DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hetalia or any of its characters. See end for author's notes.
By the time Alfred joined the other three, the tea Arthur made had gone cold, and lunch was being placed on the table. He sat himself across from Arthur and Matthew and picked at the sandwich in front of him.
"Are ya' going to eat that, or just demolish it?" Seamus asked, plopping down in the chair next to him. Prompting the boy to scoot his chair farther away. Arthur had to give Seamus some credit for trying. He knew he should be putting in more of an effort himself, as he was the one who Alfred would be living with, but he honestly didn't even know where to start. The two of them aren't even close to begin with, and now with Alfred closing himself off, his job would be even harder.
It wasn't that Alfred and Arthur hated each other. Well, maybe Arthur used to hate him- a misplaced hate- but he had been a child at the time. In fact, it wasn't so much hate as it was jealousy, but as an 8-year-old Arthur could hardly differentiate between the two. In his mind, Alfred took his mom away. Matthew was born and his mom had a new family, but she was still around. Alfred was born, and his mom left, abandoned him, fled to an entirely different continent. And all of it was Alfred's fault.
Of course, that was the logic of a child, which he was at the time, and Alfred as a 2-year-old, really wasn't picking up on the hatred Arthur harbored. When they were a bit older, Alfred about five, and Arthur about eleven, the hatred shifted to neglect. Alfred would want to play, Arthur wouldn't exactly act hostile towards him, but he wasn't brotherly either. This was kind of a mix of Arthur feeling 'too cool' to be bothered with a child, and a certain amount of denial that he and Alfred were truly brothers. This, admittedly, may have rubbed off on the younger a bit.
As a teenager Arthur's "brother-issues" were redirected (more accurately) into "mommy-issues." At this point he had a bit of a change of heart towards Alfred, who would have been about ten at the time. He started putting forth an honest effort at a relationship with him, but by then it was Alfred who was resisting. Besides, he had Matthew, and that was good enough for him as far as brothers go.
It's only been in recent years that Arthur has been able to see the situation for what it truly was. Did he still hate his mother's decision to ditch her family and move to the States- admittedly, yes. Though, he did have to acknowledge that- on top of their biannual 'family reunions' on major holidays- she would come and visit as often as she reasonably could. She made it back for most of their birthdays, he supposed. The fact of the matter was, she fell in love with someone new, and when he had to return home she chose to go with him. Had she not abandoned her four eldest children in the process, it would have been a sweet story. All this being said, Arthur was certainly not ready- nor, he supposed, he would ever be- to let bygones be bygones. He had, though, apparently forgiven her enough to mourn her death, attend her funeral, and complete the task of raising her son.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by Matthew who, practical as always, wouldn't allow a mere five minutes of peace without discussing the complexities of their situation.
"So, I guess, this is as good a time as any to kind of talk about the plan… You know school, and what-not."
"I suppose. Your father, Alfred," Arthur turned towards him in an attempt to actually involve him in the discussion, "suggested that we send you to an international school. That way you won't stick out as much." All that earned from Alfred was a scoff, and Arthur had to hold himself back from commenting on the attitude. They'd get there eventually, but he knew, for the time being, it was best to pick his battles.
"If don't like that suggestion it's fine, though if you could tell us why it would helpful in finding a fitting alternative." He just shrugged in response. Arthur wasn't playing this game. He refused to dance around the topic.
"If you don't feel like opening up quite yet, Alfred, that's fine. However, this act is getting old. If you have an opinion on something, you need to share it, or you're just going to make yourself more miserable." Arthur hid his satisfaction at the look of shock that flashed across Alfred's face. Just as he suspected, Seamus wasn't bold enough actually to call him out. Despite Alfred immediately diverting back to whatever façade he was attempting to keep up, Arthur did manage to get a legitimate answer out of him.
"I don't wanna go to some peppy- rich kid school."
"Okay," Arthur reasoned, "that's something we can work with."
"Hey Artie!" Arthur caught a smirk on Alfred's face in response to Seamus's obnoxious nickname for him. He was going to kill his older brother. "Maybe we should send him to our old high school. We had a few international students, he wouldn't stick out too much. Besides, it's not like England and America are that drastically different. The only dead give-away is the accent, and he's not talking anyway!" Seamus seriously had a knack for poorly time jokes.
"How does it sound, Alfred?" Matthew asked. "We can take you to visit before schools, maybe Arthur can show you around." He offered whilst nudging Arthur with his elbow. Oh, how he loved being volunteered against his will.
"Fine, I guess." Alfred mumbled. Back to the three words, but at least it was something.
Hello! I am not dead, I swear. I am so sorry for the lack of an update this week. I had a history essay to write, a final project I had to work on for Drawing, and an exam (all today of course) but now I'm done! And I only have two more exams, so I'm back! Sorry again for the brief hiatus. I tried to make this chapter long to make up for it, though. I had a bit of writings block (my brain is honestly fried right now) so there's some rough spots, and I don't love how I ended it, but I think there were some really good spots too, so I hope you all agree.
Thank you all for your comments, by the way! I'll be sure to respond to them all in the author's notes of my next chapter.