Warning: Rated for Yaoi, swearing/slang, shipping, USUK and many others.
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In My Mind's Eye
Chapter 7: Backyard Magic
"Alfred," I heard the soothing voice call for me, a hand brushing across my face. I opened my eyes slowly, feeling comforted by the touch, and looked up to see her, the woman who used to do this every morning to me. I watched her smile at me and then turn around to do the same to my brother, who was lucky enough to have this every morning. I sat up and watched as he lazily opened his eyes, looking up at her with tired eyes and wrap his arms around her neck, using her strength to lift himself up.
"Boys," mom began, taking both of our hands, "Aunt Merriam and Uncle Nathaniel will be here for supper. Make sure you both look your best, alright?" Mom smiled at us and went downstairs to begin the day. Meanwhile, Matt and I exchanged a look of fear and disgust.
"Auntie Meanie and Uncle Crazy?" I yelled in a whisper, my hands clapping on my temples. Arthur looked down at me with an odd expression and Matt chose to explain to our big brothers what the deal was with our awful aunt and uncle.
"Uncle Nat and Aunt Merri," Matt began, sitting next to me, "are two of the worst people we've ever known. When they first enter the house, the temperature always goes down five degrees, and a lighting storm appears out of nowhere! Then, Aunt Merri will look at us and frown as she comments on how chubby and ill dressed we are, while Uncle Nat will grab our heads and clunk them together while laughing of all things. At dinner, Aunt Merri criticizes everything we do, from how we sit to how we eat to how much we eat and how we clean up!"
"And Matt's a perfect angel at the dinner table!" I commented, Matt blushing at the compliment.
"Don't get us started on what happens after dinner, though," Matt continued, grabbing my hand and tilting his head on mine. "After dinner, Uncle Nat drags us outside with the promise of getting away from his wife, but then once we are, he starts smoking and drinking and eventually starts going into the neighborhood and tries to break in, luckily though he never succeeds."
"And at night," I interrupted, "they stay up watching the television in their room for forever and then when they finally do go to bed, they snore so loudly that no one gets to sleep all night, and when we wake up the next day, they wonder why we look so exhausted."
"They're really annoying and really boring, too!" Matt exclaimed, standing up and running into Francis' chest. "Isn't there anything you two could do to help?" Francis looked up at Arthur with a smirk, patting Matt's hair at the same time.
"Ah, I think Mathieu would most enjoy it if we were to 'make a change,' oui?" Francis asked as he kissed Matt's head.
"Maybe," Arthur replied, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me onto his waist. He looked back up at Francis, a slight smile on his face. "It's quite dangerous," he said, "but if you're willing to put in the effort, I might side with you." Francis smiled even wider and then picked up Matt in his arms as he stood up.
"Mon petite amour," the French man said, "let us go play outside now, oui?"
"Oui, Papa!" Matt exclaimed, holding a hand out to me. "Let's go, Alfred!"
"Papa?" I said as I jumped from Arthur's lap, taking his hand.
"Oui, the name I insisted he call me," Francis said as he kissed Matt's forehead.
"But isn't that name a little old?" I remarked, walking with Arthur to the door. I had to cover my mouth to prevent myself from laughing as I watched Francis gasp in horror, eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"Old?" Francis exclaimed, putting Matt on the ground and folding his arms, sticking his nose in the air. "Why, I have never heard such a rude statement! I may be mature, but old, no, I think not!"
"Of course not," I finally said after Arthur gave me a stern look, smiling as I did, "I'm sorry." Francis finally dropped the angry act and bent down, quickly pulling me into a hug.
"Ah, you are just like a petite teddy bear, no?" He kissed my cheek and moved back to holding Matt's hand, and we finally set out going to the backyard. Once we were out in the fresh morning air, there was no stopping us. My brother and I let go of our big brothers' hands and set off to start exploring, Matt showing me every nook and cranny that he had found behind every rock and in every tree.
"Matt," I finally said, taking his hand, "I need to show you something now." I took him back to Arthur and Francis, who were discussing something with very serious faces. "Hey!" I shouted, both of them turning to look back at us, surprised. "Can we play a game, Arthur?" Arthur smiled and stood up, Francis following as they walked to us.
"Of course," Arthur said, kneeling down beside me, "what do you want to be?"
"Uh, Matt?" I turned to Matt and gave him a wide smile. "What is something you always wanted to be, but never could?"
"Never could?" Matt asked, rolling his eyes. "Isn't that obvious? I always wanted to be popular like you!"
"Come on, Matt," I said, "bigger! Ask for something better!"
"Fine," Matt folded his arms, "I want to be a celebrity, someone everyone sees! A big name hot shot who everyone adores, admires, and wants to see for themselves!"
Suddenly, we all heard a commotion in the bushes. I looked to where the bush was to see what was making the noise. I stepped closer and closer, until I was finally looking down at it. My eyes were blinded as I felt a bright white flash that pierced through my body. I was dazed for a moment, stepping back and stumbling on my own feet. I felt a pair of arms wrap around my body and pick me up, carrying me away from the voices, complaining about how they didn't get someone. I then heard a screech and turned my head, feeling dizzy as I did, but managed to look at Matt, who was being photographed by grown men telling him to smile.
"Matt," I held out a hand and he ran toward Arthur and me, but instead went into Francis's arms, the photographers still trying to take photos of him. "Matt," I said again, "you're too popular."
Matt looked up at me didn't know understand at first, but finally after thinking slowly, he nodded and closed his eyes, the photographers fading away. He looked back up and smiled as he saw we were alone again.
"Gee," he said as we were let go by our big brothers, "I didn't realize that would happen."
"We have to be careful about what we wish for," Arthur said, kneeling down and patting Matt's head.
"Okay," Matt nodded and closed his eye, "then I want to be an arctic explorer, someone who takes care of animals in the snowy wilderness of Northern Canada, somewhere like the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, or maybe even out of Canada like in Greenland and Russia! I want to be able to take care of the seals and polar bears."
I shivered a little, holding myself as I saw a snowflake fall from above. Arthur put a red jacket on me, holding me close, as we looked around, the entire forest turning white as the snow continued to fall, everything continuing to get colder and colder. Out of the forest came a white polar bear baby that looked very familiar.
"Mr. Kumakichi!" Matt yelled, running over and embracing the bear.
"It's Mr. Kumajiro," I yelled at Matt, walking over and joining him. I looked at the red bow around the bear's neck and recognized that it was Kumajiro, which honestly shocked me. "How is it him?" I asked, looking at the bear curiously.
"I just am," it said, sitting on the ground. Matt and I both exchanged faces of shock at the sight, and it wasn't long until Matt began to ask the baby bear tons of questions at such a speed that I didn't even know he was able to speak at. The bear didn't seem to be phased, though he did seem to understand just who Matt was even though he had been Matt's pet bear since we were really young. I walked back to Arthur, who was talking again to Francis, but the two of them hadn't noticed me yet.
"And you need to be really lenient with the French, okay?" I heard Arthur say to Francis.
"Oui, I will do my best if you do as well," Francis nodded and looked down at the ground to see me looking up at them. He frowned, and then smiled with a bit of annoyance. "And how long have you been standing there, piglet?" He asked me. My face scrunched up at the nickname, but when Arthur looked down at me with a worried expression, my attention snapped back.
"Only for a few seconds," I shrugged, "I heard you saying Francis needed to stop speaking so much French. Were you scolding him?" I asked, sounding a bit too eager.
"Yes," Arthur smiled, kneeling down and picking me up, "did you want to go play in the snow? I think it's perfect for making a fort."
"Cool!" I exclaimed, my hands going up into the air, "I love making forts!"
With Arthur's help, we worked together and made an awesome fort that was twice my height and had a wall that went for forever around us. We then began to create snowballs and had a nice collection of them when we realized we had to use them if we wanted to make any more. We looked up from our barricades and saw Francis and Matt playing with Mr. Kumajiro. I gave an evil smirk to Arthur and he returned it, only a little bit more playfully. We grabbed our snowballs and took aim, and then bombarded them all with our snowy fury. Matt was soaked as he looked back up at us, an angry flare in his violet eyes, and then flashed the same evil smile I had. In no time at all, Francis and Mr. Kumajiro began to build a fort that rivaled Arthur and mine's fort. We kept attacking them with snowballs, attempting to put down their fresh fortifications.
"What's that pole they have?" I asked, seeing one structure in the center of their construction that stuck up like a line. As if to answer my question, a flag began to rise on it that had three horizontal stripes, blue, white, and red. "A flagpole," I said out loud, "but what nation is it for?"
"France," Arthur said, "which makes sense since that's where Francis is from."
"Then we should fly your flag, too!" I exclaimed, taking his hand, rushing to make our own flagpole. "What are your colors?"
"They are the same," Arthur said as he began to draw a rectangle in the snow, "but formatted differently." He started by making a cross, and then drew an "x" surrounding it, and then another one surrounding the first "x". He then picked up the flag and I saw the colors that graced it, a blue background with white highlights around the thin red "x" behind the thick red cross. He handed me the flag, and with my Boy Scout training raised the flag quickly. I jumped onto the barricades and laughed at Matt, throwing some more snowballs over my brother's fort to hit his head.
"You see, Mattie?" I yelled, Arthur joining me in our snowball throwing rampage, "Arthur's flag is clearly superior because it's actually got some decoration and is prettier, too!"
"No way, Alfred!" Matt shouted back, throwing a snowball that landed three feet short of our fort. I laughed heartily until Francis nailed one on my face.
"Oh, it's on!" I yelled, Arthur and I ramping up our attacks and throwing even more snowballs.
"Alfred," Arthur whispered to me, "I have an idea. Will you join me in its inception?"
"Uh-huh!" I nodded. "Anything to get back at those two." We began to construct Arthur's idea then and there, and after a little while I realized we were making a cannon. Excited, I quickly began to create some cannon balls, slipping one in as Arthur lit a blue flame on the fuse. Arthur covered my ears and dragged me to the side, and soon I heard a muffled bang, followed by the shouting of my brother and his big brother. I laughed and sat up, standing back up at the fortifications. "Now you get it, Mattie?" I laughed, jumping into the snow and running over to my brother's ruined fort. I saw a small hand and grabbed it, pulling Matt out, chuckling at his annoyed expression and the snow all over him. I noticed, however how the snow began to melt, and around us saw the winter wonderland slowly fade into Matt's backyard again.
"Well this is strange," Mr. Kumajiro said, causing both me and Matt to gape in amazement.
"Hey," I said, annoyed, "that's not fair! How come he gets to keep the talking animal?"
"Never mind that, Alfred," Matt said as he took my hand and pointed to the sky, "the flagpoles are melting!" I gasped and turned around and saw that Arthur's flag was going to fall and touch the ground, and I knew from Boy Scouts that if that were to happen, at least for the American flag, we would have to burn it! I ran over as fast as lightning and jumped under it, the flag landing on my face and chest and in my arms. I held it close, not wanting to let it go. I finally opened my eyes and saw Arthur sitting next to me, holding my red coat in his arms. I sat up and showed him the flag.
"I saved it for you," I said sheepishly, but Arthur only smiled and held me in his arms. "I-I can fold it for you, too!" I said again, looking up at him, feeling a heat rush to my face.
"If you would like, Alfred," he said, letting go of me and taking the opposite ends of the flag, "after all, it is yours now."
"Really?" I blurted, unable to stop smiling as we folded the flag together, Arthur handing it to me and picking me up in his arms.
"Really," he smiled, looking me in the eyes with his jewel-like green eyes. He cradled me in his hold for a while, and then leaned down, kissing my forehead with gentle care.
"Boys!" My mom shouted, the house far away, "Come inside, your Aunt and Uncle will be here soon!" I looked back at Matt, who was clutching tight to Mr. Kumajiro, Francis holding both of them. I jumped out of Arthur's hold and grabbed his hand.
"Come on, Arthur!" I shouted, but he didn't budge from his spot. I looked back and saw Francis was also staying in his spot. "What's wrong?" I asked, worry clear in my voice. Arthur simply kneeled down and held me in his arms.
"This will be good night, okay?" He said, kissing my cheek and locking our eyes together, a reassuring smile on his face. "I promise, I'll be with you again in the morning." Though I didn't want to, I heard a whimper escape my mouth and felt the tears fall down my face.
"P-Promise?" I asked, weeping.
"I promise," Arthur replied, kissing my forehead, holding me in his arms again, "and you'll have me in that flag, okay?"
"Okay," I said, drying my eyes and nodding. We heard mom call us again, and I looked at Arthur again. He nodded at me, and I stopped all that I was doing. I leaned in and hugged him down onto the ground like the day before. I looked up and beamed at him with a newfound confidence.
"Thank you for everything, Arthur!" I yelled, standing back up and running with Matt back to the house, not looking back. We ran into our bedroom and put our flags in our beds, when we heard the doorbell go off. I looked at Matt with wide, fearful eyes.
"Oh, why did they have to leave now?" Matt said, the two of us taking our time as we walked downstairs slowly. We saw mom greet our Aunt Merriam and Uncle Nathaniel, the two of them looking as put together as ever.
"H-Hello," Matt and I said together to our Aunt and Uncle, standing as straight as we could, mom abandoning us and going into the kitchen.
"Good evening, Alfred and Matt," Aunt Merriam said as she smiled down at us, patting our heads and kissing them. Matt and I looked at each other with confused expressions, but not as surprised as when Uncle Nat kneeled down and pulled out two roses, handing one of each to us.
"Ah, boys, how are you two?" He kissed our cheeks and went off with our Aunt into the guest room where they would be staying. Matt and I exchanged looks, and then followed them, baffled by how strange they were. We peeked through the crack of the door, looking at them.
"Ugh," Aunt Merriam said as she took off her jacket, "these garments are too tight for this woman."
"Oh?" Uncle Nat said, walking over and wrapping his arms around Aunt Merri's waist, which earned him the exact expression of disgust I thought Aunt Merri would have.
"Let go of me, frog," She yelled, trying to escape Uncle Nat's hold, but instead of gaining her freedom, Uncle Nat pulled her back and planted a kiss on her lips. Matt and I cover our mouths, wanting to barf as they continued to kiss, that is, until Aunt Merri pushed him away and wiped her mouth. "Git!" She yelled, pushing Uncle Nat back onto the bed. Nat simply laughed and dragged Aunt Merri down with him. That's when Matt and I decided to stop watching, going downstairs and leaving those two behind.
However the rest of the night was the oddest part. Instead of Aunt Merri being so critical at dinner, she was complimentary of how well behaved we were, and afterwards, Uncle Nat took us outside to go stargazing, pointing out at the constellations and telling us great and romantic stories about them. Finally, after the day was done, we went back inside to our bedroom, changing into our pajamas and getting into our beds. I clutched the flag that my big brother had given me, imagining that I was holding him. I kissed it, and closed my eyes, wondering if I would be able to sleep. It was a little difficult at first, as Aunt Merriam and Uncle Nathaniel were fighting for a little while, but eventually they set to sleep and were amazingly quiet. Matt and I smiled at each other in the darkness and for once had a restful sleep.
The next day, I felt myself burrowed in the arms and chest of a comfortable body, my arms wrapped around his waist. I looked up at my big brother and smiled with excitement.
"Arthur," I whispered, feeling the flag between us, "you really are back!" Arthur nodded and leaned down, kissing my forehead again and squeezing me close in his slender arms.
"Of course, love, didn't I say I would come back?" I blushed and smiled, resting my head in his chest.
"I know," I replied, just enjoying the warmth of my big brother.
After a couple of more days, the holiday was over and my dad and I had to go back to our home. After a long good bye, Arthur and I finally waved away Matt and Francis, my comfort with the French man finally settling in. The car ride was shorter than before, but that was probably because I was less anxious. When we pulled in the driveway, I took Arthur's hand and ran with him into my room, carrying my luggage with me. We flopped onto the bed, stretching our legs.
"Arthur," I finally said, looking at him, "just where were you that night?"
"Somewhere I can't tell you right now," he replied, pulling me into his arms, "but in the future, perhaps I will."
"Alright," I said, relaxing. I sat up and picked up my bag, pulling out Arthur's flag. "Can we hang this?" Arthur nodded and picked it up, putting it on the wall above my bed. To my amazement, it stuck onto the wall without any support. I looked up at Arthur and giggled. "You really are magic, Arthur!"
"Yes," he replied, taking my hands and standing up, "come along, we can go outside and play for a while."
"Yeah!" I brightened up and ran with him to the backyard, wondering what adventures we would be having next.
Ah, Alfred, we shall see what comes next!
Francis has such a thing for being frisky, but I believe it's all in good fun for him.
I had fun writing the snowfort in the fall scene.
And now I have an excuse to make Mr. Kumajiro call poor Matt "Who?"
Thank you for reading, and if you'll review, I'll be forever grateful!...Even if it is hate filled. I'll take it in a gleeful and joyous stride!
