The clock chimes again letting Arthur know that it's two o'clock or at it is back at home. He lets out a humorless chuckle, "Home…yeah like they even miss me…" The jade eyed man looks down at a worn photo in his left hand before taking a sip of whiskey with the other. "Those boys…I bet they forgot…all about me and what I did for them…" Something deep down is telling him it's not true but the alcohol is telling him otherwise. He closes his eyes letting the photo fall out of his hand. But sleep doesn't come as the clock chimes out again.
"Damn it." He groans setting his whiskey down and standing up, "Ruth…where did I go wrong?" The blonde man sighs looking around his dark apartment, "Why do they hate me so much?" He kneels down and picks up the picture taken ten years before. Both his sons smile up at him with joy and innocence in their sweet blue eyes as his wife laughs by his side. He lets out a lonely sigh as he places it on the coffee table and walks towards his cold room.
He turns back as he hears a small soft thud, "Hmm?" He flips on the lights seeing the small white bear now laying on the floor and a grey rabbit threating to follow suit. Quickly he walks over and picks up the rabbit as it slides off the shelf before turning to the polar bear. As he picks it up he racks his brain trying to remember the name of the little bear, "Kuma something…." A smile grows across his face as he thinks back to his small blonde son holding it tight, "Kumajiro that's right and…" He stops staring down at the grey rabbit and instead of seeing that little eight year old like with Matthew he sees the rage filled eyes of that tall thirteen year old telling him to go to hell. "Well Ruth he got his wish didn't he? I'm in my own personal hell and what's worse is that's it's without you." Arthur slowly walks back inot his bedroom still holding both stuffed animals.
Looking down at his phone he sits on his bed and scrolls down until he finds the contact he wants, "You still up?" He asks quietly.
"Yeah I'm still up… are yah coming or am I going to have to drag you back?"
Arthur stares at the stuffed rabbit for a moment, "Yes I'll be on the first flight back…but don't tell them…"
There's a slight pause on the other end, "Alright I won't but you better show your face."
"Don't threaten me you wanker."
"That's not a threat little brother and don't call me a wanker. I'm just saying you…" He stops himself, "Alfie has a date coming up on the 31st."
Arthur's eyes widen, "What? But he's so young!"
A chuckle comes across the phone, "The lad is eighteen and if I remember correctly that was about the time you met Ruth."
"Yes it was…" His voice cracks slightly feeling a well-known lump growing in his throat, "I'll try and be there by the 31st…good bye Allistor."
On the other end Allistor finishes his cigarette, "Goodnight little brother." He walks back inside as Alfred tries to wrap the gift he bought for Sakura, "What do you have there, Lad?"
The teen looks up with a sheepish smile, "Well Feli said that we should give them a gift so this is what I got her…" He looks down at the box as he grabs a long golden ribbon and wraps it around the box. "Maybe I should have bought her chocolate like Feli did."
"But it wouldn't have been the same." Allistor gives him a light hearted pat on the back, "Whatever it is I'm sure she'll love it now I think you should go to bed Lad." He thinks back to when his younger brother had done the same thing. He had spent hours in a book store trying to find the right thing to bring on his first date and how he had fidgeted so badly trying to wrap it after he got it home. "You know Lad your father was the same way when he went on his first date so don't feel too bad."
Alfred stops and looks back as he holds tight to the box, "And how did his turn out?"
"Well…" Allistor lets out a deep laugh as he turns out most of the lights before following Alfred up the stairs, "He ended up marrying her so it must have ended well enough." What he doesn't say is that he and his three other brothers had been hiding in the bushes that night and saw Arthur's shocked face when Ruth kissed him goodnight.
"It was Mom?"
"Ay lad it was and I will say this." Allistor stops outside Alfred's room, "He loved your Mother until the day she died…in fact he still loves her." Alfred slowly nods as he walks into his room and shuts the door leaving the red haired man alone in the hallway. He whispers to the door before walking to his own room, "He never cheated on her Lad…he just couldn't see her that way…"