Epilogue
Four years later and Francis and Arthur were married.
"I swear, you are such a bridezilla. You're not even a bride," Lukas complained as he tore some of the petals off of a pinkish colored rose near him.
Arthur scowled. Vladimir grinned widely. "He's right though. I'm ready for this wedding to be over just so I never have to deal with this again. Or at the very least not until Nikola and I get married. But he's going to be a huge bridezilla."
A little bit later and Francis and Arthur were exchanging vows and slipping the rings that Matthew had carried on the small white satin pillow onto the other's finger, only having eyes for each other. It was like no one else was even there.
They were happy and another year later they adopted Alfred into the Kirkland-Bonnefoy household.
"I think we should adopt." Arthur stated simply one day at dinner.
Francis nearly dropped his glass. "Excusez-moi?" The Frenchman and Matthew both stared at him in surprise.
Arthur felt his face heating up slightly. "Well I just think Matthew should have a sibling." Francis raised an eyebrow. "And I was thinking that we could maybe adopt Alfred. He's a great kid. Always wants to be here anyway. We've known him for about six years."
Matthew grinned widely as he saw his papa grin and then nod to his dad.
As happy together as Arthur and Francis were together, their marriage wasn't perfect. The couple still argued as much as usual. Sometimes to the point where their friends would think one of them was going to be hospitalized and the other dead.
But they never stopped loving each other.
More often than not the couple was almost sickening to be around. They loved each other more than air. They so obviously cared for each other and their children that it was borderline disgusting. They were a couple you looked at and wanted what they shared.
Their small family wasn't perfect. It had its issues and problems.
Like when Alfred was sixteen he and Arthur argued so badly that Alfred ran away for nearly two months to his Uncle Ian's house.
"I want some freedom! Why is that so wrong?! I'm sixteen and not allowed to do anything fun!"
"I am your father and you will listen to me! Where are you going?! Get your arse back here right now or so help me God you will be grounded!"
He and Arthur avoided each other when he first came back home but once they talked it out everything was better than before. Arthur learned not to smother his children with too much coddling. Matthew and Alfred learned to deal with said coddling.
Arthur never became a better cook. He often complained when he had to cook and everyone began to tease him by saying they were going to write their wills and pray for each other.
"Alright, dinner is ready," Arthur said as he placed the bowl of burnt mashed potatoes and a plate of charred fish onto the center of the table.
Matthew held his breath for a few moments before sighing loudly. "I will pray for all of us tonight."
Francis and Alfred nodded their agreements. "I have loved every moment of my life and would not change any of it except for Arthur's cooking," Francis said solemnly.
Alfred sighed. "Mattie you've been the best friend a guy could ever wish for."
Arthur scowled and threw his hands up. "Sometimes I really just hate this family."
It took him a few years to ignore their teasing. Matthew hated eating Arthur's cooking the most, but that was mainly because he was the first one to get food poisoning. This always made Arthur feel awful.
Francis always demanded to take family pictures. Even when Matthew and Alfred were too old to still go see Santa Claus at the mall, the Frenchman still made them. Just to get a picture of his two sons with the festive decorations.
"Ugh! Papa! We're fifteen! Way too old to be taking pictures with Santa Claus!" Matthew tried to argue with his dad. They were already halfway to the mall though and Francis just shook his head again.
"You'll understand why pictures are so important when you have children of your own." Arthur said for what seemed like the millionth time that day.
Alfred and Matthew groaned loudly. Francis chuckled at the two teenagers. "How about we get icecream afterwards?"
"Are you joking? It's like freezing outside!" Alfred yelped.
But after a few more minutes he and Matthew gave in, as they did the previous year, and the family went and got icecream at the food court half an hour later.
Matthew usually hated pictures the most and normally tried to get Arthur to cook around this time of the year in hopes of getting food poisoning in an attempt to get out of having to take the pictures. He didn't have his brother's confidence. He was too shy. But it was always worth it when he saw Francis and Arthur light up when they got to hang up a new picture.
No. Their family wasn't perfect. They all had their arguments and disagreements but they still loved each other. And really, that's all that mattered. And so to the family of four, that's all that mattered.
A/N: well that's the end. Hope it was okay. Thanks to everyone who stuck with this and I hope the ending didn't disappoint. I'm so sorry that this chapter was so short but I like it like this. Now I just have to work on some of my other fanfic ideas. I've noticed that the next three or four I want to write have a more sad undertone to them. I have a RoChu fic, a DenNor, a ThaiViet, and a Russia/America fic I want to write. You can read the summaries on my profile if you're interested. I'm leaning towards the DenNor fic.