Alfred- Sophomore

Arthur- Junior

As soon as Arthur saw Alfred rip off his spikes, he knew something was wrong.

It had been an important race. The 4x4 team had been working all season to hit that national qualifying time, and to be completely honest, no one had any doubts they would. It was the best group of guys they had ever had; Sadiq, a senior, Antonio a junior, Alfred a sophomore and Im Yong Soo, a freshman. They were a dream team, a combination that could never be put together again.

And as Alfred stormed off the track, Feliks holding Toris back behind him, he knew that they didn't qualify.

Toris gave him a desperate look as he passed, which he returned with a small smile. "Would you go and get my medal for me, Toris? I don't think I'll be attending the award ceremony."

The Lithuanian bit his lip but nodded, following Feliks back to the team camp in the middle of the small, indoor track. Arthur took a deep breath and opened the door to the locker room Alfred had fled to as quietly as possible, almost cringing as he was met with the slightly echoing sound of sniffs and choked back sobs.

"Alfred?" he called, cursing his voice for breaking. Immediately, the crying stopped.

"A-Arthur?"

Arthur smiled, despite himself. That boy was so transparent; even if he hadn't heard him crying he would still be able to tell by his voice. "Yes, it's me. May I come in?"

"Oh, um, uh..." There was a bit of ruffling around and a sharp clearing of the throat before Alfred finally responded. "Yeah, come on in, dude."

Arthur slipped into the room, unsure why he was trying to be so quiet anymore, but doing it anyway. As he turned the corner, he saw Alfred sitting on a bench behind a row of lockers. The top of his uniform had been pulled off his shoulders, the straps hanging uselessly at his sides, his chest left bare. His eyes, as expected, were puffy and red, and his hair sticking out wildly, from the mixture of abuse from his hand and cooled sweat. Arthur was positively aghast at the sudden wave of affection he felt for his roommate, and fought himself from running over and simply taking him into his arms.

"Oh, love," he sighed instead, not even caring that he let that endearment slip out.

Alfred instantly straightened up, wiping at his eyes. "Uh," he said, refusing to meet Arthur's gaze. "I'll, um, I'll be out in a sec, okay? I just...I need a minute."

"Of course," Arthur replied, leaning against the wall, just out of his sight. He knew Alfred probably wanted him out of there, but for some reason his feet wouldn't move.

"I know you're still there, Artie."

Arthur smiled and peaked around the wall. "I didn't want to leave until I knew you would be be okay."

Alfred smiled sadly with a little sniff. "You're gonna miss the awards ya know. You guys won the DMR, didn't you?"

"I think this is a bit more important." Arthur pushed off the wall and sat on the bench next to Alfred with a sigh. He still wouldn't look at him. "Would you like to talk about it?" The younger boy shook his head, but the quiver in his lip told Arthur otherwise. "Alfred?"

Finally he broke. "Damnit Arthur," he sobbed, resting his elbows on is knees and his face in his hands. "We were so, so fucking close!" he exclaimed. "This was it, man. This was it! If I would have just ran a little faster, just one fucking tenth of a second faster and we would have had it!" He slammed his fist into the bench. "And now we don't have a fucking chance."

Arthur's heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces. "I'm sure Coach will take you all to the Last Chance meet next weekend," he offered, placing a comforting hand on Alfred's knee.

Alfred laughed bitterly. "We trained to peak today, Arthur. Anything we do next week will just fucking suck in comparison."

Arthur sighed. He knew Alfred was upset, and that he would just argue with any words of comfort he tried to offer. As far as Alfred was concerned, he didn't deserve any comfort- he had failed, and deserved to be treated as a failure.

It was one of the few things Arthur absolutely couldn't stand about him.

"You're young, Alfred," Arthur tried, tracing small circles on his knee. "You're a sophomore. You have two more years ahead of you, not to mention the whole outdoor season. I know it's easier to qualify for indoor, but you're so talented, I'm positive you'll-"

"You think I'm upset I didn't qualify?" he interrupted, catching Arthur's eyes with his own pained ones. Arthur blinked in surprise.

"W-well, yes," he said, confusion obvious in his voice. "Why else would you be?"

Alfred breathed deeply, a sure sign to Arthur he was trying to keep himself from crying again. "Arthur, this is Sadiq's very last chance to go to nationals," he explained. "The guy has worked his ass off for four freaking years, and now, when he finally has a chance to get the thing he's worked all these years for, I blow it." He took another shaky breath and ran a self-conscience hand through his hair. "I know I'm young... I know I'll get there eventually... I just... I wanted to do this for him."

Arthur had stayed silent as Alfred spoke, but as Alfred couldn't hold his tears back anymore, he also couldn't hold himself back any longer. "Oh Alfred," he sighed soothingly, wrapping his arms around the younger boy and holding him close, shielding him from the world so that he could finally let his walls down. He cried silently onto Arthur's shoulder, who in turn, rubbed his back calmly.

"I know, love, I understand," he whispered. "Sadiq doesn't blame you, he knows you worked your hardest; all four of you did. Shhh, hush, now. It's okay. You still have time, next week and all through outdoor. I'm sure you'll qualify."

He continued his sweet nothings as Alfred calmed himself down, only stirring once the award ceremony started loudly outside the locker room.

"I know you didn't qualify, but you did win," Arthur reminded him, as he got up to check his appearance in the mirror. "Did you want to go accept your medal?"

Alfred wiped his eyes on some toilet paper and nodded. "Yeah, but I wanna look normal before I go out there," he said sheepishly.

Arthur smiled, nodding as well. "I'll wait with you."

They sat together, discussing the results of the meet, until Alfred's relay team was called to accept their gold.

Kind of a short one, but I wanted to get this one out before I wrote the next one. This has actually been sitting in my documents since like, last year, I've just never gotten around to actually finishing it. XD

The next chapter is going to possibly be a multi-parter, because it's the team's trip to NATIONALS! :DDD (spoiler alert, I know.) Soooo it's gonna take me while to write it, but it should be a good one.

ANYWAY, Hope you all had a good holiday season! :D
-Car