You Forgot To Kiss Me When You Left This Morning
"No no no! I didn't loose it on purpose. Stop nagging already!" Alfred complained and pressed his hands to his ears in annoyance. But the palms of his hands were not even near enough to stop the furious sound of his boyfriend's yelling.
"You always thought it was stupid, didn't you? Do you know how much that thing means to me, git?" The blonde brit asked him, and swung his hand out. Arthur was kind of short and lean, but he had the attitude of a guy twice his size, and a very foul mouth when he wanted to. His green eyes were pretty much throwing sparks. "And it is my bloody…"
"…Most precious belonging, I know," Alfred ended with a groan and made his way to the door, grabbing his bag on the way out. Arthur stared at him completely outrageously.
"And you don't even seem to care!" He said, with as much venom as he could and marched right after him. Alfred picked up the pace, and turned around so he was walking backwards the last bit of the way to the front door.
"Of course I do, Artie," he said with a sigh, and his hand curled around the doorknob. "But give me a break, I'm in my last year of college, I get random things mixed up."
"Random!?"
"Urg. See you later, okay? When you have cooled down. I hate when you're like this," he ended and opened the door, making his way out of the apartment complex that they shared together, with quick steps.
"Alfred! Don't you dare-" he began, but the door was clicked closed. Alfred made a run for it down the stairs, and felt kind of bad when Arthur didn't decided to pursue him with his last swears and curses. But also glad, because it meant that he was able to get his arrangements done in time.
He came to the last floor, bouncing off the step, at the entrance door of the apartment complex. He spotted a man standing outside, looking through the different buttons on the side. Alfred had never seen him before, but he supposed Arthur and him was new to this place too. When he opened he held the door open. "Need in?" he asked, and the man send him a grateful smile.
Yep, good hero deed of the day. Done.
After that good karma, he jumped into the tiny car that they had in the parking lot and turned on the engine. Alfred couldn't believe him and Arthur had been together for 2 years already. That was like… Forever in his book. He wore a slight smile when he drove the car out and made his way for the college. The two of them didn't usually fight, actually they had often been told that they were pretty lovey-dovey even for what was normal, but it did happen occasionally that they quarreled over little things. Most of the times Alfred could admit to being the culprit, but Arthur could definitely also be too naggy about it sometimes.
But they had a good thing going, they shared everything: rent, car, food and a lot of other things. It was great.
That's why he wanted to make it official. More than them just being boyfriends. He wanted Arthur to marry him. Just the thought made him grow all giddy and he almost drove into the wrong lane on the street, earning a honk from the driver behind him. He didn't care. Actually he didn't have any classes today like he had said to him, he just wanted to get out and get everything ready for Arthur. He had everything prepared. He couldn't give him some flashy day with wine and dinner on a 5 star restaurants as he did in his dreams, but this idea was pretty sweet if he should say so himself.
He drove the car up by a jewelry store and parked it. Hungarian jewels. This had all taken him around half a year to get enough money for, but he finally had the cash to buy a ring, a suit and he had even invested in a trip by boat. Arthur always thought he was over-dramatic, but come on! It would just be too sweet!
Inside the jewelry store the woman behind the desk quirked an eyebrow when she saw him. "Hello Alfred. Tell me, are you actually going to buy something this time, or have you come to fog the glass some more?" she questioned with a wry smile, and leaned her hand on the counter. Alfred sent her a sheepish smile. He had been going to the store quite a lot to figure out what he wanted for Arthur, but finally he could actually afford it.
"Hey Liz. I'm going to buy the rings today," he informed her with a smile. She looked surprised.
"You're finally going to propose to Arthur, that's wonderful. I wish I had met him already, I bet you two will be cute together. Though… in terms of rings. Normally people go for something more traditional, especially two men," she mumbled, but shrugged with a smile. The brunette grabbed a small golden key under the counter and went to open a glass cabinet where two golden rings sat on a silky pillow, as they had loyally for half a year.
"No no, these ones are perfect," Alfred told her and grinned goofily. They were golden rings, and on one of them were the American flag ingraved and on the other the British. They were supposed to be sold separately, so you could choose what nationality you wanted to wear, but in this case Alfred found it brilliant to give as a pair, judging from their circumstances. "Artie is a brit, so it's perfect."
"Okay," Elizaveta told him, and went to the register. "I want to know all about how it went, alright?" she demanded and tapped the price in. Alfred was fumbling his credit card from his pocket, nodding eagerly.
"You bet!"
It felt wonderful as he paid for the rings, and he was almost bouncing off his seat when he drove to the cleaner to get his rented suit. He just needed to wear his big bomber jacket, and then it would be pretty much the best cover ever.
It was on his way home that he noticed some green fabric sticking out from under the passengers seat. As he held for a red light he bended down and picked it up. A wide smile spread on his lip. Small circular eyes and a bright smile met him from the flying bunny that Arthur loved more than he loved money and sunshine. Alfred couldn't help but chuckle. That had been what he had been so naggy about this morning.
It was a toy that Arthur had adored since he was a kid, and made himself. But he had allowed (reluctantly) for Alfred to burrow it, because a bunch of elementary kids were stopping by the university for a project on kids. He had ended up making an advanced oath that the bunny would return safely.
Now it would. Second hero deed of the day. He was on a roll.
Last part of the way home, the butterflies were running wild in his stomach. He had to lure Arthur out for the reservations he had made on the boat. It was a half hour drive, and he had no clue how he was going to keep his cool for that long.
He opened the door with his key and with the green bunny in his hand he jumped two steps at the time up the stair, until he made his way to the apartment. "Artie! I'm home!" he called, even before the key was in the door, and grinned. "Wasn't that quick? I told you I only had a little bit of classes today," he said, opening the door - because surprisingly Arthur hadn't locked him out this time, and he hadn't even needed the key. Arthur usually locked him out when he was mad at him, but maybe he was in a forgiving mood.
"Arthur?" he called again when he got no answer. He looked around, but still no sign of the blonde. What? Was he out? Urg, that would mean he would have to wait until he got back. But why was the door open? Had he forgotten to lock? Well, it didn't matter, what mattered was where Arthur was right now. He looked at his wristwatch and bounced a little where he was. He needed to make the boat reservations. It was crucial for the whole arrangement. Arthur was not supposed to work today, was he?
"Arthuuuur," he let out with a whiney voice, and the back dropped from his fingers and to the floor. "Babe, are you here?"
He walked inside and looked around. Their apartment was not that big, with only a small entrance hall that led to the living room, connected to a kitchen. From the living room there were only two doors, the one to the bedroom and the one to the bathroom.
It was the moment Alfred set foot inside the living room that he realized something was wrong.
"What the…" he let out in shock.
Everything was a mess. The TV had fallen down, and shattered glass across the floor. The couch was turned upside-down, and the DVD-player was… missing. Pictures had fallen along with vases and Arthur's antic tea-set from London.
He took a step back, but then shock hit him. "Arthur? ... Arthur!" the last time it was a yell. "Oh shit shit…" he chanted as he looked around, before making his way to the bedroom. What had happened? What had happened? Where was Arthur?
He barged in, the door slamming against the wall, and lazily coming back. Nothing… except that his signed baseball was gone, and his games shattered over the floor. "Arthur? Artie?" he called, and then ran toward the bathroom next.
He yanked the door open, and the first thing that met him was the color red. "No! No! Fuck…" he exclaimed stunned, and froze in the door, his eyes wide in shock. The bathroom seemed to be sprayed in blood, and staring facedown at the floor was Arthur. His limbs were lying unnaturally and he was not moving. Alfred's first thought was that it was a nightmare, the next moment he didn't think at all.
"Shit no… no no no…" he said in an endless stream of denial. He fell to his knees next to Arthur and with shaking hands he took a hold of his shirt and turned him around, making his head dangle around limply. Half-closed, blank green eyes met him, and Alfred felt like he might puke. His face was completely distorted from the fall.
He put a hand over his face and felt tears sting in his eyes. "Fuck Arthur…" he whispered and quickly put two fingers to Arthur's throat. Nothing. He bit his lip and pressed a little harder… as if it would help. He felt his chest jump in suppressed sobs, before his whole body buckled over the corpse in an endless stream of pathetic moans and cries. "What the fuck?" he stammered out between sobs. "How did it happen? No no no…" his words ended out in more hopeless hives for air.
He didn't even care that he had never gotten to propose, it didn't matter that he was getting blood soaking through his jacket and into the expensive suit, or that the rings would never grace his boyfriend's finger. What he regretted the most of all, was that the last thing he had ever gotten to say to him was:
"I hate when you're like this."
"Last words are always harder to remember when no one knows that someone's about to die."
― John Green
A/N: This story was inspired by the quote that is written above, but really I thought of it this morning, when my dad was leaving for work, and I forgot to tell him that I loved him. It was always just a routine and habit that I told him that, but then I thought... hey! What if (worst case scenario) he was getting in an accident. What if this was the last time I saw him. And that is kind of how I got inspired.
Please review, it would mean the world to me.
