The main university campus was situated next to a river that ran through the city. Naturally to take advantage of the natural scenery, the benches that lined the walkway alongside that river were a favourite spot of students to enjoy good weather, relax or simply rest their feet inbetween trekking from their residences and the various university buildings spotted around the city.
It was also the place where, for today, Matthew Williams was choosing to try and sort out his tubulent thoughts of the past month.
Contrary to what most people assumed when they met him and Alfred, it was Williams, not Jones, that was his last name. Their father had done some screwing around on his wife with Matthew's mother when he went into Canada on business trips. Naturally when both women had found out he had found himself quickly dumped, but oddly a strong rapport was found between the two of them instead of hostility and as their two sons grew up they would holiday with each other, the boys encouraged to write letters and call their sibling often. Eventually Alfred's mother had even managed to move to Canada (much to her sons initial dismay) so the boys could be closer.
When Alfred decided he wanted to study abroad in England, Matthew had chosen to follow him. This wasn't unusual, he was always walking behind in his brother's shadow. Alfred was naturally charismatic, had something in him that called to those around him and made him stand out in every crowd, the sports star, the high school heartthrob. Compared to Matthew, who was like a sliver of smoke in a strong gust of wind, Alfred was very much the star of every show.
Matthew liked England, all things considered. The people were generally nice and polite, if not distant and there was a lot of rich heritage and culture to be seen almost everywhere they went. It was a country Matthew felt he could easily fit into, if he ever wanted to move permanently away from home.
Everything had been fine, more than fine actually until a month ago. The two had settled in to their studies, meeting classmates and making friends, both doing at least moderately well in their courses. Alfred met a native girl he liked, Alma, and set about making her his girlfriend despite how she rebuffed him at every turn. It had been the first time Matthew ever saw his brother so serious about a woman and he had been happy for him when she had finally acquiesced and gone out with him. Their relationship had seemed so strong, surviving through letters and long distance calls even when Alfred went back home to Canada in the summer.
Then things had changed. His brother stopped talking about Alma so much, she came over to their shared room less often. Matthew found it hard to pinpoint exactly what had set them drifting apart but everyone could say what had ended it.
He had been surprisingly furious when he had come back from a late lecture to find out what happened.
"I can't believe you, Al! What were you thinking?!"
"I... it was just a one-off--"
"Don't you have any decency at all? What possessed you to do that?! I thought you loved her!"
"I did! I mean I do... I just... things have been... off lately."
"So you went out and found some random girl to fuck?"
"Hey! It's not like I planned to! It just happened. Ivana's in my class and--"
"Oh it just happened, well that makes everything fine then... jeez, I can't... no wonder she broke your glasses. You deserved it."
"I did a shitty thing, okay?! Doesn't mean she can go around trying to blind me. Why are you so pissed off about it anyway?"
"Why am I... she's a good person, Al, she didn't deserve that. If things were going so bad between you why didn't you talk to her about it? Or at least have the decency to break up with her first before fucking someone else!"
He'd been treated to his brother's spluttering as he attempted to defend himself then. The arguement had worsened from that point. Comments flying between the two of them and after Matthew made a comment about how Alfred was just like their father -- something he regretted the instant after he'd said it -- the younger brother had hurriedly left the room to let them both calm down.
He had walked outside and before he'd known it wound up in front of Alma's building. All he could think about was how she was good woman, how she really didn't deserve it, who did deserve something like that? She had to be really upset, maybe crying up there in her room, and he knew Keiko was gone that weekend... after trying to buzz her to get inside had failed, he'd gotten another student living there who knew him to let him inside and made his way to her room. What had happened after...
Matthew felt like a complete and utter jerk. It was like one of those textbook examples from the movies and television shows; the man who went out to a woman recently broken up with her boyfriend, alone and crying and vulnerable, taking advantage of her state to make his way into her bed. It wasn't just that he genuinely hadn't meant to do it that made it so terrible, but the fact it was his brother's ex, his brother's. He was a horrible brother and person in general. He figured Alma probably hated him now, she certainly avoided looking at him anytime they'd passed each other since. She didn't even glare at him like she did Alfred.
He hadn't told anyone and from the fact he was still alive, he was guessing she hadn't either. Alfred had looked like he'd wanted to kill him for that dad comment, if he ever found out he'd slept with Alma Matthew was sure the last thing he'd see in this life was his brother's fist coming at his face. The younger brother was fairly sure Alfred still felt more strongly for her than he'd care to admit, no matter what idiotic grin he pasted onto his face every day after that night.
Matthew had returned to their dorm the next morning, lying and saying he spent the night with a friend. The two of them had looked awkwardly to the other, apologies eventually falling from their lips and a fragile peace had been forged, eventually easing them back into their usual relationship.
But inside Matthew's guilt had been eating away at him. Not just for what he'd done, but... other things. Like how he'd always thought Alma was pretty, how he might have wished he'd had the confidence to go for her himself before as per usual he settled back to let Alfred get his own way. It had been impossible before, it was genuinely impossible now. Not that he should even be thinking about that!
He groaned and rubbed his face, pushing his glasses up awkwardly a moment. He'd been sleeping poorly but had plans to meet with his dealer tonight, smoking weed always made him feel better. The habit had been picked up back home in Canada where it was legal, here he got a light thrill over the fact he could be prosecuted for having it.
It wasn't a permanent or the optimum solution, but it would at least take his mind off the situation for a little while and let him get a decent night's sleep.
Standing he pushed his hands inside the front pocket of his sweater and headed back to the house.
Chapter 2 Author's Notes
anonymous
February 2 2010, 20:40:02 UTC
- As a note, though I never intend to name the city this takes place in, the university and it's surroundings are based off of The University of Lincoln, which this anon briefly attended. I'd advise you guys to look it up, it's a lovely place ^^ - I don't know how it is for American college goers (the equivalent to university here so I'm told), but first year students usually stay in university dorms their first year, before moving out to privately owned dorms (Alma and Keiko's residence) or a house together with other students and splitting rent between them (Matthew and Alfred). - Thirdly, thank you for the feedback for the first part. I'm glad you're all enjoying this and from the look of things, Matt/Alma is where this fic will be headed (though to the anon who wanted France, he might still show up in this fic at some point ~.^). And a little note about Alfred's actions, while what he did was inexcusable it's not entirely his fault he and Alma drifted apart to the point he did such a thing (and Ivana is certainly no innocent party either), as you will see in later parts. Please keep telling me what you guys think, it helps me write :)
Re: Chapter 2 Author's Notes
anonymous
February 2 2010, 21:29:27 UTC
You made Matthew such a caring person, even though he sexed up his brother's ex but it made the whole thing better for the cheating Alfred did, even if it was not entirely his fault. I wanna see Alfred's reaction to this when he finds out.
Author!anon
anonymous
February 2 2010, 23:00:40 UTC
Alfred's reaction is going to be a doozy. I find it important to always present characters with virtues and vices both. No one is purely a saint, nor purely a villain.
Re: Chapter 2 Author's Notes
anonymous
February 3 2010, 00:44:45 UTC
I'm following the story with great enthusiasm; can't wait to see what will happen next!
On an aside note - I know you're depicted Alma's family as almost openly hostile, but I keep getting the hilarious mental impression of her brothers' reaction. I keep getting a - 'me against my brother, me and my brother against the world' vibe off of them. That is, they may argue among themselves, but faced with an outside threat they merge into a flawless unity.
In other words - for some reason, I see Alma's brothers descending on the *@#^% who cheated on her, determnied to beat in the fact of the fucker who dared to do that to their baby sister. For some reason, in this fic - I'm really enjoying seeing Al suffer.
Keep seeing them grabbing Mattie and dragging him and Alma to the nearest church for a shotgun wedding - or they would, if their baby sister would let them - probably won't happen but, as I said earlier, it's an amusing image.
Re: Chapter 2 Author's Notes
anonymous
February 15 2010, 02:25:57 UTC
I love this! I'm glad you wrote Matthew's side of the story, it really brought things to light and now I'm itching for UK/Canada even if they're not my OTP. Bottom line this is amazing and I really want to see where the rest of this goes. ♥
Canadian!Anon
anonymous
February 6 2010, 14:45:23 UTC
Um... Weed isn't legal in Canada. It's kind of ridiculous the amount of people who do it here zomg British Columbia and the reserves everyone knows a dealer... but it's still illegal (not that the likelihood of being charged is high, but you still wouldn't want to flaunt it).
... anon now feels stupid. She could have sworn she heard it was legal (and has read it in other fics involving Canada). Or maybe she was mixing it up with another drug *curses the inability to edit it now*
Thank you for correcting me, anon. I will make a note on the next part for readers.
The main university campus was situated next to a river that ran through the city. Naturally to take advantage of the natural scenery, the benches that lined the walkway alongside that river were a favourite spot of students to enjoy good weather, relax or simply rest their feet inbetween trekking from their residences and the various university buildings spotted around the city.
It was also the place where, for today, Matthew Williams was choosing to try and sort out his tubulent thoughts of the past month.
Contrary to what most people assumed when they met him and Alfred, it was Williams, not Jones, that was his last name. Their father had done some screwing around on his wife with Matthew's mother when he went into Canada on business trips. Naturally when both women had found out he had found himself quickly dumped, but oddly a strong rapport was found between the two of them instead of hostility and as their two sons grew up they would holiday with each other, the boys encouraged to write letters and call their sibling often. Eventually Alfred's mother had even managed to move to Canada (much to her sons initial dismay) so the boys could be closer.
When Alfred decided he wanted to study abroad in England, Matthew had chosen to follow him. This wasn't unusual, he was always walking behind in his brother's shadow. Alfred was naturally charismatic, had something in him that called to those around him and made him stand out in every crowd, the sports star, the high school heartthrob. Compared to Matthew, who was like a sliver of smoke in a strong gust of wind, Alfred was very much the star of every show.
Matthew liked England, all things considered. The people were generally nice and polite, if not distant and there was a lot of rich heritage and culture to be seen almost everywhere they went. It was a country Matthew felt he could easily fit into, if he ever wanted to move permanently away from home.
Everything had been fine, more than fine actually until a month ago. The two had settled in to their studies, meeting classmates and making friends, both doing at least moderately well in their courses. Alfred met a native girl he liked, Alma, and set about making her his girlfriend despite how she rebuffed him at every turn. It had been the first time Matthew ever saw his brother so serious about a woman and he had been happy for him when she had finally acquiesced and gone out with him. Their relationship had seemed so strong, surviving through letters and long distance calls even when Alfred went back home to Canada in the summer.
Then things had changed. His brother stopped talking about Alma so much, she came over to their shared room less often. Matthew found it hard to pinpoint exactly what had set them drifting apart but everyone could say what had ended it.
He had been surprisingly furious when he had come back from a late lecture to find out what happened.
"I can't believe you, Al! What were you thinking?!"
"I... it was just a one-off--"
"Don't you have any decency at all? What possessed you to do that?! I thought you loved her!"
"I did! I mean I do... I just... things have been... off lately."
"So you went out and found some random girl to fuck?"
"Hey! It's not like I planned to! It just happened. Ivana's in my class and--"
"Oh it just happened, well that makes everything fine then... jeez, I can't... no wonder she broke your glasses. You deserved it."
"I did a shitty thing, okay?! Doesn't mean she can go around trying to blind me. Why are you so pissed off about it anyway?"
"Why am I... she's a good person, Al, she didn't deserve that. If things were going so bad between you why didn't you talk to her about it? Or at least have the decency to break up with her first before fucking someone else!"
"I... well..."
Reply
He had walked outside and before he'd known it wound up in front of Alma's building. All he could think about was how she was good woman, how she really didn't deserve it, who did deserve something like that? She had to be really upset, maybe crying up there in her room, and he knew Keiko was gone that weekend... after trying to buzz her to get inside had failed, he'd gotten another student living there who knew him to let him inside and made his way to her room. What had happened after...
Matthew felt like a complete and utter jerk. It was like one of those textbook examples from the movies and television shows; the man who went out to a woman recently broken up with her boyfriend, alone and crying and vulnerable, taking advantage of her state to make his way into her bed. It wasn't just that he genuinely hadn't meant to do it that made it so terrible, but the fact it was his brother's ex, his brother's. He was a horrible brother and person in general. He figured Alma probably hated him now, she certainly avoided looking at him anytime they'd passed each other since. She didn't even glare at him like she did Alfred.
He hadn't told anyone and from the fact he was still alive, he was guessing she hadn't either. Alfred had looked like he'd wanted to kill him for that dad comment, if he ever found out he'd slept with Alma Matthew was sure the last thing he'd see in this life was his brother's fist coming at his face. The younger brother was fairly sure Alfred still felt more strongly for her than he'd care to admit, no matter what idiotic grin he pasted onto his face every day after that night.
Matthew had returned to their dorm the next morning, lying and saying he spent the night with a friend. The two of them had looked awkwardly to the other, apologies eventually falling from their lips and a fragile peace had been forged, eventually easing them back into their usual relationship.
But inside Matthew's guilt had been eating away at him. Not just for what he'd done, but... other things. Like how he'd always thought Alma was pretty, how he might have wished he'd had the confidence to go for her himself before as per usual he settled back to let Alfred get his own way. It had been impossible before, it was genuinely impossible now. Not that he should even be thinking about that!
He groaned and rubbed his face, pushing his glasses up awkwardly a moment. He'd been sleeping poorly but had plans to meet with his dealer tonight, smoking weed always made him feel better. The habit had been picked up back home in Canada where it was legal, here he got a light thrill over the fact he could be prosecuted for having it.
It wasn't a permanent or the optimum solution, but it would at least take his mind off the situation for a little while and let him get a decent night's sleep.
Standing he pushed his hands inside the front pocket of his sweater and headed back to the house.
Reply
- As a note, though I never intend to name the city this takes place in, the university and it's surroundings are based off of The University of Lincoln, which this anon briefly attended. I'd advise you guys to look it up, it's a lovely place ^^
- I don't know how it is for American college goers (the equivalent to university here so I'm told), but first year students usually stay in university dorms their first year, before moving out to privately owned dorms (Alma and Keiko's residence) or a house together with other students and splitting rent between them (Matthew and Alfred).
- Thirdly, thank you for the feedback for the first part. I'm glad you're all enjoying this and from the look of things, Matt/Alma is where this fic will be headed (though to the anon who wanted France, he might still show up in this fic at some point ~.^). And a little note about Alfred's actions, while what he did was inexcusable it's not entirely his fault he and Alma drifted apart to the point he did such a thing (and Ivana is certainly no innocent party either), as you will see in later parts.
Please keep telling me what you guys think, it helps me write :)
Reply
*Sniff, sniff* Can't wait for more!
Reply
Thank!
Reply
Brilliant work, anon. I eagerly look forward to more!
Am I a horrible person for thinking "Ivanna Humpalot" the second I read Russia's name?
Reply
On an aside note - I know you're depicted Alma's family as almost openly hostile, but I keep getting the hilarious mental impression of her brothers' reaction. I keep getting a - 'me against my brother, me and my brother against the world' vibe off of them. That is, they may argue among themselves, but faced with an outside threat they merge into a flawless unity.
In other words - for some reason, I see Alma's brothers descending on the *@#^% who cheated on her, determnied to beat in the fact of the fucker who dared to do that to their baby sister. For some reason, in this fic - I'm really enjoying seeing Al suffer.
Reply
Thank you~
Reply
Reply
Reply
It's kind of ridiculous the amount of people who do it here zomg British Columbia and the reserves everyone knows a dealer... but it's still illegal (not that the likelihood of being charged is high, but you still wouldn't want to flaunt it).
Reply
Thank you for correcting me, anon. I will make a note on the next part for readers.
Reply
Leave a comment