Matthew stared at Alfred with wide eyes. Did he tell his girlfriend that he wasn't even related to him? Of all the things Alfred has ever done, he's never done anything near this before. Especially since he thought they were so close. Was he not worthy of being his brother anymore?
"W-what?"Matthew asked, mouth suddenly dry.
"You're the Canadian foreign exchange student, aren't you? I mean that's what Alfred told everyone." Elizabetta stated with a questioning note in her voice. There were a few moments of awkward silence. Elizabetta realized that she was not needed anywhere in the current vicinity. "I think I should be heading home now... before my parents start to wonder where I am. Bye." With that she opened the door and left.
Matthew's betrayal must have showed on his face for the second Alfred looked at him he quickly looked down and shuffled his feet around. How could he, Matthew didn't even bother him as much as he should. He only rode to school with him, and even then he headed off to his own business. He couldn't understand how he could embarrass him enough to make him deny any relation. Hell, no one even noticed Matthew enough to stop and apologize when they bumped into him in the hallway.
"Why?" He asked faintly, feeling the tears threatening to spill over.
Alfred gave a hearty sigh and then looked up with a guilt ridden face.
"I don't know...I guess the guys saw you coming to school with me and they asked why I was always giving you rides...and they wondered why I hung out with the 'dorky, loner, geek who never talks'." Alfred signed quotation marks to reaffirm the other that he didn't think he was a 'dorky, loner geek'. "And so... I said that you were a foreign exchange student who's staying with my family." Matthew turned on his heel and headed towards his room, the tears careening down his face.
"W-wait! Please come back, I'm sorry! Please!" His words fell on deaf ears.
Matthew slammed the door behind him and ran to his bed. Sitting down on the red and white blanket his arm reached out to grab Kumajirou. Kumajirou was the stuffed bear Alfred gave him. He won it for him when they went to the theme park after their dad died. As to be expected all his hand did was grope empty space. Like they say, old habits die hard, so instead he grabbed his favorite pillow and started to weep into it. Gosh darn it! He wished he had Kumajiro! Hmph, he's such a baby, crying for some dumb plushie...you know what? He didn't fucking care! He wanted him and he wanted him NOW!
Matthew quickly got up and walked to the other side of the room. Right under the drawer was a box full of hair pins, nail files, razors, and key copies. He imagined the lock to his parent's room as he picked up a nail file. Ah, the lock, the only way they can make sure no one goes into their room or walks in on them while they're getting down.Damn, that was a picture he really did not need. He's gonna have nightmares tonight.
After examining it he determined that the nail file should work. He shoved it into his pocket and walked over to the door. Pressing his ear to the crack, he listened for Alfred or anyone else. From the sounds of multiple gunshots, he guessed he was playing CALL-OF-DUTY MW3 in his room.
Wow, he bounces back fast, but he guessed he should have expected that. Alfred's not the type to be in any mood but happy for long. Not even if he's the one being an ass and he knows it, even though he's the self proclaimed hero. Cracking the door open Matthew peeked out and looked both ways down the hall. He couldn't take the chance that his mother would come home and see his tear streaked face. She would demand he told her what happened, in which he would probably cover for Alfred and lose one of his only chances to get Kumajiro back.
There's no one there, that's a good sign. As quickly and quietly as he could he discreetly tiptoed out into the hallway and to his parent's room. The lock is a K8-13 lily lock, and he can only remember working with that type of lock once before. Sadly it was years ago so he has no idea how long this was going to take. He bent down on one knee and put the nail file in. With a few jiggles here and some turns there the lock clicked.
That was easy.
Okay, things seem to be going well so far, but the struggle was only half over. He took a deep breath and opened the door as fast as he could. His father once told him that if given the time everything would make noise; that especially goes for doors. The man knew what he was talking about. Heck, everything his dad talked about, he knew. He didn't just talk the talk, he actually walked the walk. No matter how corny that sounded it was simply true.
As soon as the door opened a wave of cold air came rushing out and settled onto his feet. Why the hell was it so cold in here? It was the middle of winter and the thermostat's cranked up to 90 degrees. If anything it should be sweltering. He wondered what they could be hiding in there, he wouldn't put it past them to do something possibly incriminating.
"No Matthew!" He yelled whispered to myself. "You mustn't think this way. You came here for one reason and one reason only, and that was to get Kumajirou back. You can always investigate your parents later."
After reminding himself that he was spending more time than necessary in the hallway he quickly made his way inside. Kumajirou has to be in there, he knew his mom. She always said memories were precious, and Kumajirou was definitely a memory of sorts, and she was not gonna let his step-dad throw it away. Now if he was a frustrated mother, where would he stick his son's teddy bear? Aha! It has to be in the closet! Duh. He walked to the closet and looked through it. After a thorough rummage he gave up, it was clearly not in there. He made sure to put everything back the way he found it, he be damned if he left some evidence behind that'll get him in trouble. Ugh, where to look? And why is it so freezing in here?
Matthew walked over to the t.v absently, just trying to get an idea of where they might have put it. It's by the t.v that he noticed there was a large section of the room by the bed that one would completely miss if you looked around while standing in the doorway. The section was apparently occupied by a mini fridge, which, by the way, was open. Well that explained why it's so cold in here.
Just as he reached to close the mini-fridge an idea struck. He bent down and lifted his parent's teal blue blankets up to look under. OMG! Kumajirou he found it, it's been too long! Matthew couldn't believe that he was gone for the whole week!
Now, to get the hell out of here, he hugged Kumajirou to his chest and walked to the door with a bounce in his step. He peeked out into the hallway and saw no one coming. As quietly as he could, he shut the door and tip-toed/ran to his room. In all the fun of his break-in and 'theft' he had forgotten he was sad at all.
He guessed that's because being sneaky and not getting caught required a lot of concentration. Sure he might be over playing his stunt a little, but its hard work. That's why he loved his job.
"So how was school, bruder?" Ludwig asked out of nowhere, he was looking down at his plate and messing with his wurst, Gilbert wondered what was up with him he hated it when people played with their food.
"It was good. I didn't get detention today, that's gotta count for something," He replied nonchalantly. In all honesty he had spent the whole day worrying about how he was supposed to do this report. There was no way he could write a 4 page report on something as boring as the Arab/Israeli conflict. It just wasn't possible, or so he thought, but being the awesomeness that is himself, he made it possible.
"Bruder whenever you get that self righteous look on your face it worries me." Ludwig looked at him this time, so he amped up 'The look' to strait up cocky.
"Why? Is it 'cause you know I have the right to be self righteous or are you just jealous?" He asked with a smirk. ludwig started laughing. Now he knew something was up. Ludwig never laughed, just never.
"Gott no, I could never be jealous of you. It's just that when you get that look on your face you're always about to say something—"
"I'M FRICKEN AWESOME!"
"—stupid. I rest my case." Ludwig just shrugged and looked at him.
"Whatever, you know I'm awesome." Gilbert huffed at him. Why does he never admit to his awesomeness? It's not that hard, and why does he keep acting strangely? It's like that time when ki—ohh, he got it.
"So who's the lucky girl and when do I get to meet her?" Gilbert put on his signature smirk. He didn't know West had it in him to ask a girl out. Ludwig seemed stunned and appalled at the same time.
"What makes you think I'm seeing someone?" Ludwig's face was now beet red. Gilbert couldn't remember a time when he had gotten him this flustered before.
"Because it's obviously true. Now tell me who she is before I use my own methods to find out." He answered a bit forcefully. Ludwig gave a sigh of defeat. Gilbert swore that this day was full of firsts.
"Feliciano." Ludwig looked down at his food. He kind of reminded him of when they were little kids and their opa would get mad at them for messing around. Ludwig would feel so guilty, even though he got pulled into Gilbert's scheme.
"First of all, congrats West. Second of all, welcome to the other side of the fence. I'll be your guide and you can call me if your need anything." He tried to pull off a corny sounding introduction that waitresses do at restaurants. He thought he did pretty well.
"Vati-is-coming-home-tomorrow!" Ludwig yelled. If Gilbert wasn't so stunned by the news he would've complimented him on his diversionary tactics.
"What did you say?" He had to have heard him wrong,"Dad could not be coming back. That son-of-a-bitch could NOT be coming back. Not after all that shit he pulled, mein Gott! Who does he think he is? I swear to Gott, if he steps one foot into this house his ass will be mine!"
"Bruder please calm down. I know you don't like vati but I think he has something very important to say please don't hurt him." He looked up at Ludwig, he had a look on his face that was half sympathetic and half stern. He wondered how he could always be so diplomatic, he swore one of these days Ludwig was going to snap and go bat-shit crazy.
"Fine but I'm telling you, if he steps one toe out of line I'm going to kick him from here to Saigon. You got that?" Gilbert couldn't help but relent. This was his brother for Christ's sake.
"Good." Ludwig started eating his food. During the course of our conversation Gilbert had actually lost his appetite.
"Umm, West I'm not that hungry anymore can I just go to my room?" He asked tentatively. Ludwig was one of those guys who needed everything to be neat and proper.
"Sure." Ludwig looked up and met his eyes. Knowing that Ludwig wasn't upset at him and he was in the clear Gilbert picked up his plate and walked to the kitchen. He dumped whatever was on the plate in the trash and set it in the sink. He wondered what was going to happen tomorrow, his dad was not the type to drop in for no reason. He guessed he would have to find out when the time came. For the mean time, he'd just stick to being awesome.
