Alfred- Sophomore
Arthur- Junior
Alfred didn't like this. He didn't like this one fucking bit.
The majority of Arthur's birthday had been fairly respectable and expected; Francis had taken Arthur and himself out for lunch at the local PinappleBees where they both enjoyed fishbowl sangrias while Alfred drank four glasses of coke, then it was back home to enjoy the red velvet cake Matthew and Katyusha whipped up that morning, and watched the girly and stupid chick flick Kiku had given Arthur as a present as per his request.
The whole team got together and ate a mediocre dinner in the Student Activity Center, and then it was pre-gaming in the apartment with all of the other twenty-one year olds until Gilbert gave the signal that it was time to hit the bars.
After a strict run-down of precautions from Alfred ("Remember to call me if you need anything, okay? Don't try walking home, or getting a ride from someone you don't know, I'll be ready to pick you up. Don't worry about the time, just call me."), the whole gang, led by a far too enthusiastic Elizabeta, marched out the door, Arthur giving nothing but a quick thank you and wave to Alfred before being pushed into the hallway.
That had been almost an hour ago, and so far Alfred had managed to take his math homework out of his backpack, eat about half a bag of Doritos, and watch one and a half episodes of The Big Bang Theory and about ten minutes of Chopped. He couldn't get his mind off the fact that Arthur was out there at the bar, without him to keep him out of trouble.
It wasn't like Arthur had never drank before; he had been able to drink legally in England for years. In fact, that was the bulk of the problem; Alfred had seen Arthur drunk and knew very well what it was like. The guy would drape himself all over total strangers, cry hysterically into long island ice teas, and start fistfights, all within the span of barely one hour. He was kind of a mess.
And he really needed to stop thinking about it.
Which was how he ended up on the first floor, standing in front of Katyusha, Natalia, Elizabeta, and Emma's apartment door at eleven thirty at night.
"Where's Matt?" Alfred demanded, pushing past Katyusha as soon as she opened the door.
The girl blinked a few times and shut the door quietly behind her. "He is in my room," she explained, worriedly. "Is something the matter, Alfred?"
"Yes. Well, okay, no, not really... Ugh, which room is your's again?"
"It is the first door on the left." She hurried after him, giggling at bit when he kicked open the door to reveal Matthew curled up in her bright pink and yellow blankets, regarding his twin brother with a deadpan glare.
"Is this is about Arthur, I swear-"
"But Mattieeee, he's alone and probably getting molested as we speak!"
Katyusha was by his side in an instant. "Oh Alfred, sit down," she cooed. Matthew rolled his eyes.
"Seriously, Kat, don't encourage him. He's being stupid."
She pointedly ignored him and continued on, guiding Alfred to her desk chair and sitting him down. "Are you worried about Arthur being out drinking tonight?" she asked in a caring, motherly tone.
Alfred nodded, a big, overdramatic pout on his lips. Katyusha's eyes watered at the sight of it.
"You are so sweet!" she cried, wrapping him up in a tight hug. Alfred broke his pout for a brief moment to shoot his twin a lewd eyebrow wiggle, and was rewarded with a casual flip of his middle finger before going back to being depressed. Katyusha held him out at arm's length, her big, watery eyes set determinedly. "I will call Elizabeta right away, da? I will tell her to make sure he stays safe!"
"Aw, Kat, you're the best!" Alfred cheered, hugging her again.
Matt rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, now that you feel all better, get out."
"But we were just about to talk about our feelings," Alfred joked with a smirk. Katyusha giggled.
"OUT."
Alfred walked back up the stairs to his apartment, still a little paranoid but a lot more confident knowing that Liz would be keeping her eyes on Arthur. Plus, Kat had snuck him a pint of cookie dough ice cream when Matt wasn't looking, so that totally helped too. He ended up sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket watching old sitcom re-runs until about one in the morning when he started to hear a clatter in the hallway.
There was a loud thump on the door, followed immediately by faint giggling and a few other, smaller thumps. The tell-tale fumbling of someone trying and failing to chip into the apartment came soon after, when finally, the door swung open and Arthur came tumbling in after.
Alfred chuckled a little along with his obviously intoxicated roommate, making to stand up and help the poor guy up when he was stopped dead in his tracks.
Someone else was with him. Someone Alfred had never seen before.
Immediately, he glared dangerously in the stranger's direction.
"Whoa there, sweetie," the guy purred, helping the still giggling Arthur to his feet. "Don't want to hurt yourself."
"My heroooo," Arthur sang, holding himself up on the stranger's shoulders. "Always there to help me up when I fall..."
And that was e-fucking-nough of that.
Alfred stood up, jumped over the back of the couch, and puffed himself up as big as he could make himself. His fists were balled at his sides as he walked as cooly as he could keep himself over to the font door, where the douchebag was being way too handsy as he helped Arthur out of his coat.
"Sup, bro?" he sneered, mentally congratulating himself when the guy flinched, realizing someone else was in the room.
He coughed into his hand before running the other through his hair. "Oh, hey man. Didn't see you there."
Alfred forced himself to smile, albeit sarcastically. "I noticed." He glanced over to where Arthur had draped himself over the kitchen table, muttering something about scones, and pursed his lips. "Anyway, thanks for bringing Artie back to the apartment, I'll take it from here."
The guy raised and unimpressed eyebrow. "Actually, your roommate invited me over," he replied curtly, "for the night. Couldn't turn down a birthday boy's wish, you know."
Alfred immediately dropped all pretenses of being nice. "He's obviously drunk and doesn't realize what he did," he seethed. "So I suggest, if you know what's good for you, that you'll beat it."
The creep stood just a little taller. "I believe," he said, far too calmly for Alfred's taste, "that the gentleman wants me here." He smirked. "He made that very clear on the ride over."
"OUT. NOW."
Alfred pushed past his unwanted guest and threw the door open, shoving him out into the hall. The guy stumbled a little, but caught himself at the last minute. Alfred growled and stormed after him.
"What?" the guy laughed, "What's wrong? Don't want your boyfriend bringing home other guys? Maybe if you were worth a shit, he wouldn't need to go aft-"
Alfred's fist collided with his face, effectively cutting off his sentence. The other man moaned in pain, his hands flying to his bleeding nose as his eyes watered. Alfred grabbed him by his collar and brought him face to face with a snarl.
"I swear, if you ever so much as look at Arthur again, I will beat you so fucking bad your mother wont be able to recognize you," he snapped.
He broke out of Alfred's grasp with a muttered curse. "Fine. He wouldn't have been much of a lay anyway." He stalked down the hallway, back toward the elevator. "Wouldn't shut up about a fucking 'Alfred'... stupid little..."
Only once Alfred was sure he was out of the building for good did he go back into his apartment, cursing at his sore and bloody knuckles. Arthur was sitting patiently at the table and smiled at him dopily when they made eye contact.
"Alfred!" he chirped. "I missed you!"
Alfred smiled softly. "I wasn't gone very long, dude."
"Any time away from you is too long," Arthur sighed. Alfred shook his head, grabbing a bag of frozen peas and resting it on his bruising hand.
"You are really fucking drunk, Art," he said, joining him at the table. "Why don't you head to bed?"
Arthur's eyes widened almost comically before his eyelids lowered to half-mast. "Will you be joining me, love?"
Alfred snorted. "Oh yeah, waaay drunk." He put the peas aside and stood up, clapping his hands once for good measure. "C'mon buddy, let's get you a glass of water and tuck you in."
"And you'll come as well?"
Alfred smiled, guiding Arthur to the bathroom. "Nah, dude. I dunno if that's-"
Arthur pouted. "You promised me at the bar."
"I didn't go to the bar, Artie," Alfred sighed, helping Arthur get his tooth brush together. "Remember? Still only twenty."
Arthur furrowed his brows as if suddenly very confused. "Are you certain?" he asked. "I could almost swear..."
Alfred rolled his eyes. No doubt that shithead had probably promised Arthur something similar, and Arthur was so drunk, he associated it with him. He clenched his jaw as a sudden wave of jealousy washed over him. "Ya know what, I think I will." He flushed. "S-sleep with you that is. You know, just to keep you from-"
Arthur dropped his toothbrush in the sink and flung himself around the toilet, emptying his stomach's contents with a retching gag.
Alfred ran a hand through his hair. "-Doing that."
O
As soon as Arthur had been cleaned up, Alfred shoved the apartment puke bucket into his arms, and sent him to bed with the promise that he would join him as soon as he cleaned up the living room and washed up himself. He was extremely reluctant to go alone, but if past experience told Alfred anything, he would be sleeping like a baby in less than five minutes, anyway.
It was as he was throwing out his empty pint of ice cream that his phone started vibrating loudly in his back pocket. "Hello?" he asked, answering it.
"Oh my god, Alfred!" Elizabeta's panicked voice cried. "I'm so- Arthur, he...There was this total creeper and he was all over him all night, but I had to go to the bathroom so I- I'm so sorry, he totally got away from me!"
"Liz, I kn- Liz, Liz! I know, he's here." Alfred sighed in relief when she finally stopped babbling and continued, "The creep brought Arthur back to the apartment and wouldn't leave, so I kicked his ass."
"Like, for serious?" Feliks suddenly piped in. Alfred rolled his eyes; leave it to Elizabeta to have this whole thing on speaker phone for the entire team to hear.
"Yeah, I punched him in the face and he left." He paused to let the group listening in get out their squeals and gasps. "Anyway, Arthur's here. Sick, but safe."
Elizabeta sighed. "Oh good, I was so worried. Take care of him tonight, okay?"
Alfred smiled. "Will do. Night Liz... And everyone else."
"Omg, do you, like, think he knew we were listening?" Feliks asked as Alfred hung up with a chuckle. Turning off the light in the kitchen, Alfred grabbed the glass of water he had filled up for Arthur earlier, and dragged his tired feet to Arthur's room at the very end of the hallway. Sure enough, he was snoring quietly in his bed, his arms wrapped around the bucket like a teddy bear.
He set the glass down on Arthurs table and smiled wistfully at his amazing, little British roommate. Maybe he would wake up early and make him breakfast or something. He was going to have a rude awakening; it was the least he could do.
Knowing he could blame it on his unconscious, sleeping self (and the very high chance Arthur would still be too out of it to know what was going on anyway), Alfred moved the bucket out of the way and snaked his arms around Arthur protectively with a blush.
He closed his eyes, safe in the knowledge that no one would be hurting Arthur as long as he was there.
The morning after to come next time! :D
Ah, wouldn't be a college fic without the 21st birthday chapters! My 21st birthday wasn't nearly as exciting as Arthur's though. it was during homecoming and I was up for court so I had to go to the dance and I didn't even win, so I didn't have much time to drink, and I was the first of my friends in my grade to turn 21 so it was just me and a few of the cross country girls at the bar. Laame. XD
ANYWAY. THREE MORE WEEKS AND I'M FREE FROM WORK. And if none of my track kids make it to state, it will be two! (They totally will make it to state though, cause I'm just that awesome of a coach. XD) Anyway, ENJOY and until next time, I love you guys! :D
-Car