Isemay – Thank you! This style of writing is actually a bit different for me as well but I like it! As for how I came up with the names, for Belgium I originally planned to use the name Esmé but decided against it and instead used Anri based off of a piece of work that I had read earlier. For Monaco, I had originally planned to use the name Cosette but chose Léonne simply because of the fact that I like it better. Erzsébet is actually the Hungarian form of Elizabeth and seeing as Elizabeth or Elizabeta was often used for Hungary's name, I decided I would use the Hungarian form. For Liechtenstein I chose the name Liesl because, once again, I like it better than Lilli. That's not to say that Lilli isn't a cute name, just that I thought Liesl would better suit her.
To put it simply, Mei was bored. The small bubble tea store that she worked at was practically desolate during dinner hours followed by a large flush of teenagers rushing into the store, chatting animatedly about school or the newest Korean drama that they had watched last night. But right now, it was the time in which the store was completely empty other than Mei and her twin brother Li Xiao, who was humming some k-pop song as he absentmindedly wiped down one of the tables.
"Li Xiao," Mei whined, dramatically flopping across the front counter, kicking her feet back and forth against the back of the counter as she did so. "I'm bored."
Li Xiao made a small noise of recognition in the back of his throat but otherwise ignored his sister, instead focusing on the task at hand. Mei frowned. Li Xiao was always so mean. He ignored her, a fine example being right now, and was always a big moody butt. Mei was his twin! His shuāng bāo tāi! Plus, she was two minutes older. He was supposed to look up to her and treat her with respect.
"Li Xiao," Mei tried again, pouting as she drew out his name. "Pay attention to me. I'm bored."
Li Xiao sighed. Even though he was accustomed to his sister's annoying behavior, it still served to piss him off any time she did something like this.
"Mei, if Yao catches either of us goofing off he's going to, like, fire us." Li Xiao sighed, boosting himself up so that he was sitting on the table he had just finished wiping down.
Mei glared playfully at her brother and flipped over so she was propped up by her elbows on the counter. "Yao can suck my dick." She grumbled, crinkling her nose up at the mention of their oldest brother. An entrepreneur at heart, he had graduated college a few years back and immediately opened up this store in America versus going back to China with all of his siblings in tow. Mei supposed that it was partially due to the fact that Yao's boyfriend was born and raised in the U.S. and would probably suffer from cardiac arrest if he ever left it. That's not to say that Mei didn't like Alfred, she actually got along better with him than she got along with Yao.
"Can't. He already has a mouthful of Alfred's." Li Xiao deadpanned, staring Mei straight in the eyes and causing her to snort. "Plus I'm like two-percent sure that you don't have a dick."
"On the contrary, brother." Mei sang, jumping down from the counter and rotating her hips in a circle, causing the short skirt she was wearing to flap against her legs. "It's just detachable."
"A detachable penis?" Li Xiao questioned, one of his hands flying to his crotch, as if expecting his penis to suddenly fly off into space.
Mei shrugged. "Alfred was listening to a song about one earlier today."
Li Xiao rolled his eyes. "Alfred really needs a better taste in music."
"I second that emotion."
The store was once again silent as Li Xiao hopped off of the table he was sitting on, gave it a quick swipe with his cloth before moving on to clean the other tables. Mei let a small smile slip onto her lips as Li Xiao began humming once again and she began to restock the cups.
For such a small store, it was actually really popular and was something of a hang out joint for teenagers of the city, especially the ones belonging to the small Asian community that lived in their city. The store was always flooded with different languages; English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and sometimes even Vietnamese. The latter of the group often only surfaced when Mei's friend Liên visited with her family.
While Mei didn't particularly enjoy working in the store–it was at least somewhat bearable when the flamboyant Polish kid was working alongside her–she loved to come to the store and lounge around, especially when it was either of her brother's shifts. It was even more enjoyable when all of her friends came along with her and the eight of them got nearly everything on the menu and proceeded to annoy whomever was working at the time. Mei always felt like she had won the lottery when Yao was working and Anri and Michelle felt the need to have a burp off.
After she had finished restocking the cups, she absentmindedly looked up at Li Xiao, who had stopped wiping down the table and was instead staring at his phone with wide eyes.
"What?" Mei asked, making Li Xiao jump and snap his eyes over to meet hers. He silently walked over to Mei and passed her his phone, ignoring her confused stare as he gestured for her to read it.
Mei sighed and took the phone. "Saint James Boys Academy?" She asked, sending Li Xiao a look of disbelief as she spotted the name of the prestigious males academy. "You want me to read an article about the school Kiku, Yong Soo, and Chao go to?"
Li Xiao shot her a half-hearted glare that was ruined by the fact that his face was as pale as a ghost. "Just read it, Mei."
She rolled her eyes, but complied none the less, slightly scared on what the article may contain based upon Li Xiao's shocked–almost scared–face. "Saint James Boys Academy…prestigious all males academy…blah blah blah…late Friday night, early Saturday morning…explosion set off in the school?" Mei froze at the last line. Apparently some genius thought that it would be a good idea to set off a shit ton of fireworks all along the first floor, effectively serving in blowing the school up. She glanced up at her brother. "Explosion? The school got blown up?"
Li Xiao nodded shakily, watching as Mei continued to read through the article. "No students were harmed…students are being transferred…public school one town…over." Once again Mei looked up at Li Xiao, her face just as pale as his. "They are coming here."
Li Xiao nodded once again. Mei groaned in exasperation, running a hand through her hair.
"Let me guess," She grumbled, "they're being transferred to Octavo."
"Yeah." Li Xiao breathed out quietly, snatching his phone away from Mei's hands, quickly switching over to messages and showing her the barrage of emoticons and words Yong Soo had sent him about how he would be schooling with Li Xiao again and how excited he was that they were going to be sharing a room again. Li Xiao sneered at his phone as he glanced at the messages.
"Fuck that." Mei sniffed. "I refuse to share a room with you or with Chao ever again."
Li Xiao smirked, the color returning to his face. "Would you, like, prefer to share with Yong Soo?"
Mei froze, her hands flying up to cup her breasts protectively. "No way. My tits have been out of harms way for the last year, I refuse to put them in even more danger than they already will be with Yong Soo back. Plus, I mean, I'm a female going through puberty and therefore deserve my own room. You, Kiku, Chao, and Yong Soo can split up between the two rooms in the basement. I'm keeping my room upstairs and far away from all of you."
Li Xiao scowled. "You're such a brat."
"Well, someone had to take Yong Soo's place when he left." Mei smirked before turning to quick to an inventory check of the bubble tea ingredients that sat behind the front counter. "Now get back here. It's almost six on a Sunday night. Nikolaas and Anri will be here any moment now."
Li Xiao muttered something under his breath about stupid sisters and stupid periods and stupid sister's friends and the stupid sister's stupid friend's stupid younger brother. Mei smiled and ruffled Li Xiao's hair, having to stand on her toes just to reach the boy's head.
"Don't worry, Li Xiao. You're still my favorite twin." She said, nuzzling against his chest as if to assure him that he was her favorite.
Li Xiao rolled his eyes and gently pushed his sister away from him. "I'm, like, your only twin."
"Still my favorite!" She sang, twirling around the taller boy despite the cramped space behind the counter.
The sound of the small bell over the door ringing halted Mei from spinning around her brother as she turned around to face the door, catching sight of Anri's pretty red hair ribbon she wore in her hair. "Hello, Anri!" She sang twirling out from behind the front counter and launching herself into the Belgian girl's arms.
"Thank goodness you're here." Mei said, burying her face into Anri's chest. "Li Xiao was sooo boring."
"Hey!" Li Xiao barked at his sister, causing her to lift her head and childishly stick her tongue out at him.
"Hello Mei, hello Li Xiao." Anri said, lifting Mei up in a bone crushing hug before setting her down.
Mei finally looked at Anri's face. Despite the usual happy smile plastered on her face, her eyes were nervous as she glanced from Mei's face to the window and back. "Damn girl," Mei teased. "What's got you so riled up?"
"Well, my sweet little petunia, you will see in just a few seconds." Anri said after one more glance out the window before moving behind Mei as if she were a shield. A pretty shitty shield, really. Anri, who stood at 5 foot 6 inches, wasn't all too covered from whatever was scaring her behind Mei's 4 foot 11 inches.
The bell of the door rattled once again and Nikolaas walked in the door, a soft smile on his face as he held the door open for a man who was not only pretty damn hot but also too damn tall.
Mei quickly plastered a smile on her face. "Hello Shit-Face." She said kindly to Nikolaas, who merely wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. "And hello to you too, Mr. Man-Who-Has-Shattered-Any-And-All-Of-My-Dreams-Of-Being-Tall. How may I help you?"
Mr. Man-Who-Had-Shattered-Any-And-All-Of-Mei's-Dreams-Of-Being-Tall simply raised his eyebrows at the short girl, but otherwise stayed silent, slowly looking around the small store. Mei noted how his eyes lingered on Anri–who was still trying to hide behind Mei–for a moment before proceeding. Smirking, Mei quickly turned away and marched off to stand next to Li Xiao, effectively leaving Anri out in the open. Ignoring the smoldering glare she received from the Belgian girl, Mei plastered a large smile on her face.
"What can I get you two today?" She asked before teasingly glaring at Anri. "You don't get anything, Miss Waffle House."
Anri sighed dramatically, apparently out of whatever mood she had just been in seconds ago, and stumbled up to the front desk before flopping onto it, similar to what Mei had done earlier. She stared up at Mei and let out a whimper. Li Xiao sent her a look of disgust before stepping away from the girl.
"What did I ever do to deserve this kind of treatment?" She whined as Nikolaas spoke quietly to the tall man, supposedly explaining what was on the large menu written on the wall.
"I can quite literally name, like, ten things off of the top of my head." Li Xiao sneered before Mei could get a word out.
Anri let out a fake sob. "Wahh! Even Leon is bullying me! Somebody hold me!" Just like that Anri flung herself off of the counter and launched herself backwards. Mei wasn't really sure what she was attempting to do, perhaps have Niko catch her dramatically or maybe just fall straight onto the floor. Still, it was quite an amusing sight to see when the tall man seemed to quickly jump into action, catching Anri about a foot before she hit the ground and sweeping her up to a standing position, coincidentally right up against his chest.
The store was silent and Mei let a coy smile grace her lips as Anri's face immediately flushed a dark red. Mei noted that the tall man's face had a light pink dusting over it as well. Oh yes, these two would definitely be her next experiment. She could probably even get Léonne and Erzsébet in on it too.
"Shit, fuck." Anri cursed, pushing herself out of the tall man's grip, eyes flittering between the ground and the guy's face. "I'm sorry, Lars. I'm really sorry." As she continued to fret over the tall man, Lars or whatever his name was, Mei winked at her brother and Nikolaas.
"Why are you so sorry, Anri?" Mei sang, leaning across the counter and sending her friend a look that could only be described as suggestive. "He was just catching a falling damsel. Nothing that a gentleman wouldn't do."
Anri scowled at Mei. "I've fallen on my head plenty of times, Mei. You know that all too well."
Mei giggled before hip checking her brother. "No more of your dramatics, Anri and Friend. We have a business to run here."
"Finally." Li Xiao breathed, rolling his eyes at his sister and her choice of friends.
"So," Mei straightened up behind the counter, sending a sly almost knowing smile at Anri, causing her to quickly look away. "What can I get you three?"
Whoa. A different POV. Get excited. On another note, yesterday I found out that Taiwan is about 1,000 square miles larger than Maryland. I really love APH Taiwan, she's just so precious and under-appreciated. She needs to be over-appreciated, if anything. Even then we should be able to appreciate her more. Also, shuāng bāo tāi apparently means 'twin' in Mandarin but I could be wrong. Feel free to correct me.
Why did I put AmeChu in this work of fiction? Well, I considered RoChu but then I remembered I had Russia placed in, well, Russia for school. And if I did have RoChu, this would probably be taking place in China versus in America. Why would APH Russia even want to stay in America?
I am slightly basing this city that they are living in off of cities in the mid costal region of California such as Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. I'm not saying that is where they are but I'm just sort of basing it off of such. I dunno, I visited Sunnyvale a few weeks ago and I thought that towns around that part of California were really diverse so I thought it would be pretty good inspiration for the setting.
Names and Characters
Mei – Taiwan
Li Xiao (Leon) – Hong Kong
Anri – Belgium
Lars – the Netherlands
Nikolaas – Luxembourg
Yao – China
Alfred – America
Liên – Vietnam
Flamboyant Polish Kid – Poland
Michelle – Seychelles
Kiku – Japan
Yong Soo – South Korea
Chao – Macau
Léonne – Monaco
Erzsébet – Hungary