When Alfred enter's Arthur's office, he looks quite confused, and for obvious reasons. Hadn't Mr. Kirkland quit? Why on earth would he be called back to his old office?

His confusion is only heightened when he finds his older brother, sitting next to Arthur in the now rather empty office, an unopened laptop on his lap.

You can visibly see the terror wash over Alfred's face. Oh gosh. What did he do? What was he in trouble for?

Matthew laughs quietly to himself, reading his brother's expression all too well. "Sit down," he says, gesturing to a chair in-between the two. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble," he adds when Alfred takes a cautious step backward.

Alfred raises an eyebrow, but steps forward and sits anyway.

"What are you doing here?" he asks both of them after a few seconds of silence.

"It's not like I'm banned from the campus, Alfred," Arthur says. "Your brother e-mailed me."

Alfred looks over at his older brother questioningly.

Matthew just shrugs. "You've talked a lot about him," he says, earning a pointed glare from a now embarrassed Alfred.

"Why?"

Arthur leans over, stealing Alfred's attention away from his brother. "I kept meaning to talk to you about this, but other things kept coming up. I believe you were scheduled to graduate early, yes?"

"Yeah?" Alfred asks, the question clear in his voice. Were they here to tell him that he couldn't graduate early? That his grades weren't good enough? He'd pulled them up. They weren't the A's that they used to be, but they were solid high C's. He thinks he can have them at Bs by the time he graduates.

"Er… well, it's January already. Your brother asked me if the school had… you know, made any plans? For college?"

Oh. That's what this is about.

"Oh well, yeah, I've thought about it plenty." Alfred scratches the back of his head anxiously, a nervous tick he seems to exhibit quite often.

Matthew frowns at his words. "Thought about isn't going to fill out an application."

"I know, I know," he says, irritation creeping into his voice. "I just wanted to get my grades up and all before I apply."

"Your grades?" Matthew's brow furrows. "What happened to your grades?"

Alfred blanches, realizing his fatal flaw. Arthur grimaces, feeling bad for the boy while Matthew aims a pointed look towards his little brother that clearly spells out 'we'll be having a good long talk about this later.'

"Anyway," Arthur says, trying to move on and break up the tension. He motions for the laptop from Matthew, who opens it and logs in for him before passing it down. "You can't wait any longer. Deadlines are coming up, and you need to apply now."

"Alright, alright. So I guess we're applying now?"

Arthur nods.

"Do have any schools in mind?"

Alfred nods. "G. Mendel University."

"Staying local, are ya?" Matthew says, elbowing Alfred lightly in the ribs.

"Eh," Alfred shrugs. It was only semi-local, about two and a half to three hours away. It must seem local to Matthew, though, who has long since been in school across the country, which would take several days to traverse by car.

Arthur nods silently, pulling up the online application. The school is a good fit for him, he thinks.

Over the course of the next two hours, both help Alfred fill out his application and start on his essays, leaving to look up official documents and class ranks and the like every so often.

"Major," Arthur says out load, approaching the end of the application. "Undecided?"

He had assumed that's what Alfred would choose, what with the amount of planning he's put into this so far (although, he has to admit, despite the lack of action, Alfred has shown that he actually has thought long and hard about college.)

"No." Alfred shakes his head slowly.

Matthew looks over at him, waiting to hear what his future career path is going to be.

"I think… I think I'm going to major in psychology."

Arthur freezes.

"Think?" Matthew frowns. "This a big decision to base off of a think."

"I'm sure," Alfred says, a bit more confident this time. He looks over at Arthur for confirmation, who raises his eyebrows in a silent question. 'Is it because of me?'

Alfred gives a slight nod, unnoticeable to Matthew.

Arthur slings an arm around Alfred in a tight side hug. He could just about cry right now.

"You'll be great." And he means it. Alfred is going to go on to do great things - he'll make sure of it.

Uhmmmmm… so this chapter is LONG overdue (and yet still kinda short and rushed X( ). I think it was summer when I last updated this…

I'm so sorry, really.
This is most likely the last chapter, although I haven't made up my mind for good, as it seems as though there are still some loose ends that need to be tied.

So a bit of an update:

Aside from working on NaNoWriMo day in and day out all through November, I've been contemplating my writing for the past few months. I truly feel as though my writing has improved since I started writing on this account, and that most of these stories are of a poorer quality than I would like, in part due to rushing to finish them (this one and this chapter included.)

As a result, I've decided to start fresh and create a new account under the name OspreyRose, and move on to new things without any ties to my old writing. As much as I'd like to get rid of these stories, I feel as though I owe it to all of my readers to keep these up for you all to read, and to finish my unfinished projects.

There's a chance that I may be moving "On The Horse That Threw You" and "Chromatic" over to my new account, but re-written a bit.

Anywho, thank you so much for all of the support. I'd love to hear your take on all this, so feel free to comment or PM me.