Yet another girl's story ended with her in tears. Many times that this happened the young lady was rather furious or genuinely sad about her horrible trauma. Her name is Jessica, a reoccurring member of the circle of sad girls. Arthur, from the other side of the circle, tried consoling here. He had his clipboard in his hand and the pen in the other, writing down thoughts of what to say to her when she was done explaining her story. He advised her to not hold a grudge, that the man who raped her wouldn't even care that she was in this support group. HJe'd go on with his life, and she would still be here crying over it, it would be better to look ahead in life and try not to let it haunt her.

With a soild tissue blotting against her eye, she continues crying but tries to stop so she can speak to Arthur, "I don't understand. How can you say all of this like you're not affected by it at all? You went through all of the same things we have for most of your life, but you can still say to just forget about it?"

Arthur blinks slowly, "I may have gone throughit, but I was lucky to even get out of it. It wasn't easy to just move on and act like it never happened. Being mad at my former step=father won't make me any happier or make me a better person. I'm happier because I've not let it affect my life anymore. Not going to lie, it's going to take some time, I'm fortunate enough to have someone in my life to help me through it. Do you understand?" he asks her sympathetically. She nods, her sobbing had died down. "Just remember, you will always be welcome here and be supported by your peers who've gone through the same things you have." He finishes. "Anyone else want to share a story?"

"I'd rather hear about your story." A new girl speaks up. Eyes turn to her, "We know the basics, by the way it was totally fucked up that that happened to you, but what about that 'someone in your life' person? Who's that?" she asks.

"Oh, she wants to hear about Al, tell her about him!" another reoccurring girl says.

I was unusual for the girls to hear about his love life. She wasn't lying when she said that they all knew about Reece and Arthur's torture, but to hear about Alfred now and how he's carried on? I took him aback and he breathed out a laugh, "There's a lot to say about Alfred. Truth be told, if it wasn't for him, I'd still be in that terrible situation. You see, Reece actually made me believe that I was completely worthless, he'd even scammed his way in my job interview so I wouldn't ever get a job. When Alfred came along, he actually had loved me before when we were kids. It's embarrassing to say, but he absolutely adored me. He's told me this countless times. We've been together for almost 8 years now." Arthur sighed, had it really been 8 years? It hardly felt like it to either of them. Arthur told them the story of Alfred and his meeting and separation, then reuniting, the hell Reece put him through that Alfred helped him overcome. By the end of his story, all the girls were rather swooning or lightly sobbing. He took a second to reminisce with his memories of Alfred.

"Do you think you two will get married?" one girl spoke up, her eyes practically sparkled.

Arthur's eyes opened wide, "W-well, m-maybe one day, but not any time soon." He held out his hands to signal a slow down.

The doors started a knocking sound then opened. Alfred peeked his head in sort of cautiously. "Hello…" he said walking in. He stood behind Arthur and placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. He leaned down to gently kiss him.

"Ladies, this is Alfred." Arthur introduced. Alfred put a hand up, as to wave.

"Hey! Artie, its time to go." He said.

Arthur checked his watch, "Ah yes! Thank you." Arthur started grabbing his things, "I'll see you all next week." Everyone stood, ready to leave the room.

"Your family's waiting outside." Alfred said, putting an arm around his shoulders. Arthur adjusted his bag on his shoulder and reciprocated his arm around Alfred's waist.

"Uhm, Arthur, wait!" a girl called before Alfred led him out. Both turned around to face this girl. She was a new girl, he believed her name was Britney.

"Yes?" hes asked her politely.

"Well, you say that the way you got over your trauma was that you found Alfred, but… I don't think that is ever going to work for me. There's no one in the world that could love all my baggage. Is there any other way to get over this crap?"

"Of course there is. Just finding someone to help you through it isn't enough. You're doing a fantastic job just coming to these sessions. It takes time, though. And I wouldn't sell yourself so short." He quickly, gently caress her face, the kind a father would give to his little girl, "You're a beautiful girl. I know there's someone out there for you." He looked off and saw another girl that attended his sessions. She had long brown hair that almost reached her waist. Her skin was pale enough that would make you question if she was Chinese, Mexican, or Caucasian. She had a curious look on her face that shone confidence somehow. She pushed back a lock of her hair from her smooth face to behind her ear. "In fact, you know Isabelle over there also comes to my Thursday sessions about having the strength to come out to friends and family. The people that go there find more motivation if they have someone to give them courage to come out."

Britney looks over to the girl, with a slight eyebrow raise, she goes after her. She makes sure to thank Arthur before she leaves.

Alfred smiles at the sight of Britney conversing with Isabelle. He looks back to Arthur, "Let's go?" he asks.

"Let's go." Arthur answered with a smile. They walk out to the main lobby where Arthur's family is waiting. His mother, his brothers, their wives, his nephews and newborn niece all came to celebrate his birthday. Alfred relinquished Arthur so he can hug his family. They all greet him with a hug and a 'happy birthday'. His brother's wife allows him to hold his infant niece as they converse and engage in small talk. When they finally do decide to go out for a birthday dinner, Arthur hands back the baby girl to her mother.

While they were at dinner, though the young boys were busy with the games on their parents' iPhones, everyone had a great time with great food. Even if he was embarrassed when the servers came over to sing him Happy Birthday, Arthur still had a fun time. His brothers lived in Scotland, he was happy they got to get the time off of their jobs so they could come for his birthday. They told him it was no big deal, but he knew they mainly came because they didn't pay enough attention to him as a kid and that's why he was harassed. He assured them, they didn't need to see that as their fault, it was no one's fault really except Reece's and his own. They felt the conversation being brought up around the children would be inappropriate, they generally wouldn't bring it up around them. The kids wouldn't have paid attention anyhow.

"But, big Al," his oldest brother started. Alfred looked to him. "How's my wee brother doing? He's not causing too much trouble for ya, is he?"

Arthur sent a slight look of scolding, but Alfred just defended him, "Nah, he's just fine. If anything, he's the one getting' me outta trouble most of the times." He said. The adults laughed.

Quicker than expected, the evening's dinner was over. Arthur made sure to give every one of them a courtesy hug. Even Alfred made an effort to hug all the women and shake the hands of Arthur's brothers. He ruffled the boys' heads playfully, in which they jokingly pouted and they all walked to their vehicles to drive back to their hotels. Pulling away from a hug from his mother, he slid her hands into his. "Happy Birthday, darling."

"Thank you." He kissed her cheek.

"And I'm sorry I was so blind back then." She apologized. She usually did this and every time Arthur would tell her it wasn't her fault, even if she never fully believed him.

"It was a long time ago. I don't even think about it anymore." He tried reassuring her.

"Trust me, anyone of us would've stopped it if we could." Alfred commented.

"Well, I don't want you thinking of that past on your birthday. Good night, darling." His mother said, she left her son.

Alfred and Arthur made it back to their apartment. Arthur's mind still wasn't cleared and his face made it obvious. "What's the matter, babe?" Alfred asked.

Arthur breathed out, "I'd wish everyone would stop bringing it up. It's hard enough not to go down to that prison and beat the shit out of him, it doesn't make it any easier when people just keep reminding me of it every time I see them."

"I thought holding a grudge wouldn't solve anything. That you should move on with your life. Isn't that what you tell those girls in the support group?" Alfred questioned.

"I have moved on. But you try not being bitter about it when your reminded of it constantly." He closes his eyes and lowers his head. Alfred comes closer and wraps his arms around the Brit. "I just wish they'd shut up about it." He whispers.

"Just don't think about it." He brushes blonde hair out of Arthur's face, "It's your birthday, and you're not allowed to be sad. I won't let you." Arthur breathes a laugh against Alfred's chest. "I've still got a present for you."

Arthur rolls his eyes and looks up to the taller blond, "You've given me a present everyday this week, I don't need anymore."

"Just this last one, promise." Alfred grabs his hand and leads him to the back bedroom. "Sit down." He says patting the bed and goes for a dresser drawer.

"I think I like this present." Arthur suggests. Alfred laughs.

"That's not the present." He continues searching until he abruptly stops, "But it is always an option." He says then goes back to scrounging. Arthur can't help but sweetly smile. "Found it!" he exclaims and hops on the bed, next to Arthur. He sits Indian style after he hands the little black box to his boyfriend.

"This better not be an engagement ring." He warns Alfred.

"It's not. C'mon, I know we're not ready for that kinda thing." Alfred responds.

Arthur opens the box, turns out it is a ring. "Alfred what did I just say?!" he gets ready to scold Alfred.

"It's not an engagement ring!" Arthur gives him a look of incrimination. "But it is a promise ring. You have these over here, too. Don't you?"

"Of course we do." Arthur looks to the silver band. He takes it out to examine it closer. "And I know you love cheesy things like this."

Alfred smiles. He takes the ring from between the two fingers of Arthur. He hold his palm gently out enough to slip on the ring. "And you should know I love you." He looks Arthur in the eyes. "This is important to me. Just humor me and wear it, okay? I worked hard for it, and I want it to just symbolize everything we've been through. Or some romantic crap like that."

Arthur smiles, he brings his head to Alfred's and his fingertips to Alfred's chin. "I'll wear it. For you." He shrugs, "And I guess… I love you, too."

"Happy Birthday." Alfred whispers sweetly.

"Thank you, love." Arthur kisses him, he slides his hand to Alfred's shoulder. His fingers scratch the American's scalp when he deepens the kiss. "How about one last present?" he asks with faulty innocence.

"If you really want it." Alfred tells him. He nods his head against Alfred's neck. Alfred shifts slowly to place Arthur's back on the bed, he kisses him passionately on the way down.

So, uh, yeah. I need to write more and actually types them out. I've had the story written out for almost two weeks now, just been too lazy to type it out and upload it. :/ But I guess if I really liked a story, I'd wait as long as it took to have a chapter up. Now, that's not to say I wouldn't NOT plan out my angry mob plans.

But, that's the end of So Small. It's been quite a ride, hasn't it? I can finally go on to finishing WHIV and then starting a new story! I've literally had this list of stories for almost a year that I couldn't write because I didn't want to be writing, like, 50 different stories at the same time. Know what I mean?

Have a nice day/night! :3