Risking That Trust

Somebody Noticed...

While Alfred walks back home, he takes many guesses on why his father would call him so soon. It's only been about fifteen minutes when he spoke to Kiku. When he makes it in front of his house, he sees a familiar car parked behind Arthur's...

His predictions were correct; when he enters, Francis and Matthew are sitting down on the opposite couch from where Arthur is... What's going on now?

Francis and Arthur have these sorts of meetings almost every month; one of them goes to one's house and basically argue about what they dislike about each other... In the meantime, their sons must be there to watch...

"You and your son are really trying to torture us like this, aren't you, Arthur?!", Francis yells, as he holds Matthew by the shoulder.

Arthur leans backward a bit and scoffs. "Torture?! Your son over exaggerated, all because Alfred was shoved by Matthew!"

A much deniable scoff comes from Francis as he moves his hand up to Matthew's blond hair. "My little, Mattie?! S'il vous plaît, con! Your Alfred was the one who made a big fuss over it! And my poor Mattie felt embarrassed!"

"This is bollocks!", Arthur objected, before taking a long breath. His fingers run through his hair and he turns to Alfred. "Are you or are you not mistaken for Matthew?"

"Yeah... All the time", Alfred responds, staring at his 'twin', who doesn't seem to be watching back. Arthur lets out one laugh and nods.

"Yes! And you", he stands up and points directly at Francis, with his voice almost cracking, "should know that!"

"I most certainly do, Sherlock Kirkland!", Francis says, standing up as well. "Matthew tells me the very same thing! So, it is you", he points with his finger at Arthur, "who must stay out of my way!"

The two continue to complain, leaving their boys sitting silently. An hour passes, and Francis makes his way outside the door with Matthew. Arthur is left standing in front of the door, feeling very exhausted and upset. Alfred stood up from the couch and heads to his room.

He closes his door and plops on his bed. Instead of thinking about the recent fight, he thinks about his conversation with Kiku earlier. There was something about Kiku that somehow made Alfred want to speak to him more... He felt that Kiku knows more than what Alfred does. In Alfred's heart, he secretly wants-- no, needs --someone like that, in order for him to see things differently and learn news things.

Alfred pulls out his phone from his pocket and opens Instagram to check out the Japanese boy's profile; nothing new updated. Hoping Kiku will notice Alfred's profile very soon, Alfred posts a picture of himself, captioned:

'I can't wait til the next #animecon ! Who's going with me?? 😆'

Another day at school, but Alfred doesn't spend the beginning of the day with his group; he searches for Kiku again... But he slows down when he catches Matthew standing against his first period class' door all alone. Alfred checks if Francis was around before speaking to the boy.

"What are you doing here alone?", Alfred asks, keeping a fair distance away from him. No answer. Alfred asks the same thing again in a slower tone.

"I can't talk to you", Matthew answers this time, keeping his head down to his phone...

"Why not?", Alfred asks another question, that makes Matthew look up with slight irritation.

"My dad said so, that's why..."

With an upset frown, Alfred shakes his head and ignores what Matthew just said. "Wanna come with me to the library?"

Matthew stares at him, and arches his back upward to remove it from the wall. "So I can be compared to you again? So I can be asked too many questions?"