He had always been watching from afar. He had been re-gifted the fruit cake and had heard about the fireflies. He had tried his best, to help, to care, to be noticed but whenever Arthur looked at him he was seeing some one else.
For being wanted so much, like a new toy at Christmas and then to be buried in a closet without ever coming out of the packaging, was heartbreaking. He wanted to be the one to cause that laugh. He wanted to go drinking with his brother, even if it was some diabolical plot. He wanted to be unique, because in a way he was. No matter how many times a person thought he was Alfred, there was some quality that Alfred had that no one could replicate.
Gravity.
That was it. He could draw people in and never let them go. So that left Matthew cuddled up with his bear thinking about how much he wished Arthur would talk of loving maple syrup iand stop talking of hating hamburgers.