In Which Alfred Has a Nightmare


Alfred had a nightmare.

In it, he and Ivan were both getting married, at only 18 years of age, for some reason at his high school graduation. For other unknown reasons, glitter was falling from the air, and Alfred gritted his teeth, certain Ivan had planned it. "I just got all the glitter out of my stuff!" Alfred protested internally. No one else seemed to mind though. All of his classmates were wedding guests and Arthur and Francis and Ivan's older sister were all there too, all wearing formal attire, save for Francis, who had been forced to wear a graduation gown after a half-hour scolding by Arthur about wearing white to a wedding. Alfred wasn't really sure how he knew that, seeing as he hadn't been there when that happened, but he was rather more concerned with other aspects of his dream.

Somehow, Alfred had spaced out all the way through his vows, and suddenly found Ivan Sliding a ring onto his finger. Ivan was already wearing his own gold band. Arthur wiped away a couple of tears, and Mathew and Katyusha were openly sobbing. Natalya was making threatening gestures at Gilbert, who was pushing his way to the front of the crowd with a microphone and smirking evily. The priest said something like "You may now kiss" and Alfred shot a side-eyed glare at Ivan.

"Don't you dare."

Ivan's fake smile slowly widened into a real one, and Alfred felt like he wasn't going to like Ivan's plan. Thankfully, Gilbert intervened, shoving his Mic into Ivan's face.

"Such a loving couple!" Gilbert cackled, revelling in tormenting Alfred while he could do nothing about it, "I was hoping you could tell us all how you guys started dating?"

Alfred took that back. He was not at all thankful for Gilbert's question. He opened his mouth to say some cool retort or threatened to kill Gilbert, but Ivan slipped a hand over his mouth warningly and whispered in his ear.

"Do not say anything dumb. Natalya's right there."

Then, before Alfred could argue that it was Ivan who shouldn't say anything dumb, Ivan responded cheerfully while Gilbert snickered.

"It was love at first sight!"

Ivan Shamelessly declared, which made Alfred stop trying to pry Ivan's hand off his mouth for a moment and stare distrustfully at Ivan, having clearly remembered the incident where they first met, which had included the exchanging of several unpleasant words, a food fight, and Alfred getting his mouth washed out with soap after saying a word that has made Arthur turn red, white, and blue, all in the span of a few seconds like an America flag. Ivan continued to shamelessly lie.

"It's true we had ups and downs, but I always knew we'd be together, ever since Alfred first confessed to me!"

Alfred finally succeeded in pulling Ivan's hand off his face, and furiously rounded on Ivan. How could Ivan lie and make Alfred seem like some sort of pathetic love-struck puppy? Alfred quickly tried to undo the damage.

"That's not true at all!"

He declared, ready to renounce everything, but then caught sight of Natalya's sharp glare from the crowd. Alfred quickly changed his declaration, speaking loudly to be sure she heard.

"Ivan was the one who confessed to me!"

Alfred announced, feeling very accomplished, and there were gasps from all around, and a prodding in his side, and Gilbert's harsh whisper to-

"Alfred! Wake up!"

Alfred jerked awake, realizing that he'd somehow fallen asleep in class, and the prodding in his side was from Gilbert poking him with the end of his pencil. The teacher looked down at him, unimpressed.

"As touching as that loving announcement was, Alfred, I'd appreciate it if you could stay awake in my class."

Ivan, who had the misfortune of sharing this particular class with Alfred, was twisted around in his seat giving Alfred an unreadable stare, his small smile twitching. Alfred flinched.

"Oops?"