Alfred woke to the sound of his alarm. He groaned and rolled over, starting to swat at his bedside drawer in attempt to shut it off. In the procedure of doing so however, he managed to roll out of bed. He sat up rubbing the bump on his head, found his glasses and shut the alarm off. He begrudgingly started to plod downstairs to the smell of pancakes and honey.

'That's right, Mathews staying over' he thought to himself. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cup of coffee that was left on the breakfast bar.

"Hey, that's mine!" said Mathew, he got a grunt in return.

"Dude chillax, it's just coffee!"

"Well I was hoping to get more than a sip before you stole it from me!" Alfred rolled his eyes and made his way further into the kitchen.

"Pancakes smell good." he remarked earning a grin in return.

"Go sit down and I'll bring them through in a minute." Alfred did as he was told and went to set the table for breakfast. After he was done he noticed the date read on the calendar on the wall. The 31st December. That's right, it was new years eve. Usually this would set him into an excited frenzy and he would proceed to invite everyone in his directory over for the evening, but not today. He was currently in a massive argument with Arthur and that had made a big effect on his mood lately. It was over something so small (as usual) but he felt really bad over it, but being as stubborn as he was, he would never admit that to anyone (maybe Mathew) and of course Arthur was just as stubborn, so this was going to need a push from someone on the outside (again, it would probably be Mathew). On cue, Mathew came in and set the plates down and the two ate in silence.

"Why's it so difficult?" Alfred randomly exclaimed whilst they were doing the dishes.

"Do you mean you and Arthur?" Mathew knew this had been bothering his brother for three days now and it probably wasn't going to get any better until they sat down and worked out what to do about it. It always worked like this, Arthur and Alfred would have a fight, and he and Francis would pick up the pieces. He didn't mind in the least though, he liked it when Alfred was happy, his bad mood just wasn't… right. It didn't suit him at all, this depressing aura and annoying as he was, even Mathew preferred his cheerful side.

"Hey," he began.

"What?"

"Why don't me and you just go out to the pub for New Year's Eve? I know I don't usually like that sort of thing, but it could be fun."

"Sure, okay then, I think I'd like that" Alfred seemed to brighten up a bit and when he went to go for a shower, Mathew headed for the phone…

-Le Time Skip-

It was 7o'clock and the two brothers were by the door getting their shoes on, ready to go out for the evening.

"You ready?"

"Yup."

"Let's get going then." Mathew said with a smile as the two made their way out into the cold December evening. Just as they got in sight of the pub, Alfred let out a sigh.

"I'm kinda glad we're not having a party this year, I mean I don't think I realised until now, but this sort of quietly celebrating pretty fun too." Mathew was glad with that sentence and smiled at his brother as they entered the pub. There was a lot of people in and they were all laughing at their tables and their were some men just happily drinking at the bar. There weren't any rowdy people out which was a huge relief of Mathews shoulders, he tended to avoid places like this a lot, but this wasn't bad at all. They got a table and as Alfred went to the toilet Mathew saw what he was looking for. He signalled for Francis and Arthur to come over and greeted them both and once they'd all settled, Alfred returned on perfect timing. Alfred noticed Arthur and suddenly realised what this was all about, he walked up to the table.

"I suppose you think this is all very clever, do you? Scheming behind my back."

'Here we go' thought Mathew as he watched Arthur get up and the argument began. One of the bartenders came over and advised the two to 'step outside' which, after they'd grabbed the coats, they did, leaving Francis and Mathew giggling to themselves through their pint glasses.

"Were you in on this?" Alfred demanded

"NO! Mathew said that Him, Francis and I were going to meet up for a quiet New Years drink, but I suppose I can never have a good time, so long as you're involved!" Arthur eyes had started to water up now as he continued his yelling. Alfred felt bad but his stubbornness kept stopping him from saying anything. Instead, he pulled Arthur into a huge bear hug and they stayed like that as Arthur calmed his sobs.

"Sorry" Alfred finally managed to say out.

"Yeah, me too." The two pulled away and went back in holding hands. As they came over two the table, Francis and Mathew smiled at each other.

"Sorry for causing a fuss, it's all done now."

"Good, lets drink to that!" said Francis an the four of them all sat together and celebrated and reminisced the past year until about 11 at night. They all went back to Alfred's and watched the New Year celebration on the tele together before Francis and Mathew had gone home and Arthur and Alfred were left sitting on the sofa sitting together just flicking through the channels.

"Happy New Year Artie."

"Happy New Year, and stop calling me that."

"Sure thing… Artie." Instead of retaliating, Arthur burst out laughing and soon the two of them were rolling around on the floor together in uncontrollable fits of laughter. As the stopped, Alfred went to get a blanket, seeing as they were both tired and Arthur didn't feel like going home and the two of hem feel asleep on the sofa, Arthur's head on Alfred's shoulder and Alfred's head resting on top of Arthur's and there they stayed until the morning they both woke up with very painful and stiff necks.

THE END and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE ;D