A/N: I am a bit upset with current series, so I thought I would write a few oneshots and twoshots. When I was writing this story, it was a bit hard because many people in Hong Kong speak in their dialect, Cantonese, but the two official languages in China are English and Mandarin. So I thought made it that Hong Kong could speak all three languages, which made it a bit more difficult, but I got it done anyhow. Do please criticize me if the terms used in this story are wrong. You got to read this intense fanfic though, Familial Conflict, by I Brake For Bishounen Boys, which is about the the war of 1812 between America, Canada, and England. It's really good, I promise you that!
Chinatown
Matthew is in no mood to be celebrating the new year to the point of getting drunk, because it would somehow end up with him having a one night stand. So he works overtime, until he is taken away to a festival by this Shinatty.
Prologue
"Huan ying, Jia na da." With a hand stuck out for the boy to grab onto, the his hand clashed with the other together as a mesh, heaving himself up and off the ground. The light blue hanfu was the first thing the boy's eyes were mesmerized by, and second was the foreign, but familiar tongue he had just heard. And thirdly, was the big cat head that the person wore in front of him.
The idea of his friend, Yao, behind the Shinatty disguise had went out the window. After all, the words slurred together in such a way that was indescribable. It was not at all said black and white. In fact, they were gray. It couldn't be China, he preferred to speak in bold shades.
Welcome, Canada, was what the stranger had said to the kid with ease, speaking in such a polite tone was unreal. The only one who would have such a kind voice was Japan. Kiku was one of the very few, who was sane enough to befriend his brothers, oily fingers, and tea drinker. But not so much to forge one with that perverted groper.
"Where am I?" the Canadian had asked himself, pulling down his red hoodie closer to his knees rather nervously, as they hid themselves behind those baggy blue jeans. He didn't want the person to touch his butt, even if there was dirt on them. "Why am I here? And not back over there?"
When he turned around, there was just blacks and dark violets surrounding the reddish orange place. A huge shadow glared at the teenager, guarding the only way back in that fading blue path. Down at the ground, the thing slowly ate away of what he stood upon. The teen could not go back to what was before anymore, and away he began to take heavy steps forward into the orangey picture in front of him.
"I have to get back." the lad tugged, pulling away the attention of what was in front of the the wearer, to who was tugging his huafu. "I got a lot of work to do."
In response, the gentleman in the azure guzhuang slid around into the left hand that the lad used, and reassuringly slipped his own right. "Gen wo lai."
Canada swallowed down his unnerved fears away, choking a little in his throat, before reaching somewhat into his stomach. Follow me, which had led to where he thought was Chinatown.
In tang ren jie, the streets were busied with many people, crowing the space even more between the two of them. Reds, oranges, and yellows had surrounded of what was in front of the guest. Before the two had entered the world beyond his imagination, he heard the man whispered, zhong guo cheng, off the hung up red painted board of the golden outlined inked characters. Lanterns in red rice paper hung upon the strings above everyone there, lighting the entrance to the wherever the end may be in a rather dreamy way. The two held their hands tighter, afraid of losing each other in the orangish labyrinth of small shops, and short stalls.
"Ni hao, di di!" Hello, little brother! A cute girl in a pink qi pao waved, having to come out of nowhere. Her chocolate mane was styled into two buns, with a hair strand sticking from the top. The hair strand swayed along the breeze left behind by those who passed by the pretty lady. "Ni hao ma?" How are you?
"Kao kao! Wan wan!" the three had heard, having to come from the blur of rushing blackness from a distance. The blackness became a guy with jet black hair who blended in the crow in a zigzag blaze, in that purple and white zhongshan zuang he wore. "Matt!"
"Wo hen hao." the man nodded, being as polite as usual, while the beautiful woman eyed particularly at the bluish hanzhuang. The other two had ignored the presence of the loud one, who was coming closer, and closer to them. "Ni ne?"
Matthew was unaware of the man in the zhongshan suit, who suddenly had cupped his manliness, for what he thought was rather feminine. "Your breasts belong to me now!"
Realizing that the person from behind was that odd Yong Soo, there was no more struggling for the sake of pride. Instead the Korean had decided for himself to hug his buddy, squeezing away what was left in Matthew, and Matthew's breasts too. Taiwan came in right on time to pull Korea off of Canada, before the Canadian could have a chance to take in the remembrance of his name.
"Ni shen ti hao?" Of course he was feeling okay, but the concern in those eyes, and not the face, had burned his cheeks red. He saw passed through the kind man, and over to where the other two Asians were. Mixed with a bit of English, and a little more in Mandarin, before shouting in Taiwanese with blitzing fury. The not so cute gal demanded to know why the kid decided to be so informal. And his answer was that he wanted to cutesy just like their brother. "Dui bu qi."
"Sorry for what?" He was a foreigner in what was native to this stranger he had just met, the shy response was not what he needed to hear. His heart stuck itself already in this world, but he knew that it was not where he should stay for long. "Anyways, I have to go now."
"Bu shi!" Matthew had been told no, surprising him, and others around the two of them. And without hesitation, he was to do something with the wooden bench that was across from where they were, from what he got from the pointing finger. "Zuo xia!"
There were lian ge going on in the background in a rather cantopop flavor, leaving its melody taste for Matthew to hum unknowingly to himself, even when the song had already ended. After having to be ordered to sit down, and hold back the growling sounds, he was by himself. The other three had went off to get some snacks, like tofu dumplings, and turnip cakes, or so he thought, from what he had smelled. So in the end, Matthew waited for them to come back, as he sang along the chorus. Sure, he had no idea what the heck he was singing now, but it was better than having to listen to the suffering from the personification of hunger, who cried on, and on for food.
"Arufuredo-san?" Once more, someone else had mistaken him for his brother, Alfred, again. America and Canada were alike, but that did not mean that he and Al were similar.
"I'm not Alfred." Matthew released every negative feeling he could, and out with one sigh, before reverting back to his formal self again.
"Wo jiao Yao." China bowed as a greeting, and with respect, Canada down bowed slightly more back to the Chinese man. Canada went over to where Japan was, and bowed again, knowing that the two were very traditional. "Ta shi Kiku."
And before Matthew could say a word, Yao was quick with his tongue, already having a great interest in the Canadian. "Ni jiao shen me ming zi?"
"Matthew." a hard reply to the soft question, without much thought. When he did realized his mistake, he tried to answer with more ease, not so harsh, rather fluffier if he could. "Matthew Williams."
China was eager to share the pot stickers with the boy, after listening to the cries coming from hungry stomach that Matthew had to deal with. Wiping away the sauce off his mouth with a napkin, patting his back lightly whenever he was choking on his food, soothing the loneliness he had to bear for so long. This was Yao doting him as a little brother, and Matthew couldn't help, but feel spoiled. His guilt did not smothered him, in fact it was as if it had never existed. Everything that the older nation did, had reminded him the days when he was with France, as he swallowed down a spoonful of mango pudding.
After finishing the yellowish dessert, the elderly country had nothing left to feed the younger one, and went off to get some more. "Wo deng ni!" I will wait for you!
Yao was at first surprised, and then at awe, putting on a genuine smile that he haven't seen before. Not understanding the meaning that had meant so much to the immortal man, the child blushed furiously anyways. The simper was something that even his own brothers, had stopped wearing when he grew older.
"So you are Masshu." Only to be flashed by a camera that Kiku had in his hands, slipping away the instant produced photo into his kimono. Snapping again when Matthew appeared to be the most cute, which was him making an adorable frown at the Japanese man. "It is no wonder that Kaoru-kun likes you."
"Kaoru? As in Kao kao?" Remembering what the Korean had said to that person, who wore that cat thing on his or her head. Although that still did not help much, because he had never met anyone with that name. "Is that his name?"
"You did not know?" But before Canada could ask any further, Japan was taken away by Tibet, who wanted to try some of the spring rolls that Vietnam kept raving about nonstop. And once again, he was by himself, ignoring the bright flashes and lovely lullabies that went on in the background.
The guest sat there on the bench, unsure if it were wise of him to continue to wait for the host to come back. No longer was his stomach hungry, and there was no need to be entertained anymore, since he could wander, and look for it by himself. However, Matthew did not have to choose, when Yong Soo came along to take him away to the central square in this reddish maze.
"Wan wan? Where did she go? Oh well." The two came to a halt, a crow was blocking their way to wherever they were heading. Drums trembled the earth beneath them, thundering a noise that frightened even the gods. Such power had fascinated him for some reason. "Let's go this way! Huh? Matt?"
Pushing his way through the sea of people that surrounded whatever had attracted him, he had managed to reach what was being so loud. Crackling away were bunches of firecrackers, along with feet stamping in dragon forms, a dance which he had seen before back at home. "Ni gan ma, Ma xiu?"
"Wo zhao Kaoru." What was he doing? Why was he looking for Kaoru? He wasn't exactly sure of it himself, but had spat out the reason without knowing. And it happened so Taiwan had heard too. "Wo xiang ni."
The festive area began to go a little wild as people cheered, clapping, some were dancing, and others shouted. So much was going on, that Matthew could not keep up, and was pushed down by other bodies, losing his glasses in the process. Everything went blurry, as he crawled around to find them, yelping in pain each time when his fingers were crushed by everyone.
"..." Matthew could vaguely see the darkened image in front of him, shaped closely to a person. He could feel his clothes fluttering in what was a whirlwind, before another gust of wind blew his bangs away in his face. "Qing ni, not yet.."
"Wo bu ming bai." the Canadian didn't understand what was going on, but he knew his entire body was being lifted slowly off the stone patterned ground. Sloshes of yellow and other sort of colorful particles had clouded his view, blurring the man in front of him. "Who are you?"
Even when the blurry man grew closer to his face, he could not see the male clear enough to define who the man may be. Brushing pink lips, rising redness in cheeks, only to press forward to close the distance between them. Maple syrupy words coated his ears, matching the sweetish tongue that the person had. "Wo xi huan ni."
In the plastic bag were egg tarts, steamed meat buns, and sweet bean buns that would never be eaten. A passionate kiss that was so innocent, so simple, that with every second without each other had made him longing each time. Pushing away what would be left of this romance, he knew that this was likeness, a small love to take back home with. Never would he be ever loved this way again.
"Ngo ngoi oi." the Asian said in his dialect, hiding away the his feelings behind foreign words of Cantonese. So in response, the Caucasian began to fumble those fingers around uncontrollably again, while staring down rather nervously at the dusty ground. He said it once more, this time in Mandarin with a poker face. "Wo ai ni, Ma xiu."
Matthew had watched enough Chinese dramas, and soap operas with his friend, Yao, without subtitles to know what the uncomprehending phrase meant. "You love me?"
"Wei, Jia na da, wei." the Canadian tried to translate from the familiar Chinese language to English. Yes, Canada, yes, was what he got out of it. The man who was apparently in love with him, had worn out the straightness in the face, and began to redden, especially around the cheeks. "Wai."
"Wo ye ai ni." I love you too.
Xiang gang, was the only words the boy remembered hearing, before the winds flared up, vanishing in the grasp of what he thought was a dragon. The dragon swept him away, into this blackness as his vision faded along with the oriental city, and the person he had fallen for. This was a dan lian, a dan xiang si on his part.
"Kaoru!" he cried out in despair, waking himself upon the broken trance. A sad dream which stirred up his misery again. Only to leave him regretting to have drunken something awful, drowning the built up loneliness he had.
Another new year, according to the lunar calender. Stacked up boxes of Chinese takeout stood on the table, beside them was a plastic bag, and a rank badge. They sort of looked familiar, but he was probably still drunk. Drunk enough to have sex with that person. "Shit, not again."
Why did it had to be Alfred, out of everyone else he could done it with, thought Matthew. To have celebrated the fourteenth with someone who didn't love you was just his luck.
A/N: To be honest, I have no idea if they sell any of these at the stalls during a festival, but whatever. Here, I put down both the pinyin and the characters in traditional or simplified Chinese for your convenience. I hope you will find some of them interesting. Masshu is Matthew, and Arufuredo is Alfred pronounced phonetically in Japanese.
- 欢迎, huān yíng means welcome
- 加拿大, jiā ná dà is Canada
- 跟我来, gēn wǒ lái means (come) follow me
- 唐人街, táng rén jiē means Chinatown
- 中国城, zhōng guó chéng means Chinatown
- 你好, nǐ hǎo means hello
- 弟弟, dì di means younger brother
- 你好吗, nǐ hǎo ma means how are you
- 我很好, wǒ hěn hǎo means I am fine
- 你呢, nǐ ne means and you
- 你身体好吗, nǐ shēn tǐ hǎo ma means are you okay
- 对不起, duì bu qǐ means I am sorry
- 坐下, zuò xià means sit down
- 恋歌, liàn gē means love song
- 我叫, wǒ jiào means my name is
- 你叫什么名字, nǐ jiào shén me míng zi means what is your name
- 马修, mǎ xiū is Matthew
- 我等你, wǒ děng nǐ means I will wait for you
- 你干吗, nǐ gàn ma means what are you doing
- 我找, wǒ zhǎo means I am looking for (name)
- 我想你, wǒ xiǎng nǐ means I miss you
- 请你, qǐng nǐ means please
- 我不明白, wǒ bù míng bái means I don't understand
- 我喜欢你, wǒ xǐ huān nǐ means I like you
- 我也爱你, wǒ yě ài nǐ means I love you too
- 香港, xiāng gǎng is Hong Kong
- 单恋, dān liàn means unrequited love
- 单相思, dān xiāng sī means one sided love