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Thanks to: Sora Resi ~ Big Eater Queen ~ Kgelschreibert ~ sweetoreo33

Chapter 3

Arthur awoke when he felt a chill. His arms and legs already showed goosebumps, and he rubbed his hands over the expanse of his upper arms to make the blood flow faster. He let out a breath and saw it puffing out like smoke. He looked out the windshield at the sky, which was dark, but light at the same time. The small clock said four o'clock in the morning.

He looked behind at the back of the van and sighed. The trunk was wide open, rendering the entire back of the van open. Arthur sighed when he saw the twins lying on their stomachs, chins propped up on their hands, squished together like sausages. He saw Peter shivering in his sleep next to them and was about to shout to cover themselves up when he heard their conversation.

"-and I don't ever wanna go home."

"But Alfred, what if we never find a real home?"

"I don't care! Dad was the meanest man alive!"

"Shh. We don't want to wake up Francis."

"Or Arthur," Alfred added as he turned around to check on his older siblings. Arthur feigned being asleep and opened his eyes once the conversation continued.

"I think we'll find a home. Maybe not now, or this month, or this year, but I think we will."

"Okay, I belie-"

"And if not, I'll use my superpowers to save us!"

Matthew giggled at that, and Arthur found himself smiling.

Matthew shrugged. "Okay." He rubbed behind Kumajirou's left ear.

The little ones sat in silence for a moment. Arthur heard Francis rustling around and looked over, seeing his older brother's blue eyes open slightly. The French boy's mouth moved to speak but Arthur placed a finger to his lips. He gestured towards the back of the van, and Francis's eyes followed. A small smile came to his lips, and he closed his eyes again.

Arthur listened as his breaths evened out and his shoulders slumped. He heard a loud rumbling noise.

"If we were still at home," Alfred began speaking solemnly. "Dad would have already slugged my tummy."

Matthew simply stared out the back of the van. The sun was just rising, and the beautiful colors shone over every nook and cranny of the barren road.

"Mommy's eyes looked like that," Matthew noted.

His younger twin turned towards him, a small frown on his face. "Which mommy?"

"Peter's." He thought for a moment. "I wonder where she went… I hope she didn't leave on purpose like our mommy did."

There was a very long pause.

"N-no, she would n-never do tha-at," Alfred sniffled. Arthur's eyes widened and he almost whipped his head around to see proof. Alfred never cried; even when he was hit by their father, it was more like one quick release of breath.

Peter woke up and rubbed his eyes. A few tears escaped his eyes when he saw Alfred crying, "Mommay?"

This set Matthew off. His cry was more like a little wail that died off in the end, and ended up as silent crying. "I want mommy!"

Francis jolted awake when he heard Matthew crying and immediately located the source of the noise. He opened his door and speed walked around the van. Matthew lifted his arms and was immediately swept into the strong and graceful arms of his eldest brother.

Arthur decided to crawl through the gap between the front seats to reach his little brothers. He couldn't help but realize that most of their "freedom" had been filled with crying.

He petted Alfred's head then went to hold Peter. "How about we go about eating breakfast then, hmm?"

Matthew and Alfred nodded. Peter followed their example. Francis set Matthew on the ground and Alfred followed. Peter climbed out on his own and nearly gave Arthur a heart attack. Francis grabbed the granola bars out of the center console of the van and a blanket from underneath his seat. Arthur reached into his glove compartment and fished out the water bottles.

The boys were clearing a small space of land on the other side of the car, picking up rocks and twigs and throwing them into the field behind them. Francis laid out the blanket while Arthur put the food down atop it.

"Ooh, a picnic!" Peter squealed. As he sat down, Arthur wiped away a few forgotten tears stuck on the little boy's chubby cheeks.

"I'm so hungry!" Alfred smiled and reached for two granola bars once he sat on the picnic blanket. He handed one to Matthew. The two boys sat next to each other.

"I bet you are. Criss-cross applesauce, please," Arthur muttered, and the boys obeyed. Alfred and Matthew had completely opposite metabolisms. Matthew could barely ever finish a meal, due to his extremely slow metabolism. His leftovers were always given to Alfred, whose metabolism was unhealthily fast. Still, both boys remained skinny. "Take one, Peter."

Peter giggled and picked out the dried cherries in his food, handing them off to Arthur, who ate them alongside his own granola bar. Francis seemed to grimace while eating his, but that was probably because of his exquisite fare requirements.

Arthur saw Matthew hand off his granola bar to Alfred with what looked to be around five bites taken out of it. His younger twin wolfed the rest down.

Francis poked holes into the lids of the plastic water bottles to make "sippy cups". He forced the boys to drink half of their bottles, to make sure they stayed hydrated.

"I wanna play a game," Matthew whispered.

Alfred smiled. "Let's do Olympics! Like racing and strength and climbing trees and spelling!"

Francis scoffed. "I mustn't dirty my beautiful 'air." A small flip of said golden locks proved his point."

"Hide n' Seek?" Peter suggested.

"Yes," Arthur nodded. "That sounds just dandy."

"ONETWOTHREE NOSE GOES NOT IT!" Alfred slammed his finger to his nose.

"Not it," Matthew placed his right-hand finger on his nose and his left-hand finger on Kumajirou's. "Kuma's not it either."

"Not it!" Peter giggled as he and Francis declared it at the same time.

"Not i- oh, bother. I guess I'll count then." Arthur turned and pressed his face to the side of the van. He cupped his hands around his eyes and began counting to thirty. "One… two… three…"

He heard several footfalls thudding away.

"Twenty one… twenty two…"

The footsteps faded away.

"Twenty nine… thirty! Ready or not, here I come!"

Arthur searched from his spot for a couple seconds before his ears perked with a new noise. It was someone… counting.

"Thirty five. Thirty six."

The Briton smiled. Peter never could hold back from showing off his counting skills. He followed the tiny voice and saw the little boy hiding behind a bush. The two searched but could not find their brothers.

Suddenly, they caught sight of something running off in the distance.

"Francis!" Peter laughed. Their elder brother was running for his life, being chased by a meerkat. Arthur almost yelled in concern, but thought better, and ignored it. If Francis could manage to enrage a meerkat and end up in a game of cat and mouse, he could get out of the situation.

"Ah!" Arthur was suddenly alert at the short noise of distress. He turned his attention to a tall tree and saw Matthew struggling to catch up to his brother, who had nearly climbed to the top.

Arthur mentally blasphemed himself for ignoring the only tree in about fifty square miles. However, when Peter physically slapped his cheek, he snapped back to attention.

Matthew was hanging off a thin tree branch, and Alfred climbing down to help only managed to shake the tree more. Only five little fingers were holding on now.