Here's is some UsUk to celebrate the Fourth of July in 2015. There's a lot of medical stuff in here, because that made it easy for me. Anyway, the song is "What If" by Five for Fighting (I would suggest watching the lyric video because the music video will make you cry).


Arthur felt somewhat foolish sitting in the waiting room.

He couldn't lay his finger on an exact reason, but he had wanted to meet the individual to whom he would be donating to. It hadn't even been a full year, and the registry had called Arthur asking him to donate. The amount of time between signing up for the registry and actually being contacted was a lot shorter than Arthur had expected.

Much too short. He was only nineteen.

Sure, when he signed up he had understood what was expected of him. If he was contacted, he was expected to call back promptly, they'd be relying on him for a donation, yadda yadda yadda. Arthur had just figured he'd be well into his thirties before he even had to consider the registry again, if he had to deal with it at all! The statistics had been in his favor. Only one out of forty people were contacted at all, and usually it took years.

Not one year.

Arthur sighed heavily, closing his eyes as he flopped back against the uncomfortable waiting room chair. He inhaled sharply, and the smell of iodoform attacked his nose. Opening his eyes, he realized why he didn't want to be here.

He had flown half way across the world to meet the person he would be donating to, and he felt selfish for even demanding to do so before the donation. It just seemed wrong to him. But the person had agreed to meet him, if Arthur could make the trip. So he had flown across the Atlantic, by himself no less, to meet this mystery patient. His parents had let him go, but weren't going to pay for more than one ticket. If Arthur wanted to meet this person that badly, he'd have to go alone.

So he did. Not that it made much of a difference to him. Arthur didn't mind alone. But he seriously hoped the trip had been worth the effort. That whomever was going to be receiving the bone marrow transplant wasn't some good-for-nothing slob that had let his health go to waste. Arthur didn't know much about the illnesses that required a bone marrow transplant, but he knew about Americans.

Arthur's eyes snapped open when he heard a soft, female voice call his name. He awkwardly stood, grabbing his small bag of belongings. Unsure of what he would do when he met the person, Arthur had brought a small variety of objects: a camera, football magazines, a book of poetry, and a handheld video game in case he got bored. Now everything he had brought seemed silly. Arthur wasn't even sure he'd get along with the person.

He followed the nurse down the hall, through a door that read "Pediatric". Arthur was too engrossed in trying not to be nervous that he didn't even notice where they were going, but instead just followed the lady down the hallway.

The nurse stopped beside a heavy wooden door. "Alfred's inside. He's been so excited he actually gets to meet his donor."

"Oh, um. That's great. I've been wanting to meet him too." Arthur replied. He wanted to sound more excited, but by this point his stomach was so curled up on itself that he was relieved to be able to respond at all.

Arthur slowly walked through the door, bracing himself for what he might find. Meeting strangers had never been his strong suit, but this time he had no idea what to expect.

As he moved past the curtain so he could view the bed, Arthur's expectations suddenly came crashing down around him.

He gaped at the child. It was a child!

Who was bald to boot!

Arthur's throat constricted. He was not prepared for this sort of interaction. If the person had been older than him sure, Arthur could have dealt with that. The bag nearly slipped out of his hands in shock at the small, lanky frame that greeted him.

The boy…what was his name again? Alfred? slowly turned his head. Or maybe it was at a normal speed, but Arthur couldn't process much at the moment, still trying to take in the idea that a child was the one who needed his bone marrow.

When the boy's head finally turned, he opened his eyes and shocked Arthur again with their clarity. Surely, this boy was too ill to have that much life in his eyes. He didn't even have any hair for Christ's sake!

But something about the way the kid looked at Arthur, how his eyes lit up when he noticed who was standing in the doorway, released whatever had been previously incapacitating him.

"Hi," the boy said. His voice was still high pitched, but it was just as clear and full of energy as his eyes. Arthur felt his stomach relax at the broken silence. He quickly walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. A small smile found its way to his face.

"Hello! I hear you need a bone marrow transplant." Arthur knew the kid had been expecting him. It was a relief when the boy gave him a huge, toothy smile.

"Yeah dude, you're my hero!"

That singular comment made Arthur freeze. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the boy's face that was contorted with pure happiness. How could someone who was obviously going through so much be so cheerful? Arthur's throat constricted. Suddenly, all of his problems with his brothers and bullies at school dissipated into nothing. They paled in comparison to the things this kid had obviously been through.

"I…I'm not a hero. I'm just a person." Arthur reasoned. He didn't feel special, especially not next to this kid.

"Sure you are! You're like the scientist who made Captain America! You've got the serum that will make me a superhero!" The boy replied with such conviction, Arthur almost believed it.

Arthur scoffed, "Oh really, and how old are you?" The boy might be young, but certainly not young enough to believe that rubbish.

"Fourteen," again smiling hugely at Arthur.

"You really think you'll get superpowers from me? I'm not much older than you, uhh…" Arthur paused, afraid he had misheard the boy's name from the nurse.

"Alfred!" the boy finished for him.

"And sure I will! Not many people are brave enough to sign up for the bone marrow registry. I wasn't sure I'd ever be matched with someone," Alfred picked up a Captain America figurine that had been hidden from Arthur's view and started playing with it absently. "And, you flew all the way here by yourself to meet me. I'd say that's braver than most people."

"Do you like Captain America?" Arthur inquired. It seemed reasonable for conversation at least, although he still wasn't convinced he was the hero in the room.

Alfred's eyes met Arthur's again and they burned with passion as he began talking, "Yeah dude! He's the best! He started off all puny and weak, but then the scientist gave him that super serum and he became so awesome! Not that he wasn't awesome already, because let's be honest, what makes Captain America the best superhero is his strong sense of what's right and wrong!"

Arthur dropped his head, unable to meet Alfred's eyes any longer. He could fake it for a short period of time, but Arthur was definitely not the type of person Alfred thought he was. No point in crushing his hopes and dreams though.

"Do you like video games?" Arthur asked pulling his hand-held out of his bag.


Alfred was having the time of his life, dancing and carrying as the speakers jostled his very bones. The dim lighting was forcing him to strain his eyes and he kept bumping into people.

"Hey watch where you're going!" an angry British accents shouted at him.

Alfred turned quickly, but the guy had already disappeared into the wake of people.

It couldn't be.

"Mattie, I need to go put my glasses on. I keep running into people." Alfred shouted over the blaring music.

Matthew's lips were moving, but Alfred couldn't hear him. Judging by the elated expression on his face, Matthew didn't mind. He was normally never this cheery in such a large group of people, but Alfred had made sure there was just the right amount of liquor in his system to reduce his inhibitions for the night so he could have fun on his birthday. Now it was just a matter of making sure he didn't drink too much and stayed in that happily tipsy zone. Alfred couldn't get too distracted, but this was important.

He pushed his way through the mass of people, winking at a few girls to make them blush and move out of his way faster. People always did what you wanted if you just turned on a little bit of charm. Alfred found his way to their table where he had left his small backpack. Jett was sitting with some strangers, chatting them up, but he was keeping an eye on their stuff.

"What's with the koala shirt?" one of the girls asked.

"I'm a big animal enthusiast! I got this for free at the zoo I volunteer at." Jett said. Alfred could have sworn one of the girls nearly fainted from the giant grin Jett gave them. Jett might not have been as stereotypically attractive as Alfred was, but he could certainly lay the charm on thick with his love for fluffy baby animals or wild tales of the dangerous creatures he had dealt with. Jett had more than a few battle wounds from feeding time at the zoo.

"Hey man, can you hand me my glasses?" Alfred asked.

"Oh, are you finally going to wear them?" Jett retorted as he handed Alfred his glasses. Alfred rolled his eyes. Was it really so hard for people to understand that Alfred didn't look nearly as cool while he was wearing them?

"Shut up, this is important." Alfred said. Jett narrowed his eyes, but Alfred put his glasses on and escaped before he could be questioned any further.

As soon as the glasses were on, Alfred could feel people start to ignore him. Before, he had been the center of attention. Now, he could see clearly that no one was looking at him.

Alfred took a deep breath, and tried to find the guy from earlier. Without his glasses it would have been impossible. But that accent…

Then Alfred spotted him, sitting on a stool at the bar next to a girl with her hair in a low pony tail. The whole world stopped and the music faded to a dull roar in the back ground. It really was him.

He took another, larger breath and exhaled slowly, steeling himself to go say hello.

Would he even remember Alfred? Probably not. But that was ok. Alfred remembered him.

He pushed his way back through the crowd, this time having to wait for people to move of their own accord. Alfred didn't even bother trying to lay on charm this time.

Alfred stopped just short of actually being noticed. The girl next to Arthur, or what Alfred had assumed was a girl, had reached out to touch him. The girl has a small stubble on her chin and was wearing men's clothes. The girl was actually another man. Alfred hadn't even thought about the fact that Arthur was probably with his significant other. Male or female.

Then Alfred noticed Arthur's reaction. The man's shoulders tensed and he turned to glare at the man beside him. Alfred's heart plummeted to his feet. They may have been in a gay bar, but that didn't mean everyone here was gay.

That was ok, he still wanted to introduce himself. Maybe get to know Arthur better. Then there was the problem of the guy who was clearly making Arthur uncomfortable, whether or not he realized it.

"Hey babe, how's it going?" Alfred said loudly as he slung his arm over Arthur. When Arthur glanced up angrily at Alfred, he brushed off the look by glancing quickly at the blonde with the ponytail trying to communicate the intent of the gesture. Arthur's small frame loosened and fell and Arthur sighed, not loud enough for the other man to notice though.

"I thought you'd never come back." Arthur said. His voice was still angry, but at least he understood that Alfred was trying to help. Alfred flashed the man with the ponytail a huge grin. The man raised an eyebrow and said something about Arthur "being able to do better" before he stalked off.

Once he was out of sight, Alfred quickly removed his arm and sat down next to Arthur. He looked over him quickly and realized that Arthur didn't seem to be having a good time.

"Thanks," Arthur muttered into his glass. He didn't even look up at Alfred.

"No problem. What's with the long face?" Alfred asked.

Arthur finally glanced in Alfred direction. Then he did a double take before looking him full in the eyes. Alfred's breath caught in his throat. Arthur looked exactly like he remembered. He knew that he'd changed a lot over the years, but he hadn't expected to see Arthur ever again, much less that he'd be mostly unchanged by the time. It had only been five years though.

"Have we met?" Arthur's face was scrunched as he looked at Alfred. He was only looking at his eyes though, not bothering to take in the rest of Alfred. Suddenly, Alfred felt extremely self-conscious with his glasses on.

"I think I would remember if we had." Ok, not a direct lie, but certainly misleading. Alfred kicked himself internally. Arthur probably never got scared enough to lie.

Alfred took off his glasses and wiped the lenses as Arthur continued to stare at him. Once the glasses came off, Arthur tilted his head.

"Are you sure? You seem really familiar for some reason." Arthur said as Alfred put his glasses back on. Maybe he should have left them off.

"I'm not special, I'm just some person with a weird obsession for Captain America." Alfred smiled broadly. He could see the gears clicking into place behind Arthur's eyes.

"Good lord…you're that kid." Arthur gaped at Alfred. It was all Alfred could do to stay in his seat as he squirmed with excitement. He couldn't believe Arthur remembered him. Not to mention that there was the little fact that the man he had idolized was staring at him in awe. No one stared at Alfred in awe. Ever. Glasses or not.

"A bourbon and coke for this man and a water for myself!" Alfred told the bartender.

Arthur turned to the bartender, "Actually rum please," then he turned back to Alfred. "You're not going to drink anything?"

"Nah, I'm the designated driver tonight. It's my friend's birthday and we're all celebrating." Alfred said. He wasn't going to mention that in his country, it was still illegal for him to be drinking. Whether or not it was legal in Canada didn't matter much to Alfred. He was already used to not drinking, and besides, people liked him being the designated driver. At that, he glanced back over to Mattie who was still on the dancefloor with Michelle and Li. It appeared that the man from earlier with the ponytail was now accosting Matthew. Alfred took a hard look at Mattie's expression to make sure he didn't mind. The guy was probably nice enough, but if his friend didn't want the attention then Alfred had zero qualms with stepping in.

Matthew still seemed to be having a great time though.

"It's nice that you get to celebrate the bloody month of July." Arthur commented. He wasn't looking at Alfred anymore, but instead looking into his new glass of rum and coke.

"What's wrong with July?" Alfred asked.

Arthur looked around and even towards the door before answering Alfred question. "Just…not a pleasant month for me. Had a lot of old friend get mad at me for something last year."

Alfred frowned. That couldn't be right, who wouldn't want to be Arthur's friend?

"Well, how about you make some new friends tonight? Then maybe July won't be so bad. Hey, you can even come to my birthday in a few days. We'll be celebrating before I go back home for break.

"Oh why not." Arthur said. They got up from the bar and Alfred led him over to his small group of friends.


"I'm telling you man, he's not what you're making him out to be." Jett just wouldn't drop the subject and it was starting to get on Alfred's nerves.

"He told you to go to bed and you obeyed!" Matthew remarked, "You don't listen to anyone!" The fact that Matthew was almost shouting was starting to drill into Alfred head how serious his friends thought the situation was. Alfred rolled his eyes again.

Yeah, so Arthur was a little more over-protective than Alfred has imagined he would be. He was still a good guy right? He had already explained to his friends exactly who Arthur was to him.

"But we had been up later than we should have been guys." Alfred weakly protested.

"That's not the point. The point is you're bending over backwards for a guy you barely know." Li pipped in.

"He made you move furniture for him! You don't have to do that you know. Not for a guy you just met." Michelle offered.

"I know I don't have to, but it's easier for me to do than it is for him. Why shouldn't I help out? I'm paying back the favor." Alfred responded. He was trying to stay cool with his friend. They only wanted the best for him anyway.

"We don't like him is why. You may think he's a hero, but he's been nothing but rude to the rest of us. He accused me of being a criminal for Christ's sake!" Jett said. Alfred plopped his head against the wall behind him hard enough to ache a little. He kept his head pressed against the flat surface as he closed his eyes. It was really difficult to fight against all of his friends.

"Well someone else is going to have to call and un-invite him because I'm not doing it. You guys are being ridiculous."

At that, all of his friends shut up.

"I'll do it." Francis said. What on earth Matthew had seen in Francis, Alfred couldn't begin to understand. And yet here he was, in their circle of friends, plotting on outing someone from the group everyone except Alfred hated.

"Fine." Alfred said. He could feel the tears threatening his eyes. Instead of crying in front of his friends, Alfred put on the gruffest front he could and stomped out of the dorm room. He went into the stairwell and slid down the wall, praying that no one would come after him. After this incident, Alfred doubted if he would ever be able to speak to Arthur again. It's not like he'd get the chance to do so in person once he went back home. Arthur would have already left Canada by the time he got back.

"Happy Birthday to me," he said, half sing-song, and the tears started falling.


"You have a visitor, Mr. Kirkland." Arthur looked up at the nurse. It already felt like the world was mocking him for being an awful person. What on earth could Peter want this time? Still, he couldn't deny his little brother.

"Ok," Arthur said before he gazed out the window. He hated for Peter to see him like this, but the brat kept insisting on visiting. Arthur didn't mind as much as he let on though. Peter was the only brother that bothered to visit him.

"Hi," said a familiar voice. But it was not Peter's voice.

Arthur snapped his attention to the hospital room doorway.

Standing there, looking as sunny as ever was Alfred.

"What the….what the hell are you doing here?!" Arthur nearly shouted. His breathing sped up. After seven years, Alfred was the very last person Arthur expected to see visiting him in the hospital. They hadn't even spoken in that amount of time. Not since Arthur had been asked not to come to Alfred's birthday party.

That bit really hadn't surprised him at the time. Sure, it sucked worse than getting pushed down in front of a crowded group of people. Arthur had wanted to celebrate Alfred's birthday with him. But no one liked Arthur and he knew it. People thought he was pushy and stuck up, and there was probably some truth to it. Arthur had never found any other way he could be though. No matter what he tried to do, he always ended up being blunt or covering his hatred with awful sarcasm. They weren't exactly traits Arthur was proud of.

"I um…I never unfriended you on Facebook. And I check up on your status every once in a while. When I saw you had lung cancer…I um…well I couldn't exactly stay away now could I?" Alfred was blushing furiously at the ground. Arthur thought it was actually pretty cute. No matter how old he got, Alfred still acted like the child Arthur had met so long ago.

"Ah, I'm not worried about it. I'm actually pretty lucky. They caught it early so the statistics aren't as bad." Arthur tried to console Alfred. Lung cancer might be one of the more deadly ones, but if Arthur hadn't of had that chest x-ray for some upper back pain he had been having, they wouldn't have found it as early as they did. Besides, it was probably from smoking all of those cigarettes. Arthur had started after Alfred had left Canada, but he wasn't going to tell him that. Especially not now.

"So you'll be ok then?" Alfred asked. He looked at Arthur in earnest. Arthur couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at him that closely.

"Well, I've got a fighting chance." Arthur said. Unless Alfred asked directly, he wasn't going to give him numbers since they were still pretty abysmal.

Alfred walked over to Arthur's bed and sat down on the mattress.

"Is there anything I can do?" Alfred asked. Arthur really wished there was more Alfred could have done from the look he was giving him. Despite how Arthur was portraying himself, being in the hospital alone was terrifying.

"You can make him laugh." A male voice said through the doorway. A man that looked almost identical to Alfred leaned against the frame. Arthur couldn't quite remember his name since he had only known him for a few days. This guy didn't have the same history that he and Alfred had.

"Does that help? I'm not a medicine kinda guy." Before saying anything else, Alfred reached out and touched Arthur's head. His hand was like fire against Arthur's scalp and the contact, while not exactly unwanted, was surprising.

"Look, we're baldy bros," Alfred stated. Arthur shut his eyes tight and opened them again to look directly at Alfred.

"You try to cheer me up, and the first thing you say…" Arthur started snickering and tried to hold it back, "is we're baldy," the laugh started to turn into a cough, "bros." He managed to choke out before completely dissolving into a fit of coughs covering his mouth with his hand. Alfred quickly stood up.

"Hey! Are you ok?" He asked. Arthur waved him off.

"I'm fi…" He started to say, but then noticed the red on his hands.

"NURSE!" Alfred shouted, bolting out the door.


Alfred cradling the large bunch of roses he was carrying. The knot in his stomach had been there for days. Watching Arthur begin to cough up blood had taken its toll on him.

Arthur had said that July was a bad month for him.

The cab Alfred was taking wasn't going nearly fast enough. Instead of arguing with the driver, he pulled out his handheld gaming device. It was the one Arthur had left with him at the hospital when they first met. He had never let go of it.

He turned it on and began mindlessly playing the same game he had for ages. Beside him, the Captain America figurine rocked against his leg as the car turned a corner.

Rain pelted the window and Alfred focused on calming himself down. It was only pneumonia. Arthur wasn't dying. It was just a bug he had gotten from being in the hospital for so long.

The car rolled up to the front of the hospital and the knot in Alfred stomach clenched. He wasn't exactly ready for this.

Alfred thought about all of the things Arthur had been through: Donating bone marrow at the age of nineteen, being left by a new group of friends after being promised they'd stay around, battling lung cancer all by himself.

He could do this. Arthur may not think he was strong, but Alfred did. Alfred actually wasn't sure why Arthur thought so highly of him. He had done nothing half as amazing as the things Arthur had done. Hell, Alfred couldn't even always tell the truth when he was scared. Arthur always put up with the consequences of being blunt and rude easily. Alfred was too worried about making people like him to do that. Subsequently, when they found out, they usually didn't like him anymore. Matt still put up with him sometimes, and Jett was always down for an adventure. But Li and Michelle had gone their separate ways.

Alfred got out of the car and walked into the hospital and down the hall to Arthur's room. He stopped short though, remembering how Arthur had reacted to the guy in the bar. The memory quickly shattered Alfred confidence.

What if Arthur didn't date guys?

It took Alfred only a few seconds to decide that he didn't care and was going to ask anyway. He was tired of avoiding Arthur, especially since recent events had shown him how easy it was to lose someone.

Alfred walked into Arthur's room with the roses and figurine, and put on the best smile he could manage.

"What's this?" Arthur asked.

"I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out with me." Alfred said, before he let his brain start comprehending exactly what he was saying.

The silence that followed allowed that though. Alfred started screaming internally, begging that Arthur would agree. He couldn't stand the thought of losing him once again.

Alfred had to remind himself to control his emotions and not actually scream as he waited for Arthur to respond.

He didn't get a response though. Instead Arthur started crying.

"Oh shit, what did I do?" Alfred asked, setting the roses and toy down on a nearby counter and going to sit on Arthur's bed.

"Your hair…" Arthur choked out.

Alfred genuinely smiled. "Of course my hair. I told you we were baldy bros didn't I?"

Arthur started sobbing more loudly before eventually telling Alfred that's he'd go on a date with him.


That's it. I hope you enjoyed the read. There was only one part that was technically inaccurate. You'd never be allowed to meet your bone marrow donor before the donation, but I needed Alfred to be bald then so Arthur wouldn't recognize him later and I could add all the great hair stuff that I love so much. I'm claiming artistic license. You can meet your donor in some instances, but it's a year after the donation occurs and both parties have to consent.

Anyway if you're 18 you should consider signing up for the bone marrow registry (it's just a cheek swab)! Reviews are greatly appreciated. Also, may go back and edit more later since I waited until the last minute to write this, so if you see areas for improvement, let me know!