Alfred woke with a gasp, eyes darting around in a panic, before he called out into the darkness, "Mattie!"

There was a loud thump that came from the other side of the wall, and a few seconds later Matthew appeared in the doorway, rubbing at the side of his head. He leaned against the frame, his arms crossed as he stated in a groggy voice, "Alright, Al, it's two in the morning. This better be good."

"I had a dream," He prefaced, voice a little shaky, "O-or a nightmare, I don't know."

"You don't know if it was a dream or a nightmare?" Matthew asked, one eyebrow raised as he moved to sit on the bed next to Alfred, anticipating a long talk after that opening statement.

Alfred pulled his legs up to his knees. "Well, it –" He stammered, "It felt like a dream. B-but it had to have been a nightmare."

Matthew sighed, leaning back up against the wall. "And why is that?" He mumbled.

"W-well it started all normal," He babbled, "I was being the hero and all that, saving damsels and stuff. But then Arthur was there, and he said he loved me, and then he kissed me."

Even in the dark, Alfred's face seemed to glow with a blush. Matthew stared at him in disbelief. "And?" He asked, indicating that he should continue.

"And what?" Alfred replied, "Then I woke up."

Matthew rolled his eyes, shoving himself off of the bed and moving towards the door. "Whatever. I'm going back to bed."

"W-wait!" Alfred exclaimed, grabbing on to his wrist, "You can't go to bed, I need help!"

"With what?" He asked, face contorting to an expression that was half confusion and half disgust, "Alfred, I literally couldn't care less that you had a dream about kissing your boyfriend. It's two in the morning."

"Arthur's not my boyfriend!" Alfred exclaimed, voice full of panic.

Matthew looked at him in bewilderment. "He's not?" He asked, tugging his hand out of Alfred's grip.

"No!" He hissed adamantly, staring at him with a pleading expression on his face.

"Huh." Matthew stated, and sat back down onto the bed.

There was a few seconds of silence between them before Alfred turned to face his brother, whispering, "You thought Arthur was my boyfriend?"

"Yes." Matthew replied, his face as straight as his tone.

Alfred simply looked at him for a second, then asked, "Why?"

Matthew shrugged. "Why wouldn't I?" He reasoned, leaning back against the wall once more, "I mean he's here constantly, you talk about him constantly, and there was that one time when you were at the front door – I figured you just didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

"B-but that's ridiculous!" Alfred defended, "Arthur and I are just friends!"

"Friends who dream about kissing each other?" Matthew asked with one eyebrow quirked.

"Yes! No! I don't know," Alfred muttered, burying his head in his hands.

Matthew sighed, reaching his hand over and placing it on his brother's shoulder. "Look," He began, "I know you wanted me to come in here and reassure you that you aren't gay. But I'm not sure that I can do that."

"B-but I'm not gay!" Alfred exclaimed, "I mean, just look at me! I'm nothing like a gay guy!"

Matthew leveled his brother with a reprimanding glare. "Alfred, you of all people should know to avoid stereotypes. And anyway, I really can't tell you that you aren't gay. You did just have a dream about kissing another man."

Alfred sent him an indignant glower. "That doesn't have to mean anything!" He declared.

"No, you're right," Matthew agreed, "It doesn't. But with the way you're reacting to it, there's clearly something going on here."

As Alfred opened his mouth to argue, Matthew cut him off. "Look, your sexuality really has nothing to do with any of this. It's all just about attraction." He stated, pulling his legs up underneath him.

"And I'm not attracted to guys. Great, mystery solved." Alfred quickly replied, leaning his head back against the wall.

Matthew let out a small laugh at that. "Nice try, Al." He admitted, "But you can't get out of this that easily. It's like – alright, what do you think when you see an attractive girl?"

"I think 'she's pretty hot'." Alfred responded, leading Matthew to let out another little laugh.

"How eloquent." He snarked, "But I meant how do you feel? When you see an attractive girl do you think she looks pretty like a sunset looks pretty, or is a different feeling than that?"

"It's different." Alfred said, unable to think of any other way to respond.

"Right," Matthew continued, nodding his head, "And when you see an attractive guy, is he beautiful like snowflakes are beautiful, or is it different?"

Alfred scrunched up his nose, looking at his brother with disdain. "But I don't like guys, how would I know if one was attractive?"

Matthew's face contorted in disbelief. "Alfred, I know you aren't stupid. You can tell if someone would be considered hot even if you don't find them hot. It's called aesthetic attraction and it's what I'm trying to explain to you right now, so answer the question."

Alfred sat in silence for a second, staring at the wall opposite his bed, before whispering, "It's different."

Matthew shrugged, looking over at his brother with a tried expression. "There you go." He offered.

"So what does this mean?" Alfred asked in trepidation, "Am I…am I gay?"

"Do you get the same kind of feeling you get looking at guys as when you look at girls?" He questioned, voice gentle.

"…yes." Alfred responded after a moment.

Matthew shrugged again, turning to face the same wall his brother was staring at. "Then you're not gay."

"B-but you just said –" Alfred stuttered out, before Matthew placed a hand on his shoulder.

"There are more sexualities than just gay and straight, Alfred," Matthew interrupted, "You could be bisexual, pansexual, asexual, demisexual, or a whole lot of other prefix-sexuals. There's a lot out there for you to learn about. I'd say you're probably bi or pan, although I don't think we could totally rule out demi –"

Matthew paused as he saw the almost horrifyingly confused look on his brother's face, and gave his shoulder a quick pat. "Sorry, I shouldn't have overwhelmed you with all of that at once. Maybe we should just stick with bisexual for now, until you know enough to make that decision for yourself."

"So what does this mean?" Alfred asked, his voice shaky.

"You like girls and you like boys," Matthew explained, "Although the latter may be a little harder to come to terms with."

"Yeah," Alfred agreed, "But it does kind of…feel right, ya know?"

"Yes, I do know." Matthew said with a little smile, shifting his weight so that he could stretch his feet out once more.

There was a few seconds of silence before Alfred breathed out, "I'm bisexual."

Matthew looked over at him, one eyebrow raised, and he shrugged sheepishly. "Hey man," He reasoned, "I figure I might as well get used to saying it now. No time like the present."

His brother breathed a small laugh out of his nose and nodded in agreement. "Well, now that we've gotten that part out of the way," Matthew said before rising up onto his knees and facing Alfred, "I'd like to breach a subject in which I will not be as gentle and understanding."

Alfred leaned back a bit, a wary expression on his face. "What's that?" He asked in trepidation.

"Arthur." Matthew stated plainly, and Alfred groaned.

"Come on, Matt," He argued, "I already said that he's just my friend."

"Alfred," Matthew insisted, "We just had an hour long conversation about your sexuality because you had a dream about kissing him. The very least you could do would be to consider the idea."

Alfred crossed his arms, frowning at his brother. "Just because I…like guys," Alfred hesitated on the new phrase coming from his mouth, "Doesn't mean that I like Arthur."

"Fine." Matthew argued, "Is he your best friend then?"

His brother blinked at him in surprise. "No!" He exclaimed, "Of course not! Dude, you of all people should know that Kiku is like, my best friend for life."

"Really?" Matthew asked in the most sarcastic tone he could muster at three in the morning, "Then why is Arthur here so much more than he is? Why do you talk about him more and with him more than Kiku? Shouldn't he be considered your best friend now?"

"Of course not!" He defended, looking overtly offended.

"Why?" Matthew asked, his tone just as heated as his brother's.

"Because it's different!" Alfred burst out, before seeming to realize his mistake and sinking back into his pillows. Matthew just crossed his arms, looking at him with a face that seemed to scream 'I told you so'. Quiet filled the room, the only sound being Alfred's heavy breathing.

Then Matthew cut through the silence with, "And why is that?"

"I –" Alfred started and then stopped, his face contorted in concentration, "I – when I'm with Kiku, I wanna hang out. I wanna play video games and talk about movies and stuff, but when I'm with Arthur –"

Alfred stopped again, Matthew patiently waiting for him to continue. "When I'm with Arthur, I wanna hang out too, but – but more than that." He said, trying to reason out his thoughts, "I wanna touch him. Not – not like in a gross way or anything! I just wanna hold his hand, a-and hug him, and comfort him when he's sad, and smooth out that little worry line that he gets right above his eyebrows –"

Alfred paused, his eyes widening in realization before whispering, "Shit."

Matthew raised one eyebrow, but Alfred ignored him, burying his face into his hands and mumbling "Shit." into them once more. He rubbed his eyes, heavy with both the lack of sleep and the weight of his realization, with the heels of his hands. "Fucking hell," He muttered, "I like Arthur."

Alfred looked over at his brother, face full of distress. "I like like Arthur." He whispered, and Matthew let out a snort.

"What is this, fifth grade?" He asked before being leveled with a glare by his over-emotional brother.

"Mattie," He whined, "Come on, this is serious."

"Yeah, I know," He responded, "That's why it's funny."

Alfred ignored his brother's sarcastic comment for once, instead opting to bury his face back into his hands and moan out, "How am I supposed to deal with this? I have a crush on Arthur. Arthur my lab partner. The guy I see every day, eat lunch with, and comes to our house every other day!"

"Look on the bright side," Matthew reasoned, "You won't have to awkwardly bring him home to meet mom and dad because he already has."

Alfred glared at him and he chuckled, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. "Alright, I'm done now," He promised, "Only serious business from now on."

Alfred groaned, banging his head back against the wall. "Honestly, Mattie, what am I supposed to do with this information?"

Matthew shrugged. "Easy," He reasoned, "Ask him out."

He looked at him as if he had been shocked. "I can't do that!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms out in front of him as if to illustrate how impossible it was.

"Why not? Does he not like guys?" Matthew asked.

Alfred looked away, trying to avoid his brother's eyes. "Well no," He stated, "Actually, he basically just flat-out told me that he was gay, but –"

"But what?" Matthew questioned, "He likes guys, you like guys, you like him, he definitely likes you. Why wouldn't you go for it?"

His brother looked at him with doubt in his eyes. "Arthur doesn't like me."

"Are you kidding me?" Matthew asked, disbelief plain on his face, "The sexual tension between you two is so thick I could cut it with a knife. I mean, I honestly thought you were dating – what part of this do you not get?"

"The part where you're wrong." Alfred argued, letting out a yawn.

"Eloquent," Matthew stated before pushing himself off of the bed and onto the floor, "I'm going to bed, it's nearly four in the morning. You better thank your lucky stars that it's not a school night."

As Matthew padded out of the room, he called out, "Love you too, Matt!" with a small laugh. Once he had closed the door, Alfred pulled himself under the covers once more, grateful to be able to get some sleep after the session of self-realization that he had just had.

He dreamt of various people walking past him, all of them waving hello as they went by, and a pair of green eyes seated just behind his shoulder.

*HALLELUJAH CHORUS PLAYS*

So this nerd has finally realized what we knew all along, even though it took him 14 chapters to do so.

This chapter was oddly easy to write, considering it's one of the biggest scenes in the whole thing. I can't believe I managed to write an entire chapter entirely based on Alfred's sexuality, featuring a lecture on uncommon sexualities by Matthew, who is apparently now the expert on these things.

I really hope you all like how the story is going so far, and thank you all for the favorites/follows/reviews, they really mean a lot to me!

~Alix Marie