They were sitting in Alfred's living room three days after their six month anniversary when Alfred finally admitted something that Emil had long suspected.
The two of them were on the couch, Emil playing on an old DS and Alfred waist deep in paper files that the other had never seen before. Halfway through one of his many manila envelopes, Alfred stopped and threw the papers down on the coffee table with a loud groan.
"I give up!" he declared, neglecting to give any context to his statement.
Emil looked up at his boyfriend befuddled, and asked the obvious question, "Give up on what?"
"Well…" Alfred sighed, hunching over and cradling his head in his hands, "I never mentioned this cus I didn't want to worry you, but uh… I'm really bad at budgeting. Like really bad. My parents are so rich that I never had to learn how, and now that they've taken away my trust fund all of my spendings is kind of... catching up to me. I'm just...I'm not really sure what to do about it. I should have gotten an accountant from the get-go, but at this point, I can't really afford one."
"An accountant?" Emil scoffed, "You don't need an accountant Al. Poor people have been budgeting for centuries without needing an accountant, and the fact that your family is rich shouldn't prevent you from doing it yourself, here, get me a pen and paper."
Alfred grabbed a notebook off the coffee tab and handed it to his partner who proceeded to write the words "Weekly budget" across the top of the paper.
"Okay," Emil said, turning his attention to Alfred, "You don't have to worry about rent or mortgages, so this shouldn't be too hard. Let's start with your grocery budget, how much would you say you spend on food in a given week?"
"Um...idk, around $200 maybe?"
"200! In a week?! Are you sure you don't mean month?"
"N-no, I mean week. Why is that bad?"
"Yes, it's bad! That's almost 800 dollars a month just for food Alfred. You're one person, how do you even spend that much?"
"Well I mean, I don't really like to cook, so I go to restaurants most of the time. I...I guess it really adds up, huh?"
"I'll say. Okay, here, let's make you some easy meal plans so that you can cook at home and go from there."
3 hours later the two men were still sitting at the coffee table trying to work out a budget and both of them were getting frustrated.
"You don't need a subscription to 12 different tabloids, Al."
"Yes, I do! How else will I get important information like uh...um," Alfred stalled, picking up a copy of U.S weekly and turning to the cover, "That Ben Affleck has a back tattoo? I mean that's critical information to have Emil."
"It really isn't. You only need to subscribe to one, and I think even that's a bit much honestly."
"Oh, so you're telling me that you don't subscribe to a single tabloid? Sounds like a load of hooey to me."
"Of course I don't subscribe to tabloids," Emil scoffed, " they rot your brain!"
"You sound like my dad."
"You're father must be a wise man then."
Alfred opened his mouth like he was about to argue with Emil statement, but then seemed to think better of it and gave a deep, worn out sign instead, putting his head down on the table.
"This is so hard," he whined, "Why do I have to give up so much stuff? Why can't I have 12 tabloid subscriptions and impulse buy camping gear and pre-order every new video game? I could do all of that stuff before. Money is so stupid."
Emil sighed as well. He had known for a while now that Alfred came from money, but he was just now starting to realize how many superfluous expenditures his boyfriend took for granted.
"I know you're not used to this Al, but this is how most people live. You've got to prioritize things. You can't just go around spending money like a movie star when you're making minimum wage."
Alfred lifted his head and pouted, "But I'm so bad at this! Why can't you just do all this budgeting stuff for me? You're actually good at it."
"I'm not going to budget for you Al, that's not my job, and even if it was, you'd probably just go off budget anyways based on your current spending habits."
"I would not!"
"Uh huh," Emil snorted sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his partner's statement.
"Well okay, I probably would, but that's not my fault! I'm just not used to having to save money. I need someone who will shop for me!"
"So now you want an accountant and a personal shopper? You're ridiculous."
"No, you're ridiculous. How can you expect me to do this stuff? Come on Emil, you know what you're doing, why can't you do it for me?"
"Because it's not my money Alfred. I'm not gonna do financials for someone else when I have to do my own."
Alfred paused for a moment, then his face brightened and he slammed his fists on the table in excitement before turning to Emil with a grin.
"Then we should combine our income!" Alfred exclaimed.
"Excuse you?" Emil said, face warped in befuddlement.
"Move in with me!" Alfred elaborated, "Come on, we've been dating for six months now, it's not like it would be unexpected, and I've heard you gripe about having to live with your brother. This way you can move out of your bro's apartment and you'll be around to budget, so I won't have to do it. It's a win-win situation!"
Emil raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend's suggestion, stopping to consider the possibility. He had to admit, it was an appealing offer. Budgeting was only a small nuisance compared to living with Mathias and Lukas, and Al's condo was practically a mansion compared to the cramped apartment he lived in now. It was a good deal all around, and there was the extra perk of getting to wake up next to his cuddly boyfriend every morning. Really it was an offer he couldn't refuse.
"Yeah, alright," Emil finally conceded after a moment of silence, "Why not? Living together could be fun. I'll talk to Lukas about it tonight and make sure he and Mattias can afford rent on their own. "
"Wait, really?" Alfred asked, surprise apparent on his face, "I didn't think you were gonna go for that. Nice!"
Emil laughed at his boyfriend's antics and Alfred pulled him into a hug, kissing him wetly on the cheek.
"Man, this is great!" Alfred proclaimed, "I mean really. How didn't I think of this before?"
"Now don't get too excited," Emil scolded, chuckling as he pushed his way out of their hug, "I still need to talk to Lukas. And anyway, just because I'll be around to take care of finances doesn't mean you don't have to learn to budget. It's an important skill, I can't believe your parents never taught you how."
On hearing this, Alfred stuck out his lower lip in a pout and winded his eyes to puppy dog size, "But Emiiiiiiil, I don't waaaant to," he whined.
Emil only smiled at his partner's childish behavior, "To bad big guy, that's part of the deal."
"Hey Lukas," Emil called, shuffling into their living room/ dining area, "I need to talk to you."
Lukas looked up from his spot on the couch and fixed his brother with a hard glare.
"What happened? Did that stupid boyfriend of yours get arrested? Because I'm not bailing his rich ass out. He can suck it up and call his parents if he-"
"It's nothing like that Lukas! It's never anything like that! Why do you always jump to the craziest conclusions?" Emil gripped as he sat down across from his brother.
"hmm, I guess assuming the worst just makes life more fun," he mused, checking his nails with disinterest as the talked.
"That doesn't make any sense," Emil huffed, "But anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"To bad. So what's on your mind lil bro?"
"Alfred asked me to move in with him."
Lukas looked up from his cuticles with shock on his face, "oh…"
"I really want to do it, Lukas. He's got a nice place, and we've been together for six months now, so it's not like we're rushing it, but," he hesitated, choosing his next words carefully, "I don't want you and Mattias to have trouble making rent, so I can wait if that's gonna be a problem. I don't want you guys to lose your lease or anything."
The older of the two brothers sat in thought for a few minutes before finally speaking.
"You should do it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he nodded, "I am. I don't think I've ever seen you this invested in a romantic partner Emil, and I certainly haven't ever seen you be committed enough to move in with someone. If you really want to do this then Alfred must be really special to you. Go ahead and move in with him."
"But what about money?"
"Don't worry about it Em. Ever sense Mathias got that raise last month money hasn't been as tight, and I can always pick up a few extra shifts at the Library if I need to. We'll be okay."
Emil's eye softened as he looked at his brother. It wasn't often that the two of them had a heart to heart like this, but when they did it was always a good reminder that, despite all of their teasing, they really did care about each other.
"Thank you, Lukas, I really appreciate it," Emil said, standing up from the couch.
"I love you, little brother."
Emil smiled as he left the room. It was good to know that Lukas supported him.
AN: What's that? This story has an actual plot? I planned thing out ahead of time? Incredible, y'all never saw it coming.
Anyways, there's just one more chapter and then an epilog so we're almost done!
Thanks for reading~
Reviews are always appreciated!