Unimpaired

Chapter One

unimpaired [ˌʌnɪmˈpɛəd]

adj

not reduced or weakened in strength, quality, etc

The first thing Alfred noticed when he awoke was the lack of warmth in the bed next to him. Absently, he groped around the sheets, trying to find his boyfriend and pull him closer.

"Mmf, Arthur…" he muttered, half asleep. But his wandering hands could find nothing to grasp. This started Alfred fully awake. "Huh?"

He sat up rubbing his eyes, then grabbed his glasses and put them on. Sure enough, the bed next to him was empty. That was odd, Alfred thought. Usually Arthur was fond of lying in bed until Alfred woke up, and then they would get ready for their classes together. It was unlikely that Arthur was making breakfast as well, seeing as the apartment was not on fire and not dead silent like it was now.

Alfred swung his legs out of bed and stood up, frowning. If he had just gotten up to use the bathroom, the sheets next to him wouldn't be as cold as they were now. It was almost as if they hadn't been slept in in hours. A bad feeling settled in the pit Alfred's stomach.

"Iggy?" he called, using his favorite pet name for his boyfriend. "Iggy, where are you?" The only response was the chirping of a bird on a tree outside. With increasing anxiety, he changed out of his sleep clothes and into something more presentable.

As he walked into the small kitchen, he scanned the surfaces for any sort of note Arthur might have left him. Despite the clutter of papers on one of the counters, there was nothing that looked recently placed on the stack. Arthur's phone was even plugged into a charger in the wall. Shit. Alfred grabbed a bowl of cereal and began shoveling it into his mouth, hardly noticing the marshmallows he usually enjoyed so much.

When he went to dump the milk in the sink, as slurping was a habit Arthur had managed to break out of him a while ago, his foot caught of a bag that he'd haphazardly thrown onto the floor the night before. Before he could recover his balance, the bowl and its milky contents went flying. Then they stopped in mid air. With a bit of effort, the milk floated back into the bowl, and the bowl floated to the countertop by the sink.

Alfred gave a gasp as he let the bowl go. He was out of practice, really. But since he had started living with Arthur, he hadn't gotten much alone time to improve on his skills. Anyway, doing so could endanger Arthur's life if someone ended seeing him.

As far as Alfred knew, he had been born with his telekinetic skill. When he and his twin brother had discovered their powers when they were preteens, Alfred's first thought had been to become superheroes and lend their powers to save the world. Matthew was more cautious, however. They'd just be labeled as freaks, he'd said. They'd probably be wanted by the government or foreign agencies for a superweapon or experimentation. The people they'd care about would get hurt. Even their parents might become afraid of them and what they could do if they showcased their skills.

With no little reluctance, Alfred agreed to keep their powers a secret, only practicing with them when they were positive they were alone. Matthew's powers were a bit different, so he didn't have to be as cautious. Alfred, though, could only practice with small objects in the safety of his own room. The biggest he'd ever lifted was his bed, and only for a short amount of time. Afterwards he'd be exhausted and have to rest, but he was working on building up his stamina.

And now Arthur was missing. Could Alfred have gotten sloppy and caused him to be taken? He didn't want to admit it, but it was certainly a very high possibility. He should probably call Matt first and ask for advice, though. He knew full well that his quiet brother could remain calmer than he could in the situation.

A few button pushes on his iphone later Matthew's end was ringing. On the third ring there was an answer. "Hello?" Matthew's voice sounded sleepy, as he no doubt had woke him up.

"Hey Matt. We have an emergency. It's you know what related."

Matthew sounded more alert now. "What? What happened?"

Alfred took a deep breath. "Arthur's missing. I can't find him anywhere."

Matthew let out an annoyed exhale, the type that only his twin could get out of him. "You woke me up because of that? He's probably just taking a walk or running errands."

A huff of frustration came from Alfred's end. "That's so unlike him, though. He's got that whole British gentleman thing, he'd at least have left me a note to read when I had woken up. And he would have taken his phone, which is sitting on the table right here. Plus the bed was cold this morning, and I woke up earlier than usual. His shoes are even by the front door! Something's not right." Alfred's tone dropped. "Do you think that someone… Someone could have him?"

Matthew's tone softened. "How about you go to your classes today, then call the police if he's not back by then. If they don't find anything, Kiku and I'll ride over and I'll take a look at things."

It wasn't as urgent as he had hoped, but it would have to do. "Thanks, Matt. You're the best."

"You know it." Alfred pressed end call and slipped his phone in his pocket with a sigh. There was really nothing he could do at this point. Perhaps he was making something out of nothing. It just wasn't normal, though. If Arthur had to go attend to something, he would have made sure it didn't seem like he was up and leaving him. Of anything, that he knew.

With that thought, he put on his favorite brown jacket and slung his bag over his shoulder, then headed out the door.

Classes that day were nothing less than pure torture. They crawled by at an aguishly slow pace, making a restless Alfred feel even more jumpy. He hardly paid attention to what the professors were saying, and the notes he were taking probably made as much sense as Ancient Greek to anyone reading them. By his last class, Alfred would have done just about anything to just get out of there. Why did any of this stuff matter when Arthur could be hurt or worse?

After what seemed like a millennia, he was finally free to go from the hellish classroom. As fast as he could, Alfred ran back to the apartment, thankful that he was still in shape enough to do the entire distance on foot. Normally, he and Arthur would take the bus, but there was no time to wait today.

"Iggy~!" he called with false cheerfulness as he unlocked the door and threw it open. There was no happy or even angry response to his cry.

Alfred's shoulders slumped. Of course, he couldn't be that lucky for his problems to be solved that easily. With a cry of frustration, he slammed his fist down on the dining table. Where could he be? He wouldn't have left him… Would he?

Angrily, he shook those thoughts out of his head. Arthur loved him, he said so all the time. Alfred had always responded in kind. There was no reason for him to leave without saying goodbye.

To distracted himself, he looked up the number for the local police department and dialed it. "Yes, I'd like to report a missing person… Alfred Jones… Arthur James Kirkland, age 21… Blonde hair, green eyes… Yes, I do have a photograph… Apartment 124B, The Golden Falls… Thank you, I'll be waiting."

They had promised to send some officers over to check things out and also the interview him more thoroughly about the missing person. Alfred waited out in the parking lot so he could show the officers which apartment that he had disappeared from. A few minutes later, a police car drove up and two officers stepped out.

Alfred studied the two curiously. One was clearly an albino, with a shock of white hair and red eyes. The other was shorter than his partner, but seemed more refined with glasses that magnified his purple eyes and a upward curl in his brown hair. Their German accents were plainly audible when they introduced themselves as Officers Beilschmidt and Edelstein.

"Are you Alfred Jones?" Officer Edelstein asked, surveying him.

"That's me" Alfred said in response, straightening up. "My-Our-apartment's this way." He began to walk, then silently listened with amusement when the two officers began to bicker quietly behind him.

"I swear to God, Gilbert, if all you do is brag to this man about how awesome you are-"

"Loosen up, Specs, they get freaked out if you're strictly professional. If you're cooler with them then they'll be more likely to tell you stuff."

"Or they won't take you seriously and you'll end up getting killed."

"This is it." announced Alfred, stopping at his door. The duo stopped their arguing and resumed a more professional air.

"This is the apartment Arthur Kirkland vanished from, correct?" Officer Beilschmidt asked as he stepped inside. A small smirk was still present on his face, but other than that he seemed legitimately concerned.

Alfred confirmed this while they glanced around, taking everything in. It was easy enough to act normal around these people, it was after all what he was used to doing. As long as nothing actually started floating, he should seem perfectly normal.

"There seem to be no sign of struggle or forced entry. May I ask your relationship with the missing person?" Officer Edelstein asked, seeming to study Alfred even more than he had before.

Alfred hesitated. Nowadays, people were getting more and more accepting, but you still ran into prejudice against gays more than he'd like. "…He was my boyfriend." He hated how weak his voice sounded when it shook with emotion.

The brown hair officer nodded and wrote this down on his notepad. Then they took turns asking him the most likely routine questions with these cases. Was leaving suddenly unusual for Arthur? Does Arthur have any family that lived in town? Was he involved in any gang activities that he knew of? Was he acting strangely the night before his disappearance? None of these questions brought anything to light, but he supposed they needed the information.

They also asked to see a picture of Arthur as well, either to put on posters or to get a better look than a mental image could provide. Alfred opened his wallet and delicately pulled out his favorite photo of them both together. It was at a skating rink towards downtown, and they were clinging to both the railing and each other, neither knowing how to get the motion down just yet. A laughing grin peered up at them from under heavy brows. They'd been posing for the cameraperson that had been skating around, taking pictures of couples for them to buy later. It had only been taken a few months ago, and he could picture the moment so vividly he had to fight tears that threatened to come into his eyes.

Finally Officer Beilschimdt shifted awkwardly. "Do you think that it's possible that… Well, he didn't want to face saying goodbye to you in person and…" He trailed off.

Resentment bubbled up in Alfred. "Arthur wasn't that kind of person. I think he'd rather die than do something like that."

"People do strange things, you know. Someone will swear to God that this person would never do such a thing, that they must be innocent or guilty. But it often turns out to be wrong. Perhaps you didn't know him as well as you thought." Officer Edelstein shook his head. "We'll get this back to the station now. Have a nice night."

Alfred watched them leave, fists clenched. It might make sense on their end, but it wasn't even close on his side of the story. No description could come close to actually knowing Arthur. They'd been dating for a while now, and Alfred was even toying with the idea of proposal, if they were going to move into a state where it was legal.

He caused a pencil that was lying on the table to revolve furiously, venting his frustration into his powers. He'd have to call Matt, then he and his boyfriend would drive from their side of town where Matt was interning and look through things. Although Matthew was originally the one who decided to conceal their powers, he wondered just how much Kiku knew about the whole thing.

Whatever, that didn't matter now. The police would be looking for him, if he had really just gotten drunk and lost and Alfred's memories from the night before were just a dream. He'd get some sleep, he told himself, and everything would be clearer by this time tomorrow. Who knew, maybe he'd wake up tomorrow with an apologetic Arthur sitting next to him. Alfred could almost see his face and laughed to himself.

He was going to find him, no matter what. That was a fact.