Deserve Better: EnglandXReader

"Who was that bloke on the phone?" Arthur asked.

You sheepishly looked away from your friend. Arthur always worried over you, fussed when he didn't need to and hovered more than necessary, but you loved him more than your current boyfriend at least. Your relationship with Gilbert had turned sour. At first you had been happily in love, but then he started ogling the new Hungarian exchange student, even though she was dating the Austrian boy from your music class. You had always had a crush on Arthur, but you felt, you weren't worth the time of day. He was a good guy. He could have any girl he wanted. Why would he want you? Why would he even dare to ask you out? If he knew, he would leave you alone for sure and you couldn't risk that. He was your only friend in school. All of the other kids didn't seem to agree with you. Francis constantly teased you and Antonio was far too… well, Antonio. He came off strong.

"Gilbert…"

Arthur scowled and sneered upon the name, as if you just listed a poison instead of a person. Arthur never liked Gilbert. The albino, along with his friends, had mocked Arthur since the beginning of elementary. You were with Gilbert and no matter how many times you tried to end it, he made you stay, telling you that Arthur would never want you, so stay with someone who did. But also, because you dated Gilbert, he stopped mocking Arthur. The bullying had gotten to the point where Arthur considered suicide. You knew he would have been angry if he found out that you were doing this and that you knew but you had to. You loved him. Suddenly, your thoughts were racing with flashing images of Arthur – his charming smile, his adorable laughter, the way he pouts whenever someone picks on him – everything about Arthur made your heart flutter with joy and longing.

"How on earth could you date him?" Arthur demanded.

"Would you believe me if I said he wasn't always like that?"

Arthur didn't crack a smile. He didn't find it as funny as you did. You didn't know it was because he too harbored a crush on you. He was devastated when you decided to date Gilbert – of all people and he wondered what Gilbert had that he didn't. Arthur was kind, a true gentleman and he knew you as well as he knew himself. Gilbert was a pig, a pervert and last year for your birthday he got you an autographed picture of himself because he thought you'd want something that showed off his awesome. Arthur had gotten you [your favorite book] and took you to see a movie that he knew the both of you would like. He refused to let you pay because it was his treat to you – your birthday gift from him.

"It isn't fair…" Arthur said, "You are so nice… Why would someone try to hurt you like that?"

Quite frankly, since it was just you and Arthur talking this out so you didn't feel as uncomfortable as you normally did. Delving into your emotions wasn't something you did easily and it would have been harder with smart aleck remarks from Alfred or Francis. You were surprised when Arthur took one of your hands in his. Your heart skipped a beat. You had seen him do this with past lovers when he comforted them. He hadn't dated anyone recently – not since you had started dating Gilbert. But it's not like you can tell Arthur the way you felt about him. What if the Arthur rejects you? Or worse, stops being your friend because you made it too awkward to be around you? Being rejected by the one you love is the worst feeling in the world. You just wanted him to be happy – even if it wasn't with you.

"_________, you're nothing more to Gilbert than a plaything," Arthur said, "That bloke doesn't realize that he's hurting you because to him this is all just a game. A bloody game that involves your heart…"

"I…"

"You deserve much better than Gilbert," Arthur continued. "You deserve a chap who will love you unconditionally and for the right reasons."

You blinked in surprise before blushing darkly. Arthur ran his hand over yours. There was only a second's hesitation as Arthur judged whether or not you were comfortable with that act. Those [eye color] eyes were back to gazing at him in wonder, watching him with surprise. Arthur simply smiled, repeating the touch of affection on the back of your hand. He let the cool skin of _________'s hand against his own fingers, bringing it close to feel its warmth. For a long time, you had imagine the two of you as lovers – taking walks through parks and going on dates like lovey-dovey couples do. But, reality would strike you, brutally telling you that it won't ever happen. What's the point of brooding on your desires? It'll only bring pain in the end.

"You deserve someone who will hold your hand in the rain and who will give you a hug whenever you look down."

You took a deep breath. Was he hinting that he wanted to date you as much as you wanted to date him? Truthfully, he was. He wanted you to realize that he was the one who loved you more than anything in the world. He was the one who let you call him in the middle of the night, crying when Gilbert was cruel to you. He was the one who would drive to the bars and pick you up when Gilbert left you because he left in a drunken stupor. He was the one who nursed bruises and scratches from when Gilbert got too violent. He was the one who sheltered you and took care of you during some of your roughest points in life. Yet, he felt you didn't love him – you 'loved' Gilbert instead – the cruel and heartless jerk that he was.

"You need someone who will do his best to make you smile when everything seems to be against you," Arthur said.

And you wondered why he felt you were so deserving of such devotion, because honestly, you felt as if you didn't. You betrayed your heart to protect Arthur from bullying – it was starting to turn physical towards the end of high school. You tricked Gilbert into being with you, though he knew now you didn't love him, but kept you anyways because you were a good frontage to bring in front of his brother Ludwig when he asked, but even he knew that you did not love his brother truly and completely, though Gilbert insisted that you did. You had betrayed Arthur by dating someone he detested. Truly you were a deplorable creature and often you wondered how Arthur could stand to be around you when he knew this. You bit your lip. Sometimes you hated yourself for being so selfish and cruel.

"He has to make you feel like a queen no matter how small you feel. You deserve better than him."

Arthur put a hand on your wrist. The green eyed man brought his free hand up to your cheek to wipe away a stray tear that you didn't even know rolled down your face in the first place. Inwardly you cringed at how kind, how tender he was being because of the stark contrast of how Gilbert acted around you. Even Francis chided his friend and told him to treat you better, but the albino listened only to himself. How could you be such a jerk? Never had it once occurred to you that Arthur actually worried about you. The realization you had just made sunk like a stone, fluttering in your heart and your gut as it sunk to sit at the base of each and leave you feeling as if you were sinking lower and lower in yourself.

"You shouldn't settle for someone who treats you badly," Arthur pressed, "He may have been nice before but if he hurts you and makes you feel bad about yourself it's time to move on."

"I know that now, Arthur… Next time I see him I'll end it with him…" you promised, "I'm just scared…"

You were trying not to look at Arthur, avoiding his eyes because you knew that if you did you would break down into tears. You already knew what his expression would be. His eyebrows would be downturned and angry but after a second or two they'd ease up, slowly, along with the corners of his lips, and he would turn all kinds of funny pinks and you would laugh. But Arthur would have none of your 'trying'. He would speak to Gilbert first. Since you were staying over the night, Arthur was in charge of waking you up. You may be angry at him later, but he wasn't going to wake you when he was supposed to. He was going to go and speak with Gilbert himself. He was going to resolve the problem even if it made you hate him later.

-=-=-=-=-

Gilbert was waiting for _____________. He was frustrated with how long it was taking to dump you already. He had dated – behind your back, of course, but what was the point if he couldn't take the one thing from you that Arthur would never be able to? He hated that Brit so much, so did Francis and Antonio, but as of late after hanging around ____________, they had gotten soft and were actually trying to get to know Arthur instead of bully him like they used to. But Arthur was cautious and did not trust the attempts at friendship the Frenchman and the Spaniard made towards him. Naturally, he rebutted this. This was all he had known – teasing the Brit and making his life a living nightmare. So now he was going to use you to hurt him instead. Instead of finding his girlfriend waiting for him, he found a certain British man instead.

"Vhat are you doing here, loser?" Gilbert demanded, "Where's ____________?"

"________________'s sleeping in…" Arthur grunted, "But I wanted to talk."

"I have nothing to talk to you about."

Gilbert started to walk away but Arthur would have none of that. He seized a handful of Gilbert's shirt and gave a firm tug, keeping him in his spot so he didn't run off and do whatever. Little did you or Arthur knew, Gilbert had another date – or at least one to crash between Elizaveta and Roderich. The albino turned around to face Arthur over this. He was going to hit the Brit if it was the last thing he did by the end of the day. However, Arthur had to say what he had come to say in the first place. If he didn't then everything he did was for nothing – including tricking you into drinking chamomile instead of your normal tea that he gave you when you came to stay the night at his house. The house always seemed empty when he didn't have you his house in general. He was lonely ever since Alfred moved out to go to college and he liked having you around.

"It's about ______________."

Gilbert twitched at the sound of your name. He smirked, realizing now that he had pushed it so far, Arthur was going to do something about how he was treating you. It was about time. He had been using your relationship as a game to get to Arthur. The Brit was just so stubborn that he hadn't done anything, even when Gilbert hit you from time to time. This was what he had been waiting for. He could mess with Roderich and Elizaveta another day – he did it almost daily anyways so what did it matter if he missed one day? They would sit in paranoia waiting for him to come and when he didn't they would relax, believing that he had decided to leave them alone for a while. If he got to beat up that jerk Arthur then he would be just as happy at the end of the day.

"Fine," he consented, "Vhat about?"

Arthur grit his teeth. You had always been on close terms with him, both of you silently and unquestionably accepting each other when you were young. It hurt him when you went off with Gilbert of all people. It also made him angrier than he had ever been in his entire life. At first he didn't know why but when he felt the twinge when he would watch you kiss Gilbert, cuddle in his arms, come crying to him hurt and confused, sobbing in his arms until sleep overtook you and he would wake you the next morning with your favorite breakfast and gentle words, trying to soothe you but find out what happened at the same time. He wanted nothing more than to beat the tar and feathers out of the albino. Thousands of words hovered on the tip of his tongue about how Gilbert should treat you better but that wasn't his place. Arthur wasn't your lover.

"____________ deserves someone who won't add notches in their bed post. ____________ deserves a lot more gentleness and love than you give. ________________ deserves to be happy and cherished."

'_____________ deserves me,' Arthur almost jerked with that thought. Where had that come from? Sure, he liked you a lot, but believing that you deserved him over anyone else was a bit strange, far too possessive and after this relationship with Gilbert, he doubted you would have moved into another relationship just as quickly as your ruined one. The other teen rolled his eyes. You were just some loser in his eyes. What became of you didn't matter to him because he was just using you as a tool. Arthur knew this. It was why he was doing everything in his power to protect you, even if it meant getting into a fight and confronting Gilbert about this. You were precious to him – a real treasure. You deserved to be treated as such.

"You have such a Victorian attitude, Arthur," Gilbert scolded.

"I do not want to defile __________, you pervert!"

Arthur leveled his angry gaze into amused red eyes. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Gilbert was trying to provoke him – that much was clear. He wanted Arthur to get mad enough to swing the first punch. Arthur would not give him that satisfaction. He was a gentleman now. He had sworn off his punk days when you had to go and get him from a bar when he used a fake id to get in and he was drunk. You had cried and begged for him to never do it again because you were terrified of the man Arthur became when he was drunk. He feared it was one of the driving factors to lead you to date Gilbert over him so he swore to change himself for you – to make himself better than the man he was when he was drunk.

"Admit it, as soon as you were done with ____________, you will move on. How is that healthy?"

"It is not… ____________ deserves much better, mon ami. Arzur is right… For once."

Both Arthur and Gilbert looked up to see Francis standing behind them. Antonio was at his side but in between the both of them you stood looking shocked and hurt. Who these emotions were directed at, Arthur was fearful of. He glowered at the Frenchman and the Spaniard. They had dragged you into something that he didn't want you to see. Arthur felt his face fall, brows knitting together and his mouth turning downward. He took a step towards you and gathered you into his arms. You didn't fight against his hold but your arms wrapped tightly around him, squeezing him close, as if you were afraid he were going to simply disappear. Antonio and Francis had gone to Arthur's house demanding that you come quickly because it was important so you followed. You hadn't expected this. He hadn't wanted you to find out about this. You were never supposed to know.

"___________, I just-"

"You did all this…" you whispered, "For me?"

His body moved on its own accord. He pulled away from your hug. You tried to hold him tighter but he firmly pulled your hands away from him. Instantly, they knitted together right under your chin, entwining the fingers – making a praying motion without you even noticing. You looked up at him with watery eyes. He hated the sight of your liquid remorse so he thumbed some of the tears away. You saw him swallow, his adam's apple bobbed in his throat before resting once again. Shyly he leaned forward to kiss you soundly on the lips. It was tender and innocent, the way all first kisses are. Arthur's hand moved to you face. He touched the other side of your face, holding you in place to look at him. He pressed his forehead against yours, keeping you close as he could, smiling to himself, ignoring his past bullies for the moment.

"Because I love you, precious…" Arthur whispered.

"But she's my girlfriend!" Gilbert protested.

"Not anymore, amigo. You lost against true amore," Antonio said.

Antonio sighed as he looked to his friend. Gilbert had long since lost the battle for you. He really had no chance, especially with how harshly he treated you. He and Francis decided they were going to have an intervention of sorts, clear up Gil's head and get him to see that lovers were 'loved' for a reason. You had to treat them right, not like the scum beneath your feet. With proper 'retraining' and encouragement, Gil would be back to himself in no time. He just needed to see that this wasn't high school anymore. Drama like hurting someone by using their friends needed to be left where it was – high school. He pat his friend on the back. Francis sniffled. He bit into a kerchief as he tried his best not to cry.

"I love 'appy endings!"