Summary: He's at the doorstep, swaying in Odd's arms. I'm staring because I have no freaking clue how I'm supposed to react to seeing these two outside my house at this late hour. / Slight William/Ulrich. Rated T for language and implications. Set during the Evolution timeline.

The Missing Piece

He's at the doorstep, swaying in Odd's arms. I'm staring because I have no fucking clue how I'm supposed to react to seeing these two outside my house at this late hour.

"He's drunk off his ass," Odd explains with a groan, shifting the weight of Ulrich's head to a different spot on his shoulder. "If our room smelt like alcohol we'd both wind up in serious trouble, and this time it isn't even my fault! Can you let him crash here tonight, William? Please?"

He bats his eyes at me and I frown. I may have some sort of reputation going for me, but drinking is something I've never found appeal for, so to see some obnoxious brat like him completely plastered really gives me the urge to hit him until he's sober.

But because I'm a nice guy and he happens to be Yumi's best friend, I somehow manage to resist.

"Why should I?" I grumble, leaning against the door. "I mean, d'you really think leaving me and Ulrich alone for the night is a good idea? When you swing by to pick sleeping beauty up tomorrow we'll probably both be dead."

"Probably," he agrees, "but we can't leave him anywhere else. Yumi's parents would kill her if they found her smuggling a drunk guy into her room, and everybody else boards, so they're stuck in the same situation as me."

"The factory?"

"Jeremy's obsessed with the idea that he'll wreck something," Odd sighs, as exasperated as I am. "Sorry, William, but you're my last shot. Otherwise I'll be in serious shit."

"How did you even think it was okay for him to get this wasted?" I squeeze the bridge of my nose and inhale the scent of alcohol. It makes me feel slightly ill.

Odd raises his hands in defence, before quickly repositioning himself in time to catch Ulrich.

"Hey, don't look at me! He was like this when I found him!" Odd shakes his head with a heavy sigh. "He called me earlier and I found him downtown in an alleyway, slumped against a wall and grumbling over something about stray cats. How am I supposed to know how he got like this?"

Upon closer inspection I can see the dark circles under Odd's eyes and realise how tired he is.

With a reluctant nod, I grab Ulrich by the shoulders and pull him towards me.

"Fine, I'll take him. But only this once. And you owe me one."

Odd's face brightens.

"Oh, thank you, William! You are a saint, a saint I tell you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember my kind deed for when I need it repaid."

"Gruhm," Ulrich muttered. "Don' need t'stay here…"

"How sweet, you came around to say goodnight," Odd grins. "Sorry, Ulrich dear, but there's no way you're sleeping in the same room as me tonight smelling as strong as that. Plus I don't want you coming onto me in my sleep. Sorry, bro. I'll pick you up tomorrow."

"Odd, I don' need t'stay-"

"Nonsense, nonsense, you're talking nonsense," Odd cuts in cheerfully. "You don't know what you're saying, buddy. You're completely off your head. Okay, I'll see you tomorrow!"

With a quick wave he takes off, flighty as usual. I let out a grunt and hoist Ulrich to his feet, as he's somehow ended up leaning against my waist for support, knees falling.

"Come on, you idiot," I say with a sigh, already impatient. I support him from under his arms and he follows my steps like a child.

My parents are out of town for another work-related presentation and for once I'm glad, cause there's no way in hell they'd be okay with this under normal circumstances. I glance down at my half-finished essay I was working on before and realise with a sinking feeling that I won't get the chance to finish it. Ulrich slowly lowers himself down onto the floor and lies there for a while, cheeks flushed and hair extremely unkempt.

He looks like he's had a rough night, drink or no drink involved.

"So what's the deal?" I ask, sitting down in front of the coffee table.

He mumbles something into the carpet.

"How about you sit on the couch and we'll talk?"

"How 'bout we don't," he grunts without turning to glare at me.

I can feel my patience growing thin but I bite back a snarky comment.

"Just let me know if you're going to throw up so I can take you round the back. I won't be pissed so long as I can clean it up."

"I'm not gonna throw up," he snaps, finally lifting his head. "I'm not drunk…"

Yeah, right. The weird brat looks ready to pass out.

"Then what were you doing out so late?"

He stays silent for a few moment, trying to choose his words carefully, before giving up and stating the truth.

"…I was with my dad…"

Oh.

I'm not too sure if this is common knowledge, but Ulrich's old man isn't exactly the nicest. To break it down into simpler terms, he's kind of a douche. If he was my father I'd have a few sharp things to say to him, and a fucking bad attitude to boot. Unfortunately I'm not the son of Mr Stern and for whatever reason Ulrich is determined to please him.

I'll be honest in saying even I didn't know until recently, when he skipped out on a Lyoko mission to play hero of the karate club.

After some of the things I said about him that day, I felt absolutely awful upon finding out the reason why he did what he did. I suppose in his eyes he was doing the right thing by avoiding pity and taking the anger we felt, but to me the circumstances Ulrich is under aren't always better left unsaid.

"Ah. Your dad… that's, uh…"

"Not nice," he chuckles. "It's not good at all…"

He buries his head in the carpet again.

"An' after he went an' took me out he tells me they're gettin' divorced…" A dry laugh catches in his throat. "How can he jus' say that t'me?"

The sound of his laughter morphs into what sounds suspiciously like crying.

"So I wen' an' left him at the traffic lights, an' I figured if drinking worked for him it'd work f'me too… an' I…" He hiccups. "…An'… they're getting divorced… an' I had to find out now…"

I watch him, in complete and utter shock, as sobs rack his body.

Somehow I've managed to reduce him to pathetic tears in less than five minutes alone with the guy.

As I reach out to put a hand on his shoulder he sits up, cheeks still flushed, tears still spilling from dark eyes.

"Why did this have t'happen now?" he mutters through trembling lips. "Things weren' meant t'turn out like this…"

I shake my head.

"Ulrich, I…" I want to say something but I have no idea what, because what exactly do you say to this? If I act like my usual self who knows what kind of bomb I'll trigger, especially since, if anything, he seems even more touchy than usual when he's drunk, but if I say something mushy and weird it'll completely shatter how he sees me.

And even if I'm trying to be a better person, I can admit to being a little selfish when it comes to my image.

So instead I teach him that actions speak louder with words, by lying beside him and leaning over. Our lips meet and he falls limp in my arms, his eyes still red-rimmed and damp, his body still shaking all over.

I don't think kissing him means that I'm in love with him, or that I even like him, but letting him know that I'm here is difficult to do, so this was the only thing I could come up with.

Of course, by this point we're sort of making out and his face is even redder than before, so I'm seriously at flight risk now. I already know deep down that this was a bad idea to begin with, but I had to fill the awkward silence somehow, and that seemed like the only way.

I can be a real idiot sometimes.

When I pull away, Ulrich's expression is somewhere between hurt, confusion and complete amazement. I pull a face.

"Your mouth tastes like booze," I remark, standing up quickly and brushing off my jacket. He's still staring at me, eyes glazed over a little.

"You kissed me," he says hesitantly, as though waiting for me to deny it. When I don't, he says it again. "You kissed me."

"That I did."

"But why…?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure," I say lightly, crouching down by the coffee table and picking up my pen. "Anyway, divorce isn't a big thing, you know, it happens all the time. Some people were just never meant to be, I guess, even if it felt like it at the time."

"Is that why you kissed me?"

Huh. Go figure he'd choose now of all times to sober up (to an extent, at least).

"Sure. At least now you know why your parents are splitting."

His dumbstruck expression fades. "…They had it coming. They've been unhappy for a long time…"

"Bummer. Sorry about that."

"Don't be. It just blows, you know? That things can't last. I haven't had much luck before, but I thought maybe since my parents were together there was still hope after all, but now… now I don't know what to believe." His voice wavers but this time he laughs shakily.

"How dumb is this? I left my dad and went to drink tonight to forget, and here I am talking to you…"

"Sometimes it's good to talk things out," I tell him, half-listening as I continue my essay on Julius Caesar. As I glance up at the clock, I double take at how late it is.

"Maybe you should get some sleep," I advise, rubbing the back of my head. "You know, considering we have school tomorrow, and you're clearly going to have a bad hangover as it is…"

"Bite me," Ulrich mutters. He's stopped crying now, but that sullen expression of his just won't wear off. I'm finding myself infected by his bad mood.

With a heavy sigh I lean forward and put a hand on his head.

"Sleep," I say firmly. "You'll sure as hell regret it if you don't."

"Don't treat me like a child!" he cries, anger in his eyes. His eyes show signs of drowsiness but his determination is admirable.

Giving in to his immaturity (and after reminding myself that he's drunk and upset, so it makes sense that he's being brattier than usual), I reluctantly settle down for the night myself, calculating that I have enough time to finish my essay if I work on it through English and maths tomorrow.

"Come on. Look, I'm going to sleep too. Since I've been courteous enough to let you crash here until you sober up, the least you can do is not kick up a fuss about it."

He begins to grumble as I pull him to his feet. I really don't want to leave him on the floor, especially in this state, but I don't like the idea of him alone on the couch either. I show him to my room, where he takes the left side of my bed and I take the right. It's just about big enough for the two of us, since he's a little on the gangly side and doesn't take up as much room as I expected.

As I'm just nodding off myself he murmurs, "What's the point in you being so nice to me?"

"Hmm?"

"What's the point?" He rolls over so he's facing away from me. "Tomorrow things will just go back to normal. Nothing will have changed. You'll still be chasing after Yumi and I'll still be chasing after her, too."

"You're being stupid."

"Am I?" His chuckle sounds oddly cold. "Funny. I'm the stupid one? You're the one trembling…"

"You're sleepy, and drunk. Do you even hear yourself?"

There's a long pause, before he eventually shifts slightly and mutters, "I'm going to sleep."

Nonetheless, I still find myself waking to his shivering in the night. His body's cold, so I let him have most of the blankets. I don't mind too much, anyway.

The next morning I'm just making my breakfast when I hear him yelp and scramble out of bed.

"William?! How did I-" He stops suddenly, face a sickly colour, and steadies himself on the doorframe, holding onto his head.

"Yeah, careful. You'll make yourself ill running around like that," I tell him, shaking my head. "Maybe this'll teach you not to get so wasted on a school night."

He runs his fingers through his hair, blinking rapidly.

"I barely remember a thing," he groans. "Shit… and I think I had homework, too."

"Copy Odd's?" I suggest. He snorts at that.

"Yeah, if I wanna wind up with grades even worse than before."

"Do you want some breakfast?" I ask, deciding today is the day I turn over a new leaf, just for the sake of this emotionally unstable kid.

He frowns. "Are you sure you're not the one who's drunk? I'm fine. I'm not really hungry, anyway."

"Come on, don't be like that. I'll fix us something."

Ulrich shakes his head. "No thanks. I need to be getting back to school, anyway, and change my clothes. I reek of alcohol."

"Another consequence of drinking on a school night."

"Who are you, my mom?" he complains, pulling on his shoes. At that moment, the doorbell rings, and he rushes to get it.

Odd's standing on the porch, smiling.

"Hey, buddy! How do you feel? Are you sober now?"

Ulrich shrugs.

"I guess, but… I can barely remember anything."

"Ah, don't worry, I can fill you in on all the humourous details," Odd grins. "You still smell like booze, though. Lets go back to the dorms, okay? Hurry, before we miss breakfast!"

As the two turned to leave, Odd gives me a thumbs up sign. This is how I know Ulrich will be fine.

I'm not sure what happened last night or where it goes from here, but I think I can learn to understand Ulrich a little more from the unguarded side of him I witnessed last night.

Maybe one day I'll remind him what happened last night when, in those brief few moments of our lives, he completely let me in. Maybe next time he'll be the one who shuts me up.

For now, I think I'll just focus on making sure my toast doesn't burn.

A/N: I'm no good at this. My first fanfic set in the Evolution timeline and it just trailed off very awkwardly. Sorry about that. It's almost 6AM and I'm exhausted though, so hopefully you can see why I'm so groggy.

I think the theme of this was originally going to be heavy romance but it somehow turned into one-sided love, and maybe not even that, depending on how you look at it. Listening to Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart had to have some depressing consequences on my writing, after all.

Ulrich hasn't, of course, forgotten about the bombshell his father dropped on him the night before, but like always he's too proud to admit that it bothers him now that he's sober, so he's hiding his problems as usual. William knows this. He just knows that Ulrich would rather keep it to himself and he's okay with that.

I have nothing else to say. Until next time. /sleeps