Help Me Forget || usuk

Brothers

"MATTHEW?!" Alfred yelled, looking towards the bar. Arthur's eyes scanned the area and his eyes widened in shock as he saw a man with longish wavy hair, violet eyes, and the same exact facial structure as Alfred turn around. 

"Al! What are you doing here?!" the boy asked, standing up to face his brother. He had been sitting with another man and Arthur nearly lost his shit as he glanced over and yelled,

"FRANCIS?!"

Francis turned around and nearly yelped as he saw his English friend standing before him. He gave him a sheepish smile and waved.

"You two know each other?" Matthew questioned, suddenly turning away from his brother and looking at the two european friends glaring at each other three feet away. 

"Actually all three of us know each other. Francis is the receptionist of the neurology department and Arthur is a doctor." Alfred explained, laughing at the weird coincidence. Arthur was dumbfounded. Had Francis really gone on a date with Alfred's brother, not realizing that they looked nearly identical?

"Oh, so you know my brother? That's such a weird coincidence!" Matthew exclaimed innocently, looking back at his date. "I met Francis yesterday and he asked me on a date in the first three seconds of making eye contact, so I decided to pick a bar that might cure a little bit of my home-sickness."

"That's exactly what I said!" Alfred said excitedly, Arthur smirked at the similarity of the two brothers. 

"I'm Arthur." the Englishman said, holding his hand out for the Canadian to shake. 

"Matthew." the Canadian said with a smile, shaking Arthur's hand. 

"Quick question. Why in the world do you two have different accents?" Arthur suddenly blurted, confused as to why the two brothers some differently. 

"Oh! Well Mattie here is two years older than me and was born in Canada, where our parents lived before they had me. Our mom was Canadian and our dad was American, so a few years after Mattie was born they decided to move to New York and have me! Very strange but Mattie takes more after our mom and I'm more like our dad." Alfred explained cheerfully. 

"Well that's interesting. What made you move to London?" Francis asked naively. Arthur shot him a 'I'm going to kill you' look and watched as the brother's faces dimmed. 

"Well our parents were in an accident so we decided it was time to leave. Too many memories." Matthew explained simply. Arthur watched as Alfred's blue eyes went from sparkling blue to a dull navy. He looked so sad, Arthur just wanted to go over to him and give him a hug. 

"I'm so sorry mon ami. I moved to London after a loss too. I can relate. If you ever want to talk about it I'm here for you." Francis admitted, looking up at his date with a sympathy. Arthur suddenly remembered. Francis had only really vaguely told him why he had moved to London in the first place. Something about a fire and a girl named Lisa. He had never told Arthur the full story but sometimes he would bring Lisa up, saying things like "Oh Lisa would've loved that!" or "Too bad Lisa isn't here to see it." He never talked about it, but he felt like Francis was broken when he first came to London. 

"Sad stories aside, I think it's time we get back to our date. See you later Matthew!" Alfred suddenly said, diverting the conversation. He placed a hand on Arthur's lower back and ushered him into the restaurant, sitting at a table. Their date had gotten too dark, too fast. 

"So, you want to talk about it?" Arthur asked softly as they sat down at the table. 

"No it's fine! We all have sad stories. My life doesn't revolve around it. Life moves on. It's better to be happy than sad!" Alfred said with a smile, looking Arthur in his deep green eyes. 

"I agree." Arthur said with a smile. The American's heart leapt as he saw the Englishman smile. He was adorable. The soft pink lips and the crinkle of his eyes made Alfred want to kiss him right then and there. 

"So, tell me about yourself." Alfred pleaded, holding Arthur's hand under the table. He could see a light pink blush creep onto Arthur's face and smirked at his innocence. 

"I'm a pretty boring person, but if you really want to know, I'll tell you."

"Spill."