Memories and McDonalds

The apartment was cold and Alfred had to hold back a shiver as he stepped through the threshold. To his bitter disappointment the apartment was totally unfamiliar to him. He felt like a tourist in a foreign country that he'd always dreamed of visiting. He was strangely comfortable, but completely unsure of his surroundings. The first room Alfred walked into was the living room. Two large black bookshelves took up the back left corner of the room; the shelves were lined with various classics. There were several works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Shelley and Oscar Wilde. Alfred assumed that these belonged to Arthur; the stranger that he shared an apartment with. Jeez, that's weird. Living with a total stranger, like something out of a creepy movie… A large part of the room was taken up by two white sofas with Union Jack cushions as decoration. On the walls of the room were photos- photos of him and Arthur. There was a photo of the pair at a park, a photo of the pair at a fair and there was a group photo. Alfred recognised his brother, but couldn't identify the man who had his arms wrapped around his brother's waist. He had shocking white hair and crimson eyes, Alfred assumed the man was an albino, or he had used eye contacts and hair dye. He also made the assumption that this man was Matthew's boyfriend- Gilbert. He also saw that Francis was in the photo- the man who'd constantly flirted with Matthew throughout school and also, according to Matthew, still continued to flirt with him in the workplace but oddly less so now that he had met Michelle. Next to Francis was Arthur who had his arms wrapped around Alfred's waist and was in the act of planting a kiss on Alfred's cheek, who was grinning widely. His blue eyes seemed to shimmer with happiness. Tears were beginning to blossom as Alfred stared at the image; it was the happiest photo he had ever seen. The thing about all of these photos that surprised Alfred was the fact that Alfred was happy in all of them; he looked genuinely content. Alfred could only remember the constant depression that he had been living in, the curse of being uncomfortable with your own self. Alfred couldn't recall ever being that happy when he was fourteen; he assumed his new found happiness had something to do with the Brit that appeared to be at Alfred's side in every photo.

"Feeling a bit nostalgic?" Alfred jumped at the sound of the Brit's voice; he had completely forgotten that Arthur was there .When he turned to face the Brit, he had to hold back a laugh. Arthur had rolled up his sleeves and was wearing a pink frilly apron.

Alfred sighed and stepped away from the photographs, turning to face Arthur. "Nope, I wish. It's strange, I look so happy in these photos, you must've made me happy." Alfred shrugged, his heart felt heavy with the need to remember. "I want to remember…"

He trailed off and finally took in the Brit, looking gorgeous in his frilly pink apron glory. Wait, frilly pink apron? "Arthur, not that I'm judging or anything; but you're wearing the girliest thing I've seen since I saw Feliks wear a tutu at prom." He shuddered at the memory. "Why are you even wearing an apron?"

The Brit merely scoffed. "I'm wearing an apron because I'm baking." Arthur gestured towards his apron and smirked. "Do not be so quick to mock me Alfred; you have a matching apron in the cupboard for when you help me cook. If I remember rightly, you wore it last Christmas. "

Arthur looked as though he was going to say something else, but was interrupted by the ping of a timer. "Oh, it looks like my scones are ready!"

He raced off to the kitchen, motioning for Alfred to follow him. Alfred merely shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes and followed the Brit to the kitchen. He was really hoping that Arthur was lying about the matching apron.

"Dude, no offence, but this is disgusting." The Brit (still in his frilly pink apron attire) spat out his tea in surprise. He looked across the gleaming kitchen counter where Alfred was sitting, half a scone was on his plate and half of it had been eaten.

"This literally tastes like a rock, jeez! If you're planning on entering Great British Bake Off then I advise you not to give up your day job- hey!" The American made a yelp of protest as he was whacked lightly on the head by Arthur.

Arthur smiled innocently at Alfred. "What? Is something wrong? Oh, I'd be careful-you might end up with a lump on your head. You really shouldn't be so careless. "

The American opened his mouth, he was probably about to tell the Brit that he hadn't exactly whacked himself on the head. It was in fact Arthur who had delivered the blow. Arthur just carried on speaking, earning himself a small glare from Alfred.

"You criticised my scones, and I baked them especially for you. You deserved that smack on the head. How ungrateful," the Brit scoffed.

Admittedly, the Brit did feel bad for smacking Alfred. He'd forgotten that Alfred wouldn't have been prepared for the taste of Arthur's scones. They tended to almost intimidate people sometimes, maybe that was just because they tasted so good? Yes, that had to be the explanation.

Arthur began to undo his apron and he hung it on the rack that was in the kitchen. He glanced over at the American who had his arms crossed and was pouting. "Dude, I'm sorry. I'd rather have a burger." At this, Arthur heard Alfred's stomach rumble.

"Speaking of burgers, could we go to McDonalds?" Alfred had an almost pleading expression on his face, he looked like a little kid, and it was adorable. Of course Arthur was going to give in.

"Fine, McDonalds it is, it's not very far from here; we can walk. I'm just going to grab something, I'll be right back."

With that, the Brit dashed off. He entered his and Alfred's bedroom and began to rummage through the shelves for something; it took a while to find it. It was hidden between all of Alfred's Marvel comics, but he finally retrieved it and was relieved to see that it was still in good condition. He walked into the kitchen to see that Alfred had found his bomber jacket and Arthur grabbed his plain black jacket and the pair headed out into the night.

It was cold out and Arthur had to wrap his arms around himself to keep warm, he looked over to Alfred who visibly shivering. "Pretty cold out, huh?" Alfred asked, his pearly teeth were chattering.

Arthur nodded. He was glad that the fast food restaurant was within reach. He tapped his pocket to make sure the photo album was still in there, he'd brought it in the hope that it would trigger some memories or show the American how happy they had been as a couple.

"Yes, it's pretty cold. It's coming up to winter."

Arthur saw Alfred frown; he remembered how much the American despised winter. "Oh great, winter. I hate winter, it's so depressing." Alfred wrapped his arms tighter around his body and glanced at Arthur. "Anyway, I'm curious. What do you do for a living? I saw loads of books at your- our- apartment, so I assume you like literature."

He smiled whilst answering Alfred's question. "Yes, I adore literature. In particular the classics, I'm an English lecturer at Cambridge University." He saw Alfred's impressed expression and blushed slightly. "That was how we met actually. You came to an opening day and literally crashed straight into me- you apologised by taking me for coffee and, well, I fell in love."

He stated the last part with such simplicity, there was no denial no cover-up, no embarrassment. Arthur Kirkland was in love with Alfred and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

Alfred looked over at Arthur; Arthur could see the surprise in the American's eyes. "Oh, wait, I went to an opening at Cambridge? I must've been feeling pretty vain that day, I'd never get into somewhere like Cambridge. I'm not smart enough." The American's eyes widened as he fully processed Arthur's story. "Hold up- a lecturer? Not a student? So, how old are you then?"

Arthur couldn't help but chuckle at the American's obvious disbelief. "Actually, you were smart enough. You got into Cambridge and you're studying Physics. Also, according to my colleagues in the science department you're one of the University's star students. I'm twenty-three and you're nineteen."

The pair came to a halt as they realised that they were standing directly in front of McDonalds. Alfred's stomach rumbled once more and Arthur, being the gentleman that he was, opened the door and let Alfred go in first.

It appeared that Alfred was still in a permanent state of shock. He kept muttering "physics" "Cambridge" "coffee" and "love". However, the American soon snapped out of it when he realised that he was standing in his favourite restaurant and that a delicious burger was just an order away.

"Artie, you go sit down and I'll pay okay? To thank you for taking care of me." Alfred then walked off to queue up, leaving Arthur to find a seat.

The Brit chose a booth in the far corner; he liked to have a bit of privacy whilst he ate. He patted his pocket again, just to make sure that the precious photo album was still there. He found it and brought it out of his pocket and placed it on the table. He waited impatiently for the American who was walking towards him with a tray full of food: there was a regular burger meal and a large burger meal. Arthur had no trouble in deciding which meal was his. He muttered his thanks and began to eat.

The pair ate in silence. As expected, Alfred devoured his meal in record time and was now slurping his milkshake whilst he waited for the Brit to finish his meal. Once they had both finished Arthur motioned for Alfred to sit closer next to him as he opened the photo album. Alfred scooted his chair so that he was next to Arthur and so he could see the album. Arthur's heart began to beat faster as he noticed the close proximity between him and the American; he could feel Alfred's hot breaths on his neck, and it was making him shiver. He tried to ignore these feelings by focusing on the book.

"Alfred, we started this photo album when we moved in together, so I think that this should help trigger some memories. Tell me if you see anything you recognise, okay?"

The American nodded and Arthur began to flip the pages. The first one was of Matthew, Alfred and Gilbert .Arthur was the man behind the camera. Matthew was in the middle, whilst Alfred and Gilbert both had their arms wrapped around Matthew's shoulders. They were in Hyde Park; Alfred had ice cream all over his face and was beaming like a five year old.

"I recognise Mattie and myself, of course." Alfred squinted at the image of Gilbert and shook his head. "I don't recognise the other guy."

Arthur nodded and flipped the page. This time it was a photo of Alfred, Arthur and Feliciano. Alfred was in the middle, Arthur was ruffling Alfred's hair and Feliciano was hugging him.

"I recognise Feliciano, we went to school together. Did he come to visit me or something?" Obviously, he looks older then when I last saw him, and that's you in the middle. I have no idea where we were though." Arthur felt his heart begin to drop, this wasn't helping at all.

Arthur made no expression and flipped the page. This was a photo of Feliciano and Ludwig with a photo bombing Alfred in the background. Ludwig appeared to be almost stiff, but there was a clear look of affection in his eyes. Feliciano was on his tiptoes and kissing Ludwig's cheek. Unexpectedly, Alfred laughed, loud booming laughter that caused the staff to glare at him.

"Man, I remember that day! Ludwig and Feli had just got together and Feli was more hyperactive than usual and extremely over affectionate. Ludwig came with Feli to visit me and Mattie; it was such a great day." He grinned at the memory.

Arthur stared at Alfred, open mouthed. How did Alfred recognise Ludwig? His heart began to race, his spirits had suddenly lifting. This had to be a good sign.

"Alfred, I think you're getting your memory back! You didn't meet Ludwig until after you met me. Ludwig came to England with Feliciano just after your seventeenth birthday. You're remembering, Alfred. I knew you would."

The Brit then pulled the American into an embrace and Alfred didn't push him away instead he melted into the embrace. Arthur noticed the time and stood up; it was getting late and he had to work tomorrow. He pulled the American up and the pair left the restaurant and headed back to the apartment.

They walked into the apartment glad to finally leave the cold. It had warmed up considerably since earlier and they found that they didn't need their jackets anymore. Arthur walked into the guest room and began to prepare the bed.

"Artie, what're you doing?" Arthur looked up to meet the American's shimmering eyes. "I don't need to sleep in the guest room, you know. I can just sleep in our room. I don't mind…" The American blushed. "Actually I-I want to."

Arthur smiled and walked out of the guest bedroom and grabbed Alfred's hand. "Okay, love. That's fine. Just try not to snore." He added with a wink, joking about the snoring. The pair flopped on the bed and lay side by side. Before they knew it they had fallen into a peaceful sleep and they dreamt of each other.

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Ciao for now!
~BooksAreLikeChocolateButBetter