"Do I look okay Matt?"
"That's about the tenth time you've asked that, and every time it's been the same answer, you look fine."
"Just fine?"
"You're more nervous than your first date with her!"
Alfred was plastering gel into his sandy-blonde hair, trying desperately to pin down the one wild cowlick that, until now, he'd always boasted that it made him look cool. Matthew had never seen his brother this tense, and to be honest, it made him a little nervous as well.
"Just tell me one more time if I'm okay."
"Good enough to impress, alright?"
He let out a shaky breath, and smiled. "Really?"
"Yes Al, really. Now get out there, and meet her family. Have fun." And with that, he pushed his brother out the door with one last reassuring smile.
{}}{{}
"You must be Alfred." Al quickly looked over the man standing in front of him. His skin had a similar darker hue to Ly's, but that was where the resemblance ended. His black hair was cropped, and spiked, and dark eyes, hidden behind glasses, were warm and alive, whereas Ly's were normally suspicious, or glinting with malice.
"Yeah, that's me. You are?"
"Samyan. You called me with her number?"
Al chuckled at the memory of frantically calling everyone with the name. "Definitely the weirdest thing I've ever done to impress a girl."
"By far. Come on, let's join the others."
As they were walking into the restaurant, the cowlick, which he'd worked so hard to keep flat, broke free from the gel, and flicked up back to its normal place. Samyan bit his lip to keep from laughing at the dark red shade the blond's face was quickly turning.
"Hey guys! You weren't too harsh on him, were you Samyan?"
"Of course not. Can't go scaring away your date, can I?"
"You could." She murmured with a shrug. "Come on Al, have a seat." Ly shifted over a little, earning a glare from Mei, who was a little squished against the wall as it was. "You've already met Samyan, but this is Yao, and Im Yung Soo."
The first guy, clearly the eldest, had the longest hair Al had ever seen on a guy, and his cousin Francis was pretty close. The second was all smiles, with an arm slung casually around Yao's shoulders.
Ly's siblings were all fairly accepting, and within minutes, they were chatting comfortably, and for once, Alfred F. Jones, more famous for his obsession with food without ever getting (visibly) fat than anything, didn't really notice what he was eating as they talked. "It's funny, for awhile, I was sure Ly was related to Kiku, you know, the guy in my English class?"
"He's Japanese, that's just racist." Ly laughed with a good-natured punch in the shoulder.
"You guys are all different." He pointed out.
"Funny story." Im Yung Soo said, moving quickly to explain before anyone else could. "Our mother was Taiwanese, and our dad was Chinese, but he spent a lot of time with Samyan in Thailand. Our grandmother on our dad's side was Vietnamese, and I was raised by our grandfather on mom's side in South Korea, before being sent here to the States."
Al blinked a few times, before smiling in embarrassment. "One more time please, my brain just died."
Giggling, Mei jumped to comply. "Our family's really messed up."
"Okay that I can understand."
"So, am I alone, or have any of you gotten a date?" Ly asked with a smirk.
"Well I don't know about Im Yung Soo, but Yao's hiding this amazing girl somewhere." Samyan said, grinning and patting his brother's cheek, which was rapidly turning red. "I even heard him muttering to himself about a ring!"
"And you weren't gonna tell us that?" Mei gasped, looking horrified. "Our oldest brother, going off with some woman we've never even met!"
Ly laughed and added on, "They're probably planning to elope, just so we won't have a chance to deny our blessings."
"No! Of course not!"
"He's in denial guys." Al said with a small shake of his head.
"You've seen this before?"
"Many times, the relationship usually ends rather tragically."
"Enough! Few of you can talk down my relationship you loners!" Yao huffed.
The others started laughing, and eventually, the longhaired man broke down and joined in, adding to the happy ring.
{}}{{}
"You know, I think they really liked you." Ly murmured as she walked Alfred out to his car.
"That's a relief. I was killing myself getting ready."
"No, no you were perfect. It was like you'd known them forever."
"Fantastic!" The blond breathed a sigh of relief, sliding into the driver's seat. "So, you looking foreword to the ski trip next month?"
"Yeah, it should be fun. Matt's okay with it, right?"
Al thought about the expression on his brother's face when he'd told him. Pissed off would've been an understatement. "He said he'll be thrilled to have you along. Better than spending two days in a car alone with me."
"Good. I'm glad he doesn't mind, since his date can't go."
He didn't want to tell her that he was the reason for that can't, so he just smiled, and kissed her lightly on the lips. "See you Monday."
"I'll be there." She promised.
{}}+{{}
Thanks for reading!
Gah! I did not like writing this chapter! *Slams head on laptop repeatedly* on the plus side, I do like my plan for the next chapter, Road trip!
Too many characters! And only now do I realize it's Im Yong Soo, not Yung, but seeing as I used the latter in my previous chapters, and I want to be consistent, I'm keeping it as is.
Reviews = happiness~!
