Title: Krypto and Emma (4/?)
Rating: PG-13 for now
Warnings: For this chapter, there is cursing, and lots of talk on comic books and rock bands
Characters/Pairings: Alfred, Arthur, Gilbert, Hong Kong, Denmark, Eventual 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: If you don't know much about Superman, a part of this chapter might be a tad confusing. But it's just a small segment, so no worries.

Anyway, again, this is UNEDITED but WILL be edited by my beta when she's free.

Chapter Four

Alfred debates with himself about whether or not what he is about to do will end up being embarrassing or not. He was at that Materia gig last night at La Biblio, Francis' bar, and well he hadn't expected Arthur to be such an awesome front man. Honestly he wasn't much of a music enthusiast, and gigs weren't really his scene, but he had so much fun that he's starting to wonder if maybe he should make it his scene (if only, he thinks, it would jive with his work, which it won't, deadlines, deadlines...). Anyway, two hours into the night after their second break, Arthur ended up being really drunk and started going wild while they performed The Clash's "London's Burning"and though surprisingly the alcohol might have actually helped him rock the song, it also influenced him into doing things that, Alfred imagines, he regrets right now.

The number one thing in the list of things he might now regret doing, was taking off his pretty darn great Green Lantern t-shirt, and throwing it at the audience. In a strange twist of fate, Alfred managed to catch the shirt (or more like, it fell into his hand really). This morning however, he'd accidentally washed it along with his own clothes, which is why he's now hesitating to return it. Wouldn't it seem sort of stalker-ish that he'd washed it?

Telling the truth (that it was an accident), will either make him look like a liar, or make him look like a moron. And Alfred decidedly doesn't like being seen as a liar or an idiot. But if he puts off returning the shirt (to dirty it or whatever), he'll have another thing to explain (i.e. why now?), so in the end, telling the truth was still the best option (as it always is in many cases, lies can simplify, but they more often than not complicate, at least, in Alfred's not-so-humble opinion). And so he decides to call him up. Which, as it turns out, isn't really that easy.

First he calls Francis who, predictably, does not pick up his calls. Then he calls Matthew and asks him to call Francis, because he knows he'll pick up for him. And then, Matthew calls Francis up and asks him to send Arthur's number to Alfred.

So ok, maybe it was a little easy, but not as easy as it would have been if Francis just picked up his darned phone.

Now that he has Arthur's number, he takes a few deep breathes, to prepare himself, for what might well be one of the most embarrassing phone calls in his life. Nervously, he listens to the phone ring wishing for Arthur to pick up, and at the same time, wishing for him not to pick up.

"...Hello?" it's actually funny how Arthur says it like a question, but Alfred finds he's feeling too awkward to even chuckle.

"Ah, Hello, Arthur? It's Alfred. Alfred Jones?" briefly he entertains the possibility of there being another Alfred in Arthur's life. Did the Brit label him "Alfred Jones, comic book artist" in his head? Did the members of Materia call the other Alfred 'their Alfred' and dub him 'Alfred who pushed Arthur into Amity Lake'? Did—

"Alfred!" the disbelieving exclaim of Materia's front man interrupts his thoughts "Wh—How did you get my mobile number?" he pauses for a second "Oh, right, Francis."

Alfred wonders, if this phone call seems too stalker-ish.

"Uh, yeah. Err—" Alfred scratches the back of his head "Uhm, right, see... Remember how I was at your gig last night?" he pauses, and is met with expectant silence. Scratching the back of his neck again he continues "Well uhm, remember when you threw your shirt into the audience?"

"Oh bollocks!" It almost sounds like a gasp when Arthur says it "I did do that again didn't I?"

"Uh... Again?" Alfred just couldn't disguise the amusement in his voice. That Arthur loses his shirts on a regular basis was just too hilarious.

"Uh, yes well, it's happened a few times before. Just a few!" Arthur says, sounding a bit defensive

It takes everything Alfred has to suppress his laughter. He still feels a tad awkward, but this priceless bit of information was making his discomfort with the situation disappear.

"Anyway, yes I do remember, in a manner of speaking, why?"

He ends up snorting before replying to Arthur's question with "Uh yes, well see, I sort of have your shirt"

Alfred is surprised to hear a snicker on the other line.

"How can you sort of have my shirt?"

"Ok, not sort of then, I do have it." He chuckles "So uh, you want to meet up so I can return it?"

"Oh, uhm" the sound of shifting can be heard "Sure! Uh...when?"

"Uh..." Alfred looks at his clock "...Why don't we have lunch together at the McDonalds near Amity Park?"

"McDonalds?" Arthur questions, sounding a tad hesitatnt

"Yeah, McDs!" he reiterates cheerfully "Wait, don't tell me you don't like McDs?"

"Oh uh, well I—see the thing is , I uh..." Arthur pauses, sighs "I'll meet you there at noon"

"Ok then, noon." Alfred nods, even though the Brit obviously can't see it "See you."

"See you"

There's an awkward silence before Alfred hears Arthur hang up. Wondering what the heck that whole hesitation about McDonalds was about, the comic book artist hangs up, and opts to take a shower.

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

Arthur arrives first, and he's wearing that trench coat again. Alfred finds himself wondering if he's wearing the same sort of outfit he wore to their gig last night under it, but dismisses the thought in favour of greetings. Then he notices Arthur's brought Emma, and grins.

"Hey!" he says, cheerfully "You brought Emma!"

"Hello" Arthur replies, smiling shyly "Yes, my neighbour wasn't around, and I couldn't very well leave her alone so..."

"S'kay," Alfred crouches down to pet Emma "I'm just bummed I didn't bring Krypto along, left him at Mattie's"

"Oh, that is a shame; I think he and Ems would get on well" there's a hint of sarcasm in Arthur's tone, normally, such an (implied) insult on Krypto would irk him, but well, Emma did show quite a lot of hostility, and Alfred did (albeit accidentally) push her owner into Amity Lake.

Alfred chuckles (quite nervously at that), then says "Err, let's head on in then?"

Arthur smiles "Let's"

The comic book artist nods, and then turns around to walk to the entrance. After taking one step however he abruptly stops, and turns around to look at Arthur once again. He raises an index finger up, opens his mouth as if to say something, and then closes it, pressing his lips into a thin line.

"Uh, something wrong Alfred?" Materia's front man asks, thoroughly bewildered

"Ah, nothing really just—" Alfred looks at his feet and sighs. After a pause, he rolls his shoulders backward, and, looking Arthur straight in the eye, he says "Wanna order take-out and then just walk around the park?"

For a moment, the sandy blond Brit just looks surprised at this suggestion. Slowly, he nods and says "Uhm, alright then, sure"

"Great!" Alfred exclaims, and then he proceeds to enter inside McDonalds.

He doesn't catch it, but Arthur is visibly aghast when he orders a Big Mac and a super-sized soda. When Arthur orders a fish fillet and orange juice however, it is Alfred's turn to look aghast. How could you order fish at McDs? For Alfred, burgers were the only way to go, although he guesses, different folks, different strokes. Still, fish atMcDs? WHY, just... WHY?

Arthur finishes ordering, and then turns to Alfred and nods. With their take out at hand, they head out to take a walk at Amity Park. They stroll for a while in silence, and eventually they end up walking around an area near Amity Lake not, it is, coincidentally (or maybe not) the exact area where they first met.

"I thought you were really cool up there last night" Alfred comments suddenly. He thereafter takes a bite off his burger. "I've never seen anyone get so... so..."

"So drunk?" Arthur supplies, looking a bit upset about it

Alfred laughs "Well that too—"he slurps some soda "—but I was going to say, I haven't seen anyone get so into a song"

There's a smug look on Arthur's face when he thanks Alfred, and the comic book artist sort of feels good for making him have such an expression. Even though it was hardly flattery, since it was just him stating what, to him, was the truth.

"I'm flattered, but I don't think I'm that special" strangely he actually seems to mean it, although he is also apparently irked by the fact

"Dude," Alfred says "the way you sing, it's like you wrote the song"

"It's called acting?"

Alfred laughs "Which you also need a lot of talent for, to do it as well as that at least" he spots a vacant bench "Hey, wanna sit?"

Arthur nods, and they both take their seat on the bench. Emma curls up next to Arthur's feet. "I didn't think you were the type who watched gigs" the sandy blonds quips

"I'm not" a pause "Ok, well not really; at least, I don't go unless Mattie tells me it's worth going to. I did have this huge Green Day phase though"

Arthur's eyes widen, his face is a strange mix of shocked and offended "You let it pass as a phase?"

"Uh..." For a moment, Alfred wants to say he was joking, but decides against it "...Yes?"

"What a shame" the sandy blonde says, sounding genuinely disappointed "Green Day is basically the whole reason I have a band you know, and they are still very much an inspiration to me"

"Hey, I still think they rock" says Alfred "They're just not on the top of my list of likes anymore"

"I see, and what is?"

"What is what?"

"What's on the top of your—'list of likes'." Arthur sounds a bit teasing when he says it, and he looks like he's suppressing a snarkier comment.

"What right now?" Alfred then realizes that was a stupid follow up question, as one bushy eyebrow is raised questioningly after he says it "Well, honestly? My absolute favourite thing of all time is Superman for All Seasons. It is the best Superman book, without a doubt, it's even better than Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow! And Alan Moore wrote that one! ALAN MOORE!"

Arthur laughs in such a way that clearly says 'You're such an idiot', but Alfred chooses to interpret it as his way of saying 'You're such a charming fellow'.

"What else can we expect from a Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale collaboration though?" the Brit says "They did produce some of the best graphic novels of all time The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Haunted Knight... They're all Batman stories as you know" he thereafter grins smugly.

Alfred suppresses the urge to stick his tongue out "Trying to convert me into a Bat-geek are you? Well for your information, I've read all three of those, but I'm still for the Big Guy"

Looking genuinely interested, Arthur asks "Really now, where does this devotion to that overgrown boy scout stem from?"

"Hmmm..." Alfred ponders on this; he knows he's not just blindingly hero-worshipping Supes "Well see, when people say we can't relate to Superman the way we can to human superheroes? I always think, they couldn't be more wrong. I mean, Clark Kent is that shy kid in high school. Almost everyone likes him, 'cause he's got a heart of gold, but he's not exactly popular either." He scratches the back of his neck.

"In many ways, I guess you could say Clark's the most human of them all, even more than Bruce or Ollie. Because true, he's an alien, but biology aside, he's clearly a son of Earth. And I mean, yeah, it issort of selfish that he's a superhero so he can have a sense of belonging, but can you imagine what it'd be like if you feel that don't belong anywhere? Too human to really be one of the Kryptonians, and too Kryptonian to be one of the humans... I guess it's what makes Clark Kent interesting. It's what makes Superman interesting..."

Alfred shrugs "I was rambling, sorry."

"It's fine, I get you." Arthur chuckles "But you have to understand, the whole nice guy thing? It grates on my nerves really. I don't hate Superman, I just think that a lot of the time, he could have managed a crisis without any hassle had he not been exercising that almost childish naivety of his. As Batman would say, deep down Clark's a nice person, and that's his biggest weakness."

The comic book artist actually laughs at that "Bigger than Kryptonite?"

Arthur nods "Bigger than Kryptonite."

They're silent for a while, a few people pass them by in the park, and though Alfred snickers at some people's particularly over the top outfits, neither of them say a word to each other for a while, until Arthur makes a comment.

"I find it refreshing to see someone doing what they've always wanted to do"

"Oh uh" Alfred scratched the back of his head "It's not much really, I just..." he shrugs "Well I tried lots of different things, but well, this was really my calling. Just happened to be what I wanted since, well, forever"

"You tried a lot of different things?" Arthur looks quite interested on the topic

"Yeah well there was a point in my life where I was thinking, maybe I should be an archaeologist, but—" his cheeks turn a bit pink "—it turns out, I might not really get to explore a genuinely cursed pyramid in Egypt and so that idea went out the window"

"Pfft!" Arthur swiftly covers his mouth, obviously restraining himself from laughing like a mad man and calling Alfred an idiot. "Wh-what else did you try out?"

"Oh, well I thought of being a professional football player!" Alfred looks smug when he says the next bit "I was the quarterback at my high school"

"Oh, wow" except, the front man doesn't really sound as impressed as Alfred thought he'd be "I'm guessing your were Homecoming King too?"

"Ah yeah, but it wasn't an honour I particularly liked receiving. For various reasons, none of which I am comfortable talking about"

"Oh alright then" Alfred is thankful he doesn't press the matter "How'd you finally give up and settle on your childhood dream?"

Alfred laughs "To tell you the truth? What happened in my last Homecoming really sealed the deal." he smiles nervously "So now I'm doing what I'd always dreamed of doing. Been hoping it'd be enough for years to come"

"I see where you're coming from" Arthur gazes upward towards the sky "I don't know if I can keep doing what I do till I'm old, like the Rolling Stones"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Rolling Stones said the exact same thing, and look how they turned out"

"Yeah but they're legends" he sighs "We haven't even had our big break yet"

"With talent like yours? You will soon enough"

Arthur gives him a look.

"I'm not just flattering you" says Alfred "I really think that"

"Thanks" the sandy blonde smiles "It means a lot"

Alfred smiles back and they're silent for a few moments again.

This time, the lack of conversation is a little bit awkward. Alfred shifts in his seat "Uh… So your band's close huh?" he asks, fidgeting a bit

Arthur chuckles and it makes a lot of the awkwardness go away "In a manner of speaking... We go way back"

"Way back...?" well this was decidedly interesting

"High School, way back since High School. Gilbert and I were Sophomores and we decided to start a band, mostly cause we got super hyped because of Green Day's album then, which I'm sure you know about, American Idiot?" when Alfred nods, Arthur goes on

"Well, ok, see, we wanted a couple more members, so we asked Vagn to play drums for us, because we knew he was really good at it, and from then on we became some sort of a trio at school. Gilbert started out playing bass while I played lead guitar and sang lead. Eventually, when we were Seniors, we, uh, found Danny, he was a freshman then, crazy good bassist really. Then I gave my lead guitarist post to Gil, and just stuck to being front man"

"And the name Materia, how'd you decide on it?" Alfred asks

Arthur gives him a look "It's probably where you think it's from"

"I'm thinking Final Fantasygames...?"

"You thought right" Arthur snorts

"Wow," Alfred pauses"... how'd you meet Gilbert then?"

"Well..." the sandy blonde Brit looks thoughtful for a few moments "...oh crud, I'm sorry, I can't seem to remember how we met. I know it was in grade school though"

"So you're like BFFs huh?"

Arthur puts on a look of disgust "Eurgh, NO"

Alfred laughs "You guys must be really close"

"We are not!" Arthur insists "We're just stuck together that's all!"

"Riiiiiight" the comic book artist replies teasingly, eyes narrow whilst he smirked. And then, his eyes catch the neglected take out in Arthur's lap "Hey," he says "you haven't been eating your take out"

Arthur looks at the paper bag on his lap "Ah—" he flushes "—I sort of forgot"

Alfred chuckles. It takes a while before he realizes he hasn't finished his burger yet either.

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

"D'you remember that sorry excuse for a book we used to write?" Arthur asks, as he handed Gilbert bottle of beer. They're watching movie in Arthur's apartment, none of the other members of Materia were around. Vagn was on a date with his Norwegian boyfriend and Danny's eldest brother had apparently declared the night to be family night, and so, for the lack of anything else to do, Arthur and Gilbert decide it's time to drink some beer and watch gory action movies.

"What book?" replies the so-called Prussian, not tearing his eyes away from the TV screen.

"You know, 'The Awesomely Epic Adventures of Gilbert the Awesome and His Best Mate Arthur', think we started it back in grade school."

Gilbert looks thoughtful, then snorts "Oh yeah, that book. How awesome were we in grade school to make an entire book out of our awesomeness? Or more specifically my awesomeness?"

Arthur rolls his eyes "Setting that aside, d'you have any idea where it is?"

Smirking, the lead guitarist says "Don't you keep it next to your diary in that secret box of yours?"

He punches him his shoulder lightly "I never had a diary, the closest thing I had to a diary was that book of ours, and my 'Records of an Englishman's Triumphs Over a Certain Frog'. Neither of which were so much diaries as they were just records of what was then, recent history. And even if I did have one, who are you to talk? You have that journal thing going on."

"It's a blog, how many times do I have to say that for you and Danny to get that right?" Gilbert exclaims angrily

"Backstabbing now are we?"

"Look, why the fuck are you suddenly looking for that damn book?" snarls the lead guitarist

"I've been thinking, see, about how we met, and for the life of me, I just can't remember. It was just that long ago." He looks as if that was the most terrible one he'd uttered in days.

Shaking his grimace off, he continues, "So anyway, I was thinking that we may have taken down how we met in that book, and since I'm tired of racking my brains out, I decided to look for it instead. No such luck in finding it though, which led me to believe, that maybe you had it."

Gilbert drinks some of his beer before answering "You could have just asked me how we met"

"You would have just lied to me, and made yourself more awesome" Arthur replies, eyes narrowed.

"Dude, there's no way I would have done that—" before this statement could be challenged, he continues "—I mean, there's no way to make me MORE awesome, I'm already too awesome for words to describe"

"Right" says Arthur, looking like he doesn't mean it "So tell me then"

"Tell you what?"

Frustrated, the front man angrily says "How did we meet?"

Gilbert takes a swig of beer before he replies, pretends not to notice his companion's frustration "You were enemies with Francis, and I was the leader of our gang then"

Arthur wants to tell him he wasn't probably so much the leader as much as he was just the loudest one among them, but thinks better of it "So how did you end up being my friend then? Because I could swear I wasn't interested in being friends with anyone the frog was friends with at the time"

"Well, it was around the time you ditched that darn Roderich Edelstein guy—" Gilbert's nose wrinkles in disgust, he really did hate that guy "—Francis and I got into a fight cause he started being all chummy with Edelstein, and since Antonio always sided with him, I was sort of outnumbered" he grins at Arthur "And that's pretty much when we became partners in crime, I think you came to me with a treaty or some shit"

"I doubt ten year old me would have thought of creating a treaty with you" says the sandy haired Brit, thereafter snorting

"Oh but you did, it was the treaty that started our epic partnership to spread my awesome"

"Ha! So that's what our friendship's purpose is. I am seriously wondering how the hell I ended up being our front man when you're so damn vain."

"Dude, you're just the semi front man, I sing our hard rock covers, most of them anyway. Sides, people always think the lead guitarist is the hot one." He looks smug "I'm the guy everyone secretly fancies."

"Secretly?" Arthur raises an eyebrow "They're ashamed of it then, else, why would they keep it a secret?"

"Pah! You're just jealous of my awesome. Who'd swing for a guy with caterpillars for eyebrows?"

"I don't really think you're in any position to ask such a rhetorical question."

They make eye contact for a few seconds, eyes narrowed, mouths frowning, though both of them not quite glaring.

"Whatever" Gilbert finally says, then he turns to the tv screen "This movie's boring, Kill Bill marathon?"

Arthur shrugs "Sure" he gets up and takes out the dvd of the current movie. As he rummages through his shelf of DVDs for his copy of Kill Bill 1 and 2, Gilbert asks him a question.

"What made you ask anyway?"

Arthur turns to him "About how we met?"

"Yeah"

"Remember Alfred, guy I introduced to you guys at La Bibliolast night?" he gets back to looking for the DVDs

Gilbert scratches the back of his neck in thought "Uh, blonde guy with specs?"

"Yeah, well he called me up this morning, and he invited me for lunch"

The lead guitarist's artificially red eyes widen "Holy shit, a date!"

Arthur flushes "NO!" he shouts "He just wanted to return my shirt!"

"Right" Gilbert eyes him warily

"I'm not lying. It's the truth. Really." Except he totally sounds like he's in denial "Besides Emma was there, so it wasn't like we were alone"

"Dude," Gilbert snorts "Emma doesn't count, you could have had five dogs with you and it still wouldn't have counted. It was totally a date."

"Please," Arthur sounds slightly exasperated "Alfred's straight."

"Well so are you!" Gilbert shouts

"Am I now? Because I was under the impression that I was a bisexual who preferred guys; just because I shag girls Gilbert, doesn't mean I'm straight"

Gilbert holds up his arms as if surrendering "Ok, ok, so anyway, you got your shirt back?"

Arthur visibly stiffens.

"NO" Gilbert starts laughing his ass off "You're kidding me right? You guys forgot. You we're having so much fun you forgot why you met up, that's cute. And it proves it was totally a date"

"Ugh" green eyes rolls whilst pale skin got tinted a deeper shade of pink "Fuck you"

"Is that an offer?"

"Sod off Gil"

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

The first thing Arthur says when Alfred picks up is "You didn't return my shirt yesterday" and then he says "Can you go to our gig tonight just in case I throw my shirt at the audience again?" Alfred can't tell if it was a joke, but he goes to the gig anyway. He was probably getting behind on his work, but he was getting pissed at drawing Wonder Woman's new uniform anyway (man, he hated it, just wasn't her). He puts on some sneakers and one of his loose chequered shorts and just picks a random white shirt to wear. He gives Matthew a short call to check on Krypto, and then heads out with nothing but his wallet, cellphone, and the clothes on his back.

When he gets to La Biblio, the music is loud, but Materia hasn't started playing yet. He spots Arthur and his friends talking to the bar tender. He wasn't wearing skinny jeans today, but he might as well have been, he was wearing black leather pants that almost looked like leggings, a plain white shirt, black Chuck Taylors (which were probably high cut, though you couldn't really see cause of the pants), and a belt that really should be considered a weapon, what with all those spikes. Alfred briefly wonders how Arthur manages to look both simple and eye-catching. He guesses it's how he accessorizes, or maybe it was the eyebrows, who knows.

"So I'm going to be your official shirt-catcher then?" Alfred says, to get Materia's attention

All of the band members turn to look at him almost simultaneously; it was amusing to say the least.

"That depends; I'm going to try to stay sober all night" Arthur replies.

Gilbert snorts "Yeah right" he says, and Arthur elbows his chest.

Alfred laughs "Anyway, here's your shirt" he holds said shirt out, and Arthur takes it saying "Thanks".

"Gil, keep this in one of your pockets"

Gilbert, who's wearing cargo pants, takes the shirt and places it in the pocket near his knee "Dude, you really have to tell me how you manage to fit into your clothes, this is tiny"

Arthur snorts "Magicians never reveal their secrets" he turns to Alfred "Are you planning on staying?"

"Uh, yeah, I finished my work already so, yeah" that was him lying without so much as batting an eyelash

"Oh! You finished the new Wonder Woman cover? I hate her new uniform, but I'd like to see if you made it work."

"Whoa, hold up—"Gilbert interrupts "—You're like him? Comic geek?"

Alfred finds himself chuckling at that "Yeah, yeah I am, got anything against that?"

Gilbert waves his hands around in an 'x' motion "No, no, just explains a lot. No one ever hits it off with this guy except for comic geeks, and people who're after his ass."

"So I take it you're a comic geek too?" Alfred asks, looking amused

"Hell no" the lead guitarist looks pretty offended, which just amuses Alfred even more

"So you're… after his ass"

There's a sound of someone choking on his drink, which turns out to be Arthur. Then there's the sound of someone seemingly dying from laughter, and it appears to be the drummer, Vagn. Alfred is decidedly amused by these reactions, especially since the normally stoic faced Danny looks like he's barely containing laughter, and Gilbert's staring at him, eyes wide, mouth agape, looking like a goldfish.

"Well, you guys seem close. Makes sense right?" Alfred remarks with feigned innocence

"We've been friends for thirteen years Alfred, and I would be horrified if it was anything like that" says Arthur, recovering from his chocking episode "What are you gawking for Gilbert, didn't we already decide we're friends because I'm helping you spread your so-called awesome"

Gilberts head almost snaps when he turns to looks at him "SO-CALLED?"

Arthur, Vagn, and Danny answer in unison "SO-CALLED"

"Argh. God, why do I even ask?"Gilbert rolls his eyes

"You know you love the torment" Danny says apathetically, speaking for the first time that night

"Whatever Danny" the lead guitarist scowls at him, and then looks at Vagn "You've been awfully quiet"

Vagn shrugs "Nothing to say"

"Not everyone loves chatting without point like you Gilbert" says Arthur

"Oh and you are always intelligent conversation?"

"A lot more than you, that's for sure"

Alfred just stared on while they argued, amused that they were doing it in public, and sort of jealous that they had someone to bicker with so naturally. Vagn catches him staring.

"You feelin' the underlying sexual tension too?" the drummer asks him with a chuckle

"The underlying what?" he's just slightly taken aback

"Oops, well it's a little theory of mine—" Danny clears his throat "—Which was originally Danny's theory"

Alfred was pretty sure he looked a bit weirded out, they just seemed like normal bickering friends to him "Uhm, elaborate?"

Vagn whispers it to Alfred, so softly that he was pretty darn sure only the two of them could hear "We think they've tumbled under the covers. If you know what I mean." He thereafter waggles his eyebrows.

Alfred nearly chokes on his own saliva "W-What?"

"Yeah you heard me" there was a tinge of smugness on Vagn's face, like he was proud to believe in the theory

"They—They don't look it to me" the comic book artist replies, pushing his glasses up his nose "They look like they're just friends who get along by fighting"

"Hmm, that's a pretty interesting way to look at it" says Vagn with a nod "But I'll stick with my own theory, trust me, you'll see it eventually"

"Eventually huh..." Alfred thinks, he sort of feels happy that he's being welcomed into the group, so much that they seemed to think he would stick around for a while. It was rather exhilarating.

He hasn't had a group of friends since High School. Of course, he can't exactly be the one to invite any of them (except maybe Arthur) to go out and just chill together but… Well, he felt like this was the start of something good. Something he can hang on to. He's been cooped up drawing comic books and eating burgers way too long.

"Yeah" he says "I guess I will"

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

Endnotes:

Who is Alan Moore? He wrote the graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Batman: The Killing Joke and Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow (among others), all of which, I highly recommend.

Who are Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale? They're writer-artist team that produced Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, Batman: Haunted Knight, Catwoman: When in Rome, and Superman for All Seasons (among others), all of which, again, I highly recommend.

"The Big Guy"/ "overgrown boyscout"? In case you got confused there, Alfred and Arthur were referring to Superman. Other nicknames of his would be "Big Blue", "The Man of Tomorrow", and of course, "The Man of Steel".

ANYWAY, moving on.

I was thinking about how this fic, so far, has more things about Materia than comic books and dogs put together. Which sort of makes my title and summary really misleading, I'll get to comic books more soon though. Also, you know, Gilbert and Arthur pretty much just write themselves so they tend to dominate. Once Alfred gets… "settled" though, he's going to be a lot more fun a character. Or something.

Also, Green Day is my favourite band, and although I liked Dookie and 21st Century Breakdown; American Idiot will always be THE Album for me.

Also, if you're wondering about that little comment Vagn made on Arthur and Gilbert? Well... WELL. Hahahahahah.

REPLIES TO REVIEWS:

Peirl – Haha, well yes, originally, I was going to loosely base this on 101 Dalmatians (but everything sort of just deviated from my original intention...). Anyhow, hmm, why did I choose Hong Kong and Denmark? Well basically, I've been seeing fan art going around with England, Prussia and Denmark as a Trio, I never knew what basis there was for putting them together but I always thought "They'd be great in a band AU", and so that's why I chose Denmark. As for Hong Kong, I wanted a fourth band member and asked a friend for suggestions, we came up with him. Also I guess, I thought the clash of personalities would be interesting. So well those are my reasons. Thanks for reviewing by the way! :D glad you're enjoying the info tidbits.

Malkeria- PINAY NGA AKO! :D I want to say it's a small word, pero ang dami nating pinoy on the net, medyo scary. HAHAHA.

SHOUT OUT TO: HomeSickPirate26, openedlocket, Lovely4Real, stabbythings, and LostDonut

Thank you all for reviewing! Next Chapter will be up sometime next week hopefully.