"Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" Ms. Hedervary looks up from the passage at her class room and smiles, "Okay does anyone have any idea what that means?"

A lone hand rises in the back of the room but quickly darts back down as a white haired man chuckles near the middle, "Why are we learning religious crap in school?"

Her warm green eyes narrow at the senior sitting before her, "Really Gilbert? It was in the curriculum at the beginning of the year and besides you didn't answer my question."

The Albino senior lets out another laugh, "Okay fine um he was getting smart with God which by the way is really not awesome since God could smite his ass."

The whole room erupts in loud laugher as Ms. Hedervary just rolls her eyes. "I saw a hand in the back so does the owner what to give me the right answer?" The class turns around to see a tall blonde boy sitting alone. He looks up through his thin glasses and quickly shakes his head. "Fine…" The end of the day bell rings and quickly the room files out but not before she can give the last assignment, "Wait, just a moment I want everyone to write me an essay on the story and it has to be at least a thousand words and it's due after winter break so everybody has plenty of time to do it." Her eyes fall on Gilbert, "That includes you and you partners in crime."

Gilbert shrugs before darting out the room followed by the rest of the students except for the lone teen that was sitting in the back, "Ms. Hedervary…"

She smiles up at the slightly taller teen, "Yes Alfred what is it?" She had hoped he would have answered the question earlier but she'll take it now, "You know you don't have to wait at the end of the class to give me the answers."

He nods, "Well...he was actually kind of being smart but really he was trying to lie so he wouldn't have to say what he did to his brother."

"At least you were paying attention and will your brother be in class tomorrow?" She folds her arms but continues to smile at him, "Or will I have to track down that couch of his?"

Alfred quickly adjusts his backpack strap, "No he'll be in class tomorrow he just had an away game today." He shrugs returning her smile, "You know how those um games are."

While she doesn't really care about their school's hockey team she just nods, "Sure Al and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Kay bye Ms. H." Alfred turns around and walks out into the crowded hallway. The tall blonde teen sighs as he's nearly tripped turning a corner getting a loud barrage of laughter before he can dart away. The teen hates it when his brother has an away game because it leaves him alone to face the mass of taunts and snide comments of his peers. It's not until he sees one of his few friends does he feel safe, "Hey Feli." He says quietly walking up to the much shorter but livelier teen, "You ready to go?"

Feli looks up at his tall companion, "Ve Alfie let's go before it starts snowing." His hazel eyes shine sweetly at his old friend seeing slight pain in the other's face, "Did something happen today?"

"Nothing unusual, you know same old shit." He rubs the back of his neck uneasily feeling eyes still on the strange pair, "So um…let's go like you said."

The shorter man smiles as he takes the other by the hand making Alfred turn a nice shade of red, "Ve let's go then, oh and remind me to show you my art project later." He lets out a sweet laugh that makes Alfred smile, "It's a good one and…" They stare out at the light snow starting to fall, "Oh…too late." He sighs looking out into the purple sky.

"Well at least it's pretty." Alfred smiles before looking around seeing them alone, "Like shimmering delicate falling stars."

"Ve they are aren't they?" Feli claps his hands together, "I love it when you do that but…why do you do it when it's just us?" He cocks his head before they finally force themselves out into the snow, "You have such a way with words so why hide it?"

Alfred crams his hands in his pockets as he just shrugs, "Don't know really. I mean you know me but…"

The Italian boy nods understanding, "Not everybody is an stronzo."

"Nope just most people." Alfred can see Feli's eyebrows widen, "I just know a few words Dude nothing too amazing."

Again Feli lets out a laugh, "After two years you're still surprising me." He walks out in front of the taller boy, "Is there anything else you're not telling me?"

Quickly Alfred puts on a smile, "Nope." They make it to Feli's small house first to see Lovino starting to shovel snow.

"There you are, our wonderful tomato bastard of a brother went to the store already so if you want anything I suggest you call him now." His slightly older brother says before looking Alfred up and down, "Oh I see you brought the hamburger bastard." He smirks slightly, "Hello Alfred."

Alfred gives him a small smile, "Hi Lovino um I should be going…" Feli quickly wraps his friend in a big hug before dashing up the stairs to his house and disappearing to call his older brother. Lovino shakes his head going back to shoveling as Alfred continues his slow lonely walk home. He's used to it by now especially when he walks up the steps to his own quiet house and unlocks the door.

The whole house is cold and dark as he turns on the TV just to break the silence around him. "Well I'm home if anyone cares." He laughs to himself as he turns on the light to the kitchen, "Nope guess not." He turns to the refrigerator, "Yeah that figures." He closes the door letting out a deep sigh before turning back to the living room and the flickering TV.

It's nothing new for him but it doesn't make it easier to deal with, for years it was mostly him and his brother together but now even his brother seems like a distant stranger to him. And it sits hard with him but he knows eventually the season will end and with any luck his brother will notice him again as more than the guy that cooks dinner and looks like him. "Yeah…when the hell did that happen?" He chuckles going to his homework, "Oh why did I decide to take Latin?" He says grabbing his small dictionary, "Oh it's going to be a long night."

A jeep pulls up and parks in the driveway before a tall blonde teen jumps out grabbing his duffle bag and his hockey stick before walking up to the door, "Al, you home Bro?" He asks seeing his brother asleep on the couch with the TV still flickering, "Aww…" He chuckles to himself as he grabs a blanket and lays it gingerly over his twin brother, "Night Alfie."

Alfred turns over wrapping himself in the warm blanket muttering still asleep, "Mattie…"

Matthew's heart melts for his younger twin before he ventures into the kitchen and the dinner he knows waiting for him, "Hmm let's see." He grabs a plate of chicken out of the refrigerator before seeing a small hand written note for him, "Hmm…read from pages 98 to 104 and…thousand words?" He crumples up the paper and tosses it to the side, "Not too bad."

He looks over at his sleeping brother one more time before venturing up the stairs to his room as his phone goes off, "Hello?"

"It's the awesome me asking how the game went? I bet it went awesome." Gilbert laughs into the phone.

Putting down his dinner Matthew smiles, "It did we kicked their butts hard." He thinks back to the easy defeat of the rival team, "They didn't know what hit them. So did I miss anything?"

There's a slight pause for a moment, "Not much but…"

"But what? Gil?"

"The awesome me noticed that your brother was getting some un-awesome attention from some assholes…again."

"Maple!"

"Hey don't use that language with me." Gilbert laughs, "Sorry man…no I'm not the awesome me is funny."

Matthew sighs, "Gilbert focus." He sits on his bed, "What did they do?"

The blonde teen can tell that the other is just shrugging, "Gil…for the last time I can't see when you shrug."

"But you can tell and I just saw laughing his way before he took off but nothing else I mean come on Birdie why doesn't he stick up for himself? When you hit Ivan across the face with your hockey stick well the awesome me nearly died from laughter but it stopped the bullying."

"Yeah but he's not me and besides I nearly got expelled for that as my Dad calls it my little stunt." He shutters at the thought of his father's death look, "He nearly killed me cause he had to grab a plane back from England to stop them from expelling me."

"Oh talkative tonight aren't we?" Again Gilbert lets out a laugh, "Anyway the awesome me will see you tomorrow."

Matthew shakes his head before going back to his chicken and for a moment he actually shares Gilbert's thought, "Why does he take it?" He finishes his dinner before quickly changing and sliding into bed thinking that he'll have to ask his brother because if he can stand up for himself why can't his twin? It's not like he'll be by Alfred's side forever or anything. He sighs drifting off to sleep, "I'm not his guardian or anything."