Title – It's a Kite! A kite!
Summary – It was a kite. Small Alfred had never seen a kite before. It was a dear present from Arthur that he'll treasure. The two siblings then go out into the yard and play with it. Things get spoiled when the kite gets stuck in the tree. Fluffiness ensured.
Rated T for Arthur's bad mouth.
Disclaimer – I do not own Hetalia.
A/NI actually enjoyed writing this story. : D
"I can keep this?" Alfred was astonished. During the time that they had been together, Arthur rarely gave him any presents. It was no shock that little Alfred was pleasantly surprised.
Alfred fingered the wrapping with interest reflected in his sapphire eyes. The glossy paper was a wonderful shade of red and black. The shape of the present was a long, thin box. Still, he couldn't identify what was inside it. He looked up to see Arthur with a smile on his face, clearly delighted with whatever was wrapped beneath the colourful paper. This made Alfred smile in joy.
"Can I open it now?" Alfred asked, eager to find out what it was.
"Go ahead." Arthur replied.
Alfred could no longer contain his curiosity and ripped the wrapper away enthusiastically. "What's this?" Alfred tugged on Arthur's sleeve and looked at him with pleading eyes. He wanted to know what it was before actually revealing it.
"Come on Alfred. Open it properly." Arthur looked back at him with his emerald eyes reflecting a bit irritation. Alfred pouted at his caretaker and scrutinised his present. It was wrapped in a thick plastic. It appeared that there was something inside that was made of colourful materials. Alfred reluctantly opened the plastic and took out the unknown item.
"What's this?" he asked with a hint of disappointment. The object did not look very fun to play with. It was just more paper material.
"Now, now. It's a kite." Arthur tried to explain.
"A gite? Gite...jite…." Alfred tried to pronounce the word. He stared at the ground in frustration, for he had failed to say it correctly.
Arthur understood his frustration immediately, and reiterated, "Kite."
Alfred observed the movements of Arthur's mouth carefully. His small hands clenched in determination as he attempted to pronounce the word once again.
"K-Kite." He looked up and saw Arthur smile satisfied. Alfred smiled as well at his success. "What does a k-kite do?"
"I'll show you. Call Matthew. He's probably upstairs now." Alfred nodded and ran up the stairs, excited to tell Matthew the news. Alfred arrived at the room quickly, too excited to wait. Luckily, the door was wide open. It would be hard for him if the door was closed, for he would struggle to open it: his arms were too short for when he had to reach for the knob.
"Mattie!" Alfred ran into the room and he looked around. To his contentment, he saw Matthew seated at the table.
"Come on Mattie!" Alfred attempted to pull him out of the chair but Matthew struggled, confused about what was going on.
"Why must you be so loud…?" Matthew muttered. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Alfred did not hear a word he said and just continued to pull him out of the room.
"Where are we going?" Matthew asked.
"We're going someplace fun!" Alfred said.
"Where's that?" Alfred paused and stopped in his tracks. He actually had no idea. He scrunched up his face and proceeded to think of a legible excuse, but he doubted that could come up with a convincing one. Mattie could see through his lies.
"Um...just come, hurry. Arthur prepared something good for us!" Alfred just said as he persistently tugged Matthew along.
"It better not be food." Matthew definitely didn't want to eat Arthur's food now. He only needed food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those are the only times he would force the terribly made food down his reluctant throat. He did not want more of these times, thank you very much.
"Arthur brought me a gite!" Alfred said with much enthusiasm. "We're going to play with it." Matthew sighed and knew it'd be useless to ask what a 'gite' was, since it was possible that even Alfred didn't know what he was talking about. The two boys ran down the stairs and trotted outside to the fields. Arthur was already there, with the kite opened and ready for flight.
"I brought Mattie!" Alfred yelled.
"That's good. Now, Alfred, come here." Arthur crouched and grabbed Alfred's small hand. On his other hand, he held a string that was apparently attached to the kite.
"W-what are you going to do?" Alfred asked, nervously. He tried to pull his hand free but Arthur's grip was too tight. So he just stood there as he stifled his signs of nervousness, for he didn't wish to look like a weakling in front of Matthew. He was a hero, after all. Alfred straightened up his posture with a determined face. The Briton made a gesture to hand the string to Alfred, who nodded in approval.
Arthur then gave him the string. The string was tied at the end in a circle, luckily making it easier to grasp it. As Alfred grabbed it, he hoped something extraordinary would happen. However, the string did not change at all. Nothing happened.
"Huh? What's this supposed to do?" He asked a little upset.
"Run. Just run. Down that path and you'll see." Arthur instructed as he pointed to the road ahead and gave Alfred a small push on the back as if to get him moving. After a small moment, he realised that the boy was frozen from how nervous he was. Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder, understanding his apprehension.
"Alfred. Nothing scary will happen." He comforted with a soothing voice. "It is a pleasant surprise. You'll see what will happen soon, okay?"
"O-o-okay." Alfred responded, still nervous. Alfred took a step forward cautiously, then took another one…He stopped once again.
"Come on, Alfred." The Briton encouraged. Alfred kept standing there. He needed more motivation than that, Arthur realised. However, Arthur didn't think that empty words would work this time.
Well, he'd just have to use the last resort.
"I'll buy you ice cream if you can do this."
The Brit must have imagined everything, because Alfred was already running through the vast fields, with the kite was already in the air. However, it was obvious that Alfred was not sure of what a kite was yet.
"Argh! It's going to attack me!" Alfred yelled fearfully. The small boy dove under the bushes and closed his eyes tightly. He hoped that when he'd open them again, the kite would be gone. When he opened them, however, he saw Matthew and Arthur, who were staring back at him.
"It's harmless, Alfred." Arthur claimed. "A kite flies in the sky. Just keep your hand on the kite and you'll be fine. Remember to give Matthew a turn as well." He turned around. "I'm going inside to finish off my work."
"Okay!" Matthew answered. "We'll behave out here."
Alfred was still too scared to reply. Arthur took a last glance at Alfred and looked at Matthew.
"Help your brother, okay?' Arthur muttered before he walked back to the house. Matthew nodded and turned around to see Alfred still in the bushes.
"Mattie, s-save m-m-me." Alfred said fretfully.
"Give me the kite then." Matthew demanded. Alfred gave him the string willingly and went back into the bush. Matthew's eyes lit up with curiosity in them as he inspected the kite. He observed the variety of colours on the kite. He looked at the arms and legs that made it possible for the kite to billow with the wind. Matthew ran into the fields and hoped the kite would trail behind as well. He turned around, and, to his pleasure, watched as the outstanding kite flew behind him. Matthew smiled and continued to play with the kite.
Soon, however, he grew bored: Alfred wasn't there to cheer him on. Matthew managed to find him where he last saw him, still among the bushes, peacefully asleep. Matthew sighed, a little frustrated. He nudged the American to wake him. Alfred drowsily opened his eyes, and yawned. He looked up, his senses numbed from just waking up. His eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light. His sleepy expression soon changed to a horrified one as he saw the kite.
"Arghhh! Mattie, take it away! Take it away!" Alfred hid behind Matthew and muttered quietly, "You'll be my human shield."
Matthew stomped his foot on Alfred's shoe in annoyance.
"Mattie! That hurts!" Matthew handed Alfred the long string of the kite.
"I'm not touching it." Alfred claimed stubbornly, slapping his brother's hand away.
Matthew knew he had to do this the hard way.
"I thought heroes are brave. But it looks like you're not brave at all." Matthew said, and smirked. The kite was suddenly snatched from him. He turned back to Alfred to see him holding the string.
"I'm a hero! I'm not scared of some gite!"
Matthew smiled.
"Just don't let go of the rope." Matthew advised. Alfred nodded in acknowledgement, and began to walk once again. While Alfred strolled around with the kite in the air, Matthew attempted to persuade Alfred that kites were fun, and not scary. Alfred looked at the kite with curiosity as he listened to Matthew. At the end, he didn't know what he was so afraid of now. The wavy strings looked wonderful in the wind. Still, the kite still appeared intimidating with the way it moved from upwards to downwards abruptly, as if it were going to attack him any moment.
"Come one! The kite's going down. Run!" Matthew pulled on Alfred's sleeves and made a reluctant Alfred run. However, Alfred was still too slow for the kite to stay up in the air consistently. Matthew sighed.
Alfred's enthusiasm factor: zero.
Matthew needed to approach this problem another way.
"Alfred! Run! Or it'll go after you!" Matthew yelled. He even managed to make it sound like he was frightened as well. It was wonderful: he could feign anything.
"Are you serious?" Alfred asked, now more jumpy. He took a quick look behind him. It was true! The kite was about to fall on him! The small boy started to run, scared once again.
"Mattie! Save me!" Alfred wailed, and started to dash around rapidly, trying to run away from the 'monster'. Matthew stifled a laugh. Well, he attempted to stifle his amusement. However, he finally lost control when Alfred began to run faster.
"I'm just kidding!" Matthew admitted between laughs. He closed his eyes tightly and laughed while holding his sides.
He had never tricked his brother like this before! It was better that he admitted it anyway before he went on rampage and tried to kill him for scaring the 'hero'. He opened his eyes again, and looked around.
"Eh?" Matthew asked, bemused.
Matthew did a full turn, getting a view of the field. However, Alfred was nowhere to be seen. He soon realised that Alfred must've ran away before he could hear him.
"This is bad." Matthew muttered worriedly. He had not meant to scare Alfred away! He looked up at the sky. To his relief, he spotted the kite, which was descending to the ground. Matthew ran towards it, hoping to find Alfred. But by the time he got there, the kite was nowhere in sight. However, Alfred was laying there, on the ground.
"Alfred!" Matthew yelled, happy to have found him. "Are you alright?"
He knelt down next to Alfred and began to shake him, hoping that Alfred would wake up and say that in his usual cheerful voice, "I am the hero! I'll never fall!"
But he didn't.
Matthew felt the hot tears run down his cheeks, and wiped his face.
He needed to be strong.
How would he explain it to Arthur?
"Matthew! I'm alive! I killed the gite!"
Alfred was now standing up with his fist in the air. Matthew stared at him in relief, and then asked, "What? Where is it?"
He knew that they would get into so much trouble if Arthur found out about this. But it looks like they'd get into trouble anyways, the kite was gone!
"Hahah! It cannot escape my wrath!" Alfred proudly yelled, clearly contradicting himself, if one were to point out his earlier fear. "It's up there, where it can't reach me!" Alfred pointed up to the tree.
Matthew felt his soul being utterly crushed.
How could Alfred be so stupid!? Arthur would ask them where the kite was, and would get upset at them for destroying it.
Worse of all, Alfred would probably brag at how he absolutely devastated the kite.
"Go and get it!" Matthew told his brother. "We have to get it or else Arthur will yell at us!"
"It was a monster! It deserved to be in there!" Alfred argued.
"Arthur will yell at us!" Matthew reasoned.
"I don't care!" Alfred crossed his arms and pouted.
"He'll give us double the chores and more work to do."
"No he won't." the American denied the possibility.
"Remember when you broke the set of china?" Matthew reminded him. "Arthur gave you more work to do."
Alfred stared at the ground as he tried to remember the evil duty he had committed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You broke Arthur's favourite tea set!" Matthew definitely remembered it. Alfred knocked over the tea set accidentally when he was doing the dishes. Alfred threw the shards into the bin thinking that Arthur wouldn't find out.
However, he eventually did, since it's hard to hide things from an Englishman. He remembered how Arthur was on the verge of crying when he found out. It had been a special tea set. Alfred was never allowed in the kitchen ever again.
"Oh." Alfred blankly said. Matthew resisted the urge to bring his palm to his face. "I'll go get it then." Alfred touched the base of the trunk and tried to lift himself up he scrambled a few inches upwards and slid back down to the ground.
"This'll take a while." Matthew muttered. "Give me a try." He attempted to climb the tree but his sweaty hands didn't make him stay up for long.
"Ohh! Matthew carry me!" Matthew nodded and the two siblings got into place. As Alfred climbed the tree, he only made it to the first branch when he slid back down. Alfred was scared of falling so he clutched his hands on the tree as he slid down. Which was gruesome, since it felt like sliding down rope with your hands gripping it hard. However the tree was bulkier, with more bark sticking out of the trunk.
"My hand! My hand! It hurts! Mattie!" Alfred cried. Matthew ran to him and examined the hands. There were mostly scratches but there were some small cuts but the worse of all….splinters.
"Give me your hand." Matthew was confident that he could take them out. He also coincidentally had some band aids in his pocket, and assumed that the scratches would heal in water. Matthew started by taking all the bigger splinters out. Even though Alfred whined, Matthew had learnt to ignore him as he continued with the difficult task.
"I may have to spit on your cuts, they might be infected." Matthew said.
"No! Ew! That's disgusting." Alfred said and even distanced himself away from Matthew. "Stay away!"
"It's not that bad." Matthew reassured.
"No! I'm not going up, you go up." Alfred pouted as he seated himself on the trunk of the tree and glared at Matthew.
"Fine, fine" Matthew complied. No point to argue against him. Matthew attempted to climb the tree once again. After audacious work he grabbed on the first branch and balanced himself on it.
"Yes!" he heard Alfred yell on the surface. Matthew saw the tails of the kite imbued with the leaves, he tried to grab one of the tails but he could not reach it. His fingertips touched the end of the tail but he could not grab it. Matthew felt a hot flush of frustration within him.
"You're too short Mattie!" Alfred's voice interrupted Matthew's thoughts. Matthew felt like jumping down and giving him a punch. But when he looked down his blood turned cold, words cannot describe how scared he was.
"Come Mattie! Jump and grab for it!" Alfred encouraged. Matthew attempted to jump as he managed to grab on the piece of the kite. Even so, as he tried to land down back on the branch, he slipped and was unable to grab on the branch again. Alfred watched with horror as Matthew fell to the ground, thankfully not from a big height. However, it looked like it hurt.
"Mattie!" Alfred bolted for his brother and re-positioned him so his head lay on the trunk of the tree. The now injured boy groaned, clearly knocked out. Alfred glanced upwards as well. He could see more of the kite on the tree. Matthew must've pulled down some of the kite, nevertheless he let go of the kite before it went down with him. Alfred felt determined. He felt like he should avenge his brother by defeating the evil tree.
But first, he needed to fulfil his brother's will before getting the kite back down. He spat on his hands. He rubbed them together as well. The skin of his hands tingled as he was too unaccustomed to this. He felt ridiculous. But then he felt another rush of energy over him as he recalled that he still had to get the kite down.
He cried out before he charged up the tree and reached the first branch within seconds. The kite was easier to reach now. He snatched the kite easily and jumped down. The kite went with him as he cheered in victory.
"Ha! The hero saves the day!" He cheered.
"Is the kite safe?" Matthew asked, now awake. There was a cut on his face. Alfred blanched as he watched blood trickle out and drip off his face.
"Y-y-y-your...b-blood." Alfred stammered at the sight of the blood. "A-a-are you alright?"
"It's fine, it doesn't really sting." he reassured.
"That's good." Alfred patted on Matthew's back.
"Well, how's the kite?" Matthew asked. Alfred glanced at the kite and stretched it open. The main supporters were cracked and the material had holes in them.
Matthew's soul was further crushed. No! The kite didn't survive! Matthew started to sweat. How was he going to explain this to Arthur?
"We'll think of a good excuse Mattie! Wait...I know one! We could say that we were attacked!"
"Who would attack us?" Matthew asked. He felt skeptical of Alfred's excuse.
"Um...a grey monster attacked us the he thought the gite was food then he ate it-"
"He won't believe that…"
"He will, he talks to himself you know." Alfred said, his eyes wide with innocence in them as he nodded.
"I know that he does that, but it has nothing to do with that…" Matthew said.
"Fine we could say that we fell into a pond and the gite got destroyed as well."
"We're not wet."
"We will be soon."
"I'm not jumping into a pond!" Matthew hollered. "Don't be ridiculous!"
"But he'll believe us that way!"
"What did I say about that time when you broke the china? It's hard to hide things from an Englishman!" Matthew remarked and then went quiet as he remembered something else.
There was another time, around last week when Alfred accidentally dropped the box that stored tea leaves into the water. How it happened? Don't ask; Alfred has his ways to do these absurd things. Alfred knew throwing it into a bin wouldn't help, since Arthur had his own strange ways of finding out... so he dug a hole in the garden and buried the box there. It was a good plan for Arthur still hadn't found out yet.
"But this is Arthur!" Alfred yelled, interrupting his brother's thoughts. Matthew glared at Alfred.
"Arthur's an Englishman!"
"He's a fairy!"
"…" Matthew felt as his eye twitched. He brought a palm to his face. "He's not a fairy."
"But I saw him with wings." Alfred protested.
"That was a costume!" Matthew replied quickly.
"But-" Alfred started again. However, Matthew had enough.
"Shut up!" Matthew cut him off. "Let's just go home!"
"Think of a good idea yet?" Alfred asked Matthew when the approached the door. "Maybe an alien attacked us and-"
"An Englishman never believes in aliens." Matthew said.
"Why Is Arthur so complicated?" Alfred groaned in frustration. When the two reached the door Alfred tried to reach the door knob. He extended his arms, even tip toed upwards but he couldn't reach the door. "Mattie, carry me again." Mattie sighed as he tried to lift him up again. Despite his injuries Matthew lifted Alfred up perfectly. The little American reached for the door knob.
Bang! The door abruptly opened knocking Alfred and Matthew against the wall, behind the door. Arthur marched out of the house and mumbled to himself. "How the bloody hell did I forget about those two?! It's already sunset! I'm such a bad parent." he continued to ramble on. Alfred and Matthew held on the door knob.
"Mattie! Walk to the door. We could get inside." Alfred excitedly yelled. He started to move around and Matthew started to wobble and shake from Alfred's weight. Matthew turned around and managed to get inside, he collapsed in exhaustion. Alfred pulled the kite inside the house and the door closed shut. "We could fix this!" he said. "Mattie where's the glue!"
"We might as well tell him the truth." Matthew muttered. He had already wiped himself clean and bandaged his cuts.
"Come on Al. You have to get cleaned," he observed. Alfred shook his head and continued to add glue to the kite.
"I hate gites." Alfred muttered. The door suddenly slammed open. Arthur strolled into the lounge room where Alfred was still patching up the kite. Alfred and Matthew froze in place as they noted his presence. Arthur gazed at them and finally he spoke.
"How did you get in?" he asked in a monotone voice, impossible to detect how he was feeling. Alfred glanced at Matthew and then looked at Arthur.
"It was your fault!" Alfred screamed, making the Englishman look taken aback. Matthew got the drift.
"Yea! We were heading to the door until you open the door and you hit us!" Matthew yelled. Arthur backed down and kneeled down to the two boys and apologized.
"What? I wasn't aware of- I'm sorry." he said in an amiable tone, then proceeded to hug the two boys. His eyes darted off the wrecked kite in the middle of the room.
"What happened to the kite?" he asked his tone on the edge of anger. Alfred glanced behind him and saw the mess he had made with the glue and the kite. He looked back at Arthur and thought of an excuse. "I was making it pretty." he said innocently.
"You can't hide things from an Englishman." Matthew whispered to Alfred.
"Fine then, we'll use my excuse." He muttered back. "The alien one."
"It got caught in a tree. We're extremely sorry." Matthew said before Alfred's mouth went blabbering nonsense. "Please forgive us." He begged.
Arthur started to chuckle.
Matthew frowned; it's hard to understand an Englishman.
"It's fine." Arthur assured. "Did you actually tried to put it back together?" he said. "It's okay, just throw it away. I'm glad you're safe. I lost track of time because I was busy fixing my garden."
"Really? You should be careful next time! You wouldn't have helped us get the gite down!" Alfred yelled.
Matthew felt his soul crushed yet again. He silently prayed that Arthur didn't find the tea box. Alfred probably forgot about it too.
"I found something interesting in the garden." Arthur announced. Matthew clutched his hands together and prayed again that Arthur didn't find the tea box. "Please, please, please, please, please, please." he repeated silently.
"Alfred, you don't go planting books in the garden." Matthew felt his soul being blessed. He didn't find out. "I saw one of the books you were studying dug in the backyard. Don't do that ever again."
"Yes, sir!" Alfred yelped loudly.
"And I found my tea box out there...any ideas how it got there?" He added, his voice hinting a threatening tone.
Alfred and Matthew gulped.
It's hard to hide anything from an Englishman, that's for sure.
A/N Just wanted to say thanks to Ayamari Uta for beta. :D