Hey there guys, this update's a little late. XD I've had a bit of a scrambled mind the past week, hence this being posted on technically Monday instead of the weekend, since it's past midnight right now. To make it up though I'll post next week's chapter on Friday or Saturday instead of Sunday or borderl-ining Monday again. XD Sound good?

Either way, thank you all as always for reading, following, and all of that good stuff.

Now then, onward with the chapter!~

P.S.: Thank you guys so much for giving me 1,000+ views on this story! It means so much, I can't even full express it to you! Spasibo, spasibo!~

Chapter 5: The First Morning, Part 2

Matthew was surprised at how silent his brother was when he joined up with him and Toris again. Quietly, in French, he asked what it was that Ivan had wanted, only to be told it was just a shoe-shine. When he furrowed his brow and tried to prod for more information, Alfred kept dodging the question and eventually he dropped it.

Alfred decided to take the less tedious job and began to clean one of the two downstairs bathrooms, which luckily didn't include bathtubs making his life a little bit easier then and there. Toris and Matthew started on the vacuuming, and Alfred did his best to occupy his mind with scrubbing and mopping so as to put the awkward moment from earlier behind him.

The young American lad honestly didn't know what to think of what happened. When him and Matthew began experiencing sexual awakenings, their parents educated them and told them that what was happening to them was perfectly natural. The twins had always been very close, and neither of them had ever really become interested in the opposite sex. Falling in love with and expressing physical love with another man felt more natural to them; perhaps it was because both of their parents were males. Women were pretty, but just didn't do it for them.

One night, the twins had decided to see what it would be like to experience sexual release with another person. When they began exploring one anothers bodies, nothing felt wrong and everything felt natural. While they couldn't bring themselves to perform the main event, they found themselves completely comfortable with foreplay and touching one another. They knew they loved each other very much and they knew they could trust one another; it was the reason why they were able to feel natural about it.

Alfred almost hated to admit that on more than one occasion, he found himself fantasizing about what it would be like if he and Matthew took things all the way. It was almost narcissistic of him to think that Matthew was beautiful because they were identical twins, but there were just some little differences between them and frankly, Matthew was the cutest thing in the world to him. He was his precious, adorable baby twin brother who blushed and squeaked and when he was embarrassed, turned light pink and would stutter, "M-maple leaf..." If there were anyone in the world he could give his first time to and feel like he'd never regret it, he knew it would be with Matthew.

Our little hero hated even more to admit that these thoughts were surfacing because of the ever-confusing Russian who had purchased them to begin with. In the months before, he and his family had no idea what was going to become of them; if they were going to be kept and executed, or simply imprisoned for the rest of their natural lives, or sold off as they had been. Suddenly, so many thoughts and ideas were in his head that he couldn't keep track of what was even possible anymore.

One thing was still certain above all else, though: Alfred absolutely feared the Russian man. That thought alone was enough to keep him worried; he hadn't ever been afraid of anything before, except for ghosts.

Alfred, in the middle of carrying his bucket of cleaning supplies up the stairs, suddenly stopped and smacked his forehead with one hand. It was already that bad; Ivan had him scared for his life. That was exactly why he hadn't tried to run for it when he had bid his master goodbye at the front door.

He wasn't in America anymore. He wasn't free to think, speak or do anything on his own anymore. He was someone's property, and that brought about an entitlement to Ivan. That was the sort of power that scared him about the man.

Who knew what he could do to him.

"Alfie?"

Alfred snapped his head up from where he was bent over scrubbing the bath tub, straightened up and turned to the door where Matthew stood. "Yeah, Bro?" he questioned.

"Toris and I just finished the vacuuming, so I'll get started on the other bathrooms, m'kay?" Matthew said with a cock of his head.

"Mm, yeah, okay!" Alfred replied with a nod. It then just dawned on him that he had no idea what time it was; he was going to ask Matthew if he knew, but he figured he didn't have a clue, either.

Matthew nodded back and, lingering for a few more moments, he asked, "Are you sure you're okay, Brother? You seem a little preoccupied..."

"Oui," Alfred did his best to insist. "I'm fine."

Matthew's brow furrowed once again, but he then said, "D'accord." He then turned on his heels and started down the hallway.

Alfred then turned back to the tub and hung his head, sighing as he did his best to pull himself together.

He didn't want to spend the entire day getting lost in his own head.

Alfred wasn't proud to admit he had half-fallen asleep while scrubbing beneath the sink. Especially when a blood-curdling scream came from down the hall where he knew Matthew had started on cleaning Ivan's office, startling his head to snap up and whack against the bottom of the hard object.

"MAAAAAAAAAPLLLLLLLE LEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAF!" came his younger brother's cry of distress as loud footsteps were heard scurrying down the hall.

"Mattie, Mattie!" Alfred called out as he scrambled to the door as a lump throbbed atop of his head. "What's the mat-" He then tripped over the skirt of his frock and fell onto his face in the hallway, letting out a cry when Matthew's feet ran into and tripped over him, landing atop of him. "Ugh..." Alfred whined in pain.

"M-m-ma-ma-maple leaf..." Matthew whimpered as he shook and did his best to push himself up off of his elder twin's body. "D-désolé, Frère..." ("S-sorry, Brother...")

"Boys, what's the matter? Why all of the noise?"

Alfred pushed himself up onto his aching knees as Katyusha and Toris came toward them. He soon found himself blinking at the covered breasts of the worried Russian woman, who knelt down in front of him and pat the top of his hurting head. "You sound like you saw a ghost!"

"I did!" Matthew wailed, flailing his arms as he stood up.

"Come on, there's no ghosts in this house." Toris said with an amused grin. "We've been here for five years and never saw any ghosts."

"But I did, I did - I saw a ghost, I saw a ghost!" Matthew insisted as tears flew down his cheeks in fear. "Wait okay no I didn't see a ghost, but I felt it touch my leg!"

Matthew then shrieked again when he felt something brushing up against his leg and soon clung onto Alfred from behind when Katyusha stood them both up. "Maple leaf, it's gonna get me!" He then lifted up the back of Alfred's dress, making him yelp and surprised everyone present by trying to shove the upper half of his body beneath it. "Big Brother, hide me!"

"M-Mattie, let go of me!"

SLAM!

Katyusha and Toris were soon blinking at the boys, having fallen down onto the floor with Matthew hidden beneath Alfred's frock. "Ow..." Alfred moaned with his face flat against the floor.

"What is going on here?"

All four of them suddenly blinked at the sound of Ivan's voice; Katyusha and Toris turned around and each gave a smile and greeting to their relative as Matthew struggled to pull himself out of Alfred's dress.

"Oh, welcome home, Brother! How did the meeting go?" Katyusha asked with a perky smile and jiggle of her large jugs.

"Fine, Sestra." Ivan then leaned over, picking Alfred up by the back of his dress when Matthew successfully extracted himself from it, making the boy struggle and scramble as the back of it was hoisted up, showing off the puffy bloomers that lay beneath the ridiculous article of clothing. "What are you doing on floor? Slacking off?"

"N-no-non, not at all, Master, I swear!" Matthew squeaked out, bowing over and over again in submission.

"Da, I can vouch for that, Uncle. They've been hard at work all morning since you left." Toris replied as he leaned over. "It's just that Matthew got a scare from this little guy when he was in the office."

Alfred and Matthew then both turned their heads as Toris straightened back up, holding a fluffy seal-point cat with light blue eyes in his arms, who gave a quiet meow. Matthew then blinked several times before he said, "A cat?..."

"Yeah, Pushka likes to hide out in Uncle's office most of the time, so we often forget that she's in there." Toris responded. "She must've fallen asleep under the couch again, I suppose."

"Man, I'm glad it wasn't a ghost..." Matthew said with a sigh of relief, holding his hand to his chest. "Ghosts really freak me out."

"Like you're one to talk..." Alfred mumbled before he huffed. "Will you put me down already?!" Alfred asked, flailing his arms and legs as Ivan's iron grip refused to relent on the hold he had on his dress. "I don't like being man-handled!"

Ivan then took Alfred by complete surprise and simply dropped him, making the boy yelp in pain when he landed on his tailbone. Alfred bit his lip as more pain racked through his body, standing up and wobbling a bit as he smoothed out his clothes.

"What the hell; is it beat on Alfred day or something?..." he mumbled in anger.

"Chut, mon Frère." ("Hush, my Brother.") Matthew whispered.

Ivan, hoisting Pushka into his arms from Toris' own, then asked, "Has my office been cleaned, as I requested?"

"Oh, yes, it's almost done, Master!" Matthew said with a bow before he turned on his heels and headed down the hallway again. "I'll just be a little while longer!"

"Khorosho." Ivan replied. ("Good.")

Before Alfred returned to the bathroom he was in the middle of cleaning, Ivan instructed for him to retrieve Matthew when he was finished with his current task and to meet him in the parlor. Alfred simply nodded to that and said, "Yeah," before he turned and went back to the bathroom. He tried with all of his might to stay in his own head again as he finished scrubbing the floor, and luckily got through the rest of the task without getting much more sore than he was before.

Soon enough, the twins were heading downstairs and entered the parlor, where Ivan sat alone, reading a book with the news on.

Alfred, standing in front of Matthew, then said, "Master?"

Ivan picked up his head, looking at the twins from the corner of his eye. He then shut his book without marking his place and placed it down at his side before he lifted up his hand and motioned for them to come forward. "Idi syuda." he said as he did. ("Come here.")

They did as they were told and, upon standing themselves side-by-side in front of Ivan, the man leaned over and picked up a shopping bag he'd placed nearby his feet. He took out one, long, slim box and took off its lid, revealing a black collar sitting inside of it with a sapphire-blue gem stone fixated onto the front of it. "These are to show everyone that you are my property, da. I request that you wear them during the day, but I will permit you to remove them for bathing and sleeping, da?"

Just before Matthew could say or do anything to calm down his brother, Alfred fisted his hands and snapped at their master. "What the hell do you think we are, fucking dogs?! We may be your servants, but we're not fucking animals, you commie bastard!"

All of a sudden, Alfred's head turned to the side and he stumbled back a tad. Both of the boys let out a surprised screech at this, Matthew having lifted up his own arms in defense and flinching away from Ivan in fear. Alfred turned his head to Ivan, lifting his hands up to his left cheek; he could barely feel it now, like it was going numb. With as much pride as he could muster, he snarled his teeth and glared angrily at his none-too-please master.

"You poor, pitiful child." Ivan said in a rather condescending tone of voice. "How long will it take you to realize that I am one who calls the shots around here?" He uncrossed his legs and stood up, causing Matthew to cower away from him again. He lifted one hand again, making Alfred flinch his head away and squeeze his eyes shut. He then grasped the fifteen year-old by the chin, turning his head back and held onto him tightly. "In this country, you are below the status of a dog. A dog isn't just property. Dog is man's best friend. Here, you are worth less than the ground that dogs defecates upon." He squeezed Alfred's chin tightly, forcing him to open his eyes a little bit. "Have I made myself clear, Fredka?"

Alfred growled slightly, although it didn't threaten or effect Ivan at all. His brow creased in anger, before he shut his eyes again and spat out, "Yes, sir." in a tone dripping with more hatred than he had ever felt before in his entire life.

Ivan then smirked, let him go, and pat him atop of the head again. "Khoroshiy mal'chik." ("Good boy.") he praised in his empowered tone. He felt a bit of pleasure swell in his chest when he heard Alfred let out another quiet snarl. He took even more pleasure in the fact that he was then clasping a collar onto the prideful youth's neck. "Be grateful, da; I get you collar that is strong like leather, soft like silk."

Half-heartedly, half-angrily, Alfred muttered, "Thank you, Master."

He was beginning to loathe this man even more now.

To Be Continued...

... And there we have it. I sort of have to post up this chapter and run, 'cos I have to go to bed soon and wake up early. So I don't have a proper authoress note this time, but I sort of believe that this chapter spoke for itself.

As always, corrections to the Russian and French are welcome, as Google Translate always botches up what you type in, unless you mess with it which is... ;A; VERY TEDIOUS WORK. Believe me.

Anyways, please review, favorite, follow, and all of that good stuff! I'm encouraged to post the next chapter early the more feedback I get.

P.S.: The name of Ivan's cat, Princessa Pushka, is a combination of two Russian cat names, "Princessa" which means "Princess", and "Pushka" which means "Fluffy". I Googled common and popular Russian cat names and when I came across them both and put them together, Princessa Pushka was born. I made her a seal-point because I always wanted one when I was a kid. XD Lame reason, I know, but I loved "Homeward Bound".