Crashing Into Your Heart

His heavy safety boots stomped on the wooden platform and the sun shone right into his face, making him dripping with sweat.

"Fuck, it's too hot today," wailed Alfred while he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Yeah, they could at least pay us more when we're dying up here," agreed his coworker.

They climbed up the scaffold tower ready to proceed with their work after their lunch break.

Alfred worked on a construction site and they had built a new skyscraper, 'A new place for people to live in' is what their boss always said.

He and his coworker had to install new big windows high up at the building and while going up there, Alfred noticed the scaffold being a little wobbly.

"Uhm, this doesn't look stable," said Alfred worried.

His coworker sighed. "This is normal, we're high up, naturally it's going to feel a little unstable," he explained.

"I hope you're right."

"Of course I am, I'm doing this for over 20 years now," he scoffed at Alfred.

While his coworker got inside the building through the opening where the window is going to be fixed, Alfred stood on the scaffold ready to receive the window that was brought to them via a crane.

Around his upper body, Alfred wore a fall protection above his orange vest which he wanted to connect to the metal railing but he noticed that it was broken.

"Shit," said Alfred cursing himself.

The best choice Alfred could have had made is to tell his coworker that he needed a new one but the crane with the window was already there, so he dismissed it and started to install the window without the fall protection.

Beside the construction site stood another skyscraper in which Arthur just moved in.

He was sqauting on the floor and unpacking some pillows that were stuffed in his boxes.

He placed the pillows with one hand on the floor, not bothering if they got dirty. He had to clean them up anyway.

With the other hand, he held his phone to the ear and talked to his mother who lived abroad in England.

"... You could come to Christmas and stay 'til new year," his mother said over the phone.

"I just moved in and you already plan my trip home?"

"Of course! I need to know when I'll see you again."

"I don't even know if I would make it this year." Arthur sighed watching men carry his belongings into the living room where he sat.

"We pay for your flight!"

"No." Arthur stood up. "You can't just pay for everything."

He heard his mother sigh on the other end. "Yes, I know... What's the weather like, I hope it's not too rainy!" She quickly changed the subject.

Arthur walked to the big window and looked outside, seeing the construction site in front of him but also the blue sky above.

"It's very hot today," he said.

"At least not to cold." His mother chuckled.

Someone behind Arthur cleared their throat and Arthur turned around.

"We're done," said a man.

"Alright, thanks," replied Arthur and turned his attention back to his mother while watching them leave.

"I have a lot do, I speak to you later."

"Alright, love. Call me when you're done," said his mother and hung up.

Arthur looked around the big room and saw all the boxes laying around.

He groaned when he noticed that the men brought the mattress into the living room instead of his bedroom.

He walked to his left where his open kitchen stood and rummaged through his belongings to find his kettle, a mug and some tea to relax before the work he still had to do.

Alfred didn't realize what happened until it did happen.

He was just doing his job when suddenly he felt himself lean backwards and was confused for a split second, but it did dawn onto him very quickly that it wasn't just him but the whole scaffold tower that was leaning.

He saw himself getting farther away from the building and his heart dropped, finally realizing that he's falling.

The scaffold started to fall down faster. The gravitation pulled Alfred down and he started to slip.

He screamed, gripping the railing next to him as fast as he could.

Arthur stood in his kitchen and drank his tea when suddenly he heard a loud shattering noise, and saw someone crashing into his flat through the window, hitting the mattress with full force and tumble down onto the floor.

Arthur looked in shock with his eyes wide open. He couldn't quite comprehend what just happened but got himself together when he heard the lying person groan.

He ran up to him where Alfred tried to sit up slowly between the pillows.

"Are you alright?" asked Arthur worried and kneeled down.

He looked at the window where a crooked scaffold tower was seen leaning against the building, and then back to the man who sat up completely.

"I don't know. Am I dead?"

"No, no, you're not. You crashed into my flat," explained Arthur.

"Oh, great." He chuckled and touched his arm, feeling a liquid coming out of it. "Fuck."

"I call the ambulance," said Arthur but got a wincing groan from the man.

"Are you sure? It's not that bad."

Arthur then remembered that the ambulance costs a lot of money here. The accident outside seems to be big, so naturally someone else might have already called it.

"I'll be right back," he told to Alfred and went to find the box where his first aid kit laid.

Alfred took his gloves and helmet off, and cringed when he felt his hair being wet and sweaty.

"Ew, that's not a good first impression," mumbled Alfred to himself. He felt sticky and disgusting from all that sweat and didn't dare to look at his armpits that looked most likely even worse in his blue shirt.

When Arthur came back, he helped Alfred to stand up and sit down on a chair at the kitchen island to inspected Alfred's wounds that consisted of bruises and cuts on his arms, mostly because of his crash through the window.

"How did you even fall? What happened?" asked Arthur.

"I was only installing windows and then I fell. I don't know more."

"You're lucky you didn't fall on the ground. It could've ended badly for you."

"Yeah...I thought I'm gonna die." He chuckled but his smile faded into a shock. "Oh God!" He put his hand in front of his face. "I almost died," he said in horror.

Alfred had never thought that an accident like this could happen to him. He could've died in a second without a warning and not even say goodbye. He really should tell his mother that he loves her more often.

His hand proceeded to glide down his face and he looked at the blond man in front of him. "I'm Alfred by the way."

"I'm Arthur," he said. "Here, let me help you."

He started to disinfect his wounds with a wattpad and Alfred winced at the contact.

Then Arthur grabbed some band aid to close his wounds.

Alfred watched him and couldn't shake the thought away that he was really cute.

"Does it hurt really badly?" asked Arthur.

"Nah, not really."

"It might be only the shock. You might even have a concussion."

"I don't think so. I wore a helmet," said Alfred smiling.

Arthur snorted and placed the last band aid on Alfred's cut.

"Here you go."

"Thank you!" said Alfred looking at his arms with a ton of these stickers. He wasn't even sure if Arthur knew what he's doing but Alfred didn't either, so it's the best he could get at the moment.

He looked up at Arthur and smiled. "I noticed that you've got an accent. Where are you from?" he asked.

"I'm from England."

"Really? That's so cool! Is it far from New York?" Alfred asked excited.

"It's an eight hour flight, so yeah it's very far."

"Dude, that's so sick." He grinned. "So you are moving in, right?" asked Alfred looking around the apartment.

"Yes, I do."

"Neat, you must be rich to afford an apartment like that."

Arthur twisted his face. "Not really. My parents helped me with that."

"So, your parents are rich?" asked Alfred.

"Kinda.. they inherited from their grandparents."

"Wow that's so classy."

"Classy?"

"Yeah, I think the whole heritage thing sounds so rich and royal." He grinned at Arthur who let out an amused little laugh.

Loud noises came from outside and Alfred stood up to go to the window where he looked down and saw people hurry and gather on the street while the ambulance arrived.

"Looks like someone did call one," Alfred said and Arthur came closer to the window as well.

A cold gust of wind blew through the broken window and Alfred grimaced.

"Sorry for that." He pointed at the window.

Arthur sighed. "It's okay, it's not your fault."

"I'm gonna help you with that. You can't live up here with a broken window," he said and looked around.

He took some boxes that looked big enough and tore them apart.

"Do you have duct tape?"

"Yeah, wait a minute." Arthur went into his bedroom to fetch it.

Alfred proceeded to place the carton against the broken window.

"Would you tape them on the side."

Arthur did as told and after a minute the place where the window was, was replaced by some cartons with duct tape.

"Here you go, that's for now." He grinned at Arthur again.

"Thanks."

"No I have to thank you, if it wasn't for your mattress I might have broken my neck or something." He smiled at him.

A small chuckle slipped through Alfred's mouth when he looked at the situation they were in.

Arthur looked at him curious and questioned what made him laugh like that.

Alfred glanced at Arthur and looked as if he wanted to say something but a grin curved up anytime he opened his mouth.

"I have fallen for you." He giggled. "You know because I fell into your apartment." He nudged Arthur with his elbow.

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Well, I hope it didn't hurt," said Arthur, "When you fell from heaven." A smirk formed itself on Arthur's face.

A loud snort escaped from Alfred and he started to laugh, holding his stomach and practically wheezing in his place.

He playfully hit Arthur's shoulder with his hand. "Dude!"

Arthur laughed with him and slowly watched Alfred calm himself down.

He slowly got into a chuckle and wiped a fake tear from underneath his eye away. "That's a good one."

Both of them jumped when a 'ding' sound went off out of nowhere.

Alfred quickly got his phone out and looked on the screen.

"I have to go now, they're looking for me already."

"Yes, of course."

Alfred headed towards the front door, carefully stepping through the laying glass and the boxes.

Arthur went with him to the door and before Alfred could go out, he turned to him.

"I might come back later again, to uh, help with your window." He smiled awkwardly.

"Okay," said Arthur with a small smile. Alfred didn't need to come back but Arthur didn't complain about Alfred's company.

"Okay," repeated Alfred and opened the door. "See ya." He waved and walked backwards down the hallway smiling at him.

Arthur closed the door and looked around his apartment once more. He sighed and scratched his head when he realized that he had to clean up the broken glass.

His gaze fell on a yellow piece of clothing and he realized that Alfred forgot his helmet and gloves.

A day later Alfred came back to Arthur.

Arthur welcomed him and led him to the open kitchen where he gave him some sweets which Alfred was happy to munch on.

"It was build very unstable and no one seemed to notice until one guy drove against it and it began to fall," Alfred explained to Arthur what the cause was for the scaffold tower to fall on the other building.

"Some people were injured but no one died," said Alfred.

"That's good news but what about the damage? Who has to pay for it?" asked Arthur.

"My company has to pay for the damage that was made and has to repair everything. That really sucks."

"Well it was the fault of one of your coworkers."

"I know." Alfred sighed but his face quickly changed into a smile again. "And I'm going to see you again because I have to install new windows in this building."

Arthur gave him a small sympathetic smile.

"So, is there anything I can help you with?" Alfred grinned at him.

"There's no need, you have to rest," answered Arthur.

"No, it's okay. I feel bad for crashing in, please let me help you with anything."

"There's nothing to feel bad about. It wasn't your fault. You have to rest before you can go to work again."

"I've already worked today."

"You've already worked? But you're injured! Don't you get a day or two off after such an accident?" Arthur asked perplexed.

"I feel great, really," reassured Alfred.

"Still, they can't just let you work after you experienced such a trauma! You literally fell down a high building and injured yourself on sharp glass!" Arthur sighed angrily. "What are they thinking! They can't let you go install windows again like nothing had happened!"

Alfred looked at him with a stunned expression before slowly starting to chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" said Arthur sharp.

"I'm sorry but..." Alfred thought that Arthur's little pout was so cute when he started ranting about his work, and to hear that someone was actually worried about him made him feel warm inside since that didn't happen for years. But that's something Alfred just couldn't tell Arthur. ".. I still need money," said Alfred instead.

Arthur sighed and looked out of the window. "Of course..."

A moment of silence was between them before Alfred broke it.

"What do you doing for a living?"

"I'm an author," answered Arthur.

"Really? Awesome! How many books have you already published?

"Five books."

"Woah that's a lot, has one of your books been made into a movie?" Alfred grinned.

"My books aren't that popular," said Arthur.

"Yet," Alfred completed the sentence and Arthur snorted. "So why did you come to New York?"

"I made a contract with a publishing company. I didn't have to come here but I wanted to live somewhere where I've never been before. Are you from New York?"

"Nah, I'm from Oklahoma but I always wanted to live in a city. I thought about going to LA or Vegas, maybe even Washington DC but I got this job first, so I came here."

"How long do you live here already?" asked Arthur.

"About a year and four months," said Alfred proudly.

Arthur's lips curved into a small smile before he looked at the clock on his phone. "Uhm, I have to go now but.. we can talk later if you want to." He shrugged.

"Sure." Alfred smiled at him. "You need to be somewhere?"

"Yes, I need to do some work."

Arthur went to change his clothes and when he was done, he noticed Alfred waiting for him at the door, smiling at him.

It made Arthur's heart beat a little faster than usual.

They walked down onto the street and on their way a man bumped into Arthur with his shoulder. An unpleasant look crossed Arthur's face.

"Are you alright?" asked Alfred.

"Yes, I am," said Arthur but he looked to be in discomfort. "I'm not sure that I like big city's, I always lived in a small town. I don't even know if I made the right decision to move here."

"Only because the man bumped into you?"

"No, it's not only because of him."

"Don't worry, New York is great. You'll get used to it, I promise." Alfred smiled at him.

"Even the smell?"

"Uhh haha that's something different."

"Well, I am going to live here only for a couple of years and then I'm going back." He looked up at Alfred and wondered if there could be a chance. "Probably."

A couple of days went by and Alfred cursed himself for not asking for Arthur's phone number.

Arthur was a cute and funny guy, and Alfred would lie if he would say that he didn't think about him since the day he crashed into his home.

He also forgot his helmet and gloves in his apartment. But he couldn't just come by any time he wants to.

He sighed and went into a café that was located on his way to his work.

He noticed Arthur standing at the counter and beamed happy at him.

"Heyy, you work here?"

Arthur's eyes shot up when he saw him. "Yeah.. I need some extra money."

Alfred chuckled a bit. "I understand that. I had three jobs when I started to work."

"Three?"

"Yep." Alfred grinned at him. "It's very nice to see you. I hope you're doing well."

"I do and I hope you do too."

"I feel excellent!"

"That's great, so do you want to order?"

"Ah yeah, sure. Uhm.. I'd like a cappuccino, please," he said and payed for his coffee.

"Uh, I also wanted to ask you something but I forgot the last time we saw each other."

He was nervous to ask him but he had to or else it's going to be too late.

Before Alfred could say anything someone behind him yelled to keep moving and Alfred turned around and yelled: "I'm busy!"

He turned back to Arthur. "So, uhm, can I have your number? I kinda like you and.. would love to hang out with you, of course if you would like to hang out with me too." He ended his speech with a wide smile.

"Uhh, sure why not." He smiled back.

"Great!" exclaimed Alfred excited.

They exchanged phone numbers and Alfred smiled at him while going out of the store with his coffee in one hand.

A couple of days went by and they decided to meet up for a movie.

Arthur waited in front of the cinema for Alfred to come and saw him jogging up to him.

"Hiya," Alfred said happily and grinned. "Are you ready to watch the best movie of all time!"

"I think I am," replied Arthur.

They went in and the smell of popcorn hit their noses.

"Have you ever watched these kind of movies?" asked Alfred.

"I don't think so. I never had the interest in watching them."

"Trust me, it's great!"

They bought their tickets and sat in the dark cinema room.

Arthur would lie if he'd say he enjoyed the movie because the main thing that happened there were always fights, and Arthur wasn't really the kind of guy to watch movies like that. But he wouldn't tell that to Alfred, he seemed to enjoy this movie.

Even though it rained when the movie ended, they decided to walk through the central park.

Arthur had his umbrella and shared it with Alfred while they walked.

"Did you like the movie?" asked Alfred excited.

"I was...confused," said Arthur. "There was no reason for him to start this war."

"They had an army and were about to destroy the whole planet!"

"But he was a part of the team, why would he be a traitor and follow some girl."

"It was love, Arthur." Alfred smiled amused at him.

"They knew each other for only one day, not even a day it was like one hour," Arthur scoffed. "You can't tell me that he fell in love with someone that literally murdered his brother."

Alfred chuckled. "It's to have tension between them."

Arthur rolled his eyes. Nothing from this movie made any sense to him.

They walked in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes and watched the rain slowly stopping and the blue sky peaking behind the clouds.

A ray of sun light shone through the thin layers of clouds and the streets sparkled under its light.

Arthur closed the umbrella and Alfred looked at him while a warm smile crept upon his lips.

"I think it was love at first sight."

"What?" Arthur looked confused at him.

"In the movie. I think he fell in love with her the first time they met and that's why he did all these things even if she wasn't the best person."

"Still...they had no chemistry," mumbled Arthur.

It pained him to see stuff like this on the screen, his author heart needs drama and passion when someone is falling in love.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" asked Alfred.

Arthur looked at the sky in thoughts. "I do." He looked down at Alfred and smiled. "I'm certain that it's real."

"You know, I'm glad I crashed through your window," said Alfred with a warm smile.

"You really have a concussion don't you?" said Arthur playfully.

"What?"

"Come." He took his arm and led him forwards. "There's a great bar where we can sit."

Arthur was in his apartment and watched Alfred and one of his coworkers install the new window.

They had dated now for a while and it looked very promising for both of them.

When they were done, Alfred who stood in Arthur's flat turned to him.

"What do you think? Looks good right?"

"Good job, now I have a view again. But your view wasn't bad either." He grinned.

Alfred gasped. "Arthur, were you looking at my butt?!" He smirked playfully and touched his butt in a sexy pose.

Arthur winked at him.

Alfred laughed and came up to him. "I have to do the other ones but I'll come by if I'm done."

"Great, I'll wait for you." He smiled at him in anticipation for their date. They had met every day and Arthur wanted to ask Alfred if he wants to be his boyfriend. It had to be perfect this evening and Arthur is optimistic that it's going to end well.

"Just promise me you won't fall into other people's windows."

"I promise, yours the only one." He chuckled and went to the front door.

Arthur watched him go and went to his new window where he saw a scaffold tower staying.

He'd never thought that his hopefully future boyfriend would literally fall from the sky and crash into his life.

It was quite an interesting story to tell to his family.