APH- A Hero in a Bomber Jacket

Chapter 15

"Hey, sooo..."

"Mm-hm."

"You're writing in that notebook again."

"And?"

Alfred sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed. It was snowing outside, and freezing cold. Everyone was inside, doing a little bit of something, but a lot of nothing. Alfred was shooting nerf bullets at a target he'd taped on the ceiling. Arthur was scribbling down something in his green notebook. Alfred wasn't allowed to look in it, and neither was anyone else.

"Well, what are you always doing with that thing? I see you writing in it, and taping things in it."

Arthur closed it and set it on the night stand.

"Secret. You'll just never know." He said, adjusting himself so he was staring up at the ceiling as well.

"Well, what if I took it?" Alfred asked. Arthur smirked.

"Right. You'll never get it Alfred, you still haven't figured out where I put it."

"Oh, really? Because it's in my hand." Alfred said, holding it in front of Arthur's face.

Arthur's eyes widened. He jumped up from the bed and tried to snatch it from the other boy's hand.

"Hey! Give it!"

Alfred chuckled.

"Don't think so, It's mine now."

Arthur tried not to smile as he chased Alfred around the room, reaching for the notebook.

"Dammit, It's not fair holding it up like that, stupid! I can't reach it!"

He grabbed for it, as Alfred looked down laughing. Matt passed the door and stared at the two. Alfred pointed at the notebook and gestured to his brother.

"Matt, catch!"

Matt, being the good child, did not catch it, and instead let Arthur grab it. Arthur stuck his tongue out at Alfred, holding up the notebook.

"Ha! Mine now, dummy." He said triumphantly. Alfred hung his head in fake shame, before giggling and holding up a piece of paper.

"You have most of it. This page fell out, smart-ass."

Arthur recognized the piece he was holding up.

"Alfred, don't! Give it back!"

"What did you say? Sorry, I can't hear you, I'm reading it and- hey that's a picture of us."

Alfred tilted his head, looking at the picture. He remembered Arthur had Matt take it when they went out the ice rink. Both of them smiled brightly, faces pink from cold. Under the picture was what looked like a letter. Alfred started to read it out loud.

"Dear mum... I've been staying with Alfred, his brother, and his mother. Alfred is the one I told you about in the last letter, he's still kind of an idiot, but I guess I can't have everything right? Anyways, Madeline kicked me out a while ago, and that's why I'm here at his house. His family is very nice, I'm sure you'd like them a lot."

Arthur listened to his own writing silently. Smiling ever so slightly at it as Alfred continued on.

"I miss you, and I miss Peter. He's still with Madeline. I still haven't heard from dad, but I don't really want to. I really..." Alfred stopped for a moment but kept going.

"I really miss you, and I'm sure if you were still here, you would... you would get to stay here with us... with love, Arthur."

Arthur looked at Alfred, who was holding onto the paper tightly. He could see that the other boy was somewhat shaken by the letter. But why would that be? He wasn't the type to cry over books or anything like that.

"So you write letters too?" He asked shakily. Arthur snapped out of his thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

Alfred brought a hand up to cover his mouth.

"I um... I still write to my dad sometimes. The way that you write to your mom. "

Arthur thought about that for a moment. Alfred never talked about his dad. Arthur had only asked once, but he never really got an answer out of him. Alfred handed the page to Arthur.

"Al... you never talk about your dad. Do you want to tell me about him?"

The american shrugged and sat down on the bed.

"There's not that much to tell I guess. I mean, he was in the military, so we we're always moving around, you know? We lived in New York, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, a lot of other places. Only for a year at a time or so but we've been here for about six years now. Cause when I was twelve, he left and just... never came back."

Arthur nodded.

"So, he left you all here?" He asked. Alfred looked at him, he almost seemed hurt.

"No, my dad wouldn't do that, he was a real good guy, it's just... I mean, mom tried to tell me what happened, and I wouldn't listen to her. I covered my ears and ran outside and I just wouldn't listen. I thought maybe if I didn't believe that he died then... he wouldn't have, and he'd come walking through the door singing and cracking jokes again. But he didn't. And he's not going to."

Alfred was looking nowhere in particular. Talking about this seemed to make him look older somehow. Like he had seen things other people hadn't.

Arthur sat next to him quietly. He really didn't know what to do in these kinds of situations, he wasn't exactly an emotional person. So he just talked.

"D-do you miss him? I miss my mum sometimes." He asked. Alfred sort of shrugged.

"I guess so. I mean, I don't think about him all that often, but when I do... yeah, it can hurt pretty bad."

Alfred leaned into Arthur, and Arthur just held him there. There was still a sound of harsh wind outside the window, a branch tapping at the glass. Alfred smiled slightly.

"It was kinda like this outside when I kissed you, wasn't it?"

Arthur looked down at the floor.

"I uh... I guess so... stupid."

"Do you think our parents would be okay with this?"

Alfred asked, looking out the window. He seemed to be actually asking Arthur this question, rather than talking to himself.

Arthur thought for a moment.

"Sure. Of course they would. I mean, we're happy aren't we?"

"Yeah." Alfred said quietly. "Yeah, we're happy."

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A/N:

Oh my goodness, I finally got chapter 15 out! I'm so sorry about not updating (again). But hey, here it is, you're welcome. Also, A bit of an important announcement here, the series will be ending in I believe the next 2-4 chapters. Now, I'm not ending it randomly, no, I have a planned out ending and I think it's about time that we reach the end. I really enjoyed writing this, and I'm very excited to write the ending, because I'm rather proud of it. Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter.