Updated 8/12/2016

Fall

Weeks passed. Summer faded as Fall settled in, bringing changing leaves, cool air, and Homecoming.

Homecoming was the talk of the school. What the theme would be, who was going with who, what they'd wear, who the king and queen would be. Not Al, that was certain. He wasn't popular this year. Loud, charismatic, and well-liked, sure, but not enough to have enough friends to win 'King'. In fact, beyond Ivan, Mattie, and (sometimes) Mattie's friends, Alfred didn't have many friends. He didn't care much, though. He didn't much care for most folk here anyway. Besides, he had tons of video games to keep him company and entertained outside of school.

As they were sitting down to dinner one night ('they' as in Al and Mattie, and 'dinner' being standing in the kitchen eating cold, leftover pizza), Mattie said, "Are you planning on going to the dance?"

Alfred played dumb (though to be honest, he hadn't been paying much attention), and asked, "What?"

"C'mon, you know. Homecoming. Or, the game or the parade...or do you plan on becoming a hermit?"

Al cocked his head in mock thought and rubbed his chin. "You know, that's a damn good idea. I can hole myself up up in here, live off snacks, play video games,tell everyone I'm paying homage to the God of Games..."

"...Die half a ton overweight, unclean, lonely. And you couldn't talk. That alone would kill you!" Mattie finished for him, smiling.

"Hey! It wouldn't be that bad! It would be fun."

"And how would you sustain yourself?"

"You'd help! And dad. You two would take care of me."

"No! You'd be on your own for that..." Matthew trailed off, and shifted the topic back to the original. "So, the dance? I think you should go. I am."

Alfred still didn't know. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go, or even if he felt like doing anything at all. He shoved a nearly whole slice of pizza in his mouth and refused to answer for the rest of the night.

The next day at school, Matthew had to...visit a teacher, or attend some club. Al didn't really know, but whatever. He'd promised Mattie he'd wait for him so they could walk home together, and decided now would be a great time to (try to) get all his Pokemon to the same general level. He'd beaten his Fire Red version (a few times) already, but whatever, he wasn't doing anything else.

Between cursing his Metapod for having shitty moves and losing every battle, grumbling about using only one screen on his DSi, and wondering exactly what the hell was taking Mattie so long, he didn't hear someone coming up beside him.

"What is that?"

Al jumped nearly a foot before whirling around and shouting, "Ivan! What're you doing here?"

Ivan just shrugged and smiled. "I had to stay for something. But I got bored, and started to wander. Then I saw you, and came over! But what is that?" Ivan poked Al's Dsi. "And why does it have a black square on it?"

Al just looked at Ivan. He studied his face. Tried to see if he was serious or not. He let out a nervous laugh. Surely Ivan was kidding. Right? "A DSi. You know, a cooler DS but not as cool as the 3DS." Alfred was getting nowhere. "Like...a super-modern Gameboy?"

Recognition spread across Ivan's face. "Oh! I know of that! I have one."

"...A Gameboy? Really? Like, a really old one, or..."

"Da, one of those."

"Er...-" Al was cut off, as Mattie suddenly appeared, grabbed Al's arm and dragged him towards the door. Al let him, and went to wave good-bye to Ivan, only...he wasn't there anymore. He just sort of chalked it up to Ivan being his normal weird self.

"Whoa, Mattie, what's the rush?" Al asked, turning around so he wasn't speed walking backwards.

"We should get home before it gets dark." Mattie answered, as he all but dragged his brother along.

"That ain't it," Al threw his arms open. "We have plenty of daylight left!" They didn't really, but it wasn't going to be so dark they couldn't see anytime soon.

"No, I...just need to get home really soon."

Al wasn't sure why he needed to go, too, but...he knew that tone of voice. In a teasing tone, he asked, "Was it a girl?"

Matthew looked absolutely horrified. "No! No...yes. I-I gave Chelle my number, and I don't want to miss it if she calls...I know it's stupid." He mumbled, looking at the ground.

Al looked at Mattie like he had two heads. "Whoa, bro, what? It's not stupid at all! You're a total ladykiller, you've got nothing to worry about! But, uh...who's this 'Chelle' chick?"

Mattie gave his brother a flat look. "She's one of the people I hang out with? Dark skin, dark hair, that she wears in pigtails?" Al's face remained blank. "Maybe if you didn't hang out with your boyfriend all the time..."

"Boyfriend?"

"Are you here today? Your memory is shit. The guy you always hang out with! Ivan."

Alfred playfully punched Matt in the shoulder. "He's not my boyfriend, assdick. You know I prefer the more...delicate sex. There is nothing delicate about him. We're bros, dude."

"Right..."

As it turned out, the boys had perfect timing. The moment they got home, Chelle called and Matthew landed himself a date. Alfred, because of a father who insisted the boys be together at all times (lest they be thrust into some sort of peril) and an insecure brother, suddenly found himself attending the dance as well. Dateless.

The next day as Al walked to his locker, he saw Ivan sitting on a bench, very engaged in a gray plastic brick. Obviously, Alfred approached him.

"Hey, what's up? What'cha doin'?" Alfred asked.

Ivan grunted in reply. Alfred peered closer.

"Is, is that—DUDE, is that a Gameboy? Like, an original?!"

"Go away."

"But, like, look at it! It's in great condition, no glitches, it's perfect where'd you get it lemme see-" Al made a few swipes for it, nearly crawling over Ivan.

Ivan squirmed away and held it out of his friend's reach, still trying to play. "Go away! You're going to—AURGH!" He sat normally, slumped a bit, and brought his hands to rest on his lap, holding the game loosely in his hands. "I was trying to max the game. But now I've lost and my stats are skewed-"

Alfred grabbed the game out of Ivan's hands. "But where'd you get it? How did this perfect relic come into your hands?" He fiddled with it, and asked, "You were trying to max Tetris? That's not even possible."

"It is. I've done it a few times."

"Hah! I'd like to see that."

Ivan gave Alfred a sort of (but not really) mock glare. "You could have, if you hadn't tried climbing on me. I'm very good at Tetris. I've had a lot of practice."

Alfred gave Ivan a side glance and handed the game back. "I'm sure you have."

Ivan gave Al an odd look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Alfred opened his mouth to respond with a witty comment, but before anything could come out another voice joined the conversation.

"You boys should hurry to class. The last bell will ring any minute."

Both Ivan and Alfred snapped their heads up to see who spoke. A moderately tall and lanky man stood in front of them. "Oh, 'sup Mr. L?"

"Hello Alfred. Now, both of you should really—I-Ivan?!" Mr. Laurinaitis went pale and took a step back.

Al was up and fluttering around Mr. Laurinaitis in a second. "Whoa Mr. L, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost...th-there aren't any, right?"

Mr. L looked like he was about to say something, but Ivan spoke before he had a chance. "Yes, Mr. Laurinaitis, what's wrong?" He spoke in a slightly mocking tone, with a smirk on his face.

Mr Laurinaitis composed himself and waved Alfred off. "Go to class, Alfred. I need to speak with Ivan."

Al shrugged and waved good-bye to Mr. L and Ivan. "See ya later!" He practically ran down the hall. He couldn't be late again!

During science, Alfred went to the library. He'd said it was to research his science project, but...he wanted to know more about this dead kid. Ivan had said it was a lie, but Al needed to be sure. That stint earlier with Mr. L brought up all kinds of worrying thoughts. What if the school was haunted? He didn't want to go to a school where some dead kid may hang around. He was brave, yeah, but there were places he drew the line. (Plus, ghosts were just freaky.)

He booted up the computer (which took forever, these things were ancient), logged onto one of the school's 'credible databases', typed in his keywords, and began to search. He was about to click on a promising article ("Student Dies Weeks Before Graduation"), when he felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his shoulders, and someone's hair tickling his neck.

Al promptly freaked the fuck out.

He shouted, flailed, and somehow overturned the keyboard, mouse, and his chair all at the same time. He whirled around to see Ivan watching him with a small smile.

Alfred frowned and righted the chair. "Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"

Ivan hummed and looked at the computer monitor. "What were you doing?"

Al looked at the screen, too. "Nothing." For a moment, both of them stared at the screen.

Ivan stopped smiling. "You shouldn't look that up. Don't do it again."

Alfred looked affronted. "Why shouldn't I look it up? You can't tell me what to do!"

"You might find something you don't want to."

"What-" Alfred cut himself off as the lights in the library surged and all of the computers went black. He jiggled the mouse of the one he had been using. Still off. He tried pressing the power button, to no avail. The computer wouldn't turn back on.

They both stared at it for a moment before Ivan spoke. "It must have been a power surge. But please, don't ever look for that again. It's nothing you need to worry about." He was smiling again as he turned and left the library.

Alfred stood in the library a moment longer, wondering what Ivan had just done to that poor computer, why he was so touchy about this and, most importantly, how the fuck he was going to to explain to his science teacher that he couldn't do his research because all the computers mysteriously stopped working.

Lunch wasn't awkward at all. He and Ivan sat outside, enjoying the cool air while it lasted.

Alfred wolfed down his school-supplied lunch as Ivan picked at his Alfred-supplied sandwich. Not long after the first few days of school, Al decided Ivan's missing lunch was obviously a combination of some form of child abuse and some crazy-and-totally-unhealthy crash diet. So, Al took matters into his own hands and supplied Ivan with lunch. Ivan never looked too thrilled, but ate it anyway. Alfred knew he appreciated the gesture.

Right now, though, they were looking everywhere but at each other. The silence was killing Alfred, so he said the first thing that came to mind. "Are you going to the dance?"

Ivan looked up from his sandwich. "Dance?"

"Homecoming. Or, the football game, too, right? But we suck and no one goes to those..."

'I was not planning on it, no."

"Oh, well, how come? Is it because you have no one to go with? Neither do I! We could go together, separately! It'd be awesome!"

Ivan hesitated a bit. "I...don't think I have anything to wear."

Alfred burst out laughing. "Seriously? You're not going because of that? That's a dumb reason. I probably have something suitable...maybe." Ivan really was a lot bigger than Alfred, but Al wouldn't let that get in the way!

Ivan looked at Al, expressionless. He then rolled his eyes.

"No, really! We can totally do this! You're going to that dance. Finish your sandwich."

Ivan smiled. "Yes, mother."

They sat in silence for a few moments more, before Alfred, again, felt the need to speak. "Hey, Mattie's trying to get a hockey team started in town. They have a rink and used to have a team I guess? Dunno why they stopped, but Mattie wants to bring it back. He wants to get that scary Swedish guy – from the butcher's? - to coach the team. I may join, if he needs me. You should, too! It'd be nice to see you do something outside of school..."

Ivan stared at a spot on the table, clearly not paying much attention to what his friend was saying. Nearly inaudibly, he mumbled, "So Berwald is a butcher now, I wonder what keeps them here. They don't seem to leave unless..." He blinked, and looked at Alfred. "My sisters are gone."

Alfred blinked back. "'Gone' as in dead? Er, sorry? Wait, when did you get sisters?"

"Home. They went home. I wish..." He trailed off and seemed to be far, far away. Then, he blinked and, in an emotionless tone, said, "I should go. I don't feel well."

Alfred nodded and waved him away. "You don't sound well. Go."

Ivan still didn't look entirely there as he nodded and left. Alfred joined his brother in the cafeteria.

Ivan didn't show up for a few days, and Al took this time to get closer to Matthew's friends. There was Carlos, a loud Cuban boy who, for some reason, hated Alfred. That was just fine – Alfred hated him right back. But he was his brother's friend, so he'd deal with it. (Even if being friends with Carlos was a terrible move on his brother's part.) There was Erik, an expressionless boy who looked like a girl (who dressed in a weird blend of, like, emo, scene, and hipster?) with roots deep in Iceland. He hung out a lot with an equally expressionless boy with black hair and thick eyebrows, name Horace. "Chelle", it turned out, was actually named Michelle, and when not hanging around Mattie she hung out with a cute sophomore named Lily.

They were all very nice, polite people (minus that dick Carlos); the perfect kind of people for Mattie. Alfred was happy for him, really.

But,t these people didn't laugh at Al's jokes, didn't appreciate his stories, and got incredibly offended when he playfully punched Erik's arm to make a point.

He couldn't wait for Ivan to come back.

When he finally did, things went back to pretty much normal.

A weeks and a half later, it was Homecoming. Al had thought about going to the game, but figured it wouldn't be worth it. He wasn't crazy about paying five dollars to sit on a frozen bench on a cold October night just to watch the team lose 45-0 in the first half. Al had nothing against football, but there was a difference in watching it and playing it (especially when they lost by so much).

Right now, he was standing outside the bathroom with a pair of jeans. The doors to the dance closed in four minutes, and if they didn't get in now, they wouldn't be allowed in ever.

Al banged on the door. "C'mon, dude, hurry up!"

"J-Just a few more minutes!"

"We don't have a few more minutes!" Alfred banged open the bathroom door and barged inside, Ivan stood in the center of the single-stall bathroom, disheveled and blushing, with Alfred's slacks (the ones his father had bought a few sizes too big as a subtle way of calling him fat) around his thighs. "What are you doing? Hurry up, we have to go!"

"Do we have to?" Ivan whined, trying to hide his red face in his scarf. "I've never gone to a dance before! I don't see why I have to start now."

"You've never been to a dance before? You need to! It's part of the school experience, and they're a ton of fun! Now, finish getting dressed."

"But I can't!" Here, Ivan looked completely distressed as he tugged hopelessly on the belt loops of the pants. "They don't fit!"

"O-oh. Er." Alfred looked at the pants, as if seeing them for the first time. He could totally see where Ivan was coming from, but there was no way he'd let him win this. "They fit fine! Just let me..." He grasped the waistband and gave one big pull, and yanked them up. "Ha! See? Now just suck in your gut so I can button them."

"But I already am!" Ivan, bless his heart, looked absolutely miserable. Alfred felt bad for him. Not enough to let him get out of going to this dance, though.

"There, got it! How are they?"

"Really tight...I don't think I can sit down. Can't I wear my jeans?" Ivan pulled his nice sweater down over the slight roll the pants created around his waist and blushed furiously.

"You don't need to sit. This is a dance, and you can't just wear jeans because this is a dance." Alfred said this as if it made all the sense in the world because, obviously, it did. He gave Ivan a playful slap to the his derriere, said, "Your ass looks great in these", and waltzed out dragging his friend.

They made it to the dance just in time.

The dance turned out to be unfathomably boring. Of course, Alfred made it a Top Priority to bother Matthew and gush over how cute he and Michelle looked, but beyond that there wasn't much there. On the dance floor, there were a bunch of students grinding each other. In each corner was a group of people standing around, complaining about how they looked, who came with who, "she wore that?!"'s, and other gossipy things done at dances. Al usually kept up with popular music and dance moves, but somehow the DJ was playing nothing good at all. Alfred snuck a glance at Ivan, who looked uncomfortable and kept fiddling with the hem of his sweater. "So...wanna dance?"

Ivan started, and looked at Al, then the dance floor. "You want me to dance with you? That isn't dancing."

Alfred jumped a bit and shook strange ideas out of his head. "Yeah, that's mostly how people dance. And I was thinkin' we could just do something dumb like the sprinkler or, I dunno, the running man. Though, I could probably find someone more feminine for us."

"N-no, that's fine. But, what is the...those moves?"

Al's jaw dropped, and his eyes got so wide it seemed they may fall out of his head. "You...you...what?! How do you not know? Have you been living under a rock?!" He didn't seem to notice or care about the stares he earned from the people around him. In a mock English accent (which earned him a particularly dirty look from the security guard), he said, "Good God, man!"

Ivan looked frantically to his left and right, eyes wide and the slightest bit frightened. "I, uh,...um..."

Ignoring Ivan's feeble search for escape, Alfred grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the DJ. "We are fixing this now. It's...it's like you aren't human! How does something like this happen?" This was just upsetting.

Al and the DJ had a quick discussion when they arrived, which rapidly developed into an argument over what real music was. It ended with Al being casually escorted out of the cafeteria, with Ivan following behind. After an obligatory "-and stay out", Alfred whipped out his trusty phone and slid down the wall to the floor.

"I can't believe he doesn't have it. I mean, what self-respecting DJ doesn't have that song? It's like, a requirement or something. It is necessary for a party." Alfred tapped furiously at his phone, clearly searching for something.

Ivan watched with interest, until he looked at the bathroom door. "If we're not going to be involved with the dance, can I change back?"

Alfred found what he was looking for on his phone and stood up. "Nope. Not until you learn at least how to do the sprinkler." He began tugging Ivan away from the cafeteria and bathrooms, towards the F wing with the Gym and Auxiliary Gym. Even if the gyms weren't open (Alfred was counting on 'Not') the hallways was at least empty and echoed.

Ivan resisted and tugged back. "But I can't really move. It hurts. So does breathing. How can I dance if I can't move or breathe?"

Al huffed as he tugged even harder. Ivan may have been bigger than him, but Alfred had freakish strength. "Just deal with it. And if breathing hurts so much, don't. Problem solved."

"But..."

"Oh my God, Ivan. What?" Alfred snapped.

Ivan took a step back, expression darkening. "Nothing. Nevermind."

Al opened his mouth to press him, but before he could say anything he was interrupted by a voice that sounded awfully like his own.

"Aw. First lover's quarrel?"

"Matt." Al warned.

Ivan answered with a simple, "No."

"Oh," Matt continued, "You've fought before?"

Alfred stepped closer to his brother. "There's no need to show off in front of your girlfriend."

"And I'm pretty sure your boyfriend can stand up for himself."

"We're not-"

"Oh? But only couples leave dances."

"I was going to teach him some serious cultural dance moves!"

At this point, Chelle (who stood behind a pillar, not wanting to interfere in the brothers' argument) and Ivan were standing there uncomfortably. Ivan tried excusing himself, but no one paid attention. Finally, he gave up and (loudly) said, "Good-night Alfred, I should go now, I will give you your pants on Monday."

Matt looked at Alfred and smirked.

Soon, Halloween came. That morning, Matthew took up far too much bathroom time (Al accused him of being a girl), and Alfred didn't get a chance to get in before they had to leave for school.

So Al used a bathroom at school. No big deal, right? Right.

...Except for when he turned the faucet on to wash his hands, and something that was certainly not water came out.

Alfred shrieked in a totally manly way and hopped back, rubbing his hands hands together to remove what better be rust-

The minute he heard laughter he got the fuck out of the bathroom. Yeah, he wasn't planning on using this bathroom ever again.

Or any of them, for that matter.

In fact, Al was currently criticizing his father's choice of schools, his own choice of getting up and coming to school on motherfucking Halloween, and where the fuck was Ivan-?

Alfred tried telling his brother, his brother's friends, random kids in the hallway, and even some teachers about the sink, but no one cared or believed him.

It didn't help that he was freaking out and not the most coherent every time he tried explaining the school's faulty, supernatural-induced plumbing.

Actually, Mr. L seemed to be acting strangely, too. He checked the time more, stumbled over his sentences, and, when Alfred mentioned the definitely-NOT water coming from a sink, nearly dropped his coffee mug.

Something was certainly wrong if the normally-calm (but sometimes nervous) Mr. L acted like he committed a felony. Alfred tried finding him, but any time he wasn't teaching he just vanished.

The day's strangest occurrence, (by far) though, happened at lunch. Rather, it began at lunch, when Ivan arrived.

Alfred sat with his brother, trying his hardest to forget about the freaky faucet. A few minutes after lunch began, Alfred heard a frantic tapping on the window. Already completely freaked out, he looked up to see...Ivan holding a plain paper bag and waving at Al to come out. He did, ignoring the late October chill as he sat down at their table.

"You know, we can't keep coming out here. It's getting too cold."

"So wear a coat," Ivan said. He opened the bag and began pulling out some bits of food. "I hardly notice a thing."

Alfred muttered something that sounded suspiciously similar to "Russian freak", before bringing up Very Important Matters. "Where the fuck were you today? And you brought lunch? You never bring lunch."

Ivan smiled and placed a bit of something in front of Al. "Today is special. And, you never cared about me not being around before."

"Yeah, well, before the faucets didn't spew out rust water." Al poked the...thing Ivan put in front of him. "Why's today so special? It's just Halloween. Unless...you seem like you'd get a real kick outta scaring the literal crap out of kids."

Ivan gave a little laugh and asked, "What if it was not rust?" He took a bite out of one of his dough-things. "Did I mention this school may be haunted?" After swallowing, he continued. "Ah, today is special for me."

Alfred glared at Ivan. "Not. Funny. Like, not at all. Ghosts are scary as fuck." He glanced down at the dough-thing, then up at Ivan, and back down at the mystery-food. "What is this?"

"Peirogi." Ivan bit into another. "You should try it, they are very good. Don't listen to Feliks; they are from Russia, not Poland."

"Who's Feliks?" Alfred asked, before following Ivan's instructions and shoving the entire thing in his mouth. He nodded in approval at the taste, and reached for more. "These are really good!"

"Ivan slapped Al's hand away. "I know they are. But these are mine. We can visit Feliks later and get more." He stopped suddenly, and looked uncertain. "That is, ah, if you want to hang out later."

Alfred beamed. "With you? Seriously, you want to do something outside of school? Of course we can! We can get more food, and play games, and order pizza and maybe get Mattie and some other people and play hockey—because you like it, right?—and oh man this'll be so great!" It wasn't every day your sort-of best friend (who you only ever saw at school and may or may not have had a shitty family life) could hang out outside of school!

The rest of the day was totally awesome, just how Alfred planned. They did everything they wanted to (which turned out to be whatever Al wanted to do, as Ivan was pretty passive about it all), and even got to scare some kids! Alfred didn't notice how amazed Ivan was at Al's game consoles, TV, and surround sound (Alfred knew they were pretty impressive), or how he kept checking the time.

He did notice how great Ivan was to lean on, though, and fell asleep on him during their horror movie marathon.

Certainly Ivan wouldn't mind. Though, Al would never tell him that it was a nearly conscious decision, especially when he woke up with no Ivan.

((A/N: Okay see when I said I would update in March I meant March of 2013. So, see, I'm totally early.

No okay yeah I'm really sorry about that. S-see, I was anticipating a hellish semester, but I wasn't expecting it to be THAT bad. (I was passing and then I was failing and my mom was threatening to withdraw me and be institutionalized and then I passed but failed again but somehow managed not to and everything sucked and school ended and I stared out my window for four months really it was great.)

Th-a lot of that wasn't supposed to happen that way. I'm really sorry if it's terrible; I tried to make it not be but I'm not good at things. Also: THERE ARE SOME THINGS WRONG AND I TOOK SOME LIBERTIES WITH THE GAMEBOY I KNOW but see, I needed to make it work.

So, yay, updating on the first day of classes. And, ah...I have no idea about the next update. It's only a half chapter, so it shouldn't be as long, but I kind of hate all my classes and I need to try to not fail this time. So keep you fingers crossed and your eyes steered away from the calendar.))