Francis hadn't stopped thinking about Arthur since seeing him on Monday. The memory of him standing in the kitchen of the Jones' house, the way his face danced an array of emotions upon his arrival. The way he rejected his proposal to walk him home, to the way he looked as he walked away…
It was driving him crazy! Absolutely crazy! But this is what he got for what he did. How could he blame Arthur for being so angry, so distant? Then again he didn't feel all at fault for how things unfolded, not with what happened in its entirety. Arthur just didn't know all those behind-the-scenes events, and of course he would forget the last parts of their time together, even he had to be reminded of what happened. Even if Gilbert had been unwilling to reveal it all again.
-Sigh-
Ahhh, what to do, what to do? He didn't come to school today, and he also skipped yesterday's 2nd period, though I guess for him it was his first. Hmm, why is he missing so much? What's he doing? Our personal problems shouldn't be causing him to go this far. I mean I'm still here, and my heart is just as broken! I can't stand it! I just want to scream out from the roof how sorry I am! How badly I want him back! How stupid I was! How I'll never hurt him again! Ahhhh, why, why, why?! This is misery!
Sitting in class Francis let his mind continue to run, ignoring the teacher and everything else around him. He wasn't even aware that while his thoughts raced he was tapping his pen on the corner of his desk. This was driving some of his classmates crazy, one of which was Roderich Edelstein, a relatively pompous fellow senior and childhood arch nemesis to The Trio. No matter how he tried to get Francis' attention to get him to knock it off, Francis was too lost in his own world to notice. It took Gilbert throwing a paper ball at him before he finally snapped out of it, and the look he sent Gil was supposed to be nasty, but Gil just snickered and pointed to the whiteboard.
The teacher had added his name to the side under the 'detention' heading. He shot Gil a look that said
What! Why? How did that happen?
Gil just kept snickering. He pointed at the paper ball he had thrown at him a bit ago. Francis unwrapped it and saw Gil had scribbled out a message that read 'your fucking pen tapping was so annoying, princess Edelstein complained, so she put your name up there. Sucks to be you, loser!'
Francis shot Roderich a much nastier glare than the one he tried to give Gil. But whereas Gil had just laughed it off as nothing, being friends and all, Roderich returned it, or tried to at least, he wasn't nearly as intimidating as he thought he was. Now the brown haired girl sitting behind him, now SHE was scary. When Francis got caught in her gaze, he whipped his head back to the front in a heartbeat. Roderich's girlfriend Elizabeta Héderváry was clearly the bigger badass, and as the jokes went, the one who wore the pants in that relationship.
As the bell rang for the end of class to head toward 6th period Francis was called up to get his little pink slip. Gil walking out ahead of him now laughing in full at the situation. He waited for Francis though right outside the door, flashing Roderich and Elizabeta his tongue as they passed.
"You're such an idiot Gilbert! Go rot in hell already." Elizabeta's words weren't necessarily empty, but she never truly meant her insults.
"Ignore him Eliza; he's a waste of time." Roderich ushered her along and they left Gil where he was.
"Whatever, princess, and same to you Eliza, meet you there you hag!"
"No wonder why you're alone; if you talk to women like that then your only option is men! Not that any of us will have you either, my friend~"
Francis came out and was folding his detention slip into his jacket pocket. He could hear the exchange in the classroom, and didn't actually care what Gil said to either of them. Though they all did like Elizabeta, she just happened to have strange taste in men. Roderich on the other hand? Eh, give or take, and most days it was take.
"Aw, don't say that Francis, there's someone out there who can come to love our friend here." Antonio had come up from another room a few down from their own.
"What the hell ever, who needs that crap!" Gil started down the hall for their next class which all three of them had together.
Francis and Antonio shared a look and then both started laughing. They were teasing him but knew deep down this was a serious issue that would one day be dealt with. Gilbert's idea on others was kind of twisted, aside from the two of them and his brother he had an almost 0 tolerance policy. He basically only ran his gang because he could never follow orders, and for some reason he had enough charisma that people actually liked following him.
"Aww, but Gil, love in incredible! Lovi and I are so happy~ you just wouldn't believe! I'll prove it to you."
Antonio had seen Lovino walking the hall in front of them, he was alone and wearing the ever so present scowling face of his as he moved through his peers, trying his best not to touch any of them. With his declaration to Gil to show how 'in love' and 'happy' they were Antonio shouted out to Lovino to get his attention. Lovino turned around slowly, his scowling face twisting horribly as he knew who was calling to him. Sure enough as he came face-to-face with them from a distance, Antonio called out to him again, even more happy, and tried to wave him over. The response however was to be expected of Antonio's little devil of a boyfriend. Lovino proceeded to flip Antonio off and then whip back around and stomped off as fast as he could to his next class.
"Oh yeah, so fucking in love, I could feel the passion from here!" Gil's howling laughter made Antonio want to jump out a window.
"Don't worry about it Antonio, I'm sure he's just having one of those days." Francis tried to cheer up his friend whose soul was starting to come out of his body.
"Uh-huh" was all Antonio could muster as a response.
OOO
As the three of them headed into their 6th period Gil was almost instantly greeted by some of his other 'friends'. Mathias sat in his assigned seat near the middle of the room; he was situated in the place right in front of where Gil sat for the period. His huge grin plastered to his face in his ever so cheerful way. To most people it was kind of irritating, but Gil was used to it and no longer paid it any mind, he just waved nonchalantly at him and moved to his seat. Keeping the conversation going with Francis and Antonio.
"So hey, Francis, how're things going in YOUR love department? Seeing as you seem to be so in the know about this stuff like Antonio."
Gil was clearly trying to get his own jabs in from how they were teasing him. It wasn't appreciated, but Francis didn't want to get into it here, there was only about 5 minutes left until the bell rang again and class started.
"I'll have you know Monday I made a huge leap in my mission to gain back the love of my life, we actually had a nice conversation and I walked him home." Francis would be damned to let Gilbert know that he hasn't made any progress despite the amount of time he's had to start making amends. Not to mention Francis hated others being in his business, he liked to share others dirty laundry but his own was off-limits. Lying wasn't going to hurt anyone, not that Gil or Antonio bought his bullshit, they knew better, but they let him keep the front for all the prying ears in the room.
One of them being Sadiq, and he was just chilling in the corner of the room, so it was better to not gain his attention any more than Gilbert just walking in the room.
"Eh, Arthur? Yer talkin' about Arthur right? I just saw him today, he was walkin' to school."
The look the three of them shot Mathias was of mixed expression. Antonio looked surprised that Mathias knew that they were talking about Arthur. Gilbert surprised by how Mathias just blurted that out given some personal promises regarding this topic. Finally, Francis, who was confused to the last part of what Mathias said, Arthur was walking to school? So then, where was he? He wasn't in their last class, and he hadn't seen him all day in the halls, or at lunch…
"Wait, wait, wait, when did you see him?" Francis butted in his question before anyone else could say anything.
"Um, I saw him around noon, I was walkin' with the family to drop Er off at his Elementary school cause we had some problems getting' ready this mornin' at the home, and we were late. Him and Er were fightin' and we just talked for a bit before we left and he was headin' toward the school. He even scolded us on bein' late too."
"Well he didn't get here! He hasn't been here all day! So where the heck did he go?" panic was the last feeling Francis thought he would feel. But he had just gotten confirmation that Arthur had planned to come to school, was on his way and, what? Decided to go home last minute? No, there was no way a guy like that just turns around midway to go home!
Poor Mathias had no idea; he figured Arthur had gotten to school not long after they parted ways. He hadn't been there all day either, so how would he know? It's not like he had any classes with Arthur, and he didn't bother to stay on campus at lunch, he and the rest of his family went out. So what was Francis talking about? And why was he being yelled at for sharing the information?
"Hey, cool it man, Mathias was just passing on some info for you, don't blow your top. He probably got sidetracked; the guy's been wacky for a while now. Anyway, Mathias, was Arthur doing anything when you saw him? Like, was he just walking, or was he doing something? Maybe with someone?"
"Wha! What are you insinuating? Gilbert! Don't make me—"
Before he could finish his sentence the teacher walked in the room followed by the bell ringing. He was forced to sit down and just fester the news he'd been given. Maybe he did overreact to what Gil said, it's not like he was asking if Arthur was out with some random person, more like was he with one of his friends, like Alfred maybe? No, NO, because Alfred was at school, Yao, and the few other people Arthur hung out with were also there, they all ate lunch on the roof like usual. Doing something? What could he have been doing but walking? That's what Mathias said he was doing, so why did Gil ask what he was doing? What more could he have been doing?!
OOO
As he had his previous classes Francis paid no attention to anything, back in his own mess of thoughts and feelings concerning Arthur. How could he possibly care about anything else? If anything he was thinking he should just leave. He should go and find Arthur and see if he was alright, even if Arthur didn't want to see him. All he cared about was finding out if he was alright! But the out bell wouldn't ring for nearly an hour! And there was still last period, which for him was Art, the class he already ditched yesterday. Missing again would assure him some trouble. Then there was detention, there was no getting out of that, if he tried to ditch it would be doubled, and that would suck. But, if something happened to Arthur he would regret not going to look for him for the rest of his life! What could he do?
Antonio sat passing glances at his friends as soon as the bell rang. Francis was clearly struggling to stay in his seat, his leg bouncing like crazy and no awareness of it. Gilbert on the other hand looked irritated, about what Antonio had a hard time understanding. Was he irritated about the situation? At Francis? Or something else Antonio had no idea about? He wanted to ask, maybe pass a note but, he wouldn't risk it. The last thing he wanted was to get it any trouble, and then end up missing time better spent with Lovino.
He felt he wouldn't be given the chance to find out any time soon, even after the bell rang and they moved classes, and even after school got out. So he sat and took notes and watched the clock, watching the hand tic away at snail speed, waiting for the bell to ring and everyone went wherever they were going.
What the hell. Why didn't Mathias stick around to see where the hell that damn bastard went? If they were heading in the same direction he should have followed him, or at least offered for him to walk with them. Tch, now I gotta send out word for someone to find that damn Arthur and calm this French bastard's chaotic heart. Gil had already typed out and was sending a mass text for someone to find Arthur ASAP.
Gil shot his gaze at Mathias' back. He trusted this guy, probably more than he should, but he couldn't help it; he never let him down, did whatever he asked of him and was just incredibly easy to have around. He just showed up one day a few years back after one of the biggest fights with Sadiq's gang, his strength, along with the guys he brought with him, really turned the tide in his favor. If not for Mathias, he'd be dead in a ditch somewhere and he knew it. He asked a lot of this guy, too much these days, and Mathias never once turned him down.
Most people would think the only people he cared about were Francis, Antonio and Ludwig, but, they knew very little about him if that's what they thought, and that's how he liked to keep it. Some would say he only ran his gang because he can't follow orders and be under someone else's foot, but they would be wrong again. Gil ran Diebe for one reason, and one reason only; to create safety. It was a long story, but the point in the end was to protect his brother, his friends, and that's what Diebe was, a gang that protected. They never tried to start fights, just finish them, their goal is to keep Kutsal and Zimniye Soldaty at bay, and if ever, to bring them down completely. He cared about all his members, Mathias, his family, anyone whose heart was in to do the same thing he was trying to do. He may not have bothered to remember every single person, but the ones who he saw daily he cared a lot for.
As he stared at Mathias' back, he watched the rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed. He watched as his shirt ruffled with the movement; only to set right back in place every other breath. He watched as his arm tensed when he gripped his pen a little tighter as he was taking notes. This person who stood behind him as he ruled, and who would stand in front of him as a shield.
What the fuck am I doing? Am I watching this bastard breathe? Christ, I totally let my mind wander, this dumb Francis/Arthur bullshit is stressing me out! I'm getting distracted by breathing and moving clothes!
Gil stabbed himself with his pen and then started to write a note. He then rolled it into a long tube and stabbed it into Mathias' back. The other man jumped at the sudden feeling, but didn't turn around. Instead he reached his arm behind his back and grabbed the note from Gil's hand. Gil watched as Mathias unrolled it, read it, and started to write back. After he was done he rolled it back up and repeated the action of putting his arm behind his back, to make it seem he was just scratching an itch, and in that time Gil took it back.
Unrolling it once more he read Mathias' response.
Gil's original message read: I sent a text out to everyone to try and find Arthur, I told everyone to either text me back or to send info to you should they find him, alright?
Mathias' respond was: Of course! I'll keep you updated.
With that Gil knew the situation would be dealt with.
OOO
Arthur woke up in a slightly dark and musty place. It smelled of wet dirt and wood. Not the kind of wet dirt that meant rain, just mud. His head was killing him and his sight was fuzzy. What happened to him?
He closed his eyes again and tried to remember how he got where he was;
He had just said goodbye to Mathias and his gang, and was walking to school which he was getting later by the minute for. He had let his mind wander to Francis and stopped walking. Not realizing he had stopped until someone had shouted and snapped him from his stupor. He turned to see who it was that shouted, and if it was directed at him.
Sure enough running at him was Feliks. Waving and smiling as he came closer.
What the hell does this guy want? Why isn't he at school? Is everyone running late today?
"Wow, like, I'm so glad you didn't run at me, or run away from me! Aren't you still like super pissed at me for yesterday? I for sure thought you would be. Right, right?"
Arthur originally woke up that morning bent on confronting Feliks, eavesdropping and all had ruined his talk with Yao, as well as what rumors would be milling in the school as a result of it. However, he had also spent a good amount of time thinking about other things, and again let a top thought become very little in retrospect. To the point where he had forgotten all about Feliks in general and instead thought about bigger things that had happened. Like Sadiq.
Now that Feliks stood in front of him, smiling and all, he just wasn't angry enough anymore to yell at him, scold him on his behavior or demand he never do it again. Maybe later, but now he just wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone else, let alone this guy.
"Feliks, I could really care less about you to be honest." Blunt and harsh, not exactly how he had wanted to say that.
The face Feliks gave in response was more painful than Arthur had thought it would be. As though Arthur had dealt Feliks a deep wound.
"O-oh, is that so? That totally sucks, how could you say something so mean?! You're a jerk! Well I don't care about you either, hmph, in fact, you're so old news and boring I won't even bother to tell anyone about anything regarding you! You'll just like, become invisible! How do you like that, huh? Take that you, you...ass hat!"
Feliks was not a mean-spirited person when it actually came to insulting others. Spreading stories and actually saying bad things about people were two different things to him. He made it his business to just tell what he heard or saw; how others interpreted it and spread it was out of his hands. Insulting people was out of his comfort zone. Usually if he did hurt people, it was not intentional, it was more like he just didn't realize he was hurting them.
Arthur would have felt bad given how it wasn't his original intent to hurt Feliks' feelings, but the response was just too mild to make him feel he had done lasting damage to whatever they had between them. Not that it was friendship, but it wasn't bad either, just mostly two people who occasionally crossed paths, said hello and then went on with their lives. For Feliks to say he won't talk about him ever? Talk about a blessing, Feliks had no idea just how much that wasn't a punishment to him.
I'm just going to keep quiet. Maybe if I can get out of here we can leave this as it is and move on.
That was Arthur's hope anyway. He tried to move away from Feliks in an attempt to leave but he bumped into someone who had come up behind him.
"Woah, like, where did you come from Toris? You scared the hell out of us!"
Arthur was indeed startled. He didn't even hear him come up to them. He didn't think he was so engrossed with his encounter with Feliks that he would miss footsteps and another person joining them.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
Toris Lorinaitis, another odd person to run into so late in the day. Another person Arthur did not expect to be ditching class and, a person he did not expect to look so embarrassed to be scolded for his actions.
Toris shuffled nervously, and went to scratch his head in a haphazard manner that made him look a bit childish. The movement seemed out of context for the little thing he did, he also looked too nervous, like he was doing something bad and just wanted to run away.
Well he doesn't have to feel THAT bad about it. Sheesh, it's not like Feliks cursed him out just for being so quiet. All of these people are so weird!
"I really am so very sorry. Please, I really hope you can forgive me. Please, please forgive me." The way Toris pleaded made Arthur feel uneasy, and for some reason, it made his stomach feel sick.
What's this feeling I'm getting? H-he's just apologizing.
"Hey, like, don't be so dramatic Toris, I was so just kidding! Don't be so serio—"
-Thump-
Arthur had been looking at Toris since the moment he showed up. So all he heard was Feliks' speech being cut off followed by a pretty heavy thud. He hadn't been given a chance to turn all the way around to see what had happened until he felt a hard object make contact with his head. Everything went black.
OOO
Opening his eyes again he tried to lift his hand to feel the back of his head where he had been hit. Sure enough it was sore and had even bled, massaging gently around the wound only to be met with dried blood and scabbing bumps.
What the bloody hell?
His heart began to race as his thoughts collided in on each other; a mess of feelings and questions, panic and fear being at the forefront of his heart. Where was he? Why had he been hit? Who hit him? Where was Toris? What happened to Feliks? Was he okay? Why was this happening? Why was he the one this was happening to? Why couldn't he just turn around and go home when he thought about it? Why didn't he go with Mathias and the others? Why couldn't he at least wake up earlier and go to school on time? Why? Why? Why?
"Ah, you're awake, that's wonderful! I see I hit you a little too hard, that's not good, if someone sees that it'll be troublesome. Not that anyone will be seeing it any time soon though. You will be staying here after all. Wouldn't want the bait to lose its purpose, da?"
Arthur looked up into the cool eyes of Ivan Braginski. Why he was however, he was about to find out.
"W-why did you bring me here? What are you going to do with me? Let me out of here you lunatic this is a serious crime you know!"
"Umm, yes it is, thanks for that caption obvious. Now, now, calm down and listen. I hurt you once but I can't do it again, well, I can but I don't want to, or at least not have to do it again, I do after all want to make sure this ends as nicely as possible for you, seeing as you are only here to get someone else to show up."
"I'm a hostage? You're using me as a hostage? Who the hell would I be a hostage for? There isn't anyone who would come for m—"
Oh god, NO!
"Y-you bastard! You better not hurt Alfred! He has nothing to do with your god damn gang wars! Leave him alone or I swear I'll – I'll, you'll just regret it you monster! You hear me; you'll be made to regret it!"
This is not happening. This cannot be happening. Please wake up, please wake up. This is just a bad dream and I will wake up soon!
"You're so simple-minded. Though it would be nice to deal with that idiot Jones, I'm baiting for a bigger fish, yeah? You know, you, the ex-boyfriend of Francis Bonnefoy, is who again? That's right, keep thinking, you'll get it. That's right! You got it! He's one of Gilbert Beilschmidt's very, very dear friends!
You see. It's like this. You may not remember all that's happened or been happening the last, oh, 4 or 5 months, but! There are some others who do, and many others who are just keeping quiet about it until things are finally in place. You see, you are someone very important to Bonnefoy, who in turn is very important to Beilschmidt, so if Bonnefoy gets panicked over you, Beilschmidt has to step in and clean-up the situation. So, I kidnap you, it then goes back to school via that idiot group of Vikings who follow Beilschmidt that they saw you, you don't end up at school, Bonnefoy hears about it, gets scared for you, Beilschmidt has no choice but to have someone go and look for you.
Let's add more to this. Not only are you not at school, but I'm not either, neither is my good friend Toris or his very helpful little tweetie bird friend Feliks, how do you think this looks to someone like Beilschmidt? Hmmm, well? It's very obvious. It looks very, very bad."
Arthur could do nothing but sit in silence and listen to Ivan play out his master scheme.
Ivan continued
"So, now we're at the part where it gets back to Gilbert that something major has happened in the park. You see, we couldn't just take you and it just be assumed somehow Gilbert would hear about it. No, we had to leave something as a kind of, tip, which would get his attention. That tweetie bird, Feliks, we knocked him out too and left him in the park. Someone will come upon him, question him, and find out you and him were with Toris. The mention of Toris will bring to mind that he works with me and, presto! Word gets back to Beilschmidt that I've~ taken~ you~"
"You…do you plan on, fighting here? Are you really thinking you'll fight Gilbert here and end the feuds between your two groups once and for all?"
Arthur was astonished to think that an all-out war would happen so quickly with Ivan's gang. He had not even been living in this town for very long. He had gained followers out of pure fear and only gained territory through sheer violence. Sadiq and Gilbert had fought for a longer time, but not even their fights became wars, and no one ever thought they would. There was some weird mutual idea that, as long as one was in his area and the other in his own, there would never be anything more than brawls that served to remind everyone not to do more.
Yet here Ivan was, going beyond them. Why? Only he would know. Arthur sure as hell wasn't going to start asking him about it. All he wanted was to leave. To get the hell out of there and hide in his home, or better yet, at Alfred's or Yao's, where at least he wouldn't be alone! Just in case someone came after him again and brought him back into this mess!
I knew it. I knew it from the moment I fell for him this life would seep into mine. How could it not? Francis and Gil have been friends since long ago; he's been involved in this kind of stuff before we even dated. I knew that if we went out this could follow me too! Why did I do it? Why did I have to fall in love with a guy involved in this kind of life? I never asked for this…
"You look very regretful Arthur Kirkland. If there was another way I would have liked to not involve you in this. You are a dear friend to Yao, and I know very well that by doing this, I will only make him hate me more. This was the easiest route to take though; you after all, left yourself wide open. No one else close to Gilbert would be so careless."
The sudden mention of Yao left Arthur blank. What did his friend have to do with any of this? Also, he could not even begin to grasp at the face Ivan made when saying Yao's name. It was just too much, all of it, everything he said felt like more and more weight on his brain, and in order to bear it all, his mind just started to reject it, that being empty of any thought was simply easier than trying to process any of it.
Arthur felt sick. The throbbing at the back of his head combined with how much information was coming at him with the situation he was in; he started to feel as though he would pass out again. Ivan stayed quiet after his last comment and watched him for a bit. After a while he moved to sit on a pile of wood planks and watch the opening of the warehouse they were in. Removing the pipe from the inner part of his jacket; he waited.
X
A/N:
2 chapters this close together? Yes, yes indeed. Is author trying to make amends by writing as much as possible in a short amount of time? Somewhat, that and she's in a really writing mood. So it's for all of us I guess.
Added note: Someone pointed out to me that I put Matthew's name as Jones in the first chapter. Yes, yes I did, and I did that on purpose. They're brothers, living in the same house, in a human world setting. They have the same last name here, as any, most anyway; siblings do when they share the same birth parents, etc. If you want to feel better about it they have a hyphenated name, both of them can be Williams-Jones and I simply opted for Jones to be shorter for both Al and Matt.
I do NOT own Hetalia nor did I create any of the characters that credit goes to Himaruya.
Seeing as this is a Hetalia story the characters introduced are as followed:
Roderich Edelstein – Austria
Elizabeta Héderváry – Hungary
Toris Lorinaitis – Lithuania (in full this time, not just in mention)
Differentiation of speech, thought, flashback and action:
Speech is anything in "parentheses", hopefully it's clear who's speaking
Thought is in Italics
Action will be put in *asterisks*
Flashback will be in bold
Should multiple characters be doing something different I shall give explanation. But, hopefully nothing will be too complicated.
Thanks for reading!
