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On a Very Special Arthur	By : 8inchCaliper Category: +1 through F > Arthur Views: 6509 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Arthur, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Ratburn’s house is exactly what Brain would have expected. It’s cozy but somehow a bit larger than one man would need. The boy stands in the threshold shivering as Nigel drops his satchel by the door and disappears into another room. When he returns, he is holding a t-shirt with faded resort logo on the front. He shrugs and extends it to Brain.

“I know you must be freezing. You can…wear this for now.”

Brain takes it and turns his back, shedding his own wet shirt and pulling the much larger one over him. Ratburn goes to the thermostat to turn the heat up before coming back to stand a distance away from Brain.

“Can I get you anything? I have plenty of tea… or hot cocoa if you’d rather.”

Brain shakes his head. “No thanks.”

Ratburn seems at a loss for words as he stands and regards the boy. “Um, listen, Alan…”

“I already know what you’re going to say.”

“Well, then you’ll know that I have to call your parents and let them know you’re here. Anything short of that and I’m considered a kidnapper – or worse.”

“Will you tell them you brought me from school with you?”

Ratburn considers the boy. “I can’t lie to them, Alan. Incidentally… why did you cut class today? That’s not like you.”

“You have to ask?” Brain’s cheeks pink underneath the soft light of Ratburn’s kitchen.

“Well, I’m a little curious.”

The boy hesitates momentarily. “Well… I…I couldn’t face you after Friday. I thought maybe you thought I was some kind of…freak or something. I thought maybe you didn’t want to see me.”

“That’s simply not true. I haven’t given it much thought. I mostly worried that you were okay.”

Brain exhales slowly, not even realizing he’d been holding his breath. “You don’t hate me?”

Ratburn shakes his head. “On the contrary, Alan. I think…very highly of you.”

Several seconds pass as the silence stretches between them and then Alan lowers his eyes to the carpet. “I meant what I said – in the letter. I…have…feelings… for you.”

Now Ratburn gets an odd look on his face – like someone tightening a noose round his neck.

:”I think I should call your parents now.” He moves towards the phone, but Brain follows closely behind him.

“Don’t you have a response to that, sir? I mean…”

“Maybe you should dial them yourself.” Ratburn hands the receiver to Alan, hoping to avoid discussing this any further with him directly.

Brain holds the phone in his hand, gazing up into Ratburn’s pained orbs.

“Why can’t you say anything about it?”

Ratburn shrugs, laughing nervously. “There’s really nothing to say…”

“I like you. I want to…I want you to…”

Feeling his ears redden from anger and embarrassment, Ratburn turns and stalks away from the boy. Stubbornly, Brain follows.

When Ratburn enters his bedroom, he is startled to see the boy behind him.

“What the h…” He takes a pause, regarding the boy. “Alan, what are you doing in my bedroom?”

“I want to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Ratburn shrugs dismissively. “You’re a child.”

Brain makes a face. “Yea – but if you weren’t my teacher…”

“You’d still be a child, Alan. I don’t want to do this. I want you to go home. I’m going to call your parents and I’m going to tell them to come and pick you up. Okay?”

Brain nods, resigned. “Okay. Fine.”

Ratburn nods also, glad the boy is complying. “Good. Thank you. Now, please go wait in the other room. I’ll be just a minute.”

Brain backs away slowly, his eyes never leaving his instructor until he is down the hallway. Ratburn takes a moment to compose himself, wondering just how far the boy would’ve been willing to take this, just to what extremes he’d have gone. The thought makes a cold chill traverse up his spine.

When Ratburn goes back into the living room, he is dismayed to find that the boy has gone. Ratburn’s t-shirt with the faded resort logo is thrown over the couch and there is no sign of the boy except for his wet sneaker prints. Nigel knows he shouldn’t feel responsible, but somehow he does. Heaven help him, he does.

Next morning in class, the students are all crowded around Brain as he explains why he was out.

“Binky thought you had died.” Francine says matter-of-factly.

“Did not.” Binky snorts. “Definitely maimed, though.”

“I was sick.” Brain says simply, faking a slight smile. Only Arthur seems to notice how pale his skin is surrounding darkened eyes.

“You don’t look so good.” Arthur murmurs. “Did you go to the doctors?”

Brain nods. “Yeah – just to get medicine, though. I stayed there so long I missed my favorite episode of Mr. Wizard. My mom promised she’d get me the collection on DVD, though.”

“Oh, cool.” Buster chimes in. “Did you see the one where he proved that they use real actual cold fusion technology for Bionic Bunny?”

“Uh…” Brain shrugs. “…I think so.”

“Please, take your seats, class.” Ratburn interrupts the students in his usual chipper voice, not acknowledging Brain as he walks past. The kids all seat themselves and Arthur glances between Brain and Ratburn, searching for signs of anything amiss.

“First things first: attendance.”

Brain busies himself with arranging his things on his desk as Ratburn calls their names, one by one.

Brain sits in his seat, afraid to meet his teacher’s eyes as he begins to teach his morning math lesson. He isn’t taking anything in, of course. He is too busy trying to keep his trembling down to a minimum and trying not to fantasize about having been inside Ratburn’s actual house, inside his bedroom!

By the time lunch rolls around, the kids are ready for it – and nobody moreso than Brain. He has been shaking all morning, terrified of someone else knowing his secret and terrified that Ratburn will hate him. He’s positive he angered him by leaving that way last night, but when he got home, he was better able to explain to his parents, in his own words, why he was so late.

Now, he’s sitting at the lunch table with Arthur, holding his peanut butter sandwich like a prop. He isn’t actually hungry and he is so distracted that Arthur has to call his name more than two times to get his attention and Francine finally kicks him under the table, making him cry out.

“That hurt!” Brain furrows his brows, rubbing his leg to stop the smarting.

“Well, I’ve never seen you so distracted.” Francine huffs. “What’s your problem? Did you get a lobotomy at the doctors or what?”

“Hey Brain.” Arthur interrupts. “Wanna play tether ball?”

Brain shrugs and tosses his lunch in the garbage bin as he follows Arthur out to the playground.

Arthur is neither good at tetherball nor interested in playing games right now, but the tetherball court is sort of secluded and they’ll have more privacy to talk.

“So, what’s up with you, Brain? I’ve never seen you like this.”

Brain shrugs, and to Arthur’s horror his eyes fill with water. “It’s all falling apart. I don’t know what to do.”

“Um…w-what do you mean?” Arthur turns away from Brain as if the sight of him crying is obscene.

Brain shrugs, not bothering to wipe his tears. “I dunno. Ratburn hates me. I don’t care about school. I don’t care about anything. I just want to die.”

“Don’t say that.” Arthur says, kicking a pebble with the toe of his sneaker. “You don’t mean that.”

“You don’t know anything, Arthur. That’s your problem. That’s everyone’s problem. You guys are all babies. You don’t know what love is or anything outside of kickball and Bionic Bunny.” Brain takes a pause to really look at Arthur. “I know you’re trying to help me, but just don’t. Just leave me alone, okay.”

Arthur, baffled and hurt, looks at his friend one last time and trudges away. He gets to the other side of the building and doesn’t notice Ratburn approaching until he almost collides with him.

“Oh, sorry sir.” He takes a step back.

“Is Brain out here?” The man asks in a serious tone as Arthur nods and points towards the other side of the playground.

“He’s there, being a jerk.”

“Thanks.” The rat brushes past Arthur as the Aardvark goes to where Francine and the others are playing hopscotch.

When Ratburn finds Brain, the boy is isolated behind the old bleachers sobbing to himself, hugging his knees and staring blindly off into oblivion.

“Alan…” Ratburn inquires in a soft voice.

“Go away.” Alan blubbers, not facing his teacher. “I’d r-rather deal w-with this alone, thanks.”

Ratburn stands at a distance, observing the boy and sighing quietly.

“Brain, I want to help you.”

Brain shakes his head, not believing it, but he feels so overwhelmed right now, so close to the edge of reason, he doesn’t even realize what he’s doing while he’s doing it. Instinctively, he rights himself and saunters over to Ratburn, eyes spilling over, and throws his arms around the man, burying his face in his chest, feeling as though he has come home. And Ratburn, in turn, cradles the boy gently to him, murmuring words of comfort into his mussed hair. In that instant, when Brain feels the strong heartbeat pounding through the both of them, he knows, at least for the moment, that everything will be alright.

Tbc…
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On a Very Special Arthur