Ink-stained Roses

chapter 7

Time passed as the two brothers sat in the kitchen discussing their careers and social lives, Matt was now in college for graphic design and Alfred was busy running his own business.

"So how's business life doin for ya?" Matt asked sipping a bit of his coffee, Alfred smiled "It's been fine, super busy but it's what I love, plus it pays for the 18 reptiles I got at home, plus Rex and the cats" He said laughing softly under his breath, Rex was a three year old German Shepard who was as loyal and clingy as a wrist watch, he also had three cats who's names are Beryl, Milo, and Patches.

Matt smiled weakly and nodded "Yeah that's great Al, I'm proud of you" although Matt was Alfred's younger brother, he always acted the older one. Alfred smiled "Thanks, how are your classes going?" He asked cracking his knuckles on the counter behind him "Great actually, I have A's in all my classes" Matt smiled, mostly to himself, he was very smart and he had always been, Alfred was smart too but not really in the academic sense. "That's awesome Matt, I couldn't do it that's for damn sure" Matt grimaced at him "Language Alfred" Alfred rolled his eyes "yeah yeah sorry"

Suddenly there was a loud crash from the next room, followed by thier father, Arthur cussing like crazy. The brothers ran into the room to see their father lying in the ground with a familiar blonde headed man on top of him, Alfred and Matt tried thier best to suppress their giggling as Arthur pushed his husband off of him "Damn it you wanker get off of me!" Arthur yelled as Francis gripped him tigher in his arms "Non, I missed you too much mon amour" Arthur finally was able to push him away and stand up "Don't touch me you ass hat" Arthur hissed "You had me worried sick for your dumd stupid face, where have you been?" He shouted crossing his arms like a mad old lady "Sorry Mon amour, I had to work late" Francis spoke softly walking over to Arthur and hugging him, he groaned but hugged his husband back "Whatever dickhead"

Just then Francis looked over to see his boys standing a few feet from him, his face lit up as he ran to them and hugged them both, each with one arm "Ah my boys! I've missed you two so much!" Alfred and Matthew smiled and hugged thier dad back "I missed you too" said Matthew "Me too!" Shouted Alfred, squeezing his dad tightly, the hug faded out and the four of them took a seat at the table, Francis looked over at his husband

"What's for dinner amour?" He asked softly, Arthur shrugged "Let's just go out somewhere, I sure as hell am not gonna cook" Francis and the two boys laughed "Yeah, we wouldn't let you cook either" said Alfred in a sly joking tone, Matt bit his lip and tried not to laugh, since he felt that it was rude but the statement was true, their father was a terrible cook.

"Excuse me, I am still your father and you will respect me in my own house" Arthur stated, glaring in Alfred's general direction, but not directly at him. Alfred acted clueless and lazily shrugged his shoulder "Whatevs dad"

The family discussed for the next ten minutes about where to eat and when they finally decided they headed out, meanwhile Ivan was at home in his living room, doing his nightly routine of watering all his plants and whatnot, he yawned and stretched out his arms above his head and pulled out his phone from his pocket, it was already around 9, he already missed his boyfriend, infact he started missing him before he was even gone, and he knew that Alfred was feeling the same way, hopefully he was having a good time, since he hadn't yet called like he said he would.

After Ivan was done he walked into the kitchen to find something to eat, he had already had dinner but he was still a little hungry, he searched around the kitchen and eventually settled on some crackers, he took them upstairs and placed the package on to the dresser while he changed, he pulled off his shirt and jeans and placed them gently into his basket, he then slipped on his normal grey sweatpants and grabbed his crackers and sat down on his bed, leaning up against the head board, he looked over and saw a small piece of jewelry, which seemed to be an earring of some sort, Ivan had no piercings which meant that it was most definitely Alfred's, that and no one had ever been to his house but him and his boyfriend.

"He must have taken it out before he went to sleep, and forgot it, but I do not recall him taking it out" Ivan said to himself, he picked up the small item and inspected it, the tip was cover with a small metal ball, and the stone was a dark yellow, which reminded Ivan of the color of sunflowers, but that was probably just a coincidence. He placed the ring onto the headboard where he found so it wouldn't get lost.

Ivan reached over and grabbed a book he had been reading, and flipped to the page he left off at yesterday night, he used his phone to play some music in the background, not crazy loud, but not too quiet. he scanned the pages slowly, taking time to process and ingest every word typed into the page, Ivan hummed softly to himself and continued reading. Time passed away and the next thing he knew it was 11oclock. Ivan yawned and marked the spot in his book, figuring it was time to go to sleep since his ship was open tomorrow, and thankfully, so was Alfred's. He placed the book on his head board and got out of his head and walked over to the door and flipped off the light, he grabbed his phone and plugged it in and flopped onto his bed. He closed his eyes, relaxing his body as much as possible, suddenly his phone started ringing louded in his ear, he groaned softly and grabbed it. His mood immidiately changed when he saw Alfred's name displayed on the screen, he quickly answered it and held the phone to his ear

"Hey babe" Rang a familiar voice "what are you doing?"

Ivan smiled meekly to himself "I was trying to sleep, but now I'm doing something better"

He heard Alfred laugh softly "Oh yeah? What?"

"Talking to you" Ivan said slyly

Alfred blushed and giggled "Yeah yeah whatever, I just got home, had go check up on all my pets, I would have came over but I wasn't here yesterday"

Ivan smiled "Yeah, it's okay, maybe I'll come over to your house tomorrow"

Alfred grimaced and looked around his messy house "Eh I don't know, my house is kind of a disaster right now"

"That's okay" Ivan said "you have lots of animals, it's understandable, I'm not gonna judge you"

"Yeah well maybe, you should get to bed, I gotta go to sleep soon too"

Ivan sighed "yeah you're right, I'll talk to you tomorrow, goodnight I love you"

Alfred smiled "I love you too, flower boy"