Into The Afternoon

Asia family (China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan)

Just a note on names –

I'm using the name Abel Edmund de Vries for Netherlands, nicknamed Ned (or Neder-kun, in the case of Kiku, who enjoys the play on his nickname and nationality) . I had to come up with some sort of name for him.

Roma Vargas is Ancient Rome (Romano Vargas, as Lovi was named Lovino Romano Vargas after his Nonno)

Yao was fighting the urge to check over his shoulder. He could feel Ivan's intense stare pinned on the back of his head – he had been followed after class to his current location of employment, Roma Vargas' restaurant. He was washing dishes, thankfully, and didn't have to go out on the floor to deal with his troublesome acquaintance.

The phone rang at the front desk, quickly followed by an angry shout from their head of waitstaff, sixteen-year-old Lovino Vargas. "Answer the damn phone already, you lazy jerk!"

Abel de Vries, better known as Ned, was the current desk worker. He scribbled something on his notepad, dropping his pen as he reached for the phone. "I got it, Lovi," he muttered, snatching the old telephone from its hook.

"Nonno's Pizzeria, how may I - oh, hey, Kiku."

Yao dropped the plate he was washing. Why was his little brother on the phone? Had something happened? Had he forgotten something, or was someone in trouble?

"Yeah, this is Neder-kun. What's the matter? What happened, Kiku?"

Lovino appeared at Yao's shoulder, brows furrowed. He smacked him with the back of his hand. "You better not have broken that plate. Stop eavesdropping on Ned's conversation and get back to work."

As much as Yao just absolutely loved being bossed around by a kid two years younger than him, he was not in the mood for Lovi Vargas' temper. "It's my little brother, aru, he's on the phone-"

He was cut off by another smack from Lovino. His expression had softened marginally, and he looked almost sympathetic. "Stop eavesdropping on Ned's conversation and find out what's going on with your fratellino."

With a grateful smile, Yao left the dishes, all but running to the phone. Ned looked over at him worriedly, toying with the end of his scarf. "Yes, he's here, do you want to talk to him now?"

Apparently, he received confirmation, because he wordlessly handed the phone to Yao, returning to his work as if the call had never happened. Yao took it gingerly, quickly bringing it to his ear. "Kiku! Is everything alright, aru?"

"Onii-chan." Kiku sighed with relief. "I worried that I would not be able to reach you. It is not serious, I assure you, it looks considerably worse than it actually is. Yong-Soo is unscathed, thankfully."

"What did Yong-Soo do now, aru? What happened, and why are you telling me not to worry about it?"

In the silence that followed, he could picture Kiku cringing, shifting awkwardly in his seat, concerned about how to explain this to his big brother.

"A-ano... He almost got himself killed again... D-don't worry about it, onii-chan, I stopped him! Someone talked him into trying to jump out of a tree by the road in an attempt to rand on the roof of a car, and he near-ry did it, but I got to him on time. I had to knock him out of the tree before he jumped, and he ferr on top of me. I sink I sprained somesing. My foot hurts from randing on it oddry."

Yao could hear Kiku's accent creeping into his speech, distorting it beyond his capability of control. His baby brother was in pain. He was hurting. His other little brother had nearly gotten himself hit by a car. This was not good at all.

"Okay, baobao, gēgē is going to come get you, aru," Yao promised hurriedly. "I'll be right there, and I'll take you home."

"W-what about Yonsū-kun?" Kiku asked, mispronouncing his brother's name, the Japanese pronunciation more comfortable on his tongue. "He has been forbidden to participate in his extracurricurars. And Mei-chan? She wirr need to be driven to dance. Hong-kun is being taken home by Mashū-kun, but he wirr need to be picked up afterwards…"

It took Yao a moment to sort through Kiku's accented speech. He struggled for a bit over Mashū-kun before remembering that he meant Matthew, Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy's little boy. "Don't worry about it, baobao. I will take care of it. Kirkland-xiāngchēn owes me for babysitting his boys, I'm sure that he or Bonnefoy-xiāngchēn will be able to drive Hong back home, aru. Yong-Soo can be taken home now, when I get you. As for Mei-Mei, I don't know yet… I can't drive you and Yong-Soo home, and still get her to dance on time."

Yao sighed, raking a hand through his hair. He was holding up the phone and he had no idea what to do.

"Izvinite, I could not help but notice your problem."

At the sound of his voice, Yao nearly jumped out of his skin. It was Ivan, standing at his shoulder, that ever innocent smile spread across his face.

"You need someone to drive your sestra to dance classes, da?" He grinned, pleased with himself, as he played with the long, trailing ends of his scarf.

"Sh-shi," Yao mumbled, not able to meet his eyes. He cupped his hand over the phone speaker as he answered Ivan's question. "Mei has ballet after school and she cannot afford to miss practice, aru."

"Mmm! That is very nice! Dancing is a very nice activity!" he said decisively, nodding. "Yao-Yao is fortunate, da? I leave shortly to pick up my cousins from school. It would be a simply thing to drive your sestra to her ballet class."

"A-alright, then, aru. I guess that would work. Thank you for offering, Braginski-xiāngchēn."

"It is my pleasure, friend Yao."

Yao quickly turned back to the phone. "I'm just about to leave, alright, Kiku? I'll be there soon, aru."

"H-hai, onii-chan."

"I'll see you shortly." He hung up the phone, quickly untying his work apron. He hooked it onto its peg, sending a worried look to Ned and Lovino. "I'm not causing trouble for you, am I?"

Ned shrugged. "We're at a lull. If I can pull Heracles out of the back room, there's an extra set of hands. I can manage."

Lovino grunted as he set a tray down on the counter, jerking a thumb in Ned's direction. "What he said."

Throwing on his coat, Yao spared one last glance at Lovino. "Am I going to get in trouble for skipping my hours, aru?"

"Miele, non mi frega niente di che." Lovino made a flippant gesture as he walked back out to the restaurant floor. "I'm only here because I got suspended for cursing out the damn teacher. I'm not here to work. Go help your fratellino, you damn jerk."

With that, Yao was out the door, keys in hand. He was going to go get Yong-Soo and Kiku.

Translation

Nonno – grandfather

Fratellino- little brother

Onii-chan – big brother

Ano – literally means 'that', a sort of nervous stutter

Baobao – baby

Gēgē – big brother

Kirkland-xiāngchēn – Mister Kirkland

Bonnefoy-xiāngchēn- Mister Bonnefoy

Izvinite – Excuse me

Sestra – sister

Shi – yes

Braginski-xiāngchēn – Mister Braginski

Hai – yes

Miele, non mi frega niente di che. – Honey, I don't care about that (Headcanon that Romano likes to use pet names sarcastically)

I'm not fluent in any of the above languages, so blame the translator, and corrections are appreciated ^J^

Reader-senpai!

So I finally have this done. Yay. It's almost two in the morning, and I have typed Yao's name so much that autocorrect tried to change that 'Yay' into 'Yao'. This was poorly written, and it is probably riddled with errors, but I tried, right?

In the words of the great Romano, "It'll settle itself somehow."

Maybe I'll fix it up later. Probably not, though, because I'm very lazy.

Hopefully this wasn't just a giant heap of trash.

Reviews are to me what pandas and Shinatty-Chan are to Yao-Yao, and by that, I do not mean Russia in disguise. ^J^

~Kouhai