A World of Secrets (Being Rewritten)

Chapter Three

Trigger Warning: Mention of Eating Disorders and people not being amazing help but at least they're trying

Matthew was ducking in and out of rooms. Arthur and Francis were still catching up. He was not going to let his brother handle this hurt alone.

Eventually the three went outside to check, and there Alfred was. Swinging softly on a swing. He was facing away from them. Matthew quickly ran over to his brother and enveloped him in a hug. All he could notice was how small the American was, it suddenly struck him how long it'd been since they'd last hugged, which made him hold on tighter.

Alfred put his head into his brother's chest and sobbed. He knew that if anyone would judge him for crying, it would never be Matthew. Arthur and Francis came up and put their hands of Alfred's back. All four were crying. They all stayed there for awhile, until eventually Matthew pulled back and looked his brother in the eyes.

"Why?" There were so many questions Matthew needed to ask, but there would be time for others. He knew which ones were important, and which ones could wait a while.

Alfred mumbled a bit. He knew they probably wouldn't understand what he was saying, but he didn't know what words he needed to say to convey what needed to be said. So he mumbled some half put together nonsense. His brain hadn't caught up to everything yet. He was still back in the hug, relishing in a comfort he hadn't gotten to have for years. Hadn't let himself have for years.

"Alfred, we couldn't understand you. Could you please speak up?" Francis asked. He was rubbing his back, hoping to provide at least a little comfort.

"I wanted everyone to stop calling me fat." He hesitated at first, but once he started talking he couldn't stop. "It fucking sucks for everyone to call you a fat ass all the damn time. But everyone always expects me to eat burgers all the time so I do, but they also want me to lose weight so I do, but no one fucking notices the weight loss, they only notice that I'm still eating." He broke out into sobs and couldn't get anymore words out.

"Oh Alfred." Arthur whispered. He was part of the problem. He had called him so many things and didn't think for a moment how it would effect the younger nation. How could he be so blind? How could all of them be so blind.

"Take off your jacket." Matthew was on a mission. He was going to find out how they all had missed this for so long. Alfred looked like he was going to protest, but instead just slid his jacket off. Matthew gingerly touched his brother's side, he nearly broke into another sob when he could feel all his ribs. He looked into Alfred's eyes. "We're going to help you. I'm not going to let you do this to yourself."

Alfred just closed his eyes and leaned into his brother's embrace, relishing in the first true comfort and peace he has felt in the past years. He knew that Matthew would be worried about him while he recovered. Hell, Arthur and Francis were here, so that must mean they at least felt a little bad, right?

Alfred mumbled under his breath "Thank you Matt." Matthew just replied by holding him tighter.

The four stayed out there for a few more minutes before ultimately deciding they would go back in so they could continue.

Before they could all sit down, however, Gilbert and Matthias jumped up, threw Alfred over Matthias's shoulder, Gilbert shouted "We'll be back in like four minutes," and joined his Danish friend in briefly kidnapping the American.

Alfred was swearing the whole time until they ended up in another living room, where he was plopped down on a sofa.

"The fuck, you two?" Alfred said, "Matthew, Arthur, and Francis already talked to me about this shit."

"Yeah, well they were nice about it, right? I'm sure they said shit like, 'oh, we'll be here for you'. Well fuck that." Matthias spoke in a bad British accent while saying the words of support.

"The fuck do you mean?" Alfred was more than confused.

"We're saying, if either of us figure out your not eating, we'll force food down your throat and sit on you so you can't puke it up. 'Cuz that's what friends are for!" Gilbert said much too cheerily given the circumstances.

"Gee thanks." Alfred said, sarcasm dripping.

Matthias slapped him on the back, with what was probably an excessive amount of force and said, "No problem bro!"

And with that, they made their way back to the meeting room, where they found everyone talking peacefully. Once they notices that the trio had returned, Matthew pulled his brother to sit in between him and Arthur, and before anyone could volunteer to read, they heard a stomach growl.

"I'm hungry. Let's go have lunch!" Feliciano said, and took off from the room before anyone could respond.

Ludwig sighed. "I guess we can continue reading after we eat."

Everyone agreed and slowly made their way out of the room, Matthew staying right next to his brother the entire time, because he would be damned before he let the fucker out of his sight when food was involved for awhile.

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Word count: 858

Hello everyone! So, not really at all like the previous chapter 3 but I think that's okay. Sorry it's been a minute, guard camp just started and I have felt no motivation to do jack shit in the hours before I go dance my ass off, but I'm not disappearing, I promise. If anyone has suggestions on what to do to make this rewrite better, feel free to say so! If anyone has any questions about me and shit, I'll do a Q and A depending on if anyone actually asks questions, cuz I know most people don't read the A/Ns at the end of this shit, cuz I know I usually don't. Another thing lmao, I might start updating the other story I have up on here (might rewrite the one actual chapter I have, maybe not, we'll see), and also might post a story that's actually original, or just short stories I've written. Anyway, hope y'all have a good day/night and I'll see you in the next update!