The elder of the two poked his head out from around the his front door, and upon spotting the spectacled boy leaning idly against a tree he beckoned towards him. Then when noticing that he was being completely ignored, opened the door fully and stood with his hands on his hips.

"Come on, you imbecile, my mum left donkey's years ago, time doesn't stand still so you can daydream." Arthur hissed across the clearing at him.

Alfred looked up at him, looking somewhat embarrassed before approaching him, "Heh, sorry..."

In reply Arthur rolled in eyes and headed back into the house, he was more than intimidated by what Alfred called the "real world", what if people realised he was a natural born? Surely his fuck-ugly eyebrows would give it away, is anyone really dim enough to choose their child to look like that? Arthur then disappeared into the under the stairs cupboard and came out with a grey beanie on, pulled down so far it looked like it was hard to see past. He then snatched up a a pair of dark sunglasses and put them on, turning back to Alfred.

"You look ridiculous."

Arthur scowled at him, glancing down at his green knit sweater and shrugging.

"You love it really," the elder stated plainly.

"I'd be lying if I denied it," the other laughed, this kind of banter between the two had been going on for a while now, Alfred knew very well that it was more than friendly and that the elder may start to get the wrong idea but he couldn't bring himself to stop the flirtatious teasing.

Arthur smirked slightly adjusting the hat in the mirror so he didn't look too obscene when Alfred came up behind him and gazed into the reflection.

"You ready for the big wide world yet then, Art?"

Normally he would've scowled at the nickname but was too caught up in the thought of venturing out of the wood, nodding slowly with an unsure look in his eyes, he grabbed for his keys and pulled Alfred out of the cottage and they walked towards the edge of the wood together.

By the time they'd reached the quaint little coffee shop on the outskirts of town, Arthur had made for Alfred's hand at least four times, but being an awkward git, the younger had wriggled out of his grasp every time muttering some incoherent excuse that probably made no sense. Don't get him wrong he did really like Arthur, more than he probably should, but the thought that he may possibly be gay terrified him beyond belief, so much so that every time he caught his mind wandering too much when thinking of his older friend he turned on his computer and stared at pictures of girls for hours until he'd convinced himself of his heterosexuality again. They sat opposite each other at one of the small circular table in the café, waiting for their orders in an adequately awkward silence.

"You can take your sunglasses off now, we're inside you know."

"I know but people will see my eyebrows," Arthur hissed back, under his voice.

The spectacled boy sighed, "It's more suspicious wearing sunglasses inside than it is having big eyebrows, Arthur..." the younger trailed off reaching for the glasses balancing on the elder's small nose, but only to have his fingers swatted away.

"Al..." then came the warning tone, the younger had heard it before, but this time the tone sounded more worried than annoyed.

Ignoring his friend completely he leant forward again, perching himself on his elbow trying to snatch the sunglasses again, Arthur scowled, lifting his hand to shield the glasses from Alfred's reach.

"Trust me." was uttered from the younger boy's lips in barely a whisper.

Worried hands fell back onto the table in loose fists as the dark glasses were slowly retrieved and placed carefully on the tabletop. Only at that moment when their eyes met without the restriction of dark plastic did they notice how close they actually were, their noses a mere inch apart. Alfred still leaning in on his elbow, Arthur sat straight up on the wooden chair, his feet planted flat on the ground. Breath mingled, hot against their faces, they both knew that they should be leaning back and laughing it off, but neither of them could bring themselves to do it, the simple action of leaning back in their chairs. Eye contact was never broken, and it seemed at that moment that neither of them could dare to blink. The elder shakily began to move forward towards his friend, their noses skimming slightly. Arthur swore he could almost taste him. An untimely and embarrassed cough caused them to fly apart, Alfred, wobbling on his elbow and Arthur pushing back so far in his chair that he could guarantee that he would find indentations from the furniture on his skin later. They simultaneously looked up at the waitress with a grey tray in her petite hands, the tray holding a metal tea pot and two off-white mugs, obviously stained from the coffee they have endured over however many years they'd been in use.

"Tea?" she asked and Arthur meekly raised his hand at her, then letting her place the pot of hot water, the milk and an empty mug in front of him.

"And a cappuccino," she continued and placed the coffee in front of Alfred after he nodded at her.

She then scuttled away, obviously confused and flustered, leaving the two males in a very uncomfortable silence. The silence was broken by the sound of the elder making up his drink, pouring the black tea into his cup, stirring in milk and sugar and cursing to himself when burning his finger on the tea pot. Who's idea was it to make a teapot out of metal anyway? How dim were they? Anyone above the age of ten knew metal was a conductor of heat. Arthur sighed at his thoughts and then let his eyes wander up to meet Alfred's. They both stared at one another for a while in disbelief, taking short but slow sips of their beverages.

"So..." Alfred started, in attempt to break through the thick, awkward atmosphere.

"Uh, yeah, so..." was said in reply and Arthur tried to bring up his hand to scratch his neck but ended up knocking his tea over, causing it to spill everywhere, including on his lap.

Alfred's eyes widened as Arthur winced when the hot liquid came into contact with his slim legs.

"Are you okay?" the younger asked warily.

"Just peachy," he replied somewhat sarcastically as he brushed down his trousers and inspected to big wet patches.

Alfred smiled slightly, taking a napkin and beginning to mop up the drink on the table, fishing out the now tea-covered sunglasses and wiping them down. Handing them to the smaller boy who simply smiled weakly in return.

"I think it's time we went somewhere else," Alfred stated.

"You can say that again."

AN: Wow, it's been a really long time since I updated, was it last November or something? I'm really sorry guys, I hope you're still with me almost 10 months on! I would bore you with reasons to why I'm so late but in a nutshell it's been a mix of writer's block and exams. I hope to get back into my monthly writing habit, but I don't know haha. I'll probably write the next chapter within the next week, but bare with me. It gets exciting soon! On a side note this fic will probably be about 10 chapters so we're about half way through. Reviews are always appreciated :)