Military Brat

Avoiding A Problem Solves Nothing

Alfred had just left the building when Matthew grabbed the back of his bag. Alfred was jerked backwards, almost falling.
"Alfred, I've been looking for you since lunch! Dad is taking you to your physical. He's been trying to contact you on your phone." Matthew looked pissed, to put it mildly. Alfred just followed the older boy to Arthur's car, or rather was frog marched to said car. Arthur sighed in relief when the two boys got into the car. Matthew told Arthur about the fight that Alfred had gotten into and the fact that Alfred carried fatigues with him.
"You fought three senior football players on your first day of school." Arthur stated in disbelief, glancing at Alfred in the rear view mirror. Alfred just looked out of the window. "Why didn't you answer your phone?" Arthur heard Alfred dig around in his bag before pulling something out that barely resembled a cell phone.
"It broke when I dropped it before gym class." Arthur was shocked to hear Alfred speak. Alfred refused to talk for the physical, dinner, or to anyone for the next month. Natasha was the only exception to the statement.
The documentaries were a major success for the producers and a nightmare for one teenager forced to watch them on repeat. There was footage and testimonies and pictures of his plane, his face covered by the helmet and oxygen mask. He had nightmares and panic attacks and flashbacks for weeks. Arthur and his family hadn't connected the dots or noticed his pain but the rest of the town did. When Veteran's Day rolled around, the whole town had thrown a massive party for Alfred, who was the only Vet still alive and living in their little town of Alma. There was a parade, everyone thanked him for his service, he received some medals, a giant picnic/pot luck, and the day finished with fireworks. Alfred had a panic attack when the fireworks went off.
Finally, a family member pieced it together as the fireworks were going off. It was Matthew, the eighteen-year-old, that had figured it out. He had been rewatching the latest part of the documentary that was telling of the last Magician to sore through the air. Something about the time table clicked and the clips and pics shown were very high quality. He saw Alfred's face for a whole second as the final clip had shown the Magician doing an impossible landing and taking the helmet off, face mostly hidden but Matthew would recognize that cowlick anywhere. He took a screenshot and sent it to Kiku, asking him to ID the person. Kiku sent a file back immediately. Matthew sat there in shock.
"Well, shit." Arthur glared at his oldest son for that colorful comment. Matthew only continued to stare at his phone in shock. Arthur ended up trying to calm Alfred down as Matthew sent the file to other family members. They were not pleased with what the files said, to put it simply. Needless to say, the siblings wouldn't be leaving Alfred on his own ever again. A child should never have to have done what he had and be expected to come back normal .