Work Text:
It had started out simply enough.
Arthur had been hard at work in the student center when a box of donuts and a freshly brewed cup of coffee had appeared in his work area when he stepped away for a bathroom break.
He had thought it strange, at first, but World Academy was also known for being incredibly kind to its students during exam weeks. It was not unheard of for goodies and treats to appear in common areas when deadlines were closing in, and cram week right before midterms certainly seemed as good a cause as any for their sudden appearance.
He had thought it a little odd that while there were a dozen donuts, though, that there was only one, single serve cup of coffee. At the time he’d shrugged it off, assuming it probably belonged to another student who had entered the study area and would return later. He graciously accepted one of the donuts and went back to his work.
The coffee’s owner never returned, though, and when he checked his school feed there was noticeably no mention of free donuts in the student center, which was odd. He had not thought much of it though and simply shared the news himself, regretting it when Francis and his friends took the opportunity to interrupt his studies and monopolize the rest of the box.
Strangely enough, though, similar incidents were beginning to happen to him everywhere he went.
Whenever he left his work area alone, little goodies would pop up. Nothing extravagant, just... Strange, in that they appeared out of nowhere.
So far, he’d received some fruit snacks, assorted crisps packs, a couple of Scooby-Doo themed erasers, some fancy, noir wood Ticonderoga pencils, and various kinds of American brand chocolates. And those were the more modest items.
He had also received one gift that seemed rather thoughtful, which was especially bizarre considering how unnerving it was to have items of unknown origins randomly thrust upon you. He had received a nice, new book sleeve shortly after complaining to Kiku about the dingy state of his current one, which was beginning to unfray, discolor, and fall apart along the seams.
He’d thought Kiku had gifted him it at first, especially since the pattern was one that he was certain only his friend of could have picked out. The fabric was a bright green with various cute bespectacled cats and little tea cups on it. Kiku had vehemently denied this, though, and actually proposed Arthur not accept the gift as “this reminds me of the start of a yandere series” he’d read the other day, whatever that meant.
(Arthur still kept it anyways, because his truly was on its last legs and the cats were cute, okay?? And it had an inner pocket that zipped up! It would have been a waste to throw it out.)
Most recently, he’d mumbled to himself in the library (completely involuntarily and embarrassingly, he was just that frustrated) over his math assignment, after having reattempted a problem for the umpteenth time only to get yet another figure that he knew was incorrect, only to return from the restroom to find a notebook sheet with the problems solved and the work written out.
Helpful, but unnerving. He’d packed his bag up and moved his studies elsewhere, afterwards.
(He did make use of the note sheet, though. He was not about to look that gift horse in the mouth after practically tearing his hair out when he attempted completing it unassisted for two hours prior.)
On top of all of that, though, he’d begun to feel like eyes were following him wherever he went on campus. It was disconcerting, the frequency with which he got the feeling. When he confided in his (obnoxious, awful, moronic—) roommate, though, Francis had just chuckled and teased him, asking if his childhood “little fairy friends” were coming to visit and “bring him presents” again. (He should have never allowed his mother to convince him rooming with his childhood friend acquaintance was a good idea. He knew too much about his upbringing and was absolutely insufferable. Throttling him with his Early Modern Europe textbook had been a cathartic distraction, though!)
Despite Francis’s assurances that he was just being paranoid, as he and their mutual acquaintances hadn’t noticed anything, Arthur felt uneasy. The only place he didn’t feel watched was in his dorm room, but he refused to be forced into a corner over something like this. He wanted to move about as he pleased, damn it! And he would!
It was distracting, too, and he was beginning to worry over it enough that he was concerned it would impact his ability to perform well when exams began the following week. He needed to resolve this before things got further out of hand.
So, he decided to lay a trap to catch the culprit.
Considering that the majority of his “gifts” appeared after long study sessions in the library or student center, he opted to study in the latter’s study rooms rather than outside or in the student café.
He went about his business as usual, careful not to show to arouse suspicion.
A mere thirty minutes in, he felt eyes on the back of his head again. He fought the instinct to turn and look about, having never borne fruit using that method in the past, and spun his pencil absentmindedly in his hand, pretending to ponder the question he was on in depth.
After twenty or so more minutes or so of distractedly and desperately scribbling nonsense in an effort to look busy, he sighed loudly and rose, stretching upwards the way he always did after a long session hunched over his books, and left the room to use the restroom.
Only he wasn’t actually using the restroom. No, he entered it briefly and let the door slam shut, as usual, but carefully and quietly reopened and closed it again to exit. Then, he skulked towards the study room, ducking behind one of the potted plants to watch and wait.
It didn’t take long before he saw a tall, charming looking young man all but tiptoe towards his study area and look (embarrassingly and obviously) both ways before opening the door and entering. Arthur narrowed his eyes; certain he had cornered the suspect but unwilling to confront him until he had undeniable proof.
He didn’t have to wait long. The blond reached into his pocket and fiddled with a small bag of chocolate chip cookies, glancing about one last time before setting the package down atop of Arthur’s notebook, cheeks lighting up red as he did so.
Suspicions confirmed, Arthur burst into the room.
“AH-HA!”
The blond yelped, jumping where he stood before turning to look at him, panicked.
“What the hell, man?!”
“WHAT THE HELL YOURSELF!” Arthur pointed his finger accusingly at the teen. “You’re the one who’s been leaving me things, aren’t you!?”
“Uh—” The blond flushed, a deep vibrant red that made the blue of his eyes pop behind silver rimmed frames, looking flustered. “I mean—”
“It was! Don’t you deny it!”
“I mean, okay, yeah, but let me—”
“Explain yourself!”
“Dude, I’m trying to!” He all but shouted, eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment or frustration, Arthur wasn’t quite sure which. “Shut up for a second, won’tcha?!”
“Mighty big demands from someone who has been skulking and stalking me for almost a week, now!”
Blue eyes blew wide open as he sputtered, indignant. “Stalk!? I haven’t been stalking you, man!”
“The snacks, chocolates, school supplies, the book sleeve, and the homework sheet...” Arthur counted aloud, totaling them all up with his fingers as his eyes narrowed accusingly. “Were these or were these not all left by you?”
“LOOK!” The teen protested, embarrassment flooding most of his facial features. “It’s not like that, okay! I didn’t mean for it to be creepy and I didn’t wanna scare you I just—”
Arthur scoffed, unconvinced. “You just what?”
“I JUST WANTED TO SUPPORT YOU, OKAY?!” He confessed, loudly enough Arthur was certain the next couple rooms over had heard him clear as day.
“... You... What??”
“I just...” The blond trailed off, gripping awkwardly at one of his arms as he stared to the side, avoiding Arthur’s gaze. “I guess you don’t remember me... But you actually helped me out a few of weeks ago in the writing center...”
A beat passed as Arthur combed through his memories for any that involved the boy, before realizing he was telling the truth. “Oh, that’s right! You’re... Alfred... Right?”
Despite the situation, the younger boy's face lit up as though he’d just won the lottery. “Yep! That’s me!”
“Alright...” Arthur bit his lip, confused. “That doesn’t explain any of what you’ve been doing, though...”
“Right. Well, uh...” Alfred laughed awkwardly, mussing up his hair as he rubbed at the back of his head, causing the cowlick that met his bangs to bob up and down distractingly (and adorably?) as he averted his eyes again. “This is awkward, but I was kind of on the verge of failing my English course until you corrected my final paper...”
Arthur winced. He remembered that paper. He’d remembered it more distinctively than Alfred, himself, because it had been that bad. It had distracted him from all else. “Oh... Okay?”
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, you weren’t exactly the nicest while you were correcting my work—”
“HEY!!!”
“—But you also weren’t a dick about it, you know?” Alfred fiddled with the edge of his jacket absentmindedly as he continued, cutting off further protest. “I’ve always sucked at English, man. I’m good at science and math but garbage at English as a subject. I hate it. I don’t understand why I have to be able to write in a certain way when I’m not gonna really use it anyways. And my teachers and all of the other people I’ve gotten help from in the past have always made me feel stupid for it.” His eyes softened as he met his eyes again, in way that caught Arthur off guard. It... It suited him.
Alfred was positively handsome looking at him like that, his eyes all vibrant and shiny and perfectly, wonderfully blue in a way Arthur hadn’t noticed before, and he hated himself for having that little realization now, of all times, feeling his own cheeks heat up before he could stop it. Why was he suddenly finding his apparent stalker so attractive? So beautiful?? This was the kind of nonsense that he’d laugh at in a B-rated movie. It was stupid! Ridiculous, even! (... Right?)
“But you didn’t!” Alfred continued, enthused and apparently unaware of Arthur’s developing inner turmoil. “You explained everything in a way that made sense to me and you took your time breaking things down for me, even when I could tell that you didn’t understand why I couldn’t understand it... I came out of there with a better paper and a better grasp on how I should be writing as a whole.
“And then,” He smiled awkwardly, the expression somehow bashful yet (infuriatingly) charming all at once. “I started noticing you around campus after that, you know? I hadn’t before, but now I knew you and so I just, I kinda started noticing you naturally anytime you were nearby? And you were always working so hard! You rarely stopped to take breaks and I’d always see you in the same spot hours later. I started worrying about that because the more I saw you around the more I noticed you weren’t really ever eating or drinking anything while you studied – which seems to be your default mode, by the way. Studying indefinitely. For like, forever.”
Arthur averted his eyes, this time, embarrassed that his observation was not entirely incorrect.
“So, like, I don’t know. I just wanted to give you a little pick-me-up here and there? Just little stuff that might make your day a bit better. But I also didn’t want to interrupt you, per se, because you were so focused. So, I figured, everyone likes surprises, right? So, I tried to give you little things here and there. Then I overheard you talking about how badly you wanted a new book sleeve with Kiku in the cafeteria and I noticed you had this cute little cat keychain on your bag and so I—” He cut himself off, covering his face with a groan as he realized. “Oh, fucking hell, I am a stalker, aren’t I? Dear god...”
“N-No!” Arthur protested, oddly touched by what he’d learned. Alfred peered at him through the slits of his fingers, spreading them slightly to peek at him through them. “No, no it’s actually...” He trailed off, embarrassed by what he was about to admit. “It... It’s sweet...”
“Oh... Oh!” The corners of Alfred’s lips quirked up, mouth splitting into a grin as his eyes lit up, hopefully. “Really?? That’s great! I’m so glad we got this all cleared up!”
“Yes, well, you really should be more direct about it next time though!” Arthur scolded, feigning more annoyance than he felt to hide the way his stomach was now fluttering each time the blond smiled directly at him. “A more fainthearted person would fear for his life, the way you’ve been handling this!”
Alfred huffed a laugh. “Not you though, right? And “next time”, huh? Does that mean I have permission to keep bringing you stuff, then?”
“Absolutely not! I will not have this be a one-sided relationship! What kind of man do you think I am?”
Alfred’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Oh-ho! “Relationship,” huh? I like the sound of that!”
“Y-You—! You just—!”
Alfred’s laughter bellowed throughout the room, a loud and stupid yet endearing sound. “It’s okay, it’s okay! I’m just teasing! I won’t distract you any longer, I promise! I’m sure I’ve taken way too much time away from your assignments, anyways. In return for me getting out of your hair, though,” He tilted his head to the side, grinning wide. “Can I buy you a coffee, tomorrow morning?”
“I think you’ve bought quite enough, for the time being!” Arthur huffed. Just as Alfred’s smile was beginning to falter, though, he continued, his cheeks flushing lightly. “I- I’ll buy you coffee tomorrow, understand? So we can call things even, that’s all! It’s only fair, I suppose...” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, fidgeting. “We’ll meet in the café... At 8 o’clock. Got it?”
Alfred’s face lit up, positively beaming. “Got it! 8 o’clock! I’ll be there!” And before Arthur could say anything else, the blond practically ran out the room.
“And just where the hell are you running off to?!” He demanded, startled.
“I’m leaving before you can change your mind! See you at 8, Artie!”
Arthur’s face grew ruddy, ears burning bright red. “IT’S ARTHUR, YOU ASS!”
That same strange, oddly endearing laughter from earlier resounded in response.