Arthur knew something wasn't right when he picked up his cellphone and saw 'Alfred' scrawled on his screen.

He swiped his thumb on the screen and placed the phone to his ear and answered with a simple, "Hello?"

He could hear noises on the other end, as if someone was trying to suppress themselves from bawling their eyes out. Something definitely wasn't right.

"Alfred? Are you alright?"

A sniff. "A-Arthur..."

Arthur sat up from his desk, completely abandoning his essay that was due tomorrow. "Alfred, what's wrong?"

More sniffles, and then, "A-Artie, please come over... I- I need you right now..."

"Are you on campus?"

"Y-yes..."

"You'll explain what happened when I get there, won't you?" Arthur knew not to poke him with anymore 'are you alright?' questions on the phone if he was truly upset.

"Yeah... Just hurry... P-please..." His voice broke and Arthur can hear him sob on the other end.

"Alright, I'll be right over." And with that, Arthur hung up and ran to grab his coat from the closet.

As if right on cue, his roommate, Gilbert, swung the door open, a young woman in toe, obviously a freshman, drunk out of their minds.

"Ooooooh, hey Arthuuuuur... Do you mind—"

"I'm not in the mood for games, Gil. I'm heading over to Alfred's dorm." He grabbed his room key. "Don't go wandering over to my side of the room."

"Ooooh, is Alfred havin' a bad day or somethin'? Did he watch another horror movie...?" Gilbert grinned, the freshman giggling in his arms. They were still blocking the only exit out of the room.

"Dammit, Gil, get out of the way. This is serious!"

"Alrigh, alrigh, don't get yur panties in a bunch," Gilbert slurred, pulling the freshman with him as they stepped out of the way to let Arthur through.

"Don't make a mess like last time!" Arthur shouted as he walked a fast pace towards the stairs. He honestly didn't have time to give Gil another lecture about bringing random girls into their dorm room as the only thing on his mind was Alfred.

As he ran down the stairs and into the evening November air, he couldn't help but think of the possible scenarios that could have had Alfred crying. Most of the time, Alfred would call him to come over after watching yet another horror film.

But this felt different. It felt personal.

Is... Is this about that girl he was seeing?

Alfred was currently in a relationship with a girl he dated since high school. All Arthur knew about her was that she was two years older than him and currently has a full time job as a nurse at the local hospital. She was a senior and he was a sophomore when they started dating.

Arthur loathed her. However, he continued to pull a happy demeanor when Alfred gushed over her and whenever her name popped up into conversation.

He did meet the young lady a few times and did admit that she was very beautiful and very kind, but there was something about her that sent red flags all over that Alfred was too obliviously in love to see them.

Of course, Arthur kept them to himself because... Well, he loved Alfred.

No, not the kind of love between two friends or brothers; Arthur was truly, desperately, and unmistakably in love with Alfred.

So it was no surprise when Arthur snapped when Alfred told him of his plan to propose to this woman. They didn't talk for days after that heated argument and it was Arthur that had to go over and apologize. And that was weeks ago.

Alfred's dorm building was drawing near and Arthur had to stop for a few seconds to clear his mind, take a deep breath, adjust his reading glasses (that he apparently forgot to take off but screw it, his best friend is in utter despair), and step into the building.

After a talk with the RA's in charge of the front desk of the building, he ran up three flights of stairs, walked straight before turning right and came to the fourth door on his left; Alfred's dorm room.

He took a few seconds to compose himself before knocking on the door. Not even two seconds passed when the door flew open and a very miserable looking American was right in front of him.

Arthur's heart dropped.

Alfred looked horrible. He was wearing his TMNT pajama bottoms and a Captain America T-shirt that have seen better days; he wasn't wearing his glasses as he was probably crying because his sky-blue eyes were bloodshot, his entire face red and his hair in disarray.

A few seconds ticked by, and Arthur broke the silence, "... Al...? What happened?"

Alfred looked down on the ground. "... Hi to you, too."

Arthur shot up. "Alfred, right now I don't care about formalities. You are obviously in distress and you need company, if I know you so well."

Alfred looked up. Judging by the look on his face, he knew Arthur was right about that. He moved to the side and gestured Arthur to step into his room.

"Kiku's with Matt and will be over in his dorm for the night. You can stay over if you want," Alfred said in a small voice Arthur only heard when he was really upset.

"Thank you. Though I wasn't planning on going back, since Gil has company tonight," Arthur laughed, trying to lighten up the mood. Apparently, that struck a nerve, as Alfred flinched and slammed the door, obviously by accident due to the reflex.

Arthur took off his coat and hung it over Alfred's desk chair, really not caring at all. He turned to look at him, "Alfred, I'm here. Will you please tell me what's wrong?"

Silence. Alfred slowly walked over to his bed and sank down into it. He patted the space next to him, gesturing Arthur to sit down next to him. Arthur did as he was told and sat there for a few seconds before—

"Sarah and I broke up."

Oh.

Arthur looked at him, stunned for a bit, his stomach making somersaults as his eyes widened. "... What?"

"You heard me." Alfred refused to look at him. Arthur can tell he was trying to compose himself to tell him this.

A few seconds passed and Arthur cleared his throat. "Alfred... I'm... I'm sorry..."

"S'not your fault... I ended it..."

"... Wait... I thought that—"

"Do you want to hear it or not?" Alfred turned to look at him, obviously pretty annoyed with Arthur right now, tears starting to form in his eyes and Arthur had to fight to pull him into a hug as he shut his mouth.

Alfred turned away, wiping away the tears as he continued, "So... I went into the hospital that she worked at... I had a suit and tie on and the ring in my pocket. I was planning to propose to her, obviously, since you knew it was gonna happen tonight."

Arthur made a face, thankful that Alfred didn't see. Obviously, he forgot about that.

Alfred continued, "Well, as I was walking over to her building, her co-workers were giving me looks. The kind that was more sympathetic than happy, you know? I wasn't really paying attention but one of her co-workers, I think her name was Bianca or something; she pulled me over and... Well..."

Arthur really, truly wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut as Alfred continued.

"She asked me what I was doing there. Obviously, I was going to propose to my girlfriend of six years. I told her and she said that today wasn't a good day. I thought 'Oh, she must be busy with patients or something, I'll just come back another time' but then..."

Alfred's voice started to crack. Arthur can tell exactly what he was going to say next.

Alfred choked, turned to face Arthur, more tears welling up in his eyes as he said, "I saw Sarah turn the corner and... And was holding hands with one of the doctors..."

Alfred didn't even wipe the tears away, he just let them fall, his voice continuing to crack but Arthur can make out what he said next.

"I honestly don't remember what happened next but the next thing I knew, I was running out of the building, my hand and throat throbbing really badly. It's safe to assume that I punched the guy and yelled at Sarah."

Arthur didn't know what to say. An 'I told you so,' was definitely out of the question. He just kept staring at Alfred and nodded at him to continue.

Alfred looked down at his hands, which were fidgeting in his lap. "She kept calling me and texting me and facebook messaging me and all that. All of them saying that she was sorry and every excuse in the cheating book. It kept going on for about an hour or so... So I just texted her that we were through and blocked her off of facebook and my phone."

That... Was a little extreme on Alfred's part. But he continued on.

"I was trying to calm down when I got a phone call from Bianca. She obviously wasn't happy with the fact that I punched the doctor's lights out but... She explained to me what actually happened."

It was at this moment that Arthur finally spoke up. "And... What did she say...?"

Alfred turned to him, sniffed and said, "She said that they met once she started working there, started dating months later..."

Wait a tick...

"You mean to tell me, that she has been cheating on you for about two years?"

Alfred gave him a startled look.

"And you've never even seen the SIGNS?"

Alfred stared at him in disbelief. Feeling guilty, Arthur cleared his throat. "Sorry, that was uncalled for..."

Alfred sighed. "No, you're right."

It was Arthur's turn to stare in disbelief.

"I should have seen this coming. She was older than me; she had a bunch of guy friends; she went out partying all the time, knowing full-well that I was still underage; she got a full time job at the hospital and was surrounded by male nurses and doctors."

A pause. And then...

"You were right all along, Artie."

Arthur continued to stare at him in disbelief. This was the first time that Alfred ever admitted that he was wrong about something. But...

"Anyway, so in short, Bianca told me everything, even saying that she was sorry. But I seriously didn't want anyone's pity. I just thanked her for telling me the whole story and just hung up. I've been crying in here ever since."

Alfred sighed. "I was so... So stupid to not see this coming..."

"Alfred, stop."

He looked up, but then Arthur took him by surprise as he pulled him into a hug.

"Alfred Jones, stop beating yourself over this whole thing. You were unfathomably in love with her and she blew it. If there is anyone to blame, it is her. She took advantage of you, a kind and caring young lad, just to shag with a loser like that doctor."

"Artie...?"

"No, it's my turn to talk," Arthur pulled him out of the embrace to look at him straight in the eyes. "You are a wonderful, confident, and straight up good looking young man, who does anything and everything for the one you love. You're optimistic, charming and charismatic; you're kind, loving, and loves everything and everyone that you meet."

Alfred's eyes started to water; Arthur took his thumb to wipe the tear away. "She doesn't deserve someone like you. Yes, you may be oblivious to a lot of things, but what you lack, you make up for with love. That's what makes you, well, you..."

Arthur trailed off after that, honestly unable to figure out what else to say. All that he said was true; it was all that he said was how he fell in love with the American in the first place. He just couldn't understand why anyone would take advantage of him. He wanted to say more, but he said all he could for now, and—

"Thank you."

Arthur shook himself from his thoughts as he stared at Alfred. He was smiling. Arthur actually made him smile tonight. After what happened to him today, he managed to make the American happy.

Arthur smiled back, "You know what I said is true."

Alfred chuckled, "Yeah, I... I guess you're right." He looked away, his smile faltered. "Still..."

"Alfred..." Arthur sighed. He stood up and walked over to the TV and grabbed the remote, turning towards Alfred, "How about this? I'll go get some popcorn and soda and we watch movies on Netflix all night?"

Alfred stared. "But... What about your classes...?"

"Oh, to hell with them right now. I haven't missed one class this semester yet so I'm sure they'll be flexible with me missing them tomorrow." Arthur smiled at him. "Now come on, go pick a movie, that's not a horror or romance movie, and I'll be right back."

Alfred didn't move at all, only stared at Arthur as he tossed him the remote and left the room to the vending machines at the end of the hallway.

The two ended up watching Batman Forever and half of Monster's Inc. when they both found themselves curled up next to each other, asleep in each other's arms.

Kiku didn't have the heart to wake them up when he returned the next morning.

Author's Notes:

GEE. FOR SOMEONE WHO HATES TO SEE AND READ THEIR OTP IN ANGST AND DESPAIR, I SURE AS HELL LIKE TO WRITE THEM IN SUCH. OH THE CRUEL IRONY.

Lol

Ok so, hello! It's been a while since my last fanfic. I hope I didn't keep you waiting.

... No...? ... Okay... :I

Oh, and for those wondering, Arthur's majoring in Secondary Education with English and Alfred's majoring in Forensic Science. I just looked them both up on my school's website to find some classes they would have taken and stuff. So yeah...

Also, this will have a second chapter but I'm waiting until Valentine's Day to post it so come back when you get the chance! :)