"What?" The three of them gasped.
A few kids that were getting candy from the bowl Arthur set out scampered away.
"Matthieu." Francis knelt down to look him in the eyes. "You can come home. Everything can go back to the way it was before. We will be better off than we were before."
"Um, I don't, I don't know." Matthew's eyes filled with tears. "I don't know."
Francis embraced him. "Shh, it's okay, you don't have to know. I don't want to put a big decision on your shoulders all at once. I understand, take time to make your choice."
"I'm sorry," Matthew said, "I'm sorry, but I just got part of my family back, I can't lose them again. I need a little more time to decide."
Francis nodded. "I will be staying in a hotel for a month and and when that month is up, I will ask you again. I won't be mad if you choose to stay with them, I want you to understand that. No matter what, I love you." Francis gave Matthew one more hug then walked down the steps of the porch.
"I will be staying at a local hotel," Francis told Arthur, "It's only 20 minutes away, and I will be visiting Matthew."
Then he drove away.
"Matthew!" Alfred ran to his twin. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Matthew wiped his eyes. "I'm okay, I just, I just need some time to think."
"Okay, do you want to watch some TV? That always helps me think and get my mind off of stuff," Alfred yapped, "Then the decision comes to me when I least except it!"
"No." Matthew winced. "I figure stuff out best by silence, and being alone."
"Oh, okay." Alfred drooped a little. "When you feel like talking, come to me." He smiled, but Matthew could tell it was fake.
Matthew climbed the stairs to the upper level of the house. His hand trailed across the wall. He looked at the the many pictures scattered across the wall. It was all pictures of Alfred and Arthur. Alfred and Arthur at his birthday party, Alfred and Arthur at his baseball game, Alfred and Arthur on his first day of school. His breath hitched. At the end of the hall, there were pictures of Matthew. More pictures of Matthew than of anything else. This was his family now, no doubt about it. What about Francis though? He still meant so much to Matthew. He needed some time to think.
He sank into the red beanbag that the had bought at Violet's store. It had maple leaves stitched into it and rhinestones glued in abstract patterns. Only his face and feet showed. His mind whirled with thoughts. In silence, he was usually able to sort through the positive and negative of both options to make a decision. Only this time, there was no clear decision. No clear plus or minus, only emotion.
Matthew sighed.
He knew that it would require a choice of the heart and not of the head. Alfred was right. Distracting himself until the answer comes to him.
"Hey Alfred!" Matthew stuck his head down the stairs. "Do you want to show me some of the shows you were talking about?"
Alfred's eyes lit up. "Yeah of course!"
Matthew sat down next to Alfred.
"Hey Artie can you get us some popcorn?" Alfred yelled.
"Do you want me to make some, or use the microwave popcorn? Don't call me Artie!" Arthur yelled back.
"Just do the microwave popcorn!" They both yelled.
"Fine!"
"So Mattie, did you come up with your answer?" Alfred asked.
"No." Matthew shook his head. "You're right, I need to take my mind off of things for a while."
Alfred beamed.
"So first we're watching all four seasons of Voltron Legendary Defender." Alfred started flipping through Netfllix.
"What's it aboot?" Matthew asked.
Alfred paused. "Um, it's a bit hard to explain. Robot lions, aliens, giant robot made out of lion, magic, space dad, mullet, Coran Coran the gorgeous man, small but can kick your butt, cinnamon roll, space princess, and Lance."
"What?" Matthew furrowed his eyebrows. "That doesn't make any sense."
"So you know Kiku?" Alfred asked.
Matthew nodded.
"You remember when he made a robot out of U-boats that he made for a history project?"
Matthew nodded.
"It's like that but with five lions and only red, blue, black, green, and yellow, instead of floral patterns," Alfred said, "It'll make more sense once we start watching."
He hit the play button for the first episode.
It was strange, but Matthew fell in love with it. He burst out laughing at Lance's attempts to flirt with everybody. It was an amazing distraction. As Matthew laughed with Alfred, he realized that this was where he belonged.
He belonged with his brother, his twin to be exact. They needed each other. They needed someone their age who understands what they went through. He belonged with his uncle, even if he was a tad strange. Arthur loved him, it's easy to see. He may not show it all the time, but Arthur loves him and Alfred with all of his heart. He had Gilbert now too, a confident friend and caring boyfriend. Leaving Francis would tear a hole in his heart, but he couldn't leave this family as soon as it was stitched back together. He couldn't expect Alfred and Arthur to come back to Canada with him either, he could see that they had roots here. Roots that had been grown with care. Although Alfred tried to hide it, Matthew could easily see that he had a crush on Ivan. Matthew made his choice, he would stay here. Now there was the problem of telling Francis. Telling his Papa, the one who raised him, that he didn't want to stay with him. That was going to be hard. First, he had to tell his family.
"Alfred?" Matthew raised his voice slightly above the TV.
"I didn't even realize!" Alfred jumped up. "We've been sitting here for almost an entire night. We should get to bed before Arthur finds out and we get in trouble."
Alfred started cleaning up the couch area.
"Alfred." Matthew pressed.
Alfred picked up the spilled popcorn.
"Alfred!" Matthew yelled.
Alfred paused. "Yes?"
"I'm staying," Matthew said, "I've decided to stay."
Alfred smile in relief. He wrapped his arms around Matthew and squeezed. "Thank you Mattie, thank you."
Matthew smiled.
"Okay now really, we need to go to bed so Artie doesn't kill us." Alfred broke off the hug.
Matthew laughed. "Last one there has to hide the extra candy."
"You're on!"
Matthew won that race. The moment his head hit the pillow he passed out, all of his previous worries gone for now.
"Mattie! Wake up!" Alfred jumped on top of Matthew.
"Nooo," Matthew groaned. "Five more minutes."
"Up up up!" Alfred belly flopped onto the bed.
Matthew kicked him off the bed.
"Artie! Matthew kicked me!" Alfred yelled.
"Calm down it's not like I kicked you that..." Before Matthew could finish his sentence, he passed out again.
"No no Mattie, you are not falling asleep on me." Alfred lightly smacked Matthew's cheeks. "We still have more shows to watch."
"Ugh, I don't want to get up." Matthew whined.
Alfred dragged Matthew out of bed. "You still have to tell Artie the good news."
"What good news Alfred?" Arthur appeared in the doorway, stirring his cup of tea.
Alfred nudged Matthew with his foot. "Tell him Mattie!"
"I've decided to stay here." Matthew rubbed his eyes. "I'm not moving back to Canada."
Arthur broke into a smile. "Thank god."
"We need to celebrate," Alfred said, "Can we go get ice cream?"
"Sure, we can go get some ice cream."
Ten minuets later they arrived at an ice cream shop. Alfred had gotten chocolate chip cookie dough, while Matthew had gotten mint chocolate chip. Arthur managed to take a picture of the exact moment when Alfred dropped his ice cream. He knew that one would be going to go on the wall.
"Should we go find Francis?" Alfred asked.
"I don't know, are you ready to tell Francis?" Arthur asked him.
Matthew nodded. "I'm ready to tell him."
"Well then." Arthur smirked. "Let's go."
They drove to the hotel Francis was staying at. On the way there, Alfred kept on finding funny shapes in the clouds. He was trying to make Matthew laugh.
"Look." Alfred climbed over Matthew to point out the window. "That one looks like an alligator reading a book."
"Could you please get off me?" Matthew squeaked. 'You're crushing me."
"Oh sorry." Alfred went back to his own seat.
"Are you ready?" Arthur stood at the door of Francis's room.
Matthew nodded. "Yes."
He opened the door.
Inside, Francis was sitting on the couch reading a book.
"Matthieu, what's wrong? Francis took off his reading glasses.
Matthew sat down next to Francis. "Well, I'll be staying with Alfred."
A beat of awkward silence passed.
"I can't leave Alfred. I need my brother, and he needs me," Matthew said, "I hate to leave you, but I need to stay with Alfred."
Francis sighed. "I understand, I can't say I didn't hope that you would come back with me, but I understand."
"Thank you for understanding." Matthew hugged him.
"Of course Matthieu."
"How did it go?" Alfred asked with his natural puppy like eagerness.
"It went better than I expected." Matthew admitted. "I thought it would go much worse."
"That's good, Francis can be a bit temperamental," Arthur added, "Take it from someone who's had a life long feud with him."
"You are just as responsible for that as he is," Alfred said, "You enjoy picking fights with him too."
"What can I say." Arthur smirked. "He's annoying."
"Don't make fun of Papa. That's my job," Matthew joked, "Really though, he's still my Papa."
"Don't worry Matthew, it's nothing personal," Arthur responded.
They pulled into the driveway and Matthew was hit with round of deja vu. Sitting on one of the porch chairs was Francis.
"What are you doing here?" Arthur sputtered.
"Bonjour Arthur, I'll be staying with you." Francis waved towards his luggage.
"What do you mean you'll be staying with me?" Arthur asked.
"Matthieu needs his brother, and he also needs me." Francis started to take his bags inside. "Easy solution, I come live with you."
"Who said I would let you?" Arthur challenged.
"You wouldn't make Matthieu lose his Papa now would you?" Francis raised an eyebrow.
Arthur was silent.
"That's what I thought." Francis's smile was smug.
Over the next week, the small family had gotten used to Francis living with them. It was nice to not have to eat takeout all the time, and to have a home cooked meal was wonderful. While Francis and Arthur bickered, it was always in good nature. More of a friendly argument than a serious fight. Friends and family were prone to that. Alfred and Matthew bickered all the time too. The family was complete. No more holes. No more missing spaces. Everyone was happy. Only one more thing needed to be done.
I was bored so I decided to get a head start on this chapter and I finished it. This was originally going to be two separate chapters, but I decided to finish it in one huge chapter. This is the longest one yet! 2,000+ words! There will be an epilogue after this, but other than that, this story is done. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have, it has been a pleasure writing for you. The epilogue will be France and England getting married! I'm excited for that. I've been planning it, I just need to write it. It has been almost a year and I have improved my writing skills with every chapter posted. Maybe one day I will come back and rewrite, but for now, it is time to move on. Thank you for being with me on this journey.
!IMPORTANT!
I still need some suggestions for Hogwarts houses for the paladins of Voltron. If you want more information, please read the last author's note. I am up to season 3 episode 3 now, and plan on binge watching more! We need more Voltron crossovers just like we need more dragon!Romania.
Anyways, happy holidays! Please review, I love reviews. Pm me any suggestions you have, if you can't Pm, then leave it in the review. I am updating when I am supposed to be asleep, so I better go. Thank you again for going on this journey with me! Review, favorite, or follow!
