Kisu Yori mo Hayaku
Author Note: I would first like to thank everyone that reviewed ((in all honesty I didn't expect many…if any reviews, so those who reviewed made me happy and hyper for the entire day XD)). I would also like to thank mephistocat for the awesome constructive criticism~ It really helped improve the Prologue~
And on a side note the Prologue was last edited on 29 January, so there may be some changes in the previous page that you have not read yet.
Here we go~ I finally have the first chapter up. ^_^ We finally have some explanations for the events presented in the Prologue, but there's still plenty to come of course~ I hope the first chapter isn't too boring~ 'cause I had quite a lot of ground to cover in regard to background/base information. Please remember to consider this a first draft, so that is to say it is not perfect.
Once again, I humbly request the harshest constructive criticism you can offer.
If you don't like something, please don't just tell me you don't like it (that's not very helpful, and a waste of time on your part), tell me why so I can figure out if it's something I can improve on~
Warnings: Light swearing, Yaoi, my writing style…
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Hetalia or Kisu Yori mo Hayaku, but I love them both enough to throw my favorite characters into Kisu Yori's plot and see what happens~ :3
~::*::~::*::~Chapter One: This Strange Lifestyle's Beginning~::*::~::*::~
~.::*::.~
I'm guessing you were rather confused as to what was going on…and why I was married to my teacher.
But don't worry! A hero always explains himself! You see…
~.::*::.~
Two years before Arthur took us in, our parents passed on. I was 14 and Matt- only 9.
Their sudden absence carved a large hole in my heart, within which I stored and suppressed every negative emotion I possibly could, because filling that hole with grief was better than leaving it empty. At least that way I would feel something.
And as for Matt…I assumed responsibility for my only brother and kept him close to me. Because he was all I had left.
That's why when we were tossed around from relative to relative, I didn't bother to create any bonds with them, mostly because they were only taking us in due to obligation…or out of pity. I despised being pitied; a hero didn't need the pity of those who didn't care about him.
Each relative had found some reason or another to avoid taking care of us or send us to yet another extended family member. And with each thinly veiled lie and ridiculous excuse my anger escalated. I grew tired of moving from house to house, each one containing people who had no interest in raising Matt and me.
As much as I hated the obvious transparency of their excuses, something I hated more was how Matt worried himself sick each and every time I accidently let him see how restless and frustrated I was.
After two years of living like that, it became unbearable… so we ran.
At the time I didn't think about the consequences; I didn't think about where we would get money, where we would get shelter, or even where we would get food and water.
I didn't think; I only acted.
But I could never bring myself to regret it, even for a moment, because it was that same impulsiveness that brought Arthur to us.
~.::*::.~
Without keeping track of time after leaving the house with our few belongings, we ended up at a park bench. Having wandered aimlessly for some time we sat there so Matt could rest. With a bit of the little amount of money I had taken with me, I bought a can of juice from a vending machine and handed it to him.
Sitting down, I hung my arms around the back of the bench and stretched out my legs. Lolling my head back I looked up at the sky.
What were we going to do? We barely had any money on us, no shelter to go to and soon nothing to drink or eat. Oh food…when had I last eaten? I would have given just about anything for a nice hot hamburger in that moment. Bringing my head back up, I hesitantly looked to my right.
Sitting just next to me was Kumajirou and next to the toy bear was Matt taking little sips of the juice, his eyes concentrated on the can in his hands. It was his childish way of being angry at me.
When I told him we were leaving he had cried, and throughout that day he had cried time and time again. Now his eyes were red and cheeks flushed pink. I didn't try to talk to him and he didn't even look over at me. A pang of guilt wrapped around my torso, squeezing the air out of it. I could tell Matt was not happy with my decision to run away, but I couldn't leave him behind…I was selfish in that way.
Although, I would have been just as selfish, if not more, if I had run away on my own; either way, I was in a no-win situation.
Just as I turned my head away I heard Matt whisper, "I want to go home."
The guilt squeezed tighter, now wrapping up my windpipe.
"I miss mom and dad."
I couldn't breathe, the lump in my throat prevented that and my eyes were burning too.
The soft longing in his words had finally torn down the wall I had so carefully constructed to keep my emotions jailed.
And every negative feeling I had suppressed for those two years came rushing out without a sound. Two years of grief, of worry, of anger, and of longing, a longing for the two people that would never again enter my life.
The reality of our situation hit me—hard…and all I could do was grit my teeth and look down as the tears finally overflowed and spilled. With my elbows on my knees, I buried my face in my hands, all the while causing tears to smudge across my glasses.
That was when I heard a soft rustle next to me and then a light hand touched my shoulder. When I looked up I saw Matt with an expression so very familiar… though I had only seen it in the mirror, not across my brother's face. It was a serious expression and yet his eyes were so sad. So empty.
But he wasn't crying. No, for the first time I was able to understand how Matt felt when I comforted him. For only a moment, we had switched roles and I was no longer the elder brother.
"Please don't cry, Alfie." He said softly, bringing up a hand to wipe the moisture from one cheek, though he only succeeded in spreading the tears around instead of drying them. I could feel the corners of my mouth twitch upward.
'Alfie' was our mother's nickname for me. I remembered all the times I protested against what I believed to be a girly nickname, and yet that same nickname was what comforted me most.
I pulled his hand away from my face and instead brought him into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry." I whispered into his shoulder, in apology for my rash behaviour, "Matt. I'm so sorry."
"Shh. It'll be ok. I'm with you right?" I almost laughed at the irony; those were the same words I had often used myself. Matt soothed the back of my head, patting my hair in a fashion similar to our mother's.
Never before had I appreciated the thin figure enveloped in my arms so much. I vowed then and there I would make sure Matt would get his happy ending. He deserved nothing less.
And I would become the hero Matt needed, though it never occurred to me that even I would need my own hero. But... a hero didn't need someone else to save him, did he?
When I finally pulled back, Matt had taken the liberty of taking off my glasses and drying them on his shirt before quietly giving them back. After that we continued to sit in silence for a few moments, just taking comfort in each other's presence.
I had gone back to contemplating a way out of that worst case situation when a stranger, a man, approached us. Matt unconsciously took Kumajirou into his lap and wrapped his arms around it; this was a nervous motion of his that I had seen many times before. Surreptitiously, I slipped my arm around him and he scooted closer into my side.
I didn't remember the man's face, but whoever it was; I remember he offered us quite a bit of money. And although what he wanted me to do in return for the money was rather unsavory to say the least, I horrified myself when I actually considered accepting the offer.
But before I could wheedle out as much money as I could out of the man, he came.
He pushed the man aside, causing said man to leave grumbling, but he paid the stranger no mind and instead exclaimed, "Alfred! Do you have any idea 'ow long I've been looking for you?"
Out of everyone that I knew…only Arthur Kirkland, my teacher, had been looking for us.
Deep down, really deep down, I was touched, I really was.
But at the time, he had just chased off a potential source of money and I was already in a foul mood from hunger and worry.
So despite my noticing how crumpled and dirty his suit was, how out of breath he looked, and how frantic he seemed, I could only glare at him with tired eyes.
"What do you want?" I growled, "And don't do that! I need the money to look after Matt!" As I said that I could feel Matt's quivering hand curl around the fabric of my sweater in response to my rough tone. Gently I pulled him closer for comfort, my eyes never leaving Arthur.
He looked somewhat deep in thought and there was a strained pause before he finally said, "Let's go back."
"To where?" I asked angrily. My patience was wearing thin and if he didn't give me a straightforward response—
"…My home." He answered.
My train of thought crashed. It took me a few moments to stutter out my reply under his sharp gaze and emerald eyes that were boring into me, gauging my reaction.
"We don't need your help…or your sympathy." I replied but not as strongly as I would have liked.
His own response however, startled me; I must have finally worn out his patience for him to retort back the way he did.
"I'm not offering you my sympathy!"
'Then why the hell are you here?' is what I was thinking when I finally snapped.
I sat to my full height and brought Matt even closer, placing a protective hand on his head.
I snarled sarcastically, "Really? Then will you marry me and take care of us?"
Arthur was clearly taken aback looking stunned momentarily. I grinned derisively as his eyes widened briefly. But…I didn't expect him to retaliate in the way he did.
Almost immediately recovering, he roared back, "Yes! I WILL!"
.
..
...
...
...What?
I wasn't serious when I said that!
I was irritated and tired and hungry…and…and I wasn't thinking clearly, right? Thousands of protests rose up in my throat and yet for some reason all of them died then and there when Arthur grabbed my wrist and I felt what little will I had left crumble.
I once said that a hero didn't need someone else to save him. Yet there Arthur was, suddenly a hero in my eyes.
I followed mutely when he proceeded to drag me, Matt and our few belongings to his home.
~.::*::.~
I didn't remember much of what happened after that since my mind was still in the process of wrapping around the fact that my teacher had accepted my impromptu proposal.
When I finally snapped out of my daze, I was sitting in front of a simple yet surprisingly tasty dinner. Looking around I realized I was inside Arthur's flat; it had a rather cozy feeling to it.
The layout of the flat was very interesting: From the entrance there was a shoe closet directly to the right and a narrow hallway straight ahead. Farther down the hall I could see three doors on the left and two on the right. We had gone down to the farthest door on the right; it led into the kitchen and I found that the kitchen connected to the living room, but there was no wall between the two. The only things partitioning the two rooms were the tiles of the kitchen and the hardwood paneling of the living room as well as the simple square dining table placed in the middle.
I would find out later that one of the doors on the right side of the hallway led to the only bathroom, which was nestled between the two bedrooms, one of which also functioned as Arthur's study.
No matter where I looked, there wasn't a single waste of space in his flat, everything seemed to have its place.
Back at the dinner table, I felt the slightly damp towel I had hung around my neck and shoulders and remembered Arthur had offered each of us a bath that we gladly took. I looked over at Matt who was already digging into his food, crumbs sticking to the corners of his mouth, but he didn't seem to mind.
Looking back down at the food, I was reminded by my stomach as to how hungry I was and so I proceeded to eat what I would later find out to be one of the only (edible) dishes Arthur was capable of making: Fish and Chips. (I never really understood why he called French Fries, "Chips." Thankfully I decided against asking him about that at the time).
As we were finishing up dinner, Arthur went over to Matt to brush away the crumbs left on his face from the fish. Once satisfied, Arthur smiled broadly and patted Matt's head.
"You've worked hard haven't you by looking after your brother?" He asked gently. Matt nodded shyly. Briefly he went back to the kitchen and pulled out a small box of hard candy from the cabinet, taking out one piece he handed it to Matt, "For your hard work."
Matt looked surprised initially but he wrapped his fingers around the sphere of candy as his eyes lit up in a way I hadn't seen since before our parents funeral. Matt loved any kind of sweets in general, but the best part was the fact that he smiled. It was something I missed the most in the past two years.
A rush of affection for my young brother filled me with warmth. The precious happiness I felt in that moment welled up in my chest, and for one moment I really believed things would get better.
And I knew I had no one to thank but Arthur.
~.::*::.~
Arthur had let us stay the night in the guest room/study after mentioning briefly that he would go out in the morning to get the marriage documents. Needless to say, I could barely go to sleep, and when I did, my mind tossed and turned with one dream after another. The study had a large bed in it, and judging by the mass of papers on the desk, I guessed that Arthur often worked 'till he fell asleep in this room often. Through out the night I envied how peacefully Matt slept next to me, even though I was also glad that we finally had a place to stay.
~.::*::.~
The next morning I found myself along with Matt and Arthur back at the dinner table, the documents lying in front of me. As I watched Arthur filling out the formalities of the paper it finally sank in that he was actually serious about doing this.
He was so focused on the form that I wasn't sure if he heard me when I asked, "Are you serious? You do realize you're my teacher, right?" When he didn't respond a thought crossed my mind, 'He must be serious, why else would he go so far as to even risk his job? And this way, Matt will be guaranteed a somewhat stable home…'
"Are you really sure?" I asked again then hesitated before adding, "…but…I'd be grateful if you can take care of Matt."
Pausing the scratching of his pen on the paper, Arthur didn't even look up when he answered, "Well, then there's no problem, don't you think?"
"But—" I started.
"There." He cut me off as he finished signing his name as I had done earlier and held up the paper for me and Matt to see, "From tomorrow onwards, we'll be enjoying a new lifestyle."
'He's really serious about this…' I couldn't help but think as I saw his small smile.
~.::*::.~
And just like that…
Because of that moment's impulse
Our marriage lifestyle began.
~.::*::.~
Author's Note: For the next chapter, I'm planning on writing what happens in this chapter from Arthur's point of view, so some depth can be added to the story. The next chapter will also give somewhat of a logical explanation for Arthur's agreeing to marry Alfred~
And...XD~ Alfred's nickname...i felt the need to give him one, 'cause in Kisu Yori mo Hayaku the little brother calls Fumino, "Buncha" or something along the lines of that~ If anyone comes up with a different nickname please suggest it- unless, well, you're satisfied with "Alfie."
Again, please note that this is a work in progress and it will be undergoing numerous edits and revisions. So it's a good idea to check once in a while when I have edit notes at the top of the page and in my story summary.
~ If you have a moment…spare me a review? So I can improve, yes? ~ :3
