WARNING/AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am not an expert on gender identity nor sexuality . I might have portrayed them wrongly, as my only resource would be the Internet. I am not American ,so I apologise if you cringe or mentally correct me when my spelling is different. Therefore , I have exactly no idea how the education system in the USA works and at what age you're supposed to enter kindergarten and graduate from secondary school. Also, I did not have a beta reader to proofread this.I mean no harm or offence regarding the contents of this

Alfred was a tad bit excited. He'd been through this kind of day at least 14 times. Maybe. Maybe more, or less. Anyways, today marked the day of his freedom. Well, not really. But free from his mother's ramblings (at least, until summer or winter break arrives), his father's constant rants and his sister's painful hockey stick.

But he wasn't excited for his freedom. Oh no, he wasn't.

He was more excited about his university. The Hetalia University. Why it was called 'Hetalia', it wasn't stated on the school website. It sounded undoubtedly silly, but hey, it's what the specialty of the school counts.

You see, Hetalia University's quite well-known for being a picky university. Not in a bad sense. The university's entrance exam consists of two papers and multiple questions. The first paper would be for your academic qualification. The second was on how accepting you were ,of the LGBTQ community. Both papers were vital ,especially the latter.

Alfred Fitzgerald Jones was quite excited for Hetalia University, due to the fact that the university gives privilege to everybody, takes no shit from the LGBTQ-phobic society and therefore, it was perfect for him, a panromantic and a pansexual. He would be treated equally (unlike in high school ,where his face had visited the toilet thousands of times), be able to walk around campus without having to worry about getting beaten to a pulp or having eggs thrown at him (which wasn't quite the experience in middle school, but hey, he dealt with it and he's proud of it). He didn't need to worry about the inequality and teachers who would always choose sides (It was just his grudge on the teachers for being unfair and preferring students of certain labels).

"You sure these are all of it?" his sister, Madeline, asked. The American nodded with a smile to his sister, who was taller than him by 3 inches. All right, it seemed odd. But Madeline had just started her transition a year ago, when they were both high school seniors. Alfred had to admit, she was beautiful and was happier when she did. And he was grateful that their parents weren't the typical asshole Catholic parents. Instead, his parents just embraced it ,shrugged it off and said, "so long you help us out with the house chores and paying your tuition fees".

He had reasoned with her to apply for his university, so he wouldn't feel lonely, but Madeline had already applied for the Canadian branch of the university, whilst Alfred applied for the branch in New York. But it didn't dampen his spirits, knowing that there would be an exchange program once a year, for a full semester. He could see his sister in the next semester, then.

Alfred turned his back to face his mother , who had teary eyes and a red nose. "Come on,Mum.I'll be back for summer and winter break .Besides, I'll be going to the branch in New York,it's just a couple of hours drive. You should be crying for Maddie over here", he motioned his thumb to the taller and older twin.

"Who said I was crying over you? Oh come here,Alfie. We'll miss you both. Send us a text once a while, all right? Don't forget to eat!" his mother ran up to him, proceeding to hug him tightly ,letting her snot run down his bomber jacket. "Mum,you're ruining my jacket!" he complained jokingly. He looked at the shorter woman and smiled sadly. He wouldn't be seeing her or his father in months.

He took in the details of his mother's appearance. Her head reached his shoulders, (she was tiny, and seeing her with his father made them look really cute), her bouncy , platinum blonde hair that suited her russet brown eyes in a certain way. Under the current lighting and the sun, her brown eyes reminded him of honey. He loved how brown eyes would look golden under the sun or any light source, unlike his shade of blue that only would only get a couple shades lighter.

Behind his mother was his weary father. Alfred could see how tired the man was. But it didn't stop his father from being good-looking. Oh no, his father still looked charming.

He didn't need to take in the appearance of his father. Others had said that Matthew ( before she underwent transition and finally embraced herself as Madeline) and Alfred were the spitting image of their father. He could see that as well.

Unlike Madeline (whose shade of hair was between the parents' hair colour shade), Alfred's hair was the exact same shade. Dirty blond hair ,accompanied by a stubborn cowlick that he had inherited from his father. Alfred had also inherited his father's sky blue eyes and his athletic physique. The only difference between them would be the greying strands of hair in his father's hair , the wrinkles on his father's face and the height difference, in which, Alfred was taller by 4 inches.

"Hey , Dad, gonna miss you," he let go of his mother's embraced and turned to his father. Oh ,how he wished that his father wasn't ill. He wished that his father wasn't stuck in a wheelchair until his death and he wished that he could just watch his father play rugby for the last time. While frowning sadly, he hugged his father ,muttering 'I love you' repeatedly.

He stepped away for his sister's turn to bid her farewells and it was just as tear-jerking as seeing his mother wailing when his father was declared immobile.

"Now, you two, just because I'm bound to a wheelchair, that doesn't stop me from chasing the both of you around with a stick if the both of you fuck around in university! I'll have your mother install motors and controllers on this blasted thing just so I can smack the both of you with this cane!" his father jokingly said. Alfred and Madeline just laughed it off as they waved goodbye ,before entering Madeline's red SUV.

Looking out of the window of his sister's SUV, he found enough time to yell another "I love you both! I'll update you guys with everything that's happening around the campus!" whilst having tears rolling down his cheeks. "I'll send you postcards from New York! I'll force Maddie to send ones from Canada too!" he yelled, trembling and choking on his own sobs.

"We know!" he heard them yell faintly, as they couldn't see their double storey house anymore. Alfred rolled the window up and plopped down to his seat. He mumbled several times that Madeline swore it was fainter than her yelling.

"You know, winter break" were Madeline's only words of comfort.

"I know, winter break" were Alfred's only words of reply, before staring longingly outside of the window.

The road trip was long and boring. Thank the Lord for making Madeline a wonderful sister who had installed a mini-television in the car. Unlike Alfred, Madeline loved nature and would rather listen to music. Alfred, however, had plugged in a pen drive into one of the USB ports and watched several episodes of Pushing Daisies, had a marathon of Supernatural Season 9 and a marathon of Narnia's film adaptations. That still didn't made up for how long the drive was so he resumed his television-watching time by continuing his marathon with BBC Sherlock ,Merlin and Marvel films.

Needless to say, Madeline had to fight the urge to smack her brother when he was watching The Avengers.

"Alfred, I swear to God, will you please stop moving around in your seat?! I'll throw away your pen drive if you don't stop!" and that did it. Alfred wanted to protest but he had learnt the hard way of never, ever, piss a Canadian off. It was worse than pissing an Briton off if you insulted the royal family.

"How much longer?" he muttered, like a sulking child. Madeline shook her head at the immaturity of her brother, "An hour, at this rate. We left Wisconsin about 14 hours ago so, just watch the television and stop moving around like there's a zombie apocalypse". All she got from him was an "all right"

Minutes passed and Madeline noticed that Alfred wasn't watching the television ,despite his eyes seeming like they're glued to the screen. And he was frowning.

"What's wrong?" she asked, knowing full well about what was wrong. Alfred turned to his right , sighing heavily as they passed by houses .

"I'll miss all of you. Yeah,I know, 14 years ago,I yelled 'I won't miss you ever' but I will, Maddie ,I will. I'll miss Dad,I'll miss Mum,I'll miss those horses that keep coming into our backyard since Dad refused to put up a fence. I'll miss the smell of Mum's garden, the taste of her own home-grown strawberries, her cooking, I'll miss Dad's laugh, his scolding and Dad's argument-losing to Mum. I'll miss your stupid hockey stick and skiing skills and I'll miss throwing a pillow at your face. I'll get homesick, I know that, but I can't afford driving 15 hours everyday back to Wisconsin so how'll I get over that? I won't get over being a worrywart too"

"That was the most sentimental thing you've said throughout your lifetime, Al" Madeline chuckled. "Shut up, I'm being sentimental here" Alfred pouted again, but holding his own chuckle at the realisation of how he'll be on his own from now on.

"You're growing up, aren't you?" Madeline ruffled her brother's hair ,who in turn, replied her with a "Oh shut it, you're my twin anyways, don't act like you're a century older than I am!" and a playful shove. In a matter of hours, Alfred would be alone in the New York branch of Hetalia University and so will Madeline in the Canadian branch. The very least they both could've done would be spending the next hour reminiscing their childhood and talk to each other long enough so they wouldn't get homesick easily.

"Al,look! I think we're at the New York border" Madeline exclaimed, noticing a change of scenery.

They've been to New York plenty of times. Mostly because of his both of his parents being New Yorker-born. Alfred and Madeline had lived in New York for three years before moving to Wisconsin due to their mother's job as an engineer. The last time they've been to New York was last winter, to celebrate Christmas as a hotel their father's friend, managed.

His applying to Hetalia University was partially because of that reason. If they didn't sell their old house, Alfred wouldn't need to stay at the dorms. But then again, Alfred was a pansy twonk that gets scared easily so Madeline just told him to stay and the dorms (more like drilled it into his brain).

Oh how he missed the atmosphere of New York. He felt Madeline sped up and stepping on the oil ,probably because she was tired of driving and staying inside the car.

It was night time when they were surrounded by tall buildings with flashing lights, advertising products and merchandises that seemed generally useless as well as vehicles that drove past them, fast. Alfred stared out of the window, taking notice of the crowd that had neon-colour-haired punks, street musicians, people who deemed to have no sense of fashion as well as people shopping in one shop and another. There were couples too, but they kept their affections limited to holding hands and nuzzling.

"I love New York City" Alfred mumbled. "I know, you say that every time Dad and Mum bring us here" Madeline giggled. Alfred blasted the radio of Madeline's SUV , and fortunately for him, the radio was playing Ed Sheeran's SING. Alfred sang along to the song with Madeline rolling her eyes.

She took out her GPS and set it for Hetalia University's campus and drove according to the GPS, with a few curses and a terrified male American after Madeline found out that the GPS was outdated and brought them to several dead ends.

They eventually gave up at the 6th dead end, and managed to ask a redhead smoker for directions.

"Oh, Hetalia University, eh? You're a freshman ,I assume?" the man asked, with a faint Scottish accent in his voice. Thick, dark red, eyebrows sat above his startling forest green eyes, accompanied by his red hair that seemed to be blazing fire."A'right , from here, turn left a the first junction, go straight until you're at the crossroads then turn right. Go straight and straight and straight until you find a huge-arsed dome that has a neon signboard saying 'Welcome to Hetalia University' with the Status of Liberty , the Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower ,the Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China surrounding the dome. Pass by that and you'll see a guardhouse which happens to be the entrance of the campus" the Scotsman answered.

"Merci, monsieur!" exclaimed Madeline, unaware of slipping French into their conversation. "Ah, may I please know your name?" Madeline tilted her head. Oh,not that,please Madeline, save me from this, Alfred thought, knowing fully what his sister was doing.

"My name? Allistair Kirkland. And don't think I don't know what you're trying to do. I'm quite sure I'm older than both of you by 25 years" Allistair smirked. "Oh ,sorry, you must've been through that so many times then" Madeline chuckled. "With this appearance? Well, yes. Anyways, you'd be best on your way, the two of you" the Scotsman continued.

"Also, if you see someone with thick eyebrows, like caterpillars, and green eyes like a mixture of a forest and sea, tell that person I said 'hello', will you?" Allistair asked. Alfred nodded, before saying goodbye to the man who his sister had tried to match him with.

The man's silhouette was all that was left that they could see, before Alfred screamed at Madeline. "What the hell was that?! Maddie, I told you, I'll find one on my own! I am perfectly capable of finding someone to get laid with, geez! You almost hitched me up with a man that's 45 years old!" Alfred jokingly scolded his sister.

"Oh come on, Al, you have to admit, that man had one of the very few fetish of yours. Accent? Check. Good-looking and young? Check" Madeline teased. "But yeah, that was wrong considering I almost hooked you up with a 45 year old man that could've had a kid our age, you have the right to scream at me. But not now, please,Al?" Madeline pleaded.

"Yeah, sue, I'll scream at you over the phone because I'm pretty sure your hockey stick is at the back and you'll chase me around when I get my revenge anyways" Alfred shrugged. "Also, I have a fetish for a Manchester accent, Madeline,I thought you were my twin! How could you forget that?" he sobbed dramatically, but laughing along.

"Oh shut up, we're almost there,anyways, Al".

Alfred should've known that most of the newcomers would arrive at night. And his sister's flight would be in 3 hours. He had offered to drive her to the airport but she brushed him off with , "I'll use the taxi, you just stay here for the semester and make sure my car doesn't get a single scratch" and off she went with a yellow taxi that brought her out of the campus ground.

All around him were freshmen that didn't know where to go or where the dorm is. It made him question how big the place was or where the facilitators were. Surely, there would be older students here,right? Or were there just a shit ton of students that had just arrived?

He dragged his baggage on its wheels and slung his bag pack over his shoulder. He didn't bring much, just his (very little amount) of clothes and his gadgets. And his collection of video games ,a PSP,a 3DS, a DS and a PSVita. How does he have all of these, you ask? From his 16th birthday, in which, his parents got him a PSP, his aunt got him a 3DS without knowing his parents would get him a PSP, and another aunt that thought she would be the only one to give him the present of a game console.

Walking down the pathway , he noticed that there were foreign students that had enrolled here as well and from the looks of it, the main reason why they were still out here was because some of them had communication problems with their supposed roommates.

Please give me a roommate that won't mind me playing video games all night long, he prayed. He must've not seen where he was going because he bumped into someone that was shorter than him. By almost a head.

"Oh, I apologise, I wasn't watching where I was going," the person said almost immediately, and frankly, Alfred wasn't even aware of bumping into someone else. "Nah, that's all right, wasn't watching where I was goin—" he wanted to apologise and fuck his attention span, are those caterpillars?!

"If you're going to ask about these 'caterpillars', I'd rather be on my way to my dorm room, please" the voice said. There was a hint of a Lancaster accent. Yes, all right, he admits that he spends too much time watching BBC that he recognises accents , all kinds of them, and Lancaster accent was his second favourite accent in total.

"Ah urh ahhhh" what the fuck,Alfred?! Get your head in the game,dumbass! He yelled to himself mentally, mumbling profanities a himself. He took a moment to glance and take in the appearance of the other.

And damn, he was grateful. A petite figure with a pale complexion and a spray of freckles that made them look cute. A button nose that fitted their round face and a black jacket with pink stripes that clung onto their figure ,along with a pair of blue jeans and green converses. But what stroke Alfred the most were the huge, forest-sea green eyes that seemed to be glowing in the dark, probably because it was complimented by the dark and thick eyebrows that could've been mistaken for tattooed eyebrows. Actually, he was quite captivated by them and went into a few-seconds trance, as if he was wandering in the middle of a forest whilst being underwater due to the forest-sea green hue.

The person moved out of his way and started to jog to the other direction. They must've found their dorm room already, then. It took Alfred ten seconds to snap out of his trance ,quick enough to ask (more like yell) for the person's name.

The person stopped their jog for a while, before running off while yelling back with an "Arthur!".

It took him an hour to find his dorm room and the room PIN code. He punched them in quickly, since he was exhausted from running around the campus, dragging his baggage and bag pack. The air-conditioning in the lobby of his dorm block managed to cool him off but it didn't freshen him up so he had to take a break every two minutes.

Opening the door, he was greeted by the scent of grilled rib steak. He didn't realise how hungry he was until the scent hit him. His stomach growled loudly but he shrugged it off. He dropped everything next to his assigned bed and took off his shows before jumping onto the bed. The mattress was quite soft and comfortable.

Alfred took notice that his roommate had already decorated their side of the room. All over his roommate's wall were posters of Australian films and he figured out that his roommate fancied Chris Hemsworth since all of the posters had Chris in them.

Jett Kirkland was the name of his roommate. Could it be that that was the person that the man named Allistair was talking about? But forest-sea green eyes...oh shit, could it be the person he bumped into earlier ?! Shit, Al! He cursed himself.

The American blond decided to subdue his hunger by popping Snicker bars and Cadbury chocolate bars, then deciding that it was time to sleep. He has two days left to set everything up before having to attend classes and freshmen orientation. He took a quick shower before slipping into pyjamas and by the time he went back to his bed, he somewhat knew his roommate wouldn't be back until the next morning so hopped off to bed and drifted asleep.