A/N at bottom

Chapter 24

1764

By no means would Matthew say that he loved living with Arthur and Alfred. Tolerated? Sure. But loved? Not really.

He still missed Francis, who he hadn't seen in three months, and his friends, who he hadn't seen for even longer. The only contact he had with them was through his letters.

During the beginning of his stay, he barely spoke and behaved well only because he didn't want Francis to be disappointed in him.

Even though Arthur and him would never have a perfect relationship, at least nothing like what he had with Francis, the two tolerated each other, despite the underlying tensions that wouldn't seem to go away.

And fine, he had to admit that Alfred had kind of grown on him.

Which is how he ended up locked into a 3 hour game of hide-and-seek.

"Please Mattie? One more round?"

Matthews patience was wearing thin, and he wanted nothing more than to lay down for a little bit, he agreed.

"Fine Alfred, but this is the last round, ok?"

"Yes! I'm gonna hide now!"

"Great, but don't go into Arthur's room!"

Arthur seemed to have a weird... thing about Alfred and Matthew going into his room. Matthew tried not to question him about it often. Besides, Arthur never went into Matthews room, so he assumed it was an invasion of privacy to go into Arthur's.

"Ok I won't! Bye!" Alfred had enough energy to power the world for a year, and Matthew never seemed to be able to catch up.

"18...19...20! Ready or not, here I come!" Matthew glanced around the room before moving on, desperate for the game to end.

"Alfred... where are you?"

He checked all of the usual places, but Alfred didn't seem to be in his room, the dining room, or the living room. Where was he?

He knew not to go into Matthews room, so- oh. Of course. Arthur's room, the one place he knew Matthew wouldn't go.

Sigh

Well, let's get it over with.

"Alfred, you know you're not supposed to go in here. Arthur told us not to!" Matthew stood in the door frame.

"Hehe..."

"Alfred, don't make me go in there and find you. Just come out. I'll even give you another turn."

Silence

Matthew looked over his shoulder to make sure Arthur wasn't going to sneak up behind him, then entered the room.

"Alfred... I know you're in here."

"Hehehe."

It was painfully obvious that Alfred was hiding under the bed, but Matthew felt bad ruining it just yet.

"Are you... behind the door?"

Matthew checked behind the door.

"Hehehe..."

"Are you... behind the mirror?"

"Hehe... hahaha!"

"Or are you... under the bed!"

Matthew crawled on the floor to Alfred's hiding place.

"Yay! You found me!"

"Yes, can we please leave now?"

"Fine, you win."

Alfred crawled out from the bed.

"Ok Alfred, I'm sure Arthur has dinner waiting."

"Yes! Dinner!" Alfred ran to get his food. Just as Matthew was about to follow him, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

"Wait... what's this?"

A paper was sticking out of Arthur's mattress. Matthew pulled it out. It wasn't just a paper... it was a letter.

A folded letter in an envelope.

A very familiar envelope.

An envelope that Matthew himself ha addresses to his friends.

Wait

Matthew gave this letter to Arthur to send weeks ago. What was it doing here? Maybe... no. But...?

Matthew grabbed the mattress and flipped it over, greeted with the sight of dozens of letters, all written by Matthew.

Impossible! They were sent months ago! Unless...

Arthur

A/N

And that's the chapter! Yes, shits about to go DOWN. As always, criticisms are greatly appreciated! The next chapter goes up next Friday!

Also, I have another story if anyone is interested. It's basically about Canada, ghosts, and history. It's called:

The 5 Ghosts Canada Met Throughout His Life (And One Bonus)