My Love and Respect readers (if I still have any) are going to kill me. This is Unbetaed because I am lazy.

Open Road Chapter 1

Alfred groaned, trying to resist the urge to bang his head against the steering wheel.

Repeatedly.

There he was, driving peacefully down the stretch of forest on a five day trip (sightseeing stops included, obviously) to get to his brother's house a state away when a pike- a goddamn pike!- stuck into the middle of the road razed straight through his tire!

He'd nearly skid off the road!

And to think, this was the only pure stretch of forest on the whole trip. (To the forest's credit, it was a long one.)

And, Alfred now realized, as he checked the trunk,his spare had gone missing.

Fantastic.

Being the considerate soul he was, Alfred took the liberty of hammering the wheel-shredding bit of metal as flat as he could, seeing as it refused to budge from its position on the road.

It also helped ease his frustration a bit.

Sighing, he went back into his car and wondered what to do next.

It wasn't like he had roadside assistance on hand. His car, while well taken care of, was old. A gift from his father when he'd gone off to college a couple of years ago.

'I should've bought the Chevy when I had the chance.' The blond thought mournfully.

And to make it worse, it was getting dark. No one he knew would be able to reach him, even if he could call them.

This was the last time he would let his younger cousins borrow his phone for anything - those little rascals had scratched his SIM card!

Apparently his share of good luck for the month had run out.

The steady roar of an engine from the way he had come made him look back.

A vehicle!

'Oh god, I hope they have a spare seat...or a cell phone.' The American thought, sticking his head out the car window.

Actually, considering where he was, asking for the cell phone would probably be the best bet.

'It's a motorbike.' Alfred thought as the red/black Harley (at least it looked like a Harley) sped around the corner.

Hurrying out of his car, he moved to flag the rider down.

It proved to be unnecessary as the person slowed down upon seeing Alfred's car.

"Car broke down?" A man's voice called from under a black helmet.

For some reason (that Alfred tried his best not to focus on) the man's voice and posture made him stand a bit straighter.

"Yeah. Cellphone's broken too - long story. Think you could give me a call?" The blond asked hopefully.

The man nodded, sliding his helmet off to revel platinum blond hair and eyes that, to be honest, were almost purple. Reaching into his pocket, the (rather attractive) biker pulled out an iPhone.

"Towing?"

"Yeah."

So Alfred had a bit of a...weak spot for bikers. Big deal. He had to remind himself that now was not the best time to be ogling his rescuer. Thankfully said rescuer didn't seem to notice.

Punching in a number, he spoke to someone on the other line then passed the phone to Alfred. "Owner's a friend."

Accepting it with a polite 'Thanks', Alfred quickly explained his situation to the (Russian?) man on the line.

"Where are you headed?" The stranger asked, leaning against his bike, after Alfred handed his phone back.

"Over to my brother's in Georgia. Thanks for the call. Name's Alfred, by the way." He said, holding out his hand, realizing too late he probably should have named somewhere in-state.

"Oh, sorry. Matthew." The other responded, taking his hand in a firm grip. "Georgia's a bit far to be driving by yourself."

"I stop out every now and then."

"Oh? There's a motel close by if you need a lift. Village's not for a while though - and the motel's closer to Ivan's garage. But if you want a proper bed I'd suggest going the extra way."

Well that set off alarm bells in Alfred's head. Sad to say those bells weren't exactly in agreement on the next course of action.

"Oh, um, thanks but I'd prefer to stay in my car." And avoid getting possibly kidnapped. Even if getting kidnapped by a sexy biker was sounding rather appealing to certain parts of his brain right now.

He really needed to find a boyfriend (and thus, more importantly, get laid).

Matthew looked taken aback for a moment before asking "You realize your car's leaking fuel, right?"

...Eh?!

A quick look under the car proved the biker right.

"For safety's sake, I'd stay away from that car until its fixed. Being in a vehicle with a leakage is dangerous. And Ivan won't have room in front."

"Er...point taken. Fine, I'll ride with you." He was still a bit uneasy about it though.

As if he realized this, the other blond chuckled.

"Relax. I don't bite. Unless you want me to." The last bit was accompanied by a smirk that had Alfred thinking that maybe his rescuer had noticed his ogling after all.

Alfred gulped, quite certain his cheeks were now a fantastic shade of red.

He could only give a nervous laugh in response.

-xx-

Alfred shifted uncomfortably, trying his best not to jostle the sleeping man beside him too badly (seeing as it was impossible not to touch him).

'I should've just said yes to the village.' he thought miserably.

The motel had (surprisingly) been completely booked by the time they'd gotten there, and, supposedly seeing how tired Alfred was, Matthew had suggested the blond spend the night at his house, warning that he only had one bed so Alfred would have to put up with a sleeping bag for the night.

After having nice, cool air practically serenading him to sleep on the way to the town, he would've been content to sleep on the mat at that point.

He almost had to after seeing the mess Matthew's dog, Kumajirou, had made of what was previously a red sleeping bag and a set of quilts that looked handmade (well what was left of them) .

And so here he was.

Alfred was jostled out of his reminiscing by Matthew shuffling around and wrapping Alfred in his arms.

After a minute or so, Alfred deduced that Matthew had pulled him into a sleep-cuddle. Because with the amount of nuzzling the other was doing, there was no way this could ever be a hug.

Matthew being in nothing but pair of boxer shorts and a thin vest wasn't exactly helping.

A part of his mind registered that Matthew would need a shave soon. The rest of his mind promptly duct taped the first part shut.

But damned if Alfred didn't feel the need to snuggle back. After a two minute debate, he decided he could always blame sleep and so buried himself in Matthew's arms, and (after being unable to resist squeezing some very nice muscles) fell asleep.