Ivan had really hoped it was a dream. But…after a shower, when he walked into the kitchen, he could see Alfred still sound asleep on the couch. Ivan sighed, shaking his head. What had he gotten himself into?

Well, there was no use sitting around hoping things would change. It was best to just…go along with it. As Ivan set to work getting breakfast together for two, he briefly thought about when Alfred had fallen asleep. He had to sleep for twelve hours, right? So that meant he should wake up at around 9…well, thankfully that gave Ivan plenty of time to get to his first class. As long as Alfred didn't take his time…

Ivan had enough time to eat his own breakfast, leaving Alfred's sitting in the microwave, and to even work on more homework. As odd as it seemed to be focused on getting homework, that was all he could really do. Alfred was the one in charge of…well, saving the world, it seemed. Strange to think that Ivan's life had come to this, but, he just had to roll with it now.

After a long stretch of silence, Alfred groaned, rolling over to shove his face into his pillow. Ivan chuckled from where he sat, glancing at him.

"Don't laugh at me," Alfred grumbled into the pillow.

"Your breakfast is in the microwave," Ivan said simply. "You might have to warm it up."

"Ugh, I can't eat right after I wake up!" Alfred groaned as he rolled back over, the blanket tangling hopelessly around his legs. "That's so gross!"

Ivan shrugged. "Then brush your teeth. We have to leave in fifteen minutes so I can be on time for my first class."

"I really get to go to college with you?" Alfred smirked at him. Ivan rolled his eyes and continued working. "Do I get to go into your classes with you? You know, since the old man said something about not letting me out of your sight or whatever."

"Maybe," Ivan said. "I haven't thought about that much. I doubt you would be allowed for very long, but maybe for today."

"Awesome!" Alfred cheered, tripping out of the blanket and rushing into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. Ivan couldn't stop himself from laughing. Alfred was really just a kid. A dangerous kid that had the power of Dark Magic…but when he didn't let it affect him, he was a normal kid. When he allowed Dark Magic to control him, that was when things got complicated. Then again…he talked about it always affecting him.

Alfred soon ran out of the bathroom, rushing to the microwave, watching it in awe as it worked. Ivan smiled, watching his childish curiosity, and soon Alfred was sitting down across from him at the table, eating the food like a starving man.

"You are free to take your time." Ivan laughed. "The timing is kind of flexible, I guess."

"No way, dude." Alfred swallowed as he shook his head. "I wanna see what this college shit looks like. I don't think the first one was even around a thousand years ago. There were, like, scholars that would travel to libraries and tutors, but nothing like this. I gotta see it. It's like a whole place full of knowledge and people learning and that's so…awesome! Dude! Please tell me there's one of those things…those things that lets you look into space, is it called a telescope?"

"There is definitely something better than a telescope," Ivan smiled. Alfred blinked at him with wide eyes. "An observatory, it lets you see even further into space than just a telescope."

"Swear to me you're not joking, that's awesome!" Alfred was even faster to finish his food and all but ran to shove it into the sink. Ivan laughed, shutting his computer. Well, it looked like he was moving faster than he thought he would be. Alfred was all but jumping with excitement as he shoved on his shoes and waited by the door. He reminded Ivan almost like an excited dog.

"Give me a moment and I'll get my shoes," Ivan laughed. He ducked into his room before he came back own, shoes on his feet and backpack beginning to be slung over his back. As he walked towards the door, he saw Alfred tense before he himself noticed the aura near his door. Ivan inwardly groaned, flinching as the door flew open.

The actual actions had happened too fast for Ivan to even see, but in a matter of seconds, he saw Natalia standing in front of Alfred, poised with a knife nearly at Alfred's neck, had Alfred gripped onto her wrist. His other hand was dangerously close to her own neck, but he was obviously holding himself back, shaking slightly.

"Ivan, you have a stranger in your apartment," Natalia said cooly, though it was obvious that she was a little scared with just how fast his reaction time had been.

Ivan sighed. "Alfred, my sister Natalia."

The bus ride had not been fun. It consisted of Ivan sitting between the two who seemed to be wearily eyeing each other. They had been fairly quiet after Alfred introduced them and they dropped their guards. He could tell Alfred had held back for some reason, something Ivan didn't know but was…immensely grateful for. Natalia had just so happened to attack the worst criminal in history that knew how to fight better than anyone Ivan had met? Perfect. Natalia was slightly shaken up and, therefore, refused to let go of Ivan's arm. Ivan wasn't quite sure if that was to protect either herself or Ivan. In any case, it wasn't fun.

"I need you to trust me," Ivan said to her as they left the bus, where they would have to go their separate ways. Alfred stood a few feet away, staring at the people that passed in apt interest.

"You told me to stay on edge," Natalia said stiffly. "You said there's someone out there with Dark Magic." Ivan looked around to make sure no one had heard her, even though she was quiet. "I was just coming to check on you and I know what color aura I saw inside. I know you're using your magic to mask it now, but his aura is not blue, it's black."

"I'll explain later, I promise," Ivan said quickly. "He is not who you need to worry about, I'm fine, I promise."

"What happened at the Center?" Natalia asked.

"I have a new job," Ivan said. "I have to take care of him, keep watch over him. He's important. That's all I can say."

"I'll watch your back," Natalia said. She turned to glare at Alfred, who half-heartedly glared back, before she turned on her heel and walked away.

"So that's what you meant, huh?" Alfred asked as Ivan walked towards him and continued walking towards his class. "She tried to kill me."

"She had a perfectly good reason," Ivan said and Alfred raised a brow in surprise. "For her. Look, it's complicated."

"I almost killed her," Alfred said carefully, staring at the ground. "I might be immortal, but that doesn't mean I won't react when someone tries to put a knife to my throat. She's lucky."

"She won't do it again," Ivan said. "Thank you, for holding back."

"Yeah," Alfred nodded, looking around again. He hummed as he watched the people mulling around. There weren't a lot of people around yet, considering the time, but give it three hours and the campus would be littered with people. Hopefully they could move easily through this day without any more incidents.

Had Alfred really been that close to killing Natalia? What would have happened if he didn't hold back? His hand had been reaching for her neck…

After some quick lies and explanations of Alfred being some kind of exchange student, Ivan was able to let Alfred in on his classes. Lectures were no problem, people snuck in all the time, but the small classrooms were a problem. They were usually discussion led classes and Ivan could just tell when Alfred really wanted to interrupt. Some of the time, particularly Ivan's history class which centered around 300 years ago, Alfred just watched, listened, and learned. He was doing a fairly good job of keeping out of trouble.

Time seemed to fly by and, soon, they were on their way to lunch. Outside, the campus seemed to have come alive, people riding by on bikes, walking or running to their location. Some people hung out on the grass, some threw some kind of ball, some were lavishing their dogs. Ivan never thought twice about it, especially after his first year, but Alfred just stared at everything with pure happiness. Ivan briefly thought about the life Alfred had led. Not much was known about that time period, but it was a time of disease, bad hygiene, and anarchy. Walking around a town was likely to result in a lot of mud and shit on your boot and watching the misery is people's eyes. Now? A lot of people had smiles on their faces and were free to do anything they wanted.

Alfred had already said that he took responsibility for the creation of the world the way it was. With that mindset, Ivan had no doubt that Alfred was swelling with pride.

"We'll be seeing Natalia again," Ivan decided to mention and Alfred barely looked back at him as he followed him through the crowd.

"I'll stay on my best behavior if she does," Alfred said with a shrug. Ivan nodded. Good enough.

"There's also Felix and Toris, and two others you haven't met, but they're not exactly hard to get along with," Ivan explained. Alfred nodded and smiled.

"Cool, I like meeting your friends," Alfred said.

Ivan nodded and stayed quiet as they continued walking. Alfred was more than happy just watching people as they walked. He hadn't been allowed outside since waking up, except to go to the mall, and it was easy to see that this was what he had been craving. He struck Ivan as the kind of person that thrived when he could be around people.

Before long, they entered one of the many cafeterias on campus and Ivan helped Alfred pay for food before going to where Ivan's friends usually sat. Ivan offered a shy wave when Feliks spotted them.

"This should be fun." Alfred smirked and Ivan gave him a half-hearted glare.

"Look who's actually alive," Feliks said as they approached. Toris and Eduard were already sitting down, but there was plenty of room for Ravis, Natalia, Ivan, and Alfred. "I'm surprised you didn't wake up at the very thought of missing school. And your boyfriend's here, too."

"It's not like that," Alfred blurted out. Ivan sighed. They hadn't even sat down yet.

"I didn't know you went to this school," Toris said as they sat down. Eduard politely nodded towards them. Alfred nodded back with a smile.

"I uh…" Alfred thought for a moment. "I study History. Yeah…I've, uh, got a focus on The Dictator and shit like that."

"Oh wow, that must be hard, there's not a lot of documents on that," Toris mused.

"You'd be surprised." Alfred shrugged and started eating. Ivan followed suit, hoping to eat as much as possible before things could possible take a turn for the worse. Before long, Ravis came and there was a shaky introduction. Then Natalia came, sitting stiffly right at Ivan's side. She exchanged a few glares with Alfred, Ivan awkwardly trying to eat in the middle of them.

"So…we've all got the plan for Freedom Day?" Feliks asked once everyone had settled. He had a happy smirk on his face. He always loved planning events, especially with a lot of people involved.

"Oh, yeah, Alfred's joining us, right?" Ravis asked and Ivan flinched slightly. Alfred raised a brow, but obviously knew better than to ask questions. Ivan had figured he had at least another day to give him fair warning.

"Yeah," Alfred said, probably hoping that saying that meant that Ivan couldn't drag him out of it. "Looking forward to it."

"I'm sure," Natalia said icily and Alfred glared back at her.

"I should go," Ivan said, standing up. "I have a test I need to study for."

"You were just passed out for five days," Feliks said bluntly.

"I told the professor I was fine with it," Ivan said, looking to the exit. "But I still need to study."

"I'll go with you," Alfred chimed, standing up as well. "Got my own shit to study for." Natalia studied him carefully before quietly turning to her own food.

"Well, whatever, losers," Feliks shrugged before he continued talking about plans while Ivan led Alfred to a trash can to throw away their remaining food.

"So, I've got a few questions," Alfred said once they were a fair distance away. "First, how is Feliks even your friend? He really doesn't seem like the kind of guy you'd make friends with. Then again, you don't really seem like the guy to make a lot of friends in the first place…"

Ivan frowned at that. Besides the insult, Ivan hadn't been expecting that to be his first question.

"He was close friends with Toris in high school, apparently," Ivan supplied as they started walking towards the exit. "I don't mind him all that much, he's just more…excitable."

"Second, well, this isn't really a question." Alfred shrugged. "Your sister hates me."

"She hates everyone that gets close with me at first," Ivan tried.

"She knows I have Dark Magic," Alfred said. Ivan sighed. He'd given up trying to guess how Alfred figured out these kinds of things so quickly. "I don't really care how, but she knows and if she tries anything else against me, I don't guarantee she's going to come out of it unscathed."

"I need to talk with her," Ivan said. "But I can't. Even if I'm fired, I can't break that contract. I can't tell anyone about…anything about you."

"Well, I didn't sign anything," Alfred said. "Besides, with my help, I could totally get you out of it. Just to talk to her, I don't really care. She just needs to know when to back down before she gets hurt."

"I'll think about it," Ivan said. They walked out the doors and Alfred smiled at the usual crowd of people that didn't even give him a second glance. They all just continued on their merry ways.

"Third," Alfred said as they started walking. "What the hell is Freedom Day? Is it what I think it is?"

"It's the celebration of the day you were frozen in time," Ivan supplied.

"Well, that celebration's a bit redundant now, don't you think?" Alfred huffed. "What's this year? How long as this been going on?"

"One thousand years," Ivan said simply and Alfred sighed.

"Exactly a thousand this weekend, huh?" Alfred frowned. He shrugged. "Whatever, so I get to go to a parade all about me? Sounds fun."

"Let's just hope Gilbert doesn't take it as his time to start something," Ivan said.

"I wouldn't be so scared about that," Alfred said. They were quiet for a while as they walked and Ivan got kind of unnerved by the silence this time. Alfred was the one to break it, though. "You know what I've noticed?"

"Hm?" Ivan hummed.

"You would not believe how many dudes and chicks are fucking ogling you." Alfred smirked.

"What?" Ivan asked. That was certainly unexpected. "No one's looking at me like that."

Alfred scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Try this out for me. Hold my hand. Just that. And take a close look at the people that pass us."

"What will that prove?" Ivan asked.

"Okay, you're good looking, I'm gonna give you that," Alfred said. "You're smart as fuck, so you have that going for you, too. And your magic? Jeez, it's attractive, not gonna lie that aura is nice. Now, anyone would just look at you and think 'damn, I gotta tap that'."

"You aren't going very far with this," Ivan said, but he had to admit that he was blushing with the compliments. No one really took time out of their day, aside from Natalia, to say things like that. Well, Natalia didn't explicitly say things like that.

"Hold my hand," Alfred smirked. "They'll think you're taken. And you'll see what happens. No harm done."

"Fine," Ivan said simply, taking Alfred's out-stretched hand. His cheeks felt like they were on fire, but he could ignore that for now. He let their hands drop between them as they walked, Ivan going straight for the library. Alfred hummed happily and Ivan looked around to watch people. He usually didn't do that, just going from class to class. That was what school was for, after all, not to people watch. This time, though, when he looked around, he did notice a few things.

A few girls looked at them in surprised before a look of hurt was traced on their face and they ducked away. A few actually had the guts to shove Alfred, albeit not very hard. A few guys stopped their conversations to look on, and look at the ground as they walked by. Ivan glanced at Alfred, who held a proud smile.

"You've proven your point," Ivan said, letting go of his hand once they reached the library. He hadn't taken a lot of time to notice the way Alfred's hand had felt in his hand, but it felt…oddly empty now…

"I try," Alfred smirked. He looked on with wide eyes as they entered the library and he could see just some of the many stacks that lined the multi-story building. "You can't be serious…"

"Feel free to read what you want while we're in here," Ivan smiled.

"Really?" Alfred blinked, following him closely. "I mean…I'm still not very good at the whole reading thing, but you really have access to this whole place? No drawbacks?"

"Well, I don't own the books," Ivan shrugged. "But I can rent them out if I need to…"

"This is awesome," Alfred marveled as he let his finger trace along the spines of the books he passed. Ivan smiled, but turned ahead. He hadn't thought much about Alfred's reading level. Then again, he was born when literacy wasn't even thought about. Ivan refrained himself from asking what Alfred even could read…

"Do me a favor," Ivan said as he pulled out some books and started to set up a timer on his phone, "don't cause chaos while I'm studying. And don't interrupt me."

"Yes, sir." Alfred nodded. Ivan smiled, leaving him to his own devices in the stacks. Ivan could trust him there, at least. He paused as he sat down, wondering just when he'd allowed himself to trust Alfred so much…well, whatever. He decided to just run with this and that was what he was going to do. In just a minute, he was too focused on studying to worry, anyway.

I'm soooooo close to doing things I've wanted to do for so long. Still, the hand-holding thing was an idea I really couldn't pass up. Hehehe. Plus, Ivan's totally the kind of guy that has no idea how attractive he really is. And Alfred's really fucking adorable when it comes to things like this, so this chapter was still fun. Still…not as fun as next chapter is going to be. Hopefully.

Anyway, see you then!