It has not gotten better for Arthur. Every day, or as often Alfred got to see Arthur, he got worse and worse. Under Arthurs eyes were dark circles; his cheekbones were more visible, his skin started to turn into a greyish color and Arthur was so jumpy all the time. There were times at world gatherings and such Arthur suddenly fell asleep and woke up all on guard for a few minutes until he was all exhausted again.

"What have I done?" Alfred thought.

Arthur was a rotting wreck and it was all because of Alfred! As a child Alfred viewed Arthur as his number one role model. The one who was never afraid of anything, the one who was always prepared for battles, the one who cared for the loved ones and so on. The prank of putting Arthur on scare tactics, was that all a fun prank or was it revenge? Alfred knew that if one of the parts committed revenge it would only make the other take revenge again and then it would end up in some sort of a war. Arthur was almost in no condition to do anything anymore. Although Alfred never meant to do anything against Arthur, he felt like he has committed a long awaited revenge. Whenever Arthur pulled pranks on him when he was a child, the pranks never scarred him somehow and he quickly got over it. And on top of that Arthur stayed with him whenever he was afraid, whether it was from all those scary stuff he read or saw or if it was from Arthurs pranks. And now although both of them were adults and neither of them was a child, Alfred had to be the one to stay with Arthur till he felt safe again. Alfred got deeply into his thoughts of what came to his mind of the word "safety".

"Prepare yourself for tonight Arthur, I will come for you" Alfred thought.

"

Alfred walked down the street with his hands full. Tonight he was going to make Arthur feel better or at least help him the best way he could. The street was starting to get darker but Alfred's determination kept him going. Well, that and the streetlights…

Alfred stood in front of Arthur's door. The house was completely lightened up, so Arthur was defiantly home. Alfred knocked on the door. Some minutes later Arthur opened the door all shaky and pale.

"Yes, what do you want?" Arthur asked in both an annoyed and curious tone.

Alfred held up the bag he was carrying.

"I've brought some movies and won-"

"Get lost!" Arthur shut the door.

But before Arthur was able to shut the door completely Alfred managed to put his foot in the door opening.

"It's not scary movies, I swear!"

Alfred took one of the movies out of the bag. It was a Postman Pat DVD.

Arthur was confused.

"What in the world?"

"Whenever there is something scary that won't come out of my mind I watch children's cartoons, it actually helps a lot. Why not watch some? Watching those with you will be so nostalgic. Please?"

Although coming here with the movies was mostly meant for Arthur's sake, Alfred also liked the thought of being reminded of the good days of his childhood. Alfred looked at Arthur with the cute puppy eyes he always used on Arthur when he was a child.

"Ok fine, come in then" Arthur said.

When Alfred came in to the living room to start the movie, he noticed how messy everything was. Arthur probably hasn't been cleaning for days! Nonetheless the messy surroundings, it was quite cozy to watch the children's movies and series with Arthur. Arthur also seemed to be more relaxed and not so full of anxiety.

"It's getting late" Alfred said after finishing all the movies and series.

It was pretty dark outside now. It was so dark, even the streetlight wouldn't help any person to see where he or she was going.

"Yes, it is" Arthur said looking all nervous again.

"I suppose it's too dark for you to go home, so you might just as well spend the here" Arthur said that in a low tone.

"Really? Thanks man" Alfred smirked as it the next move went according to plan.

"

Alfred slept in the guestroom downstairs. Or he would have if he was available to sleep. Alfred heard sound upstairs all the time. Usually sounds would have scared him, but the sounds he heard from above weren't scary, they were…sad? Alfred got out of bed to find the source of the sounds. He went closer as he heard the sounds got louder. As he could hear the sounds perfectly well he knew what kind of sounds they were. It was sobbing. There were many sounds that easily scared Alfred but those were not sounds that made you run away, they were the quite opposite. It was those kinds of sounds that could make anybody run to the sobbing person, hug the person tight and comfort him or her the best way you could. Who was sobbing now? There were only two persons in the house so…Oh God!

Quickly but also silently, Alfred got into Arthurs room. Alfred could almost feel his heart break at the sight of what he saw. Arthur was tossing and turning around in bed crying while lots of tears ran down his eyes. Alfred felt a bit panicky.

"What should I do? Wake him, not wake him?" Alfred thought a bit flustered.

But Alfred managed to calm down a bit and took a deep breath.

"Stick to your plan dude" Alfred thought.

Alfred lay down next to Arthur in his bed. It was so awful for Alfred to watch Arthur cry in his sleep. What was more awful was the thought of him being the responsible one for those nightmares. The way Arthur looked like all the time now could mean that he was like this every night ever since the prank! But Alfred was determined to end his suffering.

He scooted up close to Arthur and wrapped his arms around him tight and at the same time gently. This was Alfred's plan from the very beginning. He wanted to sooth Arthur a bit with safe children's movies and series and then comfort him as he woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night. Well, maybe it wasn't precisely according to plan, but this was close enough.

"Hush, do not worry Artie" Alfred said while stroking his hair.

Alfred remembered the times when he was scared as a little child. Those times he would come to Arthur in the middle of the night, crying. Arthur would then pick him up to his bed, lull him, hold him close while they were both sleeping. Alfred remembered how it helped a lot and now it was his turn to be the one to sooth.

"Nothing or no one will harm you, not when I am here with you" Alfred whispered softly in his ear.

After some time Arthur calmed down. He was close into Alfred, not moving at all and the crying stopped.

"

Next morning Alfred woke up still in Arthur's bed with his arms empty. As he opened his eyes the first think he saw was Arthur sitting next to him with a look of surprise.

"What are you doing here, Alfred?" Arthur asked.

Alfred rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"When I woke up this morning you were holding me tight, what in the world were you doing?!"

"Relax Arthur" Alfred said putting his hands up.

"You were crying and restless as you were sleeping and I came to help"

Arthur looked down.

"It did help, didn't it?" Alfred asked.

"Suppose it did…."Arthur said.

Alfred could see it on Arthur that it did help. He looked so much better after a proper night with sleep. The circles under his eyes were barely visible and he didn't look so frightened either.

Alfred glomped Arthur.

"I am very sorry for what I did; I promise I will never do anything like that again!"

Arthur sat up again after being glomped.

"It seems I am all better now, I guess sometimes you can be a hero….thank you" Arthur almost whispered the last part.

Both of them got up from the bed.

"Let's eat breakfast" Arthur said.

Alfred put his hands on his tummy. Prepare for the English scones…