"Hey, Ivan. How do I look?"
Ivan turned his gaze from the book he was reading and studied the blonde before him. His outfit, though not fancy, was presentable. His hair was as tame as it possibly could be. Confidence radiated from his demeanor; emphasized by his perfect posture. The sight was enough to make Ivan's heart race, but he tried his best to keep his romantic emotions hidden, as he was not the one his crush was trying to impress. Instead, he replied in the most controlled tone he could muster, "You look great, Alfred. I'm sure you'll have no problem attracting your crush. As long as you keep up the confident attitude. It makes you look strong, and people like it when their romantic partner is strong and sure of themselves."
Alfred smiled at the compliment, "Thanks! I'll try not to let the nerves get the best of me. I've never done this sort of thing before, so I'm worried it could end in a disaster."
His smile faltered as he pondered everything that could go wrong from asking his crush out. Ivan tried his best to reassure him, "Don't worry too much about it. It's natural to be nervous about this, but I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm sure the worst that could happen is her saying 'no'. Nothing more. I'm not saying that rejection won't hurt, but I'm sure she won't think any less of you. She'll just be missing out on an amazing man to spend her life with."
The smile return on Alfred's face, "I guess you're right. How can it be worse than a 'no'? At least we'll still be friends. She doesn't seem like the type of person who would hate me for this."
Ivan glanced at the clock, "Why don't you go now? She'll be back from work any minute now."
"Alight, Ivan. I'll see you! And thanks for the advice."
"You're welcome."
A pang of loneliness struck at Ivan's heart as he was left alone in the apartment. Even if he was happy for Alfred, he still wanted to be the object of his affection. He was the only person he'd ever loved in a romantic way, but because of his luck, his love interest didn't love him the same way. He was aware of how selfish this was, and of course, there were many other people in this world for him to love, but he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Alfred. Sometimes, he would succumb to depression when it occurred to him it wasn't likely they'd ever be in a romantic relationship.
At least, he might end up being happy with this girl, Ivan concluded in his mind, It's more important that he ends up with someone he wants to be with, rather than him ending up with me.
~O~
Ivan was shocked to find Alfred return to their apartment forty-five minutes later. He wanted to believe it was because his roommate's crush (or now possibly girlfriend), was too busy to go on a date with him, but there was no way this could be the case, when he witnessed the hurt expression on the other's face. At first, he couldn't come up with anything to say to Alfred, as he watched his love interest collapse onto his bed. At the same time, he couldn't let his roommate suffer alone after what had happened. He cared about him and he wanted to help him.
Alfred made sure he was facing away from his roommate as the other strode toward him. He didn't want to bother Ivan with what had happened between him and his crush. After what his crush had told him, he wasn't sure if anyone even cared for him. Sure, it was unrealistic for him to believe everyone in the world hated him, but his crush had shocked him when the truth of how she couldn't stand him came out. How she was merely tolerating him all along and how he couldn't believe how stupid he was for being blind to this. He was hurt and confused. He didn't understand what he did to make her dread his presence and he used to be sure she at least cared for his well-being. How had he been so oblivious to the signs? There were times where she was uncomfortable around him, and yet, he didn't understand this. Either she was an amazing actor, or he was a fool.
Alfred didn't react when a hand was placed on his shoulder. This didn't discourage Ivan from comforting him, "Are you going to be okay, Alfred?"
Alfred tried his best to keep his voice from wavering, "No..."
"I'm sorry your crush didn't feel the same way about you. Maybe if you fall in love with someone else, you'll be more lucky."
"Her rejection isn't the reason why I'm so upset," a tear escaped from one of Alfred's eyes, "It's how she went about rejecting me."
Ivan pulled Alfred into a gentle embrace and rubbed his back, as he asked, "What happened?"
At first, Alfred was hesitant, but changed his mind about staying quiet when he was told, "It's okay, you can tell me."
"Sh-she said that she never actually cared for me. That all I ever do is bother her and that all along, she was only tolerating me because she didn't want to be rude and tell me the truth about what she really thinks about me. She said that asking her out was the straw that broke the camel's back. The possibility of spending the rest of her life with me was enough to make her snap. Then, she went on to tell me all the reasons why she doesn't like me and how she wishes I would get out of her life."
More tears slid down Alfred's cheek as he snuggled closer to Ivan for comfort. His voice became a whimper, "I don't get it. What did I do to make her hate me so much? I thought she liked our friendship. I had no idea I was being too weird about this whole thing. I know this probably shouldn't affect me as much as it does, but hearing all this from someone you thought at least cared about whether you were alive or not, who you love, hurts so much. She might as well have stabbed a knife into my chest while she was at it. It wouldn't have made a difference. It just makes me wonder if anyone has ever actually cared for me. She sure did a great job at tricking me into thinking she cared about me."
Ivan couldn't help the rage building up within him. He wanted to teach this girl a lesson for messing with his love interest the way she did. He was sure this unfortunate occurrence was going to cause Alfred to have trust issues in the future. It wasn't the first time he'd been back stabbed. He believed the only reason his roommate was even clinging to him and ranting about what had happened was because he was distressed to the point of not only wanting, but needing comfort from another human. Regardless of what had happened. It was true that it wasn't the worst thing someone could've done, but it was a low blow for sure.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Alfred," Ivan spoke in a soft voice, despite how angry he was, "Some people are just losers, and feel the need to drag others down. I don't think it was you who was the problem. You were trying to be nice to her. She probably just feeds off of other people's misery. Or she has a warped perception of what a decent human being is. I wouldn't take her advice, though, seeing how she is. You weren't doing anything to harass her and if she didn't want to be your friend, she should've said so, instead of playing this stupid game with you. Just know that there are still people out there who care about you. Who would never do something like this to you. I promise there's at least one person out there who adores you and would want to spend their entire life with you. I care about you, Alfred. Just know that even if you think no one loves you, I'll always be here for you."
"Are you sure this wasn't my fault?"
"I'm one-hundred percent sure this wasn't your fault. You don't deserve to be treated like a piece of trash. You're so much more than that. You do a lot to try and make others happy."
Alfred snuggled even closer to Ivan, "I wish more people could be like you."
"Thanks, Alfred," Ivan replied, as he held his love interest tighter.
The two cuddled with each other for half an hour before Ivan suggested, "Why don't we go buy something nice for dinner? You had a rough day, and you definitely deserve a treat for putting up with all that."
"That sounds like a great idea."
With that said, the two tidied up before heading out to spoil themselves with a delicious meal.
A/N: Just so everyone knows, I know that not all women act like the one in this story.
I apologize for the previous author's notes on this story. I didn't mean for them to come off as hostile.