Matthew didn't even manage to get a word in once he returned to Gil's place. The German boy merely dropped his things into his arms, muttered a cold "it's over" and slammed the door.
Matthew stood there for a few moments, shocked and shaking. How could it end that quickly? How could everything they build crumble so fast?
He felt his feet move backward, dragging him back home. Alfred awaited him on the couch but Matthew didn't stop when he said hello. He simply headed up to his room, slamming his door and dropping into his bed. He heard Alfred knocking a few hours later to call him for dinner, but he didn't make a noise until his brother went away. There were only a few people he wanted to see right then. The first was Gilbert. He wanted to explain himself, to just hold him close and never let go. But he knew that was never going to happen at this point.
Francis was at school and wouldn't be back for summer vacation until two weeks later, so that was another dead end.
And then there were his parents. They were more out of reach than the rest of them.
Days went by and Matthew continued to mope. He didn't say a word to his brother apart from the occasional grunt and he only ate in his room. He knew that Alfred would normally be worried if it hadn't been for all the excitement of graduation. The younger of the twins took advantage of the distraction to wallow in self pity.
Eventually, though, Francis's was let out of school and he really took notice to the change that had taken place. He didn't say anything while people were around, but on that first night, as everybody settled down to sleep, he stepped into Matthew's room and sat down on his bed.
"What's going on wizh you? Did somezhing 'appen?"
Matthew didn't say anything. He just reached out his hand and grasped onto his cousin's shirt. Francis blinked slowly, curling up at the younger boy's side.
"I get it." The Frenchman had seen heartbreak before, many times within himself. He used to have a huge crush on this British guy in high school. No. Francis had been deeply in love with Arthur. He probably still was. But he had been rejected so often that this was second nature to him. He knew how to help Matthew in ways nobody else did.
"Tell you what. I'll sneak down to zhe kitchen and grab zhat tub of ice cream from zhe freezer. Zhen we can watch cheesy romance movies and you can tell me everyzhing. Okay?"
Matthew nodded, swallowing down the sharp pain in his chest.
He felt Francis part from him, feeling as if his limbs were being ripped away. But he didn't complain. He simply waited for Francis to return with his laptop and a tub of Neapolitan.