Arthur Kirkland hated being an omega.

It had all started when he'd first moved to the United States at the age of eight. It was weird to be living around so many noisy Americans, especially because of the difference in culture—they were a lot more conservative when it came to human rights. There was an imbalance of power regarding people's nature, or dynamics, or whatever the Hell they liked to call those things—being an alpha, omega, or beta, if being gay wasn't a challenge enough already.

Arthur was now in his junior year of high school at East High (thank Jesus just one more year to go). He'd gone through enough as it was, with finally settling in enough to avoid all the old idiots who used to bully him for trying to be who he really was, an alpha, without people thinking he was trying to make a statement.

And despite his parents' doubts about going to public school, Arthur had persisted, saying that he would only be bullied more in a private school. He would never have the same experience as them, especially as an "omega."

That was because he bloody wasn't, in every facet but the physical sense, but Arthur knew if it weren't that the kids would have found other reasons to be dicks to him.

He was still trying to keep true to himself without drawing any unnecessary attention, which is exactly what Arthur did as he entered first-period biology, dropping his backpack on the white tiled floor and whipping out his lab notebook to take notes at his station. As he searched for a sketch-free page, Mr. Karpusi passed out sheets of paper—obviously a new experiment for them to start working on.

Arthur paused as he noticed the top of the page—a group project for the science fair? But there were only two lines for names at the top. So, a partner assignment?

"What you have in front of you is a proposal for the science fair. You and your partner have three weeks to decide on what you're going to do, create it, and present it at the fair. Your grade is on the line here, so consider that before you decide that you don't want to participate," Mr. Karpusi said.

An echo of groans cascaded through the room after he spoke. Arthur had a brief moment where he realized he could make this purposeful, he could use it to educate and learn something! But then he remembered his partner, and the twats he went to school with every day.

Nothing could sway the students from their inherent disgust at group projects, but Arthur knew they had nothing to complain about compared to whatever asinine partner he ended up with, especially if Arthur chose to research the subject he wanted.

Mr. Karpusi was forgiving, allowing students to pair up with whoever they wanted. Students claimed their desired partners, with chairs screeching and voices filling the room, the loudest undoubtedly being the football trio in the back.

The quarterback, Alfred, lounged against his desk and chatted with his friends until the teacher approached to split them up, Alfred wholly unhappy when his friends voted him off the island, so to speak.

"Is there anyone who doesn't have a partner?" Mr. Karpusi announced, and Arthur frowned as he raised his hand, seeing that Alfred was the only other one with his hand in the air.

With a face twisted with disgust, Arthur begrudgingly inched closer to Alfred, who had already recovered from his friends' rejection judging from that 1,000-watt smile on his face.

Oh boy, three weeks with this tosser. Surely this would be a wonderful experience.

Arthur had known Alfred for many years now. They had never talked much though, outside of class together. After all, Arthur kept to himself, except for the "rare" fight and shenanigans that his friends Francis and Gilbert pulled him into (and that was, of course, neglecting his punk faze).

Alfred had always been the golden boy, with accolades for his sportsmanship and intelligence. While Alfred fooled other students with his easygoingness and inability to read the room, Arthur knew better.

That's because, despite Alfred's best attempts to be discreet about it, Arthur knew he paid attention to appearances—and people.

Alfred was, more than anyone else, someone Arthur didn't want others to see him spending time with. Who knows what kind of target that would paint on his back, for kids to see Arthur hanging around this popular dolt? And if Arthur did the science project he wanted that could only make things worse.

"So… any ideas for the fair?" Alfred asked as he settled into the stool next to Arthur, but Arthur was already drawing out a plan in his notebook.

"I'm going to be doing an experiment about people's natures and how that relates to behavior and personality," Arthur stated.

From his peripheral vision Arthur could see the frown on Alfred's lips.

"But—"

"No," Arthur interjected, holding the pencil up to Alfred's face. "This discussion is over."

If the next three weeks were going to suck Arthur might as well do something he wanted.

After another hour of arguing, the school bell rang. One would hope that Alfred would let it be, but he persisted.

"Because of you we didn't even agree on an idea!" Alfred bitched.

"This conversation is over. Now if you'll let me go," Arthur stated, but Alfred's large build blocked his way.

"Hold up dude, hear me out. We've only got three weeks. We gotta figure this out today. Let's meet up after school to talk about it, please?" Alfred implored, and Arthur raised his bushy eyebrows at him. He didn't expect Alfred to be so incessant about it, or to care at all.

But that wouldn't stop Arthur. He reached past Alfred for the door, casting one spiteful glare back as he said, "No."

As Arthur was leaving English and heading to the cafeteria, he felt a hand close around his shoulder, and he spun around, glaring at the perpetrator.

Alfred was standing there, his hand still on Arthur's shoulder.

"What's your bloody problem?" Arthur hissed, jerking his arm away as he hustled toward the cafeteria, Alfred on his heels.

"My problem is that I've got the worst lab partner on the planet! Can't you even hear me out for a second?"

"Will you leave me in peace if I do?" Arthur bargained.

"Maybe. Probably not. But listen—" and he jumped in front of Arthur as they walked, saying, "I was listening to you in class today and I think there's really something there, it could be a really good project and I wanna help!"

Arthur gave Alfred a sideways squint.

"I've already got some ideas for studies we could do, and I've got all this stuff I learned…"

And Alfred kept talking, waving his hands around and spouting out all these theories about how a person became who they were because of societal constructs. Alfred chattered on about how that same thing could apply to a person's nature, which was why alphas were always more dominant than omegas and betas.

Arthur stopped walking to stare at Alfred like he had just sprouted a third eye. Alfred stopped what he was saying to smile and ask, "So, what do you think?"

What did he think? For nearly a lifetime now Arthur had been asking himself if he were ever the only one who considered the possibility that it was unnatural for him to be forced to act a certain way simply because of his nature. He had always wondered, and in some ways hoped, that he could just be who he desired without having to worry that it was acting against something genetically inside him.

To think that Alfred was behind this now was, at the very least, baffling. He didn't seem the sort to find an interest in such matters, and he certainly seemed stubborn enough to want to continue fighting Arthur on his decision to research the subject.

Yet, despite Arthur's skepticism, he also knew Alfred to be easygoing. Maybe this was his way of trying to make a new friend (not that Arthur needed one!).

"It's not the worst idea," Arthur stated, shoving his hands in his pockets as he waited at the end of the lunch line.

Alfred lit up like a light bulb. "So that means that you'll let me help? When can we start working?"

That had to be a forced smile. No one was that excited about schoolwork. "I can clear up my schedule for tonight," he stated.

"Oh damn, I forgot! I have football practice tonight! Could we do it after? You have book club anyway, right?"

Hm, what a valiant effort to pretend that he cared. "No," Arthur huffed. "That's tomorrow night," he stated, lifting an eyebrow, "but we don't have enough time to blither. I'll be at school in the afternoon, so find me after practice and we can study at my place."

That seemed to sate Alfred's whining because he nodded his head and said, "Okay, sounds like a plan to me!" and gave Arthur a pat on the back as he headed over to his usual table.

A/N: Thanks for reading my new fic! It's been, like, years but I am so excited to return to the community and contribute new stories, hopefully regularly too! This story is one especially that I've been wanting to write, so please let me know what you think! I'll also be posting on Tumblr under the same name and eventually Ao3!-Lizzie