amount to nothing!' Francis vowed to do the exact opposite. So what better place to start then England?

Arthur, on the other hand, was brought up in Greater Manchester, England. The same country a certain young Frenchman was going to move to. Since birth, Arthur was mostly brought up by his brothers, seeing as though his parents were out most of the time: doing drugs, drinking and terrorising the rest of the neighbourhood.

His mother and father rarely came home, only arriving to check up on their children and give a few lectures about how they were all mistakes. You could say Arthur learnt his colourful vocabulary quite young.

The eldest son, Ewan, was in charge most of the time. Ewan had fiery red hair, an unusual colour considering it was natural. Liam and Declan were the second oldest; the two boys were almost as tall as Ewan and looked rather similar, the only big difference being the colour of their hair. Where Ewan's was a fiery red, borderline brown, Liam and Declan's hair was a light ginger. If 'Strawberry Blonde' were an actual colour, that'd be theirs.

After Ewan, Liam and Declan was Dylan. Dylan, a quiet boy with light brown hair, was the son who got along most with Arthur, the second youngest who shared Dylan's love for magic and all sorts of wacky stuff.

Arthur had sandy blonde hair and vibrant, emerald green eyes; unlike his brothers who all had light green irises. The only other exception to that was Peter, the youngest of the Kirkland brothers.

Peter Kirkland was an accident. But then again, so were the other brothers. The only big thing that set them apart was the fact that he had blue eyes and had a twenty year age gap between Ewan and himself.

So, that's the Kirklands for you. A family of eight, although most of the time they considered themselves a family of six, in the centre of Greater Manchester. What could go wrong?

Anyway, back to Arthur and Francis. The pair's first meeting was in the library at the University of West London. Arthur was studying English Language and English Literature at the time, and was browsing through the Shakespeare selection, when he bumped into Francis. The Frenchman was being a nuisance; leaning against the bookshelf Arthur needed to get to. A quiet "Excuse me," came from Arthur's mouth, and when Francis didn't reply, he repeated himself. And Arthur hated repeating himself. "Excuse me."

"Oh, I am s- Mon Dieu! What are those?" enquired the Frenchman, pointing an erect index finger into Arthur's face rather rudely.

"What the hell are you talking about, you incessant wanker?"

"Those." Came the heavily accented reply. It was only then that the Brit realised he was talking about his eyebrows.

"My eyebrows?"

"Eyebrows? Mon Cher, they are not eyebrows. They are beasts!"

Arthur rolled his eyes. Really, after 18 years you'd think someone would be used to the fact people would point and stare at their face, exclaiming things like 'Holy crap, is that two caterpillars?' and 'Oh wow, those things probably have their own orbit.'

"I'd appreciate it a lot if you didn't refer to my eyebrows as beasts, thank you."

"But… How- How can you see?"

"What the fuck, are you high or something? They are eyebrows, something everybody has on their faces. Can you understand that or is it true that all Frogs are brain dead?"

Francis gasped and put a perfectly manicured hand to his chest in mock offence, "Oh, how you wound me, sir."

Groggily rubbing his face, the Englishman sighed. "Please could you move so I can retrieve my book?"

"Oh yes, of course." Francis smirked and very slowly edged himself away from the bookshelf to prevent his acquaintance from leaving too soon. Once Arthur had a hold of the script version of 'Romeo and Juliet', Francis decided to lean back against the bookshelf and held out his hand. "My name is Francis, by the way. Francis Bonnefoy."

Giving a crooked half smile, Arthur took the soft hand and shook it, "Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

For the next few weeks the two continued to meet at one o'clock in the library. Each time, Arthur would be selecting a new Shakespeare script and Francis would always be hovering nearby. Every meeting would consist of the two bickering and eventually being thrown out.

One day, mid-July, Francis turned around and asked Arthur if he wanted to join him at the cinema. Even if Arthur wasn't fond of the idea, a gentleman could never decline, right? So in the end, after a quarrel or two, Arthur accepted. To say Francis was overjoyed would be an understatement.

'I Love You, Phillip Morris' was the film Francis chose to watch; who chooses to watch a film like this with another guy? Arthur thought to himself as soon as the gay sex scene came on. "Francis, why are we watching this? I don't know if I'm altogether comfortable with it…"

"That's not what your crotch is saying, Mon Cher." Francis chuckled, glancing at Arthur's crotch which, surprisingly, had a completely different reaction to Arthur.

It was on that day that Arthur realised he was gay. He also realised Francis was, too.

The rest of July ended pretty quickly for the newly formed duo. Both men realised how much the other meant to them, and before long they had made a pact to stay frenemies for ever.

In August Francis introduced Arthur to his two best friends and roommates, Antonio and Gilbert.

Antonio was a Spaniard the same height as Arthur and Francis at 5' 9". Along with his vibrant green eyes and messy brunette hair, he was often seen sporting a red shirt and jeans, and came to England to study biology. He loved plants, specifically tomatoes. All Antonio Fernández Carriedo wanted to do was get away from Spain and start a new life in wonderful old England… Just like his friend Gilbert Beilschmidt. Gilbert, an albino of the same height as 'Toni, had come all the way from East Germany with his blonde haired blue eyed brother, Ludwig. Their parents had become bored of their normal day-to-day lifestyle and so decided to begin a new life in the UK with their two sons.

Arthur smiled throughout the pair's ramblings of their respective European countries; it was only when he got back to his dorm that he collapsed on his bed, letting out a muffled "kill me."

From that day on, Arthur saw a lot more of Antonio and Gilbert than he'd ever anticipated.