"Allistor, what are you doing here?" Arthur could not believe what he was seeing. He had not seen his brother in over six years, and he didn't think he would ever see him again, but here he was, standing on Arthur's doorstep.
"Hello little brother," Allistor responded, not answering Arthur's question.
"I asked you a question. Why are you here?"
"Oh you know," Allistor said casually, "I was in the neighborhood, and I thought I would give my baby brother a visit, just like old times."
"Since when have you ever been 'in the neighborhood'?" Arthur had no desire to be seeing his brother right now. "I thought you were in Scotland."
"What, I can't take a little trip to England to see ya."
"There is no way you came here to see me. You hate me."
"Hate ya? You're my favorite brother." Allistor shivered, and Arthur realized that it was below freezing outside, and his brother had no coat on.
"Why don't you come inside? Then you can tell me why you're actually here."
"Okay, thanks."
Arthur let Allistor through the door and led him to the living room, where he immediately sat down on the sofa. "Hey lad, make me a cup of tea, will ya?"
"You know, there's such a thing as saying please, and you can make you own tea if you want it so bad." Arthur was really starting to get annoyed with his brother and his unexpected arrival.
"I don't want it enough to make it myself."
"Well then you don't get any."
"That's fine. Anyway, what have ya been up to, sonny?"
"Don't call me sonny. And I've been doing stuff."
"Oh, really, sounds interesting," Allistor responded, only half paying attention. Arthur noticed that he seemed to be somewhat distracted.
"What's wrong," Arthur asked. He didn't really care, but he really wanted to know why his brother had shown up at his house this late.
"Ya have a strange way of decorating," Allistor replied and continued looking around the room.
It was true; Arthur did manage to scare quite a few people away with his many strange ornaments and knickknacks that he had laying around. Many of them had to do with his love for mythical creatures. Others were his random black-magic related objects. It was usually the pentagram he had drawn on the floor of his living room that made people run away.
"Don't pretend that your house doesn't look the same," Arthur retorted. Allistor was also into mystical and magical elements like Arthur although Alistor's interests were much darker.
"That's the thing lad. I don't have a house anymore."
"What! What do you mean you don't have a house anymore?"
"It is actually quite self-explanatory. I used to have a house, and now I don't," Allistor replied.
"I know what you mean, wanker. What happened to your house?"
"It went up in flames. There was nothing left of it," Allistor said with a blank expression. "I lost everything. Molly didn't make it out in time. All that I found of her was her collar." Molly was the family's dog that Allistor took with him when he left to go to Scotland.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's not your problem. Anyway, that's why I'm here. Got nowhere else to go." Allistor put his feet up on the coffee table, which annoyed Arthur more than it should have.
"Don't just think you can stay here and be a freeloader. Why don't you go bother Alfred?" Alfred was Arthur and Alistor's younger brother.
"Because I can't afford to fly to America, and I hate Alfred more than you do."
"Wait, when did he move to America," Arthur asked, completely shocked. He knew that Alfred was prone to doing crazy things, but he never saw him doing something that insane.
"About a year ago. No one told you?"
"No. Not that I care. Though I am glad he's no longer within driving distance." But Arthur couldn't deny that he did feel a little bit sad deep down, very deep down.
There was an awkward silence for a while, then Allistor spoke. "So, Artie, how are ya?"
"I'm alright. I guess." Arthur decided that his annoying brother would most likely not leave for a while, so it was probably a good idea to try to get along with him.
"You meet anyone special yet?"
"Special? What do you mean?"
"Like a woman. Meet a woman yet?"
"No. Not yet," Arthur sighed, and he thought about Francis. "Not a woman, anyway."
"A man? You're in love with a guy, aren't ya? I always knew that out of all of us, one would turn out to be like you." Allistor laughed his annoying laugh, the laugh that made Arthur want to kick him in several unsavory places.
"What? No! I'm not in love with a guy, and I am not gay! Why does everyone keep assuming that?" Arthur really did not want to be talking about this with his idiot of a brother, who he had tried to forget for a reason.
"Maybe because it's obvious, lad."
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"The way you sighed and said 'not a woman, anyway'," Allistor imitated. "Who else would you love? A child. I know for a fact that you are not a pedophile, Artie."
Arthur just glared at him.
"You're not a pedophile, are ya?"
"No! I'm not a pedophile, and I'm not gay!"
"Okay, whatever you say. Now would ya quit yellin'?"
"I'm not yelling," Arthur nearly shouted. "Okay maybe I am yelling, but it's really hard not to. You're driving me mad."
"How can one be driven mad when they were already crazy in the first place?" Allistor smiled and Arthur could've sworn he would've strangled him if he didn't hear a knock on the door. He immediately turned his attention to getting to the door as quickly as he could. Something had finally broken the tensional atmosphere between the two siblings. However, when Arthur had thrown the door open, he wished he hadn't. Antonio was there, along with a disgruntle-looking man, who Arthur assumed was Lovino.
"Hola, Arthur. I'm glad you're still awake!" Antonio smiled, like always, and Lovino stood behind him, scowling. Arthur had only known Antonio for a few hours, and he hadn't known Lovino at all, but he could already tell that they were complete opposites. "This is Lovino." He grabbed the other man's hand and pulled him forward.
"Hi," Lovino mumbled, then turned to Antonio, "You bastard! You said we were going out to dinner, not to some strange bastard's house."
"We'll get to the restaurant eventually, I just wanted you to meet my friend, Arthur." We're not friends Arthur wanted to shout, but he didn't. Antonio was only trying to be nice, and he got the impression that yelling at Antonio would make Lovino angrier. Arthur didn't want to do that.
"And, why, exactly, was that?" Lovino glared at Arthur, making him uncomfortable.
"Because I think he's cool. Anyway, I'm also here because I need to talk to him. Privately."
Lovino stood and looked back and forth between them for a while, then said, "Fine, I'll wait in the car, but if you're not back in five minutes, I'm leaving without you." Lovino turned and walked down the stairs.
"What did you want to tell me?"
"Hey Artie! Who's at the door," Arthur heard Allistor yell.
"Do you have company," Antonio asked while trying to see behind Arthur.
"No it's just my brother. It's fine," Arthur replied. "It's no one," he yelled back at Allistor.
"I didn't know you had a brother!" Antonio somewhat resembled a puppy when he was excited, which was almost all the time.
"Most of the time I wish I didn't. Anyway, what did you need to tell me? And why did it have to be in private?"
"Oh it actually doesn't matter whether it's private or not. Lovino seemed to be frightening you, so I wanted to get rid of him."
"I wasn't… He wasn't scaring me," Arthur responded.
"Don't be silly. Lovino scares everybody. Except me, of course. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you was–," Antonio was cut off mid-sentence by a car horn and various shouts from Lovino.
"You bastard, hurry up!"
"I'll be there in a minute my precious little tomato!"
"Call me that again and I'm driving away!"
"Sorry, sweetheart! Anyway," Antonio continued, "what I was trying to say was–," but he was cut off again because Allistor had come to the door to see what was going on.
"Arthur what's going on?" Allistor stood at the doorway and looked at Antonio. "Is this the guy you're in love with? I'm impressed. Ya have good taste, Artie."
"No! How many times do I have to tell you that I am not in love with a man? This is Antonio. He's just my… friend."
"Why'd ya hesitate?" Allistor was such an idiot. He probably thought he was so funny, but he wasn't.
"Because I only met this man a few hours ago."
"Yep. We met at the hospital," Antonio explained.
"When were ya at the hospital," Allistor asked.
"I was visiting someone. It's none of your business anyway." Arthur looked at Antonio, who was still smiling. "What did you need to tell me?"
"I just wanted to tell you that Feliciano finally woke up. It was a huge surprise to everyone. He immediately became best friends with Francis, who told him all about you. He wants you to come by again so he can meet you. Don't disappoint him."
There was another abrupt honk and Antonio yelled, "I'm coming, I'm coming."
"You better be, you bastard, or you won't be saying that again for quite some time!"
"Dios mío, Lovino. You always say such inappropriate things!" Antonio laughed and looked back at Arthur. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you again, Arthur, and it was nice meeting you Arthur's brother. Adios!" Antonio turned and jogged down the stairs and to his car. The engine started, and they drove off into the night.
"Those two are quite the characters," Allistor said, breaking the silence. "Are all of your friends so obviously gay, or are they the only two."
"Stuff it. I'm not in the mood right now, Scottie."
"Ya haven't called me that in years."
"I know." Arthur pushed past Allistor and walked back to the living room, his brother followed.
"Listen, Arthur. I don't have anywhere to stay tonight, and I was wonderin', would ya mind if I crashed on your couch? Just for one night. Promise I'll be gone tomorrow."
"Sure, whatever." Arthur was too tired to argue anymore. He had decided that he would start looking for a job tomorrow, right after he visited Francis and Feliciano. His rent was due next week, and he barely had enough money left to pay it.
"Thanks, lad."
"Please don't call me lad."
"Sorry, lad." Allistor smiled and threw himself onto the sofa. "G'Night, lad."
"Goodnight." Arthur walked to his bedroom, ignoring the "lads," undressed, and went to bed. He was glad he could finally manage to fall asleep for once.