It was Thursday again, and that meant homework help. This time, it was Abel's turn to come over to Matthew. It was the first time after they had started dating they were even allowed to visit each other. Abel still wouldn't be allowed to be even near Matthew if it weren't for a few clever mums.

After Ellen's freakout a month ago, Chloé and Beth had been out shopping with her a few times to get her to cool down a little. It didn't seem to work, but help came from an unexpected source: Toris' mother, Gabija. Thanks to the class' gossip-chain, which went through Chloé, to Judithe, to every other girl including Felicja, and from her to Toris and his mother, half the class now knew just how badly Ellen was dealing with her sons having boyfriends. And Gabija took it upon herself to help them out. That she had failed to change Felicja's parents was an extra motivational factor to succeed this time.

After a few times hanging out and talking on their free Saturdays, Ellen had started to see eye to eye with the other three at some points. It had taken a good deal of Gabija's personal experience to convince Ellen to stop going so tough on her kids. She didn't like the prospect of them ending up having to see a psychologist on a weekly basis like their classmate. A bit reluctantly, Ellen had agreed to let Matthew and Alfred see their boyfriends after school.

The more she saw them together, the more she noticed that her kids weren't all that strange after all. That they were just like any other teenager in love. Although the reminder that it was a boy they had taken home did strain.

Nevertheless, she allowed them to come over, though with a list of quite tough but reasonable rules. Sleepovers were out of the question, as was going out. If they went somewhere (she didn't like using the word 'date', because she still didn't approve of the relationships), they had to be back before half past nine in the evening.

While Alfred and Arthur used their new bit of freedom as much as possible, Matthew and Abel didn't. They'd been to a movie only once, but it wasn't much fun when you were stuck with the violence-censored versions because of the early hour you went. No success.
They still had school and their weekly homework-sessions. During which, Ellen also commanded, they kept the door open. All fine. She actually peeked in to check if they weren't doing anything inappropriate. A bit annoying and concentration-wrecking, but fine.

As usual, they spent a little more than an hour working on their homework before Matthew's brain was mush.

Downstairs awaited another surprise: Arthur. He and Alfred had been there for a while already and hadn't expected anyone else to be around, judging by the fact they were cuddling on the couch. The pair didn't seem all too happy to see Abel, unsurprisingly. They could usually deal with Matthew since he was quiet and in no way a bother. Unfortunately, his boyfriend wasn't. Somehow, it always went wrong with him around.

"Yo, Al. Hey, Arth." Abel said and, as usual, jumped over the back of the couch onto the seat. Since he did so closely to Arthur, the lighter one of the two was hopped up when he landed.

"Hi, beanstalk." Alfred muttered.
"Nice leap, Twinkletoes." Arthur commented.

"But a tenth deduction on the landing, right, Mr. Judge?" Abel hung on his shoulder a little too heavily.

"That'd be five points for nearly kicking me." Arthur corrected, and pushed his arm off his shoulder with a sour expression.

"Such hostility. You're acting like the average girl in a gymnastics competition."

"Not quite fair for Matthew, is it?" Alfred asked.

"What is?"

"Oh, come on. You doing gymnastics. You spend four hours a week staring at other guys in skin-tight leotards!"

Abel shot him the weirdest glance. "If that's your cup of tea, okay." He said, sounding a bit confused. "Arthur, now you know what to wear if you want another fun night."

"That's disgusting. Why are you even thinking about-?"

"Paris, maybe? That wasn't exactly my fondest memory of that school trip and will be burned into my mind for ever."

"Don't worry. It's not my fondest memory of you either." Arthur retorted with an expression like he had just swallowed something very sour. Both he and Alfred blushed bright red at the small reminder. No, that interruption hadn't been very subtle.

"I can only imagine." Abel sniggered, hanging back in the couch.
"Please don't. There's such a thing as knowing when to keep your thoughts to yourself."

"Abel, stop it." Matthew hissed, but now even he ignored him.

"Geez, Arth. Get that pole out of your arse and take a joint."
"Dude!" Alfred exclaimed. "That's gross! There's no pole-"

"Abel, don't-" Matthew tried again, but in vain.

"You would know everything about what has gone up there, wouldn't you, Al?"
Alfred nearly exploded.

Matthew grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose. How was it even possible that a simple conversation could escalate so quickly? He would have been impressed, hadn't he been annoyed to death.
This seemed like an appropriate time to drag Abel out of the room to Matthew. He carefully gestured him to follow him to the kitchen and carefully shut the door behind them.

"Abel, could you please tone it down a little?" Matthew asked awkwardly.

"Doing what?"

"Talking. Alfred isn't taking it too well, and neither is Arthur by the looks of it."

"Your brother needs to take a chill-pill. He acts like he's under constant attack or something."

"You're making it sound like he is. Maybe he doesn't like being reminded of his sexual escapades."

Just that very moment, Alfred burst into the kitchen. Matthew hoped for dear life that he hadn't heard that last bit he said, otherwise he'd never hear the end of it.

"Matt? Can I have a word with him?" He seemed quite pissed, and Matthew started to feel desperate. Against knowing better, he decided to let Alfred have his way. Getting cross with him right now probably wasn't the best idea. Neither was leaving him alone with Abel, but he wouldn't stand a chance against him anyway. Matthew left the kitchen.

For a moment Alfred only glared, hoping to keep himself in check a little as he was in fact, furious as hell.
"You are annoying as fuck, you know that? You don't want to even begin to know what I'm thinking right now."

"Oh, but I do. Go on. You can tell me exactly what you think about me." Abel suggested.

"Okay: Huge. Dick." Alfred spat.

Oh, this was just too easy. "That's what he said."

Alfred's glare disappeared. He cringed in a mix of disgust and fear.
"Eeeeew!" He ran away, back into the room and launched himself against Arthur. "Arthuuuur!" He cried into the very startled teenager's chest. "Abel-said-dirty-things-about-Matthew." He squeaked out.

Arthur looked down at him and patted him on the head in confusion.

Matthew looked back and forth between his crying brother and Abel and raised an eyebrow at the scene. By now it probably couldn't get any worse anyway. He crossed his arms and followed Abel's gaze that was fixed on Alfred. "Abel, what did you tell him?"

An innocent pout and a very long drawn-out "Noooothing." was the response.

Matthew raised an eyebrow.

Abel knew that look. It was the moment Matthew demanded answers without wanting to get angry. So he put on his most casual and sarcastic look and gave an honest and direct response.
"I told him we fuck each other."

"Abel!"

"What? It doesn't have to be true to get a nice response."

"Ugh!" Matthew pinched the bridge of his nose. Sometimes…some of the things he said just went too far. Way too far.

It was about time for Abel to go home again, and to be honest, Matthew let out a sigh of relief when he shut the door behind him. He really couldn't use tensions like that.

When you put Alfred, Arthur and Matthew himself in a room, there was no problem at all, but as soon as you threw Abel into the company, things went horribly wrong. Even though Abel had proven he could get along with Arthur whenever the situation called for it, he much rather joked around at any chance he got.

Matthew went back to the living room where Alfred and Arthur still were. The first thing he noticed was that Arthur didn't look too well. Quite the contrary, actually. He looked bitter and grim, and not even Alfred seemed to be able to cheer him up.

Matthew couldn't stand it when someone was picking on his friends, let alone them making each other miserable.

"Arthur. You okay?" Matthew asked. He took place next to him on the couch and tried to look him in the eyes.

"Yes, couldn't be better." Arthur spat and looked even further away from Matthew than he already did.

"Hey, I'm really sorry for that."

"That apology is not yours to make, Matthew."

"Sorry."

"I'm going home." Arthur left and Alfred followed him, but not before giving his twin the most poisonous look. He came back not a minute later, with his face showing thunder. He grabbed Matthew by the arm and yanked him up from the couch.

"Ow! Hey! What-?"

"Really Matt, keep your pet away from Arthur." He hissed.

"Pet?"

"Yeah. Pet."

"Come on, Al. We finally got mom so far to get a bit normal and now you're trying to spoil it."

"Abel is spoiling it for me! He really can't keep his mouth shut when he's around either of us, and I don't want to lose my boyfriend because yours is a complete asshole." Alfred pricked his finger on Matthew's chest a few times, putting him to silence. "Break it off and keep that dude as far away as possible from Arthur and me." With all that off his shoulders, the youngest one of the two ran to his room making it sound like there was an elephant running up the stairs.

Matthew stood there a few seconds, completely mowed over by Alfred. Again. He should stop being surprised, as was usual in verbal fights between the two that he didn't get the chance to say a word if he tried. He had stopped having the illusion he'd ever tell his younger twin off. That could only ever happen in his dreams.

Matthew was torn between the devil and the deep blue sea. Abel was only ever joking with Arthur, he got that, but Arthur always seemed so unaffected that he hadn't given it a second thought. It just seemed like Arthur always just let him talk.
Now he found out that Arthur was simply too polite to say anything. He had this habit of refraining to complain if it was possibly hurtful to someone he didn't intend to hurt, and Matthew hadn't seen he had been doing that for a long time now.

This wasn't exactly the first time it happened either, and for Matthew, it was quite enough. It was clear now that this wasn't working. The arguments with Alfred, Arthur being constantly sour and starting to dislike him, and his mother still looking at him with suspicion and even slight disgust started to wear him out. It just wasn't worth it. He was going to break it off. That'd be better for everyone.

It was the next Monday after school that Matthew decided was the right moment to do so. Before everyone went home, he called Abel to follow him around the corner. It was a quiet and forgotten place on the building where students sometimes went when the wanted to have a private conversation.

"Abel, we need to talk." Matthew said, keeping his breath in after having spoken the words. The 'we need to talk' always announced bad news, Matthew knew, so he chose the overused phrase to mentally prepare the both of them for the bad news that followed rather quickly after.

Abel's eyes had been widened the entire time, staring with disbelieve. Even when looking over his glasses, Matthew could clearly read the shock and astonishment from the blurry green orbs, which was why he decided to look away entirely.

It was a few very awkward silent seconds after the loss of eye contact that Abel found his voice again.
"Okay. It's fine, Matt."

It was now Matthew's turn to be startled.

"I mean, not...really, but just…okay." He had to swallow the knot in his throat that crawled up the moment he spoke those last two words. It just kept persistently appearing. He tried to remind himself to keep breathing, as it didn't seem to go automatically anymore. It was as though someone tried to choke him, agonisingly slowly, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

"Okay. Bye then." Matthew forced the words to come out, but only managed to do so in a broken whisper. He left as soon as his legs finally listened to the command to move.

Abel stood there frozen, still looking at the floor until Matthew was out of sight. He then slapped his forehead and let his hand slide down to cover his eyes. With a stinging pain in his chest, he leaned with his back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He rested his arm on his bent knee.
"Fuck it." He hissed. "Just…fuck it."

For some reason, he felt like nothing mattered anymore. What did he do to make Matthew dislike him so much? At least, enough to…

He couldn't even get himself to think the words 'break up'.
Just the thought of it was a blunt rusty dagger to the heart. Had this really just happened? Had Matthew really just broken up with him? He hoped it was all a bad dream; that he'd wake up any second now, go to school, hug Matthew tightly as ever and mess through his hair.

But that wasn't going to happen. The dull stinging told him he was wide awake and in the middle of cruel reality.

~o~o~o~

Sorry, folks. It's over. Not to be insensitive, but he had it coming. The life-lesson: Never pick on your lover's siblings or their lovers. It probably won't be appreciated.

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