The next morning, Alfred woke up before his alarm clock had a chance to go off. He turned it off so it wouldn't, then sat up and rubbed his eyes. It was 6:42, so he had plenty of time to get ready. He sighed and got up, pulling out some clothes from his closet and going to the bathroom. After a little bit of fighting with his hair, he was ready. It still wasn't 7 yet. That's when Matthew usually got up, and that's what time he had set Alfred's alarm for. Alfred frowned, then decided to go start cooking breakfast to kill time. He hadn't cooked in a while though, so he hoped he wouldn't burn the house down.

After he had the eggs in a pan on the stove and there were some biscuits in the microwave, he heard Matthew's alarm clock go off. There was a moment of silence, then, " Alfred, are you cooking?" Alfred smiled. " Yeah, I got up early so I figured, why not give Mattie a break?" He called back, and finished the eggs. The microwave beeped, and Alfred got the biscuits out, putting them on the table with their plates. By the time he had the bacon going, Matthew was already dressed and in the kitchen. " You're sweet Alfred, but if I'm not doing something in the mornings I feel useless. So let me make the bacon, and you go... do something else." Matthew said, taking the fork from Alfred. " But I wanted to-" " I know you wanted to give me a break, but I like to cook for us. So really, I'm okay with cooking all the time." Matthew interrupted, and Alfred sighed. " Alright, you win." He said, and went back to his room to get his bag.

After they were done eating, Matthew grabbed his keys. " You ready to go, Alfred?" He asked, and Alfred nodded. He was about to say something when his phone went off. Looking at the caller ID, he saw it was Francis, and answered it hesitantly. " What do you need this early, Fran-" " It's Roderich. I got a call from the hospital last night, they said he's been asking for us to come and get him. They said they've told him he couldn't leave just yet, but he still wants to talk to us." Alfred nearly dropped the phone. " When you say us, do you mean-" " I mean myself, you and Arthur. He wants us to come now." Alfred bit his lip. " But what about school, if I don't go today, I could miss-" " Alfred, what's at school that you could possibly miss? This is our friend. We need to be there for him." Francis said, and Alfred sighed. " Alright, fine. I'll be there in a few minutes." " What about Arthur?" " ... I'll see if I can get him to come. Bye, Francis." Alfred said, then hung up.

" What's going on?" Matthew asked, and Alfred sighed again. " Francis got a call from the hospital. They say that Roderich wants us to come down there. So I'm not going to school today." He explained, and Matthew nodded. " I understand. Would you like me to give you a ride?" Alfred nodded. " Yeah, can you take me to Arthur's? He has to come too. I can just get a ride from him from there." Matthew nodded. " Yeah, sure. Come on." The two left and headed to Arthur's house quickly.

When they pulled up, Arthur was walking out to his car. " Arthur!" Alfred called, getting out of his brother's car and running up to him. " What is it? Why are you here-" " Francis called. We have to go to the hospital and see Roderich." Alfred said. Arthur's eyes widened. " Roderich? Is he okay?" He asked, and Alfred shrugged. " I don't know, Francis told me that he wanted us to come down there." Arthur sighed, then nodded. " Okay, lets go." He said, and got in his car. Alfred waved back at Matthew, telling him he was good to leave now. " Be safe, you guys." Matthew called, then backed out of the driveway and drove off to school. Alfred got in the passengers seat or Arthur's car, and as soon as the door closed, they were speeding to the hospital.

~~~page break~~~

When they pulled up at the hospital, Francis was standing at the front doors waiting on them. Alfred ran up to him. " What's up, Francis? Is Roderich okay, or-" " Hold on, Alfred. Roderich is okay, he's just... lonely, I guess. Though, when I got here, one of the nurses told me that when he first woke up, they had to sedate him because he was panicking... and he nearly stabbed his eye out with his IV." Francis said, and Alfred frowned. " Why would he panic? He knew he was in the hospital, didn't he...?" Francis shrugged, and Arthur ran up. " Well, are we just going to stand here, or are we going to go see Roderich?" He said, and Francis nodded, leading them to the room.

Roderich was awake in the room, though he was just laying there in his bed, staring at the ceiling. " Roderich, it's us." Francis said softly, tapping on the door as the three walked into the room. Roderich turned his head to look at them. " Hey..." He said, his voice cracking slightly, as if he hadn't had anything to drink in a while. " How're you doing?" Arthur asked, and Roderich shrugged slightly. " I don't know..." Alfred sighed and walked to the bedside, looking straight into the brunette's eyes. " Roderich.. why did you do this?" He whispered, gesturing to the bandages on his wrists. Roderich looked back at the ceiling and sighed, his eyes glassing over. " I... I couldn't think of... I just couldn't imagine life without Elizabeta... I just assumed that I was a terrible person if she would go to the length of cheating on me..." He trailed off, his voice cracking more.

Francis was by the bedside in a flash, holding Roderich's hands in his gently. " No, listen Roderich, you are an amazing person. It was her who was a terrible person. She should have just told you she wanted to break up, and she shouldn't have done what she did. You're not the one at fault here, trust me." He said, almost in a cooing voice. Roderich swallowed audibly, then burst into tears. Francis leaned down and hugged him, whispering in his ear while rocking back and forth slightly. Arthur and Alfred stood off to the side, feeling awkward and out of place. " I'm sorry..." Roderich said between sobs, trying to calm down. " I shouldn't be crying, b-but... I really loved h-her."

Francis pulled back away from Roderich and wiped the tears out of his eyes, smiling sadly at him. " We know you loved her, but I guess it's just time to... well, to put it bluntly, move on. It'll be hard, trust me, I know..." Francis's gaze slipped over to Arthur for a second, then back to Roderich. " But you'll find a way to get through it." The brunet nodded, " You're right... I'll try to move on..." He said, and Francis hugged him again, then stood up. " So, what do you want to do, we have all day." Alfred said, and Roderich looked at them. " You mean, you guys are skipping school to spend time with me?" Alfred nodded. " Yeah, we wouldn't want you to be all alone! When are they letting you out of here, anyway?"

Roderich shrugged. " I don't know... they have to keep me in here until they're sure I'll be okay, though..." Arthur scoffed. " Can't they just fix your wounds and let you out?" Francis looked at Arthur questioningly. " Have you never been to a hospital, Arthur? If there's a case like this one, suicide I mean, they're obligated to keep you in the hospital until they're sure you won't try it again." He said, and Roderich nodded. " Yes, so I don't know exactly when they'll let me out. And I'm sorry if I worried you... I promise, I won't try something like that again." Alfred smiled. " That's great, man. I'm glad you've come to your senses." With that, the four of them tried to come up with something to do the rest of the day.

After a couple hours, a nurse came in with a cart full of trays. " Lunchtime, Mr. Edelstein. Oh, it's you..." She stopped, looking at Francis. " Oh, hello!" Francis said with a wave. It was the nurse he had given his number to when they brought Roderich to the hospital. " I thank you again for calling when Roderich had woken up." The nurse smiled and sat a tray of food in front of Roderich, checking his antibiotics and heart rate, then with a nod to the three blondes sitting by the bed, left. Just then, Alfred's stomach growled. " Ah man, I think we should go get something to eat, too, guys." He said, and Arthur nodded. " Yeah, I think so too. Is it alright if we leave for a bit, Roderich?" He asked, and Roderich nodded. " Of course, I didn't ask for you to stay here with me all day anyway." Alfred dragged Arthur out of his seat, then looked at Francis. " Are you coming?" Francis shook his head. " No no, I'll stay here. I'm not hungry, and I don't want Roderich to be lonely."

Alfred and Arthur nodded, then left the Hospital, heading downtown to get some lunch. " I wonder why Francis was acting weird back there." Alfred said, frowning slightly. Arthur shrugged as he pulled into an Arby's. " I don't know, but it was weird. He wouldn't stop staring at Roderich, like something was wrong. Ah, what do you want?" Alfred shrugged. " Just order whatever. And maybe something's up with Francis? Like, he feels the need to watch over Roderich and make sure he really is okay or something." Arthur sighed and, after he ordered, pulled around to pay. " I guess, it's possible... he feels sympathy for him. Because he knows what it feels like to have to get over someone." Alfred stared at Arthur as he payed and their food was handed to him.

" When has Francis ever had to get over someone? I don't think he's ever even had a girlfriend." Alfred said, and Arthur's heart skipped a beat. " Actually..." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. " There's a reason I don't like being around Francis that much." Alfred raised an eyebrow. " Last year, we... we decided that, just to try it... we started dating." Arthur said, looking out the window as he drove off, back to the hospital. Alfred's jaw dropped. " You... went out with Francis? You're gay!?" " No, I'm not gay! I said it was just to test it out! Turns out that I wasn't comfortable with it, so we called it off. Actually, it was more of a one-sided breakup. Francis found that he was, in fact, gay... when he actually developed feelings for me. That's why I don't really want to be around him. It's not like I regret us going out, it's just that it was so hard... seeing him cry like that. I don't want to have to see it again."

Alfred stared at Arthur until they got back to the hospital and Arthur parked his car. He cleared his throat. " Stop staring at me, idiot, and eat your food so we can get back to Roderich." He said, and Alfred blinked, then nodded. The two ate in silence, then when they were finished, headed back up to Roderich's room.

~~~page break~~~

After another few hours, Matthew showed up. " Hey guys, how're you doing?" He said, closing the door as he walked into the room. " Oh, hello Matthew." Roderich said, slightly startled. " Hello, Roderich. How are you?" Matthew asked, and Roderich smiled a bit. " I'm... better. Thank you." Matthew nodded at him, then turned to Alfred. " Oh, um... You remember how you told me about those Russians last night? One of the sisters- I think you said her name was Natalia? She came up to me today because she thought I was you... I told her I was your brother, and she apologized and stuff, but she told me to remind you that you promised to start tutoring her brother today. She said that since you were out you didn't have to in case you were sick or something, but I just wanted to tell you."

Alfred jumped up. " Oh shit! I completely forgot about Ivan! What time is it?" He said, looking at his phone. It was nearly four o'clock, and he didn't even know where they were going to meet up. " Damned it, I should have given her my number at least." Matthew raised a finger. " Ah, actually, the girl told me that if you did decide to come today, to give you this." Matthew handed his brother a slip of paper. Alfred sighed in relief. " Thank god, she wrote the address down. Guys, I have to go! Will you be alright without me here...?" Alfred asked, looking at Roderich, but his eyes strayed over to Arthur for a split second. Roderich nodded. " Of course, go. You shouldn't blow someone off just because of me. Besides, I have Francis and Arthur here."

Alfred nodded, then ran out of the room, calling for his brother to follow him. " Well, I should go. I'll come back by tomorrow. Bye guys." Matthew said, then walked out of the room, after his brother.


A/N: I am EXTREMELY sorry for the long wait! I got stuck about halfway through, around when Francis was comforting Roderich when he was crying. I nearly gave up, but my cousin read it and demanded that I finish it. She can be really aggressive when I disagree with her, so I got to thinking, and finally finished! Whew. Saved me from being beaten senseless XD

Oh look, replies to some reviews!

mytherna: Don't put yourself down! I was a terrible writer when I first started, but I practiced and practiced to get where I am now. That's all it takes! ^_^

RussianPinkGoku: ASDFGHJKL Thank you! I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place . Teens... *slaps self* Also, to answer your question, since I have nowhere to put it in the actual fic, here are the ages and classes everyone is in. Or well, the ones I mentioned that will show up more than once.

Alfred: 16, Sophomore (10th)
Arthur: 17, Junior (11th)
Matthew: 16, Sophomore (10th)
Gilbert: 18, Senior (12th)
Ludwig: 17, Junior (11th)
Feliciano: 16, Sophomore (10th)
Roderich: 17, Junior (11th)
Francis: 17, Junior (11th)
Antonio: 18, Senior (12th)
Lovino: 16, Sophomore (10th)
Ivan: 16, Sophomore (10th)
Natalia: 15, Freshman (9th)
Katyusha: 19, Senior (12th) ((When she moved to Ukraine, she had to wait a year before starting school there so she could make sure she knew Ukrainian enough to understand what they were saying, therefore she's a year older than most.))