What Happens In This Family Stays in This Family

It was a normal day, or so it seemed. I heard Arthur and Francis going at each other again. They always do this. It doesn't help that my big brother, Alfred won't calm me down, he also usually is the cause of the fight. Him being so careless and all. He -is- the captain of the football team in our school.

"You bloody git, why does it matter, he doesn't do anything anyways!"

"He is our son! At least he isn't as bad as yours!"

"Excuse me! He is perfectly fine! At least he doesn't carry around a stuffed bear everywhere like he's a little kid!"

"L'Angleterre, he only does it because he's afraid of you!"

"He always gets in the way, I barely even notice him! He would've been better if he was only with me, but no, he was a 'papa's boy' and was taken care by you, you bloody frog!"

They were talking about me. I was always the problem. I was now in fetal position, tears streaming down my face, my brother was too busy out with his friend, Kiku, to help calm me down this time.

"Well if I was such a bad parent for mon Mathieu, then why don't I leave?!"

"Fine then, go get your things and get out of my bloody house! I never want to see you again!"

"Fine!"

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs knowing it was papa coming to collect his things.

Knock knock knock. I heard on my door. I got up and he let himself in, eyes red and puffy.

"Oh Mathieu, mon petit, you heard didn't you..." He gave me an apologetic look and hugged me. I started sobbing on his shoulder.

"I-I don't want you t-to leave..." I continued to sob into his shirt.

"Ah, Mathieu, I know. I don't want to leave either, but I have to. Je t'aime." I looked up at him to see tears falling down his face.

"Je t'aime aussi papa."

With that, he let go, knowing he had to leave now. I followed him down stairs. He was halfway out the door.

"Papa, please don't leave..." A tear rolled down my cheek. He looked back, gave an ever so faint smile, and left. Forever.

"Matthew, it's for the best." I heard Arthur, attempting to calm me down. It didn't work.

"N-no it's not... It's not fair."

"Matthew wait!"

It was too late, by the time he said that I was already up the stairs and about in my room. I continued to hurry into my room and shut the door, ignoring my other parent. I just wanted papa back, to sing to me, to calm me down, to treat me like his own. Papa was a lot nicer than dad (Arthur). Dad always picked favorites, and his favorite happened to be Alfred, while papa treated both Alfred and I fairly, but spent more time with me. I loved cooking with papa, he was really good at it. We always made pancakes for breakfast with lots of maple syrup. We also made a game called 'Keep-Arthur-Out-Of-The-Kitchen'. Well it wasn't really a game, it was "Protecting our heath" as papa and Alfred would call it. All of these good, fun memories, we would never have again.

Arthur didn't bother me for a while, and Alfred didn't come home until later.

"Mattie, I'm home. Arthur told me what happened, do you mind if I come in?" I heard Al outside my door.

"Sure." With that he came in.

"Oh Mattie, I know, it's going to be hard" He came over to me and engulfed me into a hug. Alfred was really protective of me. He knew everything about me and it must've broke his heart knowing that papa leaving would hurt me.