Hello there, HetaWriter/HetaReader here - again, I probably sound like a broken record or annoying, but again, I apologize for not updating this story for a while. TTnTT
Well, I hope I can make it up to you guys - but I'll say it now that my updating times will be odd - it can be updated in a range of a day to a month, because I'm getting more busy. I feel better though, and I sincerely thank everyone who's chosen to stick by and follow this story. Really, that means a lot to me that you'd be willing to wait for me to write. :D
A BIG thanks to everyone who has faved, followed and reviewed! Really, that means a lot to me.
: Thank you, I hope you enjoy further. :) I'm feeling quite better now, thank you for your words.
K-Ojousama: Yes, it's now been updated again. XD I wish you the best of luck! :D
Sapphire Inu: Haha, yeah, I'm like that towards crack pairings - screw it! I'm shipping this, and besides, maybe they have relations together. Hehe, thanks...even now, I'm still trying to get used to writing a romance with a plot. XD
Now, shall we continue?
Matthias instantly whipped his head around as did the Belgian woman beside him. Antonio also turned his head around to see where the snarl had come from.
It was a most unusual sight that the three adults beheld.
One bucket filled with the white balls used to pitch at the dunk pool's target was splayed over, the balls just rolling everywhere. There was also a man who was trying hard to get up near the dunk pool where Tino, Berwald and the hyper child who wanted to get dunked were at. The man was holding onto the dunk pool's edge as his legs wobbled and eventually, his feet gave way and he slipped over again. He also had a bucket on his head, no doubt from where the white balls came from.
There was another man, but this one was getting out of the dunk pool - his green parka completely drenched, while the white mask that covered his eyes was beginning to slip down his face, prompting him to push it back up with his index and middle fingers. The man was olive skinned, and he had short, black hair where there was a double curl that rested on his nape as well as having a stubbled chin.
The Dane then noticed that there was one more man. This one was just standing there; clad in a white suit, giving him a rather poised and refined appearance to the point that Matthias felt his eyes avert away in embarrassment before the guy could even catch him glancing.
This regal looking man simply turned his head and spoke in a low, deep voice, "Sadik...Mr Lars, are you both alright?"
Matthias squinted his eyes and saw indeed, much to his amazement, the man with the bucket on his head was Emma's brother. Emma herself was stunned at seeing her brother in such a predicament.
"Crap..." the masked man, Sadik, grumbled as he shook his head, causing a lot of people to squeal in protest and shield themselves from the drops flying around. "What do you think, Gupta? That was shit!" he knocked on Lars' bucket, causing the Dutchman to quiver and give a snarl, "You alright there, Larsie boy?"
"I will be if you do not do that ever again," Lars growled in a deathly quiet voice as he began attempting to remove the bucket from his head.
"You need help, hold on," Sadik started making his way out of the dunk pool. No sooner had his foot almost touched the floor when Gupta then spoke up, "Wait, don't - the floor is..."
Too late, when Sadik placed his foot down on the floor, he suddenly slipped over and onto his back. Matthias wondered how the man could've slipped, but that was when he spotted something shiny on the wooden floor. Upon closer inspection, he could see what it was that caused Sadik to slip.
"A marble?" Emma arched her eyebrow.
"Hey, I used to play with those when I was a kid," Matthias said with a fond smile. "Oh, yeah. Norge always won, though - his aim and trajectory was always top notch..."
Gupta sighed, "I told you to be careful."
"Who the hell drops marbles for people to slip?!" demanded Sadik as he gripped onto the dunk pool's edge and carefully placed his foot on a space where the marbles weren't present. He then pulled on Lars' arm, "Here, I'll help you up. Come on, just lean on me..."
Lars was gripping onto Sadik's arm, but no sooner had he placed his foot down upon making his way up, when he slipped from accidentally stepping onto another marble. The Dutchman gave a loud swear as he immediately slipped forwards and, since he was holding onto the Turkish man who didn't expect it, brought him down with him. They both, after a loud yell and another curse, landed on the ground with the Turkish man right on top of the Dutchman.
"What the hell?" Lars grunted as he began yanking at his bucket. "This sucks."
Sadik snorted, "It ain't no picnic where I am, either! Seriously, you smell like smoke!"
"You're one to talk; I can smell the ashes of your own smoking from under this damn bucket."
"Bro! Are you alright?" Emma was about to make her way over to her brother, when Matthias stopped her and pointed at the marbles on the ground. The Belgian woman simply blinked and began kicking the marbles away with her shoe. The Danish man simply followed and helped her assist the two fallen men. "Hold on, just stay still," she then yanked the bucket off of his head, and with a loud pop, Lars' face was viewable. "Really, what happened? Oh, hello Sadik!" she waved at the Turkish man.
Sadik smiled as he waved back, "Hello, Emma."
"Where are they?" Lars pale green eyes were now deadly flames as he leapt up to his feet and began scanning around the area. "Where are those little..."
"Hey, look at scar-face over there!" an obnoxious voice laughed. "Look at his face!"
Matthias turned and saw a group of boys wearing the uniform of Emil's high school, choking on their laughter as they pointed right at them. They high-fived each other when the Dane noticed that one of them was carrying an empty, little sack; no doubt where the marbles came from.
"Excuse me," Gupta tapped Antonio on the shoulder. The Spaniard gave a small start and turned to face the Egyptian man, asking what was wrong. Gupta pointed at the tomato that the Spaniard was now holding, "May I have that for a moment?"
"You again?!" Sadik shouted at the group of teenagers, now understandably furious. "I thought you learnt your lesson the first time!"
"I thought you learnt your lesson the first time," one of the boys, the leader probably, mimicked the Turkish man in a mocking voice. He then laughed, "You don't tell me what to do, old man!" his friends were high-fiving him as they continued laughing.
"You little...!"
Suddenly, much to everyone's surprise, a tomato splattered right onto the boy's face; making Matthias recall the one time when he was playing baseball with Lukas and when it was the Norwegian man's turn to pitch, the ball hit the Dane squarely between the eyes. The tomato caused the target to shriek and yell in disgust as he quickly began wiping it from his face.
Next, the group of boys were being pelted by white balls.
Emma and Matthias turned around to see that Berwald, Tino, and the hyper kid who wanted to be dunked were throwing white balls straight at the group of boys, who were now attempting to shield themselves as they made a break for it. "This ain't worth our trouble! Let's go!" and with that, they fled the scene.
"Hmph! Good riddance!" snorted Tino.
Matthias couldn't help but give a nervous chuckle; when it came to revenge, there was no underestimating the Finnish man. If you were on his list, expect a piece of revenge that was at least ten times worse than the dish you served first. Berwald simply nodded in agreement and dropped the remaining white balls he had in the bucket that Lars' head was in earlier.
"Are you both alright?" the Finnish man asked Sadik and Lars, his contorted, vengeful expression now morphed into a soft, concerned one.
Sadik waved a dismissive hand, "Don't worry about it; we're fine! Right, Larsie boy?" he then shook at the Dutchman's shoulder.
Lars snorted as he adjusted his scarf, grumbling, "Yeah...wish I could've given those brats a piece of my mind, though..."
Tino clasped his hands together, "But, it's good that you're both okay!" he then turned to Gupta and smiled, "You have a good aim! Really; that tomato hit him straight in the face!"
"Wait, that was you?" the little, hyper boy asked in shock, pointing at the Egyptian man who simply gave a half-hearted shrug. "Dude...that was so cool!" he then started tugging on the bottom of Gupta's shirt and shouted, "Teach me! Teach me to throw as awesomely as you do!"
Gupta's expression was serious, but he leaned over, rested his hands on his knees, and came to eye-level with the boy. "Maybe some time in future," the Egyptian man said gently.
"Hell yeah!"
"My tomato, though..." Antonio pouted. "You threw my poor tomato..."
Gupta cleared his throat as he straightened his posture. "I apologize for that," he said sincerely. "I'll give you a new one when I see a tomato."
Antonio then laughed and shook his head, "Nah, don't worry, mi amigo. I was only kidding - besides, the tomato was used for a good cause!" he then turned to the Dutchman and gave a big beam, "Lars~!" he then bounded towards the tall blonde, and immediately wrapped his arms around him, "I haven't seen you in ages~! How are you, mi amigo?"
Lars' eye twitched, "Get...the hell...off of me..." and with that, he roughly shoved the Spaniard off of him, warranting Antonio to jut out his bottom lip.
"Aw, come on, Lars~! Why are you so mean?" he whined.
"Because you're a whiny, little idiot, that's why," Lars said coldly, his words acidic and biting.
Matthias knew that it was cruel of him, but he liked it when Lars insulted Antonio; how the Spaniard's face stopped smiling and actually showed some hurt. It showed that Antonio wasn't just capable of smiling, plus, it also showed that Lars didn't approve of Antonio at all.
Tino and Berwald began to see that things were becoming more heated, and felt rather awkward at the scene before them, so they decided to get the hyper child to show them around. The hyper child seemed really ecstatic and began dragging the Finnish man and the Swede everywhere.
"C'mon, bro!" Emma scolded. "Be nice! Toni's our friend-"
"He's your friend," the Dutchman said with a snort. "I don't remember him being my friend. Now, if you'll excuse me..." he pointed at himself, Sadik and Gupta. "We were on our way." Before he left, though, he leaned near Antonio and whispered in his ear, "You better not touch my sister, you tease..."
Matthias wanted to smile, but at the same time, knew that it would make him look like a complete asshole, and he didn't want to look like that. So instead he coughed and ran a hand through his spiky, blonde tresses. He did feel a little awkward, though; he wasn't a part of any of their lives until just recently, after all.
"Huh? But what if I want to hug her?" Antonio called, looking extremely confused.
Matthias opened his mouth to correct what the Dutchman meant, but decided to keep it shut; it would've showed that he was eavesdropping, and he didn't want Lars to hate him. Instead, he shrugged and Emma sighed, "I'm sorry about Lars..." she apologized to Antonio. "Really, he didn't mean that."
Antonio simply smiled his sunny smile and shook his head, "I know; honestly, I think he's just in a bad mood. Then again though, I wouldn't blame him - if I had a bucket on my head, and I was humiliated like that, I'd be steamed, too."
Emma gave a sigh of relief, "Thank you for understanding, Toni."
The Spaniard shook his head, "There's no need to thank me; friends need to accept each other's faults. Well, I better go; I have to meet someone about something..." Matthias was then surprised to see that the Spaniard's tanned cheeks were dusted scarlet as he nodded and bid them goodbye.
Emma giggled when Antonio left, "I know that expression on Toni's face; it means he's fallen for someone~! And someone quite hard~"
Matthias arched an eyebrow, "Really?"
The Belgian woman nodded; her cat-like smile returning, "Yes."
"Huh..."
The Dane found that his burning resentment towards the Spaniard was progressively becoming less after hearing that single fact.
The day continued, and both Matthias and Emma were having a splendid time together.
They were looking through a few stalls and at the various items there. The Danish man noticed that the Belgian woman was looking at one in particular where they were selling necklaces that had shells of various kinds as trinkets. Noticing her staring fondly at one particular necklace, he then smiled widely as he motioned to a food stall nearby, "Hey, look! They're selling waffles over there! Go check 'em out and give 'em advice! I'll catch up!" he lightly pushed her to the food stall before the Belgian woman could say anything in protest.
Emma was quite surprised when Matthias insisted she go over to the waffle stall nearby, but decided to comply and go along with it. She hoped that whatever he was doing didn't take him too long. She smiled at the children and asked to buy some of their waffles and had a taste of them.
A rather bland texture had spread out over her tongue.
The Belgian woman so badly wanted to spit it out, but seeing the huge, shining eyes of the children who had made and serve it to her, she just didn't have the heart to tell them how the waffles really tasted.
Matthias quickly thanked the ones in charge of the stall as he pocketed his wallet in the back pocket of his trousers. He was feeling even better right now; he was able to make a bargain with the sellers and thus, haggled the price down by about ten percent.
He gripped the small, brown paper bag and took a deep breath, feeling both excited yet nervous as he made his way over to the stall that was selling waffles, only to see that she herself was cooking.
"Hey, what's all this?" Matthias asked good-naturedly.
Emma gave a giggle; the adorable one that made him melt inwardly, as she was adding a variety of ingredients in a mix. From what the Dane could make out, he could see melted butter, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and egg yolks.
"Need some help?" offered Matthias. "I can help if you want."
The Belgian woman simply gave him that warm smile that was as sunny as her golden hair, "No, I'm fine. But if I need it, I'll just ask, okay?"
Matthias nodded, "Okay."
And so, he found himself standing by as he watched Emma do her work on the stall. The ones in charge of the stall, a group of children and two teenagers who appeared to go to Emil's high school, judging by the uniform they were wearing, were watching the Belgian woman interestedly as she worked her magic.
While the batter rested, she beat some egg whites until they formed a rather stiff peak. Matthias could see that the batter was resting very well and he licked his lips; keen on eating the Belgian woman's waffles. Once the batter had finished resting, Emma added the beaten egg whites to the now risen batter, and gently folded the egg whites right into it, her grip quite calculatingly firm, but gentle, her tongue slightly poked out of her mouth as she cooked.
Matthias couldn't help but smile at that expression she made; it was just so adorable.
When that was done, she heated the waffle iron to a medium heat and once after the iron was properly heated, she began pouring the batter into the iron. However, for some reason, Emma found her hands were really shaky.
At first, she wasn't sure just why they were in this trembling state until she looked up to see Matthias' big smile and twinkling baby blues.
Despite having cooked for her whole life, the Belgian woman was becoming surprised that she was more conscious in her cooking and how much this man from Denmark had affected her.
Noticing her hands were quivering, Matthias immediately took action and came closer, coming behind the stall to her side. "Hold on, here…" with a tender grip, he held onto her hands as he assisted with pouring the batter. They poured until the batter just about reached the edge. Once they stopped, Emma closed the lid, and the Dane realised what he did.
"S-sorry!" he said, face now red. "Didn't mean to hold that long!"
Emma laughed; it was funny seeing him so flustered – it was cute. She then inched her hand closer to his and intertwined their fingers as she shook her head, "Who said I didn't love it?"
The Dane's face was the same colour of the poppies he gave her earlier.
After a few minutes or so, the waffle was reading; the rich, crispy aroma reaching Matthias' nose and making him drool. However, he quickly squashed the urge; he didn't want to look like some animal in front of Emma – she'd get disgusted for sure.
When she carefully took the waffle out, she allowed the group in charge of the stall to taste it first, and unsurprisingly, they were amazed and delighted by it.
Emma had poured one more as well for her and Matthias to share. Once it was done, the pair took it after the Belgian woman instructed the group on how to cook waffles properly and ate outside in the bottom oval where there were some activities happening all around them.
When the Dane took a bite of it, he felt like he was suddenly flying up in the clouds; it was slightly crispy on the edges, but the inside was fluffy and rightly moist. He could taste the butter and the cinnamon shining through and all the textures added together were just…perfect.
Emma herself was quite satisfied at her creation, but she wanted to know how Matthias was. "So…how is it?" she asked, her usually cheery expression now anxious.
The Danish man chuckled, "Why are you so nervous? It's perfect! So fluffy~"
The Belgian woman laughed at his response and felt a great wave of relief wash over her; she would be devastated if he didn't like her cooking. Cooking was the thing she liked the most about herself, and if the man she liked didn't like her cooking, well…that would just be heartbreaking.
Matthias and Emma engaged in light conversation as they continued sharing the waffle between themselves and soon, there was an empty plastic plate between them.
That mattered not to the pair, though – it simply allowed the pair to converse even more.
It was not until Emma had mentioned a funny story involving Antonio attempting to disguise himself as a pretty girl so Lars would let him eat some of the desserts that he made, which included a number of limburgse vlaai (which, Matthias discovered, was a Dutch pie) that the Dutchman was heavily proud of,and the Belgian woman was saying how the Spaniard had borrowed her pearls, when the Dane remembered his the little brown bag he had in his trouser pocket on the side.
When he fished it out, the bag was very crinkly and pretty much, almost crushed. Cursing in furiously quiet Danish, Matthias quickly opened it and almost cried in relief at discovering that its contents were still safe. He smiled, his face dusted with cherry red as he revealed what was in the bag.
"Is that…hey! That's the necklace from the store!" marvelled the Belgian woman, stunned. "You really bought it?"
"For you obviously."
Here, Emma really was at a loss for words; really, this was a very sweet gesture of Matthias to do.
"You like it?" the Dane asked when the Belgian woman accepted the gift from him.
"I love it," Emma responded as she immediately wore it since the only piece of jewellery she was wearing were a pair of earrings. She smiled at the single blue gem, which was shaped in a tear that was contained by silver linings, which held it to the chain. "Really, that is so sweet of you…"
"It was nothing!" Matthias gave a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his head. "Really…"
"Thank you," and with that, the Belgian woman leaned over and boldly planted a smooch on his cheek in gratitude.
At once, the Danish man could feel his whole body fill up like a shaken soda bottle ready to explode from glee at any minute. He knew that he was blushing; his face was aflame, and there were pleasant shivers running up and down his spine in reaction after her soft lips had contacted his cheek.
Emma found herself blushing as well upon realizing that she was bold again and touched her lips as she gave a small, soft chuckle to herself. She especially giggled upon seeing Matthias' face.
Just when the Dane could string some words together, they were interrupted when a rather familiar Dutchman had come in, a serious glint in his eye.
"O-oh! H-hi there, bro!"
"H-hey, Lars!"
At first, both Matthias and Emma thought that they were royally screwed; thinking that they were both caught by the Dutchman and found out that they were dating. Lars grabbed onto the Dane's arm and glared him in the eye.
"You…"
"W-what?" Matthias gulped, but kept his gaze steady – the man was taller than him, but Matthias was sure he could pin him down if he was determined. And for the Belgian woman beside him, he was extra determined.
"You play soccer, right?"
The question caught the Dane off guard. He blinked as he asked, "Wait, what?"
Lars rolled his eyes, "I asked if you play soccer! Do you or not?"
"Oh…" Matthias trailed off, but then a big beam appeared on his face at the mention of the sport. "Yeah! I did when I was back in Denmark!"
"I need your help with something," the Dutchman said, sounding rather urgent. "You can still play, right?"
"Yeah! Of course I can! I play with my nephew a lot!" grinned Matthias, his fear of Lars now fully gone. "What's up?"
"See that Spaniard over there?" Lars stabbed a finger at a Spaniard wearing a matador's outfit, to who Matthias identified as Antonio.
"Yeah."
"I need your help with him."
"Wait, you need me help with him? But to do what to him?"
Lars' pale green eyes were glowing sinisterly, "To crush him…"
Lars...is just so evil. XD Spain, you certainly attract a lot of tsunderes...
Anyway, I think this story will be almost at a close - it'll end at 13 chapters, actually. Or maybe 14 if I change my mind. :)
Thoughts and opinions? I hope you have a nice day. :DDD
Sincerely,
HetaWriter/HetaReader