My brother is getting married on Sunday so I have been distracted by getting ready and trying on bridesmaid dresses! That is the reason for the delay of this chapter and for the other projects I am working on! On a side note I have been rejected from working in my town's local haunted house because I will be unable to work the fist weekend due to my bros wedding. Apparently the lady who is running the event thinks my missing one weekend is unforgivable, all or nothing as they say. I say it's her excuse to pull a douche bag move but hey this is hardly any of your concern. I like to tell some interesting things (at least they are to me but I bet they wouldn't be to Chuck Norris, but that besides the point) about myself to my readers and watchers on DA when ever I post something new. Keeps things chummy I think.

ANYWAYYYYY. Thank you so much for the reviews and favs of this story. Feedback is always mighty sexy and makes me feel like a champion. I always giggle snort in excitment when I read your reviews from my phone (Which gives me updates and allows me to read reviews from it. This in of itself is pretty much fantastic) and people around me think I'm a bit off my rocker but screw them, thats just how I roll. So thanks and please always feel free to review because I love reviews and if you want to check me out on deviant just search my user name which is Nenema.

Cheers and thanks guys hope you like the next chapter! Oh and if you were wondering the bridesmaid dress isn't ugly, it's actually quiet pretty and a delight to wear!

If life had been fair the world would have been made completely out of candy and chocolate. Clowns would not exist. Sweatpants would be sexy and N*sync would have never broken up. If life were fair then Alfred would not have to wake up early for class or his favorite shirt mutate to hot pink due to an unfortunate laundry mishap. If life were fair Alfred would never have met Ivan Braginski or had been weaseled into sacrificing his favorite holiday for the sake of his own physical well being. Unfortunately as everyone knows, life was extremely unfair and no one could agree more then Alfred Jones at that particular moment.

"Life sucks Arthur. Its just that simple, it really, completely, without a doubt, sucks." Alfred moaned. He was laying on his twin bed that was adjacent to Arthur's; the heads of their beds faced opposite directions. It kept the room 'interesting' is what Arthur had said to him when they moved in together.

The dorm room, like most dorm rooms, was small but due to Arthur's efforts, was also charming and comfortable. The room consisted of four simple walls and was no bigger than 16X20 square feet, the main colors scheme inside consisted of a stormy powder blue and charcoal grey. Arthur's side was perfectly clean and organized where as Alfred's was as he put it, an 'artistic expression at its best.' This basically meant that Alfred's side of the room looked as if it were prone to small explosions that scattered colorful clothes and stuffed dinosaurs, both of which Alfred was partial to, all over his space. The mess stopped promptly at the invisible line that divided the two friend's sides. Arthur had tried time and time again to 'assist' in the 'purification' of Alfred's room space but it always would end in disaster. Alfred would start complaining that Arthur was misplacing his possessions and that he was quiet happy with their permanent home on the floor. Arthur in turn would get irritated with Alfred's shenanigans and proceed to rant at him of the importance of a clean home; Alfred would of course tune him out and select the nearest dinosaur in which to play with. This was a ritual that took place nearly every week, Tuesdays to be exact, but would always end up the same, with the two men sprawled out on their beds laughing at the other's antics.

Today was Thursday, which usually mean pizza and movie night because there were no more classes for either man until Monday. Alas their sacred weekly ritual had been ruined. Ruined by a crazy Russian with a villainous plan to ruin Alfred's social life. The American had been moaning to Arthur about it ever since his return to the room half an hour prior.

"So tell him no, Alfred!" Arthur said for what seemed to be the thousandth time.

"I caaaannnn't! Don't you see? He's a genius!" Alfred sat up to pout at the Englishman who was checking his email in the corner.

Both Alfred and Arthur's computers sat side by side, sharing space on a plastic table they had stolen from the cafeteria late one night. The 'office space' was at the foot of Alfred's bed, crammed cozily into the far left corner of the room. Both men shared Arthur's rolling office chair, which was crazy comfortable and the nicest piece of furniture they had. Arthur swivel around in the chair, a feature Alfred highly enjoyed and would abuse frequently by pulling his legs in and demanding Arthur spin him around as fast as he could. Arthur always obliged him, if only a bit reluctantly.

"Genius? How so?" Bushy eyebrows hitched up to Arthur's hairline, disappearing beneath spiky blond bangs.

"His words!" Alfred made desperate clutching gestures in the air around him. "They were far too advanced! He's a crafty one, he is!" Alfred accented the last words of the sentence in a British tone, hoping to rouse sympathy from his equally British friend.

"Where do you get your references for the English accent?" Arthur snorted, rolling his chair closer to Alfred.

"Other than you, cartoons mainly." Alfred looked at the posters hung on the wall next to his bed, lost in thought.

Most of the posters were of Alfred's favorite movies or singers all except one, which was a large print out that displayed both the American and English flag tied together and interlocked. Alfred had purchased the poster on eBay and although Arthur would never admit it, he was secretly touched by the gesture of good will. Alfred had said that America would always be a home for Arthur because he would always be welcome there by Alfred and that the poster was the 'proof in the pudding.' It was in a way the kindest thing anyone had ever done for Arthur but he wasn't about to tell Alfred that. The obnoxious American would never let him live that blunder down or soon forget it for that matter.

"Alfred if you do not wish to indulge, Ivan in his absurdities, then simply don't." Arthur had said Ivan's name like he wished to spit it out and stomp on it. "I would be glad to speak with him for you."

"Shucks man that's really nice of you, I mean it but I don't think that would make him stop." Alfred placed his hand on the plastic, hard arm of Arthur's computer chair and gave him a gentle spin. Arthur pulled his legs up and placed his socked feet on the edge of the chair's seat to allow Alfred better spinning possibilities.

"He could always have…an accident…" Arthur said seriously and Alfred barked out a laugh. Arthur hated the idea of people messing with Alfred, the kind American had been Arthur's first friend in the new country and best friend he had ever had anywhere. Alfred smiled bemusedly as Arthur continued to revolve around and around, his smiling face becoming a peach blur in Arthur's line of vision. It was true; Arthur would defiantly agree that he was highly protective of Alfred, if only for the other man's sake.

"Ah no see that's no good, Artie! You would be no good at harming anybody!" Alfred chuckled and stopped the chair from spinning, Arthur's world continued to move around him in lazy circles despite the halt in motion.

"How do you know?" Arthur said dizzily, bracing himself by the arms of the chair and looking at Alfred with a mock evil grin. "Bet I could be great at it!"

"Nah, I think it best you stick to your needle and thread stuff." The American replied. "Plus if you were carted off to the slammer who would do my laundry?"

"That was on just one occasion!" Arthur said defensively. "Best damn laundry you ever had the privilege of wearing for what it's worth." He sniffed, lips twitching in an almost smile.

"Right you are buddy!" Laughing Alfred laid back down into his bed; Arthur followed him by the grace of the wheels in the chair, looking down at the Alfred in concern.

"I would you know, in all seriousness, tell him to piss off for you if you like."

Alfred rolled onto his side, propping his head up on a hand and met Arthur's green eyes warmly. '"I know you would, thanks for that but this is something I got to do on my own I think."

"You can hardly take care of yourself let alone handle the beast that is Braginski, you moron." Arthur poked Alfred between the eyes to drive home his point; the American crossed his vision to look at the offending digit.

"Yeah but I'm your moron!" Alfred laughed and attempted to bite Arthur's prodding finger only to miss miserably.

"The first activity we shall enjoy together is pumpkin carving." A dark voice growled behind Alfred, making the blonde jump in horror.

"Fuck!" Alfred whirled around to find Ivan leering at him, the massive Russian clutching an abnormally large pumpkin in one hand and a long carving knife in the other.

Yeah that wasn't fucking creepy at all.

The grocery store wasn't safe anymore; Alfred would have to start hunting and forging for his food like some sort of beast. This shouldn't be too hard though since he had watched a generous amount of Man vs Wild episodes. Using that as visual reference Alfred was sure he had the gist of the whole surviving thing. Which, at this point would totally top running into Braginski at Trader Joes. It had been several days since the fateful meeting Alfred had with Ivan in the parking lot and he had childishly hoped that the Russian forgot or was kidding. By the looks of that pumpkin and carving knife in Ivan's giant paws, ready to be purchased, Ivan was dead serious. Alfred had been standing in line at his favorite grocery store, minding his own business, when apparently Ivan's asshole senses started tingling, calling him into douche bag action.

"Did you follow me here?" Alfred exclaimed, holding a small red basket that contained groceries for both he and Arthur. Ivan chose to ignore this question in favor of eyeing the objects in Alfred's basket. Before Alfred could react, Ivan pocketed the knife and shot a hand out to rifle through the groceries.

"Are these the things that you like, Alfred?" Ivan pulled out a pack of strawberry bubblegum from amongst the other items Alfred hoped to purchase and later consume. Ivan proceeded to hold the bubblegum up, better catching the florescent lights so that he could examine it. The way he was staring, intrigued was as if it were the first time Ivan had ever set eyes on such a glorious creation before.

"Can't I just shop in peace? What do you care what I like and don't like!"

Alfred made a grab for the gum, despite the customers that had stopped to stare at the two of them. Ivan leaned away and smiled down at him, Alfred's body brushing up against the Russian's as Alfred reached around him. Ivan used the giant pumpkin as a kind of shield to keep Alfred from his object of desire; the spectacle the two of them were making was quiet ridiculous.

"Just answer my question, Alfred and you shall have this precious item back." Ivan purred.

"How do you know it's for me? Maybe I got it for Arthur! We do live together you know." Alfred stood back, trying to fight the urge to punch Ivan in the neck. The taller man suddenly made a face of irritation and disgust, regarding the small pink package in his hand as if it were a poisonous new enemy. Alfred took the opportunity to snatch it back, sticking his tongue out at Ivan.

"Gotcha! It is for me, strawberry anything is freak'in delicious." Alfred then proceeded to unload his basket onto the checkout stand's moving black belt, greeting the cashier warmly. Ivan was silently still up until the point where Alfred was ready to swipe his debit card when suddenly the Russian made his move by lumbering Alfred out of the way, using the pumpkin and his shoulder as a means to do so. Alfred gave a cry of surprise and indignation that went completely ignored by both Ivan and the bemused clerk.

"These two items as well please." Ivan set down the pumpkin and the carving knife, whipping out his leather wallet. "I will be paying for him." Ivan said nodding toward the squirming American, the woman cashier shrugged and quickly rung up the other two items despite Alfred's squawk of protest.

"Don't listen to him! He's pure evil! I can pay for my own-" Ivan placed a large hand directly over Alfred's whole face, muffling him.

Literally, Ivan had literally grabbed his face. Like the whole face! Palming it like one would a basketball!

"Thank you very much." Ivan smiled handing over cash to pay for the collective items. Alfred struggled on reaching out to strangle Ivan but falling short, snorting and growling into the Russian's palm.

"Goodness is your boyfriend always this feisty?" The clerk giggled as she bagged the items, handing them over to Ivan.

"I'm afraid so, it is the only way he knows how to work out pent up sexual frustrations while we are in public." Ivan mock sighed.

Alfred was beyond mortified when the lady nodded in understanding, believing Ivan and his lies. The fiend!

"Well we must be going, he is in need of my special attentions." Ivan winked at the lady, letting go of a gasping Alfred.

Ivan then proceeded to snatch up Alfred's bagged goods, along with his own and walked briskly toward to door expecting Alfred to follow. Alfred would have to if he wanted to get his food and gum back! Before he did he attempted to per sway the clerk with the truth but she was already on to the next customer and waved Alfred off. With a huff and a pout Alfred stomped after Ivan picturing all the glorious ways he could bodily harm the other man using that stupid pumpkin as a weapon.

"You are such a bastard you know that right?" Alfred snarled, finally catching up with Ivan. Having to stretch his legs out to keep up with the taller man's longer strides.

"Once again your insult is nothing but a pathetic failure as I have a wonderful relationship with both my parents. This fact renders your claim that I am a 'bastard' child totally ineffective, bordering on the ridiculous." Ivan replied smoothly, not missing a beat.

"Why the fuck can't you ever insult me like a normal human being?" Alfred threw up his hands, keeping pace with the Russian.

Ivan chose not to respond and opted for smiling like a creepy moron, continuing his annoyingly fast stride. The wind picked up, snatching and plucking at Alfred's exposed face and hands, biting into and lingering across his poorly protected skin. 'Jeez it's cold!' He thought and shivered, wishing he had thought to bring a warmer jacket and some gloves. As it were he was only wearing a light blue pullover with grey stressed jeans, hardly antiquity attire to go romping around at seven pm on a cold ass autumn night. 'Stupid Braginski.' Alfred shivered again the movement catching Ivan's eye.

"Are you cold?" Ivan asked, slowing down to look Alfred over.

"No shit! We can't all be polar bears like you!" Alfred blew hot air into his numbing hands, seriously hating life at that moment. "Just give me my stuff, man!"

"Nyet. This food is what you Americans call, collateral." Ivan stopped suddenly and began taking off his black leather gloves, using his white teeth to do so as his other hand was still holding the grocery bags.

Besides the gloves Braginski was also wearing a light beige coat, saturated green pants and shiny black leather shoes, similar to the ones he had been wearing the day they first met. To top off the outfit Ivan was also wearing a light peach scarf, the likes of which he never took off even in the heat of summer. Alfred always speculated that Ivan kept it on to hide the two puncture wounds that marked him as some sort of monstrous vampire, or worse. Ivan never dressed in shorts and a tee shirt; it was as if Braginski were stuck in an endless winter. Ivan's cheeks plumped as he smiled down at Alfred, noticing the American's staring but didn't comment on it.

"Here." The leather gloves were stuck under Alfred's nose as an offering but the blonde made no more to take them. The two of them were standing on a poorly lit sidewalk, halfway between town and their dorms. Alfred didn't have a car; he usually rode his bike or walked to his destination. Tonight he had walked and had been followed by a certain crazed, vodka-swilling bastard.

"I don't need you're charity!" Alfred growled. "Just give me my stuff, Braginski! I'm done playing around!"

At this Ivan wordlessly put the gloves in his mouth, holding them with his lips and teeth. He proceeded to reach into one of Alfred's bags, the plastic shuffling as he did so. Watching Alfred intently, Ivan slowly pulled out the other man's eggs. Holding the package out and to one side, Ivan used only his thump and index finger, a meager fail safe against the hard pavement. The message was clear, 'cooperate or the eggs get it!'

"Unbelievable! UNBELIEVABLE!" Alfred cried and again threw his hands up to the heavens in exasperation. Ivan merely smiled around the gloves and indicated with his head for Alfred to take a step closer. "Fine! Fine, have it your way!" Alfred grabbed the gloves from Ivan's mouth and pulled them on. They were too big but the leather inside was really soft and still warm from Ivan's hands.

"You see how good things go when you do as I say?" Ivan placed the eggs back into the bag and started walking again. "I would offer my coat and scarf to you as well but I do not much feel like threatening the safety of more food." Alfred remained silent and begrudgingly followed Ivan back to the dorms.

The two of them ended up going to Ivan's room, mainly because Alfred didn't want Ivan to know where he lived. Ivan had told him before that he already knew this location but Alfred wanted to hold onto the slim hope that he was lying. If anything so that he could sleep better at night. Ivan had no roommates, this would have been odd if it had been anyone else but this was Braginski. The Russian's room was a bit larger then Alfred's and Arthur's but only by a smidgen. The dorm room was completely clean and orderly save for the far left corner where there was a large pile of what appeared to be Halloween decorations.

"What is all that?" Alfred asked, remaining in the doorway as Ivan set the bags down on his pristine bed. Alfre shucked off Ivan's gloves and tossed them carelessly to the side. He was still upset with Ivan and his antics.

"That is what you and I will be working on, together." Ivan pulled out the few items from Alfred's grocery bags that needed to be refrigerated; he placed them in a small cooler near the bed.

On further inspection Alfred also noted that the Russian used a PC, which stood up on a dark wooden desk, complete with a matching chair. The bed, desk, cooler and pile of decorations were all that really made up the room. The lighting inside was somewhat dim, most likely because Ivan chose to buy low watt light bulbs exclusively, just to be strange. Alfred wouldn't put it past him. The air inside was pleasantly warm and held a welcoming scent that smelled faintly of crushed leaves. There were no posters or pictures of friends and family that Alfred could see. 'Probably because he killed and ate them all' Alfred thought eyeing Ivan suspiciously as the larger man tottered about the room.

"It's impolite to stare, Alfred but perhaps your American upbringing left something to be desired, yes?" Ivan said as he picked up the large pumpkin and inspected it for blemishes. Satisfied Ivan retrieved some newspapers from a drawer in his desk, separating the papers out individually and laying them down to cover and protect the floor from future pumpkin guts.

"Screw you man! My family is awesome!" Alfred huffed, crossing his arms.

"Your use of the word 'awesome' is, as always, out of context." Ivan replied smoothly and finally sat down cross-legged on to the spread out newspapers. He set the pumpkin in front of him and the knife at the side, looking up expectantly at Alfred. Alfred chose not to respond and instead gave in to Ivan's whims. The faster he finished carving the stupid pumpkin, the faster he got to go home and Braginski leave him alone. Alfred stomped over to Ivan and plopped down in front of him, sharing the newspapers. Alfred set to searching the ground around them, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What is it?" Ivan finally asked when Alfred lifted his foot to look under it.

"Where is the marker to draw the face?" Alfred asked.

"Marker?" Ivan blinked slowly at the American.

Sighing Alfred shot up and walked to the desk, opening up the top drawer to search inside. He poked and prodded past organized pencils and erasers, brightly colored post-its and other office supply contraband. Alfred purposely disheveling the drawer's contents until he finally found what he was searching for.

"Ah ha!" Alfred pulled out a purple sharpie and looked at Ivan as if he had just won a pie-eating contest. "Victory!"

"Do you make a habit of invading others personal belongings?" Ivan asked, sounding somewhat irritated.

"Ok, so what kind of face do you want?" Alfred ignored Ivan's accusation completely and sat back down with the other man. The blonde carefully picked up the large pumpkin and set it in his lap, gingerly.

"Who says I want a face?"

"Its kind of common sense, this is a pumpkin and we are carving, a jack-o'-lantern. So it's gottah have a face." Alfred rolled his eyes at the obvious knowledge, uncapping the marker with a 'pop'. Before he could set to work though, the pumpkin was snatched out of his lap.

"Nyet!" Ivan growled, holding the pumpkin protectively.

Alfred was losing patience.

"Give it back! Lets just get this over with!" The American made a grab for it but Ivan quickly leaned away, holding the large vegetable over his head and out of Alfred's reach. After many failed grabs and some molesting on Ivan's part, Alfred gave up and asked Ivan that if he didn't want a face on the pumpkin then what did he want?

"A sunflower." The large man replied simply, Alfred gawked at him.

"A sunflower. A SUNFLOWER? What the hell is that?" He exclaimed.

"It is a delightful flower that follows the su-" Ivan began but Alfred cut him off.

" I KNOW what a sunflower is, you ass! My question is WHY? Do you know nothing about Halloween? It's a holiday that is suppose to be scary and ugly!"

"So you believe that scary things are incapable of being beautiful?" Ivan's voice was suddenly low and held an emotion that Alfred couldn't place. "That they must always be ugly?"

"I didn't say that! But traditionally-" Alfred began but this time Ivan cut him off.

"This is not about tradition, Alfred. This is about discovery. Everything we do for this Holiday together will be done with careful intention. I intend to carve a sunflower into this pumpkin, not to break tradition but to share with you something about myself, something that I like." Ivan switched the pumpkin weightlessly between his hands as if it were light as a feather and continued. "On one side we will carve a sunflower because that is a revelation to do with me but on the other side, opposite I want to carve a picture that reveals something about you." Ivan stopped moving the pumpkin and looked at Alfred with a sincerity that Alfred had never received from anyone before.

"What do you want to know about me?" Alfred replied somewhat dazed, an honest answer to an honest question.

"Whatever you are willing to share with me." The other man replied, taking the marker from Alfred and set to drawing out a large sunflower on one side of the pumpkin. Purple eyes following each stroke the marker left with a severe intensity, wanting it to be perfect.

While Ivan was distracted doing this Alfred reached back into his mind to find something that could be made into a simple drawing but also reveled something about himself. It was perhaps one of the weirdest yet most genuine tasks he had ever attempted to do for someone else. Leaning his head back, Alfred stared at the white ceiling, lost in thought. What could he possibly come up with that would fit what Ivan had asked of him? Normally Alfred would have just told Ivan off, thinking that the Russian was just messing with him but there had been something in the way Ivan had asked him. People often thought Alfred was stupid but that was not the case. He might not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to school studies but what he lacked in the classroom he made up for ten times over, in heart. Alfred was intelligent in the way of knowing people and knowing when people were bullshitting him or being genuine. Ivan had always been someone who bullshitted him up until just a few moments ago when he had made his request of Alfred. Alfred liked people who were honest and up front, he hated people who played games or put on a false face, it was as simple as that. Most of all, Alfred believed in the possibility of all people and was always willing to give them a chance to prove themselves. So for now he would humor Ivan.

'A genuine intention deserves an honest chance.' Words long past spoken resurfaced and Alfred made up his mind.

"A rocket." Alfred suddenly blurted out, startling Ivan.

"A…rocket?" Ivan repeated, tilting his head to a side.

"Yeah! Like a moon rocket! Space travel!" Alfred was suddenly excited, already thinking of ways he could sketch a rocket ship onto the pumpkin to be carved out.

"I see. May I inquire to it's relevance?" Ivan set the pumpkin down in front of him, finished with his drawing but kept it faced away so that Alfred couldn't see. Alfred hesitated then and wondered if he should or shouldn't tell Ivan why he had selected a rocket. In his head it had sounded like a good idea but now that there were inquisitive eyes on him he was having second thoughts.

A genuine intention deserves an honest chance.

"My…my dad." Alfred hesitated and licked his lips nervously. Ivan nodded his head to him, wordlessly asking Alfred to go on. Alfred took in a deep breath and did. "My dad bought me a toy rocket once, when I was like eight. It was the best present I ever received, so detailed and beautiful. I had thought that I wanted be an astronaut when I grew up as soon as I saw the thing. I played with that toy all the time. My dad would put me up on his shoulders and we would go romping around the house with me holding it, pretending we were going to the moon or something."

Alfred paused and looked down at his hands that were resting in his lap, taking a chance he continued.

"We would also go stargazing and I would always bring it with me when we did. He was the one that told me I could be an astronaut if I wanted to be one, that I could do and be anything that I wanted to be." Alfred finished but didn't look up at Ivan, dreading the insult that would come, a snide remark or barking laugh. They never did, instead there was a whisper of fabric moving and a popping of joints as legs straightened up and back down again, newspaper crackling and crunching under shifting weight. Alfred felt a warm body settle down next to him and waited.

"Thank you, Alfred."

Looking to his side, Alfred met Ivan's gaze that held nothing but warmth and gratitude. They were now sitting side by side, the pumpkin in front and between them, turned so that Alfred could see what Ivan had drawn on it.

"That's one heck of a sunflower you got there." Alfred remarked, half amazed. Ivan smiled shyly and bumped Alfred's shoulder with his own.

"It is your turn." He then leaned back to brace himself on his hands, watching Alfred.

"You ready for the best rocket drawing you've ever seen?" Alfred exclaimed and looked at Ivan excitedly.

"I do not know if I will be able to handle such a grand spectacle." The Russian countered smartly with a smirk.

Alfred grinned and set to work on his drawing. This could actually be kinda fun!

"Your lines are crooked and shameful."

Then again maybe not….