Petty
a/n: ‘Cause you know Arthur doesn’t let things go, and omegaverse pettiness is something I’ve always dreamed about- you can’t exactly be passive-aggressive with all those hostile scents lmao...
This is my first time writing a post-break-up fic so forgive me if the situation is messed up a bit. I just wanted to do something else, rather than Alfred loving Arthur or Arthur loving Alfred..
Day 4: Summer Camp for the usuknetwork’s Summer Getaway event.
Alfred hadn’t been too happy when he had found that his ex-boyfriend was his daughter’s camp counselor.
Of course, he had nothing to fear. Amelia was only four years old, and with a face like hers, one couldn’t even fathom the thought of hurting her. Chubby cheeks, blonde hair curled into pigtails, big blue eyes, little dimples just like her father’s- well, Alfred supposed anything of hers that reminded his ex of him would be rather unfortunate, but the point was that she was a child.
She was a cute, cute child, and even an ex as crazy as Arthur Kirkland wouldn’t do a thing to her.
Hell, Alfred had met the omega in high school. High school! A hell of a long time ago. Alfred could barely remember the mathematical concepts he’d learned there, let alone an old fling.
Yet as he took Amelia to her first day at a tots’ summer camp, upon hearing positive reviews about an eccentric camp counselor who’d taught his neighbor’s three-year-old how to say the ABC’s forwards and backward, he was almost immediately pierced through the chest by those molten green eyes.
“Alfred Jones.”
Arthur practically hissed the name and it was like a scene out of a western movie. Alfred could feel his Adam's apple bobbing as Arthur sized him up from behind the counter, hair just as blond and wild as he remembered, brows, if anything, wilder.
And that English accent. It was the same exact one he’d sported all throughout high school and if Alfred didn’t fear for his life just then, with all the bitter scents being thrown at him, he would’ve cracked a joke about how Arthur had to have been practicing it.
“Hi, I’m here to sign my daughter up for the program?”
Arthur emitted yet another tart scent, this one put a crinkle in Alfred’s nose, and Alfred wondered exactly what he’d done to hurt the man.
He had remembered Arthur as a boy he used to date, and that was it. An ex-boyfriend, neither sane nor crazy, because those details didn’t matter to him, he didn’t care. But that itself had been taken to the next level that day, as his arm automatically shot out to protect his little pup, who’d taken to cowering behind Alfred’s leg at the warning scent the alpha had thrown off, just for a split second. With his jaw clenched, brows furrowed in slight worry.
Arthur Kirkland was crazy, and for whatever reason it was, hated Alfred Jones.
And Alfred should’ve turned and taken Amelia away right that second, but she seemed completely and utterly unaware of the hostility, and the reviews were good, and the charge was even better-
As Arthur had led Amelia away, her little hand closing around Arthur’s finger, he turned to shoot one last parting look in Alfred’s direction before turning back to Amelia with a rare, soft smile.
Through all of this, he was somehow flattered that Arthur would care enough to remember to hate him. Alfred, however, had not one clue as to why. He remembered the face, he remembered the name, he remembered that he had done something and they had broken up, yes, he remembered to that extent.
But it was around ten years ago.
It couldn’t possibly have been so bad that Arthur felt the need to throw a bitter scent in his direction every time their gazes met. That he would ignore the fact that Alfred existed, that he would dismiss Alfred’s small-talk in every weekly parent meeting, not even so much as looking him in the eyes.
“It’s kinda hot in here, isn’t it?”
And Arthur would frown, flipping through the papers on his desk like Alfred hadn’t just spoken, plucking out a file labeled with Amelia’s name.
“Your daughter takes well to group activity and assumes leadership quite easily, but that can serve to be a problem seeing as she is equally disruptive at times.”
He would do it all in those teeny tiny shorts too, crossing those legs sternly, leaving Alfred torn between wanting to strangle Arthur and wanting to strangle himself in between those thighs.
“She’s usually pretty calm.” Alfred would say and Arthur would cock an eyebrow.
“Maybe at home with you, sir, but she’s picked a fight with at least ten other alphas in the span of five days. Nevertheless, she has been improving.”
If that was the truth, the camp definitely benefitted his daughter.
Yet every single day, every day he felt that boiling hatred hit him like a bag of bricks, whenever he walked in to pick his daughter up. Hell, it would take just a single complaint from her little lips and Alfred would take her out of the program. One little peep. A complaint that Alfred waited for every day.
Yet it never came. Amelia came home with a brighter smile every evening, gushing over the way Mr. K helped them make puppets, or how Mr. K had taught them a neat poem on how to spell Mississippi. She adored him, worshiped him, and for her happiness, for her education, Alfred would have to keep undergoing the Herculean labor that was walking to pick her up under the piercing gaze of Arthur Kirkland, his very own, personal demon.
Alfred could’ve easily reported his behavior, yet Amelia seemed adamant in her adoration toward her father’s crazy ex-boyfriend, it would break her little heart.
“Daddy! Daddy!” She would say and Alfred would give her a silent smile in response. "Can Mr. K come over for dinner?”
If you want daddy in the oven as your main course, then sure, honey.
The situation had definitely warranted a visit during the camp’s work hours.
Besides Alfred desperately wanting her to learn something, the reason for enrolling Amelia into the camp was the freedom it would give Alfred to work in peace. Most parents sat at the picnic tables that lined the perimeter of the play area to watch their kids in action, and Alfred decided to do the same that Friday, despite the fact that his boss wasn’t too happy about his “sick leave”.
Alfred simply had to do it.
You see, no one had ever outright hated him this intensely. Not ever, not to his face, and Alfred was going to get to the bottom of it. No matter what it took.
He watched as Arthur set the kids down to eat their lunch, seeking the shady shelter beneath a tree as he struggled to catch his breath. He was close enough for Alfred to see the red flush in every inch of exposed skin, the sheen of sweat glossing the area beneath that damp blond fringe.
Alfred had quite enjoyed watching the game of tag. Besides having to see Arthur run back and forth, winded, trying to tag little, spirited kids, Amelia was quite the runner and it put a sense of pride in his heart as well. That was all.
It definitely wasn’t from watching Arthur parade around in those shorts that seemed, if possible, shorter than the last time he’d seen them.
No, because Arthur was evil and not attractive in any way whatsoever.
Alfred made his way to the tree. “Would you like some water?”
The omega glanced up to shoot Alfred a glare, gaze dropping down to the bottle being thrust in his direction.
“No.”
“You need water, your bottle is clear and it’s obviously empty.”
“Oh, you’d know exactly what’s best for me, wouldn’t you, then.” Arthur snapped before crossing his arms, marking the first ever string of words he’d said to Alfred that weren’t professionally motivated.
It was progress.
“What is your problem, dude?”
“You, if I haven’t made that obvious.”
And Arthur had stomped away, leaving a smattering of other parents throwing curious glances at Alfred as any people wanting in on a drama would.
He gave them a dismissive, if not embarrassed, smile.
Take two. He’d cornered Arthur after the hours ended, deciding on a different approach. “Hey, I’m sorry if I did anything to hurt you, but-”
“Nice try, Jones. I can tell when you’re actually sorry.” Arthur said. “You get all trembly and you can barely form sentences, so quit the act.”
Alfred suppressed a growl and Amelia clung to his legs yet again, sensing her father’s anger.
“Listen, I don’t even know why you’re mad at me in the first place.”
“So you’d apologize without knowing?” Arthur sneered before turning his back, tossing a look over his shoulder as he headed toward the door, to possibly leave, start up his car and lock up behind him, “It’s nice to know you don’t remember me. Really rubs the salt right in the wound.”
“Wait- I remember you, I just-”
“Yeah, you’ve chosen to forget how you ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped all over it for three years of my life.”
Alfred definitely did not remember that.
Arthur must’ve read the open-mouthed expression on Alfred’s face because he scoffed, turning to face him, “Your daughter is tired, just take her home and get her some rest.”
“Arthur, what did I do?”
Amelia’s groggy tug to the leg of his trouser didn’t go unnoticed. He hoisted his daughter up to sit at his hip, tucking her soft blond head into the crook of his neck and Arthur’s stony green eyes seemed to soften. Just for a bit.
“Are you married?” Arthur eyed Amelia’s weary, bouncing leg and Alfred chuckled.
“No, my boyfriend, her birth father, left us a few years ago. Not many omegas would want second-hand merch like me.”
Arthur clasped his hands, averting his eyes to stare at the reflection of the ceiling light on the polished tile floor. “That sucks.”
It seemed genuine enough. Still tinged with that lemony, tart scent of hatred, but a more watered-down version of it. Alfred was used to this type of reaction from anyone that asked about Amelia’s father.
But he had more important things in mind.
“Just tell me what I did.”
And Arthur chewed his lip, looking smaller than the hissy act had made him appear to be. In that large, camp logo-adorned jacket, belted khaki shorts, socks rolled up his shins, frown tugging at his brows- he didn’t look so crazy.
He just looked sad. “Nevermind, it’s childish.”
Alfred just looked at him and Arthur heaved a sigh, “You told me you fell out of love with me a few months into our relationship.”
“Things like that happen, Arthur.” Alfred reasoned, to which Arthur glanced up, eyes fiery yet again.
“You told me over text.”
Oh.
“I saw you making out with your new boyfriend the same day, one or two hours later.”
Oh.
“And despite the fact that I had never stopped loving you for the rest of high school, you never once attempted to give me closure. I had to see you shift from lover to lover, casting not one glance at me, as if you’d never known me.”
Alfred could imagine it. Having to see someone you loved with someone else, having to see them pretend you didn’t exist, for three whole years until different choices of university drove them apart, and now here they were.
“Arthur I’m… I had no idea. I was an asshole, I- God, I-”
“You were young, it was wrong of me to hold a grudge until now,” Arthur muttered, the slight scowl on his lips a pleasant contrast from the rest of the expressions Arthur had served him for the last few weeks. “We’re all adults here.”
It was true. The prospect of having someone hate every fiber of his being had put a bit of stress on Alfred’s shoulders. He’d never expected to have faced such a situation in this day and age, but it happened, and if Alfred was being honest, he deserved every second of it.
He would be kept awake at night by the things he did in back then. A dumb, beefcake alpha who thought he ruled the school, terrorizing his poor teachers, mind clouded in the delusion that he owned every single person that walked the halls.
How many others had he trampled on?
“I’m sorry, Arthur, but don’t forgive me so easily.” Alfred found himself saying, voice hushed as his daughter snored softly by his ear. “What I did to you was not okay.”
The furrow between Arthur’s brows softened and he crossed his arms, tossing his head to the side with a gentler defiance. “You’ll regret giving me that kind of power.”
Alfred smiled. Just a little. “Make me work for it, Kirkland, do your worst.”
Of course, Alfred meant it as a joke, yet he found that he didn’t complain when Arthur quite literally printed a weekend work agenda for him the very next Monday. A long list of chores to help out at the camp, and Alfred got right to it, working until his forehead beaded with sweat and Arthur sat cackling at him from under a tree, trading bits of Amelia’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich for his own packed salad lunch.
At the very least, it wasn’t a scowl.
And when weekend work became sharing meals in local coffee shops to bitch about the camp managers, watching animated movies after work, with Amelia nestled in between- exchanging sweaters because Alfred’s were definitely warmer, then candle-lit dinners-
Alfred told Arthur that falling out of love was no longer an option.
