【Mi Ying】that side

"Ah, I shouldn't have taken the fire escape."

Arthur had long since given up counting the number of visits by Alfred, and gradually learned to deal with the inexplicable opening remarks of the Americans: "What do you mean?"

"I should weld a ladder outside the window of the room, climb up the ladder, and say, 'Juliet, why are you Juliet...'" Before he finished speaking, Arthur had already taken the towel he had just brought back from the balcony directly paste on his face.

"Don't be angry. Come, this is a gift from Felici." The American caught the towel with his left hand and handed over the snack box from the Italian restaurant with his right.

"Is he trying to make a new meal again?" Arthur opened the lid of the box, and there were two beautifully made tiramisu.

"It's a gift to congratulate us on being together." Alfred folded the towel and put it back in Arthur's hand, "Tiramisu—'Stay, or take me away'." He deliberately elongated his voice.

"Again... nonsense." The British frowned, his ears felt hot, "Come in."

Since officially walking together, Alfred has naturally become a frequent visitor to Arthur's residence, and the time they spend together has increased exponentially.The added cushions on the sofa, the specially added water cups on the dining table, and the spare slippers that finally came in handy are all proofs that Alfred has penetrated into his life trajectory.

Arthur was used to being alone, both in the old days and when he first moved to town; he felt safe in his private space without outsiders.

But now, in this not-so-spacious area, there are more guys with a strong sense of presence like Alfred from time to time, but they can naturally stay beside each other, eat together, do housework, and have a good time. Time to read books.It was a very relaxed state, more reassuring than being alone.This was a situation Arthur could never have imagined before.

The introverted Englishman had never confided his feelings to Alfred.He still has a lot of unplanned things, such as how should he express his desire to visit the other's apartment if the other party doesn't invite him again, or how to hand over the backup key of his residence.

Before that, out of his consistent sense of responsibility, he believed that the most urgent task was to find an opportunity to report the status quo to Honda, the apartment manager.

"It's just as I expected."

"what?"

Honda, who had finished his morning exercises, straightened up. Arthur looked like a very old man in that movement.The Japanese said: "If you need a spare key, I have it here." The meaningful eyes fell on the British.

"Ah... I can prepare it myself."

Honda looks like a conservative oriental, but he is calm about the fact that they are together of the same sex.On the contrary, it seemed that Arthur's previous psychological construction was superfluous.

"Mr. Arthur may not have noticed it himself," Honda wiped the sweat from his head with a towel, "Since you and Alfred are together, you are much more cheerful than when you first came here."

"...Is that so?" Arthur pinched the hem of his clothes embarrassingly. Whether Honda's observation was too keen, or his own changes were really so obvious, he really couldn't tell as the person involved.However, he couldn't deny the fact that he was not only attracted to Alfred, but also been infected by the other's character.After all, that guy... is so special.He unconsciously pursed his lips and smiled.

"As a friend of the two of you, I am very happy. I wish you all the best." The Japanese stared at him, his black pupils full of sincerity.Arthur nodded shyly.He is still not very good at dealing with this Oriental, but he can fully feel the kindness in the other's words.

As for the content of this conversation, Arthur did not specifically relay it to Alfred.

After he slipped the apartment key into Alfred's jacket and was immediately spotted by the other party a few seconds later, the American boy directly gave him a strong hug: "It seems that you have already talked to Honda." Guess Arthur's cautious style thoroughly.

Perhaps his change was indeed too obvious.

Arthur remembered the scene when the two went to the Portuguese deli together a while ago. The American still picked and picked a lot of food and held a lot of food in his arms, while the gentle Portuguese shopkeeper handed over a tasting platter of ham and cheese to In front of him, let him choose.

At that time, the tall American youth squeezed closer to him on purpose, opened his mouth with an "ah" and winked at him.

Arthur looked up at the owner shyly, who just looked at them with a smile.The British gave up covering up, curled his lips, and put a piece of ham into the American's mouth.

"This ham is delicious, let's buy another pack." The carnivorous American quickly commented after chewing and swallowing.

The owner kindly took the corresponding product from the shelf and handed it to Arthur. Arthur blushed, took the ham and put it in the shopping basket, and said in a low voice, "I made you laugh."

The Portuguese suddenly stretched out his hand and rubbed the British man's hair: "I used to think that you are very suitable."

Arthur was surprised at the sudden intimacy of the other party - they did have a good relationship, but they didn't seem to be familiar with that yet... However, he was not unfamiliar with this intimacy, nor did he hate it.

Alfred, on the other hand, looked proud. He poured the food into Arthur's shopping basket, quickly grabbed the basket, and then took Arthur's hand specially: "Of course!" The voice echoed in the small shop. Very loud.

Their relationship doesn't just spread among friends on a life level.The speed of information dissemination in this small town was astonishing, and Arthur had already fully felt it when Alfred took him to the police station on his motorcycle.

They ran into Matthew who was usually early on the road. The gentle Canadians were not surprised by what happened to them. They just advised Alfred: "Since you are going to use a motorcycle to pick up Mr. Arthur, please strictly abide by the traffic rules from now on. drive carefully."

"I have always been a good citizen who abides by the law." The American took off his helmet and smiled brightly.

"With a record of parking violations and fighting and causing trouble, can you be considered a law-abiding citizen?" The Canadian squinted at the American.

"Brother, you used to cover up my violations, isn't that considered dereliction of duty?" The tone began to be provocative.

"...I'm going to work." Arthur couldn't help interrupting the back and forth bickering between the two North American youths. The effect was good, and the two tall and burly youths immediately shut up obediently.

Arthur winks at Alfred, and the American restarts the engine and prepares to leave.Matthew sighed: "...In short, Mr. Arthur is happy." He turned to Arthur with his usual gentle smile.

As for Arthur's only female colleague, Elizabeth, she expressed strong support for his relationship with Alfred, and even gave him sufficient mobilization and encouragement during the lunch break: "Don't be restricted by the eyes of the world, If there is any discrimination, I will stand up and defend your rights!"

The excited look made Arthur dumbfounded.The "worldly people" in this small town not only did not impose restrictions, but were simply astonishingly tolerant - of course, he was also grateful for this.

What a rare piece of luck.

Thinking back on the reactions of people around him these days, Arthur couldn't help but smile again.He took a few sips from his teacup, picked up the book and leaned back on the sofa.

Alfred's books occupy the other half of the sofa.However, about 10 minutes ago, the college student sitting on the floor with his back on the sofa stopped the progress of the homework.

Another minute, two minutes passed.

The British finally looked up from the book unbearably, and stared at Alfred who was looking up at him: "Aren't you tired of that posture? What are you looking at?"

As soon as the two made eye contact, Alfred smiled: "Look at you."

"Huh," Arthur was no longer so easy to be teased by the straightforwardness of the Americans, he raised his eyebrows, "what's so interesting about me."

"Yes." The American turned over, flexibly turned the pen in his hand, and began to describe it in a realistic way:

"You look good when you read the book."

"If it's a sad episode, you subconsciously bite your lip. When you see an interesting episode, you smile."

"When I see funny plots, I can still laugh a little. When I laugh, my hair trembles and my eyebrows don't frown together. It's very beautiful."

This American who can always challenge the limits of shyness... Arthur was speechless, so he could only bury his blushing face in the book.Alfred deliberately reached out to touch his hair: "Wow, you can't be so shy, Arthur?"

"Shut up, idiot."

"Hey." Alfred stopped teasing Arthur, he picked up the coffee on the coffee table and drank it, then stood up from the floor, "I still have models to do, now I'm going to go back."

The temperature on Arthur's face had faded a little, and he also stood up from the sofa: "I'm going downstairs too. I just happened to be going to the supermarket to buy some fruit."

"Green apple?" The American blinked.

"You'll be bored if you eat that all the time." Arthur laughed, reaching out and pinching the American's face.

"Then I'll accompany you to the door, just in time to go to the garage to get the tools for making models."

Alfred opened the iron garage door and was about to go in, when he saw Arthur poking his chin curiously into the garage, he said directly, "Do you want to come in and take a look?"

"Oh... can I?"

"Of course! This is a public space."

Arthur heaved a sigh of relief, and followed the footsteps of the Americans into the confined space.

The area of ​​the garage is small, simple fire prevention equipment is installed in the corner, the air is not well circulated, and the smell of incompletely evaporated diesel is permeating.Half of the space is occupied by Alfred's black motorcycle, and the other half is occupied by two rows of display cabinets.One row contains locomotive parts, and the other row cannot be seen clearly at first because the incandescent lamp cannot reach it. After getting closer, Arthur realizes that there are many collectibles on it, including ceramic products and copper products. decorations.

"I thought it was just a garage."

"It's a garage and a collection room. Most of them are Honda's antique collection, and some are Gilbert's." Alfred briefly introduced.He walked to the back row of display racks, picked up a handful of long objects and returned to the light: "But this one is mine."

It was a slightly old-looking western flintlock musket, and it was not dirty. If you look carefully, you can see a deep scratch engraved on the body of the gun.

"This ancient gun is troublesome even to load bullets," Alfred casually took off his glasses and hung them on the front of his T-shirt, then put the flintlock on his shoulder, his head tilted to one side, "even the hit rate They're all low."

Watching the young American raise his arms, turn his head sideways and squint his eyes in an aiming posture, Arthur's shoulders couldn't help shaking.

In front of him was the distant and dark twilight, and the raindrops were as thick as ice, making him feel damp and cold all over his body.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy was standing in the wilderness. He was holding a flintlock gun in both hands, and he was aiming and shooting with his head sideways.The boy's mouth opened and closed, and he couldn't hear the boy's words clearly in the torrential rain, but felt the pity in those blue eyes bound him like a spider's web.He was the prey of the net, his throat was entangled with silk thread and he was almost suffocated.

A bolt of lightning pierced the dark clouds, illuminating groups of soldiers in dark blue around them.He couldn't stand up from the mud under him, he could only struggle to raise his head, and the flag with stars floated slowly past his eyes.

The boy's voice whispered in his ear: "Goodbye—bye—"

His heart was pounding, and his temples were throbbing violently.He trembled all over, and could only shout hoarsely: "No——!"

"Arthur? Arthur!"

Alfred shook the Englishman's shoulder vigorously, Arthur suddenly came back to his senses, and was speechless for a while.

He glanced around, still seeing the slightly narrow garage with incandescent lights on, Alfred's black motorcycle parked beside him, and an uncoordinated display case on the right.He raised his hand and rubbed his eyes, only to realize that he had knelt and sat on the floor at some point, and his pants were stained with engine oil.

Alfred had thrown the flintlock aside a long time ago, and was squatting in front of him at the moment, holding his shoulders with both hands, his face was full of concern: "Arthur, are you okay?"

Arthur came to his senses completely: "Ah... I seem to be a little distracted."

What happened to the scene just now... He rubbed his forehead vigorously, and the American stroked his shoulder lightly.It lasted like this for a few minutes, and the pain in his temple gradually subsided.

After his breathing calmed down, Arthur's pale face regained some vitality: "It's probably a migraine...it's not the first time."

"I was really shocked just now. I was still thinking about what to do if it was acute anemia." The American was visibly relieved.

He helped Arthur stand up from the ground, stroking the British man's cheek pitifully: "Honda occasionally suffers from headaches, should you ask him what kind of medicine you need?"

"...Okay." Arthur replied hesitantly.He grabbed the collar of his jacket sadly, then leaned his body towards Alfred, welcoming him into a hug without hesitation.

The Englishman curled up in the arms of the American and lowered his head slowly and feebly.

Drops of water streaked across the petals and fell into the soil.He watered the roses one by one with a watering can.

The summer heat is gradually subsiding, and the air humidity has dropped significantly, which also makes the rosebuds grow faster and faster. It is estimated that these roses will bloom one after another in a few days.

Watching the fruits of his careful care blooming little by little, Arthur smiled.It was almost time to invite Alfred to take a look, he secretly planned in his heart.

"Mr. Arthur, is your migraine better?" After finishing the routine inspection work on the roof, Honda walked towards the British.

"It's all right now. Thank you for the medicine, Honda." Arthur stood up, swept the soil from the gardening apron, and thanked the manager with a little embarrassment.

"You're fine."

Arthur's previous migraines seemed to be just a passing symptom of the hot summer.The painkillers Honda gave him were quite effective. After taking it for about three or four days, his migraines stopped and his sleep quality improved a lot.

His young lover, meanwhile, exhibits a rare display of overcare.After that, Alfred not only supervised Arthur to take medicine, but also forced him to take nutritional supplements for three weeks.

It wasn't until two days ago that Arthur finally couldn't bear it anymore, and spent a vacation to cook for himself, and produced an astonishing number of scones to declare his vigorous energy. Americans were in those black charcoal called "rewards" that were actually more like "revenge" Give up under the attack of cooking and snacks.

Naturally, this matter did not escape the eyes and ears of the residents of the small town. From then on, more cordiality and compassion were injected into the eyes of those watching the British police.

For this reason, Arthur protested to Alfred a little, and of course he was quickly defeated by the other party's smile and kiss.

"Now Alfred and everyone in the police station can rest assured." Honda smiled and leaned down, "These roses seem to be blooming soon. You are really taking care of them."

"Thank you for lending me this place." Arthur said sincerely.

The Japanese stared intently at the plants in the flowerbed, and then slowly turned their attention to Arthur: "Looking at these changes in life, you will feel that time flies. Have you ever wondered about this?"

His smile gradually faded, and his black eyes were as deep as a pool of water. Arthur was almost overwhelmed by the aura of the oriental, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.

The Japanese suddenly came back to his senses, he shook his head vigorously, said "Excuse me" in a low voice, and quickly left the rooftop.

The Englishman crouched where he was, alone in the empty terrace in the twilight.