Just Taking it Easy (USUK)

Arthur Kirkland felt it was perfectly reasonable for him to worry at a time like this. He was 45, and while some would say it wasn't too old, the Brit knew perfectly well what sort of looks he was getting. The girl serving him was a mere 23, for God's sake. And he'd received enough pitying looks from her for now, thank you very much.

He'd been seated at that little café for about half an hour now, and with each passing moment he was getting more and more convinced that his date wasn't going to show up. At the very strong urging of his friends he'd finally caved and allowed them to make him a profile on a dating site for middle-aged and older people. Which led to this situation, and an empty chair reserved for one Alfred F. Jones. Supposedly.

Call him very old, but Arthur didn't really believe that most people were being truthful on online dating sites. Everyone just wanted to be matched with someone, right? So it was obvious they would...enhance their lives to make them look more interesting. This Alfred person supposedly had worked for NASA for ten years and was an astrophysics professor at some university in the city. He loved cats and dogs and neighborhood barbeques. His pictures showed a blond haired blue eyed man who still had a strong-looking figure, despite his age proclaiming him to be 41. No one should look that good at 41. And no one who looked that good and who had that sort of life should ever be interested in a man like Arthur Kirkland.

Arthur Kirkland, who was small bookstore owner and finger puppeteer by day, lonely old cat man with an unhealthy obsession for romantic comedies by night. There was no way this Alfred would stay longer than a few minutes, if he bothered to show at all.

"Sir, are you ready to order?" the waitress asked him, coming around for the third time. He was sure there was some sarcasm in her voice.

"No, thank you," Arthur replied crisply, clasping his hands together on his lap. "I'm still waiting on that company."

The girl gave him shifty eyes and glanced to the entrance of the café, but luckily moved away without saying anything. Arthur knew what she was thinking though- poor old soul who got stood up, why did he even get his hopes up?

Five minutes. Arthur decided to give this Alfred five more minutes before he stood up and left to go drown his sorrows in the company of his cats and some nice rum. The clock ticked on and four minutes and fifty-five seconds later Arthur was ready to pick up his coat when there was a commotion in front of the café. He glanced up to see the man from the pictures outside, out of breath and with splotches of soot on his face despite his nice clothes.

Somewhat astonished, Arthur sank back into his seat. He'd only allowed Gilbert to put two photos of him onto the website, so he hoped that Alfred would recognize him. Soon enough though Alfred had made it past the door, a small, sheepish grin on his face, and was looking around. The blue eyes positively lit up when they landed on Arthur, and Alfred easily strode over.

"Hi there! You're Arthur Kirkland, right? Gosh, I'm so sorry I'm late!" Alfred let out in a rush, then scrambled to extend his hand. "I'm Alfred F. Jones!"

Good Lord, this man had a lot of energy. Arthur stood and extended his own hand back to Alfred, a polite smile on his own lips. "I am indeed. To be honest, I wasn't sure if you'd show up in the end."

"What?" Alfred looked offended as he gave Arthur's hand an eager shake. "Pass up going on a date with a handsome guy like you? No way!"

Arthur flushed, happy with the complement. Intentional or not, this man knew how to charm. "Well in that case, let's get seated and start."

"Definitely." Alfred took his seat with that same sunny smile on his face. "I am sorry about being late. We were doing a lab and it kind of...backfired. And there was no way I could go on a date looking like that so I had to run home and clean up..."

One of Arthur's eyebrows shot up, and he shook his head at Alfred's questioning stare. "No, no, you just seem to have missed a spot there."

Alfred blinked. "Where?" He started fussing around, picking up his napkin and waiting for Arthur to point out where he still had the soot. "Haha, damn I thought I was presentable. My brother likes to tell me that I never really grew up so I wanted to prove him wrong with this date because you seem like a really nice and grown up and proper guy but-"

"Alfred." Arthur couldn't help a chuckle from escaping his mouth. This man was endearing and entertaining and Arthur only hoped that it went well. "It's fine, I can get it for you."

"Are you sure?" The American hesitantly lowered his napkin.

"Well, yes. It's the date-y thing to do, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah! I hadn't thought of that." Grinning once more, Alfred scooted his chair around a little so Arthur would have access to his face.

As Arthur leaned forwards, he felt something shift in the atmosphere between them. Maybe it was because this was a more intimate gesture, but Arthur thought that everything had become a touch more serious now. With permission he removed Alfred's glasses, and his breath caught in his throat a little when he looked clearly into the other man's bright blue eyes. They crinkled around the edges as Alfred smiled, and a faint blush rose to his face. What a romantic he was, practically getting lost in a pair of nice irises.

"Is everything okay, Arthur?" Alfred asked. There was innocent questioning on his face, but his mouth curled into a tiny smirk.

"I'm..." Arthur hurriedly dropped his gaze and froze once he saw that smirk. Oh, so that's what it was. Of course Alfred knew what sort of effect he had over people. He cleared his throat. "I'm fine."

"Okay, good."

With a small huff, Arthur got around to actually cleaning Alfred's face off. The largest streak of soot was down the American's right cheek, but he had a few more around his chin and even a tiny dash on his forehead. Arthur was interested to know what sort of lab he and presumably his class had been doing. Once all of the soot was gone, Arthur leaned back in his seat and handed Alfred his glasses back.

"I don't want to poke your eye out by trying to put them on myself," he explained, a small smile playing around his mouth. "What a fantastic start to a date that would be."

Alfred let loose a hearty laugh. "Right you are! I had that happen once- luckily they just poked the corner of my eye, and lightly, but that's still not something I want to repeat." He slid the glasses back onto his nose and moved back to his previous position. "Did you take a look at the menu yet?"

"No, I was waiting for you," Arthur replied. "I think the waitress was getting close to kicking me out, if I'm honest."

"Oh." Alfred bit his lip a little, and Arthur marveled at how young he could look. He looked to be barely 35, while he himself already had a few streaks of silver in his hair.

"Alfred, it's fine." Arthur reached a hand across the table to take hold of Alfred's and give it a comforting squeeze. "I daresay it was worth the wait."

It had the desired effect; Alfred immediately brightened and squeezed back. "Really? Well sweet, let's start this date for real."

"Oh?" Arthur's eyebrow rose again. "So everything up to this point wasn't for real?"

"Well-" Alfred paused. "You just seem like the kind of guy that wants everything to be perfect."

Arthur hummed. "That is true. But. I also find it quite...endearing that you seem to be so nervous." At least, he hoped he was reading Alfred right.

"Oh God am I!" Alfred nodded vehemently. "Though then again who wouldn't be? You're so cool and collected and cute- Anyone would be intimidated!"

"Oh stop flattering me." Arthur had to duck his head a bit from embarrassment. There was a smile on his face, though, and he quickly hid behind the menu.

Alfred chuckled to himself. Cute, well-dressed and easily flustered? What a catch! He had been nervous that Arthur would find his somewhat childish personality annoying, but from the looks of it the Brit was charmed. He smiled happily as he skimmed the menu. "Have you eaten here before?"

"A few times," Arthur replied. "But never on a date."

"I'm honored." Alfred gave an easy smile. "So what would you recommend?"

About half an hour later, after more easy banter, they both had their food. Alfred had ordered some mac n' cheese, claiming that one was never too old to enjoy the cheesy pasta, while Arthur was digging into a nice, clean wrap. The both of them were much more relaxed by that point, and Alfred was in the middle of recounting some of his favorite stories from his astrophysics lab when Arthur laughed so loudly that the waitress gave them a dirty glance.

"Oh Lord-" He tried to unsuccessfully stifle his laughs. It took another three minutes until he could breathe properly. "Goodness, I can't catch a break with that waitress today."

"Heh, at least she can't kick you out for loitering now," Alfred offered, his own eyes twinkling with mirth.

"True. But she can kick us out for rowdiness." Arthur sighed and chuckled softly. "But I needed that laughter. Thank you."

"No problem." Alfred's smile widened. "I got to have the pleasure of seeing your face like that, so I guess it's a win-win situation."

Arthur almost choked on a laugh and immediately hid half of his face behind a hand. "Seeing my face like what?"

"So happy. Now c'mere, don't hide that." Reaching out, Alfred gently pried the hand away. "There we go." He tilted his head in thought for a moment. "You know, I bet you could be like a hundred years old and you're still gonna look really good."

"Oh, really now?" Another chuckle slipped from Arthur's mouth. The hand in Alfred's twisted around, and he lightly laced their fingers together. Happy when Alfred didn't pull away, the Brit only tightened his grip. "Are you trying to flatter me again, Jones?"

"And if I am?"

"Well then I would be flattered."

"Well then I would have achieved my goal." Alfred moved his hand away so he could continue eating. "So tell me more about yourself. I hear you're the premier finger puppeteer in the city." Seeing Arthur flush again made the warmth blooming in his chest only blossom more.

"I- I wouldn't go so far as to say premier..." Arthur mumbled modestly. He raised his eyes to meet Alfred's, and the look on the younger man's face was enough to send heat shooting through his veins. "But the children like it, and I suppose that's what matters."

"Yeah." Alfred grinned. "I'll have to stop by for a show sometime. It's in your bookshop, right?"

"Yes. And you? For a show?" Arthur smiled at the thought. "Aren't you just a tad too old?"

Alfred was grinning right back up at him. "Hey. No one is ever too old to enjoy a good finger puppet show. Besides, I can take my niece with me. My brother married this German girl, see, and I secretly think their little girl, Johanna, likes me more." He winked conspiratorially, and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Of course she does. But I'm glad that you'll stop by. It's at-"

"I uhh, already know where it is."

Arthur paused. "You do?"

"Yeah." Alfred grinned a bit. "I might have looked it up and gone past it yesterday morning on my way to classes. I didn't see you in it, which was a bit of a bummer, but it looks real neat!"

Embarrassed that Alfred had already seen it but pleased that he seemed to like it, Arthur nodded. "I'm very proud of it," he said softly. "I started it almost from scratch about fifteen years ago."

"Really? It's so popular! It's like it was always there."

"I graduated with a double major in Business and Literature, so it seemed like the proper direction for me to go in." The Brit flushed more with pride at the compliments.

"I'll say it was." Alfred stabbed down with his fork to get more food and flinched when he heard the screech of metal on bowl. He blinked, surprised that he had finished the food without realizing, then grinned when he saw Arthur was finished as well. "Hey, what do you say we blow this popsicle stand and take a nice walk?" he offered.

"Hmm, that would be lovely." Arthur was in the process of taking out his wallet when Alfred's hand clamped down over his wrist.

"I don't think so. I invited you out, so I pay."

"A-Alfred, please-"

"Nope! You won't change my mind." Alfred stared back evenly at Arthur, and grinned when the Brit was forced to lower his gaze. "Hey, how about you pay for it next time?"

Arthur's heart jumped. "There's going to be a next time?"

"Well, I was hoping there would be." Alfred gave a hopeful smile.

"Yes!" Arthur quickly cleared his throat, embarrassed by his outburst. "I mean- I'd love that, Alfred."

"I'm glad."

The bill was quickly paid, and much to the relief of the waitress, the two of them were soon out of the café. It was gradually getting darker, and the various lights were coming on. They walked side by side, with Alfred's hand inching ever closer to Arthur's. After a while, Arthur noticed it and smiled. He reached out and grasped the hand firmly. Alfred stiffened beside him, then peered down at the Brit and huffed out a laugh.

"I don't mind," Arthur told him, smiling gently back.

"I know. Just wanted to take it easy."

Taking it easy... Arthur liked the sound of that. "This is easy enough, no?"

"It is. I like it." Alfred gave his hand a little squeeze.

Arthur could honestly say that he was happy as they wandered through the streets, simply talking. He didn't like admitting it, but maybe he did owe Francis a thank you for putting up the profile. Alfred was charming and smart and kind, and Arthur could really picture himself spending the rest of his life with the American. Obviously it was too early to tell for sure, but from the way Alfred would occasionally give his hand a little squeeze, they had a pretty good chance for happiness together.