"Fuck!" I jumped at the exclamation, immediately curling into a defensive position before my brain could even catch up with the situation. I pinpointed the area the voice came from, gauging the distance between myself and the point of origin and making a plan of escape before I heard the door slam.
Oh. It was Alfred. I leaned silently over and flicked the light that was sitting atop the bedside table on, basking the room in a dull orange. Alfred leaned against the wall; his shoulders hunched inwards and his eyes shut. His eyebrows were pulled together and I could see the beginnings of dark bruises forming on his body. A particularly dark one had already stained his cheek.
"You lost then?" I asked and he jumped, his legs spreading apart and fists flying up before he recognized me sitting on my bed. He relaxed and let his head hang, his posture slumping once again.
"You have no idea. That fucking Yao guy's a dick."
I searched Alfred for any further injuries, and noted the new bandages on his wrist.
"How did you perform in the lesson?" I asked, and he shook his head.
"I couldn't fucking do it, every time I threw one punch my whole arm felt like it would combust. I had to avoid being hit by the Chinese fucker, control my facial expression, ignore the British asshole, and win? Ya, no chance in hell." He puffed out a breath and flopped onto his bed across from mine.
"I wish I could have done it though, I feel like there is so much pressure on me. They didn't really train us for this back when we were kids eh?" He chuckled cynically while I watched.
"Wow man you must be really out of it, you aren't analyzing me at all." He leaned forward and studied my eyes smirking a little. "How'd you do?"
"Won." I mumbled and turned away, waiting for his reaction.
"You what?"
"I won." I said and he huffed out a hard breath.
"You won." He repeated, his voice slightly higher. "Of course you won."
He looked away, head bending down and shoulders slumping. He sucked in a breath and straightened, looking me in the eye.
"What was your damage?" I wished I didn't have to tell him, I knew where this conversation was going and I knew he wouldn't take it well. I willed myself not to shift or sow any obvious signs of discomfort. Alfred has some abilities in reading behaviour but they weren't the best, sometimes you had to be careful around him.
"Stitches and a transfusion." I almost whispered and his eyes flicked to my body, looking for the damage.
"Damn, where?"
I lifted my thickly wrapped wrist and showed it to him, watching his eyes narrow and jaw clench. He pursed his lips and looked down at my wrist.
"Did they cut you too deeply?" I grimaced and shook my head.
His eyebrows crumpled in confusion and he shifted, leaning forward a bit.
"Why did you need a transfusion? The stitches?" His gaze flicked back towards my wrist then back to my face, looking in my eyes. He was genuinely concerned.
"I got more cuts than everyone else, I got four while you all got two." Alfred's face skewed up and his hands clenched into fists.
"How is that fair? How is that fucking fair?" He slammed his fists down into the sheets of his bed, his eyes flashed back to mine.
"And you trained with Arthur right? You trained with the goddamn teacher and won. Jesus Christ." He whispered.
"I am going to get killed aren't I?" He let himself fall back onto his bed with an audible flop. "Don't analyze this, but really, I am gonna get killed aren't I? On my first assignment I am going to pull some dumb shit and get myself killed." He laughed and I stood up from my bed and moved to his, sitting down next to him without looking at him.
"We have been in this place for our whole lives Alfred." He sighed and grabbed my hand. I hadn't anticipated it and almost pulled away, but he held on tightly.
"We have been trained longer than everyone else here, we have what to do ingrained into our brains, not to mention-" I squeezed his hand. "I will always be there for you Al, always."
"I know Mattie." He whispered. "I just wish I was enough to be there for you. I won't be able to help you if we get into a situation that is over our heads."
"You can do things Al, you know that. Think about what it was like before you came." His eyes flicked away and he shifted, his feet pointing towards the door.
"No, you need to remember!" I said and his eyes roamed back to me. "Think about how awful things were for me before you came. Do you think we would be here had you not have come? I know for sure I wouldn't be here."
"Don't say things like that Mattie." He whispered, "Please don't."
"I would be dead Alfred. I would be long dead and you know it." Alfred was silent, I couldn't read anything about him as he was laying flat on the bed; his eyes were closed and face expressionless.
"What are you thinking?" I whispered and he shook his head. "Alfred I hate not knowing, open your eyes." I pleaded and he gripped my hand more tightly.
"You beat our instructor in a fight that should have lasted more than a couple hours. He was the one who taught us everything and you beat him!" he opened his eyes quickly and grabbed my wrist pulling it towards him so he could look at the thickly wrapped bandages.
"You had to get stitches because you lost so much blood, that means you fought hard." He dropped my wrist and before I could do anything, grabbed the other wrist bringing it to his face as well.
"How are you after-?" He trailed a finger down my wrist and I almost shivered as his the pad of his finger rose and fell with the scars it passed over.
"I was fine, nothing…nothing happened Al. It went well." Alfred smiled slightly and nuzzled my hand chuckling a bit.
"I knew it. Mattie you are so strong, stronger than anyone else here. I knew you could do it." He stopped smiling and looked up at me before laying his head in my lap and playing with my hair. I refused to smile at the action.
"It really has been a long time hasn't it?" He asked and I nodded.
"Our first assignment is coming up." He whispered and I allowed myself to grimace. I hated the thought of Alfred out in the field, always in danger of being caught and the unthinkable happening. I knew if he were to go missing during this assignment I would not be allowed to go after him.
His eyes crinkled into a warm smile and he poked my cheek playfully.
"Hey, we are going to be alright. We have what to do ingrained into out brains remember? And besides." He smiled "I will always be there for you."
Hello! I got a pretty good response for this despite how little I am known on this site. I am really liking how this is going and I would like to be perfectly sure that even though they act like it a bit in this fic, Matthew and Alfred are not together. Nor will they ever be within this fic. I hope you like and review this chapter, it would mean a lot to me. Thanks for reading it anyway, luv ya. -Serenity Ma Sogni