Arthur held his breath as he answered the phone. "Arthur?" Came a soft sounding voice.
"Yes. Is this Matthew?"
"Yeah. It's me. I'm sorry I didn't answer earlier. Alfred asked me not to."
"You have Alfred with you? Thank goodness! Is he alright?" Arthur asked, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Eh… Yeah I do, but it's been rough. He's been really sad and upset and angry… And in pain too."
"In pain? Like physical pain? Is he alright?" Arthur repeated, a little more worried now.
"Yes. We called Dr. Dude because the pain came from his lower stomach area and we wanted to be safe. He said that it would just be something he would experience around this time every once in a while … It seems like his back was also hurting him a little bit but he didn't say anything about that…"
"Oh. Well he and the baby are both ok though, right?"
"Yes. In conclusion they're fine. Alfred was here when I got back from running and doing a few things. I found him sitting on th kitchen floor, sniffling and stuff. He was also eating old pancakes from this morning and drinking syrup."
"And?" Arthur asked, trying not to think about drinking maple syrup. That was probably not very good. "Did you tell him to stop drinking the maple syrup?" He added quickly.
"Yes. I made him stop. That's when he stood up and his stomach started hurting. He went and threw up but then after that he said it got worse and it was hard for him to try and stand up. That's when we called Dr. Dude."
"What else happened then?"
"Well after the pain went away he began to explain why he was there… when he was telling me about it, he was obviously trying to keep a straight face but his voice kept cracking and he kept whimpering. Usually if he needs to cry he hides it pretty successfully. But I guess his hormones got in they way because he didn't do a very good job."
"What is he doing now?" Arthur asked. He felt on the verge of tears himself just because he knew that Alfred must have really been hurt if he was crying. And knowing that he was the reason, the cause for Alfred being so upset was even worse.
"Right now he's sleeping."
"Sleeping? The baby isn't kicking him too hard?"
"Well every few minutes or so I think the baby kicks him because he whimpers and sort of rubs his stomach or moves around. But he really just passed out… so that's probably why he can sleep through it."
"Oh…" There was an uncomfortable pause. "How… How badly does he hate me right now do you think? Be honest."
"Eh… How badly does he hate you, eh? He hasn't exactly said anything about hating you… He's pretty ticked off at Francis though. He made me promise to take him to buy a bunch of toilet paper and throw it all over Francis's house."
"You're seriously going to let him do that?"
"He wanted to spray paint it too, eh. He also wanted to throw eggs. But I did promise…"
"I suppose Francis deserves it. I deserve it too… Except I'm living with him… Unless he kicks me out after this. That would be understandable…"
"I don't think he will. He still loves you. He's not nearly as mad at you as he is at Francis," Matthew uttered softly.
"Oh well. I'm glad he doesn't hate me. Do you think it would be a bad idea if I came over to see him?"
"Maybe… He'd probably still be a bit sensitive at this point. I can call you back and tell you when I think it might be a good idea… But right now," Matthew's voice lowered. "He's starting to wake up so I have to go."
"Oh, right. Ok, well thank you. Just please make sure he stays safe."
"I will."
"If anything bad happens… or anything happens to him in general please call me back… And if you decide to tell him we spoke please let him know that I honestly love him and I wouldn't ever trade him for anything. I made a huge mistake and that I'm terribly sorry… Erm… Bye, I guess."
"Bye."
Arthur hung up and rested his head in his hands. He couldn't believe the stupid mistake he made of letting Francis in. He sure as heck hadn't been expecting Francis to begin kissing him, both of them knowing Alfred would be there soon.
Arthur just sat still for a while, trying to make himself feel less horrible. At least it hadn't escalated. If he had gotten any more drunk who knows what Francis would have tried.
Getting drunk sounded merry right about now too… It would take his mind off things… But he wouldn't.
Matthew set the phone down and walked out of the kitchen with a large plate of pancakes he'd been making while on the phone. "Hey, Alfred. I made more pancakes. These are freshly made so they'll taste a lot better than the old ones you were eating earlier. You don't have to eat them, of course… You did have a lot of syrup earlier… and you did wind up puking… I just wanted to make sure you could have them if you needed them."
Alfred blinked several times, as he was sitting up now. Matthew had put a blanket over him that looked a lot like the Canadian flag, but with a white leaf and red background. Kumajirou was just off to the side of the couch Alfred had been sleeping on.
"Mmmm… pancakes…" Alfred muttered groggily, leaning forward as Matthew set them on the coffee table. "Thanks bro," he nodded, unenthusiastically. Matthew set out a fork for him as well as some whipped cream for a syrup substitute just in case. He yawned. "And thanks for letting me stay here for a little bit… I really appreciate you putting up with me right now."
"That's what brothers are for, right? It really isn't a problem. Other than Kumajirou, there's no one here usually." Alfred gladly took the fork and began to eat one of the pancakes. "I'm sorry I don't have any thing else here. I wasn't expecting you to suddenly show up. Other wise I would have gotten a larger variety of food while I was out."
"No, this is good. I like pancakes. Waaay better than stupid scones and stuff." Alfred sniffled a little and shoved a bite of pancake in his mouth.
"Well… eh… I'm glad you like them." Alfred nonmed on his second pancake.
"Seriously though, thanks for the pancakes, bro." Alfred was waking up a little more. He took a brief pause in eating after finishing off his second one. He leaned back and rubbed his stomach.
"Umm… Alfred…"
"Yeah?"
"Arthur and I spoke. I needed to let him know you were safe and that I had you. He, in turn, wanted me to tell you that he loved you very much and that he made a mistake. He really never meant to hurt you…"
"Yeah well, he did. And maybe he'll actually get sleep tonight on his own without me there to keep him awake…"
"Did you hear him say something about that?"
"He told Francis it was really annoying not being able to get to sleep at night because of me after they kissed."
"Oh…"
"Yeah. It was perfectly timed too, so of course I heard him say that. It's his own fault anyway for gettin' me pregnant. Had I never even gotten pregnant, I wouldn't have trouble sleeping." Alfred sighed and rubbed his stomach some more as he felt another kick, this one a bit lighter.
"How long… do you think it will be before you have him?"
"Well I'm past the halfway mark… I know that. I think I have about a little more than two months left. If he comes early, which Dr. Dude said would probably happen then like two months even I think."
"That isn't long compared to the original nine months. How are you going to go about giving birth to him?" He asked.
"Dr. Dude said he'd have to be cut out… like a… a… C-section or something? I dun really know. It's not something I've heard of before."
"That sounds right."
"Arthur would know more about it than me though. He went and did research online one day and dragged me to the library so he could check out a pregnancy and parenting thing. It looked like he understood Dr. Dude and his fancy terms the last time we visited."
Alfred began eating a third pancake when there was a knock at the door.
"I've got it!" Matthew said, getting up and hurrying to the door, when he opened it he saw Arthur standing there.
"Ar-Arthur," Matthew whispered shrilly. "I told you I didn't think it was a good idea for you to come over here!"
Alfred tensed up when he heard Arthur's name.
"I know… but I need to be with Alfred. I feel like crud enough already and I didn't want to get drunk to solve it."
"Umm…"
"Please let me in to see him."
"Ok…" Matthew whispered as he wasn't very assertive. Arthur walked in and his green eyes met Alfred's blue, teary eyes for a moment.
"Alfred…" Alfred didn't say anything. He just looked away and started on another pancake. "I'm so sorry what happened today happened. If I could turn back time I wouldn't have even answered the door for that frog."
Alfred didn't say anything. Instead he grabbed yet another pancake and glanced over to Matthew who was now holding Kumajirou.
"Umm… If you need me, I'll be in my room. I think it's kind of important that you two talk," the Canadian whispered, heading up the stairs.
"Why'd you come all the way over here? I told you that I don't want to talk to you. You completely betrayed my trust!" He muttered, shoving another bit of pancaked in his mouth. Then he continued to ramble for a minute, but Arthur couldn't understand any of it with his mouth full. Finally he swallowed. "Obviously I was wrong to trust that you and Francis wouldn't do anything romantic if you two hung out."
"It was only a meaningless kiss."
"A meaningless kiss? Is it meaningless when I kiss you? Because that's what it sounds like since you and Francis were kissing. Am I just not enough?"
"It's not that! When I kiss you, of course it has meaning, because I love you, Alfred! And you're the only one that I love. Also you must account for that I was half-way drunk when I let him kiss me." He paused. "And don't think you're ever not enough for me because you're all I'll ever need. You're even having my baby."
Alfred opened the whipped cream Matthew had left out and ate some directly from the bottle.
"Are you even listening to me?" Arthur sighed, watching Alfred stuff another pancake in his mouth. He wasn't full yet? "I know I don't deserve it, but I want your forgiveness. Though regardless as to whether you forgive me or not I want to be there and support you through the rest of the pregnancy, his birth, and his life. And even after he's grown and doesn't need us as much, I want to still be with you. I don't even care if I get bad sleep or if we're fighting- I never want to leave your side."
Alfred silently chewed on his, what? Seventh pancake? Eighth pancake? He frowned. He wanted to accept his apology. But something needed to be done first.
"Arthur…" He stood up and approached him. "I'm sorry."
"Wha- What for? You're not going to accept my apology? Why are you sorry? You haven't done anything-" The stunned Brit was cut off as Alfred emptied the bottle of whipped cream right on his head. He had an expression of shock on his face. Revenge was sweet. Literally.
[[Ahemgeh *flails* I got a lot of reviews for this chapter! I don't feel worthy! Thanks to all who reviewed! I love you. o.o
Vanyi- Yeah, ikr? Dx Poor Alfie. Well he got his revenge in this chapter. ^.^
TheHeroLove- I can't say how happy I am that you like it! ^.^ I've been trying to decide just how I'm gonna go about when he actually has the baby and stuff. I actually haven't written that far...
Petrana- Glad you like it! ^.^]]