【Mi Ying】that side

"Are you going to go back in uniform?" Elizabeth looked at Arthur who had packed up the documents.

"Yes." The Englishman answered honestly.Tomorrow is the first time off in half a month. He plans to take the uniform and the unwashed uniform back for cleaning.

He also specifically asked Matthew about the uniform, and the Canadian replied that as long as it was not clearly prohibited in the police code, it would not be regarded as a violation of discipline.Arthur will no longer question such a loose default principle that makes people laugh and cry.He just silently reminded himself "to adapt, to adapt."

"It's a rare vacation, let's take a good rest." The young Hungarian woman has changed into a plain and elegant daily dress, and put on light pink lipstick, which is much softer than her usual police uniform.

"That's a pretty outfit, and it fits perfectly," Arthur complimented her graciously.

"Thank you." The beautiful woman brushed her hair with a smile. Before she left, she asked Arthur again, "You should pay attention to your holidays. Of course, the police department will not prohibit spontaneous overtime work. However, Captain Vaxiu said this The mechanism is unhealthy, so workaholics won’t get overtime pay.”

Arthur smiled and said goodbye to her, thinking that I would not be so self-abuse.He has roughly drawn up a general plan for two days of rotation. First, he will go shopping in the mall to add some cheap and comfortable household items to the new residence. On the second day, he can read a book quietly in the apartment, thinking about nothing, peacefully. live a day.

Half a month has passed since moving to a new house, and Arthur has basically realized his situation: this town is remote, small in size, and not many residents.The police station where he works is sparsely staffed, obviously not a place where great talents can be realized, but correspondingly, there are fewer concerns about personnel struggles.The people in the town have distinct personalities. Although there are some strange places, most of them are peaceful and harmless.He had to admit that he quite liked this rhythm.

When he left the police station, he met Ludwig who was punching the clock-the usual shift time, and Arthur was used to meeting the Germans at this time.The tall and strong night police officer greeted him cautiously, opened the snack box in his hand, and handed it to Arthur: "This is the focaccia made by Feliciano. Are you interested in trying it? Here are small ones. Boxes."

Thinking of the scene where the Germans walked all the way carefully protecting the snack box, Arthur felt inexplicably cute.He took a piece from the box and put it in a distribution box, and thanked with a smile: "Thank Feliciano for me." He just left the police station with a big bag of clothes and a small snack box in a happy mood.

It's not too late.

When passing by the French coffee shop, he squinted his eyes and looked at the dessert cabinet from a distance through the floor-to-ceiling windows-he really likes sweets, even if he looks at it with a critical eye, the French desserts are fine. Picky—he walked into the store naturally and looked at the pastry cabinet.

Gilbert was sitting at the counter, he turned around and greeted Arthur loudly with a smile.

Arthur nodded, and Francis asked in surprise, "Oh? It's this time, isn't the young master's job over yet? He's still wearing a uniform?"

Arthur was used to the owner of the coffee shop addressing him by that address. He walked slowly towards the main counter and replied casually: "The uniform must be taken back to be cleaned."

"Oh, miserable bachelor life~" the Frenchman whistled and winked.

"Shut up, stinky beard." Disdainful to respond to the fancy accent of the Frenchman, after putting down the items in his hand, Arthur sat directly in front of the counter, "I want a piece of new raspberry fruit tart."

"Don't you have a snack made by the Italian brother?" Gilbert leaned over curiously.

The British blushed, and he curled his lips and replied, "This is not a conflict."

Gilbert shrugged, and continued to drink the drink in his hand, there seemed to be a faint smell of alcohol on his body.

Arthur wondered: "This coffee shop...is it still serving alcohol to the guests?"

"Huh, so you don't know? My side is a bar after closing, and acquaintances can come to drink at any time." The Frenchman put the snack in front of Arthur, and attached a beautiful knife and fork, with a look of course.

Arthur digested the information quickly, but still couldn't help rolling his eyes at the Frenchman.

Gilbert shook the wine glass in his hand at the British: "Since your work is over, would you like a drink too?"

Arthur looked at the dessert in front of him, thought for a few seconds and then shook his head: "Next time." He really likes to drink, especially if you have a drink after work, it is really refreshing.But an empty stomach and the desire to try a new dessert prevailed at the moment.

Gilbert didn't care, and directly talked about the failure of his new car. He said that he just called his responsible brother and Alfred, and the two of them worked together to repair the car easily.

Arthur didn't have a strong interest in Gilbert's private affairs, but when he heard him mention Alfred, he was still a little curious: "He... Alfred said that he can repair locomotives, so he can repair cars."

"That guy is amazing, he has good hands-on skills and a bright mind," Gilbert replied, tapping his finger on the table with the music in the store, "Although the university in the suburbs is quite poor, the aerospace course is not for just anyone. You can learn it all.”

"You know him quite well." Arthur put a small piece of tart cut into his mouth, and the taste of raspberries was sour and sweet.

"After all, we've known each other for a long time," Gilbert squinted at Arthur, "I think you're quite curious about him."

"It's nothing special..."

Arthur's rebuttal was a bit weak. He admitted that he did have a different curiosity about Alfred than others—and also had a different and wonderful sense of familiarity with others.

In the past two weeks, he has gotten acquainted with that American neighbor very quickly.As long as they meet, they can always chat a few words.

Alfred was always cheerful and enthusiastic, but he didn't often bring up his own affairs - if the person he was talking to didn't ask questions - and Arthur was usually a person who didn't take the initiative to ask people about personal matters.

Francis teased: "You young master is really awkward. Don't you live together? If you're curious, you can ask him yourself. That kid is very generous and rarely hides it."

Arthur stared: "Don't use that strange term! We are just residents in the same apartment, and we don't meet every day." But he didn't deny the "curiosity" that the French said.

"It's true that anyone will be there," Francis waved towards the door, Arthur turned his head, and saw Alfred striding in with a sports bag on his back and a large equipment bag in his hand, as if What heavy loads.

Seeing a few familiar faces in the store, the American greeted them with a cheerful expression, and sat down directly next to the British in the empty seat. When he put down the heavy object in his hand, the pocket made a dull sound.

Francis couldn't help complaining loudly: "Hey, the floor of my brother's house is about to be smashed through by you."

"Did you just come back from some construction site?" Arthur looked at the heavy bag with a little playfulness.

"No, these are the tools I bought in the store for making models." Seeing Arthur's puzzled face, Alfred added, "School requirements."

But the American's focus is obviously not here, he tilted his head slightly: "It's the first time I've seen you in a police uniform." Sky blue eyes looked at Arthur with interest through the lens.

"Yes, is it..." Alfred's gaze was too straightforward, and Arthur was a little uncomfortable to be seen.He stood up awkwardly: "What do you want to eat, I'll get it for Francis."

"Hey, no need," Alfred also stood up. He reached out to grab Arthur who had walked a few steps, but because of the too violent movement, the other arm was thrown back directly to the stool beside him. The stool was overturned and smashed into the side of the beautifully decorated glass cabinet.Fortunately, he reacted quickly and turned around in time to stabilize the damaged furniture.

Arthur was a little puzzled by that action as if toppling dominoes. He frowned and looked at the perpetrator of the noise: "What's the matter with you?"

"Uh..." The American looked away from Arthur, he scratched his hair, with an embarrassed expression, "Oh, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me." Arthur thought it was funny.

"You should apologize to me!" The French owner of the coffee shop protested loudly, "Please control that instant explosive force a little bit!"

"Yes yes, sorry, Francis."

Gilbert patted the table and laughed loudly: "Boy, you can't do this!" While mocking Alfred, he winked meaningfully at Arthur, making the British even more confused.

The American youth simply ignored them, picked up the menu from the table and ticked it off, and dealt with the slightly chaotic scene in a cold manner.

After paying, Arthur picked up the bag and snack box and prepared to leave the coffee shop.Alfred finished his food early, and when he saw Arthur stand up, he also said goodbye to the others, stood up and walked out.

"Are you planning to go straight back to the apartment now?"

"Yes, you too?"

"Um."

Arthur looked up at the darkened sky, and Alfred's conspicuous heavy motorcycle was parked at the door of the coffee shop—in the solid line area of ​​"no parking", he frowned.

Alfred followed Arthur's line of sight, and finally realized something was wrong: "...No way."

"Although it's not on duty anymore, I didn't bring an electronic summons machine," Arthur said, taking out a handwritten summons book and a pen from the pocket of his uniform jacket, and said in a merciless tone, "But I have a backup, and the signed ticket is still valid. .”

"Forgive me, Elizabeth and Matthew never issue tickets outside of work hours."

"Rules are rules. You're not nearsighted enough to see this 'No Parking' sign?"

"You know I'm not nearsighted."

"That's an intentional violation, and the crime is aggravated." Arthur tore off the written ticket and pasted it on the heavy locomotive that was found to be violating the rules, and glanced at Alfred with a slightly mocking look.

Alfred shook his head, sighed, and his tone was not too depressed: "Are all British people as rigid and unreasonable as you?"

"The British just respect professional ethics and think that Americans who park illegally and hinder road safety should be punished." Arthur replied word by word.

"Okay, okay, I remember." The American tore off the ticket and stuffed it into his pocket, put his large equipment bag on the back of the motorcycle, stepped on the motorcycle, and looked back at Arthur's outfit: "Need me to carry it by the way." Do you have a ride?"

They were close neighbors, and it was a kind and reasonable invitation.

But Arthur still couldn't hold back and asked: "Don't you think this kind of behavior is a bit masochistic? You just received a ticket from me."

"This and that are two different things. Don't you think so?" Alfred started the engine and smiled back at Arthur, showing his teeth. "And I'd love to."

He handed the helmet to Arthur, who was no longer polite, took the helmet and put it on: "Then I will trouble you."

On the way to push the motorcycle into the garage of the apartment, Alfred stopped: "There seems to be something wrong with the headlights, Arthur, you go first."

Arthur didn't answer, he put the luggage on the ground, took out his mobile phone with limited functions but extremely long-lasting power, turned on the flashlight button, and bent down to provide lighting for the Americans.

Alfred was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. He took out a screwdriver and a spare battery from the huge equipment bag, and used the light source to remove the headlights of the motorcycle and replace them.

Arthur observed the young college student focused on repairing the machine. His hands looked broad and thick, and his movements were skilled and agile.

After the maintenance, the American packed up the parts and wiped his hands on his clothes: "Thanks, Arthur."

"You're welcome."

"I wanted to say it when I was in the coffee shop," Alfred raised his hand and scratched his head—it seemed to be one of his habitual movements—and his eyes flicked from Arthur to his eyes. On his face, "...you look good in this uniform."

The blue pupils were shining brightly, staring intently at the Englishman.

There was an emotion in it... Arthur couldn't quite identify it.

The British felt a little embarrassed, and unconsciously stammered: "Thank you, thank you for your compliment." The other party's overly straightforward words made him feel awkward.He picked up his belongings, just wanting to get out of this embarrassment quickly: "Then, I'll go back first."

Alfred just smiled, "Good night."

"Good night."

Arthur walked towards the apartment with his head down, without looking behind him.

American smiles are always handsome and sincere.They had only known each other for half a month, but Arthur felt that the thick blond hair and sky blue eyes were unbelievably familiar - so familiar that he was inexplicably shy and had a faint heartache.

He couldn't explain the sudden complex emotions.