EnglandxReader: Learning to Knit

*Your POV*
You sat in your desk chair and stared hard at the knitting needles you held in your hand before looking at the ball of yarn you had bought. You’d been trying to start a scarf for the past half hour, and you still hadn't made any progress. ‘How the hell do I mess up tying a knot?’ You mentally raged as your stare turned nasty.

“Screw this,” You stated calmly, though anyone who knew you could tell that there was an edge of hysteria to your tone. “Screw saving money and putting time and effort into it, (Random Family Member) is just going to have to deal with a coffee mug from (a local dollar store) for Christmas.” You then picked up the needles and yarn and walked out of your room resolutely.What you didn’t expect on your Knitting Murder Plot was to see Arthur Kirkland, clad in a knitted green sweater and dark jeans, walking up the stairs.

Arthur had moved to (Your city/town) during the summer, and you had met him while in the local bookstore. You'd ended up talking about (favourite book) for about two hours before you had to rush on home, but not before you gave him your number.  The two of you had become good friends and ended up being in the same grade in high school, though you hadn’t been as close since the start of the year. He'd become friends with other students, joining the Magic Club your high school had, as well as the Rugby team while you were focused on (Favourite activity/sport). Even though you hadn’t been able to see much of each other, he was still sweet to you whenever you saw him, and you'd been gaining quite the crush on him as time went past. However, you hadn't seen him for two weeks, and there was a rumor that he'd gone home to visit his family, so you were kind of surprised to see him.

“Arthur,” You said in surprise. His appearance had kind of thrown you threw a loop, as you stood with your (hair length) (hair colour) hair in disarray from the amount of time you'd ran your hands through it, hands full of knitting supplies you were planning on destroying with a blowtorch and a sledge hammer while wearing your favourite pajamas. Not exactly the best image to present to your crush. “What are you doing here?”

“Ah, (Your Name), I just got back from England,” Arthur told you in his British accent, confirming the rumors that he was visiting family. “And I thought I'd come by and visit. Your mum let me in.” He smiled at you and you couldn't help but smile back, the residual annoyance of knitting fading as you looked into his green eyes.

“That’s sweet of you,” You said with a blush, watching as Arthur mirrored you. You looked down at the knitting stuff in your hands and wondered just what you were going to do with it now. “Uh…”

“You knit?” Arthur asked as he noticed what was in your hands.

“Not really,” You hedged, not wanting to embarrass yourself. “I'm just learning.” ‘And failing,’ You added mentally as you looked up to meet his eyes.

“Do you need some help?” He asked, and you blinked at that. ‘He knows how to knit? Where’d he learn that?’ “My grandmum taught all of us grandkids how to knit when we were younger and I kept it up.” He told you, as though he knew what was going on in your head.

You shrugged, “I’d appreciate it. I'm not doing so well.” You admitted, knowing that if he was going to help you, then you might as well fess up.

“I'm sure you're not that bad (Your Name),” Arthur consoled you as you went back into your room and prepared to be taught.


*Time Skip brought to you by “PASTA!” The essential food for everyone~*


“How can you be that bad?” Arthur asked as he knitted, having commandeered the needles ten minutes into trying to teach you.

You stared at his nimble fingers as they made quick work of the beginnings of a scarf. “I’m sorry,” You said dejectedly, shoulders slumping as you let out a sigh. “I’m wasting your time.” You peeked up through your hair to look as his face, thoroughly entertained by the way his eyebrows moved.  

You watched as he sighed and set aside his knitting to give you his full attention. “(Your Name), don’t think like that. I don't care what we're doing, so long as we spend time together.” He told you in a heartfelt tone, and you felt her face heat up as you lifted your head to look at him in hope. Maybe he felt he same way about you and you did him. “As my friend, I always enjoy being with you,” He added, stressing the friend part, making you slump once again in dejection.

‘I just got friend-zoned,’ You thought in disbelief and not just a little hurt. ‘I guess I never had a chance with him.’ You felt your eyes itch in the tell tale sign of tears and quickly stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom,” You said harshly as you left the room as quickly as possible so as to not let Arthur see that his words hurt you. As you slumped against the bathroom door and slid to the floor, you knew that he hadn't meant to hurt you. It was Arthur after all, the perfect gentlemen. But it had.

Tears streamed down your face and you had to stop yourself from letting the sobs break past your lips, not wanting Arthur to hear you. Your efforts were for not as you heard a gentle knock on the bathroom door, “(Your Name),” Arthur’s voice called out to you gently.

‘How does he know that it wasn't just a bad case of cramps?’ You wondered as you heard him shift outside. You bit your lip as another tear streaked down your cheek.

“(Your Name), are you alright?” He asked in concern when you didn't answer him.

You sighed and pushed yourself off the floor, wiping your tears off onto your (Favourite pajama top). Opening the door you looked to see a worried Arthur, who looked slightly panicked at your tear stained face. “Hey Arthur,” You said roughly, trying to seem as though you weren't crying not five seconds ago. You failed of course, as the sight of him caused another tear to fall.

“(Your Name),” He said softly as he reached up to brush away your tear and you looked at him in confusion. “Why are you so sad?”

“I-I,” You stuttered as you tried to tell him while struggling not to. ‘Do I really want him to know?’ You wondered as you floundered before calming. ‘Yes, I do.’ You looked at him and said slowly, “I'm in love with you.” Okay, so it came out a little different than you expected, but you knew it was true. You'd fallen in love with the boy, no man, in front of you who'd been such a good friend to you.


*Arthur’s POV*
Arthur stood stock still, his hand resting on your cheek where he had wiped the tear away, as he processed what had just happened. He hadn't expected this when he came to visit you. Actually, he'd gone home to visit his grandmum in the hopes that she would help him out with his feelings toward you. It was why he came to visit you the moment he got back from England.

When he'd seen you earlier today, he couldn't help but think of how gorgeous you were. You were ragged and looked like you'd just gotten out of bed with no makeup on, nothing to cover up your natural beauty. You were just you. He’d not expected to be hit in the gut with love like that, but he was. However, when you acted like normal, he couldn't help but feel disheartened. Even if watching you struggle to cast on your first stitch was completely adorable, he’d taken over because he hadn’t been able to stand being so near you without touching or kissing you.

He'd tried to do as you wanted, calling himself a friend, attempting to convince himself that there was nothing more to your relationship. He hadn't expected you to rush out of the room like you had, or to hear the choked sobs from the bathroom.

He definitely hadn't expected you to tell him you loved him.


*Your POV*
You watched as Arthur paused in shock, and closed your eyes, not wanting to see him as he rejected you. However, when you felt his hand leave you cheek and two strong arms circle around you, they flew open in shock. You saw his face in front of yours with a gentle expression and couldn't help but smile. He always made you smile, even at your worst points.

“(Your Name),” He said softly, and you felt his breath tickle your face smelling of those mints he carried around with him everywhere. “I, I love you too,” He told you with a serious look in her beautiful green eyes.

You blinked before your smile grew even larger as you threw your arms around him to squeeze the life out of him. “Arthur, you are the most amazing person ever,” You breathed as you hugged him, tears of happiness streaming down your face. You drew back to look at him, “I love you too.”

Then, in the heat of the moment, you pressed closer to him and moved to kiss him. However, so did he, causing your noses to bump into each other. You giggled as he blushed and leaned in slowly and lightly touched your lips to his. He sighed, his eyes looking into your mischievous eyes, shiny from tears, and leaned forward to press his to yours firmly. You smiled slightly into his lips and closed your eyes to enjoy the moment.

“You know, I thought that he would ask you out first before kissing you,” Your mom’s voice broke the moment as you broke apart from Arthur to stare at her. She stared watching the two of you with a fond smile.

“Mom!” You whined, but still held the now embarrassed Arthur close to you. “Way to ruin a moment!”

“Sorry, sorry,” She said insincerely as she smiled at you, but turned around to give you two a moment. “Just make sure I'm not a grandmother by the end of the day, okay?” She called back to you as she walked down the stairs.

You groaned and buried your face into the crook of Arthur’s shoulder. “My mom is so embarrassing,” You mumbled into his sweater and felt his shoulder shake from laughter. You straightened up and released your hold on him as you smacked his shoulder. “Don't laugh at my misfortune.”

He snickered and covered his mouth with hands. You rolled your eyes and went back to your room, leaving him to follow you. You stared hard at the knitting that he had left on your bed as sat once more in your desk chair. However, as you thought of how this all started you could help but say, “I think I like knitting.”

Arthur looked at you questioningly as he picked up the needles to begin where he had left off. “What do you mean?”

“Well, this wouldn't have happened without it,” You said, rationalizing yourself as you reached to take the needles from him and tried to do what he did. You didn't get very far before he took it back from you to stop you from bending the needles in annoyance. Looking up to see his amused face, you decided to add, “I like knitting when you do it.”

“That sounds better, Love,” He told you, adding the endearing nickname to the end that caused your heart to speed up. You then settled into the silence as he expertly wove the wool into a scarf.

After a few minutes you couldn't help but ask, “So… Are you going to ask me on that date yet?"

When he dropped the needles and buried his face into his hands, you couldn't help but feel the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

After all, your mom couldn't knit either.