Beautiful Mess [UsUk / AmeDen]

Chapter X

"So, what do we do now? I cannot leave him alone like this."

Arthur asked the question with a whole lot of obvious worry in his voice, still sitting in the counselor's office and tightly holding Alfred's hand all throughout the session.

The lady, whose name was Tina, as the two found out, took her time to think for a moment or two, lost in this kind of situation. She had never talked to a student who experienced the things Alfred did on a daily basis, so it was new and kind of confusing for her as well. "If things worsen, we'll see. Hopefully they don't." She had no better advice to offer, but still gave all emotional support that Alfred needed while he had to deal with this horrifying mental state he was in.

"I don't know for how much longer I'll be able to handle all of this." Alfred muttered insecurely, looking down at the floor instead of making eye contact. It was so overwhelming and scary, and even now, when he was allowed to speak loudly about everything he felt, it didn't help much. Only momentarily. He knew that as soon as he got back into the room, the hallucinations would worsen and he'd panic... Again. But he also had in mind that ending up in a mental hospital wasn't so far away if he kept showing how he felt to other people.

"Remember, you can always come here and talk if you feel the need to. You don't have to go through this alone." Tina softly smiled as a way of comforting the young boy. She felt sorry for him, and didn't want him to suffer - she hated seeing anyone in pain, that was why her job was to help people who struggled with anything that made it impossible for them to live a healthy, normal, everyday life.

Alfred nodded as a sign of gratitude, letting out a long exhale and getting up from the couch once he noticed he had nothing else to talk about. "Well, I appreciate it." He said and pulled Arthur by the sleeve of his shirt to silently tell him it was time to go because he couldn't stand being here anymore. The Englishman quickly followed, waving to the counselor before finally exiting the room and closing the door behind the two of them.

He sensed the tension radiating off the American and immediately took them to a safe space so they could relax a little bit, but apparently that's not what Alfred wanted. "I want to go somewhere really, really loud. If I sit in silence for one more minute, I might as well go fully insane." He shakily spoke, holding onto Arthur as if it was the end of the world.

"The loudest thing we have is that pizza place across the building."

"Then take me there, I don't care! And getting something to eat doesn't sound half bad either. I'm tired, hungry, stressed out, have a migraine and want to die a slow and painful death. Let's go, I don't have much more time." The other snapped in frustration, and Arthur didn't feel like arguing. They were already on the ground floor of the building, so all they needed to do was find the entrance. The university was massive, great enough even to get lost.

It took them a few minutes to find the exit, and at last, they were exposed to daylight. Arthur missed fresh air, they hadn't been out in a couple of days, ever since spring break started and Alfred freaked out because of Matthew for the first time. "Are you sure you're ready to be around people?"

"Only one of us hates socializing, and that's you." Alfred shot back in an angry tone of voice. The Brit couldn't counter argument that one.

As they waited for the traffic to calm down, they crossed the road on a green light and found themselves in front of the place. It wasn't quite a restaurant, but wasn't small either. Something like an unknown brand of a smaller version of McDonald's that sold pizza instead of burgers and fries. They entered through an automatic door that opened by a movement sensor, and found themselves surrounded by people, music, conversations, laughter, everything that Alfred liked.