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Classes were finally done for the day. Normally, Alfred would just go straight to his apartment afterwards, but today was special. Yes, today was finally his twenty-first birthday, and he was on his way to his best friend's, Arthur's, favorite restaurant to celebrate with a few drinks.
Skipping excitedly down the street, the all-American college student reached the restaurant, a cute little stone building that mainly sold simple British cuisine which didn't actually taste as bad as his snobbish French classmate liked to claim it did.
"Alright, now the party starts! Or at least it does when Arthur arrives..." he said out loud while pumping a fist into the air, not paying any mind to the people staring at him and backing away slowly.
He waited outside with a smile plastered on his face for his best buddy to arrive. After ten minutes he sat down on a nearby bench. Twenty past and the smile ran away from his face. An additional thirty went by and he was worried enough to pull out his cell phone and call Arthur.
"Hey bro, where the hell are you? I've been waiting outside the restaurant for like an hour! Is everything okay?" he asked worriedly, not aware that he was practically shouting into the phone.
"Huh? Oh, yeah...heheh...that was today wasn't it? I completely forgot all about it until now, Alfie, I swear. I've got to go ...uhm... read a book for that pesky English class, but hey happy birthday anyway. Don't go getting too drunk now!" Arthur replied. Before he hung up the phone, Alfred could've sworn he heard light chatter in the background.
"Damn, of course it happened like this...I don't even know why I feel the least bit surprised..." he thought while fighting back tears. "Well, whatever, who needs a jerk like him, anyway? I'll just call up one of my many other friends!" Alfred held his phone and began to scroll through his contacts before realizing he only had his parents', Arthur's, and his twin's, Matthew's, entered on to his phone, and it wasn't like any of them probably wanted to be bothered by him in the evening.
Sighing sharply, Alfred stood up from the bench and began walking around aimlessly. Tears silently fell from his eyes, making him have to wipe his glasses often.
Eventually, the sun had fully set, the only light being street lamps in a deserted park that the blonde had found himself in. Although he would never admit it, Alfred found the setting to be incredibly frightening, so when he heard a light rustle coming from a nearby bush, he became frozen in fear.
"It was just the wind, Jones. Nothing to be afraid of!" he tried to convince himself as he made a sad attempt to walk with his seemingly heavy legs.
Suddenly, the rustling was accompanied by a mysterious sobbing sound that didn't belong to Alfred. It occured to him that perhaps there was a person hiding in that bush.
"H-hello? Is there s-someone there?" he asked while approaching the bush apprehensively, shaking a little with fear.
There was a little startled sound made as a human figure crawled out from behind it. "O-oh, I thought I was all alone! How happy I am to finally see a friendly face! Ciao, I am Feliciano! Would be able to help me out, friend?" the scared looking Italian man exclaimed while being helped up by the now confused American.
"The name's Alfred. How come you're all alone here hiding in a bush?"
"Well, you see, this is exactly my problem, Alfred. I was taking a walk, just trying to clear my mind, when suddenly I found myself in a strange place. Then there was this real scary looking guy who stole my cell phone and wallet! I ran and ran until I became even more lost. When the sun began to set I decided to give up for the night and sleep in this bush." Feliciano quickly said in one breath.
"That sucks, dude. Here you can take my cell phone if you need to call someone." Alfred replied while holding out his phone for Feliciano, but the Italian just shook his head in response to his kind gesture.
An expression that was almost painful to look at appeared on Feliciano's face. "No...I don't know who I'd call. It would be great if you could just point me in the right direction."
Alfred looked around and realized that he too had no idea where they were. "I think I'm lost too, but...uhm..maybe we could like help each other?"
Feliciano nodded a bit disappointedly. "Which direction should we start walking in first?"
"I came from that direction, so let's start walking that way and maybe we'll eventually find a familiar place." he said reassuringly while pointing south.
They started walking around, hopelessly trying to spot familiar places, while talking and joking a bit to pass the time.
"So, Alfred, how come you got lost? You weren't mugged too, were you?" Feliciano asked curiously.
The blonde wore a sad, forced smile as he answered the question "Today's my twenty-first birthday. I was supposed to celebrate with my best friend, Arthur, but he totally ditched me. I guess I just got lost while trying to take a calming walk through the city, y'know?"
"No way, that's a lot like what happened to me today! I was supposed to meet my two friends today but I over heard them saying I was bothersome. I know they didn't mean it like that exactly and that they do care about me but it still got to me, so I took a walk and that's when everything happened. That's also why I can't call them; how bothersome would it be for them if they had to come find me..."
"Yeah, I think the same pretty much goes for my friend, too. We've been together forever, but we're like complete opposites so I think sometimes I get on his nerves without noticing."
"Sì, I think that's exactly right! Both of my friends tend to act kind of serious all the time, so much unlike me. I think we would make great friends since we're pretty similar , Alfred."
Alfred smiled warmly and nodded in agreement. Then a thought occurred to him. "Hey, Feliciano, was it? Maybe you should call your friends after all. They're probably worried that you're in some kind of trouble."
Feliciano thought about this for a moment before deciding that Alfred was probably right and accepted his phone to call his friend, Ludwig.
"Ciao! It's me Feliciano. I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of trouble again." he spoke into the phone nervously.
"Oh thank God! Kiku and I have been looking around all over for you! What the hell happened this time?" his German friend shouted back.
"It's nothing you need to worry about, really. Luckily my new friend Alfred helped me out."
"Alright, just tell me where you are; you will explain everything once we come to pick you up." Ludwig said tiredly but sounding relieved all the same.
Feliciano explained where they were and about ten minutes later, Ludwig and Kiku picked the two of them up and gladly gave Alfred a ride home as thanks for helping their friend out.
As Alfred was about to exit the car, the now cheerful Italian turned to him and grabbed his hand, stopping him. "Thanks so much, Alfred! If not for you, I'd be cold and alone in that bush right now."
The blonde American laughed dorkily and smiled "No worries man, it's what heroes do!"
Feliciano giggled softly and cheerfully leaned in to kiss Alfred on the cheek. Ludwig and Kiku exchanged flustered looks while Alfred, left speechless, hopped out of the car and waved goodbye.
The next day he found Ludwig's number in his contacts, which is what Feliciano had to use at the moment. His birthday hadn't been so bad after all.