Here it is!
This is a follow up/sequel to my other story, Taking the Blame! If you haven't read it, I suggest that you do before reading this one. It's only three chapters. Won't take you long.
I hope this is okay, and if you guys think it's completely incompetent, tell me and I'll redo it.
I'm serious. I don't want you guys to read something that isn't worth your time.
Thoughts are in bold and Italics. I apologize if Alfred seems OOC.
Anyways, I hope you guys like it! And I don't own Hetalia.
Matthew Williams waved to his hockey teammates as they left after their daily visit. "See you back at school!" shouted Matthias from the sidewalk. That earned him an elbow to the side, courtesy of Nikolas. Everyone still on the street laughed, and Matthew, chuckling to himself, returned inside his house.
If the Dane had not reminded him, Matthew would have forgotten that his suspension was over. The hockey team had kept him updated on everything going on at school. They took turns bringing his homework, and Matthias had dubbed himself Matthew's "Human News Feed" since the Canadian wasn't at school to know what events were going on, and what the latest gossip was. Matthew never knew that so many couples could break up, get back together, and then break up again in a matter of four days. Neither did he know Matthias cared so much about high school drama.
The rest of the team cheered him up in their own ways. Leon and Emil brought him mounds of maple flavoured sweets, ranging from the Icelandic's homemade maple licorice, to the Asian's own maple syrup infused egg tarts. How Matthew wasn't fat yet, no one knew.
Berwald and Tino had brought Tino's dog over. The little white puppy had immediately attached itself to Matthew, and wouldn't let go. The blond kept him for a day when the Finn was at school, and he had to admit that the house seemed homier because he wasn't alone. Besides, Hanatamago reminded him of Kuma...juju?, well if his bear was alive.
Ivan brought him tapes of "The World's Funniest Hockey Fails." When Matthew didn't want to study, it was perfect. What was better than watching pileups on the ice, or the occasional accidental crotch shot when the referee stood a little too close? He really had to thank Ivan, even if the Russian creeped him out a little. Even Vash came by with some cheese and maple syrup. It had been bought, and everyone knows how much Vash likes spending money. The Canadian felt honored.
The Beilschmidts though, really went further than everyone else. Gilbert and even Ludwig had tried convincing their grandfather to let Matthew back on the team. Matthew had listened as Matthias told him about the afterschool arguments in the office, and how Gilbert looked like he was going to bite Mr. Beilschmidt's head off during every single one of them. Ludwig took a more reasonable approach that used less yelling, but had all the same fury behind his words.
More than once, Gilbert had come to Matthew's house later than everyone else, glaring angrily at everything, and muttering German curses under his breath. It was amazing that Mr. Beilschmidt had not kicked his older grandson out of the hockey team yet.
Arthur, though not on the team, came and visited every day, just to check up on him. The student council president checked over his schoolwork, saying something along the lines of "Self-teaching will do you no good, well, neither will the teaching of some particularly incompetent teachers at school, but anyways, this one is incorrect."
Matthew sighed and sat down on the couch in the living room. He hoped the incident was blowing over at school, so he wouldn't have to deal with it. At home, the Canadian still avoided Frederick. In truth, it wasn't that hard when Frederick never talked to his older son in the first place.
The problem at home that troubled Matthew the most was concerning Alfred. Since the second day of his suspension, when Al had returned from school, he hadn't spoken a word to Matthew. The American had opened his mouth a couple times, about to say something, but then he just shook his head and walked away. Afterwards, every time the twins' eyes met, Alfred would wince and look away. The Canadian couldn't figure out what was going on with his brother, and honestly, he was kind of worried.
The sound of the door being opened snapped Matthew out of his thoughts. "Al, is that you?" When the Canadian heard rapid footsteps going up the stairs, he got up and ran. There was no way he was letting Alfred get away without telling him what was wrong.
He almost caught up with Alfred, despite his lack of hockey practice for the past couple days. The American had already made his way into his room and was about to shut the door. "Al, wait!" cried Matthew, although due to his soft voice it sounded more like a loud whisper. Reflexes kicking in, he stuck his foot between the door and the doorframe just as Alfred tried slamming it.
Matthew hissed as the door hit his bare foot, but was glad he had stopped the barrier from closing between him and his brother. Walking delicately into Alfred's room onto what little floor space was left, he approached the other blond, who was sitting on his unmade bed.
"What's wrong?" As soon as that came out of Matthew's mouth, Alfred whirled to face him.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" The older twin was shocked silent by his brother's outburst. "All this time you've sat there silently. Why didn't you TELL me this bothered you? Why did you have someone write that damn letter? Is this your way of taking revenge on me?" 'What am I saying? I want to apologize, not yell at him!'But Alfred found that he couldn't stop. "It makes you happy to see me guilty huh? That I'm finally getting what I deserve." The angry look that the American had on his face was the same as the one he had on when he fought those four people. It was the one that scared Matthew. "Thanks for nothing, brother." Alfred spat out the last word as if it was poison on his tongue. "Now get out."
Too shocked to hide the hurt on his face, Matthew stood up, and left. He was beyond confused. What letter? What revenge? Is this the kind of person Alfred thought he was? 'I see you've returned. How long has it been, three, four days? You're finally questioning yourself again. He seems to hate you now, Matthew. What did you do now?' Numbly walking into his own room, the Canadian blinked slowly. He didn't know. What did he do?
Alfred found himself going on a killing spree in his online game. He needed to get his mind off of things. His partner, Kiku, seem to notice his rampage.
"Are you okay?" asked the Japanese teen. Alfred stopped playing, and he and Kiku went to a video chat.
"You're polite, Kiku, so tell me, how do you apologize to someone?" Kiku didn't really know how to respond.
"In what kind of situation?" Alfred thought about it, and then shrugged.
"I guess it would classify as a sibling argument," replied the American.
Kiku blinked a couple times before answering. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good with sibring arguments either." The Japanese looked truly troubled by the fact that he couldn't help.
Alfred smiled. "It's okay, bro. I can deal with it. No one can resist the hero!" Kiku smiled a bit at his friend's quick change in mood. Sure, he was a bit obnoxious, and loud, and unsubtle, but he was a good person at heart. "Let's keep playing, Kiku! I have asses to kick!"
"Alfred! Dinner!" Amelia called her son down, and hearing rapid footsteps descending the steps, she couldn't help but giggle. Looking over at her husband, who was already seated, they shared a knowing look. No one came between Alfred and his food.
With everyone sitting down, Frederick said grace, and they ate. No one noticed Matthew leaning against the door frame, watching the three other members of his family. The Canadian looked at the table, and saw that there was no plate for him. 'No plate? You mean no place.' Matthew went to the fridge, grabbed the slice of cold pizza that he hadn't eaten for lunch, and returned silently to his room. There was no use in staying. Frederick would probably turn silent, refusing to speak, and with what happened only a couple hours before, so would Alfred. His absence at the table wouldn't be a bad thing. 'Your absence there is a good thing. Don't want to shatter the picture of the perfect family, do you?' The perfect family. Matthew hadn't seen himself in that picture for a long time.
Alfred helped Amelia with the dishes, while listening to the sound of the football game on TV. Frederick sat on the couch watching, and occasionally yelling out questions to Alfred about his future football career.
"Hey, Allie," said Amelia.
"Hey, Amelio," replied Alfred with a laugh.
The blonde woman laughed as well, but then turned a bit more serious. "Is it just me, or do I seem to have fewer dishes today?" Alfred looked over in the sink. Nothing left except little bits of food and some bubbles from the leaky soap dispenser. He shook his head.
"Must be me then. All the food's gone anyways, so nothing seems to be wrong." Amelia poked Alfred playfully in the side. "Except for the fact that my football player son may be getting too fat for his uniform."
Alfred gasped in mock horror. "Daddy!" he cried, "Mommy's being mean!"
Frederick's tone was filled with amusement as he called back, "Better eat less sugar, Alfred! Then she won't be telling the truth!" The three teased each other in ways only family could, and the decreased number of dishes was quickly put out of everyone's minds.
All Matthew could do was block out the laughter from downstairs. It was rather easy, since all he had to do was focus on the complaints of his stomach instead. Cold pizza only went so far. 'Here we are, back again, all alone. They all forgot. Don't you feel loved?' Matthew cringed inwardly, but shrugged it off. No matter what, they were his family, and he couldn't change that. He loved all of them. Why else would he take Alfred's place? 'Keep telling yourself that.'
The Canadian tried to reassure himself. "I will," he whispered. Matthew ignored anything else the little voice in his head had to say, opting instead to finish some assignments. He did have to go back to school soon, after all.
Closing his football playbook, Alfred leaned back in his chair. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something very important. He went over his stack of homework. Nothing there stood out to him. Logging on to his game, he checked for any unfinished requests. Nothing. So what was bothering him?
A video chat noticed popped up. Turning on his webcam, Alfred opened the program. "KIKU! What's up?" The Japanese dipped his head in greeting.
"No, it's nothing important. I just wanted to see if your sibring probrem has been creared up yet."
'Sibling Problem? What sibling pro-' Alfred felt like smashing his face in the wall. Damn it. That's what he had forgotten. "I'm still working that out. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Kiku!"
"Okay, good night." By the way Alfred acted, Kiku knew that he hadn't remember. He hoped the American would figure out how to fix everything, but Kiku wished that he could have helped more. However, when the Japanese teen looked at his online character's stats, he decided maybe Alfred's rampage wasn't so bad. He had collected a lot of gold for the team.
Alfred walked up to the closed door that led to Matthew's room. He tried knocking, then when there was no response, he just started talking. "Hey Mattie, I'm sorry about today. I'm sorry about everything that happened, not only this time, but all the times before. Will you forgive me? I mean I know you might not want to, but still..." Alfred heard nothing from inside. "C'mon Matt, I'm actually apologizing here. Isn't this what you wanted? Can you please answer me? If you don't I'll just think you're not forgiving me." The silence from inside the room made Alfred sad, but also angry.
"So this is your answer? Okay Matt. I'll just leave you alone from now on. This is what you want, right?" The Canadian gave no answer.
"Goodnight Matt." Alfred turned from the door he had been speaking into and went back to his room.
What he didn't know was that Matthew had already gone to sleep, trying to ignore the empty feeling in his stomach, and the loneliness in his mind. The Canadian hadn't heard a word Alfred had said.
To be continued!
I realize I have a lot of linebreaks. I'll work on that.
And maybe you guys think Matthew questioning himself seems to get repetitive. When you're lonely, everything is being questioned. It's a sad place to be in. I speak from experience.
Meanwhile, please tell me what you guys think. I would love reviews, and any Constructive critisism I can get.
Flame for all I care. Again, you're just telling me I can do better.
Thanks for reading!
CCM