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AmericaXReader: learn to live

You sighed as you grabbed your books and hobbled down the hallway. That stupid homework was taking all your time, so you couldn’t join your friends on their trip to the mall. You had to spend all your time to doing homework, because you had to get good marks. You simply had to. So that meant you couldn’t spend time with your friends. Besides, you had a job in some store you had to spend time to and your mother had made you join some reading-club, which meant that you had to read a 400 paged book every week.

‘Come on, _____...’ your friend Feliciano said when you stepped out of the school building. ‘Are you really going home already?’

‘Yeah, I’m sorry Feli,’ you sighed. ‘I’ve got to do my homework.’

‘We all have homework,’ Feli said, gesturing to the rest of your friends. ‘But we make fun too!’

‘I- I’ve got to work this evening, and I’ve got to read my b-’ you started, but was interrupted by Lovino.

‘Just go to the stupid mall with us,’ he said. ‘Feli forced me to join, so you’ll have to go too.’

‘Vee~!’ Feliciano said while grabbing your arm. ‘You will come with us, _____!’

‘No!’ you said. ‘I’ve got to do my homework!’

You freed yourself from his grasp and walked away.

‘But _____...’ Feliciano sighed.

(~ Timeskip, veee! ~)

You almost bumped into the door when you tried to enter the school the next day. You were so tired, you had been busy with your homework until you had fallen asleep with your head on your desk. Stupid homework.

As you almost reached your locker, you almost tripped over your own feet, but you managed to grab a bypassing guy’s arm, so you didn’t fall.

‘Ouch,’ you mumbled.

‘Are you alright, love?’ a concerned voice asked. It was Arthur, your best friend. You were glad that you hadn’t grabbed a random guy, but you blushed anyway.

‘Y-yeah...’ you stuttered. ‘J-just a bit tired.’

‘I see,’ Arthur nodded. ‘Let me help you with that.’

He took your bag and helped you with your books. You just stood there and yawned occasionally. Your legs were starting to feel like pudding and all kinds of weird spots had appeared in your vision.

‘Are you sure you’re alright?’ Arthur asked, staring at your pale face.

‘Yes, I am perfectly fine!’ you said, grabbing your bag and closing your locker. The bell rang.

‘I’ve got to go,’ you said.

‘Okay,’ Arthur said, stepping aside so you could leave. ‘But _____? I want to talk to you after school.’

‘Oh, okay...’ you nodded.

(~ Timeskip, veee! ~)

‘I’m worried about you, _____,’ Arthur said after you had found him after the last bell had rang. The two of you were now walking down the hallway.

‘Why?’ you wondered. You were perfectly fine. A bit overworked maybe, but perfectly fine.

‘You spend way too much time on your homework,’ Arthur said, raising his hand as he saw that you opened your mouth to object. ‘Let me finish. I’ve got reasons to think you barely sleep. You also work too much in that store and it isn’t good that you’re being forced to read an enormous book every week. You need to relax a little.’

‘Says who...’ you mumbled. Arthur was quite uptight himself, too.

‘That’s why I can’t help you with relaxing,’ Arthur said. ‘And I’m sorry love, but I’ve got to introduce you to my brother.’

Why would he apologize for introducing you to his brother? Arthur saw the confused look on your face and chuckled.

‘You’ll find out,’ he said.

The two of you left the school and walked a few minutes through the park. Until Arthur stopped and pointed at a guy that was eating a hamburger while sitting on a bench.

‘There he is,’ Arthur said. ‘Come on, I’ll introduce you to your tutor.’

‘M-my what?’ you stuttered, sending Arthur a warning-glare. ‘What are you up to, Kirkland?’

‘You’ll find out,’ your best friend grinned and walked towards his brother.

‘Hey Iggy!’ Arthur’s brother called when he spotted his brother.

‘Hello Alfred,’ Arthur sighed. ‘Stop calling me that, you -’

‘Is that the girl you were talking about?’ Alfred interrupted him, pointing at you.

Before anybody could answer, Alfred jumped up and ran over to you. He grabbed your hand and started pumping your arm up and down.

‘Nice to meet you, dudette!’ he said. ‘My name is Alfred F. Jones and I am the hero!’

‘Oh, eh, hello...’ you mumbled, staring down at your hand. ‘My name is ____ _______ and it’s nice to meet you too. I guess.’

‘I’m going to teach you how to relax a little,’ Alfred laughed. ‘Now hand me your schedule!’

You hesitantly handed him your schedule and watched as he stared at the piece of paper. Then, he walked over to the trashcan and got rid of your schedule.

‘W-what?’ you said as you ran after him. ‘What are you doing? I need that one!’

‘Not anymore!’ Alfred laughed.

You turned around to find Arthur and hit him with your bag, but Arthur had disappeared. That smart little piece of shit. He had left you alone with Alfred, on this beautiful spring day, in the middle of a beautiful park, with a bag of homework that had to be finished.

‘I’m sorry, Alfred,’ you said. ‘I’ve got to go now, I’ve got to be at my book club at four o'clock...’

‘You aren’t going to your book club, dudette!’

‘Wait, what?’ you asked as you stared at your friend’s brother. He was starting to freak you out.

‘Listen, Arthur told me you’ve got a problem and asked me to help you. And since I’m the hero, I will not let you just walk away,’ Alfred said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

You sighed. Fine, maybe you had a problem. Fine, maybe Alfred could help you, he looked like somebody that didn’t give a crap about getting good grades and just relaxed after school. But you didn’t like to admit he and Arthur were right about you.

‘I don’t have a problem,’ you sighed, glaring at the guy. ‘But because Arthur’s a good friend of mine, I’ll give it a try.’

‘Great!’ Alfred laughed, grabbing your wrist and pulling you along. ‘First thing we’ve got to do is to get rid of that stupid book club of yours!’

Alfred made you go to the house of the book club’s leader and ring the doorbell. She opened the door and smiled, telling you you were way too early, but that it didn’t matter.

‘N-no, Mrs. Richards, I’m here to tell you that I’m not coming to the the book club anymore,’ you told her, staring down at your feet. You didn’t wait until she had thought of a reply, but you just turned around and walked away.

‘Happy now?’ you growled at Alfred. You were blushing like mad.

‘You go girl!’ Alfred grinned and high fived you. ‘Next thing on our list: you need to stop working so much in that store Arthur told me about. You are going to quit your job!’

‘Alfred, I can’t do that!’ you squeaked. ‘Besides, I enjoy working at the store. I hated the book club, so that’s fine, but I can’t just quit my job. I’m sorry.’

You turned around to walk away, but Alfred grabbed your elbow.

‘Don’t go yet, _____,’ he said. ‘I’m not done with ya yet. Forget about the job, we’ll get back on that later. Just hand me your bag now.’

You just stared at him, clutching to your bag. ‘No.’

‘Come on, you can trust me!’ a sweet smile appeared on his face. ‘Just give me the bag.’

‘No!’

Alfred suddenly ran over to you and started tickling you. ‘Give me your bag!’

‘N-no!’ you laughed, crashing down into the grass to make Alfred stop tickling you, but he just followed you and sat down next to you.

‘Please?’ he asked, putting on his best puppy face.

‘Fine, fine...’ you sighed, handing him your bag.

Alfred jumped up, ran over to the pond and threw your bag into the water.

‘What the fuck!’ you screamed, chasing him. ‘You bloody wanker!’

The American guy just laughed at you while you tried to get your bag out of the water.

‘You could at least help me with this,’ you told him.

‘Yeah, I guess,’ Alfred said, walking over to where you were standing.

But he didn’t expect you to do something weird. But you did. You pushed him into the water and laughed at his surprised face.

‘You didn’t see that one coming, did you?’ you laughed.

‘No, I didn’t,’ he answered, getting out of the water. But instead of screaming at you for pushing him into the pond, he slung you over his shoulder and jumped back into the water.

‘Wha-’ you tried to say, but Alfred pushed your head down so all you were able to say was blub.

You got up again and glared at a laughing Alfred. You splashed some water at him, which made him chase you through the water. You laughed like you hadn’t laughed like in ages. You realised how much you had missed having fun. Wait. Was this actually working?

‘Hey, you two!’ somebody suddenly called, dragging you away from you thoughts. You looked up to see a police officer standing at the shore. ‘Get out immediately!’

‘Oh,’ you mumbled, grabbing your soaked bag and swimming over to the dry shore. Even Alfred didn’t dare to hesitate. This police guy was looking quite angry.

‘Now go home,’ the police officer said. ‘You might get sick.’

You nodded and dragged Alfred along. You heard the police officer say something about silly kids, but you didn’t bother replying. The sun was already setting as you and Alfred walked through the streets of your hometown.

‘I hadn’t expected it, but I had fun today,’ you smiled.

‘Great!’ Alfred grinned. ‘Where do you live? I’ll walk you home, okay?’

You told him your address and he nodded. The wind had started to get a bit cold, making you shiver. Without a word, Alfred handed you his jacket. It was soaking wet, but you put it on anyway, appreciating the gesture.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Alfred smiled as the two of you reached your house. ‘Bye.’

‘Bye,’ you grinned.

(~ Timeskip, veee!)

You spent the next months’ pastime with Alfred. The two of you had gotten really close, and you were sure one was able to have two best friends. You occasionally did your homework, but not always, which often turned out in you spending more and more time in detention. But you didn’t really care, Alfred always was there too. Arthur had told you he almost didn’t recognize you anymore, but he saw that you were having loads of fun with his brother, so he didn’t object. Your grades had gone down a little, but not as much as you had feared at the start of this. But there was one thing that was bothering you. You were developing a crush on your American friend. It kept you awake at night, wondering if he felt the same way about you, but you didn’t know and you were too afraid to ruin your friendship to ask him.

‘Hey Alfie,’ you said, laying next to your friend. You and Alfred were in the park where you had met, this was your favorite place.

‘I told you to call me Hero!’ Alfred pouted.

‘No way that’s ever gonna happen,’ you grinned. ‘But I wanted to tell you that I’m glad we’re friends.’

‘Of course you are!’ Alfred grinned. ‘Everybody wants to be friends with the Hero!’

You rolled your eyes, but smiled anyway. Weird Alfred.

‘You know, _____...’ Alfred started, but his tone was more serious now. ‘I’m proud of you. You’ve developed into a fun-loving person instead of the uptight person you used to be. But there’s one last lesson I’d like to teach you.’

‘What lesson?’ you asked. You had already quit your book club, you didn’t give a flying fuck about your homework anymore, you didn’t work at the store as much as you used to anymore, you were going to parties again, you went to the mall with the guys as much as you could and you were having so much fun! What last lesson could there be? You rolled over to face Alfred, who was staring at the ground. Wait, what? Alfie was staring at the ground? You gently poked his cheek.

‘What’s up, big guy?’ you asked.

He didn’t answer, but just leaned in closer and kissed you. All kinds of thoughts were running through your head, screaming for attention, but you couldn’t focus on anything right now. After a few seconds you realised this was what you had been dreaming of for a while, so you closed your eyes, played along with the kiss and wrapped your arms around him.

‘That’s your last lesson,’ Alfred grinned after he had let you go.

‘Ah, okay,’ you nodded. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t fully understand the lesson. Could you repeat it, please?’

‘Of course,’ Alfie chuckled and leaned over to kiss you again.