Chapter 12

Something's...off.

When Matthew woke the next morning, his head shot up from his pillow, growing alarmed at the brightness filtering into his bedroom. He gasped and flew off his mattress, snatching his glasses container from the nightstand and cursed the time showing on his cellphone. It was ten minutes later than the time his brother usually woke him (if abruptly) for school! He pushed out of his bedroom, stomped down the hall, and shoved open Alfred's door.

"Al!" Matthew called. "You could have told me that you weren't going to wake me up...Al?" He looked around the empty bedroom. The bed was made with the covers neatly spread across the mattress (instead of being carelessly tossed or not bothered with at all), which was especially shocking. He streaked down the hall once more, flying down the stairs, and nearly fell onto his face when his feet tangled one another. "Al!" He ducked into the kitchen, but there was no evidence of breakfast. The sink was empty, and the counters were clear from crumbs that usually littered their glossy surface.

Matthew peeked into the living room, just in case Alfred decided that video games had seniority over school, though he had to inwardly agree. After seeing that no one was on the ground floor, he scrambled back up the stairs, snooping in their shared bathroom and his father's office with no sign of Alfred.

"Al, you ass, did you forget about me...again?" Matthew scoffed, and lumbered into his own room to begrudgingly change out of his pajamas.

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

Matthew was already ticking after being thoroughly scolded for being late to his first period, which was a free period, study hall, much to his confusion from that logic. The other teenagers seemed to mock him further by forming walls of themselves and walking as slowly as possible. He pattered from the kitchen, into the lunch room with his tray of food, inwardly groaning from the scent of the offered meals sweating heavily around the crowd.

Alfred was present at the table they usually sat at, with, of course, his best buddy Arthur, but...

Neither of them looked or even spoke to one another, despite sitting almost shoulder to shoulder. Matthew warily approached the table. "Uh, hey, Alfred!"

Alfred blinked like he just woke up. "Hey, Mattie?"

"Did you get to school on time at least?"

"Uh, yeah?" Alfred's face slowly morphed into horror. "Oh, shit!" Arthur jumped. "I totally forgot to wake you up!"

"You forgot!" Matthew sarcastically sung, and flopped into his seat, just to tick himself off further. "Next time, I would like to know that you're going to run off early in the morning before you leave!"

Arthur thought it was a good idea to give his unwanted output, "Why don't you get an alarm clock?"

"I sleep through them." Duh.

"I said I was sorry!" Alfred clasped his hands together and vigorously shook them in panicky prayer. "I forgot! Please don't be mad anymore! You're scary when you get mad!"

Arthur raised his eyebrows and looked to Matthew in surprise. Matthew took a long inhale through his nose and slowly uncurled his fingers from fists on his lap. "You're right, I am. I'm sorry, Al. I just...I guess I'm not having a good day so far."

Like this was some kind of drill, Arthur asked, "What happened?"

Matthew squished the urge to scrunch his face at the glowing guy. "Uh, school." He shot Alfred a silent plea. "School lunches..." Loneliness? He was growing sick of it much too quickly. He wanted his friend back.

Alfred glanced across the lunch room. "What about Ivan?"

Matthew dropped his gaze to his binder laying on the table. "What about him?"

"Is he around?"

"Um...he's...taking a vacation."

Both Alfred and Arthur, at the same time, "A vacation?!"

Alfred shot Arthur's scowl down with a big grin, "Aw, man, I wish we could get a vacation, like, right now! Wait, don't we have one coming up soon?"

"Oh, you mean the weekend of Valentine's Day? Yeah." A genius opportunity jumped in Matthew's mind. It was his turn to dastardly hint, "Doing anything special?"

Alfred easily replied, "Sleeping in, duh!"

Matthew glanced to Arthur, but he was using the tines of his fork to roll some of his lunch over and back again without saying anything. "You're just going to sleep the whole weekend away?" That would not be something Alfred would do, having all kinds of friends. "Don't you want to do something?"

"Ooh! Do you wanna have an all-weekend gaming marathon?! We-" Alfred cut off when his buddy shot to his feet and swiped his tray to take to the trash cans. "Hey!"

Arthur did not glance back. Maybe he had a bad case of the Monday's, too. Matthew turned back to his brother, who shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth like there was only seconds left on the clock. "Al, that's a day for romance. Don't you maybe want to take Arthur out-"

"Blech!" Mashed up greens flung out of Alfred's mouth, and Matthew stiffened in shock and disgust. Alfred wagged his head side-to-side. "Dude," he sputtered, despite his mouth still being full, "I thought I already told you we're not, ack! Choking!"

"Oh. Oh!" Matthew's eyes jumped around in building panic. He only had his half empty bottle of water. It would have to do. "Take the rest of it!"

Alfred threw the entire thing back, spewing water onto the table as he tried to get his insides back in order. "Ugh! Holy shit, I almost just died!"

"Uh-huh. Are you sure you aren't doing anything?"

"Yeah, Mattie, I'm sure!" Alfred rolled his eyes, "I want to sleep in and not deal with homework or pop quizzes, and I don't have to do any of that romance stuff! I'm not buying flowers or anything!"

And here Matthew was, wanting a year, for once, where he had an opportunity to give someone flowers. Or maybe someone buy him flowers. "No, I suppose you don't have to."

"Ooh, maybe Dad will get us chocolate again!"

Matthew wondered if he should tell Alfred that if he had a valentine, they would get him chocolate, too, but decided it cost less breath to agree, "Yeah, maybe."

It could be a family thing. Yes, that would be the best case scenario.

Arthur came back, and set a half-pint of milk on the table. "I noticed that you didn't touch this, and maybe you wanted it?"

Alfred gasped and laid eyes on this guy like he just offered a million dollars. "Sure thing, man! Thanks! Woo!"

Whacko. Matthew eyed Arthur fidgeting with his seat before finally sitting back down, but no one else said anything. Not even Alfred, and he always had stuff to say. He seemed a bit preoccupied with giving his milk google-eyes.

Matthew smacked the table as a brilliant plan came to fruition, too hyped to be embarrassed, "Al, I have a great idea!"

Alfred blinked in surprise, "Well, what is it?"

"How about we hit up the gas station for snacks and drinks before we get home for that gaming marathon you were talking about?"

Alfred gasped like Einstein had dropped wisdom right then and there. "Dude, that's such a great idea! We got to get stuff like-"

"Alfred," Arthur intruded, "there's something coming up later today. It's about..." His green eyes flickered across the table. "Work. I figured you would want to be a part of it. Unless you have other plans, then you don't need to concern yourself over it. I just thought to let you know."

Matthew clamped his mouth shut.

"Oh, really?" Alfred asked, "What?"

Arthur just stared at him.

That must have been to pass some telepathic message. "Oh, right! Work!"

Matthew glanced between the two. "Um, work?"

"Yeah! I help Artie help people. You know, during our off time."

...what? Alfred never mentioned anything like that, even in passing. "Help people?"

"Yep! That's what I said."

Alfred never gave vague answers like that. Matthew tipped his head, but never received further clarification.

"You know what?" Arthur stood up with an odd twist to his mouth. "Don't worry about it tonight, Alfred. Go play your games with your brother. I'll be quick."

Alfred rocked side-to-side as his buddy pushed in his chair. "You sure?" His voice jumped, "You all right?!"

With a little scoff, Arthur stopped and pressed a hand to his shoulder, "Yes, I'm sure on this one."

Alfred blinked stupidly. "All right..." He snapped out of his distant gaze to holler, "Text me later, okay?!" Matthew ducked his head. With no response, Alfred grumbled, "Big Brows."

"So...work?"

"Yep. Work."

Matthew gnashed his teeth together.

"Are you going to eat that?"

"Eat what exactly?"

"Anything on your plate?"

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

Matthew took a generous inhale of the wintery breeze, cleansing his lungs from the cold. Before he could go home and carelessly toss his binders and books under his bed, he had a mission to the town's only gas station for the 'supplies' needed for the upcoming, weekend-long gaming session he was genuinely excited about.

The only thing that Matthew thought that could go wrong was their father ripping them from the TV to eat dinner, and that was not even a mildly bad thing! So, as soon as he stepped into the family home, and his brother's wicked laughter erupted from the living room, he was a bit taken back. He hesitated by the front door, listening for other voices, but only heard Alfred's giggles die off into a disheartened sigh. He crept into the living room and saw him flopped on the couch, head craned over the back cushion as he stared at the ceiling.

Alfred straightened with a crooked smile. "Hey, there, Mattie. 'Sup," he said, not sounding questioning.

"Hey?" Matthew hesitated before walking over to the couch and settling beside his brother. "I didn't think you were going to be home so soon-"

"Eh, change of plans!" Alfred said loudly, and pointed to the TV screen, where reruns of his gaming achievements were currently on loop. Matthew decided to not question it, elated in his small victory. "Come on! I've been waiting for you to get home! You got the stuff?"

"Hell yeah, I got the stuff!" Matthew ripped open his bag of goodies from the gas station, and dumped the contents on the coffee table so it was easier to sort out the various boxes, bags, and bottles of sugar intake. He slapped a hand over a particular box, "Before anything, I'm taking the malt balls!"

Alfred grabbed for his first bottle of soda. "Sure, Mattie, but I'm going to be player 1!"

"As always," Matthew quipped, and tugged open the box that would be the first of many for him, too. He felt a smile take over his face as he snuggled beside his brother, and both pairs of eyes glazed over as their game took control. Elbows threw out as the two cars on the screen slammed against one another, both struggling to get to the checkered finish line first.

Matthew huffed, bending to one side as if the movement could effect his vehicle. "Al, I think your phone is ringing."

"Fuck! I bailed out!"

Matthew gasped when he zipped over the finish line. He leaped from the couch, swinging his arms in the air in sweet, sweet victory. "Yes! I won!"

Alfred shot an hand out and jabbed his side like a poor sport, causing him to squeak and flop back onto the sofa. "You got lucky that round!" He stood up with a grunt and twisted to crack his back. "I'm gonna get a couple of napkins so we don't get our controllers dirty. You want anything from the kitchen?"

"Nah, I'm fine."

Matthew fiddled with his controller as his brother stumbled away. He grinned and whispered, "I missed this." A cheesy pop tune escaped between the cushions, and he fished for the source of the noise. He pulled Alfred's cellphone from the sofa's cushions, "Really? Your ringtone is Britney Spears...oh," and his expression soured as he stared at the name across the screen.

His thumb hovered over the end button, listening to the song play out. Then, Matthew hit to ignore the call, turned the device on silent, and stuffed it back into the couch. He wiggled above the spot where he buried the phone, and dug into some candy so he would look casual when his brother returned.

You had your time. It's ours now.

Alfred returned and put a pile of napkins on Matthew's head before plopping back onto the sofa. "You ready for another round, dude?"

"Hold on. Let me eat some stuff before you suck it all down."

"You suck!" Alfred proclaimed, grabbed a handful of his brother's candies, and shoved them into his face.

Matthew watched some malt balls bounce to the floor, and grabbed the napkins from his head. "Bro, seriously?"

"Bro!"

"Where's Dad?"

"In his office. Again." Alfred twisted around on the couch, hands patting all sides. "Where's my phone?"

"What do you mean? Isn't it in your pocket?"

"No, I swear I tossed it on the couch." Alfred dug at the side of his head, and Matthew watched with baited breath from the corner of his eye. His brother shrugged and grabbed more food. "Whatever, man. It doesn't matter right now."

Matthew thought he would be triumphant, but triumph did not wring his stomach in a way to make him stop eating. He tried not to think that he could feel the shape of Alfred's phone poke through an entire couch cushion, and distracted himself by giving his candy box a shake while their game was paused. Besides the crunching and munching, it was unusually quiet between them. Alfred's mouth pulled down to a grimace as he gave his own now-empty box a shake, and tossed it onto the table before flopping against the sofa with a big sigh.

"Hey, Al?"

"Yeah?"

Matthew gave his palms a swipe over his jeans, and angled himself to face his brother. "Did you...did you and Arthur have a fight?"

Alfred's eyes widened. Then, his mouth scrunched. Then, he swiped a hand over his chin, squishing whatever expression that was, and remarked, "Oh, by a fight, you mean that he totally freaked out because a joke I made?"

"Really? What was the joke?"

"I told him his eyebrows look like caterpillars, and I asked him what they'd look like after they would turn into butterflies."

Matthew thought about this, and decided to put out a little laugh, not sure if he was supposed to or not.

Alfred held out an outstretched hand. "See? See! It was funny! I tried telling him that, but instead he started to bitch!"

"I'm used to your humor, Al. I can see why he got offended."

"Yeah, but over a little joke? I mean, come on! He's so freaking hot-headed! It's like walking on coals every time we talk." Alfred's voice dipped, like he considered a good cry, "Nasty old man."

"Oh." Matthew did not know what to say. Alfred sat there, like a freshly-kicked puppy, so he started carefully, "Hey, if he really bugs you that much, then don't feel obligated to stick around just because he saved your life." His brother mashed his eyebrows together, so he spoke quicker before would say anything, "I mean, you thanked him, helped him out with...whatever, and gave him some time, but if it's not working out..."

Alfred let out an odd laugh. "Pssh, no man, that's not it. I mean, sure, that's what got us talking, but..."

"But what?"

"I...well..." Alfred kept pulling funky faces, downplaying himself with a lazy shrug, "I like hanging out with him. I like what he does." Blink. Color started to wash across his cheeks, "But he's so uptight, and just needs to let loose and chill out once in a while! There's so much more to this than...!"

Alfred quickly recovered whatever he almost verbally blundered into, "What he does, and I want him to realize that! I wanna make him feel good. Bleh! Like, be friends with him! Yeah, that's what I mean..."

So, Arthur is suspicious, even to Alfred, just in a different sense. Real interesting. "What is he up to?"

Alfred had gone back to digging in their food stash. "Huh? What'd you say?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh!"

Matthew remembered Alfred's phone under the cushions, poking his behind. Let me out! He's sitting on me! He could not just reach under the cushions and pull out the damn thing, claiming, "Oh, hey, Arthur was calling you, but the constant ringing was getting on my nerves, so I stuffed it in the couch!" Instead, he tactfully suggested, "Hey, I think you should give him a call."

"Huh?" One of Alfred's cheeseballs did not go down the hatch smoothly. "Agh! Why would I do that?!"

"So you can explain things and make up. He might have cooled off by now."

"He might have! That's like jumping in a pool and saying there's no alligators!"

"Um...pools don't usually have alligators?"

"Well, this one does!"

Matthew huffed and puffed and pretended to angrily pat the couch. "Let's go. I'm going to find your phone, and you're going to call him back."

Alfred leaped from the sofa, making sure he still had his cheesy poofs with him. "Mattie, no!"

Matthew snuck a hand under his seat and pulled out Alfred's phone. "Oh, look. He already called you. Twice."

"Ugh, dude, you are so not cool." Alfred grabbed his phone to stare at the screen, only to gasp and drop his snack onto the carpet, suddenly very squeamish, "He's calling again!"

"Pick it up?"

"But-"

"Al, seriously." Matthew pushed himself to his feet. "Or I'll do it!"

"No, no! That's okay!" His brother hurried out of the room, and must have picked up the call. His voice came out timid - just what did this guy do to him? "Uh...y-yeah? Hi." Alfred loudly cleared his throat and started again. "I mean, what's up?"

Matthew gave his head a small shake and knelt down to pick up the abandoned bag of poofs from the floor. Alfred had that kind of voice that carried, so even though he fled to the kitchen to have a private chat, anyone could still hear him.

"Ugh, seriously! Did you call me just to yell at me again?!" The small moment of silence must have been for Arthur to reply from the other end. Matthew set the snacks back on the coffee table to creep to the doorway between the living room and hall. Alfred verbosely announced, "I tried to say that it was a joke earlier, but you wouldn't have any of it!"

Another hesitation. Grumbling. Matthew meant to slink back to the couch, but remained glued against the wall, eavesdropping instead. "Wait, that's what's bugging you the most? Oh, my God, dude."

"You know! Because caterpillars are fuzzy and cute! Ha-ha, I'm not calling you cute, though!"

"Well, you don't make any sense either!"

"Wait..." Matthew stiffened as Alfred's voice skyrocketed, "Really?! You'd still want to...ha! Okay!"

"Al," Matthew grumbled beneath his breath. "Are you seriously-"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Alfred chanted to himself as he leaped into the living room like a not-so graceful creature. "Mattie! Uh, Mattie?"

"Right behind you!"

"Eek! Yo, you gotta stop that!"

"I'm not doing anything." Matthew knew the answer already, but asked, "What happened?"

"You know how me and Artie were going to hang out earlier, but then we...yeah? I'm going to do that now, and when I come back we'll game the rest of the weekend away, okay?"

Matthew gave his head a shake as his brother slung his jacket over his shoulders and snagged his leftover bag of cheeseballs. "But Al-!"

"Rest of the weekend, bro! I got to get to Arthur now, you know, while there's no alligators in the pool!"

"W-well, all right." Matthew did not know what else to say besides, "Be careful!" He plunged into silence after Alfred slammed the front door. Nothing brings me greater joy than being pushed away for the shiny, new toy. He shamed himself, "No, this is a good thing. For Alfred."

Or is it?

Matthew sunk into the couch and ripped the second controller from its socket. He found no more joy in his racing game, so he guessed he had to catch up on some homework.

Francis emerged from upstairs, out of his office a while later, smiling at one of his sons bent over his school duties at the island counter. "Salut, Matthieu. Is it going?"

"It's...fine. Could be worse."

His father gave him a sympathetic look before reaching into the cabinet above the refrigerator. "School. You cannot pay me to go back. Where is Alfred?"

Matthew slapped his hands on the surface. "He's hanging out with Arthur!"

Francis gave a curious look over his shoulder as he tipped a bottle of wine into a glass. "What is that tone of yours, hm?"

Matthew flipped his sheet of numbers and nonsense over, already feeling a bit better from not staring at it. "I didn't mean to say it like that. It's just...we had plans. Well, they had plans before, but there was some kind of argument, and Al came back earlier than expected, so I thought we'd get a jump on our plans."

Francis gracefully settled in a stool across from Matthew, lifting an eyebrow along with his drink. "But?"

Matthew glanced down to the table, avoiding that omniscient look. "I told him to call Arthur back and fix things, but now I'm kind of regretting it." He quickly shook his head and corrected himself, "Not the fixing things part, that's good for him, but I wish he stayed at home instead of running out the door to see him."

Francis sighed happily, and gave his glass a gentle swirl to make the wine dance. "Ah, that sounds like the call of a lovebird. My Alfred." It was no surprise he would say something along those lines. He was in love with love.

"Papa, no. Not Alfred."

Taken back, Francis batted his eyes. "Quoi?! What makes you talk down on your brother like that?"

"I'm not talking down on him," Matthew weakly insisted. "It's just that Alfred is..." Not interested in romance or bromance? He teased Matthew all the time about it, so...

"He's an overly excited puppy about things, and winds up knocking everything down. Not just figuratively either."

"Ah, but lots of women and men are enamored by puppies, and do not forget, puppies have feelings, too."

"Don't be silly, Papa." Matthew just could not see his carefree brother looking at someone the same way he looked at burgers.

"There are a lot of silly things in the world," Francis murmured. "Love is not one of them. Who knows? Soon you may be running from your familiar duties to be enveloped by the open arms of l'amour!"

Matthew replied with an awkward laugh.

"And when that happens, would you want Alfred to doubt your feelings?"

Oh no, there he goes with those 'I know everything' eyes! "I think you might mean, if that happens?"

Out of all things said that evening, that was what offended Francis the most, making him blanch in horror and smack a palm to his chest. Matthew only grew more nervous as he shot from his seat and hustled around the counter. "Matthieu! You are my son, so you are very, very beautiful!" He gently ruffled the sides of Matthew's hair, despite the small protests. "Do not talk down on yourself like that!" He spun away as if every movement caused him to weep, and grasped his glass of wine tighter for extra flair. "How can you love another when you cannot love yourself?!"

"I'm sorry?" Matthew did not know what else to say. Wait a minute, how did this get turned on me?!

Francis waggled a finger at him. "Do not say 'I am sorry.' Say, 'Yes, Papa.'"

Matthew let out an overdramatic sigh, but a timid smile ruined it. "Yes, Papa."

Blehps:

Alfred: Oh man! I'm hungry!

Alfred: *opens refrigerator*

*Careless Whisper begins to play*

Alfred: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) nice.