Archive of Our Own ^beta

 There are a few things that Arthur Kirkland appreciates: a good book, history class, scones for breakfast, cloudy weather with a light drizzle and...

“Oh Arthur, you’re such a bore!”

... The silence of his ever so loud dorm mate, Alfred.

They were in their dorm room after class had ended and tomorrow was a Sunday, so Arthur was planning on spending the whole night reading a classic for his next assignment but NO, Alfred had other plans, and it involves gypsies, alcohol, and sneaking out of the school.

“I’m not boring, okay? It’s just troublesome.” Arthur grumbled as he looked up from his book and at Alfred, who was kneeling on top of Arthur’s desk and fiddling with the lock on the window above it.

“But it’s a party!” He whined. “With pretty gypsy ladies! And alcohol! How could you say no to that.”

Arthur sighed. He should already had enough of this conversation, Alfred had been telling him the same thing over and over again all day after all. “We’re going to be breaking the school rules, and Ludwig is not going to be very happy about that.”

“Who cares? It’s a Saturday! We don’t have any class tomorrow. Aren’t dorm rules meant only for school days?”

“Who said that?”

“I dunno. But it should be!”

Arthur gave him an incredulous look. Clearly he was assigned as Alfred’s dorm mate for a reason. “Ludwig is going to be so mad when he found out.”

“Who cares about Ludwig!” Arthur gave him another look and Alfred immediately shut up. No one should not care about Ludwig’s wrath. No one.

“Remember the last time he found out you made trouble? He gave you a lecture for three hours and gave you detention where you had to write three hundred lines of-...”

“But he won’t find out this time!” Alfred interjected, seemingly not fond of the memory. “Ludwig has been busy with his exams, he wouldn’t even notice if we’re gone tonight. You, me, and Francis would only sneak out for a little while, maybe drink a little, and then we’ll go right back. I promise!”

‘Oh yes, there’s also Francis...’ Now that Arthur was reminded that Francis, his long time rival (if he could even call him that), was also coming, he felt an even darker premonition of what this ‘genius plan’ Alfred had come up with could end up as.

“But if we were found out...” He began, raising an eyebrow at Alfred’s attempt of puppy eyes. “Sorry, this plan has too much risk of us getting caught and I prefer not to get expelled, thank you very much.”

“But you won’t get expelled, maybe just suspended.” Alfred said dismissively, Arthur just stared at him.

“Yeah, I rather not.”

“You’re such a bore!!”

Here we go again...

Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, his book long forgotten on top of his chest. “For goodness’ sake, where did you even hear of this gypsy gathering? Somehow I could only visualize devil worship when you said about a gathering in the woods and in the middle of the night.”

“I told you, it’s from this pretty gypsy lady I met in town today.” Alfred huffed, crossing his arms and ignoring Arthur’s comment on occult festivities. “And it’s not in the woods, it’s at the clearing near the woods! It certainly lifted up my spirits after my dad told me he was going to be away with mom on a vacation to India for a couple of months and I should stay at the dorm during the summer holidays while they’re away.”

“Sucks to be you.” Arthur rolled his eyes. He couldn’t exactly sympathize, because unlike Alfred he preferred to stay at the dorm rather than going back to London for numerous reasons. “Didn’t know you’re that interested in gypsies before.”

“The lady I met is really pretty. I think gypsy women in general are really pretty.” Alfred sighed dreamily, before suddenly getting excited again in a pretty drastic transition that even surprised Arthur a little bit. “So let’s go out and have some fun tonight!! There will be booze and alcohol... Or are those the same thing? I can’t quite remember. But who cares? The important thing is you, me, and Francis getting drunk. How’s that sound?”

“How old are you.”Arthur furrowed his thick eyebrows. He specifically remembered Alfred telling him mere moments ago that they’d only drink a little, but he decided to let it slide this one time.

“16?” Arthur grimaced at him. “What? I’m old enough. Francis shared us his fancy French wine that one time, remember?”

Arthur continued staring at him in disdain, to which Alfred only responded with an eye roll and a look of ‘you difficult old fart, you resemble my dad so much you should be my dad’.

“You know what? I’m done.” It was Arthur ‘s turn to huff as he leaned back on the headboard of his bed and picked up his book, ready to finally bring a close to the argument. “You do whatever you want to do tonight. I‘ll just stay here and cover for you.”

“Oh come on! It won’t be as much fun if it’s just the two of us!” Alfred groaned dejectedly. “I can- No, you can-...”

“There’s nothing you can do that will make me go with you.”

Arthur tuned out the sound of Alfred’s dramatic cry and went back to his book, approving the silence that followed soon after. Only he didn’t realize that Alfred F. Jones, his dorm mate for two years and a bit more, knew him better than he thought.

“Ugh fine! Have it your way, Arthur.” Alfred grumbled and Arthur could hear the sound of the wind coming in from the outside from where the former had finally managed to open the window. “I’ll just tell Francis that you didn’t come because you’re scared of Ludwig, and that you’re a sissy then.”

“WAIT. HOLD UP.”

Arthur groaned for approximately the twentieth time ever since he had made the wrong decision of jumping off his dorm window and sneaked out to the gypsy gathering in the clearing near the woods with Alfred and Francis. Now he was sitting on top of a wooden log, a drink in hand, getting cold in the near summer night, and being his usual grumpy and lonely self. 

His two friends were already familiarizing themselves with the crowd around them and having fun. Francis was near one of the wagons, flirting with a pretty (they all turned out to be pretty like Alfred had said) gypsy girl, while Alfred was a little more further away, talking happily to a group of small children while trying but failing to play the guitar at the same time.

Francis, or the person he thought as Francis since the last person he remembered leaning against the wagon was him (because it was so dark here at midnight and Arthur’s night vision wasn’t all that great- oh wait it really was Francis from his obnoxious shoulder length hair), spared a glance at him and they had a mini staring contest where Francis made weird gestures at him and he only glared back in annoyance until the girl the French born student was talking with dragged him for a dance near the bonfire in the center of the gathering and left Arthur alone, but not without shouting something that sounded like ‘live a little!’ to Arthur who just snorted in response.

He was perfectly content to be accompanied by only his drink, thank you very much. It tasted like lager and Alfred had procured it for him out of thin air when they first arrived, and Arthur had nursed the bottle to his heart like a precious child ever since.

It wasn’t like he hated the gathering, the gypsies were actually being very nice and welcoming to intruding boarding school students such as them, but he had always been accustomed to be alone in social events such as this one. And that’s perfectly fine.

The lull of the guitar music and the merry voices of the people made him feel at home, the stirring wind and the distant sounds of the forest eased him, and the sky above adorned with millions of stars million years old made him feel small and melancholic.

Yes, he was perfectly content.

Arthur took a big gulp of his drink, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply, smelling something pleasant immediately. ‘Maybe it’s not such a bad decision to go here, after all.’

Just as that thought passed through his mind, he felt a shadow looming over him and thus opened his eyes. Someone was standing in front of him, someone Arthur could make out as a man, but his face was obscured by the darkness surrounding them.

“Yes?” Arthur questioned, but the man didn’t reply and just extended his hand.

Arthur was a bit curious but he placed his drink on the ground and took the hand nonetheless, moving to a standing position on his wobbly legs, probably from sitting too long.

The other man’s grip on his hand was strong, but gentle, and Arthur relished at the feeling of the contact his own hand made with the smooth skin of the man’s hand, which guided them to a spot closer to the bonfire than Arthur previously was, but still far away from it enough to be separated from the rest of the crowd and keep the light away from revealing the man’s face too much.

Arthur could make out the line of his pretty lips and his wavy short hair, but that’s pretty much it, and before he could think any further, the stranger had spun him and before he knew it, they were dancing in the clearing.

Or at least, Arthur thought they were dancing, because he hadn’t danced this kind of dance before. Although, to be fair, he only knew waltz and this dance was nothing like it. It had little to no rules and Arthur felt himself tumbling and flowing along the movement of the man in front of him. He made multiple mistakes dancing the waltz, but he felt like he could make none when dancing this dance, or at least that’s what he thought.

He decided to be bold and pull the stranger closer to him by the waist, the shawl he was wearing billowing all around them like a veil. Did he just hear a chuckle or were the midnight breeze playing tricks on him?

Well, whatever it was the stranger was smiling at him and so he smiled back. They continued dancing just like that, with slower movements than before, and Arthur found himself enjoying it more than he could ever imagine enjoying dancing with someone.

The party around them had become a mere whisper compared to the rhythm of their dance, and Arthur felt secluded, intoxicated, enamored, and above all else dizzy of the person he was slow dancing with that he accidentally lurched forward into his arms the moment he almost couldn’t take it anymore.

The stranger holding him giggled, and whispered something foreign that sounded strangely like ‘esther’ or ‘a stray’ and ‘bin’ with a very weird pronunciation. The tone he used kind of sounded like a question though, so Arthur shook his head against the stranger’s shoulder and inhaled. Oh God he smelled good.

“I don’t feel so good.” He murmured faintly, and he felt the hands holding him tightened ever so slightly to drag him to a spot even closer to the bonfire and to the crowd, where he was placed gently on top of the stranger’s lap.

Arthur felt fingers pushing his hair back and he opened his unconsciously closed eyes, only to find the stranger’s face so close to him that he could swear he saw beautiful forest green- no, emerald eyes staring back at him.

‘Like the precious gem stones father used to show me.’

That was his last thought before everything went black.

“Oh God.” Arthur groaned miserably. “It hurts. God it hurts. God Alfred, kill me.”

“Oh shut up, Arthur.” Alfred chided from beside his bed of misery. “It shouldn’t be all that bad.”

Arthur moaned, his head felt like it’s fucking splitting, Alfred’s voice sound too fucking loud and everything was too bright and loud and made him want to crawl inside a hole and die.

“Kill meeeee...”

“Shush you drama queen.” Alfred poked his dorm mate on the ribs, which earned him a weak whimper from the head hiding underneath the pillows. “At least I got you back safely last night. Or last morning? Anyway, I told you we wouldn’t get caught!”

Arthur was about to answer, but all that came out was another weak whimper, so he cleared his throat and started again, his voice muffled by the pillows. “I didn’t even remember walking back last night...”

He honestly didn’t remember anything from last night. Just brief blurry images. Well, apart from the fact that he drank a lot and danced a lot with someone. A gypsy perhaps, a gypsy with a pair of green, green eyes.

‘Bright green eyes that reflected fire.’ He mused.

“Oh we did walk back. But I guess it’s more like... Me walking while carrying you while dragging Francis back. And you guys were suppose to be the stronger drinkers!” Alfred whined, rocking the bed and Arthur as he did. Arthur wanted to kill him. “Turned out you were such a lightweight. You even passed out from a bottle of lager. Weak!”

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, you’re okay.” The bespectacled boy laughed. Arthur seriously wanted to kill him.

“What the hell are you doing here anyways? It’s Sunday. Aren’t you suppose to be out there doing stuff? Like experiencing the nature or whatever.” As in ‘get the hell out of here you little prick. You’re a far stronger drinker than me, I fucking hate you.’

“Well, sorry if my existence offends you Lord Kirkland. What good a friend am I if I abandon my poor intoxicated dorm mate in need of a good company?” Alfred laughed some more when Arthur muttered more string of profanities from underneath his pillow. “To tell you the truth, I did plan to abandon you and fled some place else, but I bumped into Ludwig on the way.”

“Ludwig?” Arthur tensed.

“Yeah, Ludwig.” Alfred poked him on the ribs one more time to ease his tension. “But it’s okay, he didn’t notice. He just asked me to deliver a note for you from your family.”

“From my family?” Now that’s something that could make him even more nervous than the mention of Ludwig.

“Mm-hmm, shall I read it to you?” Alfred took the silence that answered him as an affirmative and opened the note to read it. “It seems that your brother, Allistor Kirkland? Is asking to meet you at the town’s inn at 11 a.m. sharp. Urgent family matter, or at least that’s what Ludwig wrote here.”

Arthur froze.

“Looks like you got special permission to go to town today, lucky you!”

He made a pained noise and took a peek at a nearby pocket watch he kept near his bed to see that it’s already 10.30 a.m.

“Out of all the shit that could happen.” Arthur groaned miserably and pulled the pillow from his face, only to be greeted with the sight of a curious looking Alfred. He rolled his eyes and sluggishly started to try to get out of his bed.

“Is this one of those crazy brothers of yours?”

“Yeah, he’s the rich snobbish one.” Arthur answered as he slowly got up and changed his clothes. They reeked of alcohol and... olives? Was it the pleasant scent from last night?

“Aren’t you all?” Alfred laughed, but he immediately shut his mouth when Arthur gave him that trademark Arthur glare. Or maybe it was actually trademark Kirkland? He didn’t know, he hadn’t actually seen what Arthur’s brothers were like, he had only heard rumors, nasty rumors from Arthur himself. He only knew that there were three of them, and that all of them had already graduated and were living in London, looking after the family’s business while their dad was sick.

They weren't nobles but they're successful. Their primary trade were coal and gemstones, which what made the Kirklands filthy rich and excessively arrogant, those bastards.

“I’m going out now.” Arthur announced once he had put on his shoes and ready to leave.

“Are you seriously going to meet him?” Alfred called out before he could reached the door.

“It IS urgent family matter.”

“But aren’t you like, having a serious hangover right now?”

“Yeah well, I don’t really want to meet him sober anyway.” Arthur said simply, before walking out of their dorm room and disappearing.

The inn was quite crowded that day, which was normal, seeing as it was a Sunday. Lots of people and families from the neighboring towns filling the spaces in the wide lobby that seemed to also function as a pub for the guests to eat and drink. Arthur immediately spotted Allistor among the crowd of people by his telling red hair, he was sitting at one of the tables with a cup of tea in front of him.

“Arthur.” He called as he noticed Arthur taking a seat across from him. He was wearing a black suit with a grey tie and waistcoat, his signature red hair was longer that Arthur remembered,  and he remained as handsome and as haughty as ever that the girls around his table couldn’t seem to stop ogling him.

“Allistor. How nice is it to finally see you after a while.” Arthur tried to insert as much sarcasm as possible into that one sentence.

His oldest brother’s lips twitched into a smile. He didn’t look like he particularly want to be there with Arthur as well. “Indeed. It’s been what? Five, six months? You do rarely come home. The last thing that we heard about you was your report card. And I couldn’t exactly say that we’re happy with that either.”

Oh, please. Arthur just looked at him. His grades were fine, he scored higher than the majority of the students in his year, his aggravating brother just said that to rile him up.

“Not just me, but Patrick and Dylan are also concerned. Is our beloved Arthur going to be capable enough to play his part in running the business like the rest of us, who have been involved for years? Because it’s very important for a Kirkland to be aggressive and dominate all of his school subjects, unlike what we’ve seen from your results.” He finished with a pointed stare directed at Arthur.

“Oh.” Arthur didn’t even bother to apologize. He knew he was better than any of his brothers, and he wasn’t about to humiliate himself just to fulfill the satisfaction of one of them. So he decided to cut to the chase. “Is the business the reason why you’ve come here? Certainly not just to make idle comments on my ‘disappointing’ grades, am I right?” 

“Yes, you are. Trivial things aside...” Allistor took a sip of his tea and Arthur felt the near extreme need to glare. “Father is very sick, but that isn’t really news. He’s now dying, I’m afraid.”

“Father’s dying?” Arthur repeated. He was concerned, but not really for his father’s well being, more to how it might implicate him. His father had been very sick for a long time, it’s about time he’s finally put to rest, no matter how cruel it might sound. The only memories he had of his very busy father was when he was just a child.

‘Look, Arthur. This is an emerald, a very precious gemstone. Beautiful isn’t it? Now it’s yours.’

Arthur shook the memory and focused more on what Allistor was saying, about the business and the matter of inheritance.

“Be prepared to be called back from school anytime. If father died during your school year, we’ll have to postpone your education and prioritize the business first. You’ll have to take part now, instead of leaving it to us three like you used to.”

“You-...” Arthur bit back the ‘but you all managed to finish school and graduate first’ outburst that was about to spill out, in apprehension of the ‘you’re already an adult now’ and the ‘it’s time for you to learn from the real world’ lectures. Arthur loved his school, he loved his friends, he didn’t really want to give them up for London, but he had already been told about this before, so instead he settled for: “I thought you three managed to control the business just fine so far.”

“Yes, but all of us have to be united for this. We have all agreed to take part, including you. Or would you rather lost your claim on your share of the company and the inheritance?” Allistor threatened, eyes never leaving Arthur’s dejected form. “That’s why we told you to educate yourself from home, we were willing to get the best tutor or governess there is. But you’re the one who wanted to go to a far away boarding school with Alfred and Francis.”

“I know. I remember, okay?” Arthur sighed, feeling a new oncoming headache from his forgotten hangover. This was why he hates his family, his brothers, and... God, he just wanted to rewind the time so that he didn’t have to go to this stupid meeting with Allistor and he could just hang out with Alfred and Francis, drink alcohol until he passed out, or dance... with that stranger from last night. “I’m just... worried.”

“For father?”

“For my future.”

Allistor felt himself softening at that, despite the responsibilities he must bear, Arthur was still his brother, and no matter how much he liked to tease him (yes, he considered insulting him and agitating him teasing and a sign of his brotherly love), he could afford to be a little considerate to him at times.

“This could be just a temporary thing, maybe you could return after things have become more or less settled.” He offered.

“Yeah, sure. Of course.” Arthur said uncaringly. Whatever. He already knew what he should do, he didn’t really need Allistor’s pity or whatever.

Allistor took that as a good sign, whether or not Arthur was happy by the end of their meeting wasn’t his problem. He cared about his brothers but he wouldn’t spoil them. He already came, informed, reminded, offered, and now his business here was done. He left soon after, claiming he had another appointment somewhere else and leaving Arthur alone in front of the inn.

Now Arthur had to make peace with his circumstances. To say that he was feeling down was an understatement, he really didn’t like the idea of leaving his school, his friends, his peaceful town for London, his brothers, his father’s business, and coals and gemstones. He had seen how his father’s work had drove him to become. Yeah, not really his goal in life. So now what’s left for him?

Arthur sighed again, feeling his hopelessness turning into annoyance and frustration as he decided to take a long walk around town.  

‘Fuck Allistor. Fuck Patrick and Dylan. Fuck Alfred and Francis for their carefree life. Fuck Ludwig for being a control freak potato. Fuck my life.’

He was so absorbed in his life problems and self loathing that he didn’t realize he had walked into the busy market, which surroundings he was too preoccupied to pay any attention to until he bumped into someone and fell right on his backside. Tomatoes flying everywhere around him.

“Ouch! Goddamit.”

“Lo siento! ¿Estás bien?”

‘What- lotion? Esther... bin? No, vn? Wait a second...’ Arthur had heard that voice and those words somewhere before, particularly those last two or three words.  He had definitely heard them not too long ago... ‘Not too long ago... As in, last night?’

‘¿Estás bien?’

Anticipation filled him as Arthur looked up at the person he had just crashed into and there they were, a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes on an equally beautiful face.

Arthur sucked in a breath. “You.”

The stranger- No, the gypsy- The dancer from last night gaped at him, which Arthur was sure mirrored his own expression because he couldn’t seem to close his mouth and form any coherent word at the moment, he was just busy at marvelling how last night’s dream had become a reality right in front of his eyes.

‘He has short, wavy brown hair, sun kissed skin, an oval shaped face and those green green eyes...’ Arthur felt like he could stare at them all day.

Although all too soon, the spell was suddenly broken and the dancer seemed to realize that Arthur was still sitting on his bum on the dirty street of the market so he immediately offered his hand to him, which Arthur grabbed onto appreciatively. Just like last night.

Arthur dusted off some nonexistent dust off of his pants and glanced at the dancer from last night again. ‘Wow. He’s still here.’ He awed. ‘He seemed to be around my age and... And he’s staring at me.’

Something seemed to click in the other boy’s mind and he murmured some foreign words that Arthur didn’t recognize. “Tu eres...”

“Uh what? Sorry?”

The dancer immediately caught himself at Arthur’s confusion and chuckled. Arthur remembered that sound too.

“Sorry. Still not used to English.” He said through his laughter. His foreign accent was thick and strangely pleasant and Arthur just short circuited. Because wow, when did English sound so good?

Arthur tried to say something but it came out as gibberish. He mentally slapped himself. But it’s too late and the pretty, foreign speaking boy with the cute accent had heard him.

“¿Perdón? Ah! I did it again.” He laughed again, and Arthur couldn’t help but to smile at him. He was so cute.

“Um, so you’re from last night?” Arthur began pathetically, because of course he’s from last night.

The boy wiped at his tears and calmed himself enough to speak. “Ah sí- I mean yes, I’m from last night. And you’re too.”

“Yes, I remember you-...”

“We danced.”

“Uhm Yes, we did...” Arthur felt himself getting flustered. The boy was too cute with his green doe eyes, easy smile, wavy brown hair, and all that smooth skin. And he danced with him. The realization that he actually slow danced with this boy last night dawned on him and he almost went completely blank again when he noticed that a few passing people were staring at them.

‘What... Oh.’ And then he looked at their feet and saw the problem.

“Sorry for making you dropped all these.” Arthur immediately went on his knees to pick up all of the fallen tomatoes off the ground, only to find most of them to be ruined. “Damn, they’re already ruined.”

“That’s okay, I bought too much of them anyway.” The boy said with a smile. “I was so happy when I saw tomatoes in this town.”

Arthur still felt guilty as he stood back up again next to him. “Can I buy them again for you? Or can I at least make it up to you by doing something?”

“Make it up to me? Well...” The boy’s expression grew mischievous, sparking a curiosity in Arthur. “Maybe you can show me around town?”

Oh? “Oh. O-okay. Yeah, sure. Around town it is then.” Arthur stumbled with his words. The request was just unexpected, that’s all. Pull yourself together, Arthur. He could almost hear Alfred said.

“That’s great! Let’s go then.” The boy grabbed onto Arthur’s hand and pulled him forward. “My name is Antonio by the way. What’s yours?”

Antonio. “My name’s Arthur.”

Antonio flashed him another smile and Arthur gave himself up to be dragged along anywhere the emerald eyed boy wanted.

“If you’re not from this town...” Arthur began when they got out of the market area and into the shopping district, where there were quaint little sweets, books, and antique shops. Their hands were still linked. “Then where were you from?”

“Spain.” Antonio answered, eyeing each of the charming buildings they passed. “That’s where I was born and lived most of my life, at least. Though my family kept on moving about. Gypsies aren’t meant to stay in one place, they said.”

‘Spain... So the foreign language he was speaking was Spanish then.’ Arthur thought. He had never learned Spanish, he only knew Latin, French, and German, the languages he learned at school.

“I see, so you’ve traveled more than I do then.” Arthur commented, the brunette boy just hummed in response. “Why do you choose this town to stay in?”

“The weather’s nice and the people are friendly enough. Not all people welcome the gypsies, you know. Although we’re only staying here temporarily.”

Arthur smiled, he also liked the weather and the people here. They’re nice, at least nicer than in London. London... At the thought of London he felt a little bit down, but he decided not to show it when he realized Antonio was staring at him, and instead he said: “Have you ever been to London?”

Whether or not Antonio realized his mood didn’t show, he only smiled and answered Arthur’s question. “No, we passed London when we’re travelling here. My family always wanted to go to England but I don’t think they quite like London. My brother said London was dangerous.”

Arthur immediately thought of pickpockets, serial killers, opium addicts, and probably diseases. He hadn’t been to London for a while, who knows what’s going on in the capital of the great British Empire after being left for a few months? “Well... Your brother might be right.”

Antonio hummed again. “Is your home there?” And when Arthur just looked at him, he added: “Because you didn’t quite look like you live here either.”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, I was born there and my family live in London. I’m just here to attend school.”

“With your friends from last night?” Arthur was surprised he remembered them. “Oh you mean Alfred and Francis? Yes, with them.”

“The one who can hold his alcohol and the one who seduced my sister.” Arthur barked a laugh at that, and Antonio grinned. “They seem nice.”

“Yeah they are, would you like to-...” Arthur almost asked  ‘would you like to meet them?’, which he shouldn’t because how could he meet them? Arthur was only allowed to go out to town because he had an ‘urgent family business’ and therefore got a special permission to leave (although he had to go back on the same day). They’re usually only allowed to town once a month and that day was not the day. Moreover, outsiders without a permit were not allowed on school grounds, so there’s no way they could meet, even if Antonio actually wanted to meet them.

“Would I like to what?” Antonio asked, he was taking a seat on a nearby fountain and pulling Arthur to do the same.

“Um, never mind.” Arthur took a seat beside him and tried to ignore the fact that only couples were sitting near them. “I was just thinking about school.”

“I’ve never been to school before.” Antonio said, his emerald eyes were full of curiosity, and it’s drawing Arthur in. “What’s it like?”

“It’s kinda...” Arthur tried to find the right word. “Regulated, I guess? We attend classes taught by teachers almost everyday, and we do homework and assignments almost everyday too. But it’s still sort of fun. The classes can be interesting and the teachers can make it even more so. We live in dorms with fellow students. It’s great if you share a room with your friend. I room with Alfred and he’s one of my best friends but he can be a bit... restless. Probably because he’s in the cricket team, that’s one of the clubs you can join. I used to be a member but I sorta quit. Francis is in the drama club, the drama queen. They play in school events to celebrate certain dates and maybe senior graduation but that’s not-...”

Arthur trailed off, somehow suddenly overcome with a feeling of melancholy as he talked about his school, his classes, his friends, and graduation, because he’s about to lose it all soon. He felt that bit of hopelessness from before, but it didn’t turn into annoyance, it just made him sad.

He wiped at his eye quickly when he felt like tearing up and composed himself, forcing a smile on his face when he saw Antonio didn’t seem to notice it and was still staring at him expectantly. “Well yeah, I guess that’s that. There are classes, teachers, students, clubs, and school events. Overall it’s fun. It’s like this training for adulthood, only it’s better than the real thing.”

Antonio made a noise of approval. “Sounds interesting.” And then he poked at Arthur’s should and made him turn to look at him. “And it would be sad for you to leave this school of yours to go to London?”

“Huh I’m not-...” Arthur was perplexed. How did he... Either Antonio had been spying him and Allistor, he had a sixth sense, or he’s just really good at reading people. “Did you notice?”

“I know when people are sad.”Antonio said simply, and gave Arthur a sympathetic smile. “I get sad when I leave places I like too, but I try not to be and do something memorable.”

“Something memorable?”

“Yeah.” He winked.

Arthur tried not to get flustered. “Like what?”

“Something fun, so you won’t have any regrets.” He made a look of contemplation. “Like finally asking a girl I like out on a date before I leave, stealing an expensive cake I couldn’t afford before, sneaking into an opium den, and basically-...”

“Breaking the rules?” Arthur concluded, he kinda wanna ask about the opium den but Antonio was already talking.

“Exactly.” Antonio grinned. “And why not? It’s fun, and the last thing you do in the place you love should be fun.”

If he put it that way, Arthur had an idea of what sort of rule breaking he sorta- really- kinda wanted to do, it would be like his last rebellious act before he was chained up by his family obligations. But he had already broke one rule just the night before, would he be willing to break a second one in a row? Arthur wasn’t entirely sure about what he was about to do until the next thing Antonio said to him gave him something resembling a conviction.

“And do you know why it’s fun?” The emerald eyed boy began, gaining Arthur’s attention. “Breaking the rules?”

Somehow he kind of got an inkling about what he’s going to say, but he shook his head nonetheless.

Antonio beamed, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Because rules are meant to be broken.”

And Arthur just knew at that moment that he would definitely get along famously with his friends.

“Francis.” Francis twitched by his place on Arthur’s bed, and groaned. “Don’t you say it. Don’t you dare say it.”

“I’m bored.”

Francis swore. At least that got a laugh out of the bespectacled boy. “You’ve been saying that at least twenty times after I came here.”

“But I’m really bored. There’s no class today but there’s also no club activities, and weirdly enough there’s no one to play cricket with outside! Where have everyone gone off to??” Alfred complained. He was sitting in Arthur’s portion of the room with his feet propped up on Arthur’s desk, because who cares when his grumpy dorm mate was out?

“Maybe everyone have urgent family business.” Francis snickered. He was lying on Arthur’s bed to make it even more messy when the blonde haired boy came back. He was as a good a friend as Alfred. “Or maybe everyone felt too hot to go outside because it’s almost summer.”

Alfred scoffed. “Bunch of sissies.”

Francis laughed. “Maybe you should wait for Arthur. Maybe we could get him to do something with us again.”

Alfred hummed in thought. “I dunno, Arthur doesn’t seem like the type to break the rules a second time in a row.”

“Are we about to go rogue again?” The french boy perked up. “Because I have half a mind to steal potatoes from the kitchen and put them on Ludwig’s bed.”

“What if we sneak a girl in?”Alfred sighed, his eyes on the window he used to sneak in last night in front of him. “Like a pretty gypsy girl.”

“Yeah, too bad last night didn’t work out for you, mon ami.”

“Yeah...” Alfred mumbled, head a bit in the cloud when he suddenly saw something outside of the window, a familiar messy mop of blond hair that he knew belong to... 

“Arthur!?”

“Get your feet off of my desk!!” Arthur yelled as he pulled open the window and climbed onto the said desk inside. Alfred immediately obeyed his order.

“What in the world- what are you doing entering through the window??”

“Yeah, I thought you had special permission from Ludwig.” Francis added, looking quite perplexed like Alfred. “Don’t you know you could enter through the front gate?”

“I know! I had my reasons.” Arthur snapped and turned back again towards the window, seemingly talking and offering his hand to someone. Alfred and Francis tried to crane their neck to see who it was, but Arthur was blocking the view. A moment later the one Arthur was talking to appeared to have refused his hand and when Arthur moved out of the way to get down from the desk, turned out it was a boy.

A really cute boy around their age with messy brown hair, sun kissed skin, beautiful green eyes, big, pleasant smile, and an adorable voice when he chirped: “Hi!”

Francis squealed. Alfred just stared.

“Mon Dieu! Arthur, who is this? Arthur, introduce us!” Francis inquired eagerly as he shook Arthur and earned a big shove to the side.

“This is Antonio.” Arthur sighed and introduced the gypsy boy, who was in turn climbing the window and stepping onto the desk behind Arthur. “I met him last night.”

“Last night? But last night we went to the gathering.” Alfred asked.

“Yeah, we did. I sneaked out and met him last night so today I’m sneaking him in when I met him again.” Arthur explained simply, rolling his eyes. “No big deal.”

“But it is! It is a big deal to sneak in a cute gypsy into the school grounds in the middle of the day!.” Francis exclaimed, apparently quicker than Alfred to caught on who Antonio was. “Well, not just in the middle of the day. Any other time of the day actually.  Or any other... cutie. Ludwig will have your head!”

“Ah! He’s one of the gypsy from last night!” Alfred cried out, finally connecting the dots.

“Said the one who made the whole plan of sneaking out during Ludwig’s strict supervision last night!” Arthur argued.

“Sneaking out is different than sneaking in!”

“It doesn’t!”

“It does.”

“It doesn’t!”

“It does.”

“IT DOES NOT.”

“It kinda does.” Alfred butt in.

“Look, Ludwig didn’t notice us sneaking out last night, he won’t notice us sneaking someone in today.” Arthur finalized, exhausted. “Besides, Antonio wanted to meet you guys.”

“Hi again.” Antonio grinned at the mention of his name, extending his hand. He had been looking around the room dismissively during the whole argument. “Nice to meet you, friends of Arthur.”

“Hello! I’m Alfred!” Alfred introduced himself first and enthusiastically grabbed his hand, flashing him his signature winning smile in the process, which Francis protested as cheating and immediately took the chance to shove Alfred away and shook Antonio’s hand.

“Monsieur Casanova.” He introduced himself proudly, to which Antonio just smiled.

“Isabella hasn’t stopped talking about you.” Antonio informed, making Francis turned a bright red and Alfred nagging the latter about the details.

Arthur closed the window and locked it during the exchange between his friends. “I promised Antonio for a tour around town, so I guess it also includes the school.”

“Well... It kinda does.” Francis reluctantly agreed, in the middle of shoving Alfred away for the second time to stop him from prying further details on his love life. “It’s also for Isabella’s brother, and maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try- Alfred, shut up!”

Arthur rolled his eyes at his friends’ antics.

“I guess we can try to do it? We just have to be careful. I mean, I have snuck alcohol in before so...”

“I’m also up for a tour around school!” Alfred added from behind Francis, still trying to hold the French boy down and tickled him into spilling the beans.

“Great.” Arthur nodded approvingly. He knew his friends would agree to it in the end, that’s why he didn’t understand why they seemed to oppose it at first. Or maybe... 

Arthur glanced at Antonio, who was watching Alfred and Francis wrestling with interest. ‘Maybe it’s... Gypsy magic?’ Arthur thought in amusement, just as the Spaniard suddenly found his gaze.

‘Or maybe it’s those eyes.’ He considered, feeling a bit warm when Antonio smiled at him. ‘Get a hold of yourself. Stop getting flustered. He’s just a boy you danced with.’

Arthur didn’t want to acknowledge Antonio’s knowing look so he was a bit thankful when Francis chimed in and said: “Okay! Where should we go?” He had successfully beaten and deposited Alfred onto his bed.

“Let’s see...” Arthur looked at Antonio, although pointedly trying not to look at his face, because it’s distracting! “I was thinking maybe we can change his clothes first, you know, to make him look like a student here.”

Francis hummed. Antonio was wearing a rather normal looking white shirt and black pants, they were quite similar to what Arthur and co were wearing, but they still looked different upon closer inspection and he was also missing their standard tie, waistcoat, and jacket.

“Good idea, we can disguise him as one of our friends.”

“Won’t somebody notice his uhhh... skin color tho?” Alfred inquired from his spot on the bed. He had a point, Antonio had a different skin tone than all of them and no student in the school was a gypsy. But still.

“We just say we’re showing a transfer student... From Spain, around. Besides, you’ve had worse sunburn before from playing cricket all day.” Arthur offered. Alfred stuck his tongue out at him. “I’ll get my clothes out.”

Arthur started rummaging through his drawer, followed by a curious Antonio who stared at his row of clothes from behind his shoulder. “Why is it your clothes instead of um, Alfred’s?”

“Because his is too big for you, he’s fat you see.” Arthur mocked, ignoring Alfred’s agitated shouting. Alfred wasn’t actually fat, but his body was still bigger than Arthur, Antonio, or Francis in that matter. And he used to be such a cute, small child years ago. “Mine will fit better.”

“I think I agree.” He said almost seductively in Arthur’s ear. Arthur didn’t get suspicious until he heard Francis cackling in the back. What.

He finished pulling out his clothes from his drawer and placed them on top of his bed in a few minutes, sorting out the shirt, dress pants, tie, waistcoat, and jacket that he deemed would more or less fit Antonio.

“Change into these.” He told him. Antonio nodded and started popping his shirt button open one by one, much to Francis the perv delight. “Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait!!”

He halted the boy’s hand and Antonio just innocently looked at him. He just looked at him. ‘Oh wow he really does have smooth, unblemished caramel skin underneath that shirt and-...’

“Everybody out!!”Arthur, Alfred, and Francis were out of the room with their backs to the door seconds later.

“Why are we outside?” Alfred questioned a few moments afterwards. He was always a bit slow when it’s near summer. “He’s a boy.”

“Arthur was frustrated.” Francis provided, smirking a nasty smirk. “Sexually, I mean.”

Arthur grumbled strings of profanities under his breath. He was not. He was just being protective of cute, innocent Antonio who danced with him like he was born for it the night before.

“So you danced with him.” Arthur only realized that he had said that out loud when Francis said that, and he immediately regretted it. “Oh-ho rigid Arthur Kirkland, dancing with seductive gypsy boy Antonio on a night of bonfire underneath the mid summer night sky, kissing-...”

“Nothing of the sort happened okay.” Arthur said through gritted teeth, now protecting his image. His face felt strangely warm like before. “We just danced. I drank a lot and passed out. The end.”

“Oh. So that’s why we found you sleeping with a stupid, happy smile on your face that time.” Francis continued to tease. Arthur just glared at him. “What? It’s true.”

“Whatever.”

“Ask him if he has a sister like Isabella who’s free.” Alfred interjected, and Arthur was about to tell him off when the door opened and stepping out of it was Antonio, who was dressed impeccably in their school uniform.

“Do I dress okay?” 

“You look nice.” Arthur was definitely not staring. Francis was staring. And probably drooling over how good Antonio looked like in their uniform. The waistcoat and jacket complemented his slim waist and lithe figure, he really looked just like their fellow students except for one detail... “Your tie’s not tied properly though.”

“Right, can you help me with this?” He pulled at the messy knot around his neck. “I’ve never tied a tie before.”

Arthur stepped forward and grabbed at his tie, releasing the knot and started tying it up properly, whilst trying to ignore Antonio’s pretty green eyes on him the whole time. He was more okay with those emeralds back before they arrived at the school, he was just shocked to see them in person right away after last night, so why were they affecting him so much when they’re in front of his friends?

Arthur finished the tie and stepped back to see the overall picture. ‘Gypsy magic, that’s what.’ 

“Alright, you look perfect! Now let’s go!” Francis exclaimed and took Alfred’s hand in his before he started walking towards the main hallway.

Arthur turned and was about to follow them when he felt a hand in his, which turned out to be Antonio’s, and he was smiling as he dragged Arthur with him like they did in town before. Arthur could do nothing but comply, already feeling quite familiar with the way Antonio’s hand felt.  

“Where are we going?” Antonio inquired as they walked past the exit of the dorm corridors. There had only been a few students in the corridors beside them, and all of them only spared a glance at their small gang and walked away, not really noticing any difference between Antonio and the rest of them.

“I dunno. The classes are pretty much the same and boring, and we can’t enter them or the laboratories during the Sunday. So maybe the library, the dining hall, and the stables?” Francis offered, walking merrily while whistling a tune.

“The library it is then.” Arthur agreed. He liked the library, it had many books and the school’s library was quite impressive in its collection and overall atmosphere. He very much liked to show it to Antonio. “Although I don’t think we can go to the dining hall, there might be too many students there and someone might alert Ludwig.”

“Who’s Ludwig?” Antonio asked. 

“Only the scariest person in the school.” Alfred informed, looking mischievous instead of scared though. “He’s the Head Boy in this school and therefore in charge of all the prefects and enforcing all the rules. He’s the only person here more more rigid than Arthur and also super strict because he’s a German.”

“Does him being a German have something to do with it?” Francis inputted. “His brother Gilbert visited once and he looked like a cool guy.”

“Anyway, he knew all of the students in this school so he will get suspicious if he saw you.” Arthur explained to Antonio, receiving an understanding nod as a reply. Before long they arrived at the educational hall where they passed a number of classes and finally reached the library by the end of the corridor. 

“It’s huge.” Antonio remarked in wonder as they went inside. Huge bookshelves stacked with books lined the walls of the spacious room, forming something resembling a maze. Numerous tables filled the spaces between the maze of bookshelves, most of them were empty saved from a few of them which were occupied by students. Lastly, a huge drawing of the world map could be seen at the ceiling, made even more magnificent by the midday sunlight streaming through the vaulted windows, giving an overall sophisticated atmosphere to the whole room.

Alfred made a dash towards one of the aisle right away, apparently spotting a frequently borrowed history textbook meant for his world history class’ exam lying unattended on one of the table. Francis followed soon after him as they both got the same class.

Arthur had already passed world history and thus decided to head to the old literature aisle instead, wanting to look for a good poetry book to read, but his steps were halted when he made a move to let go of Antonio’s hand and found his being grabbed even harder instead.

“Uh, what?” Arthur asked, feeling quite startled. “Don’t you want to take a look around?” 

Antonio looked equally surprised at his own action, he was figuring out what to say for a minute or two until he settled for: “Ummm don’t leave me alone?”

Arthur widened his eyes. Okayyy... That was... Cute of him, and... Inconsiderate of himself. Of course he had to be the one who showed Antonio around.

He took the other boy’s hand in his again. “Sorry. Wanna come with me to the old literature section?”

Antonio nodded, looking more relieved, even when he’s the one being dragged around by Arthur this time, and when they arrived at the old literature aisle, he was the one who let go to browse at the books curiously.  

Arthur picked up a poetry book he had been meaning to read for a while and skimmed through it, only to remember that he was still borrowing another book from the library, the one that he had wanted to read the night before, but failed to do so because he sneaked out last night, which mean he couldn’t borrow another book until he returned his last one.  

Arthur made a mental note to hit Alfred later for ruining his reading schedule and looked at Antonio, who had already found a book for himself and was flipping through it as well.  

“You can, ah, read?” Arthur asked as he approached him, late in realizing that he probably made himself seemed rude by asking. “I mean I didn’t think that you- Not all people can, uh... Not all people can read you see, so I was just wondering-...”

“It’s okay, and yes, I can read.” Antonio chuckled at Arthur’s panic, the sound made the latter both calm and reminiscing. “My mother taught me and my brother, she learned it from her father, who in turn learned it from his noble lover.”

“I... see.” Arthur remarked before moving to stand right behind Antonio, to peer at what he was reading. “What are you reading?”

“Shakespeare.” He answered. To say Arthur was impressed was an understatement. “I watched one of his plays before, and the girl I told you, the one I asked out on a date before I leave a town, read me this one poem.”

Arthur read the title of the poem Antonio was pointing at and immediately his gaze softened in acknowledgement. “Sonnet 18.”

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Antonio chuckled some more, and turned towards Arthur with a teasing look on his pretty face. “Shall I, Arthur? Shall I compare you to a summer’s day?”

“Please don’t.” Arthur blanched. He liked reading poem but he’s just not meant to be read poem to. Or to be compared to a freaking summer’s day.

“But thou art more lovely and more temperate.” Antonio teased, already twirling away from Arthur in case he decided to physically stop him. “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a da- Arthur!”

Arthur tried to chase him through the narrow aisle, but Antonio was just too quick and nimble, not to mention he kept reciting the poem and making Arthur’s movements more frantic with embarrassment.

“Antonio!” Arthur shouted, completely forgetting where they were.

“But thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, nor death shall brag thou wand’rest in his shade.” Antonio read as he jumped across a table and put it between himself and a fuming Arthur.

“Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade. Not death shall.” Arthur reprimanded, even after running and in the midst of cornering a mischievous gypsy, he’d still remember the poem by heart.

“Oh. Right. Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, when in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st. So long as men- Wait, whoaaa...!” Antonio yelped as Arthur suddenly leaped through the table and tackled him into the ground, immobilizing him by holding his hands captive beside his head.

“And?” Arthur said almost breathlessly on top of Antonio, his wild peridot eyes coaxing the latter to do something. And when he just laid there, confused and speechless, Arthur sucked in a breath and pressed himself closer. “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see...”

Recognition dawned on Antonio’s face. “So long lives this.”

“And this gives life to thee.” Arthur finished, satisfied.

Satisfied that they had finished reciting the poem, satisfied that him and his friends had managed to sneak Antonio in, satisfied that he had captured Antonio, satisfied that his midsummer night’s dream had become a reality and was there, with him. Emerald eyes, so close and appeared so willing and-...

“What are you two doing??”

Arthur jolted upwards as if he had been burned and turned at the voice right away, recognizing its owner as Alfred.

And there he was indeed with Francis, both gaping at him and Antonio. Alfred had a bewildered look on his face, while Francis had this look of excitement, satisfaction, and... stomachache?

“Ahh young love.” He sighed. “I thought we heard your ruckus from half a dozen aisle away, turned out you were doing this with one another. You’re incredibly lucky the librarian was away.”

Arthur suddenly realized how the position him and Antonio were in would look to others and immediately scrambled away until his back hit one of the shelves.

“What are you doing? Kissing? Flirting? Making love? Aw whatever it is we’re probably disturbing you, so let’s go, Alfred.” Francis made his own conclusion and pushed a blank faced Alfred along, away from the aisle they were all in.

“We weren’t doing anything!” Arthur protested, feeling scandalized.

“No worries, we won’t tell a soul about your activities. Just be sure to keep it safe.”

“But we really didn’t!”

“We were just playing around.” Everyone looked at Antonio who had just said that, his smile still as easy going as ever as he sat up on the library floor, looking like a perfect mess. “I was just teasing Arthur by reading him a Shakespeare poem and he tackled me in retaliation.”

Francis made a sound of understanding, before curiously adding: “Which poem?”

“Sonnet 18.”

“Ah.” He grinned. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

“Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” Antonio replied with an equally cheeky smile.

“Why, thank you.” Francis fluttered his eyelashes and put his hair behind his ear, feigning shyness. Arthur had just about enough.

“That’s it. Let’s go to the stables!” He exclaimed as he got up and dashed towards the exit, leaving Francis and Antonio who shared a knowing look and Alfred, who still looked somewhat confused, the poor kid.

Once Arthur was outside, the sun was shining even more brightly than when they first arrived and the air was cool. ‘Perfect weather for horse riding.’ He thought, and he immediately voiced it when he heard his friends’ footsteps coming from behind him.

“Perfect weather for horse riding.”

“I guess.” Francis uttered, not quite so enthusiastic. “Are we really going horse riding?”

“Yeah, there’s no where else we could go. And besides...” He turned and left for the stables, slowly breaking into a sprint and not really caring if the others followed him or not. “I need to clear my head.”

If they were confused by his actions or if Francis and Antonio were snickering behind his back he really didn’t know, he really needed to ride a horse and clear his head.

‘I almost kissed him goddammit.’ He mentally cursed as he sped up his pace even more. The image of Antonio from their previous situation was brought back into the surface of his mind. ‘He looked so ready. And I- fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.’

Arthur leaped across the fence that hedged the stables and walked inside the structure, greeted by the merry sound of horses neighing that welcomed him.

‘It wasn’t even a mid summer night, it was only near summer and he was certainly not a dream, he was there, he was a real person and I nearly kissed him. Fuck.’

He briskly approached the stall belonging to his most frequently used horse, King, his name was, because he was so haughty and difficult in letting almost anyone ride him, except for Arthur, who had managed to tame him in his second year, and pet his black mane to calm himself. King neighed in response.

“You’re too fast.” The exhausted voice of Antonio came from the door, and Arthur jerked in surprise at his arrival. His source of predicament. “Whoa, horses!”

Antonio walked through the stables and checked out each of the horses in each of the stalls, ending at King’s where Arthur’s at and extended his hand. Arthur reacted too slowly and was about to warn him that King was not that friendly when the said horse just gave a snort and nuzzled the palm of Antonio’s hand.

“Wait, how did you...” Arthur stared at the gypsy boy incredulously, it took him one year to make King this tame. One. YEAR.

“I’m good with animals.” Antonio said simply, petting King’s head affectionately. “Particularly horses. And he’s an Andalusian like my family’s horse, Philip.”

“I see.” Arthur continued to stare at him. Turned out Antonio was good at everything. Dancing, reading people and books, taming animals, tempting... “I thought that it was gypsy magic.” He unconsciously said what he had been thinking all this time.

It was Antonio’s turn to look at him, his expression more or less amused. “It wasn’t magic that made you want to kiss me.”

Arthur’s cheeks colored. “I wasn’t- I didn’t-...” He wanted to argue, but the look Antonio gave him shut him up and made him sigh in defeat. “Then... What is it, then?”

Antonio smiled in victory and turned his back to the blonde Englishman. “I don’t know. Chemistry, maybe?”

“We have chemistry.” Arthur repeated, skeptical.

“And probably Shakespeare.” Antonio added, back still turned towards Arthur. “But yes, we have chemistry. Judging from last night...”

“What does last night have to do with anything?”

“Last night-...” Antonio finally looked back at him, looking somewhat troubled. “Last night we kinda... Found each other.”

Arthur just looked at him, unsure of what to say. That was the only thing that he could say? Sure it was true, but Arthur wouldn’t want to kiss just anyone he found so he was expecting something more but he didn’t want to at the same time and yet it was Antonio and he-...

Arthur grumbled under his breath and opened the door to King’s stall, preparing and putting on the horse’s saddle in an almost hurried manner, frustrated and didn’t really understand why. Antonio only looked down at his own feet, seemingly in contemplation.

“Where’re Alfred and Francis?” Arthur finally asked once he was almost done and about to mount his horse.

“They were falling behind so I left them.” Antonio murmured, still looking to be in thought. “I assumed they’re still coming but I’m not quite sure now.”

Arthur grunted in understanding and mounted King, directing him to trot outside of the stables when Antonio halted him and asked somewhat timidly: “Can I... Ride with you?”

There was something inside of him that warned him to not associate himself with a gypsy boy any longer, or just Antonio for that matter, but just looking at him and the way he looked like a lost boy with gem like eyes, the one who captured Arthur last night, tugged at a more prominent part of him and moved him to let Antonio take a ride with him.

‘We didn’t just ‘found’ each other last night.’

“...Yeah, let’s go.” He offered his hand to Antonio, reversing their usual position, and pulled him to take a seat behind himself.

“Thanks.” Arthur only jolted slightly when he felt Antonio placed both of his hand at his waist. They rode out of the stables and to the field outside in silence.

“Want to decide which road we should take?” Arthur asked when they arrived at a branch in the road, one into a clearing and the other into the forest behind the school.

“Home.” Antonio muttered, making Arthur turned to look at him. “Sometimes I wanna go home.”

“You have no home.” Arthur replied. And that probably came out harsher than he meant. Crap. “I mean, since you’re always moving and such.”

Antonio gave him a slight chuckle. “Yeah, I guess. But I kinda miss Spain. Spain had been my home for a long time.”

Arthur cued King to move forwards into the forest. “Do you not like England?”

“Not really, England is really nice and pretty but I miss my people in Spain. We were called gitanos there.”

Arthur hummed in response. “Do you not like the people here?”

“I don’t think they like us very much. I mean, people in general have always felt prejudice against my kind, but it probably feel worse now because I just moved here.” He explained, and Arthur could feel himself getting warmer as Antonio placed his chin on the blond boy’s shoulder and pressed closer. “I think you’re the first Englishman who’s nice to me, Arthur.”

They’re being really close now, but Arthur didn’t want to have any weird ideas like he did in the library, so he concentrated on riding and shook his head. “I haven’t been very nice to you. We just danced. And I showed you around. There must have been someone from this town before me.”

“They’re being nice to my family by letting us stay here, not to me directly. And besides, it’s not like they’re being particularly nice, they’re just being indifferent to us. There’s a difference.” Arthur could feel Antonio smiling against his shoulder. “There’s also your friends as well, I guess. Alfred and... Casanova?” He laughed.

Arthur found it hard to not break a smile at Francis’ antics himself. “His real name is Francis. Don’t believe all of the stupid things he told you.”

“Oh okay, Francis. Isabella’s Casanova.” Antonio’s laugh sent pleasant vibrations through his own body and he couldn’t help but let out a laugh as well. “They’re nice too, but I don’t think they’re as interested in me as you.” 

“And I’m interested?” Arthur was still smiling despite his apparent discomfort at this kind of topic earlier, but he felt some of his tension had been lifted off from laughing. “Oh, I forgot. We have chemistry.”

“But we really do!” Antonio almost whined. “Maybe our meeting last night wasn’t a coincidence.”

Arthur hummed, a bit curious. “What is it if it’s not a coincidence?”

“Fate?” The blonde haired boy scoffed. Antonio pinched at his side, making him yelped and King neighing at the disturbance. “I know you don’t believe in this stuff. But we gypsies do, we believe in all the magic stuff: fate, rituals, charms, and the like.”

“I believe in at least a little magic and if we’re speaking of magic then your eyes must have magical properties.” Arthur rubbed at his side, mourning over the fact that Antonio was actually good at pinching too. “They’re seriously deep and hypnotizing, what in the bloody hell.”

“My eyes?” Antonio asked, a tone of amusement in his voice. “But they’re normal.”

“They’re not normal green eyes. Mine are normal green eyes. Yours are like emeralds, gemstones. And believe me I know about gemstones.”

Antonio laughed. “Your eyes are really pretty Arthur. They’re like gemstones too. But now that you’ve mentioned gemstones, they can actually be used for amulets, and amulets may bring good luck.”

“Good luck?” Arthur repeated.

“Yeah, maybe we met each other because of good luck.”

“Really.” Arthur wasn’t entirely convinced. Although it was nice, thinking of it as good luck. Since even though he went through an emotional roller coaster that day, he actually had a good time. So meeting Antonio was really a good luck on his part after all. “Um, why do you think it’s good luck? Not bad luck since I could also be counted as kidnapping you to my school right now.”

Antonio hummed in contemplation, before coming up with an answer and saying it into Arthur’s ear. “Because I really like you.”

Arthur short circuited. He didn’t know what he was doing but it seemed his reflexes made him pull on the reins and stopping their ride altogether, making King neighed and huffed in protest for being handled so roughly. But well, he couldn’t help it, Antonio was saying something to him. ‘Did he just say that he likes me?’

“Did you just say that you like me?” Arthur turned to give an appalled look at Antonio, only to make him laughed out loud again.

“See? I told you it’s good luck.” He laughed some more and pinched a not amused Arthur’s cheek, gently this time. “You should see your face right now. You look like a tomato.”

So apparently he’s blushing. Probably that’s why his face felt really warm somehow. Big deal. Antonio would be blushing too if he was the one who said that first, or he would do something to him that could make him blush. Whatever it was, Arthur would find that something that could make Antonio blush.

“Stop laughing or I’ll do that thing that I did to you in the library.” He threatened.

Antonio didn’t really seem to care, he was still left with a few breathless snickers when he looked up at Arthur with teary eyes. “And here I was wondering why we met and you felt special. Turns out you’re really special. You look really cute when you blush!”

“I’m not special! And I’m not cute, okay!” Arthur turned himself to face forward again, ready to flex the reins and will King to move when Antonio suddenly encircled his arms around his middle and hugged him from behind.

“But you are! I’ve never met someone as adorable as you.” The Spaniard said cheerily, holding Arthur tightly and pressing against him and making him felt even more warm, and weird, and just plain-

“Antonio!”

“Yes?”

“Stop that or I’ll try to kiss you again!” Arthur attempted a second threat, made in the spur of the moment and during his panic that he didn’t realize what he had just said until everything went silent.

He wasn’t sure if his stupid threat had worked or not or if Antonio was scared or mad at him or anything else but he was thinking of himself as an idiotically stupid person for making that threat and he could really felt his cheeks coloring again and he was going to keep thinking of himself as stupid until he heard a soft whisper in Antonio’s voice right next to his ear. 

“...Okay?”

Arthur immediately turned to look at him, hurting his neck in the process, and saw Antonio looking at him with those big, expectant emerald eyes.

“That wasn’t much of a threat.” He chuckled. “I wasn’t about to say no back in the library, you know.”

“Really?” Arthur breathed. Except for last night when Arthur was nearly dead drunk and  leaning against Antonio’s shoulder for support, they were being closer than ever before. He could feel the other boy’s breath on his face, and Antonio’s face which was right behind his shoulder dominated his vision and looked so big that Arthur couldn’t look away- Was it really okay if Arthur gave him a kiss?

He was close to do it back in the library but that felt more like a spur of the moment thing and now turned out Antonio had actually wanted him to do it. But would it really be okay for him to succumb and kiss a gypsy, and not to mention a boy? What would his family, his brothers say? What he could they do that could potentially ruin him, disinherit him, dishonor him, and-  Oh bloody hell, who cares.

He wanted to kiss him, and so he will.

“Let’s try it again then.” Arthur suggested, feeling bold even with his heart beating wildly inside his chest. He tried to turned his body as far as he can towards Antonio, who thankfully was not that faraway and was already waiting for him with his eyes closed, and he could almost feel his lips touching with Antonio’s when suddenly-

“ARTHUR!!”

Arthur nearly fell off King’s back. What the fuck. Only two people would interrupt him at that moment. Only two people besides Antonio would call him by his first name in this school. And he recognized the voice to belong to Francis, one of those two people. He’s definitely going to kill Francis.

Arthur pulled at King’s reins and turned him around, throwing death glares at his two approaching former best friends. “WHAT.”

“Rude much?” Francis commented as he arrived in front of Arthur and Antonio with his favorite white mare, Jeanne. His sweat and slightly disheveled look indicated that he had been rushing to meet them.

“Francis, I’m going to kill you.” Arthur swore. “Prepare yourself.”

“What? Why? Did I... Did I disturb anything? Ahhhh noo Antonio, help!” He shouted as Arthur drove King beside him and attempted to pull at his prized flaxen hair.

“Enough of that, guys!” Alfred pulled up behind Francis while riding a red mare, looking even more messy than his friend and really panicked that he was a bit pale. “Ludwig is coming!!”

“LUDWIG IS WHAT?” Arthur made a last attempt at pulling Francis’ hair before reluctantly retreating and choosing to yell at him instead. “I thought he’s busy studying for exams!”

“Yes and no, well he’s... Well we... Alfred, tell him!” Francis looked guiltily at Alfred.

“Uhh... Well we passed Ludwig special prefect room before we got to the stables, and Francis and I have been having this idea to stash the room with potatoes, so we went to the kitchen and brought a whole bunch of them to the room, only to find out that Ludwig wasn’t in his dorm room and he’s in that room instead. So we threw potatoes at him and hid in the stables, although he found us out there too, then we released all of the horses and ran here.” Alfred explained, smiling sheepishly by the end of it. “He looked really mad.”

“And you lead him right to Antonio!?” Arthur scolded disbelievingly. He was a stupid idiot, his friends were also stupid idiots! ‘That potatoes idea was great though.’ He thought as he tried to wreck his brain for a solution.

“I’m sorry! My head went completely blank when he screamed he was going to murder us!”

“He should still be busy with the horses though, so we still got time to run?” Francis offered.

“No. Tell you what, you guys cover for us while I take Antonio back to my room.” Arthur stepped down from King and offered his hand to Antonio, who jumped down by himself gracefully and grinned. Arthur rolled his eyes. “Take King back to the stables and tell Ludwig he’s one of the horses who ran away.”

“Oh, okay.” Alfred retrieved King’s reins that was handed to him by Arthur. “Wait, so Antonio is leaving?”

“Yeah, or he won’t get another chance to.” Arthur took Antonio’s hand and started running towards the direction of the school building, ignoring his friends’ cries of goodbyes and particularly Francis’ shout of ‘Tell Isabella I love her!’ to which Antonio replied with a laugh and a wave.

The trip back to his and Alfred’s dorm room was short, probably because the adrenaline rushing to his head but Arthur found himself and Antonio in front of his room sooner than he realized. They went inside and Arthur made sure to lock the door before catching his breath.

“Arthur, there’s no need to rush.” Antonio’s voice was breathless when he called out to him. “They said Ludwig was still busy with the horses.”

“But there’s no knowing with Ludwig.” Arthur panted, turning towards Antonio with an intent look on his face. “Now take off your clothes.”

“What.” Antonio blanked. Arthur immediately reddened and shook his head once he realized what he had just implied.

“Not that way! I mean take off the uniform, someone might think you’re a runaway student if you wear that to town!” Arthur explained and Antonio’s mouth formed an ‘O’ before he set on untying the tie on his neck.

Arthur made a point not to look and turned away when Antonio had managed to release his tie and was about to unbutton his shirt.

‘Crap. Now I’m in a room with him getting undressed. Relationship with Antonio definitely develop in a fast pace.’ Arthur thought matter-of-factly as he tried to tune out the rustling noises of Antonio taking off his clothes.

“Arthur?”

“Yes?”

“Where are my clothes?”

Arthur tried to take a peek but he was immediately assaulted with a scandalous amount of caramel skin that he instinctively closed his eyes right away. “How should I know!”

“Oh, I put them on Alfred’s bed.” Arthur heard his chuckling, followed by more rustling noises. The nerve of him.

Arthur waited some more until the noise of Antonio changing had died down and he told Arthur he was done, then he climbed onto his desk and opened the window he had been using quite frequently these last two days. “Time to leave.”

Antonio followed Arthur and climbed onto the desk as well, although he hesitated when he knelt beside him. “Are you coming with me?”

“I can’t. I think I’ll be found out if I sneak out this time.”

“Then, won’t you runaway with me?” He smiled that mischievous smile of his. Arthur only quirked his eyebrow at that and Antonio laughed.

“You’ve been reading too many romantic poems, it seems.” The blond haired Englishman said cynically.

“I’m sorry. The situation definitely calls for it.” The Spanish gypsy laughed almost breathlessly. Must be wonderful to live and found humor in everything like him. “Although I’m quite serious. When do you think we’ll be able to meet again?”

“When I try to sneak out again.”

“When will that be?”

“Next week, perhaps.” Arthur promised. “I have no class on Sundays and just in case Ludwig gets terribly paranoid and decided to keep an eye on us after this.”

“Okay.” Antonio nodded, satisfied. He grabbed onto the window frame and jumped down onto the soft grass below. The distance was only about three feet. “Till next time then.”

Arthur nodded in response, about ready to close the window when he heard Antonio called him again.

“Oh, and Arthur?”

Arthur leaned out to hear what he was about to say, but instead of talking Antonio dragged him down by the collar and connected their lips.

It felt like he was crashing into Antonio’s face at first, and he was shocked from nearly falling out of the window (if not for his reflexes that managed to make him held onto the frames in the last minute) that he didn’t quite register what was happening until he could feel Antonio smiling against his lips instead of seeing it.

He blanked, and Antonio used to moment to let him go, their lips making a wet sound when separating, and bid him a cheerful farewell.

“It’s not good to leave something unfinished.” He uttered simply, before running towards the direction from where he first came to the school with Arthur and disappearing, leaving Arthur alone and hanging on the window with a wide eyed look on his face.

A few moments later Francis and Alfred came running into the room like a ghost had been chasing them, and they immediately screamed when they saw Arthur.

“HE’S COMING!!”

“OH GOD why do we run away, we’re screwed this time for sure.”

“I wasn’t thinking straight, okay? Hey, Arthur, is Antonio gone? Hey, Arthur!”

“Arthur, what in the bloody hell are you doing?”

Arthur didn’t quite hear what his friends were saying, his head was still ringing with the image of Antonio, with his emerald eyes as he leaned closer, with the way his lips felt against his own-

“I think I just had...” He began. “I think I just had my first kiss.”

“What?”

“Have you been reading to much romantic poems again?” Francis’ voice asked incredulously.

Arthur chose to ignore his friends still and climbed down from the desk, flopping down onto his bed right afterwards and mumbling something about ‘gypsy magic’, ‘emeralds’, ‘Shakespeare’, ‘first kiss’, and an awful lot of ‘Antonio’.

His friends could only look in confusion until Ludwig burst into their room seconds later and decided to punish them all (including Arthur) with running ten laps around the school since they liked running so much, stable duty for the whole month, and also strict supervision for one month as well.

The last punishment was quite inconvenient because of his promise to Antonio to sneak out again on the next week, but he could really do nothing about it, what with the other prefects: Roderich, Basch, and Abel monitoring his and his friends moves from morning classes until the sleeping hour.

He was only able to get out into the town again three weeks later, when they finally had their special one day trip into town, and he immediately dashed towards the clearing where they first met and where the gypsy camp was suppose to reside in hope of meeting Antonio again. However, when he arrived there the clearing was already empty, and no matter how much he asked and searched in the market, the shopping district, and around the town, there had been no sighting of the gypsies in town for at least a week.

Antonio was gone. And Arthur had little to no time to ponder about it as only a few days later his brother Allistor paid him a visit once again, announcing the death of their father, Arthur’s removal from school, and abrupt move to London. He had to say goodbye to Alfred and Francis, and even Ludwig right after losing Antonio. He knew he had no time to process all of this losses as he had a funeral to look forward to and a business to run once he arrived at London. It would be selfish of him to wish for more time to adjust to his new life.

He should just learn to accept that everything he knew was going to change and that he was losing everything that he cared about just as fast.

The sound coming from the commotion in the streets of London from below his window and the noise of Allistor’s heavy breathing were equally as distracting and annoying to Arthur as he was trying to finish the last of his calculations that he had been dealing with since early morning. And now it’s already late in the afternoon.

“I still can’t believe you robbed me of my youth just to make me do this shit everyday.”  Arthur grumbled. His eyes felt tired, and his fingers, elbow, and back were hurting. All because of the red haired bastard sitting with so much elegance and satisfaction in front of him.

“Oh dear beloved brother.” Allistor sighed dramatically. “You’re coping so well that I almost don’t recognize you.”

“If you call this coping.” Arthur pointed at the bags underneath his eyes. “Then you better cut ties with me and send me abroad.”

“Oh relax, that’s why Patrick and Dylan are going to take you drinking today.” His brother waved a dismissive hand at his protest.

‘Yeah drinking with Patrick and Dylan doesn’t really sound like a good time.’ Arthur thought. ‘But I’ll take what I can get, I guess.’

“Thanks.” He said without looking at Allistor. “At least I can get wasted this time, right? No more work for me tomorrow.”

Allistor grunted in response. “See? Coping so well you’re almost unrecognizable.” And then he added as an afterthought : “You’ve deserve a break. You’ve done well so far, Arthur.”

Arthur hummed, acknowledging the praise. The first praise Allistor gave him was when they had just arrived in London and he praised him for his awareness of his responsibilities. It sounded so alien and weird that Arthur couldn’t stop looking at him and asking if he was okay. The next ones sounded more normal and bearable, and there were not few. Allistor seemed to appreciate him more at home, and Patrick and Dylan too. Arthur didn’t want to think it was because they were worried about him before, and they had become more relieved with him near them, because that was just weird. The idea that his brothers could be relieved with him around would never pass his mind during his school years.

Speaking of school he was still staying in touch with Alfred and Francis ever since his departure three months ago. Time had flown since then and they were still asking when he would be back, even Ludwig had asked about him through Alfred’s letter. Arthur himself didn’t realize that three months had already passed since he left their school, he only remembered taking care and going to the funeral, meeting with a bunch of people he didn’t recognize, discussing the inheritance with his family’s lawyer, getting acquainted with the business, going to coal mines with his brothers, and working on a bunch of paperwork. Turned out Arthur quite like working in London with his brothers, the more work he did the more he was distracted from feeling melancholy and reminiscing about his school, his friends, and... Antonio.

Antonio... Arthur still didn’t know what Antonio was to him even after months had passed since he had last seen him and lost all contact with him. Him and his family had just disappeared even before he had gone to London, Arthur had even tried to search for him in the gypsy settlements in London and asked Alfred and Francis to keep an eye for any gypsy in their town but so far there had been no news about his whereabouts. In the end, Antonio was just someone he met in passing and would probably never meet again.

The only problem was that Arthur couldn’t seem to forget the boy with the emerald eyes.

Arthur sighed and put down his pen. “Done.”

“Done?” Allistor stood up and looked over his work. “Okay... Looks good, do the calculations made sense in the end?”

“Yeah.” Arthur walked away from his desk and took his coat. “I can go now, right?”

“Sure.” Allistor remained near Arthur’s desk, collecting and checking his brother’s works. “Have fun.”

“You’re not coming?”

“No, the pub you guys are going to is near a gypsy settlement. It’s a bit... Promiscuous.” He reasoned. “I might get tempted. And I’m about to be engaged soon, remember?”

“Fine, fine.” Arthur rolled his eyes, smiling at his brother and bidding him goodbye before going downstairs and met up with his other brothers, Patrick and Dylan, who were already waiting for him in the drawing room.

“Artie! Finished already?” Patrick called out from his seat on the couch as he noticed Arthur walking down the stairs.

“Shall we go then?” Dylan offered, he had been reading a newspaper while leaning on the window before Arthur’s arrival.

Both of them had the signature Kirkland features: thick eyebrows and light green eyes that also belong to Arthur and Allistor. They’re both quite tall, taller than Arthur at least, and had blond hair, but with different shades and length. Dylan had a shorter haircut and brighter hair color than Patrick, which distinguished him from the red headed Allistor, the only ginger in the family, and made him look more similar to Arthur, with his short, messy light blond hair. In terms of temperament, Dylan was also more rough than Patrick, who was the second oldest and more docile but was still as sharp tongued and witty as any other Kirkland, another typical features of the family. They were both younger than Allistor and close in age, thus they had always gotten along with each other best and were quite inseparable, leaving Arthur, the youngest, alone. Which explains why Arthur was a bit reluctant to go drinking with them, although he had decided that he was perfectly willing to suffer through awkward brotherly bonding in favor of alcohol.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Arthur announced, and soon the three of them were walking out of their townhouse and into the busy streets of London.

In comparison to the quiet little town of his school, London was just as crowded, bleak, and criminals invested as he had last remembered it. When he had first arrived in the capital city three months ago and the greenery of the countryside had transformed into gray cobblestones and black smokes, Arthur had felt gloomy and depressed. He used to have quite an excitement with living in London, the industrial center of the world, but that was back when he still have his friends in the city as well, now he could only recall Antonio’s words when he told Arthur his brother and family didn’t like London because it’s dangerous, so maybe it was futile of Arthur for hoping he would meet him here, since he himself couldn’t go anywhere else. He was trapped, while Antonio was most likely running free from one beautiful town to another beautiful town, dancing with someone else and enchanting them like he had done with him.

...Great. Now that he didn’t have any work that he could worry about he was starting to feel melancholic again. Antonio was just someone who he met in passing, he didn’t know what he meant to himself anyway.

He was just a boy who he met, danced with, communicated, flirted, kissed...

“Hey, Arthur, what kind of drink do you want?”

And now he’s going to drink to forget him. “The strongest please.”

The three brothers took a seat on a table once they had gotten their drinks, clinking them together briefly before taking a sip.

“You sure you don’t want to trade drinks with me, Arthur?” Patrick suddenly asked after their first sip.

“No, why?” Arthur was eyeing his drink, the stuff was actually really strong. But he was quite sure he could manage.

“I think the barman put absinthe in it.” Dylan informed, his own concoction didn’t look quite tame either. “And we all know how well you deal with your alcohol...”

“I can manage my drinks just fine.” Arthur grumbled. He had adequate alcohol tolerance and he needed everyone to stop underestimating him. The last time he was dead drunk was when he sneaked out with Alfred and Francis. Sure he had a terrible hangover in the morning, but he was still okay, he managed to dance just fine with Antonio that night and- Oh, fuck. He needed more drink.

Arthur picked up his glass and downed about half of the content in one go, making Patrick and Dylan who witnessed him staring at him wide eyed.

“Arthur.” Patrick chided, looking at him in an angry-worried way. But he didn’t say anything else after that, so Arthur ignored him.

“Are you drinking to forget about work, or to forget about someone?” Dylan asked curiously. “Because this looks more serious than work.”

“To forget about work.” He approved, feeling himself getting warm already, not the kind of warm he got when he was with a certain someone though. “And to forget about someone.”

Dylan hummed. “Maybe you need a woman.”

“Dylan.” Patrick turned his scolding to Patrick, ever the mother hen.

“I’m serious. There are many pretty ladies if you look around.” He gestured toward their whole surrounding. “Maybe we could find a gypsy. I don’t care what people say. I think gypsy women are exotic.”

“Careful, or you’ll have your wallet taken from you by those exotic women.” Patrick warned. Dylan just grinned, while Arthur was thinking of gypsies and one of them he knew.

“I like gypsies too.” He muttered in an almost day dreaming state. “They’re pretty and wild.”

“Right?” Dylan smirked at him, before winking and adding suggestively: “Maybe we should turn this into a proper night out in town.”

“I thought this was already suppose to be a proper night out in town. A brothers’ night out in town.” Patrick sighed and leaned his head onto his hand, looking exasperated and also somewhat older than Allistor. “And anyway, Arthur is what? Sixteen? Seventeen?”

Arthur gave his older brother a look. Really? Did he just talk about him like he was still treating him like a child? He already kissed someone before, geez.

“I’m old enough.” He said sternly, earning himself a cheer from Dylan. He had never looked more prouder to have Arthur as a brother than at that moment.

“See? That’s settled then. After a couple more drinks we’re getting ourselves some lovely lady prostitute.”

“Why not now?” Arthur finished the remaining of his drink and slammed the glass on the table before getting up and walking toward the exit, followed by Patrick’s yelling and Dylan who also downed  his drink and came after him. He really needed a cold night air.

Once they were outside, Dylan immediately slunk his arm around him and directed him to a certain street where he said he knew where to find the ‘loveliest of ladies’. The summer night in London was not as cold as the nights in his schools’ town and the sky was not littered with as many stars there, but Arthur already got a pleasant buzz that more or less made him quite happy with his surroundings.  

“So tell me, Arthur.” Dylan suddenly began when they had been walking for a few minutes. “What’s she like? This lady that caused my brother to be in this state.”

Arthur didn’t quite get what he’s talking about at first, but then he realized Dylan was asking about Antonio. Although he wasn’t getting drunk and depressed because of Antonio. Wait, was he? And was he also depressed? Well, anyway, he didn’t think he could just get away with a ‘there is no lady’, because Dylan could be insistent and perceptive, so despite his effort of forgetting Antonio that night, he could maybe talk about him a little since he had only talked about him in his letters to his friends. Maybe talking about him verbally would help? He preferred to leave his gender ambiguous though, he was still not yet ready for the ‘I can’t believe you kissed a boy’ talk.

“Pretty, wild, reads poetry, dances beautifully, knows how to handle horses...” 

“Well, I can see why you’re obsessed with her.” Dylan chuckled. Arthur didn’t make any comment about that. “What does she look like, though?”

Arthur thought about it. ‘Damn you Dylan for making me remember.’ 

“Short, slightly messy, wavy brown hair, sun kissed skin, lithe figure, and a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes...” Dylan snorted at that. Arthur turned to look at him.  

“Emerald eyes, huh? Oh Arthur you’re so sad.” He said pitifully, and at Arthur’s offended and questioning look, added: “You do know what emeralds are called as, right? That’s why your love story looked so pitiful.” 

Arthur was about to protest that it’s not a love story but then they turned at a corner and Dylan was quickly embraced by a scandalously dressed woman, who dragged him towards a group of other women dressed in revealing clothing and started whispering and giggling in his ear, leaving Arthur alone and bewildered.

He looked around him and found himself to be in an unfamiliar street where the all of the shops looked shady and all of the people looked either like a prostitute or a burglar. He glanced back at Dylan only to find him going to one of the shady looking shop (or was it a brothel?) surrounded by the promiscuous looking ladies that Allistor mentioned before. Now Arthur was truly alone and entirely out of his element. ‘Gee thanks Dylan.’ 

He decided to walk around for a bit, taking extra care to avoid looking at anyone’s eyes even though they all seemed to ignore Arthur and his innocent, boyish looks, and found an empty alley behind a dirty pub, which was perfect because Arthur was finally feeling the effects of his drink earlier. He leaned on the grimy wall, and before he knew it, slided down until he was kneeling on the wet cobblestone, feeling the typical lightheadedness caused by alcohol taking over him faster and stronger than usual.

‘Well this was different than the last time I was drunk.’ He thought. But of course, the last time he was drunk he was with his friends, he was not in the dark, questionable part of the street of London where he could get killed anytime. The last time he was drunk he met Antonio, now maybe he would meet the grim reaper. Although he couldn’t quite decide which one was worse.

Before meeting Antonio for the second time in the market, he was depressed and sad about leaving his school and his friends soon, but he was not regretful and he could accept his situation. Now, the possibilities of Antonio nagged at the back of his mind constantly, filling him up with regret. What if he had tried harder to find him? What if he hadn’t passed out the night he first danced with him? What if he had kissed him first in the library or during their horse ride? What if he had ran away with him like had asked? What if he had taken him to London? But those what ifs would remained unanswered because he would probably never meet Antonio again. He was special because he was a question in Arthur’s life. He could understand Alfred, Francis, Ludwig, Allistor, Patrick, Dylan, and his father, but he was still in the middle of understanding Antonio. He was a wildcard, he left after giving Arthur one kiss. He said Arthur was the first person who was nice to him in England. He said he liked Arthur. Well, Arthur probably liked him as well. It’s impossible not to.

And he would like to meet him at least one more time.

Arthur took a deep breath and pressed his head to the wall behind him, he was having a headache from thinking too much and admitting too much to himself. So he liked Antonio. That’s it, he finally figured who he was. Antonio was the boy he liked. Big deal. It’s not like he would meet him again. Antonio was his midsummer night’s dream, even though it wasn’t summer yet when he met him, it’s summer now so... Anyway, it would take a miracle for them to meet one more time.

He heard a splash and felt water on his face, immediately thinking that it was raining and that rain could be counted as some kind of miracle.  

‘Dammit, God, not this kind of miracle.’ He opened his unconsciously closed eyes and saw someone standing in front of him, turned out that someone stepped on a puddle of water and thus explained the rain he felt. That someone was also extending his (Arthur knew he’s a man because he’s wearing pants) hand to him, a very familiar looking hand, one that had been handed to him at least a couple of times before and- 

“¿Estás bien?”  Arthur jolted. He knew that voice. He knew that sentence. He felt a painful kind of deja vu and jerked his head upwards.  

It was Antonio.  

... 

That’s it. He was hallucinating.  

He once hallucinated Francis making out with Alfred when he was first drunk on Francis’ wine. He must be hallucinating about Antonio too. 

“You bastard.” He mumbled and tried to get up, ignoring the hand offered to him. Antonio looked perplexed, his previous smile slowly changed into a look of confusion. Good. “How dare you.”

 “Arthur?” He called. And oh did it sound similar to how Arthur last remembered Antonio sounded like.  

“How dare you kissed me and then leave town.” Arthur sounded genuinely angry. He was angry. How dare Antonio messed with his feelings. He had admitted he liked him and now Arthur also found out that he was mad with Antonio too. He might as well get mad at his hallucination of him, while he’s there. He slowly cornered Antonio- his hallucination of Antonio to the wall behind him. “I looked for you.”

His hallucination of Antonio bumped into the wall he’s cornered into and Arthur trapped him with his hands beside his head. This position also induced another bout of painful deja vu in Arthur. “I couldn’t find you. How could you just disappear on me like that.”

“I didn’t disappear. I left a note for you before that one week you promised about to tell you I was about to move to a different town.” He defended. Arthur quirked his eyebrow. 

“What note? Who did you give it to?” 

“I didn’t give it to anyone, I left it on your window. I thought you’ll see it because you promised to sneak out and see me again in a week. But I guess you didn’t even try.” The hallucination looked down dejectedly at his feet, looking like the real thing, and Arthur immediately felt bad. That drink was really good.

“I tried. But I was monitored so heavily by that paranoiac Ludwig that I was technically confined in my room.” Arthur didn’t know why he was explaining himself to a hallucination, but he did anyway. “I was monitored for about three weeks, then I was allowed into town and I went to look for you in the clearing, you were already gone and I didn’t know how to find you. Then I was brought here by my brother. I even tried to look for you again here, but I still couldn’t find you. So how the hell are you here?” 

‘Antonio’ was looking at him in a surprised way, taking all of the things Arthur had just said to him before replying. “I finally moved here, to London, about a week ago. After begging my family of course, because they don’t like London, but I know you would be here, because you admit to me you’re going to leave your school for London once and I just have to...” He trailed off. 

“Meet me?” Arthur finished for him, receiving a hesitant (or timid?) nod as a reply. Arthur wanted to kiss him. Even if he was just a hallucination.  

He looked exactly like the Antonio he remembered from his memory in the library, in the forest, and in his room. He looked that real.   

Arthur moved closer towards ‘Antonio’ and he meant to lift his chin up so he could kiss him, but instead he stumbled and lurched forward into the hallucination’s arms, holding on to him for dear life. He smelled so good for a hallucination. Again, another deja freaking vu.  

“How could I hold you if you’re just a hallucination?” He groaned, and felt everything spun when Antonio tried to move him towards one of the nearby wall. “I don’t feel so good.” 

“I remember.” He heard a chuckle that sounded like ringing bells on his ear. “I remember how you were like being drunk.”

“I’m not drunk, just hallucinating.” He murmured, feeling faint and like almost losing consciousness when ‘Antonio’ finally managed to sit him. But he didn’t want to lose sight of Antonio, he had finally seen him again. He wouldn’t just let go. He grabbed at the sleeve of the hallucination that apparently have a physical body and was wearing the shirt the real Antonio wore when they last met. “Don’t go.”

“I’m just going to get someone to help you.” He told Arthur, but Arthur really didn’t want him to go. He wanted them to stay together forever in that alley. Who knows when he’d get to meet Antonio again if he disappeared from his life for the second, third time? And suddenly he remembered what Patrick had said earlier about exotic gypsy women taking his wallet.  

“HELP!! THIS MAN JUST TRIED TO STEAL MY WALLET!!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. That would make Antonio arrested, and it would be easy for Arthur to find him... Right? 

He didn’t really get the chance to see if Antonio was really captured or not though, the last thing he heard before passing out was a faraway sound of rowdy people running into their alley and the disbelieving voice of Antonio saying: “Really?” 

Arthur groaned when he opened his eyes and was assaulted right away with vicious sunlight streaming in through his bedroom window. His head felt like shit and his body was heavy, it’s deja vu all over again and-  

‘Wait, why am I in my bedroom? Wasn’t I suppose to be in a dank alley at nighttime? Did I pass out? Again? How many hours have passed? How long did I pass out? What time is it anyway?’

“What time is it?” He sluggishly asked to no one in particular, before realizing that actually there was Dylan in the room with him, watching him creepily from beside his bed.  

“It’s twelve a.m. You passed out for more than twelve hours. Sissy.” He mocked, smirking to himself. “I told you you can’t hold your alcohol very well.”

“I’ve learned my lesson.” Arthur yawned and stretched, immediately regretting it when he felt a pang in his head, though it was considerably more bearable compared to the hangover he had last time in his school, maybe he was slowly adapting to hangovers? 

“You should.” Dylan looked at him sternly. He seemed mad. “You know how worried I was when I walked out of the brothel to look for you but I couldn’t and you were missing? Only to turned up later on in the middle of a commotion, passed out, and after someone reported you’ve just screamed about thievery?”

“I was robbed?” He couldn’t quite remember what happened yesterday. He only recalled drinking with Patrick and Dylan, going off to a shady street with Dylan where he was whisked off by prostitutes, getting sick in an alley and meeting- A hallucination of Antonio? Was it really a hallucination, or was it real? Because suddenly he remembered quite vividly what the hallucination had said to him the night before and how Arthur wanted to kiss him because of it.  

‘He wanted to meet me. He went to London because of it. He didn’t just disappear.’ Arthur reminisced. ‘Oh God if that was really just a hallucination I’m going to cry.’ 

“Yeah, and apparently the supposed culprit wanted to meet you in person.” Dylan got up from his seat beside the bed and walked towards Arthur’s bedroom door.

“What?” Arthur was confused, his head was still slightly ringing. He didn’t get robbed, he was just- OH. 

Dylan hummed. “He didn’t look like much of a thief to me though...” Arthur held his breath when he opened the door and revealed... 

“Hi!” Antonio greeted. A real Antonio. A real Antonio standing in front of his bedroom, looking like he had just stepped out of his memory.

Arthur just stared at him.

“Are you sure you’re the culprit?” Dylan asked him, giving the gypsy boy the once-over. 

“I’m not quite sure what I am actually. That’s why I want to ask Mr.Kirkland himself.” Antonio replied cheekily, earning a suspicious look from Dylan. 

“Well, call me if you need anything.” Dylan finally said to his brother before walking out and closing the door, leaving the room to Antonio and Arthur.  

There was a moment of silence where they just stared at each other, Arthur because he still couldn’t believe his hangover eyes and was making sure Antonio was real and Antonio who was walking around Arthur’s room and smiling at the boy on the bed, as if challenging him to do something, anything.  

So Arthur started talking. “You’re not a hallucination.” And immediately felt stupid.  

Antonio chuckled, the sound of it was so painfully familiar. “No, I’m not. I’m real, see? I’m a culprit accused of thievery, not a hallucination.”  

Arthur instantly felt guilty. “Sorry, I was-...” 

“Drunk?” Antonio interjected. “I know. We first met when you were drunk too, remember?” 

“Yeah.” Arthur would never forget. He was bad at being drunk, but at least it had its own merits at times. “Sorry.” 

Antonio hummed in response, and there was silence once again. Arthur couldn’t stand it.  

“You didn’t just disappear.” He began again. 

“No.” Antonio replied. “And you didn’t forget me.” 

“You’re impossible to forget.” Antonio grinned wider at that. Arthur was still keeping a blank expression. “You came to London because of me.”

 “Yes.”

“You wanted to meet me again.” 

“Guilty as charged.” 

“Why?”  Antonio turned to look at him, looking like Arthur had just asked a really stupid question with an obvious answer. “Because I like you, stupid.” Arthur really couldn’t stand it.

“Come here.” He ordered, gesturing at his bed and acting like the true born proud Kirkland he was. Antonio complied, standing beside his bed where Dylan used to sit, still smiling cheekily.  

“What is it, your majesty? Are you going to punish me this time or-... !!” Arthur didn’t let Antonio finish his sentences, instead he dragged him down abruptly by the collar and kissed him on the mouth.  

Antonio was shocked and didn’t react at first, but slowly he started to return the kiss and placed his hand behind Arthur’s neck, deepening the kiss. It was different than their first,  which was just a quick peck that lasted only a second, a clumsy farewell that Antonio used to put a spell on Arthur into not forgetting. This time, Arthur wanted to kiss him properly and he was the one putting the spell now, a spell on Antonio so that he wouldn’t leave.  

They parted after what felt like a long time, even though it was just mere minutes in reality. Antonio was looking at him with glazed eyes, somewhere during their kiss he had opted to kneel on the ground so that he could be on equal level with Arthur. Arthur gave him another quick peck on the side of his mouth to wake him up.  

“I like you too, stupid.” 

He chuckled. “Do you like me or my magical emerald eyes?” The cheeky bastard. 

“You, but they do play some part in it.” Arthur replied, his gaze softening as he bumped his forehead softly with Antonio. “Don’t leave again and leave notes on my window.”

Antonio smiled, his eyes gleaming like the emeralds they were. “Okay.”

Arthur was leaning in to kiss him again when suddenly the door to his bedroom was opened quite noisily from the outside and came bursting in were the Kirkland brothers with a look of shock on each of their faces.

“Fuck.” Arthur swore and immediately turned Antonio’s face, which looked equally as shocked as his brothers’, towards him. “Quick! There’s still time, let’s run away together!”

“Arthur.” He laughed. “Have you been reading too much romantic poems?”

“I’m serious.” Arthur stressed out. “And you can speak, shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

“Please don’t, summer in London is ghastly and I can’t stand it.”

“That makes the two of us.” Arthur watched wearily as his brothers came closing in with blank expressions on both him and Antonio. He instinctively pulled Antonio closer towards him and said: “This is exactly what it looks like.”

“Allistor.” Dylan called faintly, like he was still processing what he had just seen. “What’s going on?”

“Arthur’s thief is kissing Arthur.” Allistor said simply.

“Should we call the police, or...?” Patrick asked, looking completely unsure of everything. 

“No, I should... Take care of my engagement, but Arthur’s kissing a boy, so that means...”

“Is Arthur getting engaged?” Dylan asked incredulously.

The brothers started discussing the matter at hand in a low murmur and Arthur tuned out their stupid conversation when he realized that Antonio was looking at him in such an amusement in his emerald eyes that he couldn’t help but ask.

“What?”

“It’s kind of true you know.” Antonio grinned. “That I was your thief.”

Arthur blinked. “Why?”

“Because I stole your heart.” He said it so proudly that Arthur just had to kiss him again to silence the laughter that he knew was coming his way. Not because it’s untrue, of course.