Chapter Eight—The End of Orientation And The Start of the Story

Three Years Later…

Arthur panted as he ran towards the library. He was late! And it was his first day! This was the worst, honestly. What a way to make a bad first impression!

But many of the people in the Literature-Interest Discussion Group or LID were people he already knew (which was why he was finally joining in, after three years of wanting to but deciding against it), so he figured this wouldn't ruin his reputation too bad. Well, maybe. Even after three years of having friends, he was still really awkward with them, never being able to truly let go, afraid that everything was just a joke, that they disliked him deep inside. It was horrid to think like that and to an extent, Arthur could see that it did not make sense but he couldn't help it! You never really know if someone's going to turn on you so it's always best to keep your guard up. Right?

Bursting into the meeting room reserved for the group, and being yelled at by the librarian for the first time in his life, he said, "I'm here!" before coming to a stop and finally catching his breath with relief. The room fell silent as everyone turned to stare at him, due to his bombastic entrance. Arthur's face turned bright red instantly and he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, just hoping that they would continue what they were doing before and stop bearing witness to his embarrassment.

Suddenly, hands were gripping his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. Just a whiff of the other person's scent and he knew it was Alfred. After being supposed friends with him for three years, Arthur had grown accustomed to it. It was weird, really. Arthur had never expected to have friends, let alone an Alpha one. He always thought Alphas never befriended Omegas and only ever wanted them for sex and breeding. Alfred had proved him wrong and perhaps it was because he was just that nice of a person. Although, that didn't mean he stopped being obnoxious. Or loud. Or egotistical. Or… Wait, what was he thinking about again?

Either way, he was glad that he had Alfred as a friend. The Alpha had been his gateway to new friends as well. Turns out being extremely annoying attracted a lot of friends. No wonder Arthur had none before. Still, Arthur appreciated it greatly and since Alfred had not made a move on him all this years, he was assured that Alfred actually liked him as a person, and not just an Omega. He couldn't be sure about any other Alphas though… so maybe Alfred was a special case. The only other Alpha he really hung out with was Professor Bonnefoy anyway and that couldn't even be considered a friendship, it just didn't count, as Francis was his teacher.

"Oh my gosh dude! You actually came!" Alfred exclaimed loudly, his voice threatening to burst Arthur's eardrums. "I really didn't expect your grumpy pants to finally stop studying and start having fun."

"I'm not grumpy!" Arthur protested, a scowl on his face. Oh he just knew that he should have stayed in his room.

You're doing it for the books, Arthur, he reminded himself. You're doing it for the books.

Yes, as much he hated to admit it, Alfred was correct to a certain extent. He's been so busy ever since he entered college. Much busier than he's ever been before even. To earn extra money (to pay for the increasing college loan), he had started working longer and longer hours. He's also started dabbling in advocacy (if you considered spending days writing proposals to the government and staging peaceful protests dabbling), once he learnt that Professor Bonnefoy was in charge of an Omega Rights group. Between these three things, Arthur had little to no time for himself. The last time he's been to the library for leisure's sake was at least a year ago.

"Ha! Suuuuure you aren't. Anyway, come on over here! It was my turn to choose this week's book and it is super awesome! Like you can't believe!" Alfred pulled Arthur towards the long table and the centre of the room where at least twenty students sat, as well as the supervising Literature Professor, Professor Héderváry.

A smile played on Arthur's lips. Alfred was so childish and silly. It was honestly quite endearing. He also vaguely wondered what book Alfred chose. He knew Alfred mostly enjoyed non-fiction books, especially science-based ones. Perhaps, he chose something along those lines. However, once he saw the pile of comics on the table, his face fell.

"Oh no. Nononononono, no! Alfred! This is a literature group. You can't choose these type of books! They're childish and simply don't qualify. Professor Héderváry," Arthur turned to the Professor, arms raised in exasperation, "surely this isn't allowed!"

"Now, now Mr Kirkland, calm down. We haven't started on any discussion yet and you're getting rather heated. I know this is your first day and you don't really know how things work here but its never good to presume. However, since you're usually quite well-behaved, I'll disregard this instance," Professor Héderváry replied with a stern voice.

Arthur gulped. Professor Héderváry was usually so cheerful and having her chide him was horrible. This was really, really such a bad day. He really shouldn't have left his room. He bowed his head in apology, hoping to convey to her that he was sincerely sorry for his outburst.

"No need for that now, Arthur. I'm not mad," Professor Héderváry chuckled, patting Arthur's shoulder in a comforting fashion. "I'm even quite impressed. No one in my class has ever been quite as passionate as you about Literature. I just need you to keep in mind that we're in a library and that we're an open group. No form of writing is inherently inferior to another. That you must never forget. The more open you are, the more you are able to learn, after all."

Thinking about it for a moment, Arthur started to see that Professor Héderváry had a point. It was hard to accept though. And hard to see. How could comic books be anywhere near as good as the classics?

"Haha! You heard that Artie? My comics are as good as your dusty old books! Even better, I'll say. At least they don't put anyone to sleep," Alfred boasted.

Arthur wanted to scream and protest. No. Just no. No matter how hard anyone tried to convince him, comic books could never come close to real books. But it turned out he didn't have to.

"Mr Jones! I just now mentioned how no form of literature was better than the other and here you are, disregarding the vision of LID. Please kindly keep our vision in mind before you open your mouth. Am I clear?" Professor Héderváry stepped in and scolded Alfred the same way she did Arthur.

"Yeah, yeah," Alfred grumbled, his Alpha scent becoming a little stronger, matching his annoyance. "I'm sorry, Professor H. Won't happen again. Promise."

Professor Héderváry nodded, accepting the apology before clapping her hands to bring everybody's attention onto her. The light chatting in the room trickled to a stop as the students turned towards her to hear what she was going to say.

"So, as you can all see, we have a new member to our group. His name is Arthur Kirkland and I'd love all of you welcome him with open arms and teach him the ways of our group." Professor Héderváry gestured to Arthur and he raised his hand to give a weak, nervous 'hello'. Although he recognised half the people in the room, he didn't know many of them well and he felt awkward.

The members of LID all smiled at his introduction however, appearing extremely friendly, slowly putting Arthur at ease. Maybe, Arthur could fit in after all.

Alfred gave him a huge thumbs up and Arthur smiled. Yes he would.

And thus his first ever LID session commenced.

Author's Note: This took long... sorry!

The final results are...

USUK - 124

FrUKUS - 106

FrUK - 53

Thus USUK wins!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter (after such a long wait)! I'll try to update as soon as possible.