Ex's to Lovers

Chapter 42

In Which Honestly I Cannot Believe It's Getting More Dramatic, But It Is

Mathew, for once, was the one receiving the silent treatment from his brother. In Alfred's memory, it was always Mathew who showed his anger with a cold refusal to talk or acknowledge Alfred's existence, while Alfred was definitely more vocal in his dislike. But this time, it was reversed, and Alfred was delighted to know it had a deep effect on Mathew.

"Alfred! C'mon!"

Alfred remained coldly unresponsive. It was Matthew's own fault, he'd reasoned, and he had no intention of forgiving his brother yet. After all, it had been Mathew who took the picture of him and Ivan sleeping peacefully on the porch, and sent it to Francis, who distributed it around the school like a grandmother bragging about her grandkids. And it was Matthew's fault that he wasnt allowed to visit Ivan anymore, unless either Arthur, Katyusha or another adult was with them. Which, honestly, was just not fair.

It wasn't that he was upset that he couldn't see Ivan, it wasn't like he even wanted to see that jerk, especially since spending time with Ivan always seemed to end badly for him. No, it was more the fact that Alfred resented being punished, and being told he couldn't see Ivan- though he didn't want to. 

First of all, he hadn't even done anything wrong?  Alfred wasn't sure why falling asleep on the porch even warranted such a fierce reaction. It wasn't like he'd made out or anything - something Alfred had done before, with a variety of different people for different reasons, but would never do with Ivan - and they'd only fallen asleep because it was so hot and they couldn't go inside without Mathew because of Arthur's dumb rules.

The more Alfred thought about it, the more resentful he felt. Even at school, Francis had employed some of his friends to act as a chaperone, which was not only unnecessary - it was a school, for God's sake? What would they even do? The school had more eyes and ears than the CIA and FBI put together! - it was also incredibly annoying, because it made it incredibly hard for Alfred and Ivan to discuss how to resolve their current issue, since they couldn't very well talk about it with Michelle smiling softly at them both.

If it was Gilbert, Alfred and Ivan wouldn't have had an issue, but Gilbert had been laughing too hard to even attempt to help Alfred, then bowed out with a smirk and a comment about how he "really didn't want to get between the two lovebirds" which Francis thought had meant Gilbert felt uncomfortable because of the lovey-dove atmosphere(which Francis accepted understandingly) and by which Alfred understood to mean Gilbert was teasing him and saying "You're on your own pal" (which Alfred gritted his teeth at) , and everyone else who overheard though was related the rumour that Gilbert had caused them to break up, so he was trying to distance himself (Which they approved of).

In fact, even the atmosphere at home was stifling. Whenever Alfred got a text or reached for his phone, Arthur nailed him with a sharp look and asked "Is that Ivan?" even though Alfred had like a hundred friends, and always had texts and messages, especially since the Ivan thing happened. Mathew, of course, was getting the silent treatment, and so his brother sulked around the house giving Alfred half-resigned, half-pleading glances. It came to Alfred with a shocking thought that he didn't want to be in his house anymore. So naturally, Alfred did what any healthy teen boy would do in that situation.

He texted Gilbert saying he was going to run away from home.