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It was a chance encounter, really. She needed inspiration. He needed his facts. US/fem!UK for the USxUK-Club's Double Contest, written for the fan fiction category.
Part One Encounters
"Rose," She flinched at the sound of her name. Her editor's tone was stern, demanding, and sure as hell pissed. She didn't know why though, Rose had written her short story, as requested, the prompt being anything that would inspire her. But, she wasn't easily impressed as any other author. She needed to be amazed, wowed, won over; the inspiration had to be original and amazing, and coming from the fact that millions of stories have been written, she couldn't find the most original idea. And if she would, it would one way or another, reflect another idea. How unoriginal. She hated that.
"Yes sir?" It took her a few moments to reply to her editor. She clenched her teeth as she said so, preparing for the worst. When she had started working with him, she had expected what she had known. Francis Bonnefoy was, is, and forever will be a picky editor, always digging for originality, and therefore, he almost always pushed Rose to do her best, even if it means getting out of her comfort zones. If he wasn't doing that, he would be with his girlfriend, Madeline. Rose had met her before. She had come over to deliver one of her works to Francis personally one day and he wasn't home. Maddie was there to answer the door, and offered her coffee and cookies. She was a sweet person compared to her boyfriend.
"Rose," Francis had said again, with more disappointment. "I thought you said you came up with something magnificent."
"I did!" Rose said defensively, a little bit too loud, she had noticed. She shrunk back in her seat, and sat back up. "It's just... You try to find the most original idea! So many years and decades... and... And... Centuries of passed and," God, she felt like she was repeating herself. "...It's not that easy to find a pure original idea, you know? Fairy tales, historical, comedy, romance, science fiction."
"There, science fiction!"
"Excuse me?"
"Write a story involving science fiction," Francis nodded, confirming his suggestion.
Rose chuckled. "It's not my cup of tea."
"Comedy wasn't either, and that story sold pretty well. Just... try it, Rose," She frowned. "When have I ever put you in a wrong direction when it comes to literature?"
Alfred stared at the sight in front of him. It was pitch black, the stars being the only source of light at the moment. He took a step forward and let his fingers touch the cold, hard glass, separating him from the outside. Everything was going so fast, and it wasn't just the vehicle he was in- it was his own life. He just finished school, and was about to have independent studies, like all the other hard working people on his planet. Was it even his planet anyway? He had been living there all his life, but he wasn't a part of the civilization there himself.
No, he was a human. An alien to them, but they were the aliens to him.
Adopted most of all.
Alfred had noticed how different he was from his friends and family, but they always calmed him down, saying that it's alright. So long as they are in peace, everything is alright. Although, one day, he had been informed by his parents that he wasn't a part of them. That he wasn't like them, that he was a human being. Alfred had denied himself of this fact, and after taking his anger out in the forest outside of his house, he came back home for his adoptive parents to explain.
Apparently, when he was younger, Alfred was in danger, and they had no choice but to help him. But it came to the point where they couldn't return him back, and felt that his old home wasn't deserving of the child they had found. No, his adoptive parents found him far too brilliant for his previous home. So they took him away from it. It seemed like a good idea at the moment, but now, they had felt the need that it was time for Alfred to go back to where he really belongs. They had assured him that they would always love him no matter what, and such. For his journey, they had told him about his sister, of how she could help him get back on his feet, adjust to Earth too. They had also thrown in a space ship for the travel, and Alfred's adoptive brother, Tony to escort him there.
Tony and Alfred grew close over the years, and he was wary of the fact that his own brother would live with humans. He had seen them, read of them, gathered every piece of information he could about them, and concluded that humans were more greedy and manipulative than they were. He sometimes even questioned how Alfred could be a part of them- clearly, he wasn't. Sure, he would be obnoxious sometimes, and a bit of a pig, but hey, everyone had their own flaws. And whenever Tony had made this comment, he would add that the humans on Earth were worse.
Alfred could beg to differ. He hadn't even met them yet, but he had a rather good feeling about them. Maybe it was because he was one of them? He was just so curious about everything- their history, their culture, their life styles; leisure, hobbies, careers, the subjects would never end. Alfred was always and still is the curious little boy he was. He would miss his home planet dearly, but he had to accept that he would have to live in his birth planet, and from what he had read in all the books and films, it was completely different from his home planet.
He was given ideas on where and how to look for his sister. First clue being that she was last seen with him somewhere in New York, that both of them were in foster care, meaning she could be anywhere by now. The only clue of her appearance was an old photograph of them as little kids, the photograph he was always told of who he wasn't anymore. Now, he was told to go back to that person he once was.
To be honest, Alfred felt that they should just really make up their minds.
"The usual, Kiku," Rose had spent all day in the library, looking for some books that would ignite her interests in a science fiction related subject. If she was going to do science fiction, she might as well find a sub-category of it remotely interesting. Time travel seemed interesting, but it seemed like it's been done too much. Aliens? No. That sub-category, she told herself to definitely stay away from. She would have been more willing to write for it, but seeing all the reputation from it, her writing for that category is just begging for her to be singled out to be a crazy person. Well, crazier person, actually, since she's been caught talking to thin air. Writing that children's story book was just too fun, that all the creatures she had thought of followed her. And in her opinion, they had kept her company. So she didn't mind at all.
Rose had settled in the same corner she had always settled in the first time she had sat in the cafe. She took her computer out and logged onto her account. Rose had taken a liking to this cafe in particular. It was almost always quiet, it only being packed if there was an event. There was, of course, the usual chatter, but it was kept to a minimum. The music played on the speakers was her type of music, plus she made friends with one of the workers, Kiku Honda.
He was a nice fellow, a bit short though, even if Rose didn't wear her usual boots. The Japanese man was the best at making her type of tea, and even offered to make her some off work.
"Here you go, Rose," Kiku smiled as he set her tea down on the table, next to her computer.
"Thank you, Kiku," Rose said. "Maybe you could stick around? I've been bored for a while now, so..."
"No problem," Kiku bowed. "I would love to hear about your day, but Yao gave me the next shift for inventory duty. My apologies."
"Oh..." Rose's face fell. "It's no problem. I need to think of ideas anyways."
Rose's schedule was always planned out. Having the same events every day, it being a routine, actually. And the only times it would be different is if she had to meet up with Francis to discuss on her stories. Kiku was there to chat with her when he had time off from taking orders, and so was Elizaveta. Elizaveta was the wife the pianist who occasionally played for the cafe, and not to mention, a skilled cook. She would love to talk to Rose, having a girl to talk to at times, but she was always told to be in the kitchen and cook. Sometimes, she had mentioned. She just wanted to hit them all with her skillet and have a break from cooking, as much as she loved it. Roderich was a rather interesting man to have a conversation, but he was too busy working on his music, or busy with his wife.
Francis and Rose had known each other for quite some time, the two being rather close, but ever since Francis had become Rose's editor, it's more of a business relationship than an actual friendship. Maddie was there too, although she was rather quiet, but tried her best to contribute to the conversation.
After sitting in the cafe for about an hour, she packed up and got ready to go back to her flat.
Alfred was too focused on looking at the planet straight ahead of him, it was Earth. He smiled to himself, but it faltered as he realized that he had a lot to do when he landed. He didn't even know how to communicate with them. Do they just talk from a certain distance, like they did? Or did they use gestures? Sounds?
His train of thought was broken when he had noticed that the ship was going down faster than he had thought. His adoptive dad took him on rides like these frequently to the other planets, but even though the landing was rough, it was never fast like this, nor did he ever feel the room's temperature increasing.
"Tony!" Alfred shouted from the room. "Did dad ever teach you how to land?"
Tony gave Alfred a look, but even though he didn't say anything, Alfred knew the answer.
They were going to crash.
How lovely.
When Rose exited the cafe, she looked above to see where the light was coming from, and saw a bright streak falling. Was it a meteorite? She was contemplating whether or not to check it out, and only to reluctantly decide that she would do so.
Alfred wasn't entirely sure of what happened next. Everything was moving too fast, he remembered being hit against the glass, and the ship landing on the water. It had some fuel left over, so Tony managed to get the ship into shore. The two looked at each other, panting heavily as they exited the ship.
"We're alive, Tony!" Tony nodded, and rushed back into the ship, pushing buttons until a bright beam appeared for a few seconds, then dimmed.
"Help is on the way. I'll stay here and make sure nothing is going to go wrong. You explore a bit, but find your way back. If you don't, it's your problem."
Alfred nodded and started to walk through the forest. Not knowing where he was headed, he simply kept walking forward, and then quickly headed back to where the ship landed. "Uh, Tony?" The creature looked up. "Where do I go?"
Tony rolled his eyes and began looking up a map for Alfred.
Rose stopped in her tracks as she looked up in the sky. It was a bright red beam, and it seemed to open up the few clouds in the sky for a few seconds, only to disappear a few seconds later. Was it fireworks? The neighborhood she was in was fairly quiet, minus for Fourth of July, and other holidays when they had decided to buy all of the fireworks and light up the sky with it. There were other events such as birthday parties where sometimes others did light up fireworks.
It was summer, and Fourth of July was only about a month away, so it wasn't that. Maybe it was a birthday party. But then again, fireworks had sparks floating down after they were shot up. If that was the case, then what was it? With all of these questions running in her mind, she almost went into the forest to investigate, but had changed her mind in the end.
It was dark, plus she didn't tell anyone she was going in there. Rose didn't want to risk anything, so she decided that she would investigate tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, in the ship, Tony and Alfred were looking at a map of the town they were in, for Alfred to know his way around.
The following morning, Rose had woken up before her alarm. She got up and head straight to the bathroom to wash up. The night before, she had trouble sleeping, as she was anxious for the morning to come. She had mixed feeling about the beam.
It might give her a really good inspiration for her stories, but what if it was just full of idiots, flashing lights for no reason? All the negative points she thought of made her want to go less, but she had been pushing herself to go anyways. She would just worry about it later.
When she was actually there.
Rose wasn't the only one with trouble sleeping. In the ship, after Alfred and Tony reviewed the map of the town, the two had gone to sleep. But just like Rose, Alfred was anxious. He knew that before he met someone, they were strangers. But now, he was meeting—what were they called? People, that were, above all, from another planet. He spent a year reading about Earth; maybe pick up a couple of slangs or something so he could look less out of place.
Upon reading the books, he had taken an interest to subjects like math and science, which were very similar to the subjects he was best on in his other school. It was all fascinating to him, their way of numbers, and how two elements can combine to make either great things that would help greatly, or things that were destructive.
Although he found some of their stories interesting, he was still bad at performing it. Like for example, literature. Alfred loved reading it; he was just… not really good at stuff like grammar. Unlike the numbers, words weren't really a universal thing. Even on his home planet, they used roman numerals sometimes, and had the same rules as Earth did like one plus one equals two and such. But words. That confused him. In his planet, everyone spoke relatively the same language, just in a different dialect or accent. But in Earth, everyone used different languages. In his home planet, Alfred took English as an elective, so he hoped that his sister spoke it too, or he would have trouble communicating with her.
And she was the only reason he even came here.
To be honest, Alfred would have liked—no loved to stay back home. The home he was raised in, not born in. He would have gone into apprenticeship in a couple of months, in one of the other districts and would just… not be where he was now. Not like he regretted this trip at all, but he's twenty; at least in human years, and he felt that he was old enough to make wise decisions. So why couldn't he have just stayed at home?
Earlier that morning, Tony gave Alfred a map and told him that he was free to roam and was highly suggested to find his own place, to get used to the environment, he said. If Alfred couldn't do so, he would just simply return back to the ship and continue looking for an apartment the next day. Now, Alfred was in the forest. He had been walking around for about fifteen minutes now. It wasn't because he was lost or anything—no. It was just that he was looking at all the scenery and it just interested him. A lot. For each plant or animal he found, he spent around two minutes looking at them, and when they would run away, he would just continue his walk.
After watching a cricket hop away, Alfred heard some rustling. It might have been a bear, but really; what are the chances of a bear loose in New York? In this small town, most of all? But being curious as he was, Alfred decided to investigate it.
Rose wasn't lost. Lost was being in a place you didn't know of. And she knew this forest. Maddie had invited her out camping along with Elizaveta once. This forest was completely familiar to Rose. She was just… out of track, and if she could, she would find her way to the lake's shore, where they had camped out on.
But for some time now, she felt like she was being watched, like if someone was watching her for some time now and was making plans to grab her and take her away. Luckily, she had informed Maddie that she had plans to go to the forest to find inspiration for her stories. So if she didn't inform her that she was fine by noon, Madeline would promptly call 911.
Alfred on the other hand was completely lost on how to approach the woman in front of him. It wasn't just the fact that he didn't want to scare, her. Well, that too. But it was mostly on how to talk to her. Even back home, Alfred had problems talking to the opposite gender. He didn't stutter or anything, but he didn't know what subject to talk to them about.
He would start with a simple hello, and they would say hello back. So greetings, he could do, even though he was awkward about it. But the conversation? No. After saying hello, either one of them would attempt to say something, but it would quickly die down, then the two would go on their separate ways.
So… how would he do this? He had a sister. Meaning, she was a girl (obviously). But family members he can talk to. It would be awkward, but they would have to get over it, of course.
Alfred looked at the woman walking around again. She had dirty blond hair, braided and passed her shoulders. The woman was wearing a purple blouse, sleeves ending at her elbows, jeans, and brown boots. When she had turned around, Alfred saw her face. Her hair was parted from the left side of her face, she wore glasses and there was something about her eyes that interested Alfred. They were emerald green and on Alfred's home planet, green eyes were rather rare.
From the appearance of the woman, Alfred had concluded something; it was going to be even harder to talk to her. So, Alfred slowly stepped out of his hiding spot and began walking towards her.
"Hello."
For a moment, Rose could have sworn that she had heard footsteps. She turned around to check if someone was there, and turned back around when she had found no one. All was well for a minute or two, until someone spoke to her.
"Hello."
She shouted out of shock. "Who are you and how did I not see you? I just checked to see if anyone was following me a few minutes before—who are you?"
"I'm sorry!" Alfred apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you—I was just looking a way back to the… uh…"
Rose tried to calm herself down as he explained his situation, but clearly, he was having trouble talking. "Town? How? I've never seen you here. And I've been here for five years."
"I'm new here. And I wanted to check out the forest. But what I'm looking for is an apartment."
"And what are you supposed to do if you don't find one by night?"
"I don't know, camp here, I guess."
"How did you get here?"
"A space ship, from another planet. No big deal," Alfred wanted to say, but told himself not to.
"Well?"
"I… uh… walked," Alfred replied. "Five hundred miles. So if I can't find a place to stay here, I'll just have to walk five hundred more."
Rose tried not to chuckle. "You just got that from a song."
"Is it a song?"
Rose would admit to herself that this stranger was pretty attractive. Wheat blond hair, blue eyes, also wearer of glasses, and he was interesting too. But now wasn't a good moment to think of those things. They are in a forest. And he was just following her, or at least that's what she thought he was doing. This was no time for her to be distracted.
"Why are you here?"
"Well, I found out around two years ago that I was adopted, and my foster parents told me that I should find my little sister," Alfred reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small photo of him and his sister. "But I don't know her name or anything. Plus, I'm not really from here if you know what I mean."
"Different country? I thought, with you know, your accent, you were American."
"My foster parents… moved back to their home," Alfred explained. Technically, it had been true. "They were on vacation, they found me, and they adopted me."
"Ah."
"Do you know where I can try to figure out where my sister is?"
"Not really. But if you want, I'll try looking up something for you."
Alfred smiled. "Thank you."
For some reason, Rose had decided that Alfred was no predator, and she can trust him. She was a bit wary of his background story, since it had sounded a bit sappier than she would've hoped for. But there was just something about his smile that gave her all the reasons that even though she doesn't completely trust him yet, he was no harm.
" Hey, um, if you don't have a place to stay in, maybe you can stay at my flat?" Rose coughed, realizing how it would lead him on. "There's a guest bedroom, and you can stay there until you can find your own apartment."
"Really?" Alfred's face brightened up. "Thank you. What's your name?"
"Rose. Rose Kirkland."
"Alfred F. Jones," He replied. "If you ask what the F stands for, I don't know, my parents lost that part in the papers."
"And here you go, apartment A36. Let me just go get something for you."
Rose had taken him to her flat afterwards. Apparently, an hour had passed since she had gone on her outing and instead of coming back with inspiration, she came back with a man. It wasn't like she was going to do with him anyways, she was just there to help him out and such. But, there is a chance still standing that he can inspire her, one way or another.
As Rose was looking for her spare key, now Alfred's key, Alfred took the time in observing Rose's apartment. It was small, the dining room, kitchen, and living room all being in one room, but there was a window and porch, opposite of the front door. They were on the third floor, the last door on the floor, and there was an apartment right next to them, apartment B36.
If you came in the room, the kitchen was to your left, and there would be a closet at your right. There was a stove, a sink, and a dish washer, along with the counter in the kitchen. In the middle of it was a round table. After that, there was a small walk space, and then there were two doors. In the middle of it all was a coffee table, completed with a couch and a small TV. Next to the TV was a large book case, and on the other side of the TV was another room.
Rose had gone in to the left door on the west side of the room and came back out with a key. "Here is your key. And the room next to mine is your room."
Alfred walked towards it and opened the door. It was an empty room compared to the room outside filled with furniture. But it wasn't completely empty. There was a bed, a night stand, and a small walk in closet to the left. To the right was another window with a flower. In front of the bed was a small desk accompanied with a chair. While Alfred was taking his time observing his new room, Rose got her computer and placed it in her bag.
"Alright, now that I've given you a tour of my flat, let me take you on a tour of the town," Rose called and opened the front door. "Come on."
Alfred nodded and followed her. Rose was an interesting woman to him. She was very simple about her things, things that one would consider boring. But there was something about her that he could tell that she was more than that.
All they had to do was walk downstairs and go to the cafe down the street. Rose had guided him to the counter and pointed out the menu. "Alright, Alfred, what would you like?"
Alfred stared clueless at the menu. He knew what the words said, but God, what did they mean? "Actually, I've never tried any of these."
Rose chuckled, thinking he was joking. "You're kidding right?" Alfred turned and gave her a blank stare. Rose frowned. He wasn't joking. "Did you live at a temple or something?"
"Not really," Alfred replied. "We just didn't have any of these where we lived. I'd like to try them, though."
Rose nodded. "Hello, Kiku."
"Hello, Rose. And who's this?"
Alfred's head shot up and he waved. "I'm Alfred."
Kiku looked a bit confused, and even though he wanted to question it, he didn't ask. But Rose answered it for him anyways. "He's a friend of mine."
He nodded. "So, your order?"
"My usual, and..." Rose turned around to make a quick glance at Alfred. "A cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll."
Kiku nodded as he jotted down the order. When he finished, he ripped off the paper and placed the small note pad back in the apron's pocket. Kiku had gone to the back and came back about a minute later with a tea cup accompanied by a small plate and a spoon. He then got out a red mug and poured the coffee he had to brew earlier along with some cream and started mixing. When he heard a ding, Kiku went back inside the kitchen and came back with two plates of cinnamon rolls. When he had finished, he placed all of it onto a tray and told the total to Rose, who had paid for it all.
She had settled in her usual spot and set the plate down. While she took the spot for the booth, Alfred sat in the chair facing Rose who was taking her order off the tray. "Alright, these are yours," She handed Alfred the mug of coffee and the cinnamon roll. "Careful, it's hot."
Alfred picked up the mug by the handle and took a sip of it and winced in pain. Rose rolled her eyes. "Told you so."
"It's bitter," Alfred commented.
"So, you add sugar on it," Rose gave Alfred a container of sugar. "Add sugar until the flavor sweet enough for you. Don't forget to mix it."
Alfred nodded and added sugar into the drink and began mixing. "To see if it's sweet enough, take a spoonful and blow on it," Alfred was about to spray the hot coffee everywhere. "Gently," Rose stressed, trying to prevent that mess. Alfred deflated and began blowing on it much more gently than before. "And then take a sample of it."
Alfred sipped the coffee on the spoon and observed the taste. "Do the same, by stirring the coffee and again, blowing on it gently."
As he did so, Rose added some sugar to her tea and began stirring. All the while, she stared at Alfred, still not believing that he had never done this before. How old was he anyways? Oh, she had so many questions to ask him, but she didn't want to come off as a source of annoyance to him. When she had noticed that Alfred was just taking a spoonful of the coffee, then drinking it like a spoon, she forced herself not to laugh. "You don't have to do that every time, you know. Just do that when it's still piping hot."
"It's still hot."
Rose sighed and felt the temperature of the mug. "No it isn't, it's fairly warm, and that's how it should be. Oh, and personally, I like eating the roll and I save the drink for whenever I get thirsty while I'm eating."
He nodded and took a bite out of the roll. The two ate in silence as they ate, Rose taking a quick glance at Alfred every now and then. At a moment or two, she felt like Belle teaching the Beast or Jane teaching Tarzan. That's when it hit her. Maybe Alfred was hidden from society or he just lived a life full of limitations. Maybe he had gone to private school, he might have even been home schooled. But seriously, a grown man not knowing how to drink a hot mug of coffee? That seemed unreal, and yet Alfred did so.
When Alfred had finished eating, he got a napkin and wiped off the coffee on his upper lip and the sugar on his hands from the cinnamon roll. So he did know basic manners. "Alfred," Rose spoke up. "You've never had to cool down something hot before?"
Alfred thought about it. At home, they were far more advanced than humans were, something he had learned earlier. Maybe this is one of the things. "Well, at home, everything was served at just the right temperature and we didn't have to do anything about it. This is my first time doing something like this, it's more work, but it seems fun."
"Really?" Rose was intrigued. "Here, people would love to be served food that was at the right temperature. It would be less of a hassle."
"It's really cool if you think about it, and you don't have to do much work," Alfred agreed. "But after a while, you start to feel like you want to do your own stuff in your own way instead of people doing it for you. It's like getting a taste of freedom. I like it."
"What?"
"Freedom," Alfred stated. "I never really got to know what it was. You see, at home, we had rules and laws, and mostly everything was done for us. The only things we had to do for ourselves were school work, getting around, and our attitudes. That's it. Oh, and responsibility too. My parents wanted me to find my sister, but I just wanted to stay there and do what I wanted to do."
"So why did you go and try to find her anyways?"
Alfred shrugged. "I don't know. At the time I just really wanted to stay, but even though my parents told me that they still love me as a son even though I wasn't biologically theirs to begin with; or the fact that everyone was different, made me realize I'm not a part of them. And even though I would love to be one of them, like I thought I was for the most of my life, I would never be. They're awesome people, and I get along with some of them, but I thought it was time that I would stop pretending. And then I looked up about the studying here, and it was similar to the things we had back home, so I was convinced."
Rose was speechless. "So what is it that you wanted to study?"
"Astronomy," He smiled. "And everything that has to do with space, basically."
"Why's that?"
"Well-" Alfred begun but was interrupted when the front door slammed open with a woman rushing to the counter. And Rose immediately frowned. She forgot to call Madeline, didn't she?
"Calm down, dear," A man followed her in and hugged her.
"How can I be calm, Francis?" Maddie jerked from his grasp. "Rose hasn't called me yet and she might be in trouble!"
Francis sighed deeply and pulled out a seat for Maddie. "I'm sure she's fine."
Maddie dropped in the seat and covered her face with her hands and Francis took a seat beside her and began petting her hair. "How do you know?"
"Dear, she's sitting across from you," Francis told her as he kissed her forehead.
Maddie dashed away from her seat and to Rose. "Rose! Are you alright?"
"Yes, yes, I just forgot to call you," She assured her. "I'm sorry."
Francis had walked up to them and had noticed Alfred. "Hello."
Alfred blinked and saw Francis. "Hello."
"Rose, who is this?" Francis asked her, implying Alfred.
"That's Alfred, my-"
"Boyfriend," Rose's face flushed. She just met the guy and he'd already been assuming things?
Francis' eyes rose up. "Really now?"
Alfred nodded. "I'm her friend, and I'm a boy. Boyfriend."
"Ah, a comedian," Francis laughed. "It's about time Rose met someone like that. I'm Francis Bonnefoy."
"Madeline Williams, but call me Maddie," She greeted. Alfred nodded and noticed something about her. She seemed familiar.
"Alfred F. Jones," Francis nodded.
"I believe right now is a good enough moment to tell you that Madeline is taken. By me, specifically," Francis stated.
"People own people?" Alfred asked in bewilderment. What a false advertisement the country's anthem had. Home of the free and brave his ass. He'd thought they had gotten over that, but apparently not.
"No, Alfred, they're dating each other," Rose stated. "Maddie is Francis' girlfriend and Francis is Maddie's boyfriend."
That's when Alfred had realized that he didn't brush up on human cultures as thoroughly as he thought, embarrassing Rose in the process. For the entire conversation, Alfred was either worried that his friendship with Rose was affected or he was making quick glances at Madeline, Francis glaring at him in response.
Maddie and Francis had to leave an hour later, as Maddie had classes to catch and Francis had work to do. Rose and Alfred also departed from the cafe, starting Alfred's tour on the town. The walk was an awkward one, filled with silence between them, Rose still pissed at Alfred for doing that and Alfred not knowing what to say. Well, how was he supposed to know that they weren't forward as they were on his home planet? Not only that but boyfriend clearly states boy that's a friend, it's in the name. God, they were so confusing.
"Rose," Alfred spoke up. "I'm sorry."
"Why the hell would you even say that, Alfred? Just assuming things. I just met you! Above all, I'm letting you stay with me. You can't just say things that aren't even real," Rose fumed. "If I don't know any better, I would assume that you're taking advantage of me."
"I'm not!" Alfred replied defensively. "It's just... at home, we're more forward about things. Plus, it's in the name, isn't it?"
"Yes, but... Alfred," Rose said sternly. "This isn't your home. Or at least, it isn't yet. But- where you come from, from what I've gathered is far, far, far different from here. Here it is preferred if things are more subtle. At least, that's the way I prefer it to be."
The tour had gone off with hardly any hitches. It was less awkward, as Alfred would ask a few questions here and there. The tour around town lasted for two hours, even though it was small, Alfred would ask a lot of questions and then there were breaks here and there. And because Alfred had met a few people in town, they had stopped by and chatted with them. There was Vash, who worked for the police along with the Beildschmidt brothers, Ludwig and Gilbert. Meanwhile Vash's little sister, Lili worked with Ivan, the florist. Isabella, Ludwig's wife and her brother, Lovino worked in their own restaurant. Even though Alfred hadn't met Antonio yet, he was the manager for the supermarket.
By the time they returned to the apartment, it was around four o'clock in the afternoon. They were both tired and Rose had retreated to her room, stating that she wanted to be alone for the rest of the day. By that, Alfred could tell that she was still pissed at him. Alfred, upset, had decided to talk to Tony about this. Grabbing his keys from the desk, he headed out to the front door and made his way to the crash site.
"Tony!" Alfred called out and started knocking on the door. "I need to talk to you!"
The door slid open and Alfred ran inside looking for Tony. In the end, he was found in the main room, playing a game. "Did you find a place to stay?"
"Yes," Tony nodded and turned around to focus on his game. "But it's not about that."
Tony sighed deeply and paused his game again. He stared at Alfred before he made his conclusion. "It's about a girl, isn't it?"
Alfred nodded. Tony rolled his eyes. Of course. "I think I pissed her off."
"Well, fuck it," Tony replied. "It's not like you're gonna see her again."
"Actually, she's letting me stay with her," Alfred told him. Tony groaned and waited for Alfred to tell him the whole story. It lasted about thirty minutes and it took Tony another thirty to think of a plan for Alfred.
"You know how to cook, right?"
For about two hours, Alfred was learning how to cook human meals, only messing up here and there. He had decided to go with something basic as he didn't even know what Rose liked. So he had decided to cook something that mostly everybody liked- fish accompanied with rice. It wasn't that much of a hassle as they had some food stocked up in the fridge, fish being one of them. Alfred used about three of them. The first one had been over cooked, the second one was under cooked, and for the third time, it turned out surprisingly well. The rice was an easy thing to cook, plus it only took him around thirty minutes to make.
As a payment for helping Alfred out, Tony had requested that he would be the one to eat the third fish. He also added that Alfred would have to cook again, but it didn't matter. The fish might have been cold by the time Alfred had prepared everything.
After he had finished his practice cooking, Alfred made his way down to the supermarket. After that, he had gone back to the apartment, when he did, he had noticed that Rose wasn't there. He was worried, but that would mean that he had maybe the right amount of time to cook while she was away. And when she would come back, she would be surprised at the meal, and Alfred's chances of being forgiven would be higher. For an hour, Alfred had cooked the fish and the rice. He was afraid that there wouldn't be a rice cooker, but thankfully, there was one. After he finished, he set down place mats, plates, utensils, with the fish in the middle.
"Alright, just tell me if you see him," Rose groaned as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. Did she really upset Alfred that much?
Around three hours ago, Rose had wanted to apologize to Alfred, but she had noticed that Alfred was nowhere to be found in the apartment. So, she had searched around town, starting at the cafe. She wasn't the usual worry wart, but Alfred wasn't even here for a day, and he might have gotten lost or something. This had caused her to walk around town looking for him or for someone to just tell her where he was so she would stop her worrying. Rose would have searched the forest, but it was getting dark, and she didn't want to risk anything.
Taking out her keys from her pocket, Rose opened the door and had seen the lights open, and a dinner waiting on the dinner table. She felt a tap on her shoulder and almost shouted before she turned around and saw Alfred. Instead of hugging him with joy, Rose slapped his arm.
"Where were you? God, I was so worried!"
Alfred rubbed his arm. "Sorry, I wanted to take a walk, and I didn't expect to be out for that long. I wanted to make up for earlier, so I cooked."
"You can cook?"
"I tried," Alfred replied. Rose blinked and walked over to the table. "I didn't know what you liked, so I just cooked fish and rice."
Rose was about push her seat forward, but Alfred had assisted her in doing so. She took a piece of the fish and tasted it. "Not bad."
Dinner had gone by smoothly and Alfred had even volunteered to wash the dishes. After that, the two had gone to sleep in their respective bedrooms. Next morning, Rose had apologized to Alfred at the cafe. After that, she had offered to help him get used to the town and the apartment. The two would clean it every once and a while, and they would talk about what they wanted to about each other.
During that time, Alfred grew on Rose, and the stories he would tell her gave her bits and pieces of inspiration. Inspiration she had needed for her story. Inspiration she figured she would find in him.
After two weeks of living with Rose, Alfred got a job at the cafe, helping Elizaveta cook. Although, Elizaveta would teach him something here and there. At the end of the second week, Alfred had accompanied Rose on her visit to Francis and Madeline's house. They conversed some more and Alfred had found out that Maddie was a year younger than him and that she had to drive to her university. Francis also added that he would escort her there. Another thing that Alfred had discovered that Francis and Maddie were seven years apart in age, Francis being twenty-six. They had met when Maddie was studying for one of her finals during her freshman year in college, and the two had begun dating a couple months later. Francis and Maddie had also learned that Alfred was adopted and had a "rather sheltered life", as Rose would put it.
When Alfred and Rose had left that evening, Alfred didn't notice that he something slipped out of his pocket, and was left at their house.
The photograph of him and his sister.
It didn't go in the trash, but it did, however fall into Maddie's hands.
"Francis," She called and he rushed over to her.
"Yes, my love?"
"I think... I think Alfred's my brother."
To be continued...
