When Alfred got home from a late jog with Matthew, (yes, surprisingly, Alfred works out. Not that Arthur would believe him.) he found it strange that there wee voices coming from the other side of the apartment door. At first, Alfred thought he had gotten lucky, and caught Arthur cheating on him (soon all this would be over!) but he still had to ignore a sinking feeling in his chest at the thought.

Then, he realized that there were not two voices, but three. All of them were familiar. "Oh no," Alfred whispered as he flung open the door.

And there, as he feared, were his parents.

"Alfie!" Arthur smiled, standing up from the bar table he and Alfred's parents were having dinner at. "Welcome home!"

Alfred just stood in the doorway with his mouth hanging open as Arthur pecked him on the cheek.

Alfred's father stood up. "Listen son," he said, striding over towards the pair, "I know you're still mad about the whole job thing, but you get married and you don't tell us?" Alfred's father looked very disappointed. "And if you were worried it was because Arthur here is male, you shouldn't be! You know we support you."

Alfred thought back to the day he told his parents he was bisexual. Oh god, may such embarrassment never happen again.

"Um, Artie?" Alfred asked, still staring numbly at his father. "Can I talk to you? Outside?"

Arthur giggled, and took Alfred's hand, beginning to lead them out the door. "He probably just wants to give me a big smooch! We haven't seen each other all day!" Arthur called to Alfred's parents—who giggled and waved the two off.

Once the door closed, Arthur's smiled turned into a smirk. "How weird is it going to be," He told Alfred, (trying to hold back a maniacal laugh) "when your parents are character witnesses for me in court?"

Alfred cleared his throat and looked at his shoes. "Then...I guess you haven't told them the whole story yet, have you?"

Arthur suddenly stopped celebrating, looking at Alfred. Why did the boy look so...terrified? "No, I was waiting for you to do that." Arthur told him.

"Well," Alfred said, his voice cracking and his eyes looking everywhere but Arthur "what would it take...to get you to just keep this as our little secret for a while?"

The Englishman couldn't believe it. Alfred actually cared about his reputation in concern of his family. He...wanted their respect. He loved them. Arthur felt a little twinge of pity looking at the boy's face. He was terrified and lost.

Arthur thought back to his own family. Not only would they throw both of them out, ("you fuckin' fags!") but they also would have tried to take any money Arthur won.

"I want the bathroom door back," Arthur declared, crossing his arms.

"Done."

Arthur smiled thinly (not that Alfred saw) and took Alfred's hand, leading him back into the apartment. "Well, Mr. Jones!" Arthur cried happily, "I heard you were the very one to teach Alfred everything he knows!"

Mr. Jones smiled tightly and laughed a little as he said: "Well I certainly tried! It would be a miracle if Alfred ever actually finished something he was building!"

"Well," Arthur said, rolling his eyes, "Maybe you should tell him not to finish it and maybe he will."

Alfred's parents exchanged glances before bursting into laughter. "That's our Alfie!" Mrs. Jones called.

Alfred glared bitterly at the bar table, mimicking his parents laugh. "Real funny."

"Well, actually," Arthur said, glancing at his husband, "Alfred made this bar table we're sitting at!"

Mr. Jones immediately ducked his head under the table to look at the craftsmanship. He sighed. "Dovetail's off on the corner."

Alfred pressed his lips together and looked out the window.

Arthur pitied the boy. He...he did work hard. It seemed like if Alfred didn't work, he was lazy, and if he did, he did it wrong. "Well," Arthur started, "I think it's great."

He pretended not to see the surprised yet still happy look in Alfred's eyes.

"Arthur!" Alfred's mother suddenly exclaimed. "I have a fantastic idea! Why don't you two come to Uncle Frank's birthday party soon in the park? You can meet the whole family!"

"That sounds great, Mrs. Jones! We'll be there."

Spongebobtransistion

The next day while Arthur was at work, Matthew and Alfred worked to get the bathroom door back in. "You're letting him get into your head, Al!" Matthew chastised. "You can't let a guy get into your head! That's why I prefer not even to talk to my dates."

"He went after my family!" Alfred bemoaned.

Matthew shook his head as he positioned the door. "Think, you idiot. What's something you can do to get revenge?"

But Alfred didn't want revenge. Sure, he was mad at Arthur for playing dirty but..."

Matthew walked to the other side of the door, in the bathroom. He reached up to steady himself on the frame, but accidentally knocked something off. Matthew dropped down to pick it up, but immediately froze. "Oh. My. God." He said. "I found it."

Alfred looked around the door. Matthew was on his knees, an evil genius look on his usually innocent face. "His downfall."

Matthew held the engagement ring out to Alfred.

Shit.

Ohshitthatwasintense

Alfred was in a bar. It wasn't even a good bar, like he was used to. He liked the pubs (as did Arthur) because they were informal, homey, and usually had a good game on.

But this bar screamed rich stuck-up business man. Everything was some shade of either black or white,

and everything seemed square.

Then, Alfred saw her.

She was hunched over a laptop, furiously typing, he glasses slipping off her nose. Alfred walked up to her.

"I'll have a whiskey. On the rocks." She told him, not bothering to look up from her laptop, handing him an empty glass.

Alfred looked at the glass with distaste, but took it from the (rude) girl and setting it on a nearby table. Then he closed her laptop.

She stared at him with such fury and disgust that or a moment Alfred swore he was looking at Arthur.

"Hi," Alfred smiled thinly. "You're Elizabeth, right? I'm Alfred. A friend of Arthur's."

Elizabeth's face cleared, becoming blank and detached. "Oh? Arthur?"

"Yeah," Alfred chuckled. "I figured I'd give ya this." He held up the engagement ring. "He threw it away!" Alfred cried. "I mean, I figured it should go to somebody so why not you?"

Elizabeth looked at the ring, hesitating for a moment. Then she grasped it firmly and tugged it out of Alfred's grip. "Well, thanks," she said, turning back to open her laptop.

Alfred wanted to die. That's not what was supposed to happen! He turned and began to walk away in defeat when-

"How is he doing, by the way?" Elizabeth asked. Alfred spun around with a smile. "I suppose he's gained a little weight with all the emotional eating, yeah?" Elizabeth suggested.

"What, Arthur?" Alfred asked. "Oh man, he's on fire! He's doing great!"

"Really?"

"Oh you have no idea! I'm telling you. He's not going to be on the open market for long. It's a feeding frenzy out there!"

"A feeding frenzy?"

"Yeah. Arthur and I are going to my Uncle's birthday tomorrow in Wayde Park. Don't know if you know of it. But yeah! We're getting him a bag of weed! Arthur's idea!"

Alfred watched in amusement as Elizabeth's expression changed into something of regret and amazement.

"Well, man, I gotta go. Been nice talking to ya."

"Yeah..." Elizabeth murmured. "Thanks for the ring."

Alfred was already leaving. He waved, not bothering to turn around. "Yeah, yeah."

BAM!

HOW WAS THAT FOR A CHAPTER?

Lot's of stuff happened, guys! Hope you were paying attention! This is where we get into the meat of the story. From here on out I'm gonna have so much fun.

Elizabeth is of course fem!England. Nothing will really be happening with her. (But she will come in later to wreak havoc.)

Oh! I'm so excited for the next chapter~

Sorry for any mistakes. I'm American.

-Mallory