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Relief.
That was how entering his room that evening felt. The day had been long, confusing and tiring and the relative silence was a very welcome gift to Matthew's ears. He wouldn't have to listen to Alfred's chatter anymore from this evening on, and he wouldn't have to deal with his rough sleeping anymore. Finally. That was Arthur's problem now.
Arthur.
Oh, yeah. Arthur.
That thought had him feel a small tinge of guilt for a moment. The poor lad probably wouldn't be able to even close his eyes tonight. Knowing Alfred, he would probably keep chatting and rambling on until Arthur couldn't take it anymore and knocked him unconscious. Knowing Arthur, it wouldn't take very long before that point was reached.
Matthew didn't even understand how they had gotten together in the first place. He had known for a long time Alfred was…developing certain feelings for their mutual friend Arthur, but he hadn't thought Arthur would actually respond to said feelings. Of course, Arthur was full of surprises and it was extremely difficult to figure out what exactly was on his mind, so he shouldn't be too disappointed in himself.
That didn't take away Matthew's mixed feeling of surprise and relief on how quickly and seemingly easy things went for them. It was as though things unfolded by themselves without either of them having to do anything at all. It all came so natural to them.
Quite the opposite of Matthew's own situation, which had seemed to be stuck in the same state for about two years now with him silently watching and hoping to be noticed, and Abel completely oblivious. Perhaps it was better that way. Why ruin a great friendship if things could stay the way they were?
Right now, it seemed to be best to pretend there was absolutely nothing going on inside his head other than any normal friendship. If there was any sign the feeling just might be mutual, he'd let something know. Maybe. He had to be sure first. Really sure.
Matthew kept worrying about it even while he brushed his teeth and changed into his pyjamas.
Abel dropped himself on his back on the bed and crossed his hands behind his head. "I have to say, this is way less unnerving then sharing a room with Arthur or Judithe."
Matthew looked at his side, at Abel. 'You think this isn't unnerving for me? Hello, you're shirtless here!', he thought, but refrained from speaking his thoughts. "If she was your brother instead of your sister they would've put you two together in one room."
Abel shivered. "Horrible thought."
"What wrong with your sister? She's nice. At least, to me."
"She is nice to practically everyone but me."
"Why?"
"Who knows? I guess her little brother has a reputation she doesn't want to have anything to do with?"
"Little brother?" Matthew asked. He sat up, slightly surprised that Abel was in fact the younger one of the two. It was impossible to judge it by looks, but he had expected Abel to be older. In the past five years they had known each other, they had never asked each other which one was the older one.
The spiky-haired teenager also sat up, turning a little more towards Matthew to be a little more in the conversation. "Yes, little brother, because I'm the tiniest person in the world." He joked. "Nah, it's only by ten minutes. So which one of you is older? I'm guessing Alfred."
"Eh, no. I am older." Mathew replied, smiling uneasy and pushing his glasses back onto his nose. "By about five minutes."
"Really? Wow. I seriously thought you were the youngest of you two."
"Many people seem to think that. I don't know why." Matthew said, slightly tilting his head and he scratched his neck. "I can't blame you."
Abel mumbled something absently, looking at the wall in front of him. "I guess I'm lucky Judithe is a girl. Not many people expect us to be twins. I've even met a few people who thought she was my girlfriend." He sniggered but at the same time shivered.
Matthew chuckled. "Girlfriend? Ouch. That's wrong in so many ways."
"Not going to happen in so many ways." He hinted, but unfortunately the hint remained unnoticed.
Matthew sighed. "A lot of people take the term 'identical twins' a little too literally. I even got beaten up a few times because people thought I was Alfred."
"That was that one time with Carlos, wasn't it?"
"But he did believe me when I said I wasn't Alfred. I hoped letting my hair grow out would solve the problem, but apparently not."
"Heh heh. You're not that much alike, really. I would like to see Alfred behave like you or vice versa. Would be hilarious." Abel stated, rather surprised people actually thought Alfred and Matthew were alike. The two did look alike, but their attitude, way of talking and style were all entirely different. "Alfred is hyper, and always…very present, and you're quiet and calm and…I don't think it would be a good idea to finish that." Abel corrected himself before he actually spoke his thoughts.
Matthew sniggered at that last comment. "Maybe not, so you'd better not say it if it's really that bad."
"I wanted to say 'invisible', but-." Abel sniggered and blocked the pillow that was aimed at his face just in time.
The two talked and talked, getting lost in a lively conversation and often laughing. After an hour, however, they started to feel the exhaustion of day. The conversation came to an end and they both set their minds on sleeping.
Matthew was about to take off his glasses when he realised something. "Uhm, Abel? Maybe I should tell you that one of the few things I have in common with Alfred is that we both shift a lot in our sleep…So, ehm, please don't be angry if I end up stealing all the covers or something, eh?" Matthew said carefully, his voice soft and hesitant as always.
Abel shrugged. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Although I might just forget what you just told me if you kick me in the face in the middle of the night." Abel joked.
Matthew sniggered softly at the mental image of that.
"No. Seriously." Abel said, his tone suddenly serious. "Arthur did that last night."
So Arthur was at least as bad as Alfred? Oh, joy. But that was Alfred's problem now.
As for himself, this probably wouldn't be much better than sharing a room with Alfred after all. Granted, the chance Abel would kick him in his sleep was slim, but it was quite nerve-wrecking to have the guy you've had a crush on for years right next to you, without a bloody shirt on! Especially since Abel himself didn't seem to think there was anything wrong at all with him being shirtless.
Matthew told himself to turn away, calm down, count to ten and especially not look around every ten seconds!
...'NOT look around' he told himself again and turned away again.
With that in the back of his mind, he fell asleep.
The following morning, Abel slowly opened his eyes. Whether it was because of the sun shining into the room through the curtains or something else, he didn't know. He was about to find out. Just when his thoughts got a bit cleared up he noticed something rather…unusual. When he realised what exactly that was, he smiled slightly amused but at the same time uneasy as well. He cleared his throat before speaking up in a tone as calm as he could manage in his current position. "Matthew. Do you usually sleep with a teddy bear?"
"Hm? Yeah. Why?" Matthew mumbled, not even half awake yet.
"Ah, makes sense. I appreciate the gesture of affection, but could you please keep my personal space in mind?"
It also took Matthew a few seconds to get his brain started in the morning, but even he was wide awake instantly when he noticed he was in fact cuddling up against his classmate's back.
With a high-pitched yelp, he backed away onto his half of the bed. Deeply embarrassed and feeling like he was going to melt through the ground, Matthew slapped his forehead. Great. Well, this was one messed-up start of the day. Granted, the position and warmth had been very comfortable, but the other aspects were downright humiliating and inappropriate. This wouldn't be such a great week after all.
Abel took the situation a little more lightly, though. He chuckled and grinned, looking at Matthew's innocent childlike I-just-did-something-stupid expression and even enjoying it. "Come on. I'm not that scary, am I?"
Matthew dived under his covers where he curled up to a ball. The last thing he needed right now would be Abel's teasing. "Stop it." He whined.
In reaction, Abel patted him on the bump that was his head. "Matty, you look like a caterpillar."
"Stop it!"
"Or a gigantic pillow." Abel grinned childishly and plopped down over the blanket Matthew was underneath and with that indirectly cuddling him.
"Whaah! Stop that!" Matthew said and jumped up from underneath his relatively safe barrier. He hit Abel with a pillow but received the same projectile in the face from his target at the exact same moment.
Abel quickly tossed the pillow aside to try another, more effective approach: tickling. He hooked his arm around Matthew's waist, yanked him closer and tickled, poked and pinched his waist.
Matthew yelped and laughed and did many weak attempts to free himself, but he couldn't find any strength as long as he was being attacked by playful pokes and pinches. However hard he tried, he couldn't find enough strength for even a split second to resist the merciless attack.
However, the fun was quickly ruined when Mr. Trouillefou knocked on the door. "Get up, you two. It's time for breakfast." His grumpy voice sounded.
Abel rolled his eyes and made a nag-nag expression in the direction of the door. "Okay!" He replied, and waited until Trouillefou was out of hearing-range.
They looked each other in the eyes, but remained silent. "Well, that was awkward." Abel said. There was a brief silence before they both burst into laughter.
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Ongemakkeluuuuk~! Sorry for this chapter Matty!
Awkward wakeup-call is awkward. Yes, Matthew does usually sleep with a Kumajirou. ^_^
Please leave a review, my dearest reader. I read and appreciate them all.