'Dad! Daaad, let's go on this one!'

'Honestly, Alfred, all of those rides are quite ridiculous.' Arthur sighed, exhausted by his son's never faltering enthusiasm.

'But dad, pleeeease!' the boy begged, looking at him with a set of most adorable puppy eyes the world has ever seen .

'Why don't you and your brother go ahead and I'll just wait for you here, alright?'

'Sure, thanks!' the ten-year-old shouted, running towards the entrance and dragging his younger brother behind him by the hand. 'C'mon, Mattie, it's gonna be awesome!' The boy didn't look entirely convinced, but he just nodded. 'If you say so…'

The line was surprisingly small for an amusement park ride, so they got to the front pretty fast, Alfred constantly talking about pretty much everything that came to his mind.

'…And now they're gonna show us an introductory video, I think. Y'know, so that we get the plot of the ride and stuff. Man, it's gonna be awesome, I can't wait!'

Matthew just kept looking around apprehensively and occasionally apologised when they bumped into someone due to Alfred's constant fidgeting. He felt slightly anxious without his father around, but he really didn't want his brother to start calling him a pansy again, so he decided to just suck it up. They watched the introductory video in relative silence (interrupted only by Alfred's squeals of excitement) and when it was over they ran towards the actual ride to be the first to get in (Alfred's choice, really, Matthew only ran because he didn't want to get lost). Once they were sat down and had 3D glasses on their noses, sensing, that his brother stopped listening to his rambling long ago, the older boy started talking to the people sitting beside him.

'If you get scared, you can just take the glasses off, y'know? 'Cause it's not a real ride, it's just 3D. So you don't have to worry about that.'

'Oh, is that right? Thank you, then.' the brown-haired woman smiled at him politely and he grinned in return. The man with abnormally white hair sitting next to her let out a weird laugh and stretched out his hand saying 'You can always hold my hand if you're scared!', which earned him a slap upside the head and an angry 'Gilbert! Behave!'. He only laughed again, winked at Alfred, who wasn't sure what was even going on, and put his glasses on. Alfred did the same and started jumping in his seat, as the ride was just about to start.

'Matt! Are you excited? I hope you're excited, 'cause I'm excited! This ride is gonna rule!'

'Ow, Alfred, you're crushing my hand…!'

'So, how was the ride, boys?'

'It was awesome! Wasn't it, Mattie?'

'Yeah, it was pretty cool.'

'Damn right it was! And we were in the same cart with them!' Alfred exclaimed loudly, pointing his finger to the couple walking past them.

'Alfred! What did I tell you about pointing with your finger? And mind your language!'

'Oh, don't worry, they were both a very nice company on the ride' the woman smiled at Arthur kindly. Alfred looked up at her, smiling as well. 'This is my Dad. His name is Arthur, but I just call him Dad' he explained.

'Is that so? And what about your mom, is she here with you as well?' she squatted down and looked him in the eyes.

'We don't have a mom' he shrugged. The woman looked up at Arthur. 'Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!'

'It's okay, we have two dads instead, so we don't really need one. It would be very crowded at home if we had another person living with us. Dad, where did Papa go?' the boy proceeded to pull his fathers sleeve, remembering that the fourth member of their family was missing.

'I believe he went to buy us some ice cream, love. He should be back any… Speak of the devil and he shall appear.' Arthur finished with a smirk. 'Hello, dear. Was your mission a success?' an amused smile appeared on his face, as the woman in front of him was looking a little flustered. The blond man approaching them gave him a most charming smile and responded 'Unfortunately I only have two hands, so I'm afraid I only brought ice cream for the two of us…'

'C'mon, Papa! Don't be mean' Alfred crossed his arms over his chest with a pout, which made his other father laugh with fondness.

'Bon, mon petit, you can have my ice cream if you wish' he winked at him playfully. 'And what about you, Matthieu, would you like some as well?'

'Do you have the one that tastes like maple syrup…?' the smaller boy asked from behind Arthurs leg which he was currently holding on to for dear life.

'Non, but I did ask them to put maple syrup on top of it. Is that alright?'

Matthew nodded enthusiastically and quickly emerged from his hiding place. At that same moment the albino, who so far had been miraculously quiet, chuckled loudly and shook his head. 'Well, isn't that something. Fancy seeing you here! How've you been, Franny?'

The frenchman spun on his heel, looking slightly confused, but his face quickly lit up as he realised who was speaking to him.

'Gilbert! Mon Dieu, what a coincidence! What are you doing here?'

'We just met those two buggers on a ride, and they decided to introduce us to their Dad. The one that isn't you, that is.' he clarified with a massive grin. 'By the way, nice to meet you… Arthur, was it?' Gilbert extended his hand towards the Brit.

'Indeed, it was. And your name is Gilbert, from what I've gathered?'

'Ja, it is.'

'Great. Now that we clarified that - how the bloody hell do you know each other?!'

Gilbert let out that weird breathy laugh again. 'Possessive, eh? I would have never thought you'd go for a possessive boyfriend.'

'Actually, it's husband, mon ami' Francis clarified, lifting his hand and showing his friend the ring, which earned him a whistle. 'And while we're on the subject, I cannot help but notice you have a lovely companion with you. May I ask for your name, mademoiselle?'

'It's Erzsébet, but you can just call me Liz. He does, anyway' she added, waving in Gilbert's direction.

'That is all just splendid, but could anyone possibly answer my question?' at this point Arthur was tapping his foot and his arms were crossed over his chest. Francis gave him his most charming smile and put his hand on his husbands back.

'Naturellement, mon amour. Gilbert was one of my best friends in college. We also shared a dormitory with Antonio, who was from Spain. We were sort of… what do you call it? Party animals. They used to call us 'The Bad Touch Trio'…'

'Oh, I can imagine. If they were anything like you, a lot of 'bad touching' must've happened in that dorm.' Arthur gave his husband a disapproving look, but there was a glint in his eyes that Francis recognised as amusement. He smirked and replied 'Lapin, I can assure you, not nearly as much as happens in our bedr…' he never managed to finish his sentence, as he was interrupted by the, this time honestly, outraged Brit.

'Francis! Control yourself, you sodding git! The children are here, in case you forgot!'

Francis looked like he had in fact forgotten, and was now trying to figure out how to explain what he just said to his sons. They were both staring at him, a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty in their eyes. Alfred switched his gaze to Arthur, then back to Francis, and finally broke the silence, sounding very concerned.

'Papa… Do you beat Dad in your bedroom?'

Their mouths just fell open and they looked at each other in utter astonishment. And then Arthur saw something in Francis' eyes, and he could tell that his husband was very tempted to say 'sometimes', if only to show off in front of his college friend, even though he knew he really shouldn't do that. The Englishman acted quickly, answering his son before his other father had the chance to.

'No, love, of course he doesn't. He was just making a joke, alright? There's absolutely nothing for you to worry about.' neither of his children looked convinced, which irritated him, as well as the fact, that this Gilbert bloke looked highly amused by the situation. His irritation, however, pretty quickly turned into horror, when his younger son spoke tentatively, for once drawing everyone's attention to himself 'We sometimes hear some… noises coming from your room at night… And I think you think we're asleep, but sometimes we're not… And those noises sound a bit like screaming…'

At this point Arthur's face looked like a beetroot, Gilbert was shaking with laughter, and Francis was way too amused, and not nearly enough embarrassed for Arthurs liking. Erzsébet just looked very interested, which wasn't really helping either. After a few moments of everyone looking at each other with different levels of discomfort in their eyes (or, in some cases, none at all) Francis finally cleared his throat and squatted down, placing one hand on Matthew's shoulder and the other one on Alfred's.

'Boys, I can assure you there is no reason for you to worry about your father. As you have probably noticed, he generally shouts a lot, and what you sometimes hear at night is nothing for you to concern yourselves with. Besides, I guarantee that I've never done anything to cause your Dad anything but pleasure.'

'Yes, that's quite enough, thank you, dear. Alfred, your ice cream is melting, you're going to get it all over yourself if you don't hurry.'

And, as if by the touch of a magic wand, Alfred forgot every concern he had and started shoving the ice cream into his mouth at an incredible rate, making Matthew, who has already finished his portion, stare at him in awe. Arthur, looking quite proud of himself, turned to the adult part of the group and cleared his throat.

'Well, this has been a charming encounter, but I'm afraid you're going to have to excuse us. We've promised the boys a flume ride, and as much as I'd love to stay here, safe and dry, a promise is a promise. This trip is their birthday gift, after all.'

Erzsébet gave him a warm smile. ' Certainly, we wouldn't want to keep the birthday boys waiting. Although I think Gilbert and Francis might want to exchange numbers. They were best friends, I'm sure they'd like to catch up…' the stern look she gave the Albino while saying that was one that neither of the blonds understood, but it made both of them feel a bit uneasy.

'Yeah, sure! Why don't I just give you my card, Franny?'

'Oui, that would be great… Oh! Mon ami, you own a brewery?!' Gilbert scratched his neck, looking embarrassed and proud at the same time, which was a very strange mix. 'Ja, it was something I've always wanted to do, and… Well, now I've done it.'

Francis suddenly understood why his friend looked embarrassed. For the first time in his life, he was admitting, that he actually cared about something. Francis gave him a fond smile. 'C'est merveilleux. Here is my card, should you want to call first. Unfortunately, my profession is utterly unsurprising, I've just stuck to what we've studied in university - landscape architecture.'

'Yeah, I've heard Toni stuck to it as well. At least partially, I think he actually focuses on vegetables, rather than flowers.'

'I can't say that I'm surprised, what with his tomato obsession.'

With that, a couple of handshakes, kisses on the cheeks and cordial goodbyes they parted, promising each other to stay in touch. When the family started walking towards the flume ride, Alfred and Matthew ran ahead, shooting excitedly, and both their fathers chuckled at that and looked at each other. They spent a long thirty seconds just smiling and staring into each others eyes, when finally Arthur spoke. 'You have weird friends, you know.' Francis smirked at that, taking his husband's hand and involuntarily playing with the wedding ring on his finger. 'I have a weird husband as well. I think I can see a pattern here, mon coeur.' The Brit laughed, squeezing the hand that was holding his, and got a little closer. 'Oh, shut it, we both know you adore me.' At that, Francis cupped his face with his one free hand and simply answered 'That I do' before closing the distance between them and locking their lips in a tender kiss.

In that moment the boys came back to get them to 'finally get a move on and get on the ride already!'. They broke apart, both a little flushed, and started following their children towards the entrance, stopping shortly after hearing a loud squeal behind them. After a couple of seconds of looking around they just gave up on locating the source of the noise, and moved on.

And even though there was no trace of her whatsoever, they both could've sworn it sounded a lot like Erzsébet.

Author's Note:

This story is inspired by true events - I went to Ferrari World (Abu Dhabi) with my mom a while ago, and on one of the rides we encountered two very excited british kids, who then proceeded to give us advice about how the ride works. The moment I saw them I was like 'My God, they are like a british version of Alfred!' So I added Matthew (of course!) and wrote this.

In case you're curious, I am Gilbert in this story - I did tell my mom she could hold my hand, and she didn't find it amusing.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet their gay fathers after the ride, as they were there with their mother. Life's not perfect, after all.

I do appreciate reviews. A lot. Please leave millions of them, so that I can get better.