The car screeched into the school's parking lot. Scaring a few students and horrifying a lot of parents. Didn't the driver know there was a speed limit? 5 miles per hour only! There were children around!
Gilbert very well knew there were children around. It was a goddamned school, elementary at that, of course there would be children around! He was also very aware of the bold sign proclaiming the speed limit. He could read, thank you very much! But there is, as shocking as it may sound, a difference between reading the rules and actually following them.
As of currently, Gilbert was pissed. Barely sober. With a pounding hangover. He could care less about some shitty rule and damn all who call him on it.
"Vati, I think your left front wheel is on the sidewalk. And I'm pretty sure we ran over a squirrel a few ways back." His son, used to his crazy driving, calmly pointed out.
"As long as it wasn't some chick, I don't care." Gilbert grumbled.
Ludwig rolled his eyes. His father was hopeless. Really, he should've put his foot down. Drinking with Francis and Antonio never ended well. Now look, he was caught up in his mess too.
"Vati, why do I have to go to preschool? I thought you were going to home tutor me."
"Relax, kiddo. It's only for one semester. You can deal, right? I know you can. You're my boy after all. The awesome-ness runs in your veins too." Gilbert assured him.
Ludwig peered out at all the different kids. There were so many of them! And he didn't know anybody. He was starting to think this was a really bad idea.
"Well, well. Look who's here! So you did come, mon cheri? I thought for certain you would cop out." A voice spoke seductively.
Gilbert unclasped his seat belt and purposefully opened his car door with a bang. Succesfully slamming his greeter's nose with the metal frame.
"Oops, so sorry. Didn't see you there, Francis." Gilbert stated, slipping out of his seat.
"Mon dieu!" Francis cried out, clutching his bleeding nose. "I thinb you'b broke somebing!"
"Don't be such a baby!" Gilbert huffed, turning to Ludwig. "This is exactly the kind of acting I do not want to see. You're not some French whore like some people!"
"You'b bust mab thab I oub drank you." Francis chuckled.
Gilbert's eye twitched as he lunged towards the blond man. Ludwig, slipping out of the car himself, sighed heavily as his father wrestled with his drinking buddy.
"Loud aren't they?"
Ludwig looked to his left and nodded in greeting at Antonio.
The Spaniard chuckled, "Good to see you, Ludwig. I see your father's as lively as ever. I hope he hasn't forgotten this is a school. He's making a large commotion."
Jabbing his thumb, Ludwig followed Antonio's gaze and realized, with a great deal of embarassment, the crowd forming. Hushed, uneasy whispers rippling through. Oh, if only the ground would swallow him. Sometimes, he wished he and Gilbert weren't related.
"How barbaric! Fighting like animals! In front of children, no less!" Someone declared, his voice rising over the others.
Francis and Gilbert paused in their fighting. Looking up to see who openly criticized them. An Austrian man was singled out. The crowd parting before him so as not to get caught in the mess soon to follow.
"You got something to say, pretty boy?" Gilbert pressed, picking himself off the ground.
"I am simply stating that this is a highly respected institution. And that you morons should take your fighting elsewhere!" The Austrian man chastised, as if he was berating some retarded child.
"What gives you any right to order me around? I am Gilbert Weillschmidt and I am awesome! Which is a fat lot more than you'll ever be!" Gilbert haughtily cackled. "And besides, whatever makes you think I would ever step foot in an elementary school, of all places, for no reason? I'm dropping off my son, see?"
He waved at Ludwig's general direction. And with Ludwig being the only child in sight, it didn't leave much of a doubt. The boy groaned. Why was he related to this man? Why?!
"You're just jealous of my five meters! That's it, isn't it? Penis envy!" Gilbert taunted.
The Austrian man turned an incredible shade of red. Almost impossible to recreate. Before storming off in a huff. Saying something about a piano, and Chopin.
"HA! Look at him, run! The prissy boy!"
"Oi! Don't bess him ub!" Francis groaned, still laying dead on the sidewalk. "He hab a nice bace. Be a shabe to ruin ib, non?"
"Nobody cares about your perverted escapades!" Gilbert snapped back.
"Um, guys?" Antonio piped up, cutting through the returning tension. "Class is about to start in... five minutes. Shouldn't you be dropping off Ludwig, Gilbert?"
Gilbert scowled. "What about your kids?"
"We, as in Francis and I, got here first, so they're already in the classroom. Let me warn you right now, it's hell in there." Antonio answered.
"Great Fritz! Why did I allow you to talk me into this?"
"Five bottles ob beer certainly helbs." Francis struggled to his feet. "On bhe bright side, bhe teacher books hot."
"Nobody asked you Francis!" Gilbert snapped back. Marching over to Ludwig, and glaring down at the boy. "Alright, so I'll be leaving you here. Good luck. You're going to need it."
"Thanks Vati. That's just so reassuring." Ludwig massaged the bridge of his nose.
"Then come on! We got to get to your classroom don't we?" Gilbert urged, turning on his heel. "Now be sure to have fun. Let everyone know that you are awesome! You are a Weillschmidt, and that's final. Oh, and if I ever learn you got into a fight. I better be learning that you won, understood?"
Gilbert looked over his shoulder at the still exasperated Ludwig.
"Yes, Vati." He muttered. " Like I could forget ."
"Good! Then let's get this show on the road!" Gilbert proclaimed, walking towards the first door he sees.
Antonio smled confusedly, pointing at a completely different door. "Uh, Gil? The classroom is that way?"
Gilbert paused in turning the door knob. About-facing quickly. "I totally knew that!"
Antonio and Francis shared a look. Ludwig smacking his forehead with his open palm. Same old, same old.