A/N: Anyone else super excited for Finland and Sweden's Hata Futte Parade version song? I can't find it right now even though it's already come out... /sigh...
I hope you enjoy!
The children were all playing on the playground. Ludwig and Berwald were sitting at the small bench under a tree, keeping an eye on them while they made idle chat.
"Feliciano's been fine. It's still a bit awkward talking to Mr. Vargas though…" Ludwig looked out at the children on the jungle gym. "Feli really wants a kid."
"Tino w'nts one too."
"I thought you two got a dog instead?"
"We d'd. T'no named him Hanat'mago." Berwald left out the part when Tino really wanted to name the poor dog Bloody Hanatamago.
Ludwig sighed. "Feli is afraid of dogs. Blackie, Aster and Blitz live with my dad right now and he has a habit of picking up stray cats all the time."
Out of the corner of his eye, Ludwig saw a flash of white. He turned his head to see what Gilbert was doing, but didn't spot the little troublemaker. Ludwig scanned the expanse of the playground and found Gilbert by the small grove of trees, playing a game with a few other kids. It at least looked like he wasn't making any trouble.
"Ah. I th'nk that's one of y'ur kids, Ludw'g." Berwald said, pointing to a small blonde child. The kid was sitting on the ground, crying.
The large German teacher stood up after rubbing his face with mirth. He trekked past the monkey bars and through the sandbox and barely missed walking into another kid running past him. Next to the large, wooden swing set, more like hiding behind it was Matthew Williams, crying.
Ludwig squatted down in the wood chips. "Matthew, why're you crying?" He patted the blonde's back.
The boy wiped his eyes and sniffed. "A-Alfred sat on me on the swing and then I-I-Ivan sat on me and then Ismael thought I was A-Alfred and hit me." The boy started crying again. "I-I don't know what Alfred did to make Ismael mad."
Ludwig sighed. Ismael had a bad reputation for mixing the Williams-Jones twins up and beating up Matthew each time Alfred did something to annoy him. As for Matthew being sat on… That happened almost daily. It was like the child was invisible… except when mistaken for Alfred.
The German rubbed Matthew's back. "You need to stop crying, Matthew." He coaxed the boy to stand up and the two walked back to the bench that Berwald was still sitting at. The large Swede smiled at Matthew.
"H'w are you, l'ttle one?"
Matthew paled. "I-I-I'm fine. T-Thank you, Mr. Oxenstierna. He sat down in-between the two men.
"Are you alright now, Matthew? Do I need to talk to Ismael or your brother or Ivan?" Matthew shook his head.
"N-No. I'm fine… I'm sorry for causing trouble…"
"It's fine, Matthew. It's my job to look after my students." Ludwig patted the boys head. If only his personality could rub off on Gilbert.
The small blonde smiled at the two teachers. "T-Thank you." He looked around. "W-What are you two always talking about? I-If that's okay to ask…"
"It's alright. Mr. Ox and I were just talking about home-life. Nothing you'd find interesting. Why aren't you playing with Gilbert? I thought you were best friends?" He looked at Gilbert still playing by the trees.
Matthew blushed. "G-Gilbert told me that we were 'seeing too much of each other' and told me that I couldn't play with him this week." He smiled lightly.
Ludwig scoffed. "You know Gilbert shouldn't be ordering you around. I've sat in on enough of your talks with Mr. Vargas to know that you let the other kids do what they want and walk all over you." Matthew gave a knowing smile and glanced at his feet. "But, Gilbert is your friend and he shouldn't be ordering you around." When would Gilbert get past his over-sized ego and see that he really cared for the small blonde?
"I know… Mama says that too. She says that someday someone's going to make me believe that the moon is made of cheese. I don't mean to be like that… I just don't want to be mean to anyone." Matthew looked at each man. "What do you think, Mr. Ox?"
"I w's th'nking of T'no." Matthew and Ludwig blushed.
"T-T-That wasn't what I meant, Mr. Ox." The boy laughed nervously. "I-I meant do you think someone will ever make be believe the moon is made of cheese?"
"W'll, you do b'lieve wh't ever s'me one tells you…"
