Hello! I'm CantoCookieMonster, or CCM.
Warning: There may be slight Alfred bashing, but I hope that doesn't put anyone off.
The setting is in the States, because I thought football would be more important over there.
I don't own Hetalia in any way, whatsoever!
Arthur Kirkland, Terra High School's student council president, was about to round the corner of the school when he heard the sounds of a fight. He turned and started walking back the way he came, thinking that he would just take the long way around. After a couple of steps, he stopped. The fight had caught his attention and his curiosity had taken the bait. Walking back to the corner, he stuck his head out to take a look at what was going on. Arthur saw three people, two facing off, and one standing aside, but clearly stood next to who he sided with. Looking down, he saw three others already passed out on the ground. Bringing his eyes back up to the still conscious fighters, the Briton noticed that the backs of the two blonds standing together looked oddly familiar. 'No.' Arthur thought. 'He wouldn't. It couldn't be.'
"This is why you don't mess with me," growled Alfred F. Jones, "you had this comin'." And with that, he punched the guy in the face. Hard. There was an audible crack, and without even wincing at the sound, the star football player kicked his opponent square in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Alfred's opponent didn't move. "You better stay down," said the blond. The boy with the broken nose and maybe a bruised rib didn't respond at all. No grunt, no twitch, no nothing. Arthur bit his lip, wondering why he hadn't called out yet. Before he could though, the other student who stood silently beside Alfred spoke.
"Maybe you went a bit too far, eh Al?" The speaker bent down and checked the downed students' breaths. "You knocked them all out cold." Alfred responded with a rather disturbing smirk.
"I told them it would happen if they made me mad," he said, a glare replacing his smirk of triumph, "They just didn't listen to me. And besides, you saw it Mattie, they were all up in my face saying that everyone only put up with me because of football. Their jealousy did this to them."
Matthew Williams cringed as he took in the damage dealt by his brother. This was not good. Nervously glancing in different directions as Alfred rambled on about his victory, he came close to spotting Arthur, who had ducked back behind the wall just in time. What he saw clearly though, was the faint outline of the vice-principal, Mr. Beilschmidt, heading down the path. Matthew knew that Alfred couldn't get in trouble for his actions. The football championships were coming up and the Terra High Titans needed their star quarterback.
"Al, someone's coming. Run before they see you. You can't miss a game." A flash of uncertainty flashed on Alfred face, but he whispered his thanks to his brother and darted off silently at full speed, narrowly missing Arthur as he ran around the corner. Arthur himself went unnoticed, but he hung back, because his curiosity was still hooked.
The Vice-Principal had noticed that there was something wrong now, as he got closer and saw the bodies on the ground. "What happened?" asked Mr. Beilschmidt, "Alfred, did you do this?" Arthur was about to say yes from his hiding spot, but Matthew spoke up.
"I did it sir, but I'm not Alfred. I'm his twin brother, Matthew Williams." There was an edge to his whispery voice, as if daring the Vice-Principal to suggest otherwise.
Arthur's eyes widened. Why was Alfred's brother covering for him? This level of violence was serious trouble! 'Knowing the Vice-Principal,' thought Arthur, 'He probably knows Matthew is covering for his brother.'
Arthur was right. The Vice-Principal asked Matthew if it really was him, and explained that there would be grave consequences. The student council president almost laughed. There was no way Matthew was going to fool Beilschmidt into thinking he did it. Not with that whisper of a voice. But, what came next surprised both the Vice-Principal and Arthur.
"Oh, so you think I can't beat up some hosers by myself, eh?" asked Matthew with a tone that neither listener had ever heard him use. It was one of pure malice and defiance, the exact opposite of the soft whisper he usually spoke in. "These guys pissed me off so much, saying 'Alfred's so much better than you, eh! It must suck being non-existent!' that I decided to make them notice me! And what better way than to give them a reminder on their faces? I think I did a pretty good job, eh?" Taking a quick peek, the student council president almost died of shock when he saw Alfred's smirk pasted onto his brother's face. "I bet all you prissy teachers don't know who I am either, eh! Always loving Alfred for everything he does for Terra High. You know what I say to that? Up Yours, Hosers." That was the last straw.
"THAT'S IT! MR. WILLIAMS, GO TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE." After taking a breath to calm himself down, Mr. Beilschmidt continued. "I will not tolerate this behaviour. I will notify the office of your coming. Go!" Arthur chose this moment to come out and pretend to be unknowing of anything that had just happened.
"Is there something wrong? I heard yelling." Arthur's eyes held Matthew's and the green-eyed Briton noticed a slight trace of nervousness. He felt bad for the boy, knowing that he did nothing, but he still had to pay for it. Matthew broke eye contact and stalked away, maintaining what Arthur called the "Angry-Alfred" all the while.
"Mr Kirkland. Would you run and get the nurse?" The look on the Vice-Principal's face got his secondary command across loud and clear. He was not to tell anyone about the incident. Arthur nodded and rushed away, not completely comfortable with the idea of what the Vice-Principal would say if he only slowly walked to the infirmary while three people were unconscious.
Matthew was used to covering up for his twin, but never for something so serious. A part of him wished he hadn't, but it had become a habit.
'You always let him walk over you. HE always takes the spotlight. HE always gets the recognition. You won the State Finals with your hockey team last year and what did you get from the school? NOTHING.' Matthew told the voice in his head to shut up. He knew Al cared more about football than anything, so he did what he could. Being the older twin, he had to look out for his brother. 'Some brother, leaving you to deal with Beilschmidt. You know you might get in really bad trouble this time.' Again, Matthew blocked out his thoughts. He remembered Arthur, who had shown up at the end. Had he seen anything? If he did, would he tell? No, he wouldn't. The entire school wanted Alfred to win the game. Being the student council president didn't make Arthur an exception.
There were people in the hallways getting to class, but as usual, no one noticed him. The blond drifted by his group of hockey teammates, including the Scandinavians, such as Matthias, Berwald and Tino, and also the Russian player, Ivan. The Canadian did not acknowledge the worried glances he got from some of the only people who actually knew he existed. However, when he passed by the football team, Matthew could feel Alfred's eyes on him. It was the same well-concealed nervous stare that he received every time he took Alfred's place for something.
Stepping out of the hallway and into the Main Office, the principal was there to greet him. "Matthew, come on in." Mr. Vargas' tone didn't give anything away. It was the usual happy lilt he used with everyone every day. The two went in to the principal's office, and sat down. "I heard about your little trouble from Mr. Beilschmidt. You were in a fight, correct?" Matthew nodded, but stayed quiet. "He also said you were being rather rude." The principal got progressively more serious as he asked questions that Matthew answered mostly by nodding or shaking his head silently. "This is a serious matter, Matthew. Some of those boys were hurt rather badly. Are you willing to accept the consequences?"
'Alfred should be the one sitting here, Matthew. You know it.' Pushing against his inner thoughts, Matthew said as convincingly as he could, "Yes sir."
Alfred saw Matthew head down the hallway. He was glad that Matthew was so considerate. His brother understood how much depended on Alfred, and besides, it wasn't like Mattie did anything at school anyways.
Arthur was bringing some papers down to the office to get them signed by the principal at the same time Matthew was in the office. The brit was told to wait outside on a chair until Mr. Vargas was finished. Leaning against the window of the office, he could hear the conversation between the principal and Alfred's brother.
"Matthew, you're a good kid. Why'd you do it?" The reply was soft, and Arthur couldn't hear the reason Matthew made up. Arthur had known Alfred for a long time, and being as reckless as he was, he knew Matthew's life couldn't be easy. Arthur actually felt bad. If it wasn't for this incident, he knew he probably would have already forgotten the soft-spoken twin.
"Tell you what. Because you've never been in any real trouble before, your consequences will be less than if you were a constant visitor to my office." Arthur could feel the tension on the other side of the wall. If he was in Matthew's place, he would have ratted out Alfred first thing, football championships or not.
"Let's say one week of suspension, followed by two weeks of detention. That should be enough, right?"
'Principal Vargas is really going easy on him,' thought Arthur. He took his head off the glass as Mr. Beilschmidt came near and entered the room. After the man had entered, the blond leaned back again to hear more.
"You are being too lenient," said the Vice-Principal, "His transgressions must be dealt with accordingly."
"He's a nice kid. I gave him suspension; don't you think it's enough?" To Arthur, Mr. Vargas seemed to be protecting Matthew, who had actually not spoken a word since had entered the room. The Vice-Principal thought a moment, before remembering a crucial fact about the boy in question.
Matthew sat nervously as the Vice-Principal thought. He was hoping for the safety of one thing and one thing only.
"You are on the hockey team, correct?" Matthew's blood ran cold. He knew it. Numbly, he nodded. "Then you shall be excused from team activities until further notice, in addition to your suspension and detention." Tears sprang up to Matthew's eyes, threatening to pour out at any second. This was the only thing he didn't want to lose. And it was this year's finals soon as well. The blond dug his nails into the palms of his hands, hoping to distract himself from the fact that the team was going to have to choose another captain. The principal sighed soon after.
"You can go now, Matthew," said Mr. Vargas. "Your suspension will start tomorrow, and we'll inform your parents and the hockey team." He didn't dare look up into the principal's eyes. Matthew stood up quickly and almost fell. He was still kind of stuck between crying and not crying. He took a ragged breath and walked fast out of the room, out of the office, and out of the school.
Arthur heard the punishment and watched as Matthew left the room crying silently. The boy went through too much for his brother. Too much. The student council president made his way into the room, where the principal and vice-principal were actually arguing.
"You made him cry, Sieg. He probably didn't even do it, and being rude doesn't amount to this much. Hockey seemed to be the only thing the boy loved at school."
"You're too nice, Roma. You can never tell clearly who is right or wrong."
"But-"
Arthur cleared his throat, and brought the papers up tothe desk for the principal to sign. Both men looked at Arthur for a second before Mr. Vargas signed the sheets. After signing them all while glaring at Mr. Beilschmidt, he spoke to Arthur.
Still sending daggers to the Vice-Principal, the Italian principal asked the student council president a favour. "Would you mind seeing if you could find Matthew? He's probably shaken up about his punishment. You should know it, right?" The blond blushed. The principal knew he had been there and had heard everything. "Go on, I'll tell your teachers about your absence." Excusing himself, Arthur turned and went in the direction he saw Matthew go.
TO BE CONTINUED!
I would love any Concrit that anyone provides, and reviews are welcome!
I don't mind flames, but try to be nice.
Thanks!
-CCM