I'm so grateful to everyone who favorited and followed my little story! And to my reviewers, thank you! You're my first ever reviews :3 I forgot to say in the first chapter, but this story is a sort of collaboration with a friend of mine. We do the basic plot together, and then I write it out and fill in details. So I hope you enjoy this new chapter! Feedback of any sort would be greatly appreciated!
The next morning, Alfred stood before his bathroom mirror, running his fingers through his hair. He grimaced at the sight of the dark purple bags under his eyes. He closed them briefly, allowing himself to reminisce on the previous evening. He let his mind simulate the beats from the club, and that tuft of blond hair that crowned that sinfully charming British man, who had led him home. A smile tugged at the sides of his lips when he thought of the night they had spent together. It had only been a one night stand but...he wished he had been able to get his phone number. His full name. There was something about the man that had drawn Alfred in, and he couldn't help but want more of him. His face drew together as he remembered how he had been woken by the vibration of his cell phone, the blindingly bright screen stinging his bleary eyes as he read that his brother was in the hospital. He had snuck out of Arthur's apartment at close to 4 in the morning, taken a cab to the hospital. His brother Matt had been sitting up in bed, eating a jello cup when he walked in. The bastard only had a broken leg. Alfred was relieved, obviously. He loved his brother, was happy to see him lolling about in front of the television. But the missed opportunity to wake up next to Arthur, his hair all messy from sleep and their physical activity, the eventual shared breakfast of coffee eggs and bacon seemed to nag at the tall blond the rest of the day. He gave his brother a whack on the arm for good measure, garnering a loud whine and a threat to "come at me in the hockey rink, dipshit" for his efforts. But now, standing in front of his bathroom mirror, he just felt tired. Opening his eyes at last, Alfred looked in the mirror and promptly shrieked. Where the shower curtain should have been, behind him, now there was a wave of hamburgers. Interspersed were crowds of adoring fans, and flashes from cameras kept going off from different angles. There were bright lights, and the distant twang of country music filled the air, and the Golden Arches of McDonald's rose like the gates of heaven behind him. Alfred was overwhelmed by the sights, smells, and sounds. But when he whipped around to confirm, there was just his bathroom. The confusion was intense. It was only when his head started to hurt from turning it back and forth too fast that he forced himself to leave the bathroom and sink exhaustedly onto his bed.
Alfred showing up at Arthur's door was a surprise. It had been a couple days, and Arthur had fully expected never to hear from the tall blond from the club again. So when the doorbell rang, and he peeked through the peephole to see a pair of clear blue eyes staring back at him, he couldn't help but jump. The flips his stomach did were probably only a product of the unexpected visit, not because he was happy to see him or anything. When he opened the door, Alfred gave a big grin and swung his arms open a bit, almost like he was presenting himself. "Hey there Artie! Man, I hope you don't mind me showing up out of nowhere like this. I didn't catch your number last time, and I couldn't figure out a better way to get in contact with you...so here I am." He trailed off with a light chuckle, slightly more unsure than when he started speaking. Arthur could only stare. At last he took a deep breath, and moved to slam the door. Alfred was too quick for him and stuck his foot between the door and it's frame.
"Oh fuck !" He exclaimed when the door made contact.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Arthur raised his voice slightly to the taller blond.
"Look, I take it you're not very happy to see me, that's fine. But I really thought we had a nice time the other night, and I guess I have to ask if I was so wrong about that. Was it something I did...?" Arthur eased up off the door and paused. He was caught somewhere between confusion and anger. How could this bloke not know what he had done? At last he opened the door fully once more, frown lines etched deep into his forehead, drawing unwanted attention to his exceptionally large eyebrows. Alfred stifled a giggle. Arthur began to seethe.
"You don't know what you did? You great bloody tosser I'll tell you what you did! You snuck out in the middle of the night! No goodbye, no note, not a single word, just gone!" The blue eyed man before him began shifting uncomfortably on his feet. "I did mean to explain about-" "And that's why I put a curse on you." Alfred blinked. Surely he had heard wrong.
"I'm sorry...a what?" "A curse." The look Arthur shot his way after having to repeat himself was nothing short of withering. It shifted slightly then to one of concern. "Surely it should have gone into effect by now, you would have noticed..." He trailed off, absorbed into his own thoughts, before walking abruptly away from the open door, back towards the kitchen. Alfred stood stock still for a moment, finally pushing the door open and hesitantly following Arthur into the recesses of the apartment. He was disinclined to say anything, despite the conflict with his usual chatty nature. The sight of Arthur standing at the counter, pouring over a large aged book full of slanted, impossible to read words stirred up a sort of discomfort in Alfred similar to the feelings he experienced while watching scary movies. The only upside was that he still found Arthur undeniably attractive. All at once Arthur's head jerked up, and he glared at Alfred. "The curse should have worked. Are you sure it didn't?" A weird desire to placate the green eyed man welled up inside the taller blond, and he cleared his throat carefully. "Well, ah, maybe it did...what exactly was the curse..?" He had to bite his tongue to keep from listing various traits like "strikingly handsome" or "in peak physical condition". Arthur took a deep breath, and the light in the room seemed to dim, a mysterious mist rolling in at the edges. "You were curses to see your greatest aspirations reflected in each mirror you passed, only to turn your head and be faced with the dark truth of your reality. This would continue until the greatest one of your dreams came true, but until then you would be driven mad by the image, tauntingly close and yet achingly far." Alfred started, recognizing what had happened that very morning as the curse. "That was you!?" He exclaimed. "God, I've been THIS close to driving myself to the psych ward for that! Well thank god!" He started to laugh boisterously, the sound reverberating off the walls of the small apartment. "I thought I was insane, but it's just a curse!" Arthur began to seethe. Once Alfred had calmed down a bit, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes with one finger, he looked up at Arthur. His eyes shimmered slightly, a strikingly clear blue. "So can you take it off?" Arthur jolted, his face turning red. "E-excuse me?!"
"The curse. Can you take it off?" Arthur instantly scowled, quelling his embarrassment in favor of his more customary anger.
"Of course not, you imbecile. The curse is there because you deserve it. You snuck out in the middle of the night, for god's sake!" Alfred's face fell, and he looked genuinely remorseful.
"Hey, look, I'm really sorry about that, man. My brother got himself sent to the hospital, and I just got the message and had to rush over there. I didn't want to wake you so early, so I just left, thinking I'd call you later, but then I realized I didn't have your number and was kinda screwed. Really. I didn't mean to upset you. I don't know about you, but I had a really great time that night." His explanation left Arthur's face quizzical, his insides twisted in confusion. So he hadn't just abandoned him in the night? It was an emergency? He shook his head violently. No. The man had to go. He deserved the curse, no matter the circumstances. Arthur walked purposefully around the kitchen counter, and began to usher Alfred back through the apartment towards the door.
"Hey, wait! What're you doing?"
"You have to go. I'm not removing the curse. Come on now, out with you!" Arthur pushed lightly on Alfred's chest until he was fully out the door, and he could proceed to close the door before the taller man could even fully process what was happening. "Farewell." Through the closed door, the shorter man could hear an energetic voice pressed right up against the wood.
"I'm going to come back, ok? And I still want to get your number!" Even after the footsteps had ceased to echo through the hallway, Arthur remained leaned up against the door. If anyone asked whether or not he was thinking about how warm and firm the others chest had been, however, he would have denied it fiercely.