Morning had arrived; peaceful this time, in contrast to the previous one, Matthew stirred in his sleep, yawned, and woke up; eye lids fluttering open to stare at – his now life sized; and slightly taller than him – doll who happened to have woken up much more earlier than he had.
Matthew smiled, and cuddled closer towards Alfred, "I missed you." He mumbled against his chest, to which Alfred replied playfully, "How could you, when I was here beside you all night?"
"Because…" Matthew sighed, "I didn't see you in my dreams."
"Is that so?" Alfred laughed, patting Matthew's head as he pouted. Although he was glad that everything had gone well, he was actually expecting for Arthur to call the authorities, or knock them out with a blunt object and dump them in a ditch somewhere for "breaking and entering".
"Yes, it is!" He cuddled further in, "Arthur's going to take us shopping today; for new clothes and house stuff."
When they heard the loud clanking of pots and pans, and the sound of someone cursing profanely in the kitchen, they rose from their bed, "Arthur and Francis must be cooking breakfast" Matthew grimaced, "I hope kitchen hasn't burned down again…"
"Should we head downstairs then?" Alfred stood up and began stretching his arms, and helped Matthew to his feet as they prepared to go downstairs.
"FUCK!" Blood dripped in heavy doses from Arthur's finger onto a white towel, "STUPID KNIFE. YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THAT SHARP."
He sat on a chair in the dining area, writhing in pain and cursing every three seconds. Arthur made sure to keep constant pressure on the deep cut, in an attempt to discontinue the bleeding, as he waited for Francis to return with one of the hundreds of first aid kits that he kept strategically in the bathroom.
As the footsteps echoed closer to him, Arthur scowled, biting down on his bottom lip to keep back his tears. Francis came in, a bag in hand. Upon unzipping the bag, he pulled out some sanitary wipes, and bandages.
"Hold still now, this may hurt a bit." Ripping the paper packaging off the wipe, he carefully unfolded it and dabbed it lightly over Arthur's cut.
Arthur hissed in pain, his free arm restraining itself from punching Francis, "…a-argh! That fucking hurts!"
"I know, I know, shh…" When he was finished cleaning the area, he quickly opened up a band-aid and wrapped it firmly around the cut.
For extra precautions, he pressed a kiss above the beige fabric and laughed as Arthur tore his hand away from Francis' grasp and abruptly stood up.
"L-let's just go to breakfast."
"Mmmf! Difsh schtuff ish derishursh!" Alfred gulped hard, and then proceeded to chomp down on his third serving of an omelet.
"Al! Don't talk with your mouth full!" Matthew scolded, taking some napkins from a nearby stand to wipe up the mess Alfred had made around the table.
Taking one last bite of his breakfast, Alfred swallowed and leaned back, sighing in contentment as he waited for the rest of the group to finish eating.
"I can't wait to go to the store!" Alfred laughed, "I've always wanted to slide down those stair railings instead of being tossed to the ground!"
Matthew sweat dropped, and pat Alfred on the shoulder, "A-actually…we're going to a mall, and now-a-days have escalators rather than stairs…"
Alfred blinked in confusion, "…a what?"
"A-an escalator!" Matthew exclaimed; to his left, he could see Arthur holding his laughter in, and Francis looking equally lost, "They're like s-stairs, but you stand on a step and it takes you up to the next floor…by itself!"
"…No way!" Alfred slammed his fists on the table, completely intrigued by the new information, "We have to go as soon as possible!"
Arthur muffled his laugh and smiled, "Well, you are technically from a different time period."
"Oui, we have missed a few years…but before we were left in the store you bought us in, we have had previous owners in somewhat closer time frames to this one; we were able to adapt."
"Oh." Arthur stood up and began to collect the empty dishes. He quickly put them into the dishwasher, added some soap, and started up the machine, "Alright, let's start heading out now, so we don't have to drive around the lot to wait for parking."
Arthur was sure he'd seen that same sign for the fiftieth time during their thirty minute round of the lot, and, after thirty-one minutes, he began to curse, slamming down on the car's horn at the five other cars in front of him.
"Damn it!"
"Arthur, you should watch your language around Matthew, you may corrupt hi-"
Honking the horn again – this time with more anger, Arthur glared harshly at Francis, "Don't correct me on language! As the only one capable of driving here, I reserve my personal right to express my anger, unlike some people who had to live their lives riding horseback!"
After a few hours, when the boys had finally found a parking spot, they made their way out of the parking area, and into the actual mall.
"…WOAH." The moment the four of them had stepped into the mall, Matthew looked closely at Alfred and Francis' expressions while they took their time to scan the new environment.
Alfred made a face of mixed emotions between confusion and nostalgia, "…Things sure have changed since we were put in storage…"
Francis nodded, "I agre-"
"-MATTIE! MATTIE! YOU WERE RIGHT! MAGIC MOVING STAIRS!" Francis was cut off by Alfred pointing and jumping up and down vigorously in the direction of the escalator in a very child-like manner; along with gathering strange stares from the surrounding shoppers in the area.
"Let's go!" Alfred grabbed Matthew by the wrist and began dragging him towards the escalator. From a distance, he heard Arthur yell out, "Don't forget to get everything on your list!"
"O-okay!"
"…This is crazy!" Alfred started fidgeting on the step of the escalator that he was standing on, while Matthew blushed and looked away; embarrassed by the suspicious whispering coming from the people behind him.
As the escalator reached the top, Matthew advised Alfred to get off quickly – instead of jumping from step to step and staying on – to prevent any more angry outbursts from pregnant women and traumatized children.
"So…" Alfred started, "where are we going?"
"To get you new clothes, of course!" Matthew was excited; He had always loved window shopping, and, being decently fashionable, he couldn't wait to pick out some new clothes for Alfred, and – if he had extra money left over – for himself.
"Here!" Matthew gestured towards a large clothing shop, "They have a lot of styles here, although, I've never actually bought from this place myself…"
The two entered the shop, and at once, they were bombarded with questions from a "typical" store clerk; to which Matthew timidly replied, "I-I'm just looking for clothes for m-my friend here…"
With the sales clerk lead away from them by an angry looking manager, Alfred and Matthew commenced their search for a new wardrobe. Somewhere in the middle of their little escapade, they had split up to cover more ground.
Matthew had wandered off into a widespread collection of hooded sweaters. He had found some of the styles to be sort of appealing.
"Mattie!" He heard Alfred cry out from the end of the aisle, "Get over here!"
Nervously, Matthew quickly made his way to where Alfred was, and noticed that he had already picked out some clothes for himself.
"I tried these on already!" He piled the clothing into a tiny basket he found near the dressing area, "I also found something for you!"
"Y-you really didn't have to do that! This trip is for you, after all!" But before his words could reach Alfred, a brown furry hoodie was pulled from the pile, the top of the hood adorned with two, round, equally furry, bear ears.
Alfred grinned, "Cute, huh? I picked it out just for you!"
Cute, it was. Matthew reached out and felt the soft fabric; it was fluffy, and, because winter was coming upon them rather quickly, he thought that perhaps this sweater would be appropriate, however…
"I think it's too cute for me!"
Laughing, Alfred unzipped the hoodie and helped Matthew into it. When he had zipped it back up, he flipped the hood onto his head and pulled Matthew towards a mirror smiling, "See? You look great!"
Matthew blushed, "Y-you think?" never in his life had the poor boy received a compliment; even something this small made him happy.
"Of course! So, we pay now, right? Because…I'm starting to get a bit hungry…" Alfred looked around frantically; these new-period stores really were abstract to him.
"Yes, we'll pay over there." Matthew pointed towards a large counter in the center of the store, then realized something strange about the last part of Alfred's sentence, "…Hungry? I thought dolls didn't eat?"
"Well, in my human form, I need to eat just like every other person." Alfred explained, "In my doll form I stay stationary; I'm unable to move, so I stay the way I am until I change forms again."
"Oh..." Matthew thought, "Wait! So, you're able to control which form you're in?"
It was interesting; Matthew had always believed that – from what he's learned since that day – Alfred and Francis were only able to change one they had met their specific partners. Yet, here they were, a bit taller than Arthur and himself, as people. Maybe he had missed something during the encounter that day…
"That's what I was told, by Francis; apparently, he had transformed into his human form once before!"
Once before? Now Matthew was suspicious. If enchanted dolls first transform when they are with their partner, how was it possible that Francis had transformed before they had met?
Something changed a bit in Alfred's tone as he spoke, "That's a story you should ask Francis personally." Matthew jumped a bit, shocked; he had been thinking out loud again.
COSPLAY FOR "SECONDHAND MARIONETTE": h t t p : / / emgee-chan . deviantart . c o m / # / d345q6i