a single parent au I drew up because I'm in the need for some angst >:)
Alone.
Well, almost. In caring for his small son, yes, Arthur couldn’t have felt more alone, but the luxury of actually having a few moments to himself was one that didn’t come often to the young brit. He’d met Alfred’s mother in college, the very beginning of his senior year. She was his best friend. They both were business majors, and having most of their classes together led to a quick and strong bond between them. It was right before the end of the fall semester that the pair headed to an off campus party, and one drunken, hardly remembered one night stand later, little Alfred had come into the world. Before he was born, and even in the early months of the pregnancy, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be a father. He wanted to start his own business, grow it into a global superpower. But as time went on, as she began buying clothes, supplies, and talking about what they could do with him, he started to warm up to the idea. Raising a child with his best friend might not be that bad after all. As the months grew closer to nine, he found himself getting excited, thinking of names, bragging to his small group of friends at the time that he was going to be the best dad he possibly could be. Waiting for the day his son came into the world was both the most anxiety inducing and exciting thing he had ever done. Their bags were packed, nursery ready in the apartment to two now shared.
And then everything went wrong.
His mother had to have an emergency c-section, complications Arthur didn’t understand and could hardly process when they told him things had gone wrong, and ushered him out into the waiting room, cutting him off from the two most important people in his life. It was an excruciating four hours, pacing back and forth in the waiting room with the few friends who had come for support watching him, wishing they could help more. His worst fears came true as they came to tell him that she didn’t make it through, but his baby boy was unscathed, and he could see him in a few moments. That was 2 years ago. The two still lived in the same apartment, Arthur wanting to keep memories of her alive so Alfred would know her, at least a little bit. There were a few pictures in the boy’s room, hung on the walls near his crib. Arthur was glad he had his boy, of course, he loved him more than anything, but a part of him still missed her. He never got to see what their life may have become together. He’d never felt so...
Alone.
Despite everything he gave Alfred the best childhood he could. And with that, the two were busy, busy, busy, going to everything around them that a child would enjoy. Museums, libraries, parks, zoos, everything that Arthur could find for the apple of his eye. Today, he’d found a library doing a small event for local children, a small story time and craft activity that he thought the boy would like. So off they went, bundled up in the crisp English air, Alfred more so than his father. He may as well have been a ball of bubble wrap in his arms, but the sunny little boy didn’t mind. It was only a ten minute walk from their flat, and the warm air of the library was welcoming as he helped the boy get unbundled, hanging their coats together as the boy quickly found the group of children playing while they waited for the event to begin. The elder Brit took a slow, contented breath. Seeing the boy this happy made everything so worth the struggle. He decided that with the small break he had, the children being watched by some attendants, he would peruse the adult fiction section, looking for something he could read while the event was going on. His hands were stuck in his pockets, his slightly oversized tweed jacket bunched up behind him, showing the plain white t-shirt underneath, tucked into his dark trousers, held in place with a simple black belt. He didn’t pay much mind to the few other patrons around him, glancing over the titles of the books in front of him.