First Meeting pt. 1
"But Lukas!" the 8-year-old boy whined. "I don't want to meet them!" His older brother sighed, crouching down to his height.
"Call me big brother, Emil," the stoic teen said, attempting to rub the scowl off of his younger siblings face. "And it's not like they'll hurt you, they're like family."
"They're just your friends!" the scowl came back at full force. "They'll think I'm a girl." Lukas sighed; his brother had a point. With his large, violet doe eyes, smooth fair skin, and semi-long silver hair, the young boy was quite feminine. It didn't help that he was wearing a bright pink shirt that was two sizes too big thanks to a little incident in the taxi that morning. Emil was almost too adorable.
"We're going in there, okay? Just for a little while. I bet you won't even want to leave later." Then, Lukas decided to drag Emil into the get-together his friends had arranged.
The whole party was extremely organized. All of the teens and adults were in a different area than any younger kids that were dragged along. The food was set up in a different area all together. The teens and adults chatted while the kids played various games with each other. The largeness of the room made Emil cling to Lukas' pant leg nervously as they walked in together.
"Lukas!" A loud yell reverberated through the room as the tallest male Emil had ever seen bounded up to them. He had spikey hair and wore a small hat that matched his red and black sports jacket.
"Mathias," Lukas' left eye twitched lightly as he regarded the other teen. "I want you to meet my little brother. This is Emil."
Upon his introduction, Emil was thrust forward and placed into the spotlight. Mathias grinned and knelt down to Emil's level. They stared at each other for a long moment before Emil realized that he was supposed to be introducing himself.
"Hello," his voice was so small that the hum of noise in the auditorium nearly drowned it out. "My name is Emil."
"Wah, Norge, your brother is adorable! He's almost like a girl!" Mathias cooed, scooping the smaller boy up. Emil flinched in his arms. "I'm Mathias; you can call me big brother if you want!"
"Let him go, you idiot," Lukas took Emil out of the other teens arms and put him back on the ground. "And don't call me 'Norge'. I'm taking him to the kids' area." And with that, Lukas dragged Emil away from the tall male.
The part of the room with the kids was pure chaos. There was no supervision; the various guardians of the children weren't even looking in that direction. There were kids wrestling, playing with dolls, and even holding tea parties. Nothing scared Emil more. His brother had attempted to introduce him to several of the wild children, including one who claimed to be a hero, but Emil shied away from the all. Eventually, the older boy gave up and left him in the lion's den.
Looking around, Emil resumed his scowling. The children around him were ignoring him and roughhousing again. Not that he minded; it was just a dangerous situation. Seeing a boy around his age sitting in a corner with a book, Emil decided to join him. As he approached, the boy looked up and Emil flinched. He had chocolate locks and obsidian eyes, along with thick eyebrows. None of that particularly bothered Emil, but the boy's expression was even blanker than Lukas'. At least with Lukas, Emil could see small signs that he had emotions. This boy almost seemed to look right through Emil, showing absolutely no indication of what he was thinking. Taking a deep breath, Emil sat down next to the boy with a determined face; he would not be scared away from the only safe zone in the room by a simple look.
"Hi," Emil frowned a bit as his voice faltered. "I'm Emil."
"Jia-Long," his voice was flat. Emil looked at his lap, pondering whether or not he should say something else. Jia-Long beat him to it.
"Do you like, want to read with me? It's not too bad a book, I guess." Emil stared at him, a little surprised. He wasn't the best reader, but he saw what he thought was a hopeful glint in the other boys' eyes.
"Sure, I'd like that."
Jia-Long
I hate the rain. I hate high school. I hate being in school while it rains. I hate the fact that Yao makes me go to this stupid, terrible-
"What are you doing?" I looked up from my notebook and stopped stabbing at it with my pencil. Emil was giving me a slightly disapproving look.
"You know how I like feel about rain," I responded, just managing not to smirk as the teacher shot us a dirty look for talking. "On top of that, I'm stressed about the next fight, I suppose."
Emil shot me a slightly sympathetic look, which I promptly ignored. It's not like he signed me up or anything; my sensei did that. Looking up at the clock, I closed my notebook. Emil did the same, grabbing his bag as the bell rang. Usually, I loved the sound of that stupid bell. It was like a chime on acid. Today, it made me a little upset. I didn't want to have to walk in the rain, especially since I had to leave Emil halfway. He doesn't like going to my fights, so he usually goes home. Standing, I stretched and grabbed my jacket.
"If we hurry, I can like, walk you all the way home and run to the dojo, I suppose," I said, pulling the red jacket on. Emil shook his head.
"I'll be fine," he shot me a small smile. "I'm actually going to your house, which is a little closer. Lady Red wants to have another photo shoot."
Jia-Long almost smiled at their little code name for Yao, but resisted. It had been an ongoing joke for years.
"Why do you like, let him dress you up and take pictures? You hate it," Emil was silent for a long moment as we exited the classroom with our bags.
"It makes him happy," he said. I shrugged as we weaved our way through the crowded hallway. Two years ago, the stares, whispers, and not-so-accidental bumps would have bothered me a lot more than they did now.
"Whatever, Emil," I mumbled.
Emil
"Promise that you'll like, be careful," Now that we were alone, Jia-Long looked uncharacteristically gentle.
"I'll be fine, mother," I said, rolling my eyes. "I'm almost there anyway."
Nodding, the young martial artist turned and started to walk back towards the dojo he trained in. Dropping the small smile I had, I resumed walking, pulling my hood higher over my head. The rain had let up a bit, so it wasn't too bad. It was warm rain, not the typical ice cold rain that usually fell.
Turning the corner onto Jia-Long's street, I stopped abruptly. My blood ran cold as I stared at the small group of teens standing a few feet away from me. It was Them. Slowly, I began to back away, hoping they wouldn't spot me. Luck just wasn't on my side.
"Oh, look!" one of the girls' shrill voices rang out. "It's little Emil."
Before I could run, the surrounded me. Their leader stepped forward, his eyes glinting crudely.
"So," he smirked, looking down at me. "Where's your little bodyguard?"
"Just leave me alone!" I tried to sound angry, but my voice wavered. He laughed and grabbed me by the front of my jacket.
"Now, now Emy," the mocking tone of his voice was dangerous. "We both know how this game is played, don't we?"
A/N
Hey guys! This will be one of my faster updates since I already had this written down. I'll try my best to keep them from being too far apart.
Lukas-Norway
Mathias-Denmark
Yao-China
Notes:
*Lukas pretty much raised Emil since their parents are always extremely busy. I know this chapter didn't really explain too much of the background or the relationships of the characters, but I will get to that. I just ask you to please be patient
*The Lady Red joke will definitely have its own segment
*The boys are presently around 17
One last thing~! While I was writing, I was thinking about who I could make the leader of Them (oh that grammar) and I got a little stuck. Emil doesn't really have any enemies in the show, so if you guys have a suggestion, feel free to tell me about it! ^^ Thanks for reading~