Ow, fuck! A pulsing pain in his nose woke him up the next morning.

Arthur winced and rose up, only to have another pulse of pain pinch his cheek.

It was early in the morning - the room still had that tangerine orange colour of dawn. The rain seemed to have stopped as well, must've cleared up during the night. Above him, there was a quiet snore - Francis was still asleep. His mind reverted back to what had happened last night and a vivid flush dyed his face.

Arthur sighed at the memory and pinched the bridge of his nose. An amazing intense jolt of pain spiked out at the touch, causing him to yelp. Right, his nose. Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, considering how to get rid of it. He could get pills and drink a glass of water, wait for the painkillers to kick in and sleep off the rest of the morning. He got up - wincing at the occasional sore spots - and went to the bathroom to get some painkillers.

Angus didn't sleep well that night, his mind clouded by what had happened. He had thought he was doing Mum and his siblings a favour, only then to realise that he was the only one holding a grudge. But it was too late to make any changes now.

Unlocking the door to his old house and stepping in, he sighed. It was still early in the morning, so no one would be up yet. He dragged his knuckles across the wall, feeling its unique coarse texture and took deep breaths, smelling the scent of tea towels that was always here. He couldn't help it - he still missed this place, even after moving out.

Angus made himself a cup of tea and sat at the dinner table. At this place unchanged from time. It was strange how calm everything was after what had happened at the wedding. There was something unnerving about that. It's alright, he told himself as he sipped some tea. Whatever, he couldn't change fate. If Arthur wanted to leave, so be it.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a flask. At least he could experience one last drink here before going off on his and Marie's honeymoon.

Angus whipped up his head as someone went down the stairs. Was that Mum? He screwed the flask's lid back on and stuffed it into his pocket.

To his bewilderment, the person who came down was Arthur.

Arthur! What on earth… Jesus Christ, why the hell was he still here?! Angus rubbed his temple. Did he drink before he arrived here?

Hallucination or in the flesh, Arthur walked down the stairs and headed straight to the sink, unaware that he was here. He filled a glass with some water and ate some pills, gulping the water down afterwards. Angus scrunched up his face. Moving away would probably catch his attention, but staying still might prove problematic once he looked around the room.

Angus didn't need to think up a plan anymore, as Arthur turned around. Arthur's eyes met his for a split second as he drunk before he glanced back forward, as if only out of a reaction. Immediately, his eyes widened and he stopped drinking before he stared back at Angus. Angus jolted at the act and shuffled back.

A tense moment of silence stretched where they locked their gaze. Should he say anything or would that be inappropriate?

He stopped that train of thought once Arthur turned back towards the sink.

"How's your nose?" Angus blurted out. Not the most appropriate way to start a conversation, especially when you were the one who broke the nose, but well fuck, he supposed.

Arthur whipped his head back, his eyes wide in surprise. "It's… been, it's been alright?" Confused, Arthur scrunched up his eyebrows and looked away, pouring the rest of the water down the sink. Angus felt as confused as Arthur looked. Normally Arthur would've downright thrown a tantrum especially what has happened yesterday, but instead, he was quiet. Why was that? Tantrum or no tantrum, either way, that was his only opportunity fucked up. Huffing, Angus turned away and reached for his flask to take a swig of alcohol.

Angus realised that he was being watched. Turning around, he saw Arthur looking at the flask, a little confused. Ah, right, Mum didn't let them drink alcohol when they were younger. Those rules were obviously looser now, but from Arthur's confused, suspicious gaze, Arthur didn't seem to know that. As soon as he made eye contact, Arthur jolted and looked away at an almost comical pace. Hah, he always loved how Arthur attempt to look serious while being so goofy.

"Arthur? Was this what you were looking at?" He raised the flask and tapped the metal. "Don't worry. This is medicinal whiskey. Trust me, I'm a doctor," he replied as he took a swig. His light-hearted reply surprised himself a little, but hey, any time was a good time for a joke. Would Arthur agree with that? Who knows, pigs could be flying right about now and he'd be none the wiser.

Arthur turned around. It took him a while before he realised the humour of the situation before he scoffed and tucked his hands into his pockets. "So you're an alcoholic now? Well, I'm not surprised."

Angus spluttered his whiskey out. "Hey!" He shot back. "I only drink occasionally! Actually… hm." Angus crossed his arms and leaned back onto the chair. "To be fair you could've drunken a lot while away."

"But you don't have any proof."

"Wouldn't that be what a liar would say?"

"You're literally drinking alcohol right now." They laughed for a while. However, very quickly, Arthur's laugh died down. Angus raised an eyebrow, almost confused - until he remembered last night.

Oh. Right. That happened. Overridden by guilt, Angus glanced down and rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe the right thing to do was to apologise, but… he didn't know. Punching someone, especially your brother one day and apologising the next? Arthur would probably think he was being two-faced and dishonest. Maybe it only seemed like that to him, and apologising was the right thing to do, but he didn't feel it was right to pretend that nothing had happened. Maybe he was just biased or something, he didn't know. What would Arthur say? Oh, Angus, you indecisive, two-faced cunt. Wow. Thanks. I'm sure this will magically heal my bruises and my broken nose! No. You're still a cunt.

The glass clinked onto the sink and then Arthur's footsteps were heading towards the stairs. A shock of adrenaline kicked in and Angus bolted up.

"Hey, Arthur, wait!" Arthur, with his foot on the first step and hand on the bar, stopped. They stood still for a moment before Arthur turned his head back. His eyebrows were furrowed, confused. Angus looked down and gulped, an immense sense of panic giving him the jitters. Oh fuck, he couldn't talk right like this!

"Listen. About yesterday." Angus twisted his lip, wanting to be careful with his word, but none of them were willing to come out, opting to stick in the back of his throat. Angus twisted his lips as he wrangled the stragglers out. C'mon, Angus, he had started it himself, so he would finish it. "I've been..." that last word really didn't want to come out, did it? Just one word, two syllables, 8 letters. Come on… "... thinking."

Angus waited for Arthur to make some smart, precise reply, something like a simple I don't forgive you and never will disguised in some clever way. He heard Arthur inhale and he looked away.

"You? Thinking? Wow, looks like I hit you harder than I thought."

Angus widened his eyes. That was the reply? It was so nonchalant but humorous… Angus couldn't help but chuckle. "Hahah. Yeah…" but Angus remembered why he wanted to talk and he cleared his throat, wanting to get straight to the point. "Yeah. Anyway. I've been thinking about well, stuff." A little too vague. "Stuff about… what you said and what happened at the wedding last night and what happened over the past few years…" Angus furrowed his eyebrows and huffed. "Basically I've been thinking a lot."

Even though it would look a little weird considering he was apologising, Angus couldn't help but look up. As Arthur pulled out a chair, Angus noticed that he didn't have any serious reaction at all, just a nonchalant poker face that was all ears. Alright, so he could continue to talk. Angus tapped his nails onto the table, trying to clear his mind and wrangle out the right words. Feeling ready, Angus took a deep breath in.

"OkaysothisentiretimesinceyesterdayIwasthinking:"OhheyIactuallydon'tthinkthatIwantjusticeoranythinganymore"whichisverystrangebecause-"

"WHOA, Jesus!"

"I'vebeenwantingyoutoknowwhathashappenedbecauseIhadthoughtthatyouwerealljollyandhappyandlivingthehighlifeinLondon-"

"Angus-"

"WhileyouwereignorantofwhathadhappenedbackhereandIthoughtatthetime:"whatthehellthat'snothowyoudothingsyoudon'tjustdothat"andthenightbeforeIwaslike"NOyoudon'tdothatyoudon'tjustpassoffeverythingwitha'whoops'andcallitadaybutforsomereasonI'vechangedmymindand…" Angus slowed down. What just came out of his mouth? What on earth was that? Jesus, even he couldn't understand what he had been saying.

Arthur's eyebrows were raised, surprised and confused. Well, he couldn't blame him, all that came out of his mouth was a bunch of half baked, indecipherable words. Arthur scrunched them up and glanced to the side.

"You got any of that?" He asked. Arthur opened his mouth, trying to say something, but closed it again.

"Er, no."

"Let me try again," Angus offered. He cleared his throat, trying to find the right words this time.

"If you want your sentences clearer, you can stick to one topic," Arthur brought up. Angus glanced to the side as he considered that piece of advice.

"Yeah yeah, sure. Erhm…" Angus took off his glasses and rubbed the lens with his shirt. There was so much he wanted to talk about, but where could he start? The complete thought process up to this point was just a jumble of words, and Arthur already knew about what happened as soon as he was gone. He sighed.

"I... thought of what I said and then what you said. Yes, maybe you could've chosen a different route, but I also could've put Dylan, Peter and Mum's best interest over mine." Angus circled his thumbs together. "It's only because I didn't want to disturb them much further though. They were already very sad and… I'm not too sure if I had the guts to properly talk about them. So yeah. I'm a coward, I guess." Angus huffed and leaned into his hand. "Then again… I know what you did was wrong, and you can't change the past through a simple sorry. Could you fix a broken bowl through just one word?" He shook his head. "I don't think so. But…" I saw what you looked like yesterday in your room, and I wanted to take back everything I said? Even though the damage had been done? "... I… no, you seemed sad as hell. Everyone seemed sad as hell after yesterday. I didn't think my choice was right anymore."

It didn't seem right. It probably did before, but… once everything unfolded, Angus realised that this was not what he wanted. He just wanted Arthur, the prideful, selfish Arthur from the past, to apologise to everyone (yes, very contradicting but at least he wanted Arthur to be regretful about it rather than pretend it had never happened, he didn't know, some kind of karma at least) and call it a day, not be guilty of accusing his brother things that aren't even relevant.

"It would be confusing, I can imagine." Angus whipped his head up. "To… to be so confused over your choices, and to wonder whether you did the right thing." Arthur exhaled and rubbed the back of his head. "For a while, I've been wondering whether it was… it was, well, wrong and selfish of me to leave in the first place. And you know what?" Arthur sat up as if fully preparing himself for the next few words. "It was. But it has happened, and I can't change that fact, ever."

Angus was surprised at Arthur's reply. Not only was that something he expected out of Arthur, but that was a fair point. "Yeah… you can't. Even if you invent some sort of time machine, it'll probably do some of that weird predestination paradox thing and things would just stay the same."

"Predestination paradox… wow, you actually know about that, erhm, yes, I suppose. Fate is fate or something… oh!" Angus raised an eyebrow at Arthur's exclamation. "I had a talk with everyone last night."

"Really? How was it?"

"Erhm…" Arthur rubbed the back of his neck. "They've forgiven me. Mum saw my departure as a life lesson, Dylan knew that what had happened was irreversible but likes me nevertheless, and Peter doesn't quite remember, so we just learnt a bit about what happened for us during those years."

"Wow." Angus adjusted his glasses. "That… that was it?" Arthur scrunched his nose as he recollected his thoughts and he nodded. Was it really that simple? A quick conversation and that had been it? Angus exhaled, slouching onto his hand so much his face toppled onto the table. All that fuss over nothing! Simply because he was too nervous to speak! He could've spoken to Mum and his siblings sooner instead of worrying over nothing.

"Hey, Angus." Arthur must've stood up and walked over because he was tapping his shoulder. "Is that really that impactful?"

Angus nodded. 'Yeah… I could've talked with everyone and saved all this trouble." He heard Arthur beside him huff.

"It's alright, I forgive you." Angus widened his eyes and he jolted right up.

"You forgive me?! Really?! Even after I broke your nose and all that?" Arthur nodded.

"I… I guess. But staying mad isn't exactly an option, is it?" He let out a huff, and Angus shrugged.

"I guess not." Angus glanced to the side. Surprisingly, knowing that Arthur had done all that he could and after accepting that the past is in the past. the conversation had left his chest feeling light. "How weird. Seems like the sooner you confess shit, the sooner you feel better…" a train of thought crossed his mind. "Actually, I have an idea." Angus sat up and made eye contact.

"What?"

"Let's just apologise. Get this over with and get on what we need to do. Start a new era between us if you get what I mean. Sounds good?"

Arthur glanced to the side. To Angus' relief, he nodded. "Yeah, I suppose." Arthur sat at a seat and straightened his chair. Angus did the same with his.

"Ready?" Three, two, one, go. I'm sorry for accusing you for things that you didn't know about and for breaking your nose."

"I'm sorry for the punches at the wedding, I was really angry and let the emotions control me. And I'm sorry for leaving." Very soon after the apology, there was a brief moment of silence. Angus circled his thumbs around. "Anything else you want to add? Erhm… I guess mine would be something like: "hey, you've changed a lot since you were a kid, and so anything past today would be something similar to relearning who you are or some other sappy quote. You, Arthur?"

"Ah!" Arthur stroked his chin. "Mine would be… we've both learnt something. People change over time, and that the past can't be changed." He glanced around and glancing down at his hand, Arthur stuck his hand out. "Handshake?"

Angus grinned and shook Arthur's hand. "Sure."

Finally! They have finished! However, Angus and Arthur sat on the dinner table in silence, considering what to say. What they had needed to say was said, but Angus didn't want to leave it like that just yet. Arthur likely didn't either.

"So." Angus glanced into Arthur's direction. "About that predestination paradox. You… know anything about that?" Angus let out a small chuckle.

Hahah, yeah. One time I woke up in the middle of the night and got into a Wikipedia binge…"

Francis woke up, confused as to where Arthur was. Stretching, he got dressed and went downstairs. At the sight of Angus, Francis jolted back. But strangely enough, Angus and Arthur seemed to have reconciled, with how they told each other jokes and genuinely smiling. In fact, if it wasn't for the visible bruises, it was impossible to tell that they have fought yesterday. He crossed his arms as he squinted. What did he miss?

Arthur glanced back and saw him. Merde, did he accidentally trek into a private discussion? Arthur leaned over and whispered something to Angus. There were a small discussion and some uncertainty in their actions. Finally, Angus nodded, and stood up and walked over to Francis.

"Hey, Francis!" Angus put up a smile and Francis raised an eyebrow. "Erhm…" Angus glanced to the side as he chewed his bottom lip. "I'm sorry you had to see what happened yesterday, but I think Arthur and I are alright now!"

"Alright? How…"

"We made up. Decided that stressing over the past wasn't worth it." Francis nodded.

"Ah." Francis looked over Angus' shoulder. "But Arthur and you still…" Arthur put up a thumbs up.

"It's fine, I forgave him." Forgave him! Francis exhaled. That was fast. A little confusing, too, but… that seemed to be what was happening.

"Anyway, I'm wondering whether we can look past that now. We have a long friendship and I, well, to be fair I missed you, but I couldn't bring myself to talk to you since you seemed to be on Arthur's side, which is sorta ridiculous now. Erhm…" Angus opened his arms with a small, nervous smile. "Can we make up?"

Francis raised his eyebrows. Angus seemed to be genuinely sorry. He glanced at Arthur - Arthur seemed to be supportive. Glancing at Angus and back again, Francis decided. He smiled and opened his arms. "Apology accepted," he said before they hugged as old friends should.

Arthur had decided to extend his visit into the afternoon to have a chat with his family, joke around, catch up on what had happened, and overall finally having a good time with his family.

Thanks to GokuSuperSaiyanTime for editing the chapter!