Picture Perfect
Chapter Two: Alley-Ways.
WOOT! Two chapters in a row! I'd like to thank all of you out there who are reading this. And please, do not forget to review! Review's keep my inspiration going :) Now, Poland if you will~
Poland: Like, she totally doesn't like, own Hetalia! If she did, then I would like, totally not talk like this!
Moving on now, here is chapter 2 my friends. Enjoy.
Emil yawned as he woke up, wincing as the sunlight coming from his window hit his face as he sat up.
He heard the noises of breakfast coming from downstairs and assumed Tino and Berwald were making breakfast. That meant Lukas and Matthias where either arguing or Matthias was being tie strangled again.
Great, alone again….
Even if he wasn't a morning person, a little "Hey, get up sunshine!" would've been appreciated…
He shrugged it off and grabbed a clean set of clothes and headed to the shower to wipe away the smell of egg nog that still clung to him from last night. Yuck.
He stretched as he entered the bathroom and closed the door and it clicked as he locked it. Hopefully Matthias hadn't used up the hot water again…..
Of course, Matthias had indeed used up the hot water. AGAIN.
Emil gave a silent curse under his breath as he dried off his hair and put on his usual outfit of a grey lopapyesa* and white jeans with light grey sneakers. He quietly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen
"Ah, good morning!"
He turned to view Tino, who was smiling at the boy as Berwald helped him make pancakes and eggs.
Emil gave a small nod in return and took his seat at the table next to Lukas. Lukas turned and was about to say something before Matthias interrupted
"Yo Emil! Where'd ya go last night?"
He asked with a curious head tilt, his hair still defying gravity as usual.
Emil gave him a cold stare "To my room. Fell asleep." He said as Tino handed him a plate with two pancakes and some maple syrup.
Matthias pouted "Really bro? We needed you for Cards Against Humanity!"
Liar. That game only needs four players. Four.
He shrugged "Sorry, I didn't want to be downstairs. I like being alone."
More like I don't really have a choice otherwise.
Matthias pouted "You're no fun E-ACK! L-LUKAS! I CAN'T B-BREATHE!"
He was interrupted as, once again, he was being tie strangled by the taciturn blonde
Lukas seemed to be ignoring the fact that Matthias' face was turning purple as he spoke "We know, brother." He said with a small nod before he decided to let the Dane breathe again.
Tino was worrying over Matthias, trying to help him recover from near suffocation while Berwald held his usual stoic face as he stood by his 'wife', as he had labeled Tino.
Emil sighed and pushed away his half-eaten breakfast, taking a sip from his orange juice before getting up "I'm going out." He said before exiting the room with a response.
After a quick trip to his room to retrieve his camera, he headed out and began to look for any scenes he could take a picture of.
As he walked down the streets and sidewalks of the little town, he thought.
What am I looking for this time?
The sky? Still life? Laughter? ….Hope?
He stopped as he heard music nearby.
That's it, life!
He turned around and bolted down the street, following the sound of music that eagerly pulled him towards the scene of the marvelous melody.
He stopped in front of an alley-way and nearly grinned at what he saw.
A young dark haired teen was singing to a song to a small crowd of friends and strangers as a song played over the portable stereo.
He stood on a piece of cardboard, microphone in hand and an outfit you would perhaps see on Eminem.
The dark dingy look of the trash littered alley-way contrasted against the life written on the faces of the people and the vivid emotion on the singing teens face. The people were giving off a bright aura, they were just lively!
It was all a contradiction.
A perfect contradiction.
He got his camera ready and waited for the sound, refraining from tapping his foot to the beat of the music for fear of taking a blurry or shaky photo.
"Everybody says, everybody says!
I don't wanna be like anybody else!
Everybody says, everybody says!
I don't wanna be like anybody else!
Everybody says, everybody says!
I don't wanna be like-be like!"
The emotion exploded as a drum rang in the song and he snapped a picture. As the photo came out, he held it nervously and then took it in.
Again, perfection.
The scene was so lively, yet held a calm tone of sorts thanks to the surroundings. The people where cheering and had on smiles. Some were clapping, others jumping. The singer had a look of concentration on his face and a spark of a rebellious spirit in his stormy grey eyes as he sang the lyrics into the microphone.
It looked like he had captured the moment of a soon-to-be pop singer.
He held the photo carefully as to not bend or wrinkle it and ran back to his home, bursting in without explanation and running to his room.
He shut the door, though it might have been a slam, and locked it before dashing to his closet and quickly grabbing the shoe box full of his other photos.
He placed it in with care and let a grin spread on his face for a bit as he stared at the scene in pride and joy. Just looking at it filled him with that lively feeling!
He closed the box and then held it to his chest, a full blown grin on his face as he thought of all the photos in here and all the emotion in them. The years he had spent filling several shoe boxes up with these priceless scenes of emotion! Yes, he had five other boxes full of these wondrous photos!
But never, NEVER, would they ever be shown to anybody else.
They just wouldn't understand, and just by that action the picture would be ruined.
So they would stay in there, he'd take them out every few days and look through the pictures for a few hours.
He liked how each one was different; none of them matched or fit another. None of them looked like they would belong with one another in a million years! Each one was like a kind of outcast.
Like him.
It was a comfort he supposed, and one he'd keep for sure.
Suddenly the door opened and Lukas was in the doorway.
Emil jumped at the sudden intrusion and jumped up, quickly hiding the shoe box again before turning to his brother with an irritated expression "What?!"
Lukas quirked an eyebrow in question before shrugging it off "Tino made lunch. Come eat." With that, he departed.
Emil waited until he heard footsteps going down the stairs and shut his closet door with trembling hands.
He had almost seen, he had to keep the boxes safer now!
He knew Lukas would be at least a bit suspicious at the sudden reaction, who wouldn't be?
He silently walked out of his room, closing the door behind him and then silently creeping down the stairs
Just play it cool, it'll be alright. They can never tell when you're lying anyways. They never can.
At this point, he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad one. He just knew it would be needed in this situation.
As he entered the kitchen, all hell broke less. At least it did in his mind.
"What was in the box?"
The question was short and straight to the point. To attempt to ease out the answer, just a blunt sentence that was enough to make the Icelander grow cold
He gave a look of slight confusion "What do you mean was in it? It was a shoe box, so shoes of course." Emil responded coolly as he sat down next to Lukas.
He felt the others staring at them curiously, even Matthias was being silent.
Lukas hummed "You seemed in a hurry to put it away. Why would you want to hide shoes?" he asked curiously, a suspicious tone in his voice.
Emil sighed, hiding his smirk as he got an idea "It's a secret collection I've been keeping." He said as he took a sip of his Coca-Cola
Lukas looked a little interested about finding something new about his brother "Ah, what is it of?"
"Yeah, tell us Emil!" Matthias chimed with a grin.
Tino smiled "It sounds interesting! Would you mind telling us? Please?" he asked, curiosity shining bright in his eyes.
Even Berwald had given a look of interest at the youngest member of their group.
Emil shrugged "It's just a collection of crayons." He lied.
Matthias looked confused "Crayons? The hell would you collect those?"
Emil shrugged "I like colors. They're nice." He explained as he ate the vegetable soup that had been made with a calm aura
Tino chuckled "Crayons? That's pretty cool!" he said as he began to eat his own bowl of soup "I never knew you liked colors so much!"
Lukas stared at him for a bit before finally accepting the answer "I see." He muttered with a small nod as he directed his attention to glaring at Matthias for the Dane's terrible table manners.
Emil relaxed, that went better than expected. By quite a bit.
The rest of the meal was eaten in the usual manner, Tino being the main conversation starter and Matthias being his usual boisterous self.
After lunch, Emil went back to his room after he thought of something.
Hadn't he locked his door when he came home?
He looked at the doorknob and sighed, it had only been half turned. So that's why Lukas had been able to open it.
With nothing else to do, he took out his phone and plugged in his earphones as he pulled out a box, this time it was black instead of white. It was his special box, full of all the photos that made you feel like crying.
He opened it as he turned on his music.
He pulled out the picture at the very top, his favorite one.
He had taken Lukas' digital camera to take this one, since his camera didn't have the setting he needed.
He had set it up on a tri-pod and positioned it a few feet away from where the scene was.
He set it on a timer and got into position, sitting on the wooden park bench and facing the other way as it was taken.
He jogged over to the camera and he remembered he had shed a tear at the scene.
He was sitting alone on the park bench as the rain poured down heavily, the grey of the sky adding to the loneliness of the scene. A light mist from the rain drops was on the cold grey path in front of the bench, empty as well as puddles had already formed on it. One of them held Emil's reflection and also the storm cloud in the sky. What he loved about this picture…is what made it perfect…
A ray of pure golden sunlight was peeking through the clouds and lighting up the spot next to him, as if he was waiting for someone...
It filled you with a sense of sadness and pity, but the way he had been sitting let you be able to read his thoughts
"I don't need your pity, I like being alone."
But the way he was facing the spot made you think otherwise.
The way his sweater was soaking from the rain and his hair was sticking to his head and was a bit matted here and there; it made him look so sad.
But that hopeful gaze….he couldn't describe it.
It was a perfect reflection of him.
Just perfect.
The next one was a group photo of Christmas a few years ago.
Tino was dressed as Santa and smiling happily, a light blush adorning his face and a childish spark of joy in his eyes as he stood next to Berwald, who he had convinced to wear an elf hat that day.
Lukas was busy shoving Matthias away as the Dane had attempted to surprise hug him during the photo.
Emil was half in the shot; he had been walking away when it was taken.
He found it was too painful to be the odd one out in the photo again and decided to just sneak out of it.
He didn't make it out all the way, but for some reason….he felt compelled to keep the photo.
He gave a small frown as part of the song came on, it was strangely fitting
"I want you to notice when I'm not around.
You're so very special, I wish I was special.
But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo!
What the hell am I doing here….?"
He stopped singing and sighed as he put the photo back and closed the box, hiding it once again in the closet and shutting the door.
He leaned his back against the door and slowly slid down, eventually finding himself sitting on the floor.
A few crystal tears fell from his violet eyes as he stared down at the floor with a mix of pain and sorrow in his eyes, though there was also a strange hollowness in them as well as he sang the last line of the verse
"I don't belong here…."
If he had taken a picture of this scene….
It would have been the most perfect one yet…..
*Lopapyesa: It's an Icelandic style sweater. They are quite beautiful!
Please review and as always,
Keep reading! Also, thank you for all the wonderful views.
Hockey Pucks and Christmas Hugs,
-SwissloveandRussianhugs18
P.S. Who can guess the two songs in here and who were they written by?