like typing - an amerikraine fic series (5/?)
Title: like typing (5/?)
Author/Artist: finch00
Character(s)/Pairing(s): america, canada, ukraine, estonia, netherlands, uk, france, mentions of prussia, belarus, lithuania, etc / america/ukraine (eventually), canada/netherlands, fruk, others implied/past.
Rating: it varies, but it's by no means g
Warnings: bullying
Author's Note: finals suck. a lot.
Truthfully, Alfred was glad that Lars had come to get him. He probably should have called it quits when he started having the internal debate on whether it would be better or worse for someone to actually want to sleep with him. Because as much as that was the ultimate goal - the whole sleeping with people in order to obtain money and make a profit - Alfred wasn’t one to just hook up and leave.
To be perfectly honest, Alfred wasn’t one to hook up. At all.
Alfred liked the chase. He liked to go after girls he knew he had no chance with, just to see if he really did have a small chance. He liked to get to know girls and befriend them, because after being best friends with Gilbert and Dan, Alfred knew he needed some saner people around in his immediate group of people to hang with. People who didn’t decide ten minutes before the movie to go to the movies and then end up going drunk and crying at the end of the rerelease of The Lion King to the point of puking in the popcorn bucket.
He had few girl friends, which disappointed Alfred. As a boy, Alfred found it very difficult to make friends because of his weight. At the age of ten, Alfred was easily the biggest boy in his class and his classmates made sure he understood just how big he was compared to the rest of them. During his early teens, Alfred found it impossible to go to the school cafeteria and not have people whispering about him as he stood in line with his tray. He couldn’t help it. The worse people made him feel, the better the food tasted and since no one seemed to want to stop making fun of him, he didn’t see a way to stop himself from getting some extra fries at lunch.
With no self-esteem to speak of, Alfred went to his school’s nurse, who recommended to his fathers that he go see a therapist. Arthur and Francis, worried out of their minds, paid through the nose for their son to see the best psychologist in the city. Alfred used to sit in the sessions, waiting to start crying uncontrollably. That’s what happened when people made progress in therapy in movies and tv. There was always the breaking point that seemed to be a breaking in the dam that held back that cascade of tears.
But that day never came. Eventually, Alfred felt less and less sad about how he was being treated and it turned into a more aggressive feeling. When Alfred nearly decked a kid for likening him to a planet and that NASA probably had satellites orbiting him, his doctor recommended Alfred join a sports team.
And that’s when he cried.
“So you think I’m fat too now?”
“No,” she put her hand on his shoulder as he sobbed. “I think you’re angry. And sports are going to help with that.”
So, Alfred joined lacrosse - the only sport in the world, apart from Quidditch, that allowed Alfred to beat the crap out of everyone else on the floor and still score points.
After three years of lacrosse, football and rugby, Alfred managed to drop the pounds he felt were holding him back from living his life the way he wanted to. No one said a word when he was in line at the caf, he didn’t have to worry about fitting into his desk comfortably, he didn’t hear that voice in his head anymore that kept telling him that everyone was laughing at him and that everyone was glad that they weren’t in his situation.
So, Alfred, being Alfred, did the only thing he could do to thank his therapist.
“Helen?” he knocked on her door one Wednesday afternoon. “You free for a second?”
She opened the door and smiled. The smudges of make up under her eyes showed that she had recently been crying.
“If this is a bad time, I can come back later-“
“No, no,” she wiped her face and laughed. “Happy tears. My son. He got into this amazing art program and he just called and I’m just-“ she wiped her face again. “Proud mom feelings.”
Alfred beamed. It was weird to see Helen, well, Doctor Aesop, crying. She didn’t seem like the type to cry. Very stoic. But people surprise you, Alfred thought. “That’s amazing! Did he do the painting in reception?”
“Yes, yes,” she nodded, pointing at the painting of the nude woman playing the harp. “He’s so talented. I’m just. I’m very proud.” She shook her head, as though she were shaking the tears off her cheeks and took a deep breath. “Sorry, Alfred. What did you need to see me about?”
Alfred held up a small blue bag with tissue paper sticking out of the top. He asked for Francis’ help with the wrapping, but the gift? That was all Alfred.
He watched her lift the tissues and smile when she reached the three small jars of jams at the bottom.
“You always have toast when I come in on Thursday mornings, so I thought I’d make you some jam. Dry toast sucks.”
“You okay?”
Alfred snapped back into reality. He and Lars were sitting in Lars’ car in Alfred’s and Mattie’s driveway.
“Huh?”
“You alright?” Lars’ mouth wasn’t turned up in his usual smile. He looked concerned. “Is that sickening amount of Axe gonna make you vomit or did something happen?”
Alfred smiled. “No, just thinking.”
“I hear you,” Lars’ smile returned as they got out of the car. “Thinking about anything in particular?”
Yes, Alfred thought. Thinking about how great the women in his life have been, even if there haven’t been many of them along the way.
“No,” he shook his head. “Just general think-y stuff.”
Alfred unlocked the door and walked in on Matthew speaking loudly over the phone. Which was unusual enough. Mattie hated the phone and he wasn’t prone to being very loud.
So this is what it’s like watching me on hold with the university, Alfred thought, waving as he passed Matthew and headed towards the shower.
Behind the closed door, Alfred could hear Lars telling Matthew to hang up the phone.
“Tell him to stop harassing you-“
“He’s not, he’s just drunk and he wants to talk and-“
“Why are you defending him? You two broke up more than six months ago-“
“I’m not going to just hang up on him-“
Dan. Who else could it have been?
Alfred remembered the day that he caught Mattie and Dan feeling each other up on their couch, after Alfred had spent his afternoon studying for his Vietnam War midterm. Confused as to why Dan’s stuff was in the hallway when he wasn’t even home, he was scarred for life when he saw his brother sitting in his friend’s lap with this look in his eyes that practically yelled “take me now you wild animal man… thing”.
And as gross as that was, Alfred loved Mattie and Dan dating. Because not only did he approve of Dan, that meant Dan would be over all the time. And what was not to like about his best friend dating his brother? Apart from the fact that Alfred felt a little third-wheelish on some nights, he liked that Dan tried to get Matthew to come out of his shell a bit more.
Dan met Matthew on a mandatory trip to the university’s on-campus museum. Dan, studying archeology, enjoyed going to the museum for numerous reasons. He loved what he saw behind the ropes and the glass and, especially, behind the counter.
Matthew had a part-time job at the museum’s box office. He was in charge of stamping all who entered the museum’s door and giving them the low-down on how the museum was set up. Very rarely, Matthew was forced to give tours to the elderly patrons who sometimes came to visit for senior expeditions, but he mostly stayed in the box office, doing his readings.
According to Dan, fate had brought Matt and him together. And Alfred laughed and Gilbert told him that was pretty gay and then promptly apologized for his choice of words, but it was sort of funny. Dan didn’t seem the type of guy to believe in fate and predestined love and all that. But deep down, beneath the tan and that unintelligible accent, beat the heart of a romantic.
So, Dan would go to the museum every day, for research, of course, and try to woo Matthew with jackets with elbow patches on them and Indiana Jones hats and cheesy pick up lines that involved the fall of Troy. And somehow, that all worked, and soon, he and Matthew became inseparable.
Alfred had their wedding planned out after the first time he saw them actually kiss. Because it wasn’t weird that his best friend wanted to date his brother - his brother was awesome, Dan was awesome, Dan would obviously want to marry into an awesome person’s family, Alfred was in Mattie’s family and also awesome and Alfred and Dan already got along! It was foolproof!
And it was, for a while. Dan and Matthew shared a lot of moments and memories that they would each remember for the rest of their lives. Dan’s heart was on fire and all Matthew could do was keep it burning. They were perfect, like a love story from a fairytale. Dan was Mattie’s hero but, and maybe just because it was Dan, Alfred didn’t seem to mind that. Because Alfred may have had a hard time in school, but Matthew seemed to have a hard time with people in general. And Alfred did everything in his power to make sure that Matthew was comfortable and happy in social situations. But with Dan, Matthew didn’t need Alfred to dote on him and make him feel comfortable, Dan managed to do that just as well, if not better, than Alfred.
But then, Alfred was so caught up in this fairytale that he forgot that fairytales don’t happen. And that, eventually, something was going to go wrong.
It was Dan’s birthday and, in true Australian fashion, Dan had invited everyone out to his favourite bar, The Frisky Minx. Everyone, naturally, meant everyone that had heard about the event, even if they didn’t know Dan personally.
After chugging countless pints of beer, Dan was in the mood to dance. A level of drunk that no one had seen since Gilbert pissed on the cop car while the cop was still sitting in the car that one time. He dragged Matthew out with him and the giant group that had invaded the Minx joined them in the drunken celebratory dancing. And everything was going as picture-perfect as a shitshow could be, until someone who obviously didn’t know Dan, began making remarks about the ‘fags on the dancefloor’.
His ears perking up, Dan looked over at the man, giving him a look that said something along the lines of ‘I will kill you’. And if Alfred had heard that, he would’ve jumped in and fulfilled Dan’s stare’s wishes, but Alfred couldn’t help but jump near Roderich and ask him repeatedly “REMEMBER THAT TIME I THREW UP ON YOU?”
And the man, who just couldn’t stop talking about the ‘faggots fucking up his night’ got what Alfred thought he deserved - Dan’s fist in his jaw.
The Minx broke out into a riot. Ludwig, Gilbert’s older brother, and his boyfriend, Feliciano, who Alfred later learned was Professor Maximus’ grandson, tried to get Dan to stop, but when an Aussie starts a fight, an Aussie’s going to end it too. Ludwig did his best to pull Dan off the bleeding man, with Feliciano screaming about how this wasn’t how a birthday party should end up, but Dan kept fighting, even when the German man lifted him off the ground.
“Say it to my face, asshole,” Daniel yelled so loud, he managed to drown out the live band. “Say it again to my face.”
The man, now bleeding profusely from his face, didn’t look like he could move his jaw, let alone speak.
Gilbert and Alfred stared blankly at the man on the floor. This wasn’t a good sign. With that much blood, the cops would be showing up to take statements.
“I’ve got this,” Gilbert said, taking out his phone.
And with a quick mass text that simply read “ROLL OUT”, the party began abandoning the bar faster than a sinking ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Alfred pushed through the crowd, trying to find his brother, who was standing by a speaker, crying.
“Come on,” Alfred grabbed Mattie’s hand and pushed through the crowd. “We’re gonna get you out of here.”
“I can’t leave him here,” Matthew cried. “I don’t want him getting in trouble.”
“Come on,” Alfred yanked on his arm. “Ludwig’s got him, he’s gonna be fine.”
He pulled on Matthew’s arm and the pair of them flew out of the bar and into the street, just in time to see a police cruiser pull up against the curb.
“Dan-“
“Mattie, come on-“
And his wiggly, drunk brother managed to drunkenly wiggle his way out of his grasp and ran back into the bar, hoping to get his boyfriend out of there before the police asked any questions.
Alfred didn’t remember how he got home that night, but he remembered the call the phone call from Arthur, advising Matthew to break up with Dan the next morning.
“If he is that violent when he drinks, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be with him.”
“But I love him-“
“Matthew, be sensible.”
“Dad, what the other guy said-“
“Was disgusting. I’m not saying that it wasn’t,” Arthur’s voice sounded hurt, even through the phone and across the table. “But there are better ways of dealing with those sorts of people than breaking their jaws.”
“Put him on speaker,” Alfred whispered.
“Al wants to talk too,” Matthew clicked a button and put the phone in the middle of the table. “Kay, you’re on speaker.”
“Good. Alfred, I need to ask how you even befriended this Dan boy in the first place?”
“Uh, we’re in a lot of the same classes. He’s in archeology and I took a bunch of ancient histories in first and se-“
“Totally irresponsible. I thought I raised you to be better at seeing who to befriend and who to stay away from.”
“Hey,” Alfred spoke up, a mouthful of toast making it slightly more difficult. “Dan’s a good guy. You leave Dan alone.”
“No, Alfred. I suggest you leave Daniel alone. He sounds dangerous. And I won’t have my boys being put into dangerous situations like that because someone can’t seem to make wise friend decisions.”
Alfred wanted nothing more than to reach into the phone and slap Arthur in the face. Why was it always Arthur who objected to things like this? Where was Francis?
“Where’s papa?” Alfred asked pointedly.
He looked up to see Matthew nearly in tears, looking as though he was trying his best to block out the conversation.
“Your papa is currently packing up the car to come see you. I hope your place is cleaner than the last time we came to visit.”
“Why are you visiting?” Alfred’s voice grew higher.
“I’ll take that as a no then-“
“For fuck’s sake-“
“Alfred, you best lose that teenage attitude of yours before we get there, because we have more important things to discuss than your immaturity today.”
And that night, after much ‘discussing’, Matthew called Dan and ended things. Dan was now dangerous, or something, which made Alfred want to go out and punch someone in the jaw for himself. What Dan did was what anyone else would have done if they had heard what happened. Thinking about it made Alfred wanted to punch everyone around him in the face. So, did that make Alfred dangerous too?
Dan and Matthew found it hard to be without one another. Dan now had a co-op at the museum and Matthew was still working there. Dan still loved Matthew and Matthew still loved Dan, but Matthew also believed everything Arthur told him. Because, on a purely objective side, Arthur did have a point. If Daniel could bludgeon a stranger in a bar to the point where, as they later found out, the stranger had to be hospitalized for two weeks to make sure there was no damage done to the brain, then yes, perhaps Daniel should take things slow with the drinking. But Dan wasn’t a bad guy. Matthew just couldn’t get past the actual one-time violent act.
Matthew quit his job at the museum, after finding it too difficult to see Dan every day and Dan agreed that it was for the best.
During that first month of their breakup, Alfred found that he couldn’t really speak to either of them. One on hand, he had his brother. On the other, he had his bro. They were perfect. They were going to get married. They were going to get a house overseas and work together and grow old together and Alfred couldn’t let that vision go. Of Uncle Al coming over and visiting in Egypt or India and playing with their kids and hanging out ‘like in the old days’ and knowing that Mattie was safe and happy.
In some ways, Alfred took the breakup just as poorly as they did. It seemed that everyone was miserable now and it wasn’t going to stop.
Until Matthew met Lars.
And, at first, Lars was rejected by Matthew and Alfred profusely. Matthew was still in love with Dan and Alfred was still in love with the idea of them together. So, when Lars became ‘that guy/asshole at the café who likes to hit on me’, Alfred wondered if he should go talk to Lars and tell him what happened. Tell him to lay off his brother and leave him alone.
But then Alfred realized that as much as Matthew complained about Lars, he never seemed to do anything about Lars’ advances. Perhaps Matthew was slowly working things out. And maybe, potentially, he was getting over Dan.
Daniel, however, was struggling harder than Alfred had originally thought. Dan made it a priority to find a new bar and to find someone to make out with, whether it be boy or girl, to try to get over Matthew. Alfred commented on it one night to Gilbert, who actually agreed that what Dan was doing was destructive and that he wished he would just go back to being his regular, awesome self.
Alfred kept hearing about ‘that guy from the café’ and was only half-surprised when Matthew got a job there. And it surprised Alfred less when he came home one night, after proctoring a first year exam, to find Lars at their grubby table, drinking tea and playing footsie with his brother.
As much as it hurt Alfred to see someone else sit in what used to be Dan’s old seat, he was glad that his brother was making the effort to go out and meet new people. Maybe make a friend. Maybe make something more.
“I, uh, I wanted to tell you that Lars and I are going to go on a date this weekend.”
Alfred smiled as he looked over his notes. “Where you two going?”
“J-Just to the movies,” Matthew stammered. “I, um, I’m scared, Al. I’m. I’m really scared. And I just. I don’t know what I’m doing and-“ the tears began to fall on his cheeks, “and I like Lars, but I still think about Dan and when I do I get this pain in my heart and it hurts, Al. It hurts and it doesn’t stop hurting until I go to bed. Because if I try to cry it out, it hurts even more. It feels like someone’s dug their fingers into my heart and is just pulling it apart and Alfred, I’m so scared that Lars is going to hate me because I can’t stop feeling like this and-“
They fell asleep on the couch together that night. Awkwardly positioned with their legs over the top of the couch; the DVD menu for Ghostbusters playing on a loop until the sun came up.
But Lars took things well. And he took them in stride. Matthew had to go slow and Lars was happy to move at a glacial pace, if that meant he got to spend time with Matthew.
The sting of cold water hit Alfred’s back and with a jump, he was out of the shower. After hastily toweling himself dry, he poked his head out. Lars and Matthew had gone to bed, so he super slyly ran to his bedroom naked, closing the door behind him.
The numbers on the clock made him feel like he was in the middle of writing a paper, their obnoxious red glow cast no light in the room. Getting only partially dressed for bed, Alfred turned on his side.
“I think I saw Katya tonight,” he talked to the stuffed bear, which looked more like an alien, since he had lost his ears and most of his fur with age. “Not like, client-wise. But like, she drove by in a car. With Eduard. Who is a total prick.”
He yawned, the redness from the numbers now bothering him. “Tony,” he curled the ugly old bear under his arm and kissed its head, “you sleep tight.”
Author/Artist: finch00
Character(s)/Pairing(s): america, canada, ukraine, estonia, netherlands, uk, france, mentions of prussia, belarus, lithuania, etc / america/ukraine (eventually), canada/netherlands, fruk, others implied/past.
Rating: it varies, but it's by no means g
Warnings: bullying
Author's Note: finals suck. a lot.
Truthfully, Alfred was glad that Lars had come to get him. He probably should have called it quits when he started having the internal debate on whether it would be better or worse for someone to actually want to sleep with him. Because as much as that was the ultimate goal - the whole sleeping with people in order to obtain money and make a profit - Alfred wasn’t one to just hook up and leave.
To be perfectly honest, Alfred wasn’t one to hook up. At all.
Alfred liked the chase. He liked to go after girls he knew he had no chance with, just to see if he really did have a small chance. He liked to get to know girls and befriend them, because after being best friends with Gilbert and Dan, Alfred knew he needed some saner people around in his immediate group of people to hang with. People who didn’t decide ten minutes before the movie to go to the movies and then end up going drunk and crying at the end of the rerelease of The Lion King to the point of puking in the popcorn bucket.
He had few girl friends, which disappointed Alfred. As a boy, Alfred found it very difficult to make friends because of his weight. At the age of ten, Alfred was easily the biggest boy in his class and his classmates made sure he understood just how big he was compared to the rest of them. During his early teens, Alfred found it impossible to go to the school cafeteria and not have people whispering about him as he stood in line with his tray. He couldn’t help it. The worse people made him feel, the better the food tasted and since no one seemed to want to stop making fun of him, he didn’t see a way to stop himself from getting some extra fries at lunch.
With no self-esteem to speak of, Alfred went to his school’s nurse, who recommended to his fathers that he go see a therapist. Arthur and Francis, worried out of their minds, paid through the nose for their son to see the best psychologist in the city. Alfred used to sit in the sessions, waiting to start crying uncontrollably. That’s what happened when people made progress in therapy in movies and tv. There was always the breaking point that seemed to be a breaking in the dam that held back that cascade of tears.
But that day never came. Eventually, Alfred felt less and less sad about how he was being treated and it turned into a more aggressive feeling. When Alfred nearly decked a kid for likening him to a planet and that NASA probably had satellites orbiting him, his doctor recommended Alfred join a sports team.
And that’s when he cried.
“So you think I’m fat too now?”
“No,” she put her hand on his shoulder as he sobbed. “I think you’re angry. And sports are going to help with that.”
So, Alfred joined lacrosse - the only sport in the world, apart from Quidditch, that allowed Alfred to beat the crap out of everyone else on the floor and still score points.
After three years of lacrosse, football and rugby, Alfred managed to drop the pounds he felt were holding him back from living his life the way he wanted to. No one said a word when he was in line at the caf, he didn’t have to worry about fitting into his desk comfortably, he didn’t hear that voice in his head anymore that kept telling him that everyone was laughing at him and that everyone was glad that they weren’t in his situation.
So, Alfred, being Alfred, did the only thing he could do to thank his therapist.
“Helen?” he knocked on her door one Wednesday afternoon. “You free for a second?”
She opened the door and smiled. The smudges of make up under her eyes showed that she had recently been crying.
“If this is a bad time, I can come back later-“
“No, no,” she wiped her face and laughed. “Happy tears. My son. He got into this amazing art program and he just called and I’m just-“ she wiped her face again. “Proud mom feelings.”
Alfred beamed. It was weird to see Helen, well, Doctor Aesop, crying. She didn’t seem like the type to cry. Very stoic. But people surprise you, Alfred thought. “That’s amazing! Did he do the painting in reception?”
“Yes, yes,” she nodded, pointing at the painting of the nude woman playing the harp. “He’s so talented. I’m just. I’m very proud.” She shook her head, as though she were shaking the tears off her cheeks and took a deep breath. “Sorry, Alfred. What did you need to see me about?”
Alfred held up a small blue bag with tissue paper sticking out of the top. He asked for Francis’ help with the wrapping, but the gift? That was all Alfred.
He watched her lift the tissues and smile when she reached the three small jars of jams at the bottom.
“You always have toast when I come in on Thursday mornings, so I thought I’d make you some jam. Dry toast sucks.”
“You okay?”
Alfred snapped back into reality. He and Lars were sitting in Lars’ car in Alfred’s and Mattie’s driveway.
“Huh?”
“You alright?” Lars’ mouth wasn’t turned up in his usual smile. He looked concerned. “Is that sickening amount of Axe gonna make you vomit or did something happen?”
Alfred smiled. “No, just thinking.”
“I hear you,” Lars’ smile returned as they got out of the car. “Thinking about anything in particular?”
Yes, Alfred thought. Thinking about how great the women in his life have been, even if there haven’t been many of them along the way.
“No,” he shook his head. “Just general think-y stuff.”
Alfred unlocked the door and walked in on Matthew speaking loudly over the phone. Which was unusual enough. Mattie hated the phone and he wasn’t prone to being very loud.
So this is what it’s like watching me on hold with the university, Alfred thought, waving as he passed Matthew and headed towards the shower.
Behind the closed door, Alfred could hear Lars telling Matthew to hang up the phone.
“Tell him to stop harassing you-“
“He’s not, he’s just drunk and he wants to talk and-“
“Why are you defending him? You two broke up more than six months ago-“
“I’m not going to just hang up on him-“
Dan. Who else could it have been?
Alfred remembered the day that he caught Mattie and Dan feeling each other up on their couch, after Alfred had spent his afternoon studying for his Vietnam War midterm. Confused as to why Dan’s stuff was in the hallway when he wasn’t even home, he was scarred for life when he saw his brother sitting in his friend’s lap with this look in his eyes that practically yelled “take me now you wild animal man… thing”.
And as gross as that was, Alfred loved Mattie and Dan dating. Because not only did he approve of Dan, that meant Dan would be over all the time. And what was not to like about his best friend dating his brother? Apart from the fact that Alfred felt a little third-wheelish on some nights, he liked that Dan tried to get Matthew to come out of his shell a bit more.
Dan met Matthew on a mandatory trip to the university’s on-campus museum. Dan, studying archeology, enjoyed going to the museum for numerous reasons. He loved what he saw behind the ropes and the glass and, especially, behind the counter.
Matthew had a part-time job at the museum’s box office. He was in charge of stamping all who entered the museum’s door and giving them the low-down on how the museum was set up. Very rarely, Matthew was forced to give tours to the elderly patrons who sometimes came to visit for senior expeditions, but he mostly stayed in the box office, doing his readings.
According to Dan, fate had brought Matt and him together. And Alfred laughed and Gilbert told him that was pretty gay and then promptly apologized for his choice of words, but it was sort of funny. Dan didn’t seem the type of guy to believe in fate and predestined love and all that. But deep down, beneath the tan and that unintelligible accent, beat the heart of a romantic.
So, Dan would go to the museum every day, for research, of course, and try to woo Matthew with jackets with elbow patches on them and Indiana Jones hats and cheesy pick up lines that involved the fall of Troy. And somehow, that all worked, and soon, he and Matthew became inseparable.
Alfred had their wedding planned out after the first time he saw them actually kiss. Because it wasn’t weird that his best friend wanted to date his brother - his brother was awesome, Dan was awesome, Dan would obviously want to marry into an awesome person’s family, Alfred was in Mattie’s family and also awesome and Alfred and Dan already got along! It was foolproof!
And it was, for a while. Dan and Matthew shared a lot of moments and memories that they would each remember for the rest of their lives. Dan’s heart was on fire and all Matthew could do was keep it burning. They were perfect, like a love story from a fairytale. Dan was Mattie’s hero but, and maybe just because it was Dan, Alfred didn’t seem to mind that. Because Alfred may have had a hard time in school, but Matthew seemed to have a hard time with people in general. And Alfred did everything in his power to make sure that Matthew was comfortable and happy in social situations. But with Dan, Matthew didn’t need Alfred to dote on him and make him feel comfortable, Dan managed to do that just as well, if not better, than Alfred.
But then, Alfred was so caught up in this fairytale that he forgot that fairytales don’t happen. And that, eventually, something was going to go wrong.
It was Dan’s birthday and, in true Australian fashion, Dan had invited everyone out to his favourite bar, The Frisky Minx. Everyone, naturally, meant everyone that had heard about the event, even if they didn’t know Dan personally.
After chugging countless pints of beer, Dan was in the mood to dance. A level of drunk that no one had seen since Gilbert pissed on the cop car while the cop was still sitting in the car that one time. He dragged Matthew out with him and the giant group that had invaded the Minx joined them in the drunken celebratory dancing. And everything was going as picture-perfect as a shitshow could be, until someone who obviously didn’t know Dan, began making remarks about the ‘fags on the dancefloor’.
His ears perking up, Dan looked over at the man, giving him a look that said something along the lines of ‘I will kill you’. And if Alfred had heard that, he would’ve jumped in and fulfilled Dan’s stare’s wishes, but Alfred couldn’t help but jump near Roderich and ask him repeatedly “REMEMBER THAT TIME I THREW UP ON YOU?”
And the man, who just couldn’t stop talking about the ‘faggots fucking up his night’ got what Alfred thought he deserved - Dan’s fist in his jaw.
The Minx broke out into a riot. Ludwig, Gilbert’s older brother, and his boyfriend, Feliciano, who Alfred later learned was Professor Maximus’ grandson, tried to get Dan to stop, but when an Aussie starts a fight, an Aussie’s going to end it too. Ludwig did his best to pull Dan off the bleeding man, with Feliciano screaming about how this wasn’t how a birthday party should end up, but Dan kept fighting, even when the German man lifted him off the ground.
“Say it to my face, asshole,” Daniel yelled so loud, he managed to drown out the live band. “Say it again to my face.”
The man, now bleeding profusely from his face, didn’t look like he could move his jaw, let alone speak.
Gilbert and Alfred stared blankly at the man on the floor. This wasn’t a good sign. With that much blood, the cops would be showing up to take statements.
“I’ve got this,” Gilbert said, taking out his phone.
And with a quick mass text that simply read “ROLL OUT”, the party began abandoning the bar faster than a sinking ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Alfred pushed through the crowd, trying to find his brother, who was standing by a speaker, crying.
“Come on,” Alfred grabbed Mattie’s hand and pushed through the crowd. “We’re gonna get you out of here.”
“I can’t leave him here,” Matthew cried. “I don’t want him getting in trouble.”
“Come on,” Alfred yanked on his arm. “Ludwig’s got him, he’s gonna be fine.”
He pulled on Matthew’s arm and the pair of them flew out of the bar and into the street, just in time to see a police cruiser pull up against the curb.
“Dan-“
“Mattie, come on-“
And his wiggly, drunk brother managed to drunkenly wiggle his way out of his grasp and ran back into the bar, hoping to get his boyfriend out of there before the police asked any questions.
Alfred didn’t remember how he got home that night, but he remembered the call the phone call from Arthur, advising Matthew to break up with Dan the next morning.
“If he is that violent when he drinks, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be with him.”
“But I love him-“
“Matthew, be sensible.”
“Dad, what the other guy said-“
“Was disgusting. I’m not saying that it wasn’t,” Arthur’s voice sounded hurt, even through the phone and across the table. “But there are better ways of dealing with those sorts of people than breaking their jaws.”
“Put him on speaker,” Alfred whispered.
“Al wants to talk too,” Matthew clicked a button and put the phone in the middle of the table. “Kay, you’re on speaker.”
“Good. Alfred, I need to ask how you even befriended this Dan boy in the first place?”
“Uh, we’re in a lot of the same classes. He’s in archeology and I took a bunch of ancient histories in first and se-“
“Totally irresponsible. I thought I raised you to be better at seeing who to befriend and who to stay away from.”
“Hey,” Alfred spoke up, a mouthful of toast making it slightly more difficult. “Dan’s a good guy. You leave Dan alone.”
“No, Alfred. I suggest you leave Daniel alone. He sounds dangerous. And I won’t have my boys being put into dangerous situations like that because someone can’t seem to make wise friend decisions.”
Alfred wanted nothing more than to reach into the phone and slap Arthur in the face. Why was it always Arthur who objected to things like this? Where was Francis?
“Where’s papa?” Alfred asked pointedly.
He looked up to see Matthew nearly in tears, looking as though he was trying his best to block out the conversation.
“Your papa is currently packing up the car to come see you. I hope your place is cleaner than the last time we came to visit.”
“Why are you visiting?” Alfred’s voice grew higher.
“I’ll take that as a no then-“
“For fuck’s sake-“
“Alfred, you best lose that teenage attitude of yours before we get there, because we have more important things to discuss than your immaturity today.”
And that night, after much ‘discussing’, Matthew called Dan and ended things. Dan was now dangerous, or something, which made Alfred want to go out and punch someone in the jaw for himself. What Dan did was what anyone else would have done if they had heard what happened. Thinking about it made Alfred wanted to punch everyone around him in the face. So, did that make Alfred dangerous too?
Dan and Matthew found it hard to be without one another. Dan now had a co-op at the museum and Matthew was still working there. Dan still loved Matthew and Matthew still loved Dan, but Matthew also believed everything Arthur told him. Because, on a purely objective side, Arthur did have a point. If Daniel could bludgeon a stranger in a bar to the point where, as they later found out, the stranger had to be hospitalized for two weeks to make sure there was no damage done to the brain, then yes, perhaps Daniel should take things slow with the drinking. But Dan wasn’t a bad guy. Matthew just couldn’t get past the actual one-time violent act.
Matthew quit his job at the museum, after finding it too difficult to see Dan every day and Dan agreed that it was for the best.
During that first month of their breakup, Alfred found that he couldn’t really speak to either of them. One on hand, he had his brother. On the other, he had his bro. They were perfect. They were going to get married. They were going to get a house overseas and work together and grow old together and Alfred couldn’t let that vision go. Of Uncle Al coming over and visiting in Egypt or India and playing with their kids and hanging out ‘like in the old days’ and knowing that Mattie was safe and happy.
In some ways, Alfred took the breakup just as poorly as they did. It seemed that everyone was miserable now and it wasn’t going to stop.
Until Matthew met Lars.
And, at first, Lars was rejected by Matthew and Alfred profusely. Matthew was still in love with Dan and Alfred was still in love with the idea of them together. So, when Lars became ‘that guy/asshole at the café who likes to hit on me’, Alfred wondered if he should go talk to Lars and tell him what happened. Tell him to lay off his brother and leave him alone.
But then Alfred realized that as much as Matthew complained about Lars, he never seemed to do anything about Lars’ advances. Perhaps Matthew was slowly working things out. And maybe, potentially, he was getting over Dan.
Daniel, however, was struggling harder than Alfred had originally thought. Dan made it a priority to find a new bar and to find someone to make out with, whether it be boy or girl, to try to get over Matthew. Alfred commented on it one night to Gilbert, who actually agreed that what Dan was doing was destructive and that he wished he would just go back to being his regular, awesome self.
Alfred kept hearing about ‘that guy from the café’ and was only half-surprised when Matthew got a job there. And it surprised Alfred less when he came home one night, after proctoring a first year exam, to find Lars at their grubby table, drinking tea and playing footsie with his brother.
As much as it hurt Alfred to see someone else sit in what used to be Dan’s old seat, he was glad that his brother was making the effort to go out and meet new people. Maybe make a friend. Maybe make something more.
“I, uh, I wanted to tell you that Lars and I are going to go on a date this weekend.”
Alfred smiled as he looked over his notes. “Where you two going?”
“J-Just to the movies,” Matthew stammered. “I, um, I’m scared, Al. I’m. I’m really scared. And I just. I don’t know what I’m doing and-“ the tears began to fall on his cheeks, “and I like Lars, but I still think about Dan and when I do I get this pain in my heart and it hurts, Al. It hurts and it doesn’t stop hurting until I go to bed. Because if I try to cry it out, it hurts even more. It feels like someone’s dug their fingers into my heart and is just pulling it apart and Alfred, I’m so scared that Lars is going to hate me because I can’t stop feeling like this and-“
They fell asleep on the couch together that night. Awkwardly positioned with their legs over the top of the couch; the DVD menu for Ghostbusters playing on a loop until the sun came up.
But Lars took things well. And he took them in stride. Matthew had to go slow and Lars was happy to move at a glacial pace, if that meant he got to spend time with Matthew.
The sting of cold water hit Alfred’s back and with a jump, he was out of the shower. After hastily toweling himself dry, he poked his head out. Lars and Matthew had gone to bed, so he super slyly ran to his bedroom naked, closing the door behind him.
The numbers on the clock made him feel like he was in the middle of writing a paper, their obnoxious red glow cast no light in the room. Getting only partially dressed for bed, Alfred turned on his side.
“I think I saw Katya tonight,” he talked to the stuffed bear, which looked more like an alien, since he had lost his ears and most of his fur with age. “Not like, client-wise. But like, she drove by in a car. With Eduard. Who is a total prick.”
He yawned, the redness from the numbers now bothering him. “Tony,” he curled the ugly old bear under his arm and kissed its head, “you sleep tight.”