Hey, this is my first fanfiction, so any reviews or constructive criticism/tips would be helpful and much appreciated! Thanks, I hope you enjoy!

"Dude, watch out!" Alfred warned as he tossed Matthew's backpack in what he hoped was his general direction, too busy to look up from the physics journal he was reading. It landed with a muffled thump, at which point Alfred's brother looked up in agitation.

"My laptop is in there, and I swear to god if you break it and I have to reprogram that entire new sequence...", he threatened.

"Man, calm down, your laptop is practically indestructible. The school made sure of that; they don't wanna lose any of your oh so precious work." Alfred snickered in response. Matthew shook his head, but he didn't deny it. He was one of the best programmers in not only his high school, but practically the entire continent, and Alfred wouldn't dare throw his backpack if he thought his work would actually be damaged.

From across their dorm room, Alfred sighed and pushed away the research studies he had been reading. "Okay, I guess I better go put nicer clothes on... Ludwig said he needed to talk to me, so we're going out to dinner..." The American glanced down at his ripped jeans and slightly stained T-Shirt, as if questioning why exactly his messy clothes were not appropriate for a five-star restaurant.

"You nervous?" Matthew asked, glancing up from his latest project. "You did say Ludwig has been acting strange lately."

"Yeah, but I'm sure it's just nerves. His guider has been giving him a rough time lately, and anyways I'm sure an evening out with his super-mega-foxy-awesome-hot boyfriend will cheer him up." Alfred grinned and struck a pose in the middle of the room, one hand on his hip and other in the air, then proceeded to catwalk over to his twin's bed and plop down right on top of his pile of computer science books, toppling the orderly stacks and almost knocking the laptop off the bed (again). Matthew released an inhuman squawk and flailed to protect his computer, while Alfred fell to the floor on his ass, doubling over with laughter, his shoulders heaving and his blue eyes sparkling.

Matthew huffed, the said, "Go shower, I thought you said you had to meet Ludwig!"

"Oh yeah!" With that, Alfred's grin only grew wider, but this time out of excitement rather than amusement. He really was curious as to what Ludwig wanted to talk about. Maybe his project was going to need him to move out of the school and he wanted Alfred to come with him! Or maybe he wanted to use their sick days for an oh so romantic vacation! With ideas whizzing through his mind, Alfred quickly showered, dressed in a simple blue dress shirt and black pants (Ludwig once said the shirt brought out his eyes, and hey, if you got it, flaunt it) then raced down the carpeted and well-lit hallway of his housing residence.

He and Matthew (and about 25 other students) attended a prestigious boarding school in Berlin, Germany. Technically it was a high school, but it accepted students from any age up to 18, and the work was usually far beyond college, or even graduate level learning. The school was officially called the International Independent Academy for Geniuses and Prodigies, but the students usually fondly referred it to as "hell". Of course, never in front of the staff, and never with any real seriousness. Yes, the work was hard, but they were geniuses, for god's sake! They could handle it!

The focus of the school was, according to the handbook, to "provide exceedingly intelligent young men" with the instruction they needed "to reach their potential" and "excel beyond the existing limits of math, science, engineering, and the arts". For their first year, students would be introduced to a wide variety of topics. Then, they would choose an area of study and be given a "guider", someone to oversee their own personal research, or their learning and education in their chosen field. Anonymity was impossible for any of the students, seeing as the school had discovered most of them only after they had made their genius known, often on an international level, but many of the people who saw or recognized them in the surrounding areas and the city of Berlin chose to ignore them, usually because they were intimidated.

For this reason, Alfred was able to quickly and discreetly make his way to the heart of Berlin. He felt a little out of place riding the U-Bahn in his nice clothes, and no matter how confident he had tried to seem in front of his brother, he really was very nervous about what Ludwig wanted to say to him. He felt his stomach tighten with nerves, and the faintest hint of nausea began to creep up into his throat. Fidgeting and smoothing down first his hair, then his shirt, Alfred finally opened the door to the restaurant.

He managed to relax a little when he saw Ludwig, wearing a black suit and dark blue shirt that perfectly highlighted his eyes and light hair. Alfred almost had to take a moment to absorb the absolute perfection that was Ludwig, and he had to quickly pinch himself, muttering to himself, "no, you are not a teenage girl, snap out of it!"

With that, he marched right over to where his (his!) boyfriend stood waiting and wrapped his arms around him from behind, murmuring in his ear, "Hey babe, didja miss me?" However, instead of twisting around to provide a (usually, but not always) chaste kiss to his boyfriend's as he usually did, Ludwig instead pulled away before turning around and placing his hand on Alfred's shoulder. While Ludwig wasn't a huge fan of PDA, even he knew that Alfred needed affection, and was always willing to at least provide a peck on the cheek. Alfred felt his stomach tighten even more. Something was definitely wrong. "Babe? I mean- Ludwig? Is everything okay?" Ludwig frowned, and Alfred wanted nothing more than the smooth out the little wrinkle between his eyebrows with the pad of his thumb, but something about the look in his boyfriend's eye and the whole situation he was in stopped him.

Ludwig sighed, then gestured to the table next to them before saying "Why don't we sit down?"

"No. I- If- I mean… If there's something you need to tell me, just tell me now… Please?" At this point Alfred was starting to feel a little desperate. He was pretty sure he knew the next words that were going to leave Ludwig's mouth, and he was terrified. Ludwig wasn't his first boyfriend, not by any means, but he was the first one to say that he loved him, he was the first one he did… that… with… He couldn't bear to have Ludwig leave him now.

"Alfred… We've been dating for over a year now, and you should know I care about you, but…" Ludwig finally raised his eyes to meet Alfred's, and Alfred felt himself unable to look away. Ludwig took a deep breath, then continued, "But I believe it would be best if we ended our relationship."

Alfred, in his infinite understanding of human anatomy and knowledge on the likelihood of a heart attack at his age, still would have sworn in that moment that he felt his heart stop. The words he wanted the least were the ones he was forced to accept, and he didn't know what the worse. The words themselves, or the cold, calculated way in which his boyfriend- no, ex-boyfriend- was delivering them. How many times had Ludwig told him he was the only one he felt comfortable around? That Alfred was the only one who could pull him out of his shell, could open him up; that Ludwig loved his enthusiasm and affection, and that it was only when he was around Alfred that he could truly be himself? And yet here he was, retreating right back into his stoic, unresponsive shell.

"Alfred, I am very sorry. I hope we are able to remain friends, and that…" Alfred didn't hear anything beyond that; his mind was too full of memories of the two of them. Yes, they were only 17, but some part of him had hoped they would be together forever. They may have been near opposites, but they fit together so well, everyone thought so…

"Fine", he said, getting defensive, then shouldering past Ludwig. Alfred heard him call after him, but refused to allow himself to turn around, finally broking into a run after exiting the restaurant. He didn't want Ludwig- or anyone for that matter- to see him cry, but as he sat hunched over in the U-Bahn on his way back to the Academy, he couldn't stop a few tears from escaping, the salt staining his fancy shirt.

Many people thought geniuses, as a side effect of their intelligence, cared only about themselves, and that they were incapable of connecting to others or being interested in anything other than their work. Alfred wanted to offer himself up as the example to prove them all wrong. Because if he didn't fucking care, why would he be allowing himself to cry in front of complete strangers in the middle of the U-Bahn, while the people around him gave him looks alternating between concerned and scared? Why would he have gone out with Ludwig in the first place, just to have his heart ripped out and stomped on?

All Alfred wanted to do was go home and sleep. He prayed to whatever deities might exist (although he had stopped believing after he had decided to devote his life to science) that his brother was asleep, because he really didn't want to see that look of pity he knew would be in Matthew's eye, and he didn't want to feel that sense of pure, annoying niceness that he would be exposed to. But maybe more than that, he didn't want to be reminded of his twin's oh so perfect relationship with Gilbert. Thankfully, Matthew had fallen asleep in front of his computer again, so Alfred was able to fall into bed, sniffling, not even caring about changing his clothes or the state he was in, and he fell slowly into a fitful sleep, plagued by dreams of Ludwig.