I'm sorry that there was a long time between chapters! Life has been all over the place lately. Please keep in mind I will not abandon this fic. If I don't update for a while it's because I'm busy; however I've planned this fic all the way through to the end, and I love it to pieces, and I will definitely update eventually. Thanks for your patience! Without further ado, enjoy Chapter 9!

END OF WEEK THREE

Alfred had been reading at a rapid pace.

Sunday to Monday – The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Tuesday – Dracula, Frankenstein

Wednesday – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Thursday – The Invisible Man, Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass

Since Friday, he had been working his way through Grimm's Fairy Tales. Toris swore that reading made Alfred practically giddy. He flipped each page with the excitement of a child opening a Christmas present, although it didn't stop him from singing along with LMFAO's "I'm Sexy and I Know It". How in the world did he sing and read at the same time? He didn't even seem to realize he was doing it. Belting out his favourite songs seemed like second nature to him; he didn't even have to think about it.

Toris cleared his throat, finally determined to stand his ground. "Al?"

Alfred gave him a "Mm?" of half-acknowledgement as he continued reading.

"Alfred."

He could barely hear himself over the music. He turned off the iPod dock and Alfred's head shot up.

"Hey, why'd you turn it off?"

"I'm trying to talk to you, Alfred! Besides, can't you play something else? This song has been on repeat for hours!"

Alfred blinked. "It has?"

Toris facepalmed. "We need to have a serious talk."

Alfred grinned. "Ah, finally confessing your love for me? About damn time!"

Toris rolled his eyes. "I am not in love with you."

Alfred frowned sadly. "What? But everyone loves me!"

Toris sighed. "Alfred, you may be eccentric, but you are a dear friend to me. I'm worried about your wellbeing."

Alfred frowned seriously. "Why?"

"Because you're throwing your life away! This isn't high school anymore—you can't just slack off and expect to get by! I don't want to see you flunk out. You're capable of so much more!"

Alfred smiled and patted Toris on the shoulder. "Relax, man, I'm doing fine. Don't worry."

"Do you have any evidence to support that?"

Alfred stuck his nose back in his book and pointed to the binder on his desk. "Folder at the back," he mumbled, becoming once again absorbed.

Toris frowned suspiciously and opened the binder, flipping through to the final section. It was crammed full of folded and scrunched up papers. He pulled one out. It was one of Alfred's exams. He blinked in disbelief at the eighty-five in the corner and went through the rest of the test papers. Eighty. Eighty-seven. Seventy-nine. Eighty-three. Ninety-five?!

"Alfred, when in the world did you study for these?!"

Al shrugged half-heartedly. "I didn't. I just remembered stuff from class."

Toris nearly slapped himself in the face. "You did all this just from memory?"

"Yeah. See? Told ya I got it covered."

Toris stood in silence for a moment. Suddenly, he leapt on Al's bed, knocking him over.

"Gah! Geez, what is it now?"

"You're a genius, Alfred!"

Alfred blinked. "Isn't that what I always say?"

"Yeah, but nobody thought you were serious!" Toris grabbed him by the collar. "What if you actually put in some effort?! You could be capable of anything! You could graduate with honors! Get any job you want! For goodness sake, don't be so lazy!"

Alfred blinked, clearly surprised. "Wow, Toris, you got quite a lot of energy today."

Toris sighed and crawled off Al, sitting down beside him with his legs crossed. "Al, I just... I care about you. And I want to see you do your best. You're so amazing at your best. Any friend would want that for you, right? Just try a little bit."

Alfred rolled his eyes and flopped down on the bed. "But all that crud is so boring!"

Toris put his hands on his hips. "Well then find something that's not boring! There must be some kind of job you'd enjoy. Find a passion and pursue it!"

Alfred sighed. "Yeah, there probably is one. But I have no idea what it is."

Toris paused. "You seem to enjoy reading. What about English?"

"Ew. Just because I like to read for fun doesn't mean I wanna study it."

"Maybe you'd want to write, then?"

Alfred frowned. "I've never written anything before."

"Maybe your newfound love for reading will give you a new perspective on English? All I'm saying is it's something to think about, okay?"

"Yeah. Sure." Alfred paused. "Actually, since we're having a little heart-to-heart... Could I ask you a favor?"

x

Toris sighed wearily. How did Alfred convince him to do this? He walked up to the tall man and tapped him on the shoulder. "Erm, hello? Ivan?"

The man turned, violet eyes focused on him. They were cold for a moment, then widened in surprise before softening. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Toris shifted uncomfortably. "I'm, um, Alfred's roommate."

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "What? Seriously?"

"Yes."

Ivan chuckled. "Poor thing."

"Ha, yeah… Um… Alfred sort of sent me here to spy on you."

Ivan smiled mischievously, crossing his arms. "Oh, did he?"

"Yeah, but I'm not really comfortable with that so I'm just here so I can say that I tried. So, uh, sorry to bother you. I'll leave now."

"Really? You're leaving?" Ivan frowned sadly. This guy was actually pretty handsome. And his shyness? So adorable.

He remembered the previous week when he went out with Gilbert. He had gotten pretty damn drunk, and had acted like a giggling idiot while gossiping. He had probably divulged more information than he should have. He just wanted to grow close to someone; he was tired of being alone, and Gilbert seemed pretty easy to open up to.

He told Gil that he put on a cold attitude to cover up his shyness, and that he had trouble properly expressing himself sometimes.

"Look, man. You're a tall, muscular glass of whipped cream!" Ivan frowned, not sure what he was getting at. "You're smart like Steinburg, (Ivan was pretty sure he had meant Einstein but whatever, he was totally hammered), and you've got great taste. You know what you want. You go out there and get it! Confidence is a leadership quality. People love it. Just go for it, bro!" Gilbert screamed with enthusiasm as Ivan gigglesnorted. "Trust me! Just throw yourself in there! Take a chance! It could change your life!"

"You think?"

"Yup! Step one, find someone you like. Step two, confidence!" Gil shrieked. "Step three, profit!"

Ivan cleared his throat nervously. So he had found someone he was interested in. Hell, he should just go for it. He put a large hand on Toris's shoulder, startling him. Toris turned around slowly and went white with terror.

Ivan was never good at forcing smiles. His eyes were wide with either confidence or a crack addiction, and his pupils contracted with a creepy sort of glee. The large, terrifying, awkward grin plastered on his face was reminiscent of a certain clown prince of crime. Toris was so horrified he couldn't speak.

"You're very cute. You wanna hang out tonight?" Ivan whispered eagerly, smiling like a psychopath who has found his next victim.

Toris opened his mouth, so scared that a squeaky gasp was all that came out. They stood there frozen like that for a few moments until Toris regained feeling in his legs and bolted like his life depended on it.

Ivan frowned in disappointment. "I don't think I did that right."

Note to self: Practice flirting. Sigh.

X

Alfred frowned. "Toris, what happened? You look awful."

Toris, out of breath from running all the way back, huffed and slowly sat down in his chair. "Nothing. Nothing at all." He shuddered and opened his textbook as Al shrugged and went back to his reading.

X

Thanks for reading the latest chapter! Please leave me a review and let me know how you liked it!

Also, thanks as always to Anon990 for editing!