The next day Alfred woke up only to find Heracles being awake and staring at the wall. He was very surprised because Heracles normally wasn't up before noon and it was still seven o' clock. Then things were very serious, if Heracles couldn't sleep. He approached his friend's bed and gave him a nudge, Heracles didn't move immediately so he had to try once again. On the second time Heracles turned his gaze at him and Alfred realized that his friend was in a pretty bad shape. He was in a daze, his eyes red and swollen. His heart sunk seeing his friend like this. Well he wasn't the soul of the party like him but he was never that depressed and of course he was NEVER awake before noon.

Alfred placed his hand on Heracles' shoulder and asked, "Are you ok?". He looked at him puzzled like he hadn't understood what Alfred told him, he thought a little and then he told him that he was ok.

"Then is this wall that interesting?" he said smiling a little. Heracles was confused once again. "What do you mean?" he inquired. Alfred's smile was wider now, "well you've been staring at that wall for quite a while, so I thought it must be interesting".

Then Heracles smiled as well. He was lucky to have a friend like Alfred; he always managed to make him smile and shared every trouble of his. Yeah, he was kinda goofy and naïve some times, but when his friends were in a bind he'd always face their problems with seriousness. That was Alfred and he was proud to call him friend.

Heracles kept smiling and went along with his joke, "Yeah it's pretty interesting. Come take a look". Suddenly his face became serious and reassured him, "Don't worry I'll survive. I just need my cats and some time to heal my wounds". Then Alfred pulled him out of bed and dragged him to the bathroom. "Go wash yourself and we will go take your cats back".

Heracles entered the bathroom and closed the door, while Alfred started to get dressed. Oh Dear Lord, this guy! He thought he got rid of these two little monsters, but Heracles really couldn't live without his cats. Instead of seeing Heracles moping, he'd rather have those evil cats in his apartment.

Half an hour later, Heracles came to the room refreshed. His eyes were still a little swollen but he indeed looked a lot better. Alfred smiled and said to him, "Let's go show that witch that we don't give a damn about her and rescue your cats from her evil claws". The Greek lightened up and started getting ready.

About an hour later they were at Elisaveta's apartment but her creepy roommate Natalia told them that she was at her new boyfriend's place. She handed a piece of paper to Heracles and closed the door on their faces. The two boys could hear her screaming "Brother, you'll be mine eventually". They looked at one another and run for it.

"What's her problem?" Alfred said. "She's so creepy" and Heracles agreed. They stopped to catch their breath and headed to that Roderich's place. It wasn't very far away so a few minutes later they were there. Heracles stretched his arm to press the doorbell but he hesitated. He wasn't sure he wanted to see Elisaveta after all that happened and especially he didn't want to meet her new boyfriend. It was too much for him. But before he tried to stop him, Alfred rang the doorbell. Moments later a bespectacle guy opened the door. He had brown hair with a wild strand and a mole close to his mouth. The guy who was in front of them was extremely handsome.

Roderich looked at them inquisitively and asked who they were and what did they want in his house. Heracles gulped and tried to reply but his voice wouldn't come out, so Alfred took on the duty to explain how things were.

"We're looking for Elisaveta, her roommate told us she was there. Could you please ask her to come?" he explained calmly. Roderich glanced at them suspiciously but eventually he gave in. He told them to wait and he disappeared inside the house. A few moments later he appeared again with Elisaveta by his side this time. She looked surprised when she saw them. She avoided Heracles' eyes and asked them what they were doing there.

"I came to take my cats" Heracles whispered. Despite his hurt he looked her into the eyes with determination. Elisaveta returned his sharp look and sighed. "You know, it was your suggestion to let me keep them", she retorted. Heracles nodded firmly and replied, "But I never said that you could keep them forever. I only wanted to give Alfred a break."

Alfred gasped and turned to look at his friend. What was he saying? "Why would you do that for me?" he stammered.

"I know you don't like my cats, that's why I wanted to give you a break as a thank you for letting me keep them". Alfred was at a loss, he had no idea his friend felt that way. Was he that obvious? He rested his hand on the other's shoulder and squeezed it a little. "I never meant to make you feel that way. It's not that I don't like your cats, it's just… never mind, let's take your cats and get outta here".

"You heard him" he turned to face Elisaveta and Roderich. "Give our cats back" he demanded with a loud voice. Elisaveta hesitated a little and then laughed and raised her hands resigning. "I give up, you can have your cats", she disappeared in the apartment and returned with two little cats in her arms. The one was pure white with light brown paws and ears and the other grey with black stripes. Heracles' face brightened at the sight of his two little cute babies and rushed to take them into his arms.

Elisaveta gave them to him and glanced away. Heracles took them and thanked her for having them returned. She just nodded and got into the apartment leaving them alone. Roderich excused himself and followed Elisaveta back in the house.

He went to the living room where Elisaveta was and approached her. "What I don't understand is why you kept them, you don't even like cats", he asked. Elisaveta shrugged and answered, "He always cared about his cats more than he cared about me; I guess I just wanted to hurt him a little". A tear escaped her eyes and found its way to her beautiful face. Roderich put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. Heracles wasn't the only one hurting, she was hurt as well and he had to heal her heart somehow.

"Arrgghh", Elisaveta shouted and broke free from Roderich's embrace. "I need to vent my anger on someone", she stormed out of the living room screaming, "Gilbert, where are you?". Roderich chuckled and thanked God that Gilbert was out of town for a couple of days and hoped that she would calm down before he returned.

Back at Alfred's place, Heracles was sleeping in his bed hugging his cats and Alfred was looking at him content. One problem solved and one more to go.

Here's the second installment of the story. I know there's no much of a plot and this chapter seems kind of pointless and boring but it was something I wanted to write. I wanted to show why Elisaveta broke up with Heracles as I didn't want to put the blame for the break up entirely on her. Also I wanted to show the bond between the two guys.

The story didn't go exactly as I had planned from the beginning, to be accurate it went on a different direction as in my original planning Alfred was such a jerk, but how can I make cute Alfred behave badly? So there you have a more serious and mature version of Alfred, hope you like him. Xp

See you soon!