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The road to becoming Arthur’s boyfriend had been a difficult one. Arthur had been resistant about it from the moment Alfred realized he returned the feelings that Arthur adamantly denied having. He had every excuse in the book for why a relationship wouldn’t work, like that he didn’t have any feelings (of course he did) or that his career wouldn’t give him any time for a relationship.
It took Alfred finally throwing away his own pretenses and just throwing everything out on the table—and it wasn’t begging, thank you very much, Matthew—for Arthur to agree to at least try.
It was the attitude change after that that caught Alfred off guard.
Arthur was still, to be frank, kind of an asshole in general, but it was a different story when it came to Alfred. The first time Alfred received a thoughtful text message from Arthur asking about his day accompanied by a smiley hearts emoji, Alfred thought maybe he hadn’t actually woken up that morning and was still dreaming. Matthew had been all too happy to painfully pinch him to prove that he was, in fact, actually awake and had indeed received that message. He still sometimes received the scathingly sarcastic text messages he was used to, but they were lovey-dovey more often than not.
Or, when no one else was around, Arthur would sometimes greet Alfred by grabbing onto the lapels of his coat and pulling him into a kiss that he smiled into. If not that, Arthur’s hand found his easily between them, carefully concealed as he threaded their fingers and squeezed Alfred’s hand.
Oh, and the baked goods from Alfred’s favorite small bakery that would show up on his desk at work or the slew of pet names Arthur had adopted for him or how goddamn happy Arthur always looked to see him.
Not that Alfred minded at all—he loved every minute of it—but it was bizarre that after all of that resistance, Arthur was more loving than flippant.
He finally broached the subject after the first time they had sex, where Arthur clung to him and called his name like a prayer. In the aftermath, as Arthur was cuddling up to him and kissing his chest, Alfred finally asked what was up.
As it turned out, underneath all that grump and bluster was a romantic heart that loved to dote on his lovers. Part of his resistance to Alfred’s desire for them to be together was that Arthur’s romantic tendencies had driven away his previous boyfriends and he’d had no wish for a repeat with how strongly he felt about Alfred. It had been Alfred’s insistence—it still wasn’t begging, thank you—that had changed Arthur’s mind. He’d been, in effect, testing Alfred by laying it on extra thick to see if Alfred could tolerate it.
His anxious question of whether Alfred hated it or not was answered by Alfred kissing Arthur until he started grinning, then rolling on top of him to make love to him again.
From then on, he might get a critique about how sloppy his clothing was, but he knew he’d have a bear claw waiting at his desk, as well as a text message that simply read “I love you”.