AUTHOR: seecarrun

1st of December, 2014 - Superhero Class

"Arthur, love, be a dear and take Peter to his class tomorrow morning, would you?"

"But Mum, I–"

"Thank you so much, Arthur!" she kissed his wrinkled, disgruntled brow. "That helps me out so much!"

Arthur groaned. Ever since Peter had turned two, his mother had him enrolled in fun, cute little preschool classes at the city Rec Center. Thankfully, he had previously been in high school and had been forgiven from Peter-Duty, but now that he was in college and on winter break for the month, he was stuck.

Like it wasn't bad enough that he was eighteen with a six year old sibling... But alas, hopefully one class wouldn't hurt.

"Class is so much fun!" Peter chirped, bouncing around his room as he got dressed. "It's all about superheroes! We get to make masks, and weapons, and beat bad guys! And guess what?"

Arthur smiled softly at his brother's innocent excitement. "What?"

Peter leaped over to Arthur and gestured to him to come down to his level. Arthur blinked, but obliged. "My teacher," Peter whispered in Arthur's ear, "is a real superhero!"

Arthur chuckled, causing Peter to pout. "Is that so?" he asked with a grin.

"It is so!" Peter insisted. "Wait until you meet him! Mr. America is a real superhero! He's strong and smart, and Mum thinks he's very handsome!"

"Well," Arthur sang, grabbing Peter's hand and leading him out to his car parked in the driveway, "I'll just have to see for myself, hm?"

When they arrived at the center, Peter practically leaped out of the car before it was even in park, causing Arthur to shout after him and give chase. There were already quite a few other cars in the parking lot, and judging by the figures in the window, Arthur gathered that they had arrived a bit late. He blushed and let Peter lead him by the hand.

"You have to sign me in," he informed him as soon as they got inside. Suddenly, Peter's coat was in his arms, and he was running across the room to join the rest of the children where they were seated on the floor.

Arthur signed Peter in and glanced around the room, noticing the women and men in the chairs around the edge of the room smiling at him softly. "You must be Arthur," a dark-haired woman said with a welcoming smile. "Rose mentioned you might be bringing Peter today. Here, have a seat, Mr. Alfred is about to get started." She moved her diaper-bag off the seat next to her so Arthur could sit.

"Thank you," he said with a smile. Sitting down, he took off his coat, and draped it over the back of his chair along with Peter's, and turned his attention to the center of the room.

"Hey heroes!" a loud, booming voice called. The kids cheered, as a tall, muscular, masked man jumped out from deep into the adjoining hallway. He flashed the kids a bright, blinding smile and waved at their cheering. Arthur blinked.

This was Mr. Alfred? This absolutely stunning masked creature in an endearingly home-made red, white, and blue skintight costume was the preschool teacher?

Bloody hell, maybe he was a superhero after all.

"So!" Alfred cried, clapping and kneeling down with the kids. "We have an awesome class prepared for you all today. We're talking about two of my favorite heroes today!"

"I like Batman!" a small boy exclaimed, setting off a string os similar exclamations from the other kids. Mr. Alfred laughed, and finally managed to quiet them down.

"Today's first hero, is a super solider by the name of Captain America! Who's heard of him?!"

The students cheered, obviously recognizing the name. Mr. Alfred smiled.

"What color do you think Captain America's uniform is?" The kids sat there, silent. Mr. Alfred tried again. "What colors do you think of when you think of America?"

"Red, white, and blue!" A little girl exclaimed, and Alfred beamed, giving her a thumbs up.

"Right, Shelia! How about Captain America's weapon? Wonder Woman had her lasso... Spider-Man had his webs... What does Captain America have?"

Peter's hand shot up. "A shield!"

Arthur blinked, somewhat impressed. He certainly hadn't known that.

"Awesome, Peter! Good! Today, you guys are gonna make your own Captain America shield!" The kids cheered. "Because remember; it's not enough to just beat bad guys, heroes need to be abel to protect themselves, too! Let's go!"

The kids trampled over to the low tables to begin coloring their paper plate shields. When they were finished, they lined up across the room and used them to protect themselves from the sponges that Mr. Alfred tossed their way. The whole time, he shouted words on encouragement, reminding the kids of the importance of their superhero training.

After that, the kids used fabric markers to decorate capes made from cut up t-shirts. Something to do with Superman or something. Arthur wasn't paying attention, his eyes and concentration trained on the young teacher hopping around from student to student, praising their designs.

The class ended with a chance for all the kids to punch at the face of some super villain taped to a pillow (Lex Luthor, Superman's arch nemesis, the mother next to him explained), and a singing of the goodbye song, before Mr. Alfred was high-fiving the kids and telling them that he would see them next week.

Peter ran over, wielding his shield and his cape flapping behind him. He smiled up at Arthur brightly. "Wasn't class cool?!" he asked.

"The coolest," Arthur agreed with a chuckle. "Here, put on your coat."

Arthur helped Peter wiggle into his coat and pulled the cape free from the collar so it could continue to flap about. "Have everything?" he asked. Peter nodded. "Okay, let's go–"

"Don't forget to sign him out, Mr. Kirkland!"

Arthur spun around, coming face to face with the freshly unmasked Mr. Alfred. He's blond. Arthur found himself thinking. And he has glasses. His eyes look even more blue behind the classes. When did he put those on?

"Ah, please, call me Arthur," he replied lamely.

Mr. Alfred blinked, but then beamed. "Okay, no problem, Arthur! You're Peter's big brother, right? Your mom's told me all about you. I just need you to sign Peter out. Liability stuff, you know."

"Ah, yes, sorry." Arthur blushed, taking Alfred's pen and scribbling his name. "And has she? All good things I hope?"

"Oooh yeah," he said with a chuckle, as if he was laughing at his own private joke. "Listen, you mom tells me we have, ahem, similar interests." He shrugged, blushing softly. "See you next week? Maybe we could grab some coffee after class?"

"My brother only likes tea, Mr. Alfred," Peter piped in helpfully. Arthur flushed and pushed him away. "Hey!"

"T-that would be lovely," Arthur stammered. "I'll see you then."

Mr. Alfred grinned. "R-really? Awesome! Can't wait!"

"Mum's been trying to arrange this for months," Peter stated matter-of-factly once they stepped outside. Arthur took a deep breath and let the coolness of the winter air chill his burning cheeks. "She's going to be really mad at you if you mess this up."

"I wont mess it up," he grumbled, ruffling Peter's hair. And he wouldn't. He would make sure of it.

He'd never dated a real superhero, after all.