Cacophony

Part One

"I hear you are to be bonded," Francis mused, stirring a cloud of cream that had mushroomed in his coffee. "Congratulations."

Arthur made a precise knife incision into his blueberry muffin and glared viciously at the Frenchman sat across from him. "Not willingly, I assure you."

"The grapevine is buzzing. Every wolf in the US knows." Francis sucked on his spoon before taking a sip of his coffee. "There's a great deal of envy, you're bonding with a very eligible Alpha bachelor."

There was a faint quirk at the corner of the Frenchman's lips, revealing his amusement. Arthur exhaled remedially to keep himself in check. It took all of his self-possession to not reach over, grab a handful of Francis' precious hair and drag him across the floor by it.

"I don't care how eligible an Alpha he is, he's Alfred sodding Jones!" Arthur ducked his head when his loud protestations caught the attention of one too many customers in the café. "I cannot believe my father has agreed to such a ridiculous suggestion. And now the entire pack believes that this absurd idea will actually resolve everything which leaves with me no bloody choice! Either I bond with that thick-skulled buffoon or I'll be a disappointment to the pack and they'll inevitably shun me!" He was yelling again, frenziedly.

"Mon cher, calm down." The Beta took Arthur's hands and pacifyingly squeezed his fingers. "I understand your resistance to the idea but perhaps– wait, listen to me!– perhaps, this isn't such a bad thing. There will finally be civility between your packs, after decades of fighting, and Boston will no longer be a warfront. You will be able to move freely between each other's territories. That was one of the terms, was it not?"

Arthur wasn't placated and he was already raring to trample down Francis' comments.

"No one is asking you to fall in love with Alfred Jones," Francis remarked, reacquainting himself with his coffee. "You can still live as you do now, you'll just have a mark on your neck."

"And what if I do fall in love?" Arthur seethed.

"It's not like you to be so honest…" The Frenchman lifted a brow at Arthur. "I fully expect you will fall in love with Alfred. I'm sure the consummation will help, I bet you can't wait to have that magnifique body between your legs, hm?" Francis let out a dirty laugh and winked at Arthur. "I'm sure even humans can smell the attraction between you two, especially when you fight and insist you hate each other–"

"No! What in God's name, he is the last person on earth I would want between my–!"

There was a hint of a growl in Arthur's exclamation as his rage teemed over the brim. His composure was rapidly escaping him and the result of allowing his temper to get the better of him was usually detrimental.

Clearing his throat, Arthur continued calculatedly, "I meant what if I fall in love with someone else. Not with him, you stupid tosser. And I am not now, nor will I ever be, attracted to Alfred F. Jones. We have hated each other since were children and the ill-conceived idea of bonding isn't going to alter that. We're sworn enemies for heaven's sake, I was taught that by own family, the very same family that now wishes for me to warm his bed."

Reaching into his wallet, the Omega left his share of the bill beside his mutilated breakfast.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I am done speaking to you."

Snatching up his coat, Arthur left behind the clockwork people inside the café and stomped his way through the streets of New York. No one on earth felt as angry as he did in that moment. Or as humiliated. Or as shamefully close to bursting into tears.

-/-

"Al, come on." Matthew beat his fist against the bedroom door once more. "You'll have to speak to us eventually."

"I don't speak to traitors!" Alfred proclaimed indignantly from behind the door.

"We're not traitors. Stop acting like a child and come out of your room."

Matthew nearly toppled into his twin brother when he swung the door open, almost separating it from its hinges. Alfred had always been one to underestimate his strength and it had caused a lot of damage costs and headaches in the past.

"How am I being a child?! I'm being forced to bond with someone I hate to unite us with a pack I hate. I hate the Kirkland pack and I hate Arthur Kirkland the most. This is so unfair, Mattie!"

"I made pancakes," Matthew offered calmly.

Alfred threw his arms up in the air, waving them about like a drowning man. "Pancakes don't solve everything!"

"Maybe not, but they taste good and I know you've not eaten in almost two hours which is a long time for you."

On cue, Alfred's stomach gurgled obscenely and the tall Alpha slumped after his brother and into the kitchen. His heightened sense of smell had detected the delectable, fluffy pancakes a while ago and he was foaming at the mouth by the time he saw them, sitting forlornly on the kitchen counter.

He took a large helping with a few dozen drizzles of syrup and started, well, wolfing it down. It was in his nature after all.

Alfred's Beta brother wrinkled his nose him.

"Arthur Kirkland isn't that bad and you know it," Matthew said, waiting until Alfred was mollified enough from lining his stomach with sugar.

"Yes, he is," Alfred sulked. "Don't ruin the pancakes for me. They're the only thing happy in my life now."

"You used to have a crush on Arthur."

"When I was like five, that doesn't really count as a crush."

"Actually you were twelve."

The Alpha huffed and turned his back on Matthew to stack more pancakes on his plate.

"Well, I don't have a crush on him anymore and it's not fair that I have to bond with him." Alfred chewed disinterestedly. Discussing his imminent bonding ceremony was really snuffing his appetite. "I wanted to bond with someone I actually cared about, you know, like normal people in the twenty-first century do."

Sighing, Matthew took a seat next to Alfred. His eyes met Alfred's with a genteelness that only he could summon. "We're not normal people though, Al," his brother said heavily.

As proud as he was in regards to his heritage, this wasn't the first time Alfred had wished he had been born human and not a creature that masqueraded as a human.

"I know Arthur can be difficult but all you have to do is say 'yes', consummate the bond and then be civil towards each other. That's it. You might not even have to live together. It has more symbolic value than anything but both of the packs need it to interlink each other. Think how great it'll be once we can go anywhere we want in their territory grovelling for permission. You don't have to miss baseball games, you can get a job anywhere you want, I can finally go to the public library…"

"You're such a nerd, Mattie." Alfred laughed. He laughed at the ridiculousness of his circumstances and the ridiculousness of his brother. The laugh, however, scampered away when a particular word rang a little louder than the rest.

"Wait a minute. Did you say consummate?"