Hey Baby, I Think I Wanna Marry You.

Mini RPG between Assi and QB ;u; <333

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Alfred F. Jones, self-proclaimed hero, football jock and college freshman couldn't believe what he was about to do. He was sitting at his desk, staring at his computer in a mix of horror and nervousness. Was he really going to do this? How could he think about doing something like this? He was an awesome, heroic dude! There was no way that he could be lame enough to do this.

And yet here he was, sitting there with the browser window open to a dating website. Now, it wasn't that Alfred couldn't get a date. Oh no, he got plenty of offers. The only problem was his disinterest in, well, women.

He didn't hate girls, in fact he had some great female friends but he never felt anything more than friendship towards women. Yeah, he could tell if a girl was pretty but he never thought of them as "hot" or "sexy" like all his friends did.

Which is what brought him to this dating website. He wanted to find a nice guy without letting all his friends know.

Arthur Kirkland was nothing more than an owner of a small bookstore in the lovely streets of London, barely even noticeable with very little customers. While it didn't make the best of profits, the Englishman was still comfortable with his life at the moment. It was perfect, surrounded by the books that he had learnt to love and so much more. Arthur had stepped out of university a few years back with a major in English and he had also started the process of writing a book though honestly, the ideas weren't hitting him all too well.

Still, he was surrounded by what he loved and there was a sense of utter contentment.

Of course, such contentment could never last forever and Arthur found himself thinking of doing one of the most ridiculous things he had ever thought of. Hell, he hadn't even thought about it until he saw an advertisement which boasted about getting couples together from even a distance. White words of "Perfect match guaranteed!" or "Find your dream partner here!" were bolded on horrible pink paper and Arthur soon felt that twinge of wanting to find someone to be with in his heart.

He wanted someone, whether a man or woman, to be with him. He wasn't all that picky when it came to gender though even throughout his twenty-six years of life, Arthur never had a serious relationship. Yet one night stands were starting to lack and truthfully, he hadn't been with another for a few years now. Quite pathetic.

So it was taking that silly motivation that Arthur finally sat himself in front of a computer (damned contraptions) and signed up onto a dating website. It looked horrible but he might as well try. The Englishman quickly filled out his information, grammar as impeccable as always though he made certain to not reveal too much information about himself other than his gender, country, interests, dislikes and other things like that.

"This is absolutely ridiculous." He muttered to himself as he pressed submit and waited. He wouldn't dare post up his picture also, if only because his large eyebrows were rather unsightly and maybe not the best first impression.

After submitting all his information and his preferences - men, he was really looking for men, god this was embarrassing - Alfred sat back a reviewed all the information. Well, he had kept everything truthful except his age. He'd lied and said that the was twenty-three instead of eighteen. Which brought him to his next dilemma.

Did he want to post a picture of himself? He glanced at the mirror on his dorm door and frowned. Everyone always teased him that he looked pretty young, no matter what he tried to wear. Maybe people would think he was still a kid if he posted up a picture of himself and that could cause some real problems.

With a sigh, Alfred decided not to post a picture just yet and if anyone asked, maybe he could lie and say he didn't have a camera or something. It was a lame lie but maybe someone out there would believe it.

Man, he was acting totally lame, wasn't he? Frowning, Alfred started clicking through profiles of other guys that were looking for guys or guy that were looking for a girl or guy.

Hmm... Here was one. Someone named Arthur Kirkland, who owned his own bookstore. Well, that was pretty cool. Clicking on the "Send message" button, Alfred typed up a quick note to the stranger.

"Hey! saw u had ur own bookstore. pretty cool! wanna talk?"

Arthur blinked in surprise when he saw a message come at him so quickly. He honestly thought that no one would be interested in someone like him but he decided to open the message. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should just ignore this site and go on with his lonely life but...he couldn't help but be somewhat curious. What was the appeal of online dating sites?

He might as well try this once.

Reading over the message, the Englishman grimaced at the sight of the sentence. It was...it was absolutely horrid! Who replaced their "you"s with "u" and didn't capitalise the beginning letter of each sentence!? This was horrible! He was extremely close to simply closing out the window and ignoring the man but he decided against that.

Arthur would give this Alfred a shot. The bookstore owner glanced over the information. A man (obviously) who had a preference for other males...twenty-three (not too bad) and he seemed like a pretty good man. Other than his grammar. So the older man soon opened up the reply box and frowned slightly, thinking it out carefully before typing.

"Hello there, Alfred." He started, thinking. He was tempted to write out Mr. Jones but he might seem too formal and too unapproachable if he did that. "I would be delighted to talk with you."

Arthur bit his lip. It was extremely simple and barely any thought to it at all! Also extremely short! He was tempted to edit it but he ignored that temptation as he pressed send.

Okay, Alfred was not going to sit here like an idiot and hope that Arthur replied. No, he was much too cool to do something like that. Instead he would... he would play... solitaire. Yeah, that totally didn't mean that he was waiting for a response.

Oh God, he was so nervous. Arthur was twenty-six (if he was being truthful), which was eight years older than Alfred. The other man even had his own business, while Alfred was hardly more than a kid and a nervous kid at that, who was too scared to be himself around people he knew.

After one game of solitaire, he noticed that his Inbox of the dating site had a new message. Trying not to act excited, in case his roommate came back and wondered what the hell he was doing, Alfred clicked on the message as calmly as he could.

It was a rather short message but Arthur wanted to talk to him! This was great! Except that Arthur had spelled out everything in his message. Did adults not use chatspeak? Oh crap, what should he do?

Deciding to just keep acting like he had been, Alfred started to think of a reply. Hmm, how could he make himself sound totally cool to Arthur?

":) thx for getting bk 2 me so fast! didn't think ne1 wuld wan2 talk!"

Arthur was rather surprised with how quickly this Alfred man replied back to him and he soon swallowed, slowly opening the message. He honestly hoped that this grown man would finally start writing out grammatically correct sentences. Yet as soon as the webpage loaded, the Englishman knew that his hopes were completely dashed into nothing.

Did his writing just get worse? He was extremely tempted to close out the window now and he could even see his cursor lingering around the X button on the corner of the webpage but he finally managed to pull it away.

The Englishman couldn't help but snort slightly at the sight of the sentence, 'didn't think ne1 wuld wan2 talk!". If Alfred's English abilities were any sign, Arthur wouldn't be surprised that no one wanted to talk to him. Yet despite this, he continued on writing because this may very well be one of the only people he would talk to on this bloody site.

"No problem, love." He paused for a moment before frowning. What could he talk about? "So your profile information says you are from the United States? How intriguing. I have never been there so I am rather curious what it is like over there. Any insight?"

So maybe his reply had been a little fast. Alfred frowned and decided that he would take a little bit more time to reply. He got up from his desk chair and wandered to his dorm lobby, frowning at the soda machine. Hmm, did he want a Coke or something else? He debated this very important decision for about a minute before settling with a Coke. It was his favorite drink, after all.

When he made it back to his room, he noticed that his roommate was back. Some loud Danish guy with crazy hair. Damn, he would have to be sneaky about his laptop usage, then. He didn't want the other guy to find out that he was on a dating website, looking for other guys.

Moving his laptop slightly so his roommate couldn't see the screen, Alfred opened up the dating website and checked his messages. There was another message from Arthur. Awesome! Time to reply.

"Hey, i noticed that your replys were always properly typed. guess i should type like that, huh? don't mind any typos! i'm not that good at writing." Frowning for a moment, he thought of what he could tell the other about America.

"well, there is a lot of stuff you can do here. i mean, if you don't like one city theres plenty of others! im in nyc rite now!"

Arthur stood up to grab himself a nice cup of warm tea from the kitchen in the back room of the bookstore as he waited for Alfred's message. He didn't necessarily have a real home but instead he lived in the bookstore on the upstairs level while the kitchen was in the back room. It was small and simple yet he loved it. Though he always had wanted to grow a wonderful English garden in his backyard though there truly was no backyard. So he had to deal with the little window gardens even though he wanted much more than that.

When he finally came back with a warm cuppa of English Breakfast tea as well as one of his favourite Shakespeare pieces in hand, he sat down in front of his desk once more and noticed that there was another message.

He couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved that he didn't have to decode the seemingly alien speak that was given to him though honestly, Alfred's grammar was atrocious! Maybe he could give him a lesson or two. If he could even bear reading this writing for way too long. Arthur smirked a bit at the mention of Alfred not being very good at writing.

"Well no need to state the obvious, twit." He muttered.

"Ah. Is that so? Grammar and writing doesn't matter here. We are here for each other's character, are we not? I would like to get to know you first before judging through our methods of writing." He couldn't help but frown a bit at that. Maybe he was lying a bit through his teeth at that but at least he was staying.

"New York City? Ah, well in that case. I live in London, which is a pretty busy city as well considering everything but I much prefer my old home in York. What is your occupation at the moment, if you do not mind me asking?"

Alfred sipped at his soda and played a few more games of solitaire as he waited for Arthur's reply. He was getting kind of hungry, but the campus cafeteria didn't open for another hour, so he would have to make do with a soda and maybe a bag of chips. Although, that was all junk food and he was trying to make himself look good to Arthur. If he ever did send Arthur a picture, he wanted to make sure that he looked awesome!

Speaking of awesome, he realized that he had a new message from Arthur, which brought about a whole new problem for him. While it was great that Arthur didn't mind his spelling and grammar, the man had asked what he did for a living. Well, crap. Hmm... He could always say something heroic like a fireman or a cop.

Or, hey this was genius idea, he could say he was a grad student. It wouldn't be a total lie, right? Grinning at his awesome plan, Alfred started typing his reply to Arthur.

"glad you don't mind the writing. im no good at it. better at math and sciences.

London, really? thats cool! always wanted to tour the world and london was totally a place to go! does it really rain there alot? i herd it does.

i guess you run a bookstore, huh? well, im a grad student to be honest. not really a job yet."

Arthur frowned a bit when he saw one of his regular customers come into the bookstore though he soon allowed a small smile to pull at his lips as he stood up. "Good day to you, sir." He murmured as he quickly found the book that the man wanted before placing it down.

He was glad that at least some people came by his bookstore no matter how unknown it was in comparison to much bigger stores around. Taking the money given to him, Arthur soon sat down on his chair once more before looking back at the computer. That was the good thing about a self run business. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

The Englishman soon saw Alfred's message once more and even though there was a lingering temptation to cry at the sheer lack of English capabilities this man seemed to display, Arthur kept himself calm.

"Ah? Maths and sciences? What degree are you aiming for? Admittedly, I majored in English though I suppose I don't necessarily need a major to run a bookstore. It's rather quiet though over here." He couldn't help but smile a bit at the interest in London.

"Well if you ever come over here to this side of the pond, there are quite interesting sights that you might enjoy. As for the rain, it does rain quite a bit but there is more of a notion that rain can come whenever it desires. It's quite habitual to carry around an umbrella around wherever you go."

Alfred waited and waited for Arthur to reply before realizing that hey, Arthur did own a business and probably didn't have time to be constantly sitting in front of his computer. Sighing softly, Alfred decided to do some homework, frowning a little as he struggled with his writing work.

After finally finishes that silly little short essay, Alfred turned back to the dating site, grinning when he saw a reply from Arthur. He was really enjoying talking to this guy, and not just because it was someone to talk to. It was a guy who was talking to him because they both liked guys. He didn't have to hide how he felt about the same sex around Arthur and that felt really nice.

Thinking up a response was pretty easy this time. Alfred could talk for hours about what he wanted to do.

"i want to work in astronomy, mostly. ive always loved space and stuff! im not sure if i wanna do research or teach it or something yet but i definitely wanna do something with space. so unless life throws something unexpected at me, this is what i'll do."

"london sounds great. i guess if i ever do get to go there i'll remember to bring and umbrella!"

Arthur had quite a bit of time to actually spend on the computer considering that not too many people liked to drop by to read books or buy them nonetheless. It must have just been the generation. What happened to the good old days where kids actually enjoyed sitting down and reading books as entertainment? Either way, that was besides the point. At least he didn't have to worry anymore about silly things such as homework. While Arthur wanted to do more with his life, he was rather content with running the book store and it was definitely enough to keep him going.

He still didn't really have a clear opinion on Alfred except of the fact that his grammar was atrocious though he seemed to be pretty good hearted. Though he may completely be mistaking that. At least he didn't necessarily have to worry about paedophiles around considering the fact that he was an adult by now. Hell, he was approaching his thirties, which was rather sad when he thought about it. Yet there was a sense of comfort that came with the knowledge that they both liked men. While Arthur went either way, it was still nice.

He soon raised his eyebrows at the mention of astronomy and space. Ah, so maybe a sciences geek or possibly even maths? Well that wasn't too shabby though he didn't know how good this boy was. Yet he was already imagining the image of Alfred. Too tight trousers pulled up much too high, dorky glasses and maybe not too good looking. Stereotypical, yes, but he couldn't help himself.

Ah, he was American. So maybe a bit on the chubby side or maybe just completely round all over. He didn't know.

"That sound absolutely lovely. Well either way, I wish the best for you and I am certain you will do just marvellously." He paused for a moment, lightly running his thumb along the spacebar before pressing it down. "Make certain you do. Hell, some Londoners over here buy umbrellas for a good £430."

He frowned. He didn't know what else to say so he pressed send.

As Alfred waited for a response to his message, he turned back to his schoolwork, smiling when he finally finished his writing assignment. Now that that stupid thing was out of the way, he could focus on his math and science homework. Grinning a little bit, Alfred got to work right away, the problems coming easily to him. While astronomy was his passion, he had always done well in math and science classes, which was a good thing, considering what he wanted to be.

As he worked on his schoolwork, he tried to picture what Arthur looked like. All he knew was that the man was British and owned a bookstore. Well, since he was British, he probably always had a cup of tea with him. Sure, it was stereotypical but Alfred had never heard of a Brit that hated tea. So until Arthur proved him wrong, he would keep the cup of tea in his mental picture of the man.

As for what kind of accent, Alfred imagined that Arthur, being a bookstore owner and liking grammar, would probably speak the Queen's English or something. Maybe he always dressed all proper too and was pale from spending too much time inside with his books.

Chuckling to himself and getting an odd look from his roommate, he turned his attention back to the computer, grinning when he saw that he had a new message waiting for him.

He wasn't sure how much £430 was in dollars but it sounded a lot just for a silly umbrella.

"thanks, man! i'll try my best!" Dang, now what was he supposed to say? There didn't really seem to be anything else to go off of. Frowning, Alfred stared at the screen, trying to think of something to keep their conversation going.

"i know you prolly have lots of favs but whats your fav book?"

Arthur couldn't help but frown slightly to himself as he glanced over at the door. It was a rather slow day today. By now, he would at least of had about fifteen customers but to no avail, he didn't see them anywhere. That was quite a shame but at least it gave him some time to look through this stupid dating site. While the Englishman did love knowing the face of who he was talking to, he was not willing to show a picture of himself up to some stranger. Just his picture may turn people away from actually talking to him though at the moment, he was only talking with one person.

He truly did love tea and they would always be a love of his though his accent wasn't necessarily of the Queen's English. It did have a lovely lilt to it such as most southern English accents seemed to have but nothing as high as that. It was a thick accent, he was obviously English but that was besides the point and of course he dressed properly, no matter where he was at. Admittedly, he was rather pale as well.

He soon noticed the message and couldn't help but smile just a bit.

"Ah, yes. Well, I do have quite a good number of favourites though I suppose I do like all the works of Shakespeare but I suppose David Copperfield is quite exquisite as well. As for you?"

Alfred really was curious as to what Arthur looked like but he was much too nervous to ask for a photo. Not that he was worried Arthur would be ugly or something but because that meant he would have to send his own picture. And like everyone loved teasing him about, he looked like a goofy kid with his big grins. It would make it painfully obvious to Arthur that he was not the age he had said he was. But it was even more embarrassing to say that he was an eighteen year old on a dating site in hopes of meeting guys.

Sighing softly, he finished up his homework as he waited for Arthur to reply to his message. Climbing onto his bed, he relaxed with his computer on his lap, playing random games until his inbox told him that he had a new message.

He chewed on his lower lip as he thought of something that would sound cool to Arthur but then again, Arthur already knew he was terrible at grammar.

"well, i really like the harry potter books. i mostly like movies but those kept me interested!"

Arthur was a bit of a shallow person in the respect that looks played a large part oh his decision making but he supposed that he was glad that he couldn't see Alfred's face. If he could bring himself to get over his horrid grammar, maybe he can learn to like him. Maybe. That is if Alfred was the age he claimed to be.

He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows though when he saw the mention of Harry Potter. Well, he quite enjoyed those actually. Lovely storyline and all that. He smiled a bit at that and eagerly began to type.

"Ah! Really? I love the Harry Potter books. Rather a fanatic myself though it is rather embarrassing to admit that in my age."

While Alfred didn't really mind appearances - hell, he would walk around in sweats and a wife beater all the time if he could - he still wanted to know if Arthur was attractive or not. While he was enjoying talking to Arthur, it would be nice to be able to picture the other man. Sadly, he couldn't work up the courage to send his picture and ask for one in exchange.

Tapping on his laptop, he yawned, since it was pretty late here. Oh well, it was a weekend and he wanted to talk to Arthur some more. When the newest message flashed in his inbox, he smiled and started writing a reply right away.

"you do? awesome! i love how so many people like it so theres fans of all ages and stuff. plus harrys a pretty cool hero huh? though dumbledores cool in a old man sorta way"

While Arthur didn't necessarily mind what one wore, aesthetics were admittedly rather important to him. Well at least they must be able to take care of themselves. He simply hoped he wasn't talking to one of those rounder chaps who was sweaty and greasy from playing videogames inside all day. Now that was rather disgusting if he must say so himself. While he was curious on the man's appearance, he decided to hold back.

After all, they just met.

When he really thought about it, wasn't it late for Alfred? There was quite a bit of a time difference between them though he supposed he couldn't really nag the man about going to sleep. After all, he was not some sort of teenager or anything along those lines.

Soon seeing the message in his inbox, he read through the message before smiling a bit.

"Of course I do. The fanbase reaches quite far if I must say so myself. As for the characters, well...I do not want to go off in a tangent on my opinion on them. That could take days." He smiled a bit. He couldn't help himself.

"Is it not getting a bit late there, Alfred?"

Alfred had a love of video games, yes, but thankfully he also enjoyed a variety of sports that kept him in pretty good shape. At least, he hoped he was in good shape. Frowning a little, he looked down at himself but everything looked the same, so that was a good thing. Maybe Arthur liked sports too... He would have to ask but maybe at a later time, when he wasn't yawning so often.

Rubbing his eyes, Alfred read the new message that had popped up. He smiled a little and began to type up a response.

"well, mayb sum day we can talk about who is your favorite characters! it'll be fun!" He thought for a moment before glancing over at his clock. It was a little past 2 am...

"aw c'mon it's the weekend!"

Arthur had always been the kind of man the absolutely abhor sports. Honestly, they seemed rather pointless to him. He was fit enough, in fact he wasn't that large at all. He was rather skinny by nature, maybe a bit too skinny but he was fit enough for his own liking though he was still pale and a bit too slim and either way he shouldn't really think about it for too long.

He couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows and he quickly went onto a search engine, finding the time difference between New York City and London. It was bloody two in the morning there! With a sleeping schedule like that, he would be surprised if he ever did well on his schoolwork!

"Well, I wouldn't mind that." If he could bear staring at his grammar for any longer. He frowned a bit.

"But that is a ridiculous time to be up. Is it not two in the morning over there? Either way, I have to go manage the store now." Actually, he said that in hopes to get Alfred to sleep and while he did have a store to manage, it wasn't all that important to him at the moment...

Alfred put off asking about sports for now, but he would definitely ask later and maybe even try to convince Arthur to try various different sports. Football was of course his favorite, but he liked basketball and hockey as well. Though his twin was much more into hockey than he ever would be.

Yawning again, Alfred was just glad that he had finished all his work before the weekend. That meant he could focus on sleeping, exercising and talking to Arthur. The last thing was a new hobby of his but he had started to really like talking to Arthur, so he hoped to be able to continue that.

He pouted as he stared at Arthur's message before looking over at his roommate, who was fast asleep. Maybe he really should go to bed...

"i kno its late but i relly like talking to you, arthur. maybe we can talk sum more when i wake up. have fun with your store!"

Arthur couldn't help himself from smiling just a bit as he looked over at the message. Despite the man seeming like an incompetent idiot in some ways...he wasn't all that bad when he really thought about it. If there was any sport that he definitely enjoyed, it was mainly football. The English kind, not that damn American football that the Yanks were always spouting out about.

"Yes, yes. Thank you and get some sleep soon." And with that, the Englishman signed off before heading over to the bookshelves to organise the books even more.

In a way, he didn't really care if someone else messaged him on the site. This Alfred man had started to get his attention and it was nice to say that someone actually liked talking to him. It wasn't often that he got anything like that. Normally he was a rather bore to talk to so it was nice to hear otherwise.

Unless Alfred was being polite of course. For the rest of the day, Arthur just continued on organising his bookstore and attending the customers though the working day would be over in just a few short hours. Yet his gaze seemed to glance back to his computer every once in a while. He simply sighed.

Well, Arthur hadn't said that they wouldn't talk again... With a small smile, Alfred signed off of the website and shut down his computer. He had never thought that he would meet someone so quickly and while Arthur was all the way in England, he had someone to talk to. Someone who didn't care that he was gay...

Blushing a little as he thought about what Arthur might look like, Alfred brushed his teeth and climbed into bed, falling asleep quite easily.

When morning rolled around, Alfred woke up slowly, rubbing his eyes and fumbling around for his glasses. He found them and yawned as he slipped them on. What should he do today...? It was a lazy Saturday... He glanced over at his roommate's bed, smiling to see that his roommate was gone. That meant he had the whole room to himself.

Getting up, he booted up his computer and grabbed a bowl of cereal as he waited for his computer to start up. He wondered if Arthur was still awake... Deciding to send him a message, he smiled happily.

"good morning arthur! well, i dont know if its morning there but how are you?"

Arthur was unfortunately enough asleep by the time that Alfred woke up but it was only a few short hours later that the Englishman finally woke up. He didn't immediately go to the computer though, his mind much too drowsy to actually take in mind that Alfred probably sent him a message. Instead he prepared himself a nice English breakfast and not only that, he also made some tea and grabbed the newspaper for that day.

It was after a moment that he glanced back at the laptop that he realised that maybe he should check it. So hesitantly, he headed towards the computer, turning it on before finally checking the message that was on there. He couldn't help but smile a bit. So Alfred really did message him again. He really did want to talk to him still.

Deep inside, he couldn't help but hope that Alfred wasn't talking to anyone else on the site. He soon opened up the reply box before quickly typing a message.

"I apologise for the wait. It's morning now but good morning to you. I am doing alright. Tired but well. As for you? I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long."

When Alfred didn't get a response right away, he shrugged and decided to go to the gym for a bit. It was a nice day and working up a sweat always made him feel great. As he focused on his workout, his mind forgot about Arthur for a few hours but as soon as he was back at his dorm, a glance at his computer brought his mind right back to the British man.

Going over to the computer, he grinned, happy to see that Arthur had sent him a message. He pulled off his shirt and used it to wipe away some sweat before setting down to reply.

"good morning to you arthur! i just got back from the gym, so you didn't make me wait. im gonna hit the shower so i'll talk to you in a few minutes."

Alfred smiled and hit send before going to shower, letting the hot water clean away the sweat that had accumulated from his stay at the gym.