"There, now I just have to wait for at least two hours till their done," I say as I sit on the counter in my bathroom.

Ludwig taught me how to prepare photos when developing them, so I just converted one of my many bathrooms into a developing room. I'm supposed to be spending some time by myself. To sort things thru my head.

-Thud!-

I flinch. What was that noise? I grab the curtain pole from the shower; good thing it has no curtains on it. Stepping out of the red room, I slowly step into the hallway of the downstairs bathroom. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hey! I said watch where you're stepping! This is a new coat!" yells someone.

"Aya! Then why did you wear it? And get off of me aru!" hissed someone else.

I know those voices. I walk a little farther down the hall, and turning the corner, I see two fools on my living room floor, piled over each other and trying to untangle their expensive looking clothing.

"Geez guys if you're going to invite yourselves in just knock next time will you?" I ask as I put the pole in my hands down.

"You left your door open you fool! And do not respond to me that way! You are such a brute!" yelled Roderich as he pushed Yao off of himself and pushed his glasses back.

"And who leaves their door unlocked? You asking for a murder to come kill you? !" he yelled again raising his fist at me. I stood there leaning against my wall, admiring his beautiful hair and face. He is so pretty.

"Hey! Are you listening to me? ! You are such a blah blah blah! Blah blah blah blah blah? ! Blah blah blah! Blah blah-!"

Roderich is my idea of perfection. A wonderful, graceful angry man. Well talented. Too bad he is such a wuss when it came to fighting.

"What brings you two ladies here today?' I ask jokingly.

"We're here on orders you ninny! Ugh, Americans these days!" yelled Yao as he shoved Roderich out of his way.

"Orders? For what? I thought blending into human life was it," I say a little confused to what their speaking about. I scratch my forehead. The two of them then flinch.

"Wh-what is that? !" exclaims Roderich as he pointed at my head terrified.

"Oh, this?" I ask looking at my hand. It has red ink on it. Gooey red ink. I must have poured red ink into the photographs accidently again.

"It's just-"

"It's blood! Oh blood! Call the ambulance! The murder got here before us! My lord Alfred, you're going to die!" yelled Roderich panicking. Yao hit him in the back of the head.

"That's no blood, aru! That's just ink."

"Oh," he mutters.

I start laughing.

"You think this is funny? I was worried for a second there!" yelled Roderich. I calm down a little.

"Now, um, oh yes. You two said something about orders? For what?" I asked.

"We're here on Kiku-"

"- and Ludwig's behalf. They said to check up on you in case you decide to drown yourself or something."

"What? It hasn't even been a day!" I squeak.

"You're an idiot, aru. It doesn't take idiots long for them to do something stupid and dangerous."

"Like leaving the door open! Now we are totally going to secure this place you call a home! Starting by putting locks on all your doors and windows! And go take a bath you filthy blah blah blah! Blah blah? Blah BLAH BLAH BLAH! !"

"Calm down, Roderich, I don't think he understands a word your saying," said Yao as he patted Roderich's shoulder. I stared at Roderich like a child would stare at a large piece of wonderful candy. If he and I were ever in a relationship, I'd get him everything he'd ever wanted and treat him so well and never let him have to work any day for the rest of his life. He is so cute. I don't know why Gilbert hasn't made his move on him yet. Oh yeah, Gilbert likes him, but nobody is supposed to know. I wonder if his brother knows.

"Only if you'll help me," I dare say. A shoe hits me in the top of my head.

"Get out before I smack the dirt off of you!" he yells as he's being held back by Yao as he waves his other shoe at my direction.

"Whatever you say liebe," I say walking off. I'm sure it means love in German. That's what Ludwig mutters instead of saying love in English.

"You think the lie worked?" asked Yao.

"Worked perfectly," said Roderich.

I start undressing as the bath tub fills with water. My hands and face are really badly stained with whatever those chemicals in the Dark Room I used on the photos were. I feel sort of relieved I don't have to stay by myself in this house anymore. Especially with Yao and Roderich. I have a good relationship with them, if I do say so myself.

As soon as the tub fills up, I decide to dump some bubbles inside. I close the lid of the bottle and take off my glasses, place them on the counter.

I lie inside the tub. I dip my whole head backwards so my hair won't feel completely weird being dry.

I wonder what Toris is doing. He's probably a third-way home by now. I wonder how Feliks is like. Probably very bashful and sassy, so what Toris has described about him before.

"-Knock knock-."

"Door's open," I say.

"It's me, aru. Mind if we help ourselves to some food?"

"Sure, go ahead," I say yelling loud enough for him to hear me. I hear him walk away.

I start pouring liquid soap in my hands and start scrubbing my arms.

Did I make the right choice asking Toris to go with Feliks? What if he and Feliks get together?

"What is he doing?" asked Roderich as he finished looking thru the kitchen drawers.

"Taking a bath, surprisingly. I don't think the note is in here. I already looked in his room. The note doesn't seem to be here," said Yao. Roderich stretched a little.

"Maybe we should ask him straight out?" asked Yao.

"That'll never work. Besides, we have to be more secretive about it," said Roderich.

"Right," said Yao as they continued their search.

"You don't think that boy Toris took it with him, do you?" asked Yao.

"I don't know," said Roderich.

"Hey you guys, I'm done," I said as I walked down the stairs with new clothes, combing my hair.

No response.

"Um, guys?" I ask again as I peak my head thru the kitchen.

They're not in the kitchen. The lights are out. It's pretty dark, but it is night time. So it's supposed to be dark and-

"YAH!"

"AAH!"

I feel something hard hit the back of my head. I fall on the floor pretty hard. Before I can mutter or say anything, I grab onto someone's ankle. Then everything goes dark.

"What did you do that for?" said Roderich panicking.

"Natural reaction, aru," said Yao as he looked at Alfred sprawled on the floor. Roderich pulled Alfred's hand from his ankle and bent over the young man. He touched his head.

"You hit him pretty hard. No bleeding though."

"Let's put him on that couch there," said Yao. The two struggled to lift him up and threw him on the couch.

"Oh man, this is bad," said Yao.

"No kidding, we haven't even found that stupid no-"

Roderich spots something pocking thru the firewood in the chimney right across Alfred. He walks over to it and pokes thru it.

"What is it? See something, aru?" asked Yao curiously.

"Something's been burned here recently," said Roderich.

"You don't think-"

"Maybe."

"I doubt it," said Yao.

"Well, it's not here. Francis wasn't lying. He does have the note," said Roderick.

"Do we warn Alfred?" asked Yao.

"I think we should ask him," said Roderich as he pulled out his phone and began looking thru his address book.

"Hello? This is _ ," said a voice from Roderich's phone.

"Francis has the note; we can't seem to find it. Toris doesn't seem to have it either," said Roderich.

"I see," said the voice.

"What would you like us to do next?" asked Roderich.

"Where is Alfred?"

"Asleep. Yao sort of knocked him out. But he suspects nothing," said Roderich.

" . . . "

"Would you like us to prepare things for you here?" asked Roderich.

"Leave the ticket there. The note, it can't be helped. I'll go ahead with everything else," said the man on the other end.

"Alright then, I'll tell Yao," said Roderich. He closed his phone.

"What did he say, aru?" asked Yao.

"He wants us to leave the ticket here. He'll do everything else," said Roderich sighing. Yao looked thru his sleeves for said ticket.

"You think this is good?" asked Roderich.

"Ai, nothing is bad or good these days. He really wants him, doesn't he?" asked Yao as he took out a ticket from his sleeve. It was a small, blue ticket. The size of a sticky note.

"You think it'll be alright if we stay here a little longer with him?" asked Roderich, stepping next to Alfred. He looked down his sleeping face.

"No, he won't like it," said Yao as he put the ticket on the marble table in the center of the living room, right in front of Alfred's face.

"How long do you think it takes him to sleep?" asked Roderich.

". . . ," Yao stared at Roderich slipping his fingers thru Alfred's clean hair.

"He must cry a lot, you know? It's so easy to see it in his eyes."

"Maybe."

"He's never going to be happy."

"Nobody ever lives to be, aru."

"We can't do this to him, maybe we should just-"as Roderich leaned in closer over Alfred's face, Yao grabbed onto Roderich's shoulder and pulled him away.

"Get a hold of yourself, you're acting just like Alfred now," said Yao as Roderich slipped his hand under his glasses, crying.

"Maybe it's a good thing," mumbled Roderich clearing his eyes.

"Let's go," said Yao as he leaded the two out of the living room. Yao opened the front door and walked out. Roderich gave one last glance at Alfred who still lied on the couch. He tore a small piece of blue fabric from the tip of his coat and tossed it on the floor.

He then turned off the lights and shut the door, locking it from the outside.

Seems later that night it began to rain. It poured really hard. A loud strike of thunder awoke Alfred.

"H-huh? Yao? Roderich? Wha?" The young lad looked around confused for the other two men. Had he just been asleep this whole time? Was their visit a dream?

He stood up, having a little trouble balancing himself. His head throbbed really hard. He headed upstairs into his room.

"Man, I really have to clean down here," said Alfred giving a last glance to his living room from the top of the stairs. A bolt of lightning illuminated the whole room. For a second, he thought he saw someone by the main door entrance. Terrified, Alfred ran for his room. He closed it shut and locked it.

He dashed for his bed and kicked his pants off, pulled the covers to as high as he could, terrified of thunder.

"I should really consider re-locating," he muttered to himself almost laughingly.

"-Yawn-. Well tomorrow I'll begin work," he said and tried to go back to sleep. He found it hard to.

Meanwhile Yao and Roderich were already boarding a car to take them straight to a building in the city nearby Alfred's home.

Roderich stared out of the window the whole time, unmoved from the thunderstorm.

Yao looked at the man from the corner of his eye.

"What's on your mind, Roderich?" asked Yao, a little curious, as he leaned over to his side of the car.

" . . . ," Roderich said nothing.

Alfred stared at the window, wanting to watch every lightning bolt he could possibly see. Seeing lightning bolts reassured him somehow. It was the noise that terrified him, not the lightening itself.

He smiled.

"Goodnight Toris," he mumbled and fell fast asleep afterwards.

"A lot of things," weakly smiled Roderich, "a lot of things."

a/n: review~! : )