You don't want me to be with you;

You don't want me to be with someone else.

How miserable do I have to be

Before you're happy?

Chapter Ten: Eye of the Storm

I love her…

I love her,

I love her.

The words echoed over and over in his mind.

They were clawing at his brain and demanding attention as he did nothing. He was at home, sitting in his room. It seemed everywhere he looked, a memory of you came back to him. After all, you'd been in his room many, many times and he could easily recall conversations you'd had together while sitting in this exact spot.

The lights were off, and it was getting dark outside. Through the window he could see it was dusk and the sky was a misty blue. The only bit of light in his room came from rows of white fairy lights that hung from his walls.

He'd always thought they were girly, but his mom insisted on putting them up and besides, you'd always said they gave off an air of mystery and beauty.

At least he couldn't see the posters around his room with the lights low like this. He couldn't see the picture frames of you and him, and he couldn't see the action figures on his shelves that you'd given him for his last birthday. In other words, he was glad that he couldn't see the mementos of you that would only make him want to cry. Even the posters were of bands you both enjoyed and they'd remind him of you too.

"_..." He quietly whispered your name whilst lying in the dark.

He'd never felt more pathetic.

He really loved you, he missed you, and he couldn't stand that you were with Allen.

He was very suspicious about his character. Allen was clearly not the 'nice guy' type you'd always talked about having. Couldn't you see that Alfred was obviously your 'nice guy' and Allen was not? Allen was… he was...

Not what he seemed. And even that was not a nice guy. No, just take one look at him and anyone would know he was a rebel.

"You are a MEAN GIRL! You're a BITCH!" The television suddenly turned on by itself. Alfred nearly jumped a foot in the air due to the thought of it being a ghost again. He really needed to get that fixed.

But as he looked at the screen, he noticed Mean Girls was playing on cable. How funny. And it was right when Janis called Cady a mean girl. Heh, what if we're in that situation? Just like a movie? Alfred thought to himself with a small smile. Even though it would fulfill his dream of being in a movie—or his life being like a Hollywood movie—it did not make him happy. Who'd want to live a drama? That stuff was made just so other people could make fun of angst that was not theirs.

If we were in Mean Girls, then Allen would be the bad guy, he stifled a laugh. But air came out of his nose whether he wanted to believe he was thinking such thoughts anyway.

Yeah, bad guy. The term 'bad guy' fit Allen quite perfectly in his mind.

At that moment, something clicked in his mind.

Just how much of a bad guy was he, anyways?

Before he could change his mind, he took out his phone and speed-dialed Zao. If anyone knew anything about Allen, it was Zao. And Alfred would find out his answers no matter how much he needed to pry.

He was doing this for himself, yes, but it was mostly for you. He needed to know exactly what Allen had done in his past to know if he could be a possible danger to you.

He doubted anything too horrible had happened, since honestly he didn't have the full story. He only knew a few things Zao had told him, and they'd been vague details. But now, since he met the guy, he seemed capable of much more. He needed to know what Allen had done. He needed to know so he could keep you safe. There was no way Henry or Lauren knew, and Zao's standards were low; who else would know if Allen was really worth your time or not?

After the fifth ring, Zao picked up the phone. "What?"

Alfred made a face. "Is that how you answer the phone now?"

"Eh, Alfred? That you?" He sighed. "What do you want?"

"You don't normally answer the phone like that." Something was wrong with his friend. He was usually not this grouchy.

"Shut up, no one cares. Anyway, what do you want? Tell me before I hang up."

Yep, Zao was definitely in a bad mood. Although Alfred wanted to beat up whoever had hurt his friend, you still came first. "I need to know some things about Allen."

"Huh? What about Allen?"

"Tell me all the trouble he's gotten into and why. All of his crimes, I want to know them. Don't hide anything. I know you trust me more than him anyway."

Alfred heard Zao yawn into the phone. He muttered, "Eh, why the fuck not. Sure, I'll tell you. But prepare yourself because you're about to hear some serious shit, and please don't go all 'hero' on me, Mr. Goody Two Shoes. Allen's fine as long as he doesn't go fucking crazy."

"That doesn't make him sound any better."

"Hey. You wanna know what he did or not?"

Alfred groaned. "Yeah, I do," Another thought came to mind. "..._ doesn't know any of what you're about to tell me, does she?"

"No."

-D-E-A-D-L-Y-A-T-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N-

Alfred pressed 'end call' and dropped his phone.

He laid in the pure darkness. No TV screen, no stupid fairy lights, and not even a ray of moonlight to shine through his window.

He slowly raised his hands and rubbed his face. Hard. Then he agitatedly ran them through his hair, sighing deeply and features pinched up with stress.

Firstly, Allen was an ex-con. That much was obvious.

Zao also told him that Allen was on probation. Alfred remembered you telling him, "No worries, Allen has a licensed gun permit." Bullshit.

He had guns when it was against the law for him to carry them.

And then there was… that other thing. The whole reason why he had a record, besides the fact that the kid was pretty fucked up. Even with his circumstances, Alfred felt no pity for him. He wouldn't stand for you to continue to date him when you were so oblivious to his background. How could Allen have never told you anything?

Being across the United States, there was not much Alfred could do.

…Except one thing.

The next morning, he spoke with his father. He worked as a lawyer for criminal cases and he asked him to do a thorough background check on Allen, since it was clear Zao hadn't given him all the details. Again.

"Is something wrong?" Alfred's father asked, concern evident in his expression.

"Please, Dad. Just do this. It's not just about me."

So he did. He had the ties, the files, the authority, the access to do the background check. It was actually not legal for him to do this, but they both knew he could do this once without getting caught.

As Alfred waited outside the home office, his mom suddenly appeared in front of him. "Alfie? You okay? You're normally not up this early on a Saturday."

He wanted to grin and assure her that he was fine.

But he was not. And he wouldn't lie to her either—especially when it involved you. "Actually…"

"Hm? Are you feeling well? Don't forget that Amelia's coming to visit today."

Shit.

…His older sister, who was in college, was returning home for a few days. He'd completely forgotten all about it. "W-When will she be here?"

His mother looked at the time on her iPhone. "About…" She smiled. "Now."

Alfred stood up. "Wait, what do you mean—"

"I just got a text from her. She's outside! Go open the door for her, Alfie! I'll continue making breakfast." His mother meant well. She was just a bit ditzy at times. You sure take after your mother, Alfred's father often said to him. Obviously, his mother hadn't meant to completely forget about her son's problems from just moments ago.

He was still nervous, but he knew you couldn't be in any immediate danger. Trying to calm down, he walked over to the front door.

When he opened it, there stood his sister. "Alfie! Long time no see!~"

Amelia was—in short—a kind, energetic, and loving older sister with a passion for baseball (in contrast to Alfred's love for American football). She often wore yellow star-shaped clips in her short, wavy blonde hair and was adored by most. "Alfred…" A look of concern crossed her face as she stared at her brother in the doorframe. "Is everything okay?"

A few seconds of silence passed, and their mother came skipping into the room. "Amelia! We're so glad you're home!"

Their celebration was cut short when Alfred's dad walked out of the office and into the living room, where all the Jones family was currently standing.

"Dad! What did you find out?" Alfred's voice was frantic.

"Find out? About what?" His mother's voice turned to worrisome.

"What's going on?" Amelia knew from one look on her brother's face that something was not right.

And so, Alfred's father explained the situation. He told what he found out about Allen, who Alfred pointed out was your new boyfriend.

Needless to say, his whole family was now concerned. They knew what they needed to do, even if it wasn't their business. They knew and cared for you enough to worry for you, no matter how far away from them you had moved. They loved you like one of their own.

It was easy to remember their first encounter with you. Alfred still recalled that day as clearly as the one before.

—Flashback —

The summer Alfred turned thirteen was not one he'd ever forget. He became a teenager that month, and more importantly, it was the time when he first met _.

One afternoon in mid-July, Alfred was checking out to see where his classes would be over at the new middle school. Since it was summer vacation, the school was pretty empty except for a few students who were also looking around to see where their classes would be located.

As he'd just found where his homeroom would be, he nodded to himself and turned the corner. It was time to finally walk back home and escape the heat.

As he turned that corner, he wasn't looking directly where he was going and this caused a small collision. "Ouch! Ugh, hey, s-sorry about that!" He rubbed his head and looked to see who he'd just run into.

"Gah, that's okay…" A girl about his age was rubbing her forehead as well. After a few seconds, she looked up and asked, "Do you know where Mr. Miller's class is?"

Alfred tilted his head and smiled. "Yes I do! That's this class right here. And it's my homeroom; what's yours?"

"Seriously? That's my homeroom too. I'm new here at this school…"

"You are? So am I! Ahahaha, we can be new kids together." Without thinking, Alfred ruffled her hair and laughed a bit.

"Sure. So you'll be starting seventh grade too? How old are you…?"

This was a common question Alfred got from relatives over the summer. It was no surprise this girl asked as well. "Yep, I'm starting seventh grade. I'm thirteen though, so a little older than most at the beginning. What about you?"

"I'm still just twelve. We moved here from (hometown)."

"Really? That's nice! And I came from Washington," Alfred pinched at his shirt collar and pulled it a bit. Was it getting hotter outside? Or was this conversation with this really nice girl making him nervous…? He really couldn't tell. "Oh, and my name's Alfred, by the way!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm _." She looked down at his shirt and smiled a bit.

It was a Superman tee.

Meanwhile, Alfred wasn't feeling… himself. Everything they'd said so far had sounded so very formal and it was boring. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

He'd been watching a show last night and it had an episode about a common American trope. Alfred didn't see anything wrong with it so he decided to ask _ about it.

Obviously, he hadn't been thinking much before asking it and hadn't realized the possible consequences of asking this to a girl—especially when it was completely out of nowhere.

"Hey, wanna come over to my house and play Spin-the-Bottle?"

…Her face froze up, lips parted.

Finally, she found the ability to reply to an idiotically-calm Alfred. "Um, no!"

His eyebrows lowered and lips drooped, "Eh? Why not?"

She made an angry face that Alfred somehow thought looked absolutely adorable. "Why would I do that? We just met and I wouldn't waste my first kiss on you!"

Puzzlement etched across Alfred's face. "But they do it all the time in movies—kids our age, too!"

_ sighed. "You watch too many movies. And besides, isn't Spin-the-Bottle done with more people?"

"I don't—"

"And more importantly, why does the media love unrealistic things like that? I would never kiss a stranger and especially if it was my first kiss. Don't you value things like that, Alfred?"

He blushed a bit. "Um…"

"It's a first experience, and a memory you'll always have. Someday you'll look back on your first kiss and hopefully smile because you were so young and new to these things. I'm still…" This time, her face reddened a bit too. "I-I'm still super new to this stuff and it's kind of embarrassing to talk about…" She looked away to avoid his eyes.

It was a good thing that she did, because he was gazing at her as if he'd just found a treasure.

She seemed so innocent, pure, and sweet. He'd never met someone like this before—a classic example of the 'girl-next-door' type that he adored.

He would love, love, love to be her friend. And one day in the future, he hoped to have her first kiss, too.

It would be his first as well.

Alfred was seated in a corner of his house. He covered his face as he tried to think.

You'd fallen prey to the predator's heart, in his perspective. He wouldn't stand for it.

He would be your hero… whether you wanted him to be or not. And as your hero, he would get rid of that villain.

-D-E-A-D-L-Y-A-T-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N-

Across the United States, a certain opium-addicted boy was pacing a hallway.

He'd just gotten off the phone with Alfred. Should he really have told him…?

It wasn't his business to tell; it was Allen's. And Zao knew that Allen would never tell Alfred anything. Zao was lucky that Allen ever told him anything.

On that track, Zao realized maybe he shouldn't have told Alfred.

But, it was something you should know. Did you know? And if so, were you okay with it? If not, was it really okay for Allen to hide it from you? That… wasn't cool.

Just the thought, the realization that he may have never told you infuriated Zao. How could he ever be faithful to a wonderful girlfriend such as you if you didn't know this? It wasn't right.

Zao wanted to fix it.

Perhaps that was why he'd subconsciously told Alfred without thinking of the consequences.

He knew Allen would be upset with him, and that was dangerous.

But, this was for you.

He was doing it for you.

He could deal with Allen's rage if it was for you. No—Allen would have to deal with his rage if he never told you what had happened all those months ago.

At the moment, he just wanted to run to your house, find you, hold you tight and never let go.

Things never ended up right in this world.

Happy endings don't exist.

Just like he'd never get his happy ending with you. He'd always be a boy that you swept to the side in order to view either Alfred or Allen. It hurt him, but at least he'd taken a step towards being a good friend.

As he continued to pace, he heard an overly cheerful voice pop in from the end of the hallway. "Zao my darling? You okay?"

He was currently in the affectionate Brit's entryway. "Yeah I'm fine," He muttered.

Oliver exhaled and then smiled sympathetically, "Drama again?"

"A little."

He tsked, "This is precisely why I do not get involved in drama. It's a headache, is it not? Here, come in come in! Dinner is ready, but I'll cook something else to make that stress of yours go away~" Lovingly gripping Zao's hand, Oliver pulled his best friend into the kitchen.

Zao didn't yank his hand away. He allowed Oliver to lead him off—hopefully to keep his mind off of the drama.

"Now, which tea would you like this evening?"

A.N.: Holy shit, I don't know if this chapter came out right. All I can say is, hey Team Allen, it's not as bad as it sounds, okay? O^O (We're in Alfred's POV for the most part, after all.) Reader and Allen have their ways and don't forget that. :3

Oh… and you guys know I wasn't originally planning on making Zao a love-interest, right? ; v ; But he got super popular and nearly everyone commented that they were on Team Zao last chapter & I was just blown away by how hard you guys fell for him-! So, this story will have an Original Ending (meaning for either Allen or Alfred, can't tell ya yet) and a separate ending for Zao~ Congrats. You guys asked for more 2P!China, you got more 2P!China. ^v^

(...And no, Allen has NEVER killed/raped anyone, no matter how horrible his past offenses sound.)