They couldn't get back to the cabin fast enough, and only stayed long enough to grab everything they'd need before they were off again.
Matthew was turbulent with all sorts of violent emotions threatening to lurch and spill, leaking into his outside image. All he could do was silently stew while Alfred pulled him into an empty cabin to hide out in.
He knew that Alfred was his brother, as strange and new as that was. But he was finding it hard to juggle two truths. If Alfred was his brother, then Papa knew about it. And Papa said nothing. Matthew was hurting and he wanted to make Papa know he was hurting. Whether that was called and yelled until he lost his voice or called and cried until he was dehydrated, he didn't know. But Alfred gave him a metaphorical bandaid; his optimism and his solution. Matthew wanted this plan to work above all else.
"Okay, so our primary objective should be to make up for lost time," Alfred said as he grabbed all the suitcases he could see and shoved them in front of the door. "-buuuut I think we should have a secondary objective too. We should go into spy mode and get as much info as possible so we can piece it all together into the full story. Figure out what was so bad about their stupid break up that they had to lie to us our entire lives."
"Wouldn't that be suspicious if we go poking around?" Matthew pointed out. If their covers got blown, then they'd be switched back and that would be the end. They'd never see each other or their other parent ever again. He was sure Alfred knew it too.
"Not if we're careful and do it right," Alfred said, determined as he finished barricading the door.
Matthew just nodded and slid down the wall. He crossed his legs and spread out what they brought as Alfred sat down next to him.
"Okay, first I really wanna see what your dad looks like. I'm still finding it weird to call him 'Papa'."
"You'll have to show me what uncle looks like then," Matthew jabbed back and Alfred recoiled, causing Matthew to snicker. But he sort of understood, while it wasn't his biological dad, Alfred's dad was Matthew's dad too, or at least he could've been if he was around...
"Dude, ew. No. But fine. We'll find a photo and show each other. I just might take a minute cus I don't think I have many photos of my dad. I mean, really, who takes photos of their parents?"
"Plenty of people," Matthew responded distractedly as he easily found a photo. It was a recent one, he and his Papa had made macarons at Matthew's request and his Papa took a selfie of the duo holding them. Matthew felt bitter looking at the photo now. Papa's face was happy and carefree and Matthew couldn't picture this man hiding any significant secrets from the boy he said he loved so much.
"Oh, I found one!" Alfred took him from his thoughts as he leaned away and hid his phone from view. "You ready for show and tell?"
Not quite feeling the same level of energy as Alfred, Matthew just wordlessly put his phone between them. While Matthew couldn't look at it, Alfred couldn't tear his eyes away.
"Is it wrong that I think he's kinda pretty?" He whispered
"No, he'd love that." Matthew stared at the picture. He missed his Papa but... not anymore.
Going home to him meant he was leaving Alfred... And Papa never told him about Alfred. Did Papa just never think about his other son? Had he just moved on and expected that Matthew unknowingly do the same. He didn't like that the choice was made for him.
"Okay good. Now tell me everything about him! Because that man is my father... still weird..."
"His name is Francis Bonnefoy and he owns a restaurant with a friend. Roderich does all the financial stuff and Papa is the chef."
"A restaurant you say? Now I can believe this man is my father." Alfred joked. "Do you cook with him often?"
"He feels bad about being so busy during the week so we spend the weekends together and do things. Sometimes he's busy then too but he always makes up for it."
"That's really nice. I wish my dad did that," Alfred said sincerely and put his phone down. Matthew immediately studied the photo with great interest.
"So it turns out I didn't have any photos of them but thanks to BoomerBook I do now! This is from a couple of years ago when they went out for their birthday to a pub," Alfred snorted. "I could make a joke about British people and pubs, or about how original it is that a French dude is a chef, but we don't got time for that-"
In the picture was a finely dressed man and woman. The woman had really long hair and the man had bushy eyebrows. Both are impressive and distinctive features.
"-So that's Aunt Alice, because y'know, I'm just going to keep pretending she's my Aunt. Not pretending. She is. And that's Arthur Kirkland and I'm gonna keep pretending he's my Dad. Because that's the roles they played and my brain hurts enough as it is."
"Fair enough," Matthew mumbled distractedly. He was busy committing the photo to memory, but he ultimately agreed. He wouldn't be able to see Alice as anything other than an aunt and Arthur...
He couldn't wait to meet his dad.
"Man, I actually remember this," a small smile graced Alfred's face. "Dad got really drunk and he was acting really funny. He was really loving and couldn't stop hugging me and kept saying 'poppet,' which I can't believe is a real word because it's really funny. Ha, 'poppet'. You have to get Dad drunk again. Not just because it's funny, but also because of our investigation! If he actually loves me when he's drunk, then maybe he'll actually tell me the truth."
Matthew could see Alfred tense and glance away to glare at the floorboards. Matthew turned his own phone over so he couldn't see Papa anymore.
"So what do they do?" For as long as Matthew had known, Papa was pretty much his only family. Sure he had an aunt and grandparents in France, but that was so far away that he rarely saw them and wasn't that close to them.
"Uh, so Aunt Alice works in aged care and Dad is just a workaholic. He's an accountant and always suuuper busy."
When Alfred's screen switched off, he made no effort to turn it back on. They sat in silence for a moment.
"Mattie, we're identical twins, right?" Alfred asked hesitantly, squinting as he thought about something.
"Yeah?" While he knew it was factual in his brain, it would take a while for his heart to catch up.
"So does that mean that if I have a kid, it's your kid too?"
"...What?"
"Cus y'know, same DNA. It doesn't matter who with cus we have the same DNA so y'know?"
"I... don't know." Matthew thought about it. Huh, that was a good question.
"Oh, we'll get a second opinion but forget that. Who's older?!"
"I don't really care," Matthew said apprehensively, like some instinct over took him and he didn't want to give over any information that could be held against him for the rest of his life. Because he knew Alfred enough to know that whatever the answer, Alfred would not forget it.
"Yeah me neither," Alfred scoffed and brushed off, but Matthew could tell he was invested. "I'm just so glad I have a brother! But it'll just be like a little fun fact."
"If you say so. But I wouldn't know, I've never seen my birth certificate."
"Y'know what, I haven't either. I bet they kept it from us cus then we'd realise they were keeping secrets! But maybe if I asked Dad what time I was born and gave him a pretty good excuse for asking then he'd tell me. Would your dad do the same?"
Matthew shrugged and [reluctantly] picked up his phone. "Only one way to find out."
So they each drafted a message and checked with each other.
"How does this sound?" Alfred smirked. "'Hey Dad, I need to know the exact time I was born so I know if I'm naturally a morning or afternoon or night person.' Whaddaya think?"
"If that's something you'd naturally say, then sure. I'm saying I need to know for a camp game."
"Yeah, that works. Let's send them at the same time!"
Matthew thought that ritual was silly but obliged, if only because it was his brother.
"Now we wait," Alfred said eagerly as he pushed their phones to the side and opened Matthew's notepad. "We'll have to burn all these notes later. I don't want a single loose end that could get us caught."
"I don't think anyone will dig through our stuff." Matthew gave Alfred a pen and ripped out a fresh page for him. "And we can always put them in the trash after."
"But arson is more fun," Alfred whined. "But you're right... it might be suspicious if we burn things in front of people. Maybe we can rip them up and put them in the trash."
"We can worry about it once we have something to rip up." Matthew pointed out as he tapped his pen on the paper. "And we've got all camp to get this right."
"Straight to business, I like it. Let's just note what we gotta do to live each other's life and then we'll just keep adding things we think off and cover it later."
Matthew hummed in understanding as he noted a few things before realising-
"You're going to have to learn French and be at a good speaking level as soon as possible."
Alfred sighed deeply and held a hand to his chest as he shook his head and fought down a smile.
"It'll be for the greater good."
Then he immediately broke.
"No, actually, that'll be so cool! Then we can speak to each other in French and no one else will know what we're saying, like a secret language! And my dad would hate it! Lemme just add it to Duolingo- Hey check out my 400-day streak!"
Things escalated pretty quickly. It didn't take long for both of them to form a list of things the other would have to learn. Notes were strewn all around where they were sitting in what is best described as organised chaos. It might've made the task seem intimidating to a weaker, less dedicated person, but if anything it invigorated them more. Good thing they had the rest of camp, seven weeks left of making up for lost time and eagerly planning the future. Alfred joked that the thrill of camp would never end as their vacations were extended and Matthew agreed.
Once Alfred had impressed Matthew with his year and a bit streak, he moved onto his camera roll in an attempt to both entertain and 'provide character insight', the wording of which provided insight enough.
"I'm chronically online," Alfred cringed, "but I'll circle back to that later."
Most of his camera roll had been memes and photos of his friends doing dumb shit. Some of the memes didn't make sense to him but Alfred reassured him they were about specific things and it was fair he didn't get it. He understood the rest and Matthew didn't know what was more humouring, the meme he found funny or Alfred's obviously being pleased with himself that he humoured Matthew.
The photos of the friends were packed between the memes, outnumbered by a not-so-shocking ratio. As Alfred flicked through the photos of his friends he promised to tell the story of each photo another time. Matthew looked at each one with a sense of humour and longing, then strangeness when he realised he would be taking Alfred's place and living it for himself. As the photos cycled through, Matthew was a little surprised to see the same 3 faces every time. Maybe he shouldn't have assumed, but he assumed that Alfred had way more than 3 friends back home. Oblivious to Matthew's pondering, Alfred glanced at the phone before putting it down.
"Honestly, I'll have to talk about them later because if I do that now then we'll be here all night. I'm not kidding. But they're on the list so we'll get to them."
Matthew knew he wasn't. Alfred could talk anyone's ear off.
"Now, you gotta show me your camera roll. It's only fair!"
Alfred was practically bouncing with curiosity as Matthew loaded his up with a forewarning. His camera roll was mostly just photos he took himself, of things that caught his interest.
Alfred ate up every photo of Francis Matthew could find. And he had quite a few. Especially alongside any dishes made. Alfred couldn't help but ask what they tasted like and each time Matthew would try his best to describe what it was like to someone who had never eaten fine dining before.
The rest of his camera roll were just regular photography photos. But what really caught Alfred's eye were the photos Matthew took from last year's trip across the country.
"Papa had to go to Vancouver for something, I don't really remember what. But he decided to take some days off before and after and we drove there," Matthew explained as he flicked through the picturesque landscape photos. Damn, did he love his country. "It was really nice. It was the first time I had properly seen the country."
"I would looove to do a road trip over America," Alfred said, practically frothing. "Dad would never but who knows, maybe one day I'll do it without hi- actually! Once we're adults, we so should go for a road trip across the states. Maybe even a bit of Canada too, I can acknowledge it's a pretty place. But no offense but my heart belongs to America. I'm sure here's just as pretty and cool, I just haven't seen it yet."
Matthew blinked at the suggestion. Despite only really meeting, Alfred was suggesting they have a road trip? Well, he supposed they were brothers and now entangled for life, but it could also be the magic of summer camp working to bring people closer together.
"I guess it's fair you favour your own country," Matthew smiled, "but yeah, I'd love to see it with you."
"Fuck yeah! Road trip!" Alfred cheered.
It took longer to work through Matthew's camera roll than Alfred's, mostly at his brother's insistence of seeing every photo. Both of their eyes were burning by the time Matthew put his phone down.
"It's gonna take a lot to pretend to be each other," Alfred commented as he looked at their notes. "But luckily we have all these people here to practise on. And the best part is, we can disguise the practice as pranks! How about it?"
"Let's just save it until we're sure we can pretend to be each other. If we start swapping at every opportunity then they'll know and we won't know if we're good enough yet."
"Hey, fair point," Alfred conceded, then jumped when his stomach rumbled.
"Y'know, it's probably dinner," Alfred reached for his phone and checked the time.
"Yup, dinner should be ready. How's that for internal clock?" Alfred smirked and started stacking the papers. "We need to figure out where to hide these while we work through them."
"We could shove them in my suitcase?" Matthew suggested.
"Good idea! No one would dig through your stuff!"
"My suitcases have locks," Matthew informed, but left out how he never actually locked them. As a Canadian, he was usually very trusting. Trusting but not foolish. If someone saw the lock on his bag why would they even bother to test if it was actually locked? Then if he needed someone to go into his bag, it was already open for them.
"Oh. Duh. Still perfect."
Matthew unbarricaded the door as Alfred picked up everything. He felt guilty about leaving everything dumped off to the side, but he didn't know what belonged to who and Alfred just insisted he leave them and that Matthew just had to shrug it off. First step of becoming his brother, apparently.
"You'll have to go ahead and see if anyone's in there," Alfred said as he hid to the side. Matthew nodded and went ahead, creeping up the stairs and peeking through the cabin windows.
"I can't see anyone," he pushed open the cabin door. "Yeah, there's no one here."
"Perfect! But that does mean everyone left without us."
"They probably thought you were already there," Matthew shrugged and pulled out one of his empty bags. He opened it for Alfred to dump the stuff in and slid the lock in place, turning it so it was actually locked.
"So what's the password?" Alfred whispered. "I should know cus now I'm your partner in crime."
"0-1-0-7."
"And is there any particular Matthew lore reason for that number?"
"Canada's Independence Day," Matthew answered proudly and shoved the bag under his bed.
"Huh, that'll be easy to remember since that's what, 3 days before America's? If I get any locks I'll use 0-4-0-7! Remember that Mattie."
When Alfred's stomach/internal clock growled again, he snatched Matthew's arm and practically skipped all the way to the dining hall. Upon arrival, they saw their friend group had acquired their usual spot and they all turned when Alfred burst into the room.
"How are you the last person here?" Feliks raised an eyebrow.
"You made me look stupid for telling everyone not to worry about you because you were probably already here," Lovino said with irritation.
"Not that we blame you for thinking it," Carlos said, but his sly squint at Alfred suggested it was a jab.
"What? I gotta keep y'all guessing. Just when you thought you knew me," Alfred grinned and slid onto the bench, slapping his hand on the spot next to him. Matthew held back a smile at the scene and obliged his brother's demand.
Later Alfred joked that the benefit of being late was having to wait less for the food to be ready. Meanwhile, Matthew was taking notes about his brother's optimistic demeanour. If he wanted to pose as his brother, he'd have to talk a lot and constantly see the humouring, bright side of things. The latter he could do, even if sometimes he thought he was more of a realist. But talking a lot? Matthew feared he wouldn't know what to say. Eventually, he'd run out of topics to rant about and the awkward silence that followed would immediately out him as not Alfred.
He'd have to ask Alfred for advice later. But he supposed it would be covered in detail once they started studying each other's lives.
After dinner, Alfred quickly ushered Matthew to make a hasty retreat with him but stopped short when he heard what movie was playing that night.
"Actually," Alfred sat back down and threw his hands behind his head. "We could probably have a break tonight. Today's been a pretty wack day."
"That's an understatement," Matthew agreed and slid beside his brother, crossing his arms and leaning back. "I mean, I would've never thought that..."
He trailed off, knowing Alfred understood everything that was unsaid. And there was a lot left unsaid that only the other could understand about their very strange and seemingly impossible predicament.
Plus saying it out loud was too delicate and Matthew didn't want to disturb their fragile discovery by letting anyone else in on the secret. He knew Alfred felt the same. It was a burden they weren't going to share with anyone here at camp.
"Yeah..." Alfred sighed, then rubbed his eyes. "Hopefully Peter and Charlotte are around here somewhere. They would be, they always stick around for movies like every other child in this camp. But uh, before we go search for them I wanna give you some Alfred lore. Did you know that I am the reason they have this movie at camp at all? Chicken Run was my favourite movie as a kid and when I learned that they didn't have it here -cus they have a roster of movies they rotate through- I pestered them so hard until they gave in and got it. But wait, there's more! I think it was my Dad's favourite movie too. Whenever I was watching it, he'd come and join me. My favourite character was Rocky because he was super cool and American. That was my reasoning and I still stand by it. Dad's favourite character was Ginger because she's a 'brave, reasonable and persistent young lady' or something like that."
Alfred chuckled quietly and Matthew let him talk.
"Maybe," Alfred lowered his voice and leaned in, "maybe you could watch it with them when you... y'know."
"Yeah..." Matthew answered softly with a smile. He looked forward to sharing something special with his Dad, even if it was borrowed from Alfred.
Peter and Charlotte spotted them before they even started looking. Peter was pleading in his request that they stay while Charlotte was much more assertive and insisted they would stay. Matthew happily folded for them while Alfred pretended to think about it.
While they watched the movie, Matthew's thoughts were far away, imagining what it would be like to spend time with the father he never knew. The hole he never knew was inside him became a little smaller.