Long ago, Do you remember?

//Summary//
USUK, Highschool AU, Fluff, Oneshot. Arthur meets a mysterious boy who calls himself 'hero' and they become good friends in just one week. Then the so called 'hero' moves away after a family divorce, and for ten years Arthur thinks the boy has forgotten about him. Until one day in the autumn…

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Before you start reading, beware that in order to make this storyline possible, I had to make the age difference only 1 year, instead of four. So Alfred is only about 1 year younger then Arthur. Enjoy!

If there's any typo's, please tell me, it's non-beta.

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I don't remember much about my childhood friends. Well, not from my real friends that is.

I did have friends, lots actually, but as I grew older, I started to notice I was the only one to be able to see them. People told me they were 'things' I made up in my mind because I was lonely, and thus they wanted me to get so called real friends.

I never really wanted to be a bother to anyone, so I did as they asked; I went searching for a real friend.

But even after searching for about two years I still never found one.

Yes, the kids were nice to me, at least most of them, but I can't say I would miss them if they weren't around, and I was sure they thought the same way about me.

Well, that was until my sixth summer. It'd been long, warm summer holidays, and this was one of the last weeks before school would start again. It was then, while I was sitting in the garden and reading some children's book out loud for my 'imaginary' friends, that I suddenly heard a crackle come from the tree that I was leaning against.

I then looked up to see what or who made the sound. I expected to see a cat or squirrel, but instead I stared right into the bluest eyes I've ever seen. They turned out to belong to a boy that was lying on one of the bigger branches of the tree, right above me.

We stared in each other's eyes for a while until I decided to break the silence;

"What are you doing there? It's dangerous and it'd prohibited, this is my garden, you aren't allowed to be here without me inviting you!" I said, feeling a bit afraid by how the boy had sneaked into my favourite part of a house that wasn't even his.

"I was listnin' to yer stories. They're awesome," the boy stated, starting to climb down the tree, "Nice to meet ya! I'm a hero!" he continued once he dropped himself on the grass and shooting me the brightest smile I've ever seen. It fitted the happy shimmering in his eyes.

I must say I was a bit stunned by his forwardness, but eventually I managed to start talking again.

"Nice to meet you, too. My name is Arthur Kirkland," I said a bit shyly, still not sure what to think of the boy as I looked at him; he had to be around my age, maybe a bit younger, but he was a lot more masculine. Asides from his sky blue eyes and nicely tanned skin (very different from the white skin I, myself, have), he had dirty blonde hair with a cowlick sticking up. It looked a bit weird, but it definitely fit him.

"Wow, yer name sounds like some royals'! Can I call ya Artie, then?" I heard the boy say.

"No-!" I tried to say, but the boy already beamed on;

"Whoah, or I can call ya 'Eyebrows', since yers are huge, dude!"

I glared at him in return now. The boy was very rude! It's not my fault my eyebrows are a bit bigger then usual. They will grow smaller as I grow older anyways, right?

"Don't call me that! None of these names!" I said, the boy gave me a pouty face in return, "Just call me Arthur, since that's my name."

"Yeah, whatever," the boy mumbled as he picked up the book I dropped onto the grass, "Continue readin' please, I like listenin' to yer stories,"

I stared at the book in his hand, and then grabbed it, opened the page where I stopped, and continued to read while the boy listened to me with full concentration. I don't know why, but I just let the boy sit there. It's been the first time I felt this nice. This has to be the feeling you get when being with real friends, I thought.

It'd been a week, that these things happened. He came by every morning and went away every evening. We stayed together all day long. He enjoyed listening to my stories, and I enjoyed having someone to spend time with. Also since my parents were pretty happy about me finally finding a friend.

The last day of the week, it's been a Sunday when we met so right now it was a Saturday, he asked me to come with him to his tree house. He said he'd found it after some other kids abandoned it, and now it was his 'secret hero-hideout!' as he called it. He'd made up some stupid password even. I don't really remember it though.

What I do remember was that the boy seemed kind of sad. I thought it was quite odd, since in the whole week I'd known him, he'd never once been sad. But I decided it was none of my business, so I better leave it be.

We arrived at the tree house he told me about, and he climbed up first, using some nails that were sticking out of the tree. I didn't really expect them to be strong enough to hold me, but after I saw that they could keep the 'hero' from falling, I decided it was strong enough to keep me from falling as well. That, I noticed later, was a wrong decision.

After I climbed up the first three of the nails, I could hear some crackling, but not thinking much of it I continued to walk up. As I almost reached the tree house, which was about four meters from the ground, I could feel my foot slip.

The nail at which my foot was placed, broke after it'd been stuck in the tree for ages, and I could feel how the gravity slowly got it's hold on me, and dragged me down.

I closed my eyes, preparing to feel some harsh pain in my shoulders, head and back, but instead all I felt was a strong, warm hand grabbing mine.

I clenched my eyes shut in order to still prepare to fall, but I didn't. the strong hand soon got accompanied by another one and I could hear the 'hero' to tell me to grab the side of the tree house's floor. I did and eventually, with some effort, I ended up sitting at the tree house. I was a bit out of breath, both to the nerves and the physical effort that I wasn't used to, but I was happy to know I was save. Maybe this boy really was a hero?

"Wow, Artie, be more careful next time! If I, a hero, weren't here to save ya, ya'd be all wounded 'nd stuff…" He said, still with a bit of a sad smile on his face. I glared at him; after all it was his fault I climbed up in the first place.

After that he told me a few things he liked and all. Mostly about superheroes and how he'd been enjoying one of the stories I'd read to him. The time had passed so soon, we were almost running late for dinner.

We both got out if the tree house, with no problems for some reason, and stood there for a bit, just staring at each other.

"So, I'll see you again tomorrow?" I asked, since we usually would.

"Uhm, I don't think we can. Mom's goin' on a trip tomorrow, she said, and I'm gonna go with her. Dunno when I'll be back," he replied, and I figured that might be the reason why he had this sad look.

"Well then, I'll see you around when you get back, okay?" I asked, also feeling a bit sad. I didn't knew I grew so attached to his presence in such a short time.

"Yeah, sure!" And the 'hero' gave me a big smile in return. I was sure I'd see him again.

But, as in most tragic stories, he didn't ever return. I'd been waiting until school started, and even after that I kept waiting underneath the tree where I used to read him stories, and I even waited in the abandoned tree house sometimes, but he never came back.

My parents had told me his parents had divorced and he had to move away with his mum and wasn't allowed to see his dad again, and thus he never came around here anymore. But still I felt hurt; he knew my address, he could've easily written me a letter. Or he could've asked my parent's phone number, or at least try to keep in contact. But in the end, as I grew older, I figured he probably didn't want to be friends with me anymore.

Now, ten years later, I still haven't heard a thing from him.

It made me sad to think about the fun time we spent back then, even if it were only a week. Mostly because he was the best friend I've ever got. I did get some other friends in the years that passed, but none as good of a friend as he was.

Right now I was sixteen years old and attending a high school in the nearby city.  My life was as boring as all other student's, but there's never changed something big. I still kept my 'imaginary' friends around, and my interest for reading never wavered, but nothing much else happened.

That was until at some point when I was, after I arrived home from a long day of school, sitting under the usual tree. Right now the tree was already losing it's leaves since it'd started to become autumn , but it was still pleasant to sit underneath it.

I was reading a book I borrowed from the library, and felt completely at ease sitting there, enjoying the light breeze that blew in my face.

But then I heard a sound form above me, as if something was trying to move around on the branches of the tree. I didn't really expect anything from it; it was probably the wind any way. And with that thought I continued reading.

Suddenly I saw leaves falling onto my pages. It annoyed me and I looked up to the tree, and I was shocked when I saw him;

It was a boy, maybe a bit younger then me, but he was build bigger. He probably worked out a lot. For a second he reminded me of the boy from ten years back, but I realised it couldn't be him. After all, that boy hadn't worn any glasses, and he'd not even tried to contact me for all these years. No way he'd suddenly come see me now.

The boy smiled at me from above, and I just stared back. I was surprised to see him suddenly swing from the tree by his arms, and land next to me. I stood up, not really sure what to do and if he' really was as nice as he looked.

"Yo, I'm Alfred Jones," he suddenly said, stretching his arm out to shake hands. but instead of grabbing his hand, I just held my book close. The boy seemed a bit sad.

"Well, whatever," he tried to shrug off the awkward situation, "How're ya doin'?" he asked me with a grin on his face. He seemed very happy to see me for some reason, but I couldn't understand why.

"I'm fine, thank you, now if you'll excuse me," I replied, wanting to walk off. I didn't know this boy and he was definitely up to something. He was way to friendly, and I didn't like people I didn't knew. It was none of his business anyway about how I was doing.

But as I walked past him, towards the house, I could feel him grab my shoulder. I turned somewhat so I could at least face him.

"Don't ya remember me?" he sked, a sadder expression on his face then before, "I'm Alfred! Alfred F Jones, ya remember right?"

I stared at him. I didn't recognise him, and I was sure I'd never spoken to him before.

"Sorry, I think you're mistaken. Now please let go of my shoulder, I'm going inside to study," I said, tuning towards the house again.

"Ya haveta be kiddin' right? Who's gonna study at such a nice day?" he asked, still not letting go of my shoulder.

"I am, since I want good grades. Now let go of me," and when saying that I shrugged my shoulder away from the other boy's hand. I walked towards the house, not glancing back and ignoring him as he kept calling for me.

The rest of the day I sat in my room, glancing outside sometimes to see that he eventually had gone away, though I didn't actually see him leaving, so I had no idea where he went to. But at least he wasn't bothering me anymore.

That night I'd felt a bit sorry for him. After all, he didn't mean to mistake me for someone else, but still he crept me out the way he was acting as if we were best friends. I decided to not bother about it too much, it was none of my business after all, and I fell asleep.

I woke up by my alarm, and as usual I gave a dark growl before I got myself to get up and dress for school.

I knew that in England I would have to wear a uniform, but since this was the US I was free to wear whatever I wanted. Eventually I wore a nice pair of jeans, a dress shirt and a comfortable pullover that wasn't too warm, but still a bit warmer than without one.

I'd eaten my breakfast as usual; some toast with jam and a nice, big mug of tea. I wasn't much of a morning person, and thus I always drank more tea in the morning. After all it always helped me to cheer up.

I'd put on my shoes as usual, same with my jacket and I grabbed my bag, saying goodbye to my mum and then leaving the house.

I walked out of the gate and alongside the road, until I suddenly heard someone yell from behind. I didn't think it was meant for me anyways, and just put on my headphones as I made my way towards the bus stop. It wasn't like anyone would be waiting for me.

It surprised me when suddenly my headphone was removed from my head. I thought it were bullies and I turned around with a deadly glare on my face. It soon changed back into a surprised expression though when I noticed I was, instead of looking into the eyes of some group of guys, looking straight into the face of the same boy with glasses that had mistaken me yesterday.

"Yo, Artie, wait for me, will ya?" He said, I was stunned.

"It's Arthur, not Artie," I glared at him again. "And how do you even know my name?" I asked it without even thinking. I was just surprised about him knowing my name, I didn't even think about being polite or the like.

"Wow, see I knew it was ya! Don't ya remember me?" there the guy was again, asking me if I remembered him. But I was sure; I didn't.

"I've never met you before, I'm afraid," I started walking faster; I was running late, and missing the bus was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. The boy just followed me.

"But it's really you, Artie, I can tell!" the boy kept talking. I felt annoyed.

"Sorry, but I don't know anyone by the name of Alfred nor Jones. Now if you'd please stop following me around," I walked even faster, glad to almost arrive at the bus stop. There would be more people waiting, and it was crowded enough to hide myself between them, away from this creepy, stalking boy.

"But Artie!" I ignored him. Arriving by the bus stop I quickly decided to jump into the over-crowded bus and try to hide myself from him. And it seemed to work.

The rest of the way to school I didn't encounter him nor did I hear him call my name. Or that horrible nickname he uses.

It seemed he also went to another school, as I didn't see him get out of the bus at the stop where I was now standing. I didn't look long though, and decided to ignore it and just go to class.

The day had went very nice and peaceful. The teachers weren't too horrible, and the classes were mostly interesting. Even PE went by fast.

It turned out that Kiku, someone I considered as a good friend of mine, was sick, and Francis was absent, though nobody knew why. I had some ideas, though I'd rather not share the details and thus I let it be.

They were the ones I got along the best in school, even though Francis could often annoy me to no end. But he was okay, if he'd not act too perverse.

It was a bit sad I had no one to talk to about the boy that kept stalking me around, but I would be able to survive without them, I figured.

Right now I was standing at the bus stop, waiting with some of the other people from the school to be picked up and driven back to the stop the nearest to our homes.

It seemed that Alfred wasn't in the bus, but that didn't bother me; it was very relaxing for me now. The bus wasn't crowded and I even got home faster then usual with the traffic being not too bad. I figured it had to be a good day.

I walked home, like I did every day, and decided it'd be a nice day to read under the tree again. It was a bit colder then yesterday, but still bearable. And if Alfred were to come around, I'd just tell him to leave me alone.

I grabbed the book from the library again and walked downstairs. I did keep my coat on though, the breeze was a bit too cold to not keep it on, especially when you were sitting still.

It took two hours, but eventually, as expected, the blue-eyed blonde was watching me again from the branch above me.

"Jus come down there, will you?" I said, facing the boy sitting above me, "I don't know you and I don't want to you disturb me or go into someone else's garden. Trespassing is prohibited,"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the boy apologised, "It's just that I really enjoy seein' ya read. Brings back memories," he swung down again, landing nicely on his feet.

"I don't care if it brings back memories for you. I don't know you, and I don't want you to stalk me around," I said with an angry voice. He needed to know not to mess with me.

"But Artie, do ya really not remember me?"

I looked at him. Well, more like glared at him. How could a boy be this dense?

"No, I don't know you, now get off our lawn or you'll be in trouble," I stormed off, not hearing the boy as he said something to me. I didn't care what he said, as long as he'd just leave me alone.

The next day I was left alone. Actually I'd expected for Alfred to show up anyway, despite my outburst yesterday, but it seemed the boy had finally understood.

The walk to the bus was boring, and so was the rest of the day. It was almost as if I didn't have any friends. As good as my day was yesterday, as sad as it was today.

I decided to bring back my book to the library, and jumped off the bus earlier then I'd normally do. I made my way downtown towards the Centrum of the city where the big library was.

As I was inside, I first returned my book, which was done very quickly. I decided to find myself a new book to read and walked down the big shelves with books and comics.

American comics. About superheroes and their powers. About planes and fighter pilots. About all these 'wicked' stories, as the 'hero' had told me all those years ago.

Then it struck me. What if the 'hero'…

I looked back at the comic books and stared as my memories became clearer.

What if the 'hero' from back then, was the same boy as Alfred? They had the same colour of hair, and definitely the same colour of eyes…

I remembered it! It had to be Alfred, no way around it! I didn't recognise at first since it's been so long and he hadn't worn glasses back in these days, but I now remembered the sky-blue eyes of his. The eyes that could make you think you were drowning in the deepest sea, or flying through the highest clouds. These sparkling eyes.

Without even borrowing a book, I ran down to the bus stop, waiting for the bus to pass. I was glad when it arrived. I really, really had to apologise to Alfred, after all these years he'd finally gone searching for me, and I just said I didn't know him.

How stupid of me.

Though it was also partly his fault for never telling me his real name as a kid. I only knew him as the 'hero'.

When I was home I ran outside towards the tree we'd always met. I was nervous, nervous for him either showing up or not, nervous about him forgiving me. Nervous about if he didn't contact me on purpose for all these years.

It was starting to become dark, but I didn't leave the tree. I really felt bad about it all. I'd missed him for ten long years, and now he was back I didn't even recognise him. How could I call us best friends like this?

My parents had called me for diner, and I quickly ate some just to make them happy –I didn't have much appetite- but soon I sat outside again. It was completely dark now, though the lights in the backyard lit up some parts of the flowers that were planted everywhere. It gave a really nice and comfortable feeling, and soon I could feel my eyes close a bit.

I fell asleep against the tree, just like that. I dreamt about the past, of the one week with Alfred that had made me so happy. About the tree house, and wondered if it would still be there. I dreamt about books I've read to him, about someone trying to wake me-

Wait what?

I could feel how someone rudely started to shake my shoulders in order to wake me up. I didn't enjoy it to be woken up like that, and as I opened my eyes I gave an angry look. Until I saw who it was.

Even in the small and few lights of the garden, I could still easily recognise Alfred's sky-blue eyes and his dazzling grin.

"Alfred…" I said with a dreamy voice. I wasn't fully awake yet.

"Ah yer awake now, Artie. Ya were sleepin' so peacefully I didn't want to wake ya up, but it was gettin' cold 'nd stuff so I figured I'd just wake ya anyways," he whispered, not to disturb the neighbours.

"Alfred, I'm sorry," I interrupted him, but he just looked at me with a questioning expression, "I'm sorry I didn't recognise you. I remember now, you were the one who claimed to be a hero, who'd promised me to come back, but you never did," I sad with a voice that sounded a lot softer and sadder then I intended it to do.

"Hey, it's okay. I figured ya wouldn't do it on purpose," he now tried to comfort me by cheering me up, "Hey let's try gettin' back to that tree house again, tomorrow. See it it's still standin',"

"Yes, that's a great idea," I said, still a bit nervous about if he'd really forgiven me. But I immediately looked forward to it. I stared back in blue eyes again for a bit, until we were suddenly interrupted.

"Arthur, dear, it's one at night, please come inside, even if it's Saturday tomorrow!" I could hear my mum yell from the back door.

"Yes, I'm coming," I said, "See you tomorrow around ten at this tree then?" I asked Alfred.

"Ten? But that's so early!" he whined.

"It's either then or not," I scoffed, he could be such a child!

"Okay, okay, sorry Artie, I'll see ya tomorrow then,"

"Yes, see you tomorrow," and with that said we both walked off. Mum asked me who it was, and I told her about Alfred.

"Oh how great for you, I hope you have fun tomorrow. Take some lunch or money with you, you might be out all day," I just nodded and wished her goodnight.

The next day arrived soon after I slept well. I quickly grabbed some sandwiches my mum had made for us last night and put it in the messenger bag I took with me. I walked towards the tree, book in hand, deciding to read the last half hour until Alfred would arrive.

Make that forty five minutes, since he was about fifteen minutes later then we agreed on. He hadn't changed a bit…

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" Alfred said, running towards me from the gate that I'd opened, "My alarm went off 'nd I shut it off 'nd stuff, and when I woke up again I realised it was already four past ten! I hurried 'nd stuff, 'nd I'm still late! I'm so sorry," he said. I only understood half of it with him catching his breath –he seemed to have run quite a long distance- and the speed. But I figured he didn't mean any harm and decided to forgive him for once.

The air he breath out when talking made small puffs of condense in the sky, quickly vanishing. It had to be the coldest morning so far, despite it being so peaceful and nice yesterday…

"Just make sure not to ever be late again," I said, softly smacking my book against his head as I stood up, "You ready?"

Alfred nodded, his usual smile on his face. It made me blush a little.

"All right then, let's go," and we started walking towards the small forest where the tree house used to be. I figured it was a very silly idea to go there, after all there was no way the house would be there, and even if it was it was probably almost broken down so there was no possibility of being able to take a look. I hadn't forgotten the last time when I almost fell four meters down.

But despite that it was complete rubbish to go here, it still felt nice. It felt good to be with my childhood friend again. Even though we'd only seen each other for one week back then, it felt as if we were best friends and knew everything about each other.

We walked for a bit until we both saw the tree the wooden house used to be. But instead of a house, it now looked more like some rotten planks. It looked sad and forgotten, almost as if it'd never excised as a tree house but only as a mess.

We both stood still. We didn't know what to say, so instead we just looked. We started to remember our first time being here, the things Alfred had told me and the things I'd told him. How he tried to scare me with bugs and how he'd caught me so I didn't fall. Then Alfred spoke up;

"…Really sad lookin', huh?" I just nodded. I didn't have any other words for it then sad. it looked forgotten, as if it never knew any friends. It made me a bit happier, once again, to remember I had Alfred. He'd come back for me, he'd remembered me, he'd-

Suddenly I could feel a warm hand grab my own, cold one. I shivered from the sudden shock of warmth that spread from my hand to my heart and through my whole body.

"Wa- wha…?" I tried to ask Alfred, but I couldn't say anything. He put his finger on my lips.

"Ssh, don't say a thing, let me explain," I just stared back into these eyes of his. It was as if they made me freeze, I couldn't resist them.

I gave a quick nod and he started talking.

"I've moved a lot of times, ever since my parents divorced, but I never forgot 'bout ya. I really did search for ya, but my mom didn't want me to, since she thought I'd try gettin' in contact with my dad. But since I told her I wanna go to college around here, she eventually agreed on lettin' me stay here, at my aunt's house. That was three years ago," he told me, I just stared back into his eyes as he spoke on, "All these years I've been watichin' ya, not like a stalker, but I just watched ya whenever ya came across. Ya didn't seem to recognise or even pay mind to me though. Eventually I decided to speak to ya, and that's when ya told me to go away,"

My eyes grew wide once I realised he'd lived so close for over three years.

"And, really, Artie, I didn't intend to, but I kinda… started to like ya," he now looked away with a blush and I could feel how my own cheeks started to burn. My tummy started to feel all tingly and warm and I felt weird.

I felt nice, but weird. It was as if his words had made my heart go faster and my cheeks go red. But that couldn't be right? We only had known each other for a week, and a few days, and even a long period of time in between. Why did it always feel so familiar with Alfred, as if we'd known each other all our lives.

"I, uuhm, I didn't mean to make ya think I'm a creep," Alfred said with a sad voice as he saw me staring into the forest, avoiding his gaze, "It's okay if ya don't like it, but please don't-"

"Shh," I now said, this time I was the one putting the finger on his lips. I don't know why I did it, but it just felt… right. "I don't hate you. I definitely don't," I said, my blush becoming even redder.

"Then… well, maybe not right now, but after a little while, 'nd stuff, after we gotta know each other better, 'nd we're like best friends," Alfred still rambled on.

I didn't know why but suddenly I hugged him. It was as if I finally felt purely happy again, fully content with everything. It was as if that one last part of unhappiness in me was washed away, filled with Alfred.

"I-it's okay," I stammered, "I w-will go out with you, if you want to," I didn't know why I said that, really. It just felt like it was as it should be. It was as if something like fate made me say this.

"Ya sure?"

"Absolutely," suddenly I was pulled away from Alfred's chest, and he lifted my chin. Looking me in the eyes.

Oh his cerulean eyes, either the sea or the sky, shining back at me, filled with happiness. Who could resist his eyes? It had to be his eyes why I even accepted his confession…

He leant down, and soon I could feel lips pressing onto my own. They were warm and soft, yet strong. It was a gentle kiss, slow but very lovable. I could feel the heat on my cheeks rise even more and I started to kiss back.

I'd never kissed someone before, but it felt nice, it felt good it felt like… Alfred.

It was on that cold, autumn morning that our lives, once again, crossed each other, and our hearts now found their soul mate.