It was a long walk back home, to Matthew's house. Gripping at the soft mittens covering his pale fingers, the blonde coughed into the inside of his elbow, clutching at a bag of groceries for his brother in his free hand. He clears his throat, cursing his brother for sending him out so late at night to grab butter. Butter, of all things! Alfred could be such an idiot sometimes, sending him out for the simplest of things, and yet Matthew couldn't go and say "no". The poor boy could barely even say "no" to anything anyone said, especially his brother. That, and...
"H-hey, Al!"
Stopping in his tracks, Matthew quirked an eyebrow, but didn't turn around. He knew that voice... Getting confused with his brother was tiring enough as it was, but for him to confuse him... He didn't answer, just standing still and looking down at the snow beneath his boots.
"Um...?"
Then did he begin to speak up, a bit strongly. "...yes?"
"Okay I'm so glad you can't see my face right now ohgod I didn't know you were here and I hope you know who I am I'm not a stalker-" This was all said in one sentence, without any breaths in between. Of course, it wasn't that amazing. The person had said much longer sentences in about the same way.
Matthew rolled his eyes, but didn't turn back around, furrowing his eyebrows in mild confusion. "...mmhmm?"
"Um, I just wanted to say Ilikedyou and crap, okay I think I should go now."
First, his heart skipped a beat, and his face flushed. But when he realized this was directed towards his brother, who he had been mistaken for, his heart sunk to his stomach, and his eyes watered, expression turning blank as he turned around, looking at Yong Soo with a bitter look. He didn't say a word, too shocked and heartbroken at the same time to say anything that wasn't crude.
Yong Soo paled when their eyes met. "M-Mattie?" Oh god, he blew it. For one thing, he knew that his best friend hated being mistaken for a twin, and he had just done it. Why was he so damn clueless? "U-um.. Oh... Oh! I mean, er..." He tried to force out a coherent sentence to explain what he just said. "What I meant was- I mean, I knew- well, I-I didn't, but... just... n-never... mind." His shoulders slumped in defeat.
Matthew felt his body tremble in the effort to not lash out at the other. He had made such a bad mistake. And Yong Soo never mistaked them for one another. This was just... unexplainable. There were no words for how bad Matthew felt. He hated it. "...I need to get home." He lifted the arm with the bag of groceries in it to further explain his poor excuse, and took one last blank look at Yong Soo before running off. He chewed on his lip in the attempt to not cry, but the tears ended up falling without effort. Why now? Why today?
"Matthew!" Yong Soo called after the other, his attempt to stop him fruitless.
Reaching his home in due time, Matthew threw the door open, slamming it closed afterwards. He threw the groceries onto the counter without care, hurrying upstairs and ignoring the concerned calls of his brother from the main room. Oh, how he hated this. He hated this so much, there was no word to explain it. He shut his bedroom door after entering with a shout of anger, leaning against the mahogany and falling to the floor, letting out a choked sob.
"Mattie? You okay?" Al's voice called, muffled through the door. "What happened? I'll kick someone's ass if I need to!"
Slamming his fist against said door in frustration, Matthew managed to mutter, "Go away."
"Hey, don't get like that! I know you're upset, so lemme help you out, kay?"
"..." There was the sound of the lock turning, and Matthew was standing there, head down as he looked at the carpet, and not his brother. He didn't say a word, yet again, shaking.
Al placed his hands on his brother's shoulders. "Just tell me what's up. Did anyone say anything to you?"
The other blonde flinched at his touch, and he balled his hands up at his side. He managed a shake of the head, refusing to speak.
"Mattie...?" Al's blue eyes were soft and worried, his voice unusually soft.
Matthew looked up at the tone of voice, eyes darker than usual. He growled, slightly, shaking tremendously now.
Al stepped back, eyes wide. "Mattie?"
"I'm. Fine," The Canadian felt himself fall forward, and he grabbed Alfred by the collar, pushing him to the ground with a shove. "Perfectly. Fine." He, himself, knew that this was a lie, and his fist flew forward, it connecting with Al's jaw before the other blonde could even react to being pushed the the floor.
"Ah!" Alfred reached for his chin, rubbing it and looking at at the other, eyes wide. "H-hey! What the hell?" He snapped, trying to sit up and push Matthew off. "What's wrong with you?"
"You're what's wrong!" the other screamed, covering his face with his hands to hide the upcoming tears. "You're the problem! I hate you! Get out of my life!" For having loved the poor Korean for so long, and then having said boy's confession to him, and not his brother-who it was directed to-really struck a nerve. He wasn't quite sure of what he was doing anymore, and threw yet another punch at his look-a-like, declaring his hatred for him and calling him names he usually wouldn't if it were another occasion-for example, a stolen candy, or missing homework. No, this was much different. "I hate you, Al! You... a-and him... and..." He suddenly pulled himself upright, eyes widening as he froze.
"H-him?" Alfred questioned, his face a picture of shock. "Mattie. What. Happened?" he demanded, trying to understand what made his brother turn so... different. Violent.
Pulling away, sharply, Matthew ran off, returning not too long with some duct tape, a rope, and some scissors. "Stay still, and it won't hurt... brother." He approached the other blonde, face completely blank.
"What the fuck?" Alfred took a step back. "What are you doing? Mattie, what did I do?" He asked, desperate, wanting at least an answer.
Matthew paused, only for a second, before slamming his brother against the wall, harshly. "Everything."
"Troublesome," Matthew muttered, closing the door of the bathroom aftter stepping in, setting a pair of scissors down, along with some hairgel, and a hair straightener (borrowed from his parent's room, back when they lived with them). "He's such a bother. Always getting in my way... Well! I'll show them."
He tore his winter hat off, looking in the mirror, sharply, and noticing just how much he had been crying. He rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself. Grabbing the pair of scissors, he pulled it towards his hair, chopping off his hair to the point of being just curled underneath his ear. He made sure it was a bit longer against the back of his neck, as his brother's hair was. He eventually reached the stray strand of hair that never stayed put, cutting it off. Matthew grabbed for the hair gel, taking the hair that had specifically cut just for this part. He took an enormous amount of gel, slicking it through the hair and curving it, as if a crescent moon. He poked at it, just for sure measurements, and nodded when it bounced, but did not fall apart. This was good.
The blonde looked up when he thought he heard something, but shook his head afterwards, passing it as the wind with only a bare hint of a smirk. He threw on his nightclothes and walked to his bedroom, pausing halfway through his doorway before turning around and going across the hall, to his brother's room. He wrenched the door open, not even bothering to wrinkle his nose at the mess like he usually did, and immediately went for Al's dresser, grabbing a t-shirt (Matthew noted that this was just a size or two bigger than he usually wore) and some pants to sleep in. He went to go change, but then paused, face flushing only a little in realization.
If he was really going to go through with his plan...
With a sigh of defeat, Matthew grabbed a pair of boxers as well, pulling those on and ignoring how they constantly kept slipping off of his hips, pulling on the t-shirt afterwards. He grumbled to himself again, climbing into his brother's messy bed and shutting off the light, closing his eyes. But he didn't fall asleep. Oh, no, he did not. It took him at least three am until he had fallen asleep, waking up not two hours afterward to get dressed and catch his bus.
"Hungry..." He made his way to the kitchen, fixing himself a bowl of cereal-cheerios, to be exact. Matthew ate his cereal without the milk, too tired to bother with such a silly product. After finishing his breakfast, the blonde shuffled back upstairs, pulling out a shirt and jeans from his brother's closet, changing into those after a bit of fumbling. He grabbed a belt, having to pull it to its smallest, much to his disappointment. He grabbed his brother's favourite bomber jacket, pulling it on and heading on over to the bathroom.
After brushing his teeth and combing out his newly-cut hair, Matthew practiced pulling off his brother's smile. It took about fifteen minutes before he got it down, going to practicing with the way his brother spoke, wanting to really nail this one. This one took about half an hour, and he cried out in success once he got it down. He pulled on his brother's brown boots and exchanged his glasses with his brother's, blinking when he realized that their glasses were the same prescription.
He hurried down the stairs when he spotted the bus arriving at the corner by their house, calling out, "I'm leaving!" and heading out the door, running for it. There was a honk of a horn, and Matthew just barely managed to step on before the doors closed. He took a deep breath before walking to the back, where he always saw his brother sitting. He spotted spiffy, stiff-upper-lip, British-as-fuck Arthur, sitting exactly where he always did, reading some just-as-British book. Matthew straightened up, forcing a silly grin onto his face, just as his brother would do, and bounded over to Arthur, startling the poor boy as he sat down. "Hey, Artie!" he cried, feeling absoloutely giddy with how well he was at posing as his brother.
"Hmph," was the other's simple answer. Arthur looked up at him, his thick eyebrows rising slightly. He snapped the book shut, knowing that it would be impossible to read, not with the idiot near him.
As usual, just before the doors were about to be closed, Yong Soo ran into the bus, he jacket half-zipped up, his hair still a mess, and his backpack slung over his shoulder. "Hey, Al!" He grinned, as if nothing had happened.
Looking up, Matthew remembered who he was now and flashed him a grin, patting the seat beside him. "Hey, man!"
"Hey~!" Yong Soo said excitedly, sitting next to him and smiling. He looked around, his grin slipping. "Is Mattie not comin' to school today?
Matthew... no, Falsefredshook his head. "Nope. He said he didn't feel all-too-good, and said he might have gotten a cold! So he said to leave without 'em!"
"Oh, really?" Yong Soo pouted slightly. "I wanted ta talk to him..." He sighed, disappointed. "Oh, well! I hope he gets better!"
Falsefred chuckled. "I'll let 'em know ya said that." He looked back at Arthur, and then back at Yong Soo, grinning even wider. "Hey, hey! Ya wanna hang out later today?"
"Hang out?" Yong Soo tilted his head to the side, biting his lip, and nodded enthusiastically, his flyaway curl bouncing slightly. "Yeah! Screw homework!"
"Awesome, bro!" Giving him a playful punch in the arm, Falsefred gave him a soft smile, the expression in his eyes one of excitement.
Lunch was... well, lunch. Kiku took his bento out of his bag, and Yong Soo laughed at how girly it looked.
"Seriously, Hello Kitty chopsticks?"
"You took the last set of wooden ones."
"Ha. Excuses, excuses~!"
"They are not excuses." Kiku looked up at Yong Soo from under his straight black bangs. "I'm not exactly the childish one here."
"Are you saying I am?"
"You're so loud..."
"You are! He is, isn't he, Al?"
Falsefred looked up from his lunch, furrowing his eyebrows before laughing, shrugging as well. "Yong Soo's the loud one!" he exclaimed, in that hero-tone of his brother's.
Yong Soo pouted. "Nooo! Even Al's against me!" he whined, before grinning devilishly. "Though he's louder than me!"
"Oh God. Not this again," Arthur mumbled under his breath. The whole "Who's louder, Alfred or Yong Soo?" argument has been going on for at least two months.
"You're much louder than I-" Falsefred blinked, and then shook his head. "Me! You're louder than me, stupid!"
Yong Soo tilted his head to the side, confusion clouding his eyes before his grin snapped back. "Hell no! I have restraint!"
"Restraint my heroic ass!"
"I know when to shut up!" Yong Soo retorted.
Falsefred shook his head, slamming his hand on the table with an excited grin. Getting into character, he was. "That is a total lie! You're the loudest of the loud!"
"Nuh-uh! You make my ears bleed! I swear, last Friday you screamed 'I'M THE FUCKING HERO!' so loud it echoed in my head all weekend!"
The imposter-Alfred leaned forward so that he was in Yong Soo's face, across the table, a cocky smirk making its way to his mouth, curling his lips in the way his brother's did. Oh, he was good. "Don't even get me started on you and your 'aniiiiiki' this and 'da-ze' that!" All the while, he mocked Yong Soo in a falsetto, making faces at the other and even using his hair to imitate Yong Soo's hair curl.
"H-heyy! No fair!" Yong Soo snapped, flushing. "You're way more annoying! I'm being cute and spontaneous!"
"Me? More annoying? Hah!" Falsefred leaned forward even more, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "You are the one that's always-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the school bell rung, announcing that lunch was over.
Falsefred looked up, frowning and pulling back to grab his plate and stand up to throw it away. After, he flashed Yong Soo a friendly, yet competitive grin.
Yong Soo chewed the inside of his cheek, still pouting. "I didn't lose!" He shouted at the other, picking up his own tray and heading towards the trash.
"Ya didn't win either!" Falsefred called back, wiggling his eyebrows a bit as he headed out to his next class after grabbing his bag.
"Screw you!" Yong Soo called, hoping he would have the last word.
Feeling a bit daring now, with this disguise of his, Falsefred retorted, "Gladly!"
Making a face at the other, he left with Leon to go to their next class.
"It's hot," Yong Soo complained for the fifth time on the walk. "Er, cold. Cold, I mean."
Falsefred gave him a look, one of both annoyance and amusement. "Make up your mind, won'tcha? Is it hot, or is it cold?"
"Hmph. It's temperate."
"...don't you big words," the blonde muttered, even though he knew what he meant. He kicked at the snow below his feet, looking back up at Yong Soo with a grin. He had to keep his mask up, or else the other would find out all-too-soon who he really was.
"Hey, did you shrink?" Yong Soo asked suddenly. "Or did you just not wear your heels today?" he teased.
The other made a face, and narrowed his eyes, pushing Yong Soo's arm playfully. "Hell no. You're just imagining things."
"I thought you were kinda taller." Yong Soo said, frowning.
"It's the, uh... the incline." Falsefred pointed to the ground, quirking an eyebrow at the Asian.
"Incline. You just said not to use big words," Yong Soo said, snickering.
"It's not a big word." Falsefred grinned. "It's a medium word."
"I noticed something!" Yong Soo exclaimed, suddenly jumping to another subject.
Faltering for just a step, Falsefred looked over at a tree, signaling that they were almost to his house. He glanced back at Yong Soo, questioningly. "Yeah?"
"Most curse words are only one syllable."
"...I see." The blonde chuckled, looking back at the sky with an amused smile on his face. "You're silly, ya know," he muttered, enough for Yong Soo to (hopefully) hear.
"Hm? Nah! Not at all~!" The other sang, suddenly running ahead once he saw Alfred's house. "Maybe I shoulda brought something for Mattie!" He called over his shoulder.
"No, no, it's fine!" he replied afterward, running after to try and catch up with him. He unlocked the door and tore off his shoes, hurrying up the stairs after telling Yong Soo to wait. Falsefred walked into his (as in Matthew's) room, shutting it after looking around and thinking of what he could tell the brunette. After arriving back downstairs, a little out of breath from running, he stated, "Matthew's at the doctor's... He left a note, so... Sorry, bud."
"Awwww." Yong Soo sighed and shrugged. "Well, that means he'll get better, soon!"
"..right." Falsefred shot him a smile, and led him to the main room, announcing that Yong Soo could have any snacks or drinks, as long as he asked, and to make himself at home. He realized how polite that sounded, and let out a loud laugh. "I sound just like my brother! Ugh~" He laughed again, rummaging around his pantry before coming back and sitting down on one of the couches, grinning over at Yong Soo.
The brunette was still standing, and threw his bag unceremoniously on the ground. "Soooo~"
The blonde quirked a blonde eyebrow. "Hmm?"
"No idea!" Yong Soo exclaimed happily, ran to the kitchen. "I'm getting food!"
"You do that." Falsefred chuckled again. He perked up, remembering something his brother had said to him. "Just don't eat the Big Mac I left in there! That's my dinner tonight!"
"Hmph. Those are gross!" Yong Soo said, coming back with a bag of chips in hand.
"Good thing you think that..." He frowned, fidgeting slightly at his own mistake. "I-I mean... They're not! They're delicious! You know you shouldn't say that to me! Meanie!"
"Meanie? Ha! I'm totally not mean! I'm like, a freaking philanthropist!"
Falsefred made met another face at his declaration. Even he didn't know that word. "You're a what...?"
"SOMEONE WHO LOVES PEOPLE!" Yong Soo yelled tirumphantly. "I'm better at English than you, and it's not even my first language! Ha!"
"Sh-Shut up!" the other snapped back. He narrowed his eyes, the word 'love' hitting him harder than it should have, but trying to ignore it. "Whaaatever! I'm so much better at English than you! Supercalifragilisticexpe... somethin'-somethin'!"
"Expialy-do... shus!" Yong Soo frowned. "That's not a real word!"
Falsefred deadpanned. "...is that even English."
"NO. IT'S POROROCAN."
"...uh?" The blonde shook his head, grinning once again to get back into character. He tossed a pillow at Yong Soo, shouting, "Catch!"
"Hey!" Yong Soo ducked. "Ha! Haneul's always throwing shit at me, so I'm like a ninja!"
"Oh, really now?" His grin widened, and he glanced to the side, before tackling the other to the ground, crying out in victory. "Gotcha!"
"Hey! Get off!" Yong Soo snapped, trying to shove Falsefred off. "Why are you so damn strong?"
"I work out," he teased, leaning forward a bit and wiggling his eyebrows as he pinned the other's hands above his head.
"Gay much?" Yong Soo muttered, trying to simply sit up.
But Falsefred wouldn't allow that. He shook his head, pushing him back down onto his back.
And kissed him square on the mouth.
Finn: oh look another fic with multiple parts
Alfie: I DOUBT WE'LL FINISH IT.
Finn: no because we're continuing. RIGHT NOW. AND THEN WE CONTINUE "GONE". :U
Alfie: Oh, okay. Got it! :D
Finn: So, thanks for reading. I love fics where Mattie and Al switch places. Though in this case, Mattie is just an identity thief. FALSEFRED. We love reviews. *casual eyebrow raise*
Alfie: /too busy laughing while watching Finn type things out and taking for-fucking-ever to edit her mistakes
Finn: ...nyyeeeehhhhh. DO YOUR DAMN PART. /
Alfie: O-Okay, okay! Ah, anyway! Thank you for reading, if you did! (I would hope so, considering you may or may not be reading this.) We hope to get the next part up soon! :)