A/N: Please see revised Chapters 7 & 8 as the story has been re-edited. Thanks! ~blind-alchemist
"Who's there?" Yao demanded as they both ran towards the door. Arthur clapped a hand over the other boy's mouth and raised a finger to his own lips. Yao's small mouth tickled his thick palm, and Arthur subconsciously enjoyed the contact. He stood behind Yao, his chin resting on the crown of Yao's head. The two of them pressed their heads together as they both tried to glimpse through the peephole at the same time.
Arthur felt slightly faint as the stretched image of a tall, gray-haired policeman filled the glass. One blood-red pupil was raised directly into the peephole, making the Chinese boy jump backwards. Fortunately the British boy behind him was sturdy and strong enough to hold them both, preventing them both from collapsing onto the floor.
"I know you're in there," the policeman called from the other side of the door. "I can see you kids peering at me through the peep window."
Yao smacked his forehead with an open palm. "What should we do?" he whispered, fear and helplessness trickling through his voice.
The policeman wasn't patient as he waited for vocal confirmation. He started barking as he forcefully rapped on the door, "Open this door immediately!"
Yao reached for the knob and Arthur grabbed his wrist. They tussled back and forth. "We have to do as he says! He saw us!" Yao whispered.
"He'll come back later and we'll be gone by then. He can't just break in," Arthur hissed back. But out of concern, he pulled Yao behind him, and the following seconds proved this to work.
BLAM!
"My house—you can't just—" Arthur growled incoherently as the policeman dragged him upwards by the shirtfront.
"Care to explain why I found a missing high school student in your residence?" The policeman fixed Arthur with one steely red pupil. Arthur smiled and was all prepared to sass him back—he wasn't afraid of cops, unfortunately—when Yao cut in.
"No, stop! He's my boyf—" Yao paused in mid-sentence, shaking his head. "Don't arrest him! I am staying with him out of my own free will. He wasn't holding me prisoner or anything."
The policeman dropped Arthur abruptly to the ground, who landed with a thud and an oof. "You were staying with him out of your own free will? Is this a case of being live-in lovers?" He strode over to Yao, his boots pounding on the floor. "Do you have any idea how worried your folks are? Why didn't you answer any of your Mom's calls?"
"No, I am not his partner! And my parents and I were arguing when I ran out of the house, so I just crashed at his place the last few days— Aiyah!" Yao yelped as the policeman scooped him up right off his feet. He was irked, once again, because he was easily taken over by the policeman. Seriously, how petite could he be? Yao's inner voice grumbled, cursing his genetics that had prevented muscles from maturing on his body no matter how much he'd trained or how often he kicked somebody else's ass.
"Well, I promised your Mom that I'd bring you home as soon as I tracked you down, so I'm doing just that. And to prove I'm not actually a child molester or anything, here's my ID." The policeman produced a badge from his coat pocket: GILBERT BIELSCHMIDT; Special Police: Hetalia Unit.
"I'll come too, if that's all right," Arthur said, grabbing his jacket.
"You have to, in order to explain this mess," the policeman ordered, glaring at the boy. "You are one breath away from being arrested for kidnapping, git."
Arthur bristled but bit his tongue. "I probably owe his parents an apology."
"What a gentleman you are," Officer Gilbert responded sarcastically as he carried Yao over the threshold. "Kids these days…" muttered under his breath.
"You know, Alfred, the Spartans are playing the Illini in the opener next week."
"Duh. But thank you for the reminder, I suppose."
"Arthur's place, as usual?" Roderich grinned at him. They—many of Arthur's gang—were all sprawled in the comfy school lounge, their usual after-school meeting place. Feliciano tore open a bag of jujubes as his brother, Lovino, stared at him with his usual expression of half-hidden disgust and affection.
"I guess." Alfred turned his head sideways, giving Roderich a quizzical look.
"Does it still bother you that he's putting the blocks to that little Chinese hottie?" Elizaveta, the only girl in Arthur's gang (and who of course attended the neighboring all-girl's school), asked. "You two used to be inseparable. What happened?"
"Huh?" Alfred's jaw gaped.
"He's taken up with Yao Wang?" another voice jumped in.
"Where've you BEEN, Kiku?" Lovino demanded at the wisp of the Asian boy. Kiku almost shrank back. It wasn't very often that the other members of Arthur's (mostly Caucasian) gang included the quiet Japanese boy in their conversations. Kiku- "double-agent Kiku"- also happened to prefer playing solitary first-person computer games instead of hanging out with school acquaintances, so he rarely even met the others outside of school. But this was a piece of news that he really should have been aware of from the start.
"What do you mean, he's with Yao Wang now?" he demanded right back, startling Lovino. "How did this happen?"
"Whoa, do you have a problem with that or something?"
"Of course I don't have a problem with it! Look, I was drinking that day and we all say and do stupid things when we're piss drunk," Alfred interjected. "I mean, when it comes to Yao, yeah, I'd hit it in a heartbeat, but it's not as though one can't sh—"
"You would?" Elizaveta interrupted. Her inner rabid fangirl self was tickled. She shifted her weight slightly forward on her hands. "And, uh… and how exactly would that go? I mean, what would entail?"
"I wasn't talking to you!" Lovino thundered at Alfred, but he was completely looked over as Roderich turned around and snapped at Elizaveta, "I thought I told you when we started going out to cut out the male-on-male fantasizing! What am I, chopped liver? Aren't I enough to satisfy you?"
"Hahaha! I know!" Feliciano giggled, his mouth stained green with jujubes. "You're one hot piece of Austrian property! What is wrong with this woman?"
"Nothing." Elizaveta sighed. "It's just they are ridiculously hot as hell, you see..."
"Look in my eyes," Roderich begged his girlfriend, clutching her hands, making her turn towards him. Their usual weekly drama was about to erupt. "When you think of and fantasize other men doing gay stuff, I miss you. Even though you're here, you're not really here, and I miss you. I miss us. It hurts. Stop hurting my feelings!"
"Oh, shit," Elizaveta swore, sighing as Roderich's eyes started welling up. "Roderich…baby…"
"Roderich baby can go out with Feliciano instead," Feliciano purred with a hint of sarcasm and seduction as Lovino turned his head and gaped at him. Feliciano closed his eyes, pursed his lips and kissed the air (in Roderich's direction) with an exaggerated smacking sound. A jujube flew out from his mouth and hit Kiku in the forehead.
"AAUGH!" Kiku wailed, wiping his forehead excessively. The others scooted away from him—one of the few things they were aware of concerning Kiku was that he was something of a germophobe.
"I'd probably first have him put on a schoolgirl uniform with tall, black, fuck-me boots," Alfred was rambling to Elizaveta airily, unaware that Elizaveta was currently too busy squabbling with Roderich to pay attention to him anymore. "And while he's putting it on, I'll be starting a bubble bath. Maybe light some candles around the perimeter of the tub. And then I'd procure a bottle of Chateau St. Jacque's white wine, because that goes great with Asian food…"
"They're just fantasies," Elizaveta chatted away, "but you're real and most important to me—"
"Why do you keep a billion yaoi mangas and doujinshis in our bedroom closet! Some of their penises are transparent, for God's sake!"
"Feliciano will treat Roderich better!" the Italian boy chirped cheerfully.
"No, not gonna happen! Feliciano, shut your goddamn mouth—I can't believe you're related to me!" his brother snarled.
"Well, unlike you, the boys in those mangas will never, ever complain, yell, nag, or get on my case all the time—"
"What do you guys MEAN, Arthur's going out with Yao Wang now!" Kiku shouted at the top of his lungs.
The conversations ground to a screeching halt as the others stopped and stared at him. The room became very quiet.
Kiku looked around and hurriedly composed himself, pulling his face into his usual emotionless mask. It almost worked. Alfred blinked and shook his head.
"Come watch the game with us next weekend, Kiku. You can ask the boss himself about it. I'm certain Yao will be there, too…"
Meanwhile, as the squad car raced from downtown, Yao's mother was weeping into her oolong tea as Yao's father tried to comfort her in their little suburban house. Yao's sister, Wan, kept pacing the foyer while checking her cell for updates. "Don't cry, ma," Wan repeated for the third or fourth time. "Officer Gilbert said he found him, remember? He'll be here any minute!"
"What if it's not him?" Yao's mother hiccupped. "What if they made a mistake? What-"
"How many ridiculously feminine-looking boys do you see walking around HERE?" Wan asked her.
"I told him about a hundred times to cut his hair," Yao's father steamed, forgetting in mid-stroke to finishing patting his wife's hair and clenching his fist instead. "Stupid teenagers, never listening to good sense. Last week when we were at the grocery, someone held the door open for him as we walked in… and when he and Wan were carrying stuff to the car, the greeter said, 'Have a nice night, ladies.' He looks too much like a girl! The police probably mistook one of the waitresses at Ming's Buffet for—"
Whistling, Gilbert walked in the doorway, Yao folded up bridal-style in his arms (Yao perfectly unwillingly, of course). "Anyone order Chinese takeout?"
One week later
Yao's family drama case was finally coming to a close. Initially, his mother firmly grounded him, only allowing him to leave the house for school. By Friday, Yao was bored to death, and he threatened his mother with a self-imposed hunger strike until he was given permission go out on the weekends. His father sighed at this, and forced his wife to let Yao do as he pleased, since Yao couldn't afford to lose more weight. He looked very much like a slender girl as it was, and if he became even thinner, Yao would start resembling those anorexic models in the popular fashion magazines. So his mother relented, and the first thing Yao did when he regained his freedom was call Arthur. That led to him making himself comfortable back inside Arthur's apartment, along with the British boy's whole gang, preparing to watch the Big Ten football game on Arthur's big screen.
Alfred came in the living room whistling, his hands full of soda, popcorn, a bottle of chocolate syrup, and several sticks of butter. All the seats and couches were already taken and the game was just starting. Alfred grimaced, dumping the food on the table. He walked past Lovino, Feliciano, Antonio, Kiku, Roderich, and Elizaveta, who were all lounging on the sofa, to where Yao was reclining in a loveseat. Bending down over the loveseat, Alfred promptly scooped him up.
"Hey! I'm sitting here~aru!"
"Quit bitching." Alfred sat himself down in the love seat and placed Yao in his lap. As the others stared, Yao nonchalantly sat in Alfred's lap like it was no big deal, both boys intently concentrating on the Illini football players trump Michigan. "Ah, all-American college football," Alfred said, releasing a contented sigh. Mainly due to the joys of watching football, but also because of the nice warm weight on his body.
Yao nodded. He actually was an Illini fan, as his sister was attending the college. This was pretty much the only reason he was acting cooperative. And Alfred's body actually felt even nicer than cushions—it felt like a space heater and a plump soft sofa combined together. The doughiness of Alfred's midsection helped greatly. But he didn't notice jealous looks emulating from his surroundings. Alfred, meanwhile, smirked when he saw how Arthur was turning green.
The British blonde sat on another seat, his throne in the middle of the room, and barked. "Yao, you can sit here with me."
"No can do, baby doll." Alfred shook his head, imitating the sitcom 'How I met your mother'. "You are a convict now, Arthur."
"Al, don't mess with me."
The American prude smirked. "You forget the deal? Yao's mother only let her princess out on the condition of no touching, no kissing, no eloping."
"Shut up, aru." Yao hissed. But his retort was cut short when noises came from the door.
"Sorry we are late." The Asian gang came into the room, being having their own set of keys Arthur loaned to them. Yong Soo, HK and others dropped the plastic bags with various junk food in their hands. "We got your usual candy floss, Yao."
"Really?" Yao perked and left his plump organic sofa. Alfred pouted. But the Asian petite man was already running to Yong Soo and waited impatiently for pink, fluffy, panda shaped candy floss.
"How can they make it panda-shaped?" Feliciano wondered, but his question was ignored. HK took a seat beside the Italian twins, opening a can of Pokka Green Tea.
"What's the score?"
"Not start yet." Lovino answered curtly, clearly lying or just plain don't care. Feliciano laughed out loud.
The Asian group penetrates the Western, and soon enough, Arthur's room became overcrowded with boys and one girl.
Arthur sighed. He loved his solitude, but ever since Yao came, his room was always messy and crowded. Then he was surprised when Yao suddenly walked towards him and dropped himself on Arthur's lap. Alfred, meanwhile, saw it and pulled Kiku onto his lap as Yao's substitute.
"Want some, aru?" Yao poke him with the panda candy floss. Arthur shook his head, but he dropped his nose ontop of Yao's head.
Maybe it wasn't too bad. Not bad at all.
Review please. we need suggestion, opinion and critique.
Thank you for reading!
