Walking into his house, he was greeted by the smiling faces of his parents. Both were sitting on the sofa, side-by-side, their eyes glued to the television screen. It was the perfect image of a happy couple - well, it would have been to anyone who didn't know them.

Alfred could see the way his mother kept shooting his father side-ways looks, filled with disgust, when she thought that no one was looking. He would see the way his father's hands would occasionally curl into fists. In the end it didn't really matter though; he didn't even understand why they bothered to pretend to still like each other. They were divorced now anyway; that pretty much gave them the freedom to express their hate.

"Alfred!" his mother greeted, leaping off the sofa (and looking entirely too happy to do so). "Sweetie, I was looking for you! Where were you?"

Translation: "Why did you leave me alone with that man? If you weren't nineteen, I'd ground you!"

"Alfred, you're mothers been searching all over the place for you" his father laughed.

Translation: "The bitch wouldn't shut up."

"I was out with Feliks, Feliciano and Ludwig" Alfred explained. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course" his mother laughed. "I just thought we could spend some family time together."

Translation: "With you here, I wouldn't need to look at the bastard's face."

"Yeah, after all this is a time for family" his father smiled. "You're brothers getting married in a few days - to that wonderful Natalya..."

Translation: ...okay there was no translation for that. For some strange reason, both his parents adored Natalya.

"I'm actually going out today" Alfred told them. "Feliciano, Feliks, Ludwig and me are thinking off...uh...driving somewhere."

His mother cocked her head to the side in confusion. "You don't have a car, sweetie" she pointed out.

"Well, no" Alfred admitted. "Actually, I was going to ask Arthur if I could borrow his."

Both his parents burst into laughter.

"Well, good luck with that" his father snorted. "You know how that boy is about his possessions..."

Alfred shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to ask" he replied. '...Or steal...'

"Right then" he took a step back and smiled at them. "You guys go back...to doing whatever you were doing. I'll be upstairs."

"Wonderful" his mother replied, smiling.

Translation: "Don't leave me."

Shaking his head, Alfred walked away from them and headed upstairs. He thought about his parents and sighed; why the hell did they bother with pretending to be able to tolerate each other? They both hated each other's guts.

Alfred had been young when his parents had divorced. His mother had received custody of Matthew, while his father had ended up with him and Arthur. Of course, he'd seen plenty of both of them, since neither of them seemed to understand the definition of 'divorce' and spent the majority of their time at each other's houses, pretending to like each other.

There were loud voices coming from inside Arthur's room. Arthur had moved out quite some time ago and was only staying with them until the wedding was over. Hesitating for a moment, Alfred knocked on the door.

The voices stopped.

"What do you want?" came his brothers voice, a moment later.

"I need to talk to you" Alfred replied. "...Also, who's in their with you?"

"No one!" Arthur snapped. A moment later Alfred heard his brother whispering; "Just climb out through the window -"

"Who's climbing out through your window?" Alfred asked, loudly.

"Shut up!" Arthur snapped. "You're imagining -"

The door opened and Alfred took a step back in alarm. He sure has hell hadn't been expecting to see the face of the smiling Frenchman in front of him.

"Francis?" he exclaimed. What the hell was their French neighbour doing in Arthur's bedroom. The two had, had an ongoing antagonism for years.

"Bonjour!" Francis grinned. He reached out to ruffle Alfred's hair, ignoring his cry of indignation. The Frenchman turned to Arthur and nodded his head. "I'll see you later, oui?"

"No!" Arthur shook his head, his cheeks red. "Why would I be seeing you later? Preposterous!"

Francis shook his head. "He is horrible at pretending, non?" he chuckled to Alfred, before walking out.

Alfred turned to face his brother.

"Seriously" he said, staring at Arthur oddly. "Why was Francis in here?"

"How should I know?" Arthur demanded.

"...Because he was in your room."

"Oh, just go away!" Arthur scowled darkly. "Why can't you ever not act like an obnoxious brat?"

"...Dude, is that a hickey?" Alfred squinted at his brothers neck. Arthur's hand flew up to cover it, his cheeks red.

"No!" he snapped.

"...Right" Alfred shrugged, deciding that pestering his brother wouldn't get him anywhere. He needed to find a way to convince his brother to lend him his car.

"So..." Alfred, trying to hide his apprehension, smiled at his brother. "As you probably know - unless of course your an idiot - Mattie is getting married this weekend."

"Of course I know that" Arthur snapped, still covering his neck. "Is that all you have to say? If so, just get the hell out."

"Well" Alfred coughed. "You probably think that Natalya is a psycho, and I don't blame you -"

"What?" Arthur cut him off. "Of course I don't think that. Natalya's an outstanding girl."

...Were all his family completely off their rockers?

"You think Psycho's outstanding" Alfred repeated, disbelief coating his words. "What the hell possessed you to say that? Has she bugged your room or something? Wait -" his eyes widened in realization. "Thats what Francis was doing here, right? Natalya sent him to spy on you!"

"Shut up!" Arthur growled. "I told you, I don't know why Francis was here!"

"You're a horrible liar" Alfred snorted. "Anyway, we'll come back to you and Francis later -"

"There is no me and Francis!"

" - I need to ask you if I can -" before he could finish, Arthur cut him off.

"Whatever you're about to say, think very carefully before you continue" he told him. "I don't want you coming up with any schemes that could potentially ruin Matthew's happiness. The boy has finally found the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with; I say, good for him!"

"Well, uh..." okay, this was really not going the way he wanted it to. "...She is a bit crazy..."

"I mean" Arthur continued, ignoring him. "Natalya is a headstrong girl - Matthew tells me she was the one who proposed. Not many girls would have the guts to do that. She obviously cares for him a lot. Not to mention, she is quite pretty. I think Matthew has done quite well for himself, don't you?"

"Uh..."

"You know, Alfred" Arthur squinted at him. "You aren't...jealous are you?"

"What?!" Alfred's jaw dropped open. "Of course not! Why would I be jealous? Psycho's...well, she's psycho!"

"Right, just checking" Arthur smirked slightly, before shaking his head. "Anyway, what was it you wanted to ask me?"

"...Never mind." Alfred took a few steps back, until he was standing out of the room. Arthur gazed at him curiously.

"No really" he pressed. "What did you want to say?"

"It doesn't matter" Alfred shrugged his shoulders. "It was stupid."

"...Yes" Arthur nodded his head, after a brief pause. "It probably was."

A moment later, the door was slammed in Alfred's face.

...

Alfred slammed his fist on the door of the house in front of him. A moment later it opened.

"Feliks" he moaned. "I'm in serious need of help."

"Alfred!" Feliks exclaimed. "God I like, really need to talk to you!"

His friend grasped his arm and dragged him into the house. Alfred allowed him to do this, feeling more than a bit hopeless.

"God, Alfred" Feliks moaned, once the boy had pulled Alfred into his bedroom, and had bolted the door behind him. "I think my heart has like, broken!"

"Really?" Alfred tried to muster up some sympathy but, in the end, could only stare blankly at the wall. "I'm completely screwed too."

"No! You don't understand!" Feliks actually looked ready to burst into tears. "I like, called Liet up before, to ask him if he wanted to be my date to the wedding. But then he - he just - oh my god, it's like, so tragic!"

"Get on with it please."

"Alfred" Feliks' face morphed into a glare. "What is, like, wrong with you?! You're like, being so mean!"

"Sorry" Alfred sighed. "I guess I'm a bit stressed...I'll tell you about it in a minute. You can finish first."

Feliks hesitated for a moment, before continuing.

"So, like I said, I called Liet" his voice wobbled slightly. "And Liet - he called me Katyusha!"

Alfred stared at his friend.

"...Okay" he said at last. "He got your name wrong. It's really not that bad -"

"No, you don't understand!" Feliks wailed. "He like, called me Katyusha and then he like, asked me to be his date to Matthew's wedding!"

"...Okay" Alfred seriously didn't get what the problem was. "Toris asked you out. Why are you so upset - wait, wait, these are tears of joy, right?"

"Like, totally not!" Feliks snapped. "These are like, tears of...of...total misery! Liet wasn't asking me out! He was like, asking Katyusha, whoever that bitch is!"

Alfred frowned slightly.

"Katyusha?" he thought for a moment. "Hey, doesn't Psycho have a sister called Katyusha?"

Feliks paled. "You...you mean the one with like, the massive boobs?" he let out a choked sob. "No! I can't like, compete with that!"

Alfred pat his friend on the back. "There, there."

Alfred felt his phone (well, Matthew's phone) buzz. Hesitating for a moment (he remembered what a mess this phone had gotten him into the last time he'd answered it) Alfred accepted the call and held the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Alfred!" it was Ludwig. "Where are you? Feliciano and me are waiting for you and Feliks."

"I'm at Feliks' house" Alfred told him. "And...forget about going to the chapel guys, it's not happening anymore."

"What? Why not?" Feliciano's voice filled his ears; Alfred realized that the conversation was probably on speaker.

"Hey Feli" he said. "Uh...well, I tried to ask Arthur for his car but...I didn't."

"Why not?" Ludwig sounded confused.

"A lot of things" Alfred replied. "Mainly because Arthur can be fucking intimidating when he wants to be."

"Arthur?" said a voice in the background. "Is that the loser that Francis is fucking?"

"...Whose that?" Alfred's brow furrowed.

"Shut up, Gilbert" he heard Ludwig snap. "Don't worry about it" his friend told him, a moment later. "It's just my idiot brother."

"Oh" Alfred's shoulders slumped slightly. "So yeah...we don't have a car. We don't have anyway to get there."

"Don't worry" Feliciano rejoined the conversation. "I think there might be a way. You two, just come over to Luddy's house, okay?"

"Luddy?" Alfred heard Gilbert snort from somewhere in the background.

"You don't have a car" Alfred pointed out. "And anyway, none of us can drive but Ludwig."

"Trust me" Feliciano told him. "And don't cry, because then I'll cry! And I don't like crying!"

...

After the phone call ended, Alfred and Feliks headed over to Ludwig's house.

It was Ludwig's older brother, Gilbert, who answered the door.

"Oh, it's you losers" Gilbert greeted.

"Like, fuck you Gilbert" Feliks told him, scowling slightly.

"Don't want you anywhere near me, loser" Gilbert retorted. He moved out of the way to allow them into the house.

"LUDWIG!" Gilbert called out, loudly. "YOU'RE UN-AWESOME FRIENDS ARE HERE!"

Ludwig appeared a moment later, shooting his brother an annoyed look.

"I was in the other room" he snapped. "You didn't have to yell."

Gilbert snorted. "Yeah whatever" he retorted. "Talking normally is so un-awesome."

"So, where did Feli go?" Alfred asked Ludwig. The blonde shrugged his shoulders, looking equally as confused.

"He just left the house, saying that he 'needed to make things happy again'" Ludwig replied. "I have no idea what that means."

"This is really un-awesome" Gilbert muttered. "I'm going upstairs to try out that new military simulation game I bought."

He left the room

"You're brothers like, totally weird" Feliks told Ludwig. "You like, know that, right?"

"Of course" Ludwig snorted. "You think this is bad? You should have seen him as a kid. It was hell for everyone involved."

The door suddenly banged open and all three of them leapt into the air, eyes wide.

"ARE WE BEING INVADED?!" Gilbert howled, hurling himself back into the room. "Where's our arsenal?!"

"We don't have arsenal!" snapped Ludwig.

"Dammit!" Gilbert growled. "I told you we needed weapons incase we were ever invaded! What are we going to do now?!"

There was a small cough from the doorway. Everyone turned around, remembering the 'intruder.'

Feliciano smiled at them.

"I'm not invading" he told them. "...Sorry" he added.

Gilbert's shoulders slumped. "Nothing cool ever happens anymore" he muttered, leaving the room.

"Feliciano!" Alfred grinned, hurrying forward. "Did you get us a car?!"

"Yup!" Feliciano beamed, proudly. "I also got you my fratello!"

"Uh..." Alfred stared at him, blankly.

"His brother" Ludwig replied. He turned to face Feliciano. "Why do we need your brother?"

"Well" Feliciano said. "I asked Lovi if we could borrow his car except he's a bit protective of his stuff so he said he'd only let us use it if he was driving. But, uh...that doesn't matter, right? We still have a car and my fratello's really nice!"

"It's fine" Alfred told him. He'd take anything at the moment.

The three of them followed Feliciano out of the house, and over to a small, battered car parked on the side of the street. Feliks' nose wrinkled at the sight of it.

"Like, ugh" he grumbled. "That car like, needs a complete makeover."

"What's that supposed to mean, bastard?" snapped an irritated voice. Alfred glanced up in the direction it had come from.

He stared.

Okay wow he hadn't expected that. He'd sort of expected Feliciano's brother to be...well, like Feliciano. And the guy standing in front of him did look like Feliciano but in a much sexier kind of way (and that was a bit creepy to think, since Feliciano was like...well, not like the little brother he'd never had, since he had Mattie, but definitely like a little brother. Alfred didn't think little brothers were sexy; that was just weird).

However, despite looking a lot like Feliciano, the guy was hot; that much Alfred could admit.

The guy glared at him.

"Stop staring at me, bastard" he snapped. "It's creepy."

He turned away to snap something at Feliciano, and Alfred found himself wondering if modifying the guy's first words to him was possible.

"Guys, this is my fratello, Lovino!" Feliciano said, pointing at his brother in excitement. Lovino continued to glower at his brother, and then moved on to glare at the rest of them.

"I'm Alfred" Alfred told him, trying to keep his voice as normal as possible.

"Don't care, bastard" Lovino snapped.

'...Maybe he's just shy...'

"Like, wow, someone's PMS-ing" Feliks muttered. In a louder voice, he said; "Can we like, stop at my house? I need my supplies for the trip."

"Supplies?" Alfred stopped staring at Lovino, and glanced at his friend in confusion. "Why do you need supplies? We won't be gone that long..."

"I'm like, not leaving on a potential day-long trip without my beauty products!" Feliks retorted. "I'd like, never make it through the night without them!"

"...How the hell long are you bastards planning on taking?!" Lovino demanded. He whirled around to face Feliciano. "What the hell, fratello?! You told me this would only take a few hours!"

"It will" Ludwig assured him.

"Feliks is just paranoid" Alfred added.

"For your sakes, you better hope he is" Lovino muttered. In a louder voice, he said; "Hurry up then - get in the car."

"I can't like, believe I'm getting into such an ugly thing..." Feliks muttered.

Lovino purposely hit him with the car door.

...

AN:

Here's another chapter :D Reviews would be awesome, since I'd love to know what you guys are thinking of the story so far.