Title: Krypto and Emma (1/?)
Rating:PG-13 for now
Warnings:A bit of cursing, lots of comic book geekiness (in this chapter)
Characters/Pairings:Alfred, Arthur, Matthew, Francis, some Franada, Future US/UK
Summary:Alfred Jones is a comic book artist who pretty much forgot about how it was like hanging out with friends (immersed with his work as he was) till the day he stumbles into a lake with a certain Arthur Kirkland. Then life gets a bit more inspirational and all the more interesting.

A/N:It should be said that there will be much talk on Comic Book characters here, if you don't know a thing about comic books, it's fine, but if you want more info on the characters, I recommend browsing the DC wikia. I must confess that I LOOOOOVVEEEE DC comic books, I like Marvel too but only for the X-men (Iron Man too, but I like the movies better cause I'm an RDJ fan, and cause I'm a Tony/Pepper fan, and comic canon pretty much messes them up). Before I start rambling on and start showing more of my geekery than I'm supposed to in this a/n, here's the first chapter of "Krypto and Emma"!

This is edited! Thanks to my dear friend Ame Mika'zuki ;)

Chapter One

Alfred F. Jones is an aspiring comic book artist who lives alone in a spacious two bedroom apartment.

Now he didn't always live by himself; up until a few years ago his half-brother Matthew F. Williams stayed here with him occupying the other bedroom of the flat. He moved out when his French lover and he decided to cohabitate. You could say Alfred's lonely, but you will be facing an hour of denial rambling if you did.

Although it's also true he copes with this loneliness well, if only because he's doing what he'd always dreamed of doing since he was a child. He's drawing covers for DC (specifically Superman and Wonder Woman comics), and as such, you'd most often find him chewing on a burger and slurping down coke whilst busily drawing an elaborate design for a cover, blonde hair all messed up, glasses askew, eyebrows furrowing in concentration, as his sky blue eyes focused intently on his work.

He was happy with his work; Wonder Woman had been something of a boyhood crush and Superman is his idol. In fact he was so very much a Superman fan, that he named his dog after Krypto, the man of steel's trusty canine pal.

Krypto (his Krypto) is a seven year old male Dalmatian who has a blue collar around his neck. Alfred was fourteen when he got him as a gift for his birthday, and they've been inseparable ever since.

In fact, the only time you will see Alfred away from his apartment is when he's taking Krypto for a walk. They'd usually take a really long walk at a nearby park (because Dalmatians do need lots exercise). It wasn't their only exercise; sometimes they played Frisbee, and Alfred would lift weights when the thought crossed his mind. Usually however, their daily exercise was taking a jog (or walk) around the park.

On this particular (sunny) day, Alfred's listening to songs in his iPod and taking a little rest on a bench— he'd been jogging for about an hour now, he did think he and Krypto needed to feel their legs again.

"Pfft! Look at that, Krypto!" Alfred whispers to his Dalmatian, as he takes out his earphones. "That guy has huge eyebrows!"

He discreetly points at the said person's general direction (which was quite near Amity Lake, which to Alfred's knowledge was the center of the park).

Just then Krypto starts acting up. He barks loudly and tugs Alfred towards eyebrows guy's direction.

"Woah boy, slow down!" He exclaims, and he smiles when he sees the reason for his dog's actions: eyebrows guy has a Dalmatian too.

Before he knew it, he is right in front of eyebrows guy.

He has these wonderful emerald green eyes, Alfred notes, and scruffy wheat blonde hair. He is dressed pretty sharply, with a black trench coat and a grey scarf. Alfred almost feels silly in his jeans and orange hoodie.

Eyebrows guy stares at him wide-eyed for a moment or two. But just when he is about to say hi, Krypto tugs Alfred forward again, and he trips on his own feet and falls on eyebrows guy, promptly getting them both drenched in lake water.

"Holy crap! I'm so sorry!" Al shouts as he stands up, and he then reaches into his coat pocket to check if his iPod is still alive, which by some miracle it is (luckiest man in the world Alfred is occasionally).

He looks at eyebrows guy and sees him still gawking at him, a wide eyed, bewildered look on his face. His Dalmatian was worriedly licking his face. Alfred reached out his right hand. "Dude, I am really, really sorry."

He just stares. It is starting to scare Al.

"Uhm, hey, are you ok?" He asks.

Eyebrows guy seems to snap out of it, he looks towards his dog, then Krypto, then Alfred.

"No, I don't believe I am," he says, surprising Al with his British accent. Ignoring Alfred's offered hand, he stands up on his own, sloppily.

"Excuse me," he says, and with a bewildered look plastered on his face, he walks away.

Alfred swears eyebrows guy's dog is glaring at him. He looks at Krypto. "Well that was weird, he didn't get angry… although his dog seemed upset."

He stands there for a minute or two, telling himself this is just in case eyebrows guy decides to come back and tell him off after all. But when he doesn't come back (and when Alfred starts shivering in his wet clothes) he decides to head home.

It doesn't take him long to get back to his apartment. It is just a ten minute walk from the park. First thing he does upon entering his abode is detach Krypto's leash from his collar. Then he sets down the dog's bowl and pours some water in it, thereafter taking a swig of water himself. After taking a quick shower and changing into a t-shirt and board shorts, he powers his laptop.

Alfred isn't working on a project for work.

This piece he is coloring right now is an image of the "Bat Family" and he hasn't really had the pleasure to make any covers for any series of its members (and of course, he hasn't drawn full issues either). He didn't quite like them as much as Supes and Wonder Woman (since they were, well, darker and stuff), but Bruce Wayne and his wards were kickass. Alfred doesn't usually say it out loud but the Bat Family gave him hope that he could be a superhero too. None of them have superpowers yet both Tim Drake and Dick Grayson have lead the Teen Titans; Dick also led The Titans and The Outsiders for a while; Bruce Wayne led The Outsiders, and has always been one of the most feared and respected members of the JLA. Of course, they had money, incredible physical prowess, and above average if not genius level intellect, so it wasn't that easy to emulate them either. Still, if Stephanie Brown could put on a costume, dub herself "The Spoiler" then go around fighting crime with Robin (III) and eventually become Robin (IV) and even the new Batgirl then heck maybe someday, Alfred can manage that too. It wasn't an unreasonable dream dammit (ok, sure, Stephanie was the daughter of the Cluemaster, and neither of Alfred's parents are super villains in the least, but that isn't the point). The point is, quite simply, that the Bat family made Alfred hang onto the dream that someday, by some weird twist of fate, he might become a superhero himself.

Alfred sits back, looking at his undone image, he can't help but think something's wrong with it, and it's frustrating him. Deciding he won't find the problem on his own, he saves the lineart as a jpeg file, and then uploads it to his deviantART gallery. He writes "There is something wrong with this, help me out guys, I can't figure out what it is D:" in the artist's comments, and then he 'publishes his deviation' and waits.

After two minutes pass, he refreshes the page, and is surprised to see that one of his more active fans had already commented.

"I think the problem lies with Tim, there's something off about his cowl. Although, I think there's something off with the proportion on Babs' eyes too. I love how you drew Dick though, I always enjoy his Nightwing uniform" wrote MateriaKing.

Alfred replies with "LOL, I was surprised you commented so fast! Thanks by the way, I think what was bugging me was just what you said. Now that I look at it, Tim's cowl looks WAY off, and I do need to fix up Babs' eyes a bit. And glad you like my dick!" before he even realizes what he'd just typed, he posts his reply. He saw his little blunder when he refreshes the page, and he vocally curses.

MateriaKing had replied right away with "I'm happy to help. And…. I'm going to assume you were in fact referring to Dick Grayson, and not your own… err… dick."

Alfred hurriedly types, "Sorry. THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CAPITAL D. maybe I should have just written Nightwing Hope I didn't freak you out there."

To which MateriaKing replies with, "Oh no, it's fine, I knew what you meant. Though yes, it might have been better if you did."

Alfred exhales, relieved, and then wastes no time in correcting the faulty parts of his piece.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It comes as a complete surprise when he sees eyebrows guy again, this time, at his favorite comic book store.

He is already there when he enters, reading the back of a copy of "Batman: Long Shadows". Alfred decides to pretend to read the back of the new Batman and Robin volume, whilst trying to find the right moment to strike up a conversation. He can't seem to find the right words to say though; should he start with a casual "Hi" or the words "Sorry about yesterday"?

"Oh, hello," thankfully eyebrows guy ends up talking to him first.

"Oh, hi!" Alfred hurriedly replies, and then he grins. "Sorry about yesterday! Sometimes I just can't control Krypto…"

"Ah, it's fine…" He furrows his eyebrows. "…well, as fine as going home soaking wet can ever be."

"I'm really, really sorry. I think your dog was really mad at me."

"Emma has a tendency to be quite protective," he laughs, and it sounded really proper to Alfred; maybe it was his accent. Everything sounds more sophisticated with a British accent (in his not-so-humble opinion).

Alfred laughs. "Yeah, I noticed." He paused, scanned the shelves a bit. "Oh yeah!" he says, as if something great just dawned on him. "Forgot to introduce myself! Alfred F. Jones, comic book artist!"

Eyebrows guy's eyes widen. "Alfred Jones?"

"Yup! That's me," he grins.

There's a nod, then, "Do you by any chance draw covers for Wonder Woman?"

"Yeah! You've seen my work?"

"Yes, and if I don't mind me saying, I think your work is bloody brilliant."

"Wow! You're a fan! I've never met a fan before…" says Alfred. "So what's your name?"

"My name? Oh, right," he reaches out his hand and says. "Arthur Kirkland"

"Nice to meet you Artie!"

"Arthur."

"Huh?" Alfred looks a tad bewildered.

"I don't really like the nickname Artie; my least favorite brother calls me Artie and it isn't at all fun to remember him."

"Oh, well, Arthur then," he smiles awkwardly. "So who's your favorite superhero, Arthur?"

At first Arthur looks a little bit surprised, then his expression becomes thoughtful. "Ah, well, I'm very fond of the Batfamily… If I had to choose, I'd have to say Nightwing's my favorite…" He says. "Although, that's not quite right really, because I'm fonder of Dick Grayson the person, than Dick Grayson as Nightwing, so perhaps in the end Batman's my favorite after all?"

"So you're following the new Batman series then?" Alfred guesses he's one of those people who were pretty contented with Dick assuming the cowl.

"Yes, and all the other Bat family related series. I used to follow Wonder Woman, but I've fallen behind lately…"

"Oh! So you haven't seen my new covers yet?"

Arthur blushes. "I have, but only on the Net. Does, uhm, the name MateriaKing ring any bells?"

"Holy crap, you're MateriaKing! You really helped me out yesterday dude!" There's glee in Alfred's expression, he's obviously ecstatic to meet an online name in person. Then he remembers the last conversation he had with MateriaKing, and turns pink.

Arthur chuckles. "It really would have been better if you'd written Nightwing."

"Yes, it really would have been better."

Chuckling again, the sandy blonde Brit puts the volume (that's been in his hands all along) back in its place. "Well, it was nice talking to you Alfred. I need to head for work though." He checks his watch. "I always make it a point to be early."

"Early?" Alfred checks his own watch. "But… Oh! Night shift!"

"Hmm…" He tips his head to one side. "Something of the sort, yes."

"Oh, well see you around then." He offers a handshake, and Arthur takes it.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Matthew F. Williams is walking his Collie (fondly named Mollie) with his French lover Francis Bonnefoy, who's just carrying his own dog (a French bulldog named Lulu) whom he claims is too fragile for long strenuous walks.

Matthew would disagree but he knows it'd be useless to argue with him. Francis is rambling on about a band called "Materia" that's been a big hit at his gay bar.

"You must see them," he tells Matthew, his accent thick. "Reluctantly, I must admit that their lead singer is many levels of fabulous."

"Reluctantly?" Asks Matt.

"We are childhood friends you see. Well, perhaps childhood enemies is a more appropriate term."

"Hunh, what's his name?"

"Arthur Kirkland."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

End note: I can't help but thinking this was an 'awkward start' of sorts. I kept having to rewrite most of the chapter. But! I am sticking with this version. This was SUPPOSED to be all about the dogs and stuff (thus the 101 Dalmatians reminiscent scenes), but I think the dogs will just be plot tools, who will inadvertently trigger important events. For the first few chapters, I'll just sort of set up all the main characters' lifestyles, jobs, friends, hobbies, etc.