Pulling Matthew after him, Alfred went past the fence and right up to the door. "Don't worry, they will love you." He pushed the door open, glad that they still never kept it locked. After all, they lived on a farm, who would bother rob them?
"But what if they don't? I don't want your parents to not like me!" Matthew was insanely nervous to meet the parents of his boyfriend. Not only had he just seen pictures of them, but he wasn't sure how he would react to them.
Shaking his head, Alfred put down his bags. "I love you, so they have to love you." Then he called out to the rest of the house, "Mom, dad! We're here!"
Suddenly there was noise from upstairs that quickly made it's way down to them. Soon, Alfred saw his mom running down the stairs. "My Alfy is home!" She said before taking him into a large hug. "You weren't supposed to be here for another hour!"
"The plane arrived early. Where's dad?" He hugged her back, the last time having seen her being so long ago.
"Out with Bessy." She looked behind Alfred and smiled. "So this must be Matthew!" She left her son, going to see the other boy. "Oh, poor thing, you look famished! My son not been feeding you enough? Come, I have some soup."
"I-I'm fine!" Matthew tried to tell her as she ran off to the kitchen. "I'm not... hungry..." Looking over to Alfred, his eyes were wide. "Your mother is very nice and caring." Maybe his father would be very similar too.
Laughing, the American nodded. "Yup. Not sure what she sees in the old man." Of course he was just joking, as always. His dad was awkward and everything, but his heart was in the right place. "I'm gonna get him." Why he had moved to a farm, Alfred will never know. His father usually had horrible luck with nature. Sure enough, he saw him arguing with their cow, Bessy. "Dad!"
"Alfred?" He yelled out, coming from the barn that was close by. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he allowed himself to smile a bit. "I thought we weren't expecting you for a while? Is Matthew with you?"
Said person was trying to give back the soup, waving his arms around. "It's ok Mrs. Jones! I don't need any! I ate when we were home!"
"But look at you! Practically skin and bones. But tell me, Matthew, how has my son taken care of you? We were surprised when we heard he was taking someone with him from the war, but he seems so happy." Rose asked, still pouring soup into a bowl. "And would you like crackers?"
Walking in the door, Alfred gave a laugh. "Mom, he's been here five minutes. Think you can hold off the food for a while?" He turned to his father, beaming. "This is Matt. Matt, this is my dad."
Seeing Alfred's father for the first time, Matthews eyes went wide before looking to the ground and bowing slightly. "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Jones." He held out his hand even though it was shaking a bit. This was very nerve racking for him.
"Hello Matthew. It's nice to meet you as well." He shook the poor lad's hand firmly before mentioning. "You can call me Arthur; I'm not that old."
Laughing, Alfred watched them. It was pretty funny, really. He stood beside his mom, so he turned to her. "Hey, can we talk in the kitchen? Let them get acquainted." He had figured it would be easier to tell her first. She would be the most likely to believe him.
Nodding, Rose followed her son with the bowl of soup back to the kitchen. "What do you want to talk about honey?" He seemed to be a little nervous yet happy at the same time.
Smiling, Alfred moved her to sit down at the kitchen table. "Ok, I have to tell you something very important. Promise not to get angry or anything." Obviously she would be shocked, but he was hoping she would accept it.
Alfred's comment piqued her interest. "I promise Alfred. You're my son, how could I be angry with you?" Maybe he had finally found a nice girl for himself and was setting Matthew up with a house of his own and needed a bit of money to help.
Looking to the door of the kitchen, Alfred smiled, wondering how they were getting along. "Matthew, he, uh well, he's my boyfriend." He let that sink in for a moment.
"As in... A male friend?" She asked, completely blindsided by his comment. How did her son become gay? Not that she wouldn't care about both of them... But it was so strange...
Giving a sigh, Alfred shook his head. "No, as in lovers." Not that they had officially made love yet, but they both loved each other so they were lovers. He reached out, holding his mom's hand. "Please, try to understand."
Squeezing his hand, Rose asked again. "I still love you... But did I do something wrong? Did I do something to make you end up being... that way?" It was unnatural and a sin, but she couldn't stop caring about her own son just for his preference for the same sex.
"No, mom you were great. Trust me, I was straight until I met Matt. He's just... God I don't even know. He's just so perfect, I couldn't help it." He smiled, this going better than he thought it would have. "Don't blame yourself. All I ask is to make him part of the family, because he doesn't have any."
Pulling Alfred into a hug, Rose said. "Don't worry yourself about that honey, I couldn't reject him from our family. From now on, he's one of us." All she knew about Matthew was that they met during the war. She didn't know where he came from, or if he was another fellow solider, but she definitely wanted to know more about him now. It seemed like she would be getting another 'son'. "Where is he from?"
"France. But he was in a concentration camp in Germany. Thanks, mom, you're the best." Only his mother was awesome enough to accept Matthew so easily after finding out they were gay together. "Um... if you could tell dad maybe...?"
Letting him go to hold his hands, Rose nodded slowly. "I will do my best. All I ask is that... You keep your showings of affection to a minimum. I will care for Matthew like a son, but I still don't feel very good about this. Not to mention your father would blow a gasket if he saw you two doing something." She couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man her son was in love with since he had to live in a camp, but it would just make it worse on him if she treated him differently with that knowledge.
Laughing, Alfred shook his head. "Of course we will. Even if I tried, I doubt Matthew would let me, anyways." It was alright when they were home, but anywhere else wasn't good. He stood up and went to smell the soup. "But this smells great! What kind?"
"Potato bacon. I figured you haven't been home for a while, so I would make one of your favourites from when you were little. I'll dish some up for you and Matthew if you go save him from your father. He's so overbearing I'm amazed he hasn't run in here for you yet."
"Yeah, with his French accent, dad is probably lecturing him on English." Even if he already spoke perfect English. Going to the door, Alfred went back into the front hall. "So? You two getting along?" He asked, going up to them and smiling.
Clearing his throat, Arthur gave a nod. "Yes, he is a perfectly respectable young man. Even if he is French." He mumbled when he was done, his years of hating the country not going away.
Matthew nodded quickly since he was still nervous. "Your father is very nice as well." A bit scary and intimidating, but nice. "I-I was just saying how in France my family had a farm as well. It reminds me of home here."
"That's good. Here, I'll show you the dog!" He had felt bad about leaving Spike, and couldn't wait to see him again. He clapped Arthur on the shoulder. "We'll be back soon. Will we both be sleeping in my room?"
Rose stepped forward, a little nervous. "Matthew can sleep in the guest room. I think that would be best."
Following his boyfriend outside, Matthew waited until they were far enough from the house to not be heard. "Alfred... Do they... Do they know we are together?" He didn't forget that Dr. Hughes said it wasn't common for men to love men, or even socially acceptable. Most of all, Matthew didn't want his lover's family to hate him for turning their son gay, or for being with him.
"I just told mom. She was obviously surprised, but said she will treat you as one of the family." Alfred smiled, putting his hands in his pockets. "She's going to tell dad for me, so he has time to calm down." It was a great feeling for his family to meet his lover.
"Your mother is very caring Alfred. You don't know how lucky you are to have your family." His family was also nice, and Matthew wished he could have introduced Alfred to them. Obviously it would never happen though, since they were both dead and he wasn't sure what happened to Francis. "But... I hope your father is ok with it... He seems very hard to impress, but I wish to be on his good side without him hating me." He could tell that Mr. Jones didn't like him too much already because he was French.
Alfred found Spike and ran up to him. "Yeah, dad can be a hard ass sometimes, but he's a nice guy. Mention how much you like learning how to read English and he will love you forever." Although, if he found out Matthew was learning how to read, he might just spend the rest of the trip with some Shakespeare.
Crouching to pet the friendly dog, Matthew smiled. "I hope he will like me. I don't want your family to feel as if they have to put up with me." Maybe he would take Alfred's advice. He hadn't read any famous books, but maybe Mr. Jones would show him some that he could then borrow from the library.
"Don't worry, they will love you. After all, they raised me, and I love you." He stood up, going to put his arm around Matthew, but then pulled back. "Before I forget, mom says that she doesn't want any showings of affection."
Pausing, he asked. "C-Can I hug you quickly now then?" If he wasn't allowed to do things like that, he wanted to do it now. Not that he was going to kiss Alfred in front of them anyways. He would be much too nervous.
Not answering, Alfred just stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him. It was really too bad they wouldn't be sleeping in the same room, after having done so for so long. But it was understandable, considering.
Holding him for a second, Matthew pulled back. "So... What else can you tell me about your family? I want to know so if there is something I shouldn't talk about, I won't."
"Don't spill grape juice on the floor." Alfred shivered from the memory. He had been in trouble so long for that one.
Laughing, Matthew pet the dog more as it sat beside him. "I will make sure not to do that." Hopefully there were no other taboo subjects that he wasn't already aware of. Obviously mentioning France around his father would be counter productive, or saying they were gay for each other. "You are very much like Mimi." Matthew said to Spike in French, wanting to get out all of it before going back to the house. When he was nervous he would slip into it, so he hoped he wouldn't around Arthur.
After a minute more of petting Spike, Alfred stood up and wiped off his pants. "Well, if we leave them alone much longer, mom will have made much more food to fatten you up." He laughed and helped Matthew stand up.
Matthew let Alfred help him stand up before walking back to their house. "There are only a few things that are very different about your home here. Other than that, it is very similar to my old house in France. We mostly had chickens though as well as a vineyard."
"Cool. We have a chicken. But only for eggs." One year, Arthur had gotten a turkey that he was going to use for Thanksgiving. Alfred had set the turkey free, not wanting it to be eaten. They went inside and went into the dinning room. "We're back. Supper?"
"It's already on the table!" Rose said, looking through the doorway from the kitchen to the front room. "Don't forget to wash up before coming to eat you two."
Nodding, Matthew turned to Alfred. "Where is the bathroom so I may wash my hands?"
Pointing, Alfred went into the kitchen. "Need any help? I'll clean up after." Because he was home, and it always used to be his job to clean up after supper. He picked up a plate full of bread and started to bring it to the dinning room.
"Oh, no you won't. You and Matthew still have to unpack!" Rose said, glancing to her husband to make sure he wouldn't say anything opposite. "How does he like Spike? That is a fairly big dog compared to your skinny... friend."
"He has put on a lot of weight already being back here. He's not wasting away." At least not anymore. But it used to look like he could be blown away in the wind so easily.
The rest of this scene in the next chapter, sorry.
So... we ended up maki9ng Alfred's mom like Mrs. Weasley... *facepalm*