Alfred awoke with a start, he felt around the bed searching for his brother's warm fingers. "Mattie?" he quickly sat up and looked around the room. He froze when he saw the tiny figure of his brother leaning against a corner of the wall, his legs were hugged to his chest, his arms resting on his knees, hiding his face. "Mattie?..." Alfred slowly climbed off the bed and walked toward his brother.

His shoulders rose and fell signaling that he was asleep. "You'll hurt your back like this." Alfred gently shook his shoulder and noticed the clothes he wore were from yesterday. "Why are you still in your old clothes?" worry began to settle in his stomach. Matthew awoke with stiffness and groggily lifted his head. "Alfie?..is something wrong?" he asked as he wiped away the sleep from his eyes.

Alfred frowned. "Of course there's something wrong!" everything was wrong when he found his little brother sleeping on the ground. "Why weren't you sleeping with me? Why aren't you cleaned up?" questions popped into his mind. "Daddy forgot about me..." Matthew mumbled as memories of yesterday played back in his mind. "What? No. I'll talk to him right now!" Alfred fumed angrily and stormed out the room marching toward his father's room.

He slammed the door open and hopped onto his father's bed where he was recently sleeping. "Dad.." He whispered harshly. "No Alfie stop!" Matthew was standing at the door frame and worriedly tried to convince his brother to stop. "No way, a hero is always there for the people they love." He grinned at him and continued to shake his father's shoulder. "Dad wake up!" he shouted loudly this time.

Arthur jumped and yelled loudly Alfred yelped and fell off the bed in fright. "Oh! Alfred are you okay!?" Arthur quickly helped Alfred up from the ground and kissed the top of his head. "What were you doing? Why did you wake me?" confusion muddled his thoughts. "Dad, you...you did something really bad," Alfred exclaimed causing Arthur to panic. "What did I do wrong?" he asked quickly.

Matthew was shaking at the door, he wanted to run away and hide but his legs refused to move. His feet felt as if they were glued to the ground. "You forgot about my brother...you treated him like a ghost. Can't you see that he's important too?" Arthur was struck with all kinds of emotions. Anger, guilt, hatred, selfishness, and sadness. He hated himself for forgetting his own son who barely spoke a word, who didn't ask for anything but his father's love.

Arthur turned to Matthew with a pang of regret hitting him like a bullet to the chest. "Matthew..is it true?" he asked quietly. Matthew didn't respond, instead, he finally regained the control of his legs and ran away. He ran to his and his brother's room and locked himself in the closet, his breathing became short and quick as he heard the worried and quick footsteps moving towards him.

There was a moment of silence before Arthur made his way to the closed closet door and leaned against it. "Matthew..please open the door." He pleaded anxiously, Alfred was standing behind his father in worry. "Alfred, may I talk to Matthew alone?" Arthur turned to him and softly patted his head. "Yeah sure." Alfred nodded and smiled glumly. He turned and walked out of the room, before he closed the door he glanced at Arthur. "..thank you, dad." He mumbled happily.

He then closed the door leaving Arthur and Matthew who was still in the closet alone. "Matthew, Alfred's gone now can you please unlock the door?" Matthew was hesitant at first but with a shaky hand, he reluctantly unlocked the closet door. Arthur lit up at the click of the door unlocking and almost instantly yanked the door open and engulfed Matthew in a tight hug. "Matthew...I want you to know that I love you with all my heart." Tears filled Arthur's green eyes, they shimmered like polished emeralds.

Matthew wrapped his tiny arms around his father's waist and buried his face in his shirt. "I love you too daddy.." He kept his face hidden and whimpered, feeling his father tremble. They both stayed like that for a while until Arthur pulled away so he could meet with Matthew's purple and puffy tear stained eyes. "Will you ever forgive me?.." Arthur mumbled and placed his hand on his soft son's cheek. a single tear trailed down his own cheek.

Matthew looked up at his father and smiled. "Yeah, I forgive you, daddy." Arthur was relieved feeling as if a massive weight was lifted off his chest, he smiled and lifted Matthew up in his arms. He stood up and spun around holding him close as he chuckled happily, Matthew tightly grasped onto his shirt and giggled. "Daddy I'm getting dizzy!" Alfred who had stayed outside of the room burst through the door and tugged at Arthur's shirt.

"No fair.." He playfully pouted. "Come here you." Arthur scooped Alfred up from the ground and held both of his sons in his arms. "I love you both so much, you know that right?" even though he knew they would ask about Francis he was still happy to cherish this moment. Alfred smiled at his brother. "I think we finally have the perfect dad right?" Matthew tilted his head in confusion and Alfred knew he didn't understand but he was glad.

Never would they ever face sadness or pain, Alfred swore that he would become a hero to protect his brother, he swore to his mother who gave her last breath to make sure he promised that. Arthur set both children on the ground and took them by the hand. "I know It's been hard to forget your mother. I don't know what you both witnessed but I promise you both that I will protect you."

Alfred's smile faltered but he kept it for the sake of his brother who looked up to him for guidance and hope. "It's okay...that's all in the past and it's time to move on, right Mattie?" Matthew went silent and lowered his gaze to the ground. "..y-yes I'll try to forget mommy." He slowly moved his gaze so he could meet with his brother's blue eyes. "I'll try because I want to be strong like you." His heart swelled with determination.

Alfred was taken aback by his brother's response so he quickly tried to change the subject. "You're still in those clothes? Dad, I think you also forgot to give Mattie a bath." Matthew froze in surprise. "Oh! You're right, thank you for reminding me, Alfred. Let's go, Matthew." He smiled and pulled Matthew to the bathroom. After he was washed up and changed in fresh clothes he ran to his brother who was dozing off on the bed. "Alfie! Daddy is being weird." He giggled as he gently shook his shoulder.

Alfred sat up. "What do you mean by weird?" he climbed off the bed. "Come on I'll show you." Matthew took him by the wrist and ran to the living room where Arthur was wearing a star imprinted blanket like a cape and a paper made hat. "I'm the all mighty wizard! My trusty companion will always stay by my side. Isn't that right flying mint bunny?" Arthur turned to his shoulder, Alfred frowned in confusion. "Who are you talking to dad?" concern laced in his voice.

"I'm not 'dad' I'm the all mighty wizard!" Matthew laughed at his father's actions, so Alfred decided to play along. "Okay, da- I mean all mighty wizard, what are you doing?" Arthur swung an imaginary wand at him. "I'm going to defeat you. I heard you were a hero." Alfred gulped in a huge breath and puffed up his chest. "I'm the strongest hero, and bravest. And this is my partner." He rested his hand on Matthew's shoulder.

All day they played many different types of games, Arthur enjoyed spending his time with his sons and forgot about the pain that came through bad thoughts, he forgot about all his worries, he even forgot about Francis. Even if it was for a while he was happy. When lunch came around, Arthur served black and burned sandwiches. "How does someone burn sandwiches?" Alfred mumbled under his breath.

Matthew looked at him and shrugged. "I eat them because I want daddy to be happy." He whispered to him and took a reluctant bite from his sandwich, Alfred looked at his father who was washing the dishes with an apron tied around his waist as he quietly hummed. And then it hit him, his heart almost stopped. "I think we do need to forget about mom.." He whispered to himself just enough so his brother wouldn't hear him.

".. I think we already found a new mom instead of a dad.." He smiled widely as he happily ate his lunch. As Arthur finished up the dishes he jumped when his phone began to ring, he placed his hand over his heart and took a shaky breath to calm himself. He wiped his hands on his apron and wearily went to the living room to retrieve his phone, he checked the caller ID but it only came out as a private number. "Bloody twits..." He muttered anxiously.

He reluctantly pressed the button to answer the call and brought the phone up to his ear. "Hello? Who is this?" there was silence, nothing but the quiet ragged breathing of the other person on the other line. "You better speak up or I'll hang up." Arthur threatened in annoyance. "Mon cher...it's me again.." Arthur froze. "...you bloody frog..." His teeth were clenched together in anger.

His cheeks flushed red. "Please wait a moment before you hang up!" Francis' voice sounded so desperate and so broken Arthur almost pitied him. "What do you want?" in all honesty, Arthur just wanted to slam his phone against a wall again but he didn't want to worry his children, so he had no choice but to listen. "I..I'm going to go back...I'm going back to you..to the children." The blood flushed from Arthur's cheeks and his heart became extremely heavy in his chest.

"There's not a thing you can do about it mon cher...I'm sorry." And with that said the line went dead and Arthur was left standing motionless in the middle of the living room, why would Francis return now? What would he do? Would he try to gain full custody of the boys and then take them away? Billions of questions popped into Arthur's mind. He dropped his phone and it landed with a light thud.

He fell to his knees. "No..I'm not going to allow it." He gathered his strength and brought himself up grabbing his phone from the ground, his mind raced for options, and then an idea found its way into his mind. He looked through his contacts from his phone and found the person he was looking for, he quickly dialed the number and brought the phone back to his ear.

He waited...

And waited

Until finally, the person answered.

Arthur swallowed thickly before answering. "Yes...Gilbert? I'm going to need your help with something.." In the kitchen, Alfred and Matthew had both finished their lunches and gulped down a huge glass of water to wash out the odd taste left in their mouths. "Daddy may not know how to cook but it's still good." Matthew smiled. "...do you ever miss mom?.." Alfred asked suddenly out of the blue. "Yeah, I do...a lot," Matthew mumbled glumly. "Do you?" he questioned back, Alfred thought for a minute before answering.

"I do miss her, but we have to move on eventually." Matthew grew worried. "What do you mean? I know I promised I'd try to forget her, but I don't really want to." His bottom lip trembled. "Mommy will always be my mommy no matter what." Alfred frowned. "Don't you want a new mom?" he desperately tried to encourage his brother to move on and forget about his mother.

Matthew gripped onto his brother's hand. "How can you say that? Don't you love our mommy?" Matthew frowned, Alfred, stammered, unable to find his voice. "I...I d-" Arthur entered the kitchen once again with a gentle smile, unable to let Alfred respond. "It's almost time for bed, go brush your teeth and I'll read you both a story." Alfred grinned happily and pulled his hand away from his brother's grip.

Once both children ran to the restroom Arthur leaned against the kitchen counter, tears threatened to spill out of his eyes, but he refused to cry. "You bastard Francis, look at what you've to me." He muttered and ferociously wiped away his unshed tears. When Matthew and Alfred were both in their bed Arthur soon arrived, his eyes slightly puffy, a worn book was tucked in his arms. "I hope you like a book about pirates." He smiled and climbed into the bed laying in between of both his sons.

Alfred and Matthew rested their heads against Arthur's shoulders. "I can't wait to hear it." Alfred beamed in excitement. "Yeah, hurry daddy I can't wait." Matthew ushered him to get started. "Alright, alright calm down you two." Arthur laughed quietly and opened the thick worn book, turning it to the first page. The pages looked as if it were dug from the ground all torn and stained with blotches of ink as if someone had written it.

"Once upon a time, there was a pirate named Arthur..." Alfred felt at peace by Arthur's calm and soothing voice, he smiled tiredly as he listened to the story. Matthew listened in awestruck as he thoroughly examined his father as he read. Hours passed and both boys soon drifted to sleep, Arthur sighed and kissed both of their foreheads. "I'm not going to let that frog take you...I promise." He smiled held them close.

Far off in a different country, a certain blonde Frenchman was ready to enter a plane to England, he looked down at a picture he held in his hand. It was him and Arthur together when they were deeply in love with each other. "I'm coming mon amour...we'll raise the children together and become a big happy family." A glum smile rested at his lips.

But soon enough a greater obstacle would come, something that even he or anyone else couldn't stop.