Hi again!

Thanks for sticking with this story so far! Enjoy!

~o~o~o~

After that fun and relax week in Paris, the first day of school was quite a bomber. The fairytale was over, time for the real world.
It was waking up at seven again, packing your bag, hoping you were in the bathroom before your not-in-the-slightest-a-morning-person twin brother and hop into your mother's car before she left you because you were extremely late. Luckily for Matthew, it was usually Alfred who was late.

The one thing he wasn't as lucky with was his timetable: His fist two hours on Monday were English class. And that guy was boring! He could have had Mrs Black, the always funny and hyper elderly lady, but no. She had the A1-section once every five years, and the academic year 2013-2014 just had to be that one year.
A2 was stuck with the always grumpy, slow, monotone, no-I-haven't-slept-in-the-past-forty-years-does-it -show Mr Brugge. Great.

The moment Matthew and Alfred got out of the car, two of their classmates raced past them, from the cycling path, into the school's bike shed. Those two being Mathias and Abel, also known as the Bike-Boys since…well, ever.

"I was first this time!"
"No way. I was!" The two argued. Yes, that was why they were called the Bike-Boys. Yes, they were kids, always racing to school together and ending up arguing of which one of them was there first.

The four crossed each other on the school yard.

"Hey guys." Mathias greeted.

Matthew got a hair-ruffling from Abel.

"Ready for two extra hours of sleep?" Alfred asked.

"Why did we have to get Bruggie for English?" Abel whined, and stuck out his tongue.

"Fate, why art thou so cruel?" Mathias added in an overly theatrical manner.

"Don't start on the Shakespeare." Alfred complained. "I don't want to hear any more of that than I absolutely have to."

"So that's why you hate Bruggie."

"Duh. That guy doesn't know anything else. He gets off on Shakespeare."

The first two hours weren't as bad as they had first thought they would be. Apparently, Mr Brugge was about as eager to start the year again as his class was, so he gave them a 'speaking exercise'. That meant as much as making groups of three or four people and talking about Paris. Fun way to spend the first hours.
When the man himself asked if there was anything particularly fun they wanted to share with him, the class burst into a collective 'Eeeeehm…No?', so the man didn't insist. While the urge to yell 'I got myself a boyfriend!' was kind of hard to resist for some, they thought it would be best to spare the good man a heart attack.

Schooldays were boring as usual, and Matthew was glad when he finally got home. Homework had to be done again, and the drag of the school year started again. He quickly found out he had some trouble with Physics. He had never been a champion in the subject, but this chapter really seemed like Chinese to him, which he unfortunately didn't speak.

His phone buzzed on his desk. Text. From Abel.

- Hey Matty, do you have stuff to do?

- Physics. Not getting a word of it :(

- Need help?

- I need a rescue team. D:

- Lol. Come over, I'll help you out. ;)

- Thanks. I'll be right there
xxx

He went downstairs, and just before he stepped out the door, his mother held it shut.
"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To Abel. I need help with my homework."

"You can ask Francis or anyone else, but not him." She suddenly seemed extremely pissed.

"But Francis can't help me with-"

"I don't care." She interrupted him quickly. She was shaking with the anger she was obviously holding back. "You're not visiting that guy and he's definitely not coming here."

"But mom! He's my boyfriend!"

"No, he's not." She hissed as though she was about to explode.

"He is." He said, but his mother hadn't heard it.

"Go to your room." She commanded and Matthew reluctantly did so. "If I see you're going to that guy's place, you're grounded for a month!" She shouted after him.

Matthew threw his books onto the floor, whipped out his phone and rammed a text into it.

- Sorry, I can't come over. Mom won't let me.

- Why not?! O_o

- Because she's herself. Grrr. :C

- =_= Wtf

- Yeah, that.

- Forget homework, you need help with your mother. :/

- She needs help. I don't.

- Ideas?

- Not really.

- Makeout-session in front of her face and see if she explodes? XD

- No! That's terrible! DX

The next thing Matthew received was a gif of Disney's Hades flaring up and exploding. He snorted. "Oh, Abel."

The second after, he jumped up when his door was flung open so hard the handle made a pit in the wall. Ellen stomped in, yanked his phone out of his hands and walked away. "And no texting or calling him either!" She shouted after slamming the door shut.

"What the-Mom! Give me back my phone!" He shouted, but no answer.

He listened at the door of his room just to be safe. If he'd get out of his room and be caught, well…his mother would practically kill him. Downstairs, he could hear Alfred and his mother arguing. That was a lot less friendly than how she had just sent him to his room.

"Why are you so late?!"

"I just went for an ice cream with Arthur after school. Nothing to lose yourself over."

"Have I told you you could? I've just told your brother and now I'm telling you: You are not seeing Arthur again. You don't go out with him, you don't text him, or call him. You can't even look at him!" She ordered. Her voice rose with everything she summed up.

"What?! You're kidding! You can't forbid me to see my own boyfriend!"

"Arthur is not your boyfriend!" Ellen shouted back. "Are you out of your mind?! He is NOT. Your. Boyfriend!"

"That's up to me to decide! I date whoever I want!"

"No you don't! You're not dating another guy!"

"Guess what? I am!"

"Go to your room!"

"I'm seventeen, mom! I can do whatever I want!"

His mother shouted right through every word he said, commanding him to go to his room, but Alfred shouted on the same way.

"If I want to date Arthur, that's none of your fucking business! I see him whenever I want and we'll do whatever we want and I'm not even thinking about you!"
"You shut up and go to your room!"
"I'm not listening. I'm not listening!"
"Now or you're grounded for a month!"

The next day at school was just as any other, aside from the fact Matthew was a little more irritated than usual. Not exactly a problem in class but during lunch break, that was an entirely different story. Although he could just sit back, let his friends talk all they want and not say a word as usual, it didn't do hs mood any good.

"Matty?"

"Not now please, Abel." Matthew asked. He really couldn't use sweet talk right now.

"What's bugging you?"

"My mother's being herself. And I haven't really slept well last night." He didn't mind the pat on the head he got, and neither did he object to the hand on his shoulder. "And sorry I didn't text back anymore. Mom took my phone."

"I figured that when I got a text saying: 'This is over now. Don't ever even come near Matthew again or I will make sure you both regret it.' Signed with Ellen."

Matthew felt like flipping a table over and disappearing from the face of the earth at the same time. He couldn't remember ever having been this embarrassed. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. She'll be fine with time."

"At least she didn't actually smash my phone into the ground like she did with Alfred's."

"She did?! She's got some serious anger issues, doesn't she?"

"Don't start." Matthew begged. "Just…don't."

At the end of that day, Matthew took out every bit of stress and worry he had out on the puck. He played more aggressively than usual, slamming his skates deeper into the ice than he usually did and ramming the puck into the goal even harder than usual.
That was the fun about ice hockey. It wasn't just a great sport, it gave you something to focus and take your anger out on when you needed it.

That was why Matthew loved being on the ice so much. No stress, no worries, only two teams and one puck that had to end up in the right goal. Preferably a few times in a row.

Another thing he loved about it was that when the training was over, he was so tired he could hardly move. And falling asleep like that was so good. Especially when he had the first two hours off the next day and he could sleep until nine. Wonderful. He couldn't think of a better way to relax.

Unfortunately, the Thursdays also gave some extra trouble. Thursdays meant not only the first two hours off, but also Physics and a lot of homework for the subject for Friday. And if there was one subject Matthew couldn't figure out for his life, it was Physics. Half the class didn't understand it, for that matter, and they all ran to Ludwig or Gilbert for help, and Matthew had tried getting things explained by Gilbert, but he didn't understand his way of explaining either.

His only rescue was, ironically enough, Abel. Problem was that their timetables didn't allow them to see each other outside of classes, and staying at school an hour longer was no option thanks to Matthew's 'motherinator'. So instead, Matthew had to come up with excuses to leave the house. The last thing he needed was another argument with his mother. "I'm going to Francis." He said again, just like last Thursday.

"Okay. That's fine."

Matthew turned around and walked away, but he was called back when he was at the door.

"Wait. You're not secretly dating Francis now, are you?" She asked.

Say what? Was she serious about that? He really couldn't tell if she was kidding o not. "No, mom. I'm not interested in Francis." Another annoying side effect of his mother finding out he was gay was her thinking he went after every guy's ass. Gross. Just…gross.
"And besides, he has a very nice girlfriend called Jeanne."

"Why can't you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get a girlfriend. See, that's as simple as it is. You find a very nice girl, you start dating, that's it."

Why, oh, why had he mentioned Francis' girlfriend? "But I-"

"Go. Go to Francis, ask him how happy he is with his girlfriend and think about what I said."

Matthew shot her the foulest look he could but didn't say another word. He left the house immediately and for the first time in ages used his bicycle again.

He was furious, but he couldn't bring himself to shout at his mother. What was she even thinking? Did she really think that he could just start dating a random girl? Yeah, that would make him happy.
Not.
He'd be constantly lying. And to be honest, a relationship like that couldn't get anywhere with the best will in the world. The thought alone felt very, very strange.
Besides that, being with a girl meant he wasn't with Abel. Another thought he didn't like.

He put his bike against the wall and went to the back garden. He knew for sure Abel would be there.

And he was. He just stepped out of the rabbits' cage, a quite large cage in the middle of the grass. Large enough to stand straight up in, so yes, large. In the cage were an open and a closed house large enough for all three of the pets, and bridges for them to get from one house to another and to the ground where there was enough space to walk around for a person.

"Hey, Matty!" Abel said enthusiastically when he noticed him.

Suddenly, Matthew smiled again. Half-heartedly, but he smiled. The fight with his mother suddenly disappeared into the background until he almost forgot about it.

"Why so down?" Abel asked when he hugged him.

"Sorry, I just had an argument with my mom." Matthew admitted.

"Again?"

"Yeah."

Abel put his arm around Matthew's waist and leaned in to whisper into his ear. "What about we do some homework, enjoy our time, and you stop breaking your cute little head over your mother."

"Deal." Matthew agreed.

"Now come on. Before we can start mangling your brain…" Abel went back to his three rabbits, but this time dragged Matthew along into the cage with him. He picked the biggest one off the grass and handed it to Matthew. "Nothing can cheer you up more than a cute little snugly rabbit. Here, hold Fluffy. She's a real cuddler."

Matthew took the brown rabbit over and snuggled it like a little plush. Such a nice little cuddle, that Fluffy. She poked her nose against his cheek and sniffed about. She was old for a rabbit, but that didn't make her any less cute.

Abel picked the other two smaller ones out of the house. They were white, and the ears of one of them had brown tips. They were called Vlekje and Snoetje. Spotty and Snouty, translated. Vlekje was, how surprisingly, the one with the brown spots. Abel held each of them on his hands and poked his nose against Vlekje's.

Matthew sniggered. It was so cute to see. He didn't quite know who was more adorable: Abel or the rabbits. Or the fact that he placed one of them on his head while cuddling the other one. And surprisingly enough, his hair actually survived that little joke with the rabbit on top of it.
He was right: Rabbits really could cheer you up. And with a boyfriend that practically turned into one when in presence of his pets, the effect definitely doubled.
Although Matthew did have his reservations when he started calling them his 'babies'.

~o~o~o~

Three cheers for fluffy rabbits!

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