3

Brothers-Ch. 7

Alfred awoke the next morning to light stabbing his eyes and an axe attempting to split open his cranium.

He groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. Pillow, thus meaning he was in a bed. He recognised where he was by the smell of the sheets, and if he was in another bed finding out could wait. He burrowed deeper into the mattress but the pain prevented him from falling asleep again. He audibly groaned, sat up, and cracked his eyelids open a hair. He saw nothing but a light blur so he blinked several times before bringing the (luckily, familiar) room into relative focus. The room remained fuzzy, he realised, due to a lack of glasses. Through the hangover he managed to find his glasses. They were sitting atop a pile of clothes on the nightstand.

Taking his brother's hint, he grabbed the clothes and took a much needed shower (Mattie also left the aspirin out from yesterday so he helped himself to those as well). When he got out he went to the kitchen for food when he found a note on the table.

Al,

I just went in to work and won't be home until at least 5. Don't burn the place down. Check out the town, maybe Feli can show you around.

-Matt

Alfred looked at the clock on the microwave. 11:49. Not bad. Maybe he'll take Matt up on that offer.

~X~

"Ciao Alfredo! Ve~ how are you doing? Where's Mattie? Ludwig told me you were out drinking with Gilbert last night. Are you okay? You came during a quieter time so I can talk…"

"Feliciano, please…"

The Italian's eyes lit up, "Ve~! Of course1 I have just the thing!" He lightly dragged the blonde to a small table in the shade of the over hang before rushing inside.

Alfred shook his head lightly, "Does that guy really work with the mafia?" He sat comfortably and observed. Matthew lived in a small apartment complex in a small town. Even thought it's a fair drive to the ITTCHQ in the next city over, but Matthew never liked being around too many people. Not many know this, but Matt actually has a small cabin by a lake (whose name Alfred could never pronounce) further up in the mountains. Even Alfred's never seen it.

The little Italian restaurant was a good way across town, but close enough to walk. It was just starting to cool down; the weather was telling people that fall was here. He'd started to wear his bomber jacket frequently now. The turning of the leaves hasn't happened yet, but they expect it within the week or beginning of the next. But for now the trees beside the old houses were only browning. The town actually reminded him of the tiny towns he's seen in Pennsylvania. It wasn't America, but he really liked it here.

"Ve! Pasta!" Alfred was jolted back to reality by the loud, joyous voice of Feliciano, "Pasta makes everything better!" Alfred smiled as he settled down to eat the heaping plates of pasta covered in red sauces and smelling of tomatoes and garlic.

As he began eating Feli took the seat across from him smiling happily, "Did Gilbert drink you under the table?" Alfred paused in shovelling food into his face, contemplating whether or not to argue, but nodded. Feliciano chuckled pleasantly, "You'll learn who you should and shouldn't drink with soon enough. Ve~! By the way, you should watch out for Mattie. He picked up some tips when he was dating Gilbert. You wouldn't stand a chance~."

Alfred swallowed his mouthful in a hard lump, "Wait, Matt dated Gilbert?"

Carmel eyes widened, "Ve~ Si. It was last year sometime, the relationship lasted for a few months. They were the big thing for a while; ve~ they were cute! Eventually, though, they started to, how do you say? Rubbing each other the wrong way. It was mutually agreed that they should break up, although I could tell Mattie took it hard. They're still friends now though, which is good~."

While Feliciano chatted Alfred had slowed his eating until his fork now firmly rested on his plate. Feli noticed and paused in his babbling to look quizzically at the blonde. "He never told me," a strange, foreign feeling rose in the pit of his stomach, "I always assumed he was single."

"Ve, there seems to be several things he's never told you," the Vargas looked at him with innocent brown eyes.

Alfred stared at his food, "Yeah, it seems so."

Feliciano continued to watch him for a while, "You know, Mattie is his own person, he doesn't have to tell you everything," Alfred fiddled with his fork. Feliciano's eyes shone sympathy, "But you did."

"He's my brother. I thought that's what they did."

"Ve~ You're late to the brother program. They don't tell you everything. Actually, they might intentionally keep things from you, sometimes for mean reasons," he smiled, "But they're family so you have to love them, ve~."

"But what if we wouldn't have been family?"

"Checosa?Ve, what do you mean?"

The words had just slipped out, they even surprised Alfred. But now that they were out they got him thinking. For a while now he's been pondering his and Matthew's relationship. He'd only first met his twin when they were 20. Up until then they had just spoken or via email. When he had seen his brother, being himself, he immediately picked out all the differences in their appearances. Recently he's started to do that again, not just with appearances but with personality. Matthew is quieter and secretive, but passionate. He likes to keep to himself but is very loyal to his friends. The list goes on.

They were really two very different people. That feeling in his stomach moved to his chest. It reminded him of something…

"Alfred?"

"Huh?" He looked up to meet the Italian's worried gaze. He must have fazed out for a while, "Oh! Nothing. Hey I'm fine!" He stuffed some of the cooling pasta into his mouth, chewed, and gave a very good attempt as swallowing. It went down like a bowling ball, doing nothing to help the odd feeling in his chest, "Its awesome Feli, thanks! I really should be going though," he pulled out his phone and pretended to look at the time, "Yeah, I have… things. Hey! I'll catch ya later!" He stood and walked away in a random direction.

Feliciano remained seated at the table for a while, curious eyes following the American until he rounded a corner. His face was ponderous, eventually it became resolute. He stood and gathered the dishes before re-entering his café.

~x~X~x~