Chapter Two:
"Mmm," Arthur murmured in his sleep. He was uncomfortably warm, but couldn't seem move so as to remove his sheets. After a few more struggles and slightly more coherent, recognised an arm around his waist and yelped at the shock.
There, peacefully slept Alfred on his chest. It explained his excess warmth and troubled breathing, but brought more questions to mind. "Alfred, you twit, what are you doing in my bed? Wake up, you mini buffoon! How'd you get into my room? Wake up, wake up, you oaf. When did you even manage to crawl into bed with me? Oh would you wake up and get off of me?" He struggled to move the small boy off of him. However, the more he pushed the more Alfred held on. Groaning, Arthur realized something. "Great. You've developed a habit of latching onto me."
Finally he began to squirm, not knowing what he was doing to Arthur's lower half. "Mmm? Wah... What's wrong Artie?"
Again, he threw his questions at the boy as he pushed Alfred off himself quickly. Possibly too quickly for he accidentally knocked the boy off the bed. Thump. However, it was not enough to fully awake the boy. Looking like a lost puppy as he attempted to look around the dark room, he mumbled incoherently until he was asked to speak up again. Following the voice, he looked up, squinting at Arthur.
"You let me sleep with you," his voice trembled as he rubbed the sleep and possibly tears out of his eyes. "I was scared last night and you left the bathroom door open, so I came in. When I asked if I could sleep with you, you said it was okay. Are you kicking me out? I don't wanna be alone." This time a tear did escape, and dropped onto Arthur's arm as he shot off from the floor and into Arthur's bed once more.
He reached out for the boy and brought him towards him, finding him momentarily adorable and vulnerable. He couldn't just coldly leave the poor boy. Alfred scooted beside him and clutched at Arthur's shirt as the teen's arms wrapped around him and tried to sooth him. When he buried his face into Arthur's shirt, he let out a small sob. A glance at his alarm clock, told him it was two in the morning, such an ungodly hour. The older boy didn't want to waste any more of his sleep and thought best to let Alfred be.
Thunder rolled outside, causing the younger boy to squeeze even tighter, and whimper.
Again, Arthur's heart constricted as he rubbed circles on the American's back and whispered comforting words into his ear. "There, there, it'll be alright. I'm here with you. Let's just go back to sleep. I won't let anything bad happen to you tonight. Uh... Although, we might have to find better positions than this." He attempted to maneuver Alfred off himself once more as the little boy tried to sleep on his chest again.
"But, but, I like listening to your heart as you sleep," he looked up at the teen. His noon sky eyes were midnight then, but equally as big as before. It was something he had also remembered doing with his parents when he slept in their bed on stormy nights. "It helped me fall asleep, your heart going bump... Bumpbump... Bump..." Alfred continued mimicking Arthur's heart as they laid together in the small twin sized bed until he fell asleep to it once more.
How did he win me over so quickly? In one night. He sighed. "Good night Alfred," Arthur kissed the top of the blond's head. When thunder rolled again, he hugged Alfred a little closer.
~2~
When his alarm clock went off in the morning, Arthur failed to realise his bed was empty. The night before a mere dream. Instead, he went about his morning routine of sloppily putting on his uniform and shoes on before going to the bathroom.
He opened, but then quickly closed the bathroom door, accidentally invading Alfred's privacy as he peed. "Damnit, Alfred! Lock my bathroom door when you have to use the toilet."
After he washed his hands, he opened the door and looked up at him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Where are you going?"
"Classes, obviously," Arthur rolled his eyes as he walked up to the sink drawer to retrieved his black eyeliner. As he outlined his eyes, Alfred watched him with curiosity and awe. "You need something?"
"No, not really."
"Then why are you watching me?" He paused to turn his head and looked at him head on instead of through the corner of his eyes.
"'Cause I'm just wondering why you're putting that on." Alfred pointed at the pencil then looked back up at him with curiosity. "You're already pretty, Artie, you don't need it. My momma only put it on when she wanted to look extra pretty. Why are you getting extra pretty for school? It's just school."
Arthur only sputtered a response before he gave up and shooed him away. Alfred easily complied and ran back into Arthur's bed. "No. What are you doing, git? That is my bed. I need to make it before I go. You have your own."
The little boy pouted adorably, "But I can't go back to bed unless Artie's with me. Since you gotta go to school, this will have to do. It smells like you."
Arthur failed at words again.
"'Sides, I'm gonna be all alone," he snuggled into Arthur's pillow. "This way I have part of you here. See? Then I'm not alone."
With a heated face, Arthur turned around and huffed. "Fine, but when you get out, you better make my bed. And for your information, mum will be with you to take you to your school for fitting. What level are you, anyway?"
Slightly puzzled, Alfred cocked his head when he sat upright. "Well I should be in the sixth grade, but in the states I was in a special class."
Oh dear, Arthur thought before he had to continue moving for school, he's special needs...
He was soon proven wrong, however, when he spotted his mother and foster brother wondering down the hallways of his school. The second Alfred spotted the older teen, he took off towards him. Instinctively, Arthur turned to run. He was able to add distance between them due to the crowded hall ways, but did not make it far before he was tackled into a hug.
"Artie!" Alfred looped his arm around Arthur's waist and looked up at him. "I get to go with you to school! Well at least for a while...," he said distractedly as he thought. "I'm taking Algebra here!"
Confused, Arthur patted his head and congratulated him, but tried to escape the boy's hold on him. The little bugger wouldn't budge no matter how much Arthur retaliated. Soon, a crowd formed around the new pair of siblings and began giggling with a few girls cooing at the scene.
"You two are zo cute!" A French accent came from the crowd until Francis Bonnefoy appeared. "Zis muzt be ze little brozer you were comp- I mean- telling me about, mon amour. Bonjour, je m'appelle Francis. You muzt be little Alfred Jones. You look zo much like my own adoptive brozer, Mathieu. Are you in ze primary zchool az well?"
"Yeah, but this is my school too!" Alfred squeezed Arthur again, causing the teen to let out a squeak. "And what do you mean by calling Artie 'man amor?'"
Francis smirked, "Artie's my lover."
Alfred gasped, but his glare was short lived when Arthur dragged him over to the French teen so he could smack him upside the head. "My name is Arthur, not Artie or Art. Next time I'll smack you as well, Alfred. Last warning you little Yank."
At that time, Mrs. Kirkland chose to make her way through the crowded hallway. The group that had gathered around the boys had already left, finding nothing more amusing.
"Well hello there, Francis," she greeted the teen. "I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been?"
The two chatted away while Arthur once again attempted to detach the boy from his side with no such luck. He was pushing Alfred's head away when his mother invited Francis and Mathieu for dinner next evening.
Francis agreed and Mrs. Kirkland was thrilled while Alfred smiled innocently. When they finally excused themselves, Alfred let go of Arthur and turned around to ask Francis to not forget his new best friend as he held his foster mother's hand, earning him even more adoration from her.
~2~
Arthur finally returned home after football (soccer) practice to an impatient Alfred. The ten year old jumped from behind the door, scaring the elder boy into dropping his ball and almost falling over it. After a few curses and giggles, Alfred gave him the news that he had received a package from a Liam Scot Kirkland.
"I have a present for you too!" Alfred grabbed his hand and led him upstairs. "It's not as big as what your bro sent you, but I hope you like it!"
He opened his bedroom door and dove for his overly fluffed pillow on his bed, the only thing left untouched by the chaos in the room. Arthur could barely believe it looked like a volcano had detonated out clothes and toys all over the floor and desk. Not even Fiona, the most unkempt out of all the children, had accomplished such a feat on such a short amount of time than the small boy. All he could do was stare at it in awe as Alfred pulled out a horribly wrapped present made out of his former curtains.
"Er... Thanks?" What else could Arthur do, but accept the child's hard work. And it seemed Alfred did put a lot of hard work into finding a few of his toys he could spare to give the teen. It at least explained the mess. In his hands, he unwrapped a Captain America-"Not a doll," according to Alfred-action figure and a baseball glove. "What?" He forgot all civility as he examined the plastic man in red, white, and blue.
"That's Captain America!" The boy grinned up at him. Upon closer examination, Arthur could see that Alfred was missing one of his molar teeth. "My ex-girlfriend gave it to me to remember our first date! Now you can have it so you can remember our first meeting! You know, since you met a hero like me and the Cap'n. And we're both from America!"
"Girlfriend?" A thick eyebrow rose against the other.
Again Alfred lit up. "Yep! Her name was Maria Juana Alonso del Castillo and she's 17. Her brother was my age and didn't like it that we were together, though. His name's Eduardo, but he was just being protective since I was with his sister. Ed sometimes tagged along on our dates every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday when my parents would leave us alone."
Arthur was confused, but then pieced it together. Maria was Alfred's sitter. A chuckle escaped his lips, causing Alfred to pout. "It's true! I was a real lady's man! I had plenty of girlfriends, but Maria was the only one for me."
"Cute," the teen ruffled Alfred's hair as he extended his arm with the figurine, "but keep it. I'll keep this instead. I'm assuming you'll want to play catch right?"
"Yeah!" Alfred exclaimed happily. "When it's warm and sunny! Mama Kirkland wouldn't want us to break anything inside."
"Just call her mum," he turned to leave, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind. She'd probably love it in fact."
Little Alfred followed Arthur into his room. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet. It'd feel like betraying my own mom so soon, y'know?"
The change in the atmosphere discouraged Arthur from kicking the boy out of his room as he opened Liam's present. The box wasn't heavy, but when he shook it, he knew there was quite a bit in there. While Alfred attempted to guess what it contained, Arthur focused on finding his scissors and opening it.
Neither of them could have guess, for inside the small box lay about 20 magazines filled with porn.
"Wha- OUCH! Hey! That's not nice Artie!"
"You didn't see that!" Arthur quickly shut the box and pulled it away from the innocent child, his face looking burnt. "Please tell me that you didn't see it."
But the child had and he knew what it was, but didn't trust his sapphire eyes. "Where those two naked guys?"
"No! J-Just get out!"
Arthur commanded, but it wasn't Alfred who answered. "Huh? I wasn't even going to come in, but now with that lovely invitation I think I shall. Oi, is that Liam's present? What is it? Let me see."
"No!" Arthur's skinny jeans prevented him from jumping off the floor quickly in an attempt to escape his older brother's grasp. Unfortunately for him, he was too slow and James had snatched the box away from him.
James blushed as well at the first glossy page, but upon further inspection of the box, he found there were different types. "Haha! That Liam! It looks like he wasn't quite sure which you'd prefer so he got you it all! You lucky bastard! You have gay, lesbian, and straight porn with all sorts of categories like bon-" His mouth met with Arthur's fist as he tried to shut him up. "What the bloody hell was that for?"
"Child in the room!" Arthur presented Alfred.
"Oh right. Sorry lad, you didn't need to hear that," James laughed, dismissing the situation. "Well anyways. Mum wanted me to tell you dinner's almost ready. Go wash up now, Alfred and forget what you've just seen and heard."
"Where those two guys?" His eyes dilated with curiosity up at James now.
He snorted, leading Alfred out of the belayed birthday boy's room. "Sure was. Since you'll be Art's new neighbor, you're going to have to get used to it. Are you a heavy sleeper Al...?"
Their voices diminished as they traveled down the stairs.
~2~
The door bell's second note didn't even resonate before Alfred flew down the stairs the next day. His first day of school was a success, beyond a success claimed the preteen. He had liked all of his classes, even boring History and English, was the fastest in gym, had seen Arthur in the hall, and had made a lot of friends. Mattie and him, however, had become his best friend in a matter of seconds.
Classes hadn't even started, but when Alfred's blue eyes met with Matthew's violet eyes, the boy ran up to him to at full speed. He opened his arms wide only to smack them into the startled boy's cheeks, squishing them in between his hands as he examined the Canadian. "Oh my goodness! You look just like me, but not at the same time! Not a moment too soon after that, Alfred had literally proclaimed to the entire primary school that Matthew was his long lost brother and best friend.
"Not only that," the shy boy told the table, "but he already has admirers! A few girls from our class asked to be his girlfriend!"
"I said no 'cause I have Maria waiting for me back home," Alfred sighed happily into his macaroni and cheese made especially by his request.
"What about you, Mathieu?" Francis smiled down at his adoptive brother. "Do you have a girlfriend, boyfriend, or special someone?"
A blush fazed onto the little boy's features, accenting his eyes. "Yes... But I'm not telling!"
"Who?" Alfred giggled as he bounced in his seat.
"Did you not hear the boy?" Arthur rolled his eyes while his parents chuckled.
The American pouted and glared at his North American counterpart, "I will find out because one, we're friends and I can help you, and two, the hero always finds out!"
I know I'm late and full of errors (like always, I know...), my sorries. Thank you for continuing to read this and to those who had stayed with me throughout my first completed fanfic, an even bigger thanks and love for you! I hope you liked this chapter, a little meh-like at the end, but it'll get better (at least I think so)! Little Matthew is so cute as well! I just love them as children!
