MATT AND AL'S BEAUTIMOUS PAST(title courtesy of Al.)

Matthew was really bored now. It has been a long time he was in that car already. Well, he couldn't exactly tell how long, when he asked his maman what time it was she stayed silent, so he had no clue on what time it was. It was surely afternoon, since he had Lunch with her already. And He had slept a while too. He remembered she told him it would take long to get to Alfred's place, like it always did when he had to go from Ottawa to... whatever was his brother's town name, but he usually had something to do. Except that he already finished reading his book this time. As he sighed quietly and looked out the window, he noticed the surrounding seemed familiar. He smiled a little, knowing it wouldn't be long now before they got to see the house they were aiming for. He started putting all his belongings in his bag -he had to take them out to reach his book- and waited a little more before his maman finally stopped the car in the right driveway.
He followed her obediently to the door, really happy he got to spend his 8th birthday with his brother -like always-, but feeling a bit nervous too, it has been a long time after all, maybe Alfred wouldn't like him anymore...? At the thought, he hided a little behind his maman, hoping it would be alright, clinging to her leg. She noticed him and patted his head lightly before ringing at the door.

Excited about the visit of his half-brother, Alfred redecorated his bedroom and made it look just twice as awesome. Filled with all sorts of posters with super-hero figures and comic books, the room looked absolutely fantastic. He just hoped his brother was just as into them as he was. --Hey, he had to be, weren't they half-brothers? That was almost like being twins! At least in this child's mind.

Sooner or later his mum quickly called him to the door saying they were here! Enthralled, the boy bounded down the stairs and past his mother, quickly opening the door before she even had the chance to step aside from the staircase.

"Howdy hooo~" Alfred exclaimed in a silly tone as he opened the door. He then paused and looked at the legs of the woman standing before him. He looked up at her face and then down again, peering slightly around, noticing the boy hiding behind her. A grin creeped upon his face and he quickly scurried outside, hurtling over to the Canadian boy who was hiding behind his mum's legs.

"Hi Mattie~! Remember me? Remember~?" Alfred exclaimed, excitedly.

He heard a loud "Howdy hooo~" and scooted a little more behind his mother, his heart beating fast because of all the things he was feelings, happy to see his brother and so terrified at the idea they might not get along as well as they did before. He waited the few seconds it took for Alfred to find him anxiously,clutching even more on the fabric of her mother's trousers, before hearing him address directly to him, ignoring his maman(how could someone ignore his beautiful maman? That was beyond him, but Alfred did it anyway). He smiled at him shyly before nodding, blushing a little, not sure how to act around him now.
“H-hello... Of course I remember, you're my brother...”
He felt a little stupid hiding behind his mother, he was a grown-up boy after all, almost eight, that meant he had to be brave. He took a step toward the other, clutching on his little bag tightly, and spoke as softly as ever.
“I'm glad to see you again... t-thanks for the hospitality...” With that he tried to smile a little more, being polite like his maman taught him to do. It was a bit hard but Alfred had managed to take away part of his nervousness. Which was something big already.

"Yeah yeah~ Let's let our Mamas talk about all that stuff. Let's go to my room! My room is great. I cleaned it just for you." Alfred said, taking Matt by the arm. "Is that all the stuff you brought? What a tiny bag!" He pulled him along into the house. He was so thrilled that his brother was here. He needed someone to play with, after all. He wished they could just live together, but his mum said it wasn't possible because of their dad. Whatever that meant!!

He was touched his brother cleaned his room just for him. He wasn't particularly messy himself, but he still hated to clean his room when he had to. That was something really big his brother did, just for him too.
“Thanks for the attention...I-I'm sure it'll be great...”
He smiled happily and took Alfred's hand, following him quietly, looking around the house. He hasn't come here for a long time and worried a little about getting lost. That wouldn't be cool, especially since his mother tended not to worry too much when she wasn't seeing him around, he was usually quietly reading or playing in a corner, never doing something too dangerous... He clinged tightly on his brother's hand and tried to memorize everything he saw. He also tried to actually answer to his questions.
“I-I have a bigger bag with my clothes... but Maman said she would take care of it... A-And I only needed to have a few things in the car...But I took your birthday present with me so it wouldn't break...”
He was glad to see his brother and thought he missed him before. He missed him a lot actually. He didn't understood fully why they couldn't stay together, their mamans were getting along really well after all. He knew his dad was the cause... And He also kind of understood having two mamans and one papa wasn't normal. But his Papa was nice to him when he came home. His Maman didn't really liked him around though. Something to do with him being a “niaiseux” and a “two-timer”. That was pretty cool actually, Matthew always wondered from what other time his father was... That was a theory he would have to discuss with Alfred one day. Maybe now.
“A-Alfred...? Have you heard about Papa's other time...?”

Alfred pulled Matt along up the stairs and paused at the top when he asked him the last question. "...Eh? Other time? What's that mean?" He asked, weirded out. That made it sound like he did something twice. Or had been in another time period. He sort of hoped it was the latter of the two--imagine his dad (the idiot, apparently) being a time-traveler! "Ahh, I don't know what that means, but maybe that's why we have different mommys." He said, guessing. Maybe one mum was from back in the stone-age! ..Maybe. Ah! It was a silly idea.

He started to walk again, pulling Matthew into his bedroom and shutting the door behind them. In the room was a set of bunk beds, both having blue comforters on them with red pillows. The room was a little messy in a sense that he had comic books clumsily piled up under the bed and clothes sticking out of his laundry basket. He tried to make it look neat, but in the end he was still just a little boy. Even the top bunk's sheets didn't look entirely made.

Matthew would have liked to push the subject of his time-traveling father farther, but apparently Alfred had planned something else. He could always try to speak about it again later. He looked around the room, detailing it, pretty proud of his brother for his cleaning abilities -he improved, he remembered last time he came here, that was really a great effort he made today- He smiled a little at his brother, trying to remember what exactly he was supposed to say when visiting a house to be polite. After frowning a little, trying to find the correct words, he smiled more.
“You have a nice place, it's really... neat.”
He hesitated a little, not sure whether he had to say “neat” or “clean”, but knew that it should make Alfred happy anyway. And he was satisfied with his wording.
He then pointed at the beds.
“Which one is mine...?”
He knew his brother used to wet his bed, so he really hoped he would be on the higher bed in case that habit hadn't stopped yet. He hoped his discomfort at the idea wasn't showing too much.

(for the “used to wet his bed” part, I'm basing myself on one of the strip translated not long ago where England says something about it)