Quick note:
Lukas=Norway
Vlad/Vladimir=Romania
Höstlov= a Swedish (I believe that some other countries have it, but with another name) holiday in the end of October, usually at the Halloween week. You get a time-off from school for a week, basically.
"Let your hands relax a bit, Arthur. It's supposed to look elegant and graceful, like the song that you are playing. Appearance changes the way you listen to your piece."
"Like this?"
"No, a bit more like this. Keep your fingers slightly bent."
Arthur changed the positioning of his hands like Roderich instructed him to, but it really was difficult. Whenever the Brit fixed his past mistakes, the strict piano teacher always found new ones to correct. Sure, it was effective, but slightly annoying at some times. When Roderich gave Arthur a nod to reassure that the Brit was keeping his hands in an acceptable position, Arthur started to play on his piece again. The surprisingly cheerful melody chimed rhythmically in the cramped room for a small while before Roderich interrupted him again.
"That's a B, Arthur."
Arthur looked at the sheet in front of him and laughed at bit awkwardly when recognising the slight difference of the small notes.
"Ah, sorry. It's an A, isn't it?"
Roderich nodded and gave Arthur the tiniest of smiles before motioning for him to start playing again. The Brit kept playing, but to be honest, his mind was elsewhere. He, Vladimir (or Vlad, as everyone called him) and Lukas were at last going to have time to have an all-nighter together after 3 months of endless schoolwork and events. All that they had been able to do was quick games of League of Legends or starting a Civilisation 5 match, only to be ended abruptly because one of them either had to go to bed, eat, or finish their homework. But at last, at last, they had gotten a time-off. Arthur recalled that it was called a "höstlov," but his Swedish was horrid, so he wasn't sure.
"Arthur?"
The brit looked up from his hands with a slightly dazed look to see Roderich gazing at him.
"Pardon?"
"Your time is over. You can leave now."
"Oh. Well, thank you for your patience," Arthur said with a polite smile while bundling up his sheet music that he hadn't been paying attention to.
"Goodbye," Roderich replied stiffly.
Arthur opened the door to the quite dull room and left with quick steps for his locker. Doors for classrooms and windows swiftly passed by the Brit as he took up his phone from his cramped pocket and unlocked it. From his other pocket, he pulled out a pair of earbuds and plugged them in while starting a conversation on Skype. The signal was shaky and glitchy before a voice echoed in his obviously cheap earbuds.
"Hello? Arthur?" Vladimir cooed with a laggy voice.
"I'm here," Arthur replied reassuringly. "I'll be picking up my bags, but after that, I am going to be on my way home."
"Ah, good. I'll be turning on my computer right now. How was the piano?" Vladimir asked in order to start a conversation.
"The usual, just that I was barely thinking about what I was playing," Arthur said with a relaxed sigh. "It's nice to have...uh, 'hostlöv?' I don't remember how you are supposed to say it, but you get what I mean."
Vladimir chuckled in the microphone, resulting with a horrid sound in Arthur's earbuds.
"Nice? More like FREEDOM!" the Romanian exclaimed, making the Brit lower the volume with great measures in order to not get serious hearing issues.
"I can hear that you guys are having fun," a new voice echoed with faint annoyance.
"Oh hi, Lukas, you're late," Vladimir said jokingly as Arthur inwardly rolled his eyes.
The Brit opened his locker and got out his bag before closing it again, relieved with the feeling of it not being stuffed with homework for once. He left the school building with a small smile on his lips as he kept talking to his friends, happy to chat about something that did not include school or social acceptance for a change.
"So," Vladimir started. "What should we start with playing?"
"I haven't played League for ages," Arthur started. "I barely remember how to last-hit anymore."
"Yeah," Lukas agreed. "League would be fun."
"Alright then, I'll host a game. Lukas, you online?" Vladimir asked, the sound of a keyboard being used in the background almost drowning out his voice.
"Wait a bit, I'm logging in," the Norwegian stated stiffly.
"Five minutes and I'll be home, just wait for me," Arthur said while speeding up his pace slightly.
"Yeah, of course," the Romanian responded with a caring aura.
If Arthur listened closely, he could hear steps behind him, but he didn't really care unless it was someone from his school. If anyone got to know that the stiff British kid with perfect grades played video games and knew everything about the topic, his image would be ruined, in the very least. Arthur shot a quick glance backwards and captured the image of the figure behind him. Tall guy, Glasses. Seemed quite well-built, but he didn't really have time to check thoroughly. Didn't seem familiar. Good. He kept talking to his friends as he made it to his front door, and his mood sank to see that it was unlocked. Great. His parents were there, and maybe, if he was unlucky, his brothers too. Arthur opened the door, making it creak before he muted his microphone and steeled himself.
"Hello?" he said hopefully, praying for his brothers to not be there. Please, just don't let them be here.
"Hello, Arthur, had a good day in school?" his mother asked cheerfully from the kitchen.
"Are the other ones here?" Arthur asked hopefully.
"No, your father is working until late in the night, and your brothers will be coming here the next weekend, not this one," she reassured as she stepped out of the kitchen.
"Okay. I'll be going to my room, then," Arthur said, his spirits now much higher.
The Brit spurted to his room and opened the door while unmuting his microphone.
"Guys, my brothers are not at home, I think I am rejoicing at the moment," he said cheerfully and smiling, even though he knew that no one was able to see it.
"Whatever, just log in already," Lukas said while groaning.
"Take your time, Arthur," Vladimir reassured, and the Brit felt that it was more directed to Lukas than to him. He booted up the computer while talking with his friends about what games they were going to play and which order they were going to play them in.
"I'm online," Arthur said after a while as he put on his headphones and logged into Skype on the computer, since it would be a bother to talk on his phone all of the time.
"Okay, I'll invite you," Vladimir said as Arthur saw an alert pop up on his screen.
"What do you want to play? I feel like going Olaf, but no one plays him anymore," Lukas mumbled thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Vladimir said. "He's a bit overnerfed, but you are free to go with whatever you want, I mean, It's your choice. Should we go teambuilder? I can support you, Arthur, and it won't take as much time to queue us up."
"Sure," Arthur agreed. "I'll go Cait. What do you think about going?"
"I'll go Soraka."
Arthur chuckled. Typical Vlad.
"You're the only one that actually can pull her off. Go for it, our opponents surely won't suspect it."
And it went on for that, the whole night. Just the three of them, having a good time, playing games, and Arthur thought that it would last the whole holiday.
Well, he thought.
He didn't know that a small mistake, just one small, usually unnoticeable thing would stir his whole world around.
But he wouldn't regret it.
No, quite the opposite, actually.
HELLO. YOU MAY BE WONDERING WHY A RANDOM NEW STORY IS HERE. WELL, LET ME TELL YOU. I ABANDONED THE OTHER ONES BECAUSE THEY SUCKED BALLS.
The reason for WHY they sucked balls is because both lacked plot, good writing, the chapters were way too choppy and short, so here is A GOOD STORY. i will be spending much more time on this one.
Well, I have not given up on writing! Sure, I don't have much time to write, and people are showering me with shit to do, but I WILL WRITE. I will not give up on this one, since I didn't write it out of a whim.
Okay, all in all: I have decided to write about stuff that I actually know about. So. Swedish school system, you'll get to learn about that, since here, they live in Sweden, I believe that it will become much better. Piano. I play piano. Gaming. I know shetloads about that, etc etc, you get the idea. And also: YAY FOR THE MAGIC TRIO THEY NEED TO BE INCLUDED MORE JESUS. And in the beautiful world episode 2, I believe that they said that England and Romania's "witchcraft club" was simply them gaming all day. THAT'S WHERE I GOT THIS IDEA WOOHOO. Who wouldn't love UsUk where Arthur and Alfred game together. If you don't, then I believe that you can leave oops
Also, don't worry if you don't like video games that much. It won't matter as much in the future, but if you have questions about the games, I have no problems with answering, just remember to be logged in so I can reply!
I apologise in advance for any possible typos and I would FRUKING LOVE IF YOU COULD REVIEW /shot because i made a fruk reference in a usuk fic/
no, really PLEASE REVIEW. I would love to hear feedback and tips, and you shall be showered with my thankfulness.
~Midori