Hi again! I want to thank all of you that are reviewing this, it really let's me know that I am doing a good job. And as you have noticed, I am getting better with my chapters! They are slowly popping up faster and faster. I would have done this chapter sooner but life beckoned me to do her chores so I had to comply. I don't actually know French so I used the wonders of Google translate! So if something is up with the translation, I got no clue about it.

Here is what they will say:

Mon Dieu! Il vous a pris assez de temps! = My God! It took you long enough!

Nous avons finalement parlé et pensé tout ça. Je vous remercie pour votre sollicitude, Papa. = We finally talked about it and figured it all out. Thank you for your concern, Dad.

I would like to thank those of you who wrote me reviews:

spiritualnekohime4, bribri16, fan girl of sorts, Anon007, and the review I am dedicating this chapter to! Selia!

Tha

Anyways, enjoy the third chapter!

It has been an hour. A full hour of Arthur lecturing me about how 'he knew something was up, no one believed him though.' But I think it is just because he was talking to his imaginary friends again. He just keeps going and going about crazy things with Francis nodding every so often and even softly agreeing with Arthur. Those two have had a thing for years so it's no surprise that they agree with each other on some things. Mattie though, he has been completely silent the entire time. Like, stone cold silence wheel you need to poke him just to check and see if he is still alive, kind of silent.

He is staring down at his hands before he looks up at Arthur with a weird look. His voice is a hoarse whisper. "Give us a bit, okay?"

"Well, I-" Francis stands then wraps his arm around Artie's waist before leading him out.

"Of course. We will be outside when you are ready, Mon cher." And with that the door shut with a deafening click. Then the silence hit. I start to fidget and squirm, freezing instantly when Mattie looks at me. Dang. He is giving me that look. That look I had hoped he wouldn't give again after the Japan bombings. That look of utter disappointment with hints of betrayal.

"Why would you hide it?" He sounds utterly heart-broken and it kills me to hear it but this...'problem' is so much worse. So...I give him Stupid Alfred. In other words, I play oblivious.

"What do you mean? I swear I told you about that maple syrup I took." I try to get at least a laugh outta him but nothing. If anything, his face gets even more dark and hurt.

"Alfred, stop. This isn't a joke."

"Tell me about it. I don't even have a good punch line-" Mattie stands up, knocking the chair over behind him as his voice erupts.

"Dammit, Alfred! Just stop trying that stupid charade for once in your life!" My eyes snap shut for a moment then they widen in surprise. My breath hitches and I stare at him for a long while before I can swallow a growing lump in my throat and nod. He watches my eyes go down to the floor and he sighs before I hear the chair being fixed.

It takes him a moment to regain his composure, he speaks with a quiet tone again. "Alfred...how long have you been keeping this a secret from me?" I dare to glance up at him and my chest starts to contract slightly.

"Then explain why you ran." I deadpan before he rolls his eyes.

"Al, this isn't the time to-"

"No!" My voice raises a little. "I'll tell you if you tell me why you ran away a few days ago." He gives me an unwavering stare before he sighs, his cheeks begin to burn before he answers back.

"W-Well...I didn't really know how to react. I mean, my brother kisses me and I don't know i-if it is serious or if it just to get me to stay home. B-But Francis called me a little while after and said he had to cancel. He noticed something was up so he asked. I-I told him what happened and he invited me over to talk about it." He was playing with the tips of his fingers by now, a little nervous tick he has had since he was a kid, his eyes are downcast before he looks me right in the eyes. "I-If I would have known you would have reacted like this I wouldn't have left, not without a call at least..."

Oh. He thought the attack was from me kissing him? That...could actually work out. I stay silent before he gestures for my turn to answer. I pull out the best fidget I can and I shrug. "It's fine. I just...freaked out. I didn't know if you hated me or what so I just...locked myself in here."

He nodded slowly and scooched his chair closer to mine before his hand sat on my knee. His head tilted down to get into my view as he gave a small smile, that little smile that no matter how stupid I am...he is still happy. Mattie blinks once, twice, then speaks. "Well...I don't hate you. You have done a lot more dumb things in the past than just a kiss. But, maybe next time you could ask, eh?"

Ask? Wait, does he mean-?

"Yes, Al. That means what you think it does." Oops. Must have said that out loud. Meh, whatever. I got the answer I was hoping for! I flash him a grin and swoop him up into a hug. Mattie hugs me back but I can't help it when my smile starts to die. Am I only doing this to have someone around? Am I only using Mattie? I don't want to but...I can't help but think it. He pulls away and gives me a peck on the cheek before taking my hand. I stare down at our clasped hands while he leads me to the door, opening it with a child-like smile.

Arthur blinks up from his paper that he found, I didn't even know we had papers in the house, he scoffs loudly. "Solved the problem, have you? It better be the last damned one you have, Alfred Jones." He wags his finger and I roll my eyes, that smile just stuck to my face. Mattie looks to me and nods.

"It's alright now. Don't worry about it." Francis popped his head out of the kitchen and stared at our hands for a moment, Mattie gets very self conscious and starts to shift on his weight. The man finally lets out a joyful yell and hugs the both of us, obviously he was cooking cause he got whatever it was on our shirts.

"Mon Dieu! Il vous a pris assez de temps!" I stare at him for a while as Matt just laughs, his cheeks bright red. I never quite got french. Yeah it was a pretty smooth sounding language but all the rules involved just kinda turned me off of learning it.

"Nous avons finalement parlé et pensé tout ça. Je vous remercie pour votre sollicitude, Papa." Francis muttered something else, causing Matt to go bright red and give him a good thwack on the shoulder. I have no idea what they said but I thought it was hilarious. Artie just groaned and scoffed about a frog's language. After a bit of laughing, rolling eyes, and a few more sexual innuendos (at least, that's what I was guessing Francis was saying anyways) the two went back home, leaving just my lil bro and me. We had barely let go of each other's hands that whole night. It made me feel light and excited.

"Well, I should probably get going too. I have a meeting tomorrow with some National Park Representatives and I can't be late." My hand twitches lightly and the happy feeling come crashing down. I look up at him and stare at him for a beat.

"Do you have to? Go home, I mean. You can stay the night here and I can drop you off. I got nothing planned anyways." Please say yes, please say yes. Just the thought of him leaving me here is making the darkness creep in. My head feels dizzy, and not in the good way, my heart clenchs, and my lungs feel like barbed wire is being wrapped around them.

"Al...I don't know...I wouldn't want to wake you up early on your day off." I shake away the feeling and give a non chalant shrug, flashing him a grin.

"Hey. It's no problem. What are heroes for?" He looks down and I can see his will wavering before he finally sighs, giving my hand a loving squeeze accompanied with a smile.

"Alright then, Mr. Hero. I'll set a few alarms, that way we don't sleep through and miss my meeting." I chuckle and give him a mock salute.

"Okey dokey, El Capitan!" His eyes roll behind his lids and he shakes his head. I give him a cheeky smile back as I breathe a silent sigh of relief. See, I would have been fine tonight with Tony but part way through the evening I got a text saying that he was going to go bug some tourists in Nevada for a few days. I think it is Alien Week or something for him, so that would mean that I would be by my self for a while. Not a good thing. Especially since my little 'irritation' was becoming more of an amputation situation. It would only be a matter of time until someone actually caught me on it and I had nothing to get me out of it.

We get ready for bed like normal, crawl into the bed and pull the covers up. Mattie gives me a small smile as he takes his glasses off, doing the same for me before he leans forward to give me a light kiss. We snuggle up closer and get comfortable in each other's arms. We share twin smiles before I nuzzle the tip of my nose against his. "Night, Mattie." He yawns as a tired smile spreads across his lips.

"Night, Alfred. See you in the morning." The guy falls asleep faster than a rock hits the bottom of a puddle. I just watch him for a bit with a warm smile, ignoring the dark shadows waiting for me in sleep and in the corners of my room. I start to think again, which is something I really should not have been doing but what else was I going to do? I think about how my little brother will react if I told him the truth. I think about what would happen if he told everyone. How everyone would react to it, if they would even react to it. Would they kick me out of meetings and treat me like even more a kid? Just because I was 'sick in the head'? It took Germany how long before people began to trust him after World War Two. I remember Arthur ranting to the Allies about how Germany was a danger to everyone, and how, in his own opinion, he thought the nation should be completely disassembled and shared among other nations so nothing could come out of the place and repeat history. Now, I know it hasn't endangered my people, this issue, but I was really scared that one day it would. So for a large part of the night, I thought. I thought about every possible way I could tell Matt the truth but by the end of it I had come to a decision. I wasn't going to tell him. I had kept it a secret for this long so I could handle keeping it secret for longer. Right?