*squee* This one is really cute~! It's on Arhtur's side this time, while next chpater is Francis'. I'm really liking this story so far~!

Disclaimer: Blah.

Warnings: Arthur's family, language, and ADORABLE CUTENESS OVERLOAD~


Arthur's family worked in mysterious ways. His mother had been a prostitute. No really. After her parents had disowned her because she had become pregnant with her Scottish boyfriend's child, she hadn't had anywhere else to turn. The prostitution was why Arthur was the youngest of five half-brothers. They were a very noisy bunch. They hadn't even grown up together before Arthur entered into the family. Conner Kirkland, the oldest, had grown up in Scotland with his father. Eric and Ryan Kirkland had been shipped off to their Aunt's house in Ireland. Gavan Kirkland had lived with his cousins in Wales. It wasn't until their mother died giving birth to Arthur that they all set off to live in London.

They had been close with their mother, even if she hadn't been with them, always sending letters and presents to them. Conner had been eighteen when it happened, and had bartered for custody of Arthur. With the help of his brothers of course. They had all wanted to take care of the last piece of their mother. Even if the twins had only been thirteen and Gavan ten. They had all gathered and moved into a nice little home in London, England with money sent from their family to fund them. That is... until six years later the twins got in trouble with the law and they fled to America. Arthur never did figure out what they had done.

Arthur now had his own quiet little one story house that suited him quite well on his teacher's salary. Even if sometimes it wasn't so quiet. That was always something that struck Arthur as strange. No matter how many times he changes the locks, his bloody brothers found a way in no matter what! He cursed them for it most of the time, but he loved them for it as well. It did get kind of lonely all by himself.

"Hey look! England's home~!"

That was another thing that made his family strange. Each coming from different countries they called each other by their homeland. It was a way to reminisce, Arthur supposed. A way to remember the days back home. He didn't mind it really.

"What the bloody hell are you doing at my house, Scotland?"

Arthur dropped his keys onto the table beside the door. Maybe that was where he went wrong. They could have nicked his keys and made copies...

"Do ye curse like tha 'round the babes, brother?"

"I teach high schoolers, Scottie. They're hardly 'babes'."

Arthur rolled his eyes as he walked down the hall and into the kitchen, pointedly ignoring his brother lounging on the couch in the living room. He soon met his youngest older brother already cooking dinner for the family.

"'Ello Wales."

Gavan raised his hand in greeting but kept silent and continued cooking. Arthur shrugged and made his way to the fridge to pull out a bottle of water.

"Where are the twins?"

Gavan pointed off in the direction of his office. He should have known they were messing with his stuff. When were they not causing trouble? Really, wasn't he supposed to be the immature one here? Well, there had been that time in high school where he had a rebellion phase. He still had the tattoos. But that was not the point! The point was that the twins were probably wrecking havoc on his office.

"Hello there little brother~! How is Iggy-kins doing today?"

Arthur would say he hated his brothers with a burning passion if it weren't for the fact that he loved him. He threw a suspicious look about the room. The desk was still set up against the window. His papers were still in order. His bookshelf was still in an up-right position against the far wall. His monitor didn't look broken. The ceiling wasn't caved in, the light not hanging precariously from it. The only thing amiss was the two mischievous red-heads sitting up-side down on the pull out couch he had shoved in the corner in case all of his brothers decided to stay the night, he only had one guest bedroom after all.

"I was doing just fine until all of you arses showed up in my house. How the hell do you manage to get in?"

The twins righted themselves as the blood was probably rushing to their heads. That was never a good thing. More blood meant more to power their brains, which then meant more trouble for Arthur.

"Trade secret little brother."

"And you didn't want to join the family business."

Arthur scoffed as he set his briefcase next to his desk and walked out, twins in tow.

"Last time I checked, you two were the only ones in the 'family business'. I'm also the only one willing to bail you wankers out of jail every time."

"Harsh, brother, harsh."

"Shot through the heart."

Ryan made a show of being shot and dying in Eric's arms. Arthur wasn't fazed as he made his way into the living room and sat down in his favorite arm chair beside the couch.

"Ye shouldn't waste yer money on tha jokers."

"Eh. Family honor and all that shite."

Arthur snuggled into his chair and took a sip of his water. The twins flopped on top of Conner and proceeded to exclaim, "Scotland doesn't love us!" "He's never cared about us!" "Woe is us!" "Why won't big brother love us?"

"GET OFF ME YA IDJIOTS!"

Arthur sighed. It was going to be a long night.


"We love ya baby bro~!"

It was with that that Arthur was finally able to shove his brothers out the front door. He sighed as his door slammed behind them. They were far too noisy and he never got any work done when they were around. He dropped onto the couch, thinking to take a little nap before he got up to grade papers.

It wasn't the loud crash of the thunder or the pounding of rain against the window or even the bright flash of lightening. No, it was the sobbing of a child at his door that jolted Arthur from his slumber. The terrified wailing prompted Arthur to rush to the door and open it with sleepy gusto. He was then tackled to the floor by a soaked little child that barely came past his knees.

Arthur, being confused and tired simply sat there and cuddled the child. He rocked back and forth with the poor thing wrapped in his arms until it could calm down. He ran his fingers through the damp, wheat blond hair and whispered sweet-nothings into a tiny ear. This lasted until he could only hear soft hiccups and the thunder was a faint rumble in the distance.

"What's your name lad? Why are you here?"

"A-Alfred."

"Well, Alfred, could you tell me why you're at my house and not your own?"

"I don't have a house."

"Ah. I see."

Really, what could you say to that? It pulled at Arthur's heart-strings. Surely he could let the boy stay the night? At least until he could find out what happened to him. He couldn't send the lad back into the rain with good a conscious.

"Let's find you a place to sleep."

But the boy had already fallen fast asleep in Arthur's arms. Little did he know was that it would not be the last time, nor the most precious. It was from that night on, that Alfred would become a permanent member of his family.


:D INNIT CUTE? ~ So for the last part I was listening to the song "Lullaby For A Stormy Night" by Vienna Teng. I must say that the APH Face Family video for it actually partly inspired this story~

Anyway...

Do svidanya~