Waking up a few hours later, Matthew saw Alfred still asleep with spit coming out of his mouth. He chuckled then went downstairs and to the living room to see Arthur looking through the photo album. He walked in quietly and decided to reminisce with dear old Dad. Getting on his knees, Matthew started to grab some pictures and found the last photo they took when Papa was still here.
Alfred was sitting on Arthur's lap holding up those cheesy peace signs while Arthur was trying to get his arms down so he could actually look decent in the picture. Matthew was in Francis' lap holding his Kumajiro bear and looking at the camera shyly while Francis was only paying attention to the camera. Once the camera flashed, Alfred had run out of Arthur's lap while the older gentleman chased the boy around the house.
He chuckled a bit at the photo and almost gave Arthur a heart attack.
"Matthew, don't scare me like that! Damn near gave me a heart attack."
"Oh my gosh Dad, fail." Arthur ruffled his son's hair a bit.
"You were always so quiet Matthew, you always make people feel like there's a ghost in the room. What picture do you have in your hand there?" Arthur gently took the picture out of Matthew's hands and stared at it a bit.
"I remember this. It was the last family picture we took with your father." A frown came on his face as a tear slip out of his eye. That bastard. Why he ever loved him in the first place he would never know. With a heavy heart and no second thought to what he was doing, Arthur tore the picture in half.
Matthew sat there with wide eyes. He tore the last family photo they took. How could he just tear up that memory? Sure Matthew had mixed feelings about Papa now but he still cared for the man no doubt. The two halves fell to the ground like feathers as Arthur looked at them with lifeless eyes filled with sadness and depression.
Sensing the mood coming off his father, Matthew went to place his hand on his shoulder but Dad smacked it away.
"Don't touch me." Then Arthur stood up and gave Matthew some money then grabbed his shoes and jacket.
"I'm going to be out for the night. Be a good boy and make sure your brother doesn't act like an idiot and destroy things again. And use that money to order a pizza or Chinese food." With that, Arthur left and slammed the door.
Alfred walked downstairs and saw Matthew staring at the door. Curiously he walked up to his brother and took the money out of his hands.
"Where'd you get the money?" Matthew was snapped out of whatever daydream he was in and looked at Alfred who was waving the money around. With a snort he took the money back.
"Dad's gonna be out for the night and he gave us money for dinner. What you want? Chinese or pizza?" Alfred sighed. Dad's probably at the nearest bar getting drunk... He thought as he grabbed some of the pizza menus he received through the mail and grabbed the one he was looking for. Matthew gave a little chuckle as he took the menu from his brother.
"Vargas Villa Pizzeria? Are you just ordering from here so that Feliciano can deliver it to our place and you can flirt with him?" Alfred blushed a bit and scratched the back of his head. It wasn't a secret that Alfred liked him but everyone just HAS to make the joke that he and Natalia are a thing.
"I can't help it if I like Feliciano! He's just so cute and those eyes, Mattie, those eyes! I can't help it. Wanna just go down there and hang out?" Matthew nodded and grabbed his jacket and shoes like Alfred and the twins were out and walking to Vargas Villa Pizzeria. It was convenient for them since they lived on a main street so they could easily walk into town.
They finally got to the pizza place just in time to see Lovino heading out muttering a string of swears in a pizza slice costume. Alfred and Matthew suppressed their urge to laugh as Lovino flipped them off. One of them would have taken a photo but that would not be cool. Finally, they just busted out laughing as the Italian growled more.
"Hey hamburger-loving bastard! If you're just here to see my brother then just go in there, he's sitting in a booth with that damn otaku, the freaky cat lover and both of the potato bastards." Alfred stumbled in laughing while Matthew stayed outside with Lovino who was steaming mad.
"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you have gone inside with your idiota brother laughing at me?"
"I should have but you looked like you needed the company. Why are you in a pizza costume anyways?"
Lovino groaned. "My grandfather made me do this to see if we could attract more customers. I only have to stay out here until I get rid of all these fucking menus." Matthew chuckled a bit as he took half of the menus from the Italian who looked at him with a questioning eye.
"I'll help you. Besides, you look like you don't want to be in that pizza costume for long." Lovino blushed a bit as he and Matthew started to try advertising while Alfred joined Feliciano and the others inside.
Feliciano instantly ran to Alfred hugging him. The other four at the table were just staring until Feliciano let him go. Blushing furiously at what he'd just did, and let out a nervous laugh.
"Ve... um... nice to see you Alfred." Feliciano stammered with a little smile on his face. Alfred chuckled a bit then he and Feliciano walked over to the table.
"Hey dudes! How's it hanging?"
"Alfred-san, how are you doing?" Kiku said trying to be as polite as possible.
"I'm well. So, anyone want to explain why Lovino's outside in a pizza costume?"
"One of the usual people would be in the costume but he skipped out tonight so he made Lovino get in the costume. It's all apart of some little get more customers idea Grandpa has!" Feliciano explained with his innocent smile still on his face. Romulus came out of the back room with a little bit of dough on his face and a pizza box then set it in front of Feliciano.
"Feli, you have a delivery. Address is on the box." Then Romulis stopped to look at Alfred then a warm smile came on his face.
"Alfred! It is good to see you! How is your family? Are your father and brother well?"
"They're fine Mr. Vargas." What Alfred really wanted to say was, My dad is a fucking drunk that constantly goes out and my brother is still as quiet as usual. What did you do to your hair? Romulus pat his head with a gentle smile.
"I'm afraid little Feli can't stay much longer, he has a delivery to make." Feliciano got out of the booth and Alfred, not wanting to miss out on a chance to be alone with him, got up too.
"Um, Feliciano, would you mind if I came with you?" Feliciano smiled and grabbed his hand and out the door they were. They were walking to the destination when Feliciano started to shiver. Alfred noticed this and took his own jacket off and placed it on Feliciano's shoulders. The Italian was a bit suprised but Alfred had blushed a bit.
"You looked like you needed it more than I did." Feli smiled as they got to the house and Alfred rang the door bell. The door opened to reveal a teen their height with brown hair and green eyes.
"Ciao Toris! Did you order this pizza?" The teen known as Toris nodded and handed the money to Feliciano who, in return like he's supposed to, gave Toris the pizza and the latter closed the door. They left and were walking back to the pizza place when Feliciano entwined his hand with Alfred's. Alfred blushed and looked at him but Feliciano kept the smile on his face and stepped closer to Alfred's side.
A small yawn escaped Feliciano's lips as Alfred picked him up bridal style. How can they not see that the way they're acting now is clearly a gateway for them to date. Evryone could see it, why couldn't they? They got back to the pizza place just in time to see Matthew and Romano heading in the pizzeria. Setting him down with a little regret, Alfred and Feliciano went inside the pizzeria.
When they walked inside they saw Lovino getting out of the costume and Matthew ordering a pizza at the counter. Alfred almost forgot why they were there. The pair looked at each other with shy faces. Feliciano kissed Alfred on the cheek then ran to join his friends after he gave Alfred his jacket back. Matthew walked to his brother and chuckled as the to walked out with their dinner.
As they walked through the front door, Alfred took the pizza and went into the kitchen while Matthew set the alarm. When Matthew got to the kitchen, Alfred had already gotten out plates and a couple slices for himself. The blond sat down at the table and got a slice for himself. All was silent for a couple minutes before Matthew asked,
"Did you and Feliciano make it official?" Alfred nearly chocked on his pizza but swallowed as he calmed down a bit. Matthew was still waiting for an answer and Alfred was taking too long with it.
"No. I don't know how I can make it official with him. I might ask him at the Halloween Dance. He's so into me Mattie! He even kissed my cheek! Normally he'd be kissing that damn Ludwig's cheek, but no, this time, the kiss was MINE! ALL MINE!" Matthew chuckled as his thoughts traveled back to earlier with Arthur. The thought he actually tore that picture. One of the best moments of his life, torn in half then dropped to the ground like nothing. Alfred caught onto his brother's mood quickly and wiped some of his hair out of his eyes.
"What's wrong Mattie? Didn't get to kiss Lovino?"
"It's not that, it's something else." Alfred didn't have a clue but urged his brother to continue on. "Remember the last family photo we had when Papa was still here? When I woke up I saw Dad going through old photos and I decided to go through too and found that photo. Dad looked at it for a bit before he tore it in half and dropped the pieces like nothing. I tried to put my hand on his shoulder but he smacked it away and gave me money for food. I could tell he was mad by the way he slammed the door and drove out of the driveway." Alfred could feel anger flare up when he heard what their father had done.
"That bastard!" Alfred said earning a sigh from Matthew.
"Maybe Dad had his reasons. We never know what runs through his mind 24/7."
"I think I have an idea. Booze. That's all." Alfred said as he walked out the room leaving Matthew wondering why. Why does Alfred always have to say stuff like this about Dad?
Arthur was at the bar staring down at his glass of whiskey. He contemplated what his life was up until now. One son so quiet you'd think he's a mute. Another disrespecting him at every given moment. And to top it all off, he and his husband were legally separated. He looked down at the ring he was wearing. Why do I even keep this thing on? He thought as he put it in his pocket. One of his drinking buddies caught the mood.
"Did you have a rough day Arthur?" His buddy asked as Arthur scoffed a bit.
"What's it to you Yao?" Yao put his hands up in a way as if a cop had entered the bar and pulled the gun out over a misunderstanding.
"I was just seeing if you're okay. Family trouble again? Or are you still mopping over the 99th job loss?"
"That job was shit. But, I guess you could say family trouble is bothering me." At that moment, Yao ordered two beers for him and Arthur.
"Let it out my child." He said passing the beer to Arthur who took it with an almost trembling hand.
"I guess my problems really start when I found out my husband cheated on me! I kicked him out for good reason but then I have to waver the responsibility of taking care of car insurance, a mortgage, cooking, cleaning, laundry, managing to hold down a decent job long enough to by some useless crap and, to put the icing on the fucking cake, one disrepectful loud-mouthed son who fucking shoots me down at every fucking opprotune moment and another one who is like a fucking ghost because he's too much of a pansy to fucking talk! On top of all that, I don't have any FUCKING help!" Arthur slurred as the alcohol slowly started to take effect on him. Yao starred at him.
"Stop complaining! At least you still get to see your sons each and everyday! I barely get to see mine as it is..." Yao said as he drank a little.
"Why do you say that?"
"Things aren't going great for me. My ex-wife isn't letting me see my sons and daughter. She says I'm not worthy of visiting my children, who I helped in creating, because I'm a coward. When things were obiously going bad in our relationship when we were married, she goes and says that I was too scared to divorce her! I only stayed with her because I wanted things to get better which is why I tried to get us into couples therapy but she wouldn't go through with it. Was I a coward for just trying to keep all six of us together as a family?" Yao cried. Arthur didn't know how bad Yao had it. Sure he'd known he'd been having a rough time recently but he didn't know it was like this.
"You aren't a coward. Yao, you had a family you loved dearly and you tried to keep it together no matter what but then your ex didn't want that and broke it up. If you really want to see your children then take her to court for visitation rights."
"If I CAN! She's telling them bad things about me, I can tell. Telliing Im Young Soo, Li Xiao Chun, Kiku, and Xiao Mei that I have a drinking problem and telling them lies about the time they were younger! When I tried to talk to Kiku when I saw him one day he just pretended not to know me and walked away."
"I'd say just at least try to open up to at least one of them. Which one loved you the most?" Yao chuckled at that a little.
"I really can't say which one because all four of them loved me. I remember when they were younger they'd always play a game called 'Who does Daddy love more?' It was really cute when they played because they would always try to one-up each other. But then I had to say that I loved all four of them equally so I never picked my favorite." Yao had a slight flashback of the last time they played that game.
"Daddy!" Four voices shouted as Yao looked up from his newspaper and looked at his four children. He smiled as he put his newspaper down. If there was one thing Yao loved more than anythiing in the world it was his family and he's do anythiing to make sure they're happy.
"What do you need?"
"We want to play 'Who does Daddy love the most!'" Xiao Mei said jumping up in the air. Yao almost died of laughter when they played this game. Li Xiao Chun went first.
"Daddy loves me the most because I cook breakfast for everyone when I wake up first!"
"Nu-uh!" said Im Young Soo, "Daddy loves me the most because I haven't fought with anyone in a while!" If there was one thing Yao was happy about is that one of his sons hasn't fought in a while.
"You're wrong! Daddy loves ME the most because I eat my veggies like a good big girl does!"
"You're wrong sister! Daddy loves me the most because I do all of my homework and I help him out when he needs it!" That lead to some bickering between the four. Yao had to step in again.
"Now now you guys. Daddy doesn't have favorites because I love you four and your mother all the same." They all nodded, but Kiku looked a little bit sad.
"Do you really love Mommy? We heard you two yelling at each other last night." Yao sighed a little.
"Kiku, no matter what me and your mother say to each other, I still love her though it doesn't seem like it. Remember that no matter what happens and whether you like it or not, I'm still going to be there and I'm your father" At the moment, Lin walked in and sttod in the doorway.
"Yao... I have to talk to you."
The flashback ended there. Yao couldn't bear to go even farther in that flashback. While Arthur can complain, he really didn't know what he had. Yao stood up and paid his tab.
"Arthur, while you can complain about how your life is now and your your kids are, you really have no idea how lucky you really are." And with that, Yao left the bar and left Arthur to think for a bit. Maybe he WAS lucky and didn't know it. That night Arthur had to spend the night in the back room of the bar because the owner wouldn't let him drive drunk which was a really good idea.
May I am lucky and I just don't know it. He thought as he fell asleep.
Me: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in a while but this chapter took WAY longer to write than I expected! Anyways, did anyone like the little AmeIta and Romanada fluff I added in? I wanted to experiment with a couple crack pairings a little and I decided to use those two pairings because I thought they were adorable! And that leads me to my next point, should I also focus on China's (Yao's) problems as some sort of side drama? I kind of want to do it but at the same time, I don't want to make any of my viewers unhappy with some stuff I may or may not bring into a story because when I write I want people to enjoy it and almost have a feel on what the character feels. Idk, I'll cross that bridge next chapter. Remember to vote on the poll and that's it. This is OrgyMemberXVII signing off! Bye :D