Here's the new chapter! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia; though there is an OC in here…I don't even want him! D:
Warning:…Does Russia count? Or the fact that Romano's mentioned here briefly?
"The truth is hiding in your eyes
And it's hanging on your tongue…
…But you think that I can't see…
…How did we get here?
When I used to know you so well…" –Decode, Paramore.
In a moderately-sized house in the middle of a certain neighborhood in the small town of World Series, the occupants were already moving about, getting ready for the day. This was unusual for a number of reasons; one, it was a Saturday, and as all three of the occupants were currently students this was unusual since there were no classes. The second reason why this was unusual is because the time was currently five in the morning.
There was a good reason for these teens to be up at five in the morning on a Saturday, however, and that was because one of the occupants, Mei, was leaving early in an attempt to head off and deceive two of her family members whom she hadn't seen in years along with their friends. These two family members, Kiku and Yao, along with their friends were coming to meet Mei and her two brothers Yong Soo and Hong at their home to visit.
The only problem was Mei, Hong and Yong Soo didn't live there anymore and thus the reason for the deception.
"Alright, I think I have everything; wish me luck?"
"Well, since luck originates with my people, da-ze, I could wish you luck, but since you're my cousin you don't need it da-ze!"
"Sister, Yong Soo, I'm your sister."
"Remember, don't mention anything overly obvious about myself or Yong Soo, the others may find out."
"Okay, if you're sure they would recognize you."
"Considering Hong's been spending almost all of his free time stalking that prissy British guy, I think it's safe to say that he would recognize him, da-ze."
"I haven't been stalking him. I'm merely randomly appearing before him in the hopes of getting a reaction out of him. He seems too used to these surprises, though…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…you're not torturing him, are you da-ze?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…no."
"I'm not sure I believe you, da-ze…"
Alfred moved about the silent house, humming to himself as he got ready. Today was the day, the day he would finally be able to meet Kiku's family! He wondered if they would be like Kiku, quiet, smart and polite. Well, if they were family they would be like each other, right? But then again, Alfred and Matthew were twins and they were nothing alike… Shrugging, Alfred grabbed a piece of toast and took a bite out of it, simultaneously trying to put his shoes on. Oh well, it can just be a surprise; Alfred liked surprises!
A sleepy voice grabbed Alfred's attention, making him look over his shoulder at his yawning brother just entering the room. "Al? What are you doing so early in the morning? And why do you always have so much energy in the mornings anyways?"
"Because I have a sunny personality, Mattie!" Alfred said happily, and loudly. Taking another bit of his toast, Alfred thought about his answer. "Actually, it's because I'm the type that's asleep when they're asleep, and awake when they're awake; you know how hard it is to wake me up sometimes," he said with a chuckle. Matthew nodded; he did know. Once, he had tried to wake his brother up early for school and had tried everything from yelling directly in his ear to even shoving his brother out of bed and onto the floor. Nothing worked, until Alfred's alarm went off. He couldn't understand why he woke up on the floor.
Alfred gave Matthew another smile when he saw Matthew's expression at the memory. "My alarm went off early, so I thought I would go ahead and get ready to leave for today; sorry if I woke you up, bro."
Matthew shrugged in response. It was too early for coherent thought. "Are you going over to Arthur's to wait?" Mouth full of toast, Alfred shook his head in response. Once his mouth was clear of food he verbally answered.
"Nah, he's always really pissy in the morning," Alfred shrugged, turning back to his toast. "I thought I'd head over to Francis' place, since he won't try to force me to learn the British version of the English language; he hates that stuff." Matthew could only agree with his brother. After all, many, many fights have been waged between the two older boys on that very issue, and doubtless there would be more to come in the future.
Yawning hugely, Matthew waved over his shoulder as he headed back towards the stairs leading to their rooms. "You have fun with that; I'm going to do the normal, sane thing for a teenager on the weekend and sleep in."
"Lightweight!" Alfred called after his brother jokingly, making his own way out the door.
Ivan crept towards the front door, moving as silently as he dared. Katyusha had worked long and hard the day before and had ended up spending the night back home for once. He didn't want to risk waking her up; she of all people deserved a break every now and then. Another reason why he was moving silently was because he didn't want his other sister, Natalia to find out he was leaving then; she would no doubt want to come with him on his trip to visit his dear friend Yao's family, and that would end up scaring everybody.
It's not that Ivan didn't love his sister, because he really did; just—not the way she seemed to love him. He wasn't sure what to do around his sister to make her quit her advances without harming her feelings. Ivan supposed he would just have to be patient. Maybe she would grow out of her affections? Ivan could only hope.
Just as Ivan was about to walk out the door, he ran into someone…smaller than him. Looking down in mild surprise, Ivan smiled when he saw who it was at his door—little Raivis, with Eduard and Toris coming up the pathway towards the door. What a pleasant surprise!
"Ah, Raivis, I didn't see you there," Ivan said with a smile, rubbing the younger boys head. Judging by the way the Latvian boy was flinching slightly; Ivan had apparently misjudged exactly how much strength he was using. That seemed to happen a lot, actually; whoops. "You are here early, da?"
Eduard, who seemed the bravest of the trio, carefully pulled Raivis out from under Ivan's hand. "We had heard that you were going out of town for today, so we came early."
"To see me off, da?" Ivan asked happily. How sweet of them, and here Ivan always thought he scared them. But Toris was grinning (admittedly weakly), so it must be true.
"A-actually, w-we th-thought that y-you w-would a-a-already be g-gone by now," Raivis said softly, looking at the ground. Eduard and Toris balked behind him.
"Kol kol kol," Ivan chanted under his breath. That always calmed him down…eventually. That boy could be so spacey sometimes; didn't he know that what he said could end up hurting people? Luckily Ivan was there to make sure that he quit that habit of his; it would just take some time and discipline to do so. Unfortunately, Ivan really had to get over to Yao's house soon, so he couldn't 'help' Raivis today. Another day, perhaps?
"Wh-what he meant Mr. Ivan was that we wanted to go ahead and clean your house so it would be…clean for you when you get back," Toris said quickly, seeing the look that was on his employer's face. Well, if Toris said so; after all, Toris wouldn't lie to him.
"Okay then, I'll leave it to you!" Ivan said cheerfully as he walked away. Glancing back, he saw a look of…relief? on Toris' face. But that couldn't be right; what did he have to feel relieved about? It's not like he was in trouble and Ivan had to bail him out, though that was always fun; especially when Ivan was able to see the look of panic on Toris' face.
Catching a glimpse of silver from one of the upstairs windows, Ivan grinned more. Toris was probably there just to see Ivan's sister; his crush was obvious to all. In fact, he probably convinced the other two to come with him earlier than usual so he would have a better chance to see her. Toris was…cute, when it came to his obvious affections. If only Natalia would switch over to the Lithuanian boy, it would solve quite a lot of problems. But what was that quaint saying that Arthur was fond of saying at times? If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.
Ivan scoffed.
Kiku watched as Yao paced around the train station, waiting for the conductor to let the passengers on. The train's staff had to go through and do a routine check of the train, making sure everything was in operating order before they could let passengers on. This was for safety, of course, but it also seemed to be holding the train up on schedule, making Yao fear that they would end up being late to meeting their family. Kiku sat on one of the benches on the platform serenely, half listening to a humorous story that Alfred was telling him while also people watching in the spare time that they had. Kiku was nervous too, but as things were out of their control at the moment there didn't seem to be any reason to get overly upset about it. It's not like they could do anything about it, anyway.
Looking around, Kiku saw where Ivan was watching Yao's slight panicking with interest. Kiku narrowed his eyes at this. He never really got along well with the Russian, and the fact that he seemed to like to randomly stalk Yao (sometimes in a panda suit of all things!) didn't warm him up to the other boy. Then again, since Kiku was good friends with Alfred, who had a rivalry with the other boy, he figured that some of this tension might have been transferred over. The American seemed very good at convincing others to go along with his ideas, but that might have just been because of how affable he was, and how…easily influenced Kiku was at times.
Looking over at his other friends, Kiku saw where Arthur and Francis were in yet another fight. This didn't surprise Kiku anymore and instead served as another form of amusement during the short wait. In fact, as Kiku was thinking this a platform worker came over to see if there was anything wrong with the two Europeans. As soon as the man questioned them, Francis and Arthur moved a bit closer together and defended themselves together against the other man. The platform worker, seeing that there wasn't anything wrong after all, gave them a last questioning look before announcing that passengers could start boarding. Yao immediately came over to Kiku and dragged the smaller man onto the train behind him, Alfred trailing along in the middle of his story.
As the six friends chose seats that were both comfortable and next to each other, Kiku looked out of the window nervously. It wasn't like Ludwig to be late, even if he did decide to bring Feliciano with him, which was most likely. After mentioning this, Arthur looked up and frowned.
"I'm not sure if Ludwig will come," Arthur said contemplatively. "Feliciano's younger brother Masaccio came over to stay at my house yesterday and according to him something came up so that both he and Lovino Vargas won't be here for the weekend."
Francis nodded seriously. "I'm telling you, Arthur, there is something going on in the Vargas household!" Arthur scoffed at this.
"And I'm telling you, you don't know what you're talking about Frog," Arthur said dismissively. Alfred pouted slightly, looking back and forth between the slightly older teens on either side of him. He usually ended up in between them as a barrier between the two, whether he liked it or not.
"How come you've never talked ta me about this before?" Alfred sulked. It was just like them to keep things from him! And Mattie too, of course.
"To you, you mean," Arthur sighed, already tired of the conversation. "And you get involved to easily in things like this."
"Aiyah, why do you Westerners always insist on meddling in other people's affairs?" Yao sighed as he leaned back against his plush seat contentedly. Now that he was actually on the train, Yao could relax more; though, he could do without Ivan sitting next to him so closely, but that was because the train was starting to get more and more crowded.
Kiku frowned slightly, but it went unnoticed by the louder people around him. He had been looking forward to introducing his very good friends Ludwig and Feliciano to his—Yao's—family but if they couldn't make it… It was rather disappointing, if he was completely honest. Yes, Kiku was friends with the other people around him (with the exception of Ivan, who was pretty much there for Yao) but they just weren't as close to him as the cheerful Italian and stoic German were.
Speaking of said German, Kiku thought he heard his voice above the chatter of the people around him. Looking up, Kiku could see Ludwig making his way hurriedly through the crowd of people and onto the train. This was lucky, as the train doors were just starting to close behind him. Straightening up a bit and smoothing out his outfit, Ludwig strode over to where Kiku was sitting and sat down next to his friend. Kiku offered his friend a small smile which the German man returned with a quick nod of the head.
"Dude, Ludwig!" Alfred crowed from his seat. "We thought you weren't coming, you're always the first one here."
A light blush on his pale cheeks, Ludwig looked away uncomfortably. "Ja, Bruder blew a fuse in the house last night so all of our clocks were wrong. Grandfather was not pleased."
Francis chuckled; his friend could get up to the strangest things sometimes. "What was he doing to blow a fuse?" he asked curiously. He would have to tell Antonio about this later, if Gilbert himself didn't go ahead and tell the cheery Spaniard.
"I didn't want to ask, and I was already running late as it was," Ludwig said sternly, clearly not wanting to talk about the matter anymore.
Alfred decided to bring up another subject instead though judging by the way Ludwig squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, Kiku could tell that he wasn't very keen on this subject either.
"So, did Feli call you to tell you he wouldn't be coming?"
"No, his brother did," Ludwig replied awkwardly. It was very common knowledge about how the eldest Vargas brother felt about the German teen, in that he hated him. Kiku winced as he imagined the phone conversation—if one could call most likely getting yelled and cursed at without getting a word in edgewise a conversation. Why Lovino didn't like Ludwig wasn't exactly clear since all he would say was that it was because he was a 'potato bastard' and was 'corrupting his little brother' or something like that. Kiku presumed that it was because the angry Italian teen just didn't get along with others his own age, particularly those of the male gender. "He said something about how he wasn't going to let his precious brother be left alone with me and my weird friends for the weekend."
"Eh~? But we're not weird, da," Ivan said cheerfully as he looked out the window at the fast moving scenery. It was quite exciting to be riding on a train after all, since there wasn't really anyplace to go to that couldn't be reached by walking. He would have to bring back a souvenir or something for his sisters and make the trio from Baltic Lane watch while they received nothing. Ivan giggled lightly as he thought about what types of faces he could probably make them make; they always had such interesting expressions! It was almost a game for Ivan, seeing if he could get them to make different expressions. They were all so humorous! Ivan's favorite so far was their startled, frightened faces; oh, if only they could see for themselves he was sure they would laugh too…
"Ivan aru?" Yao whispered over to the Russian teen, leaning over slightly. Ivan looked down and tilted his head slightly to the left, questioning. "Are you feeling okay aru? You're starting to chant again…"
Now that Ivan looked around he noticed quite a few people, most noticeably ones that he did not know, glancing at him in what looked like fear. Ivan smiled in response, but that didn't seem to put anyone at ease; strange as it was, it instead seemed to make them more scared. Ivan didn't quite understand why that was, though; weren't smiles supposed to set others at ease? At least, that's what he had always been told as a child… "Da, I'm doing fine comrade," he responded when it looked like Yao wanted an answer. Yao nodded uncertainly before turning to face the others again. The strange group of friends was by now somewhat used to their Russian companion's expressions so they weren't as affected as the random people on the train were; they were even given more room now as the other passengers moved away as far as they could.
The rest of the train ride passed by quickly for the next hour or so, the group exchanging jokes, jibes and insults with each other. All in all, the train ride went by pleasantly and they eventually reached their next station where Yao and Kiku's relatives should be waiting for them.
Mei rested against a wooden bench in the middle of the bustling train station. She had just barely beaten her family and their friends to the station and managed to catch an earlier train which let her reach her old hometown ahead of them. It was a very good thing that she had decided to leave early just in case. Catching her breath slightly, Mei cast a look around the familiar station and beyond; she could just make out the busy street outside of the windows and noted that everything looked just as it had when she had left it last. God, has it really been only two or three weeks since then? She thought. It felt longer since so many things had happened since then; she can't say that she regrets anything, though.
Glancing once more at the departure schedule Mei saw that Yao and Kiku's train would be arriving soon. Mei could feel the excitement bubbling in her chest at the thought of actually being able to physically see and touch them once again; the phone call last week was wonderful, but it just didn't compare to being able to see her two relatives again. Mei sighed sadly; she felt bad that she was the only one getting to see Yao-gege and Kiku again, and she had been able to speak with both of them on the phone! But Hong and Yong Soo didn't even get that much. Straightening up with renewed energy, Mei vowed that she would just have to make the most out of her visit and remember to tell Yong Soo and Hong everything; it was only fair, after all.
Mei blinked. Through the crowd or people she thought she caught a glimpse of someone…familiar. At least, the flash of glasses seemed familiar; did Mei know many people with glasses? Shrugging, Mei decided to brush off the encounter as just seeing someone she might have known from when she was living here last. Chances were, she would probably see a lot of familiar people and not all of them were ones that she was very keen on seeing again. She would have to be careful when playing tour guide then and lead everyone someplace less likely to be seen. But wait what if Gege and Kiku wanted to meet Mei's friends from here? That wouldn't do, since Mei and her family kept to themselves mostly; it was pretty dangerous lately to go out of your way to talk to people you don't know around here.
"Mei!"
Startled, Mei turned around and glanced at the giant clock on the wall; 11:38 it said. That would mean that the train had arrived, and that would mean…
"Gege! Kiku!" Mei shouted, rushing through the crowd of people to where she could just make out her relatives. They had changed since she had last seen them, and no doubt she had as well but she could still recognize them from anywhere.
Yao and Kiku had large smiles on their faces as Mei raced towards them. Yao's smile wilted slightly when he saw that she was about to launch herself at him, and quickly braced himself with catching her into a flying leap hug that had Alfred laughing loudly behind them.
"Looks like someone missed you guys," he said. He, Arthur, Francis, Ivan and Ludwig stood (mostly) silently behind the three Asians as they became reacquainted with each other once again. Something that amused them greatly was that the smaller girl seemed to latch herself onto Kiku and Yao's arms, not wanting to let go. Alfred smirked when he saw the blush on his friend's face, but that could have just been because of the scene that was gathering attention from onlookers at their reunion.
"Shut up, aru," Yao replied, though there was no bite to it. Turning himself, Mei and Kiku around, he introduced his friends to his little sister. "Everyone, this is my little sister Mei; Mei, this is Alfred Jones, American; Arthur Kirkland, self-proclaimed gentleman; Francis Bonnefoy, pervert; Ivan Braginski, uh, friend; and Ludwig Beilschmidt, Kiku's friend aru."
Mei giggled at her brother's introduction of his friends, enjoying seeing their reactions to his subtle (?) insults. They didn't seem that upset though; they must be really good friends then, Mei thought with a warm, gentle smile towards the group. This thought was proven wrong, however, when Francis started checking someone out; Mei couldn't see who it was. Arthur started nagging at the Frenchman in response, which prompted some sort of argument (Yao had Kiku lead Mei and the others away, lest they be seen with them) that seemed to be some sort of regular occurrence.
Mei led the group outside and away from the security officers that were starting to eye them closely. Mei gave them a timid smile to which the guards rolled their eyes and went back about their business; they remembered Mei and her family and figured that it was just another one of their antics or something.
"Mei?" Yao asked suddenly, looking around slightly apprehensively. Mei paused and looked at her brother, hiding her slight anxiety. Did he notice that the streets were a bit shady and dangerous looking? Hopefully he hadn't seen any of the gangs that roamed around the place yet; that would be very difficult to explain away since the last time Yao and Kiku were living here the gangs hadn't arrived yet. However, it seemed that Mei's worries were for naught. "Where are Viet, Hong and Yong Soo? I would have thought that they would be here to meet us, aru."
Mei smiled and recited perfectly the excuse that she had come up with on the train ride over. "They wanted to, especially Yong Soo, but they all had work that they had to go to today," Mei said with an easy smile. "And Viet had work late last night, so she's probably sleeping right now; you know how she doesn't like to be disturbed over something like this." Yao and Kiku shuddered slightly, remembering their older sister-figure; she was always the stern one of the family and could instill fear in everyone, though she did have her caring moments. However, for some reason it seemed that Yao hardly ever saw these tender moments.
Yao relaxed slightly; it would have been very nice to be able to see the rest of his family after so long, but it was also nice not having to deal with his grabby little brother and his stern sister. Kiku seemed to share his sentiments, but that could have been because of Yong Soo's 'rivalry' with the older boy. Mei smiled at the two of them, knowing what was going through their minds.
"Come on, I'll show everyone around town!" she said happily. "After all, it's been a while since you two have been here, and as a good host I should show everyone the highlights of this wonderful town of mine!"
Francis frowned slightly and hung back to walk near the end of the group with Arthur. Arthur scowled at the Frenchman but said nothing lest he spoil the happy mood that his good friend was in with his family. That didn't mean he had to like his company, though!
"Cher," Francis said lowly so that only Arthur could hear him. "Did you see the graffiti sign on the wall back there?" Arthur snorted in response and rolled his eyes before giving his friend/neighbor/rival/arch nemesis a condescending look.
"Of course I did, frog," Arthur said. "Why? Does it remind you of when you and those two terror friends of yours were your own gang back when we started high school? What was it called again, Bad Touch Trio?" He said this sardonically, clearly not thinking much of the former gang. Francis frowned deeper at the slight but pressed on.
"Yes, we were called that as you well know," he said with a knowing glance which Arthur ignored in favor of paying attention to where the group was heading. They seemed to be at a cross-walk where Mei was pointing out different buildings and locations and was smiling along to Alfred's jokes which probably weren't very funny in the first place. "The point I'm trying to make, Mon Ami, is that it seemed familiar…as in, Golden Horde familiar," he said with grave airs. Arthur spun around to look at him in shock, and then quickly looked around to see if anyone was overhearing their conversation or even following them. Nobody suspicious (other than the people in their own group) was around which was a good thing. Now that Arthur was paying closer attention, he thought he could spy a few other gang symbols around, but were properly hidden from obvious sight.
"Them?" Arthur hissed when he was sure nobody was listening in. "Why would they—could this be their home city? What is such a…infamous gang doing in such a peaceful looking place?"
"I think the better question here," Francis answered, unusually grave. "Is should we tell dear Kiku and Yao that their dear relatives are living in a city run by…Them?" Arthur flinched again; he hadn't thought about that. It would only be right to warn his friend, but it would also upset him; Arthur didn't have the heart to do something like that just after Kiku and Yao had a nice reunion with their family. When he mentioned this, Francis gave him a Look.
"What?" Arthur asked sharply, briefly drawing attention to the two before attention was diverted elsewhere by a cheerful Mei pointing out a nice restaurant where the group decided to have lunch. "I'm a gentleman, of course I think about such things." Francis rolled his eyes at this. "A-and at any rate, she seems to be doing okay here, and I'm sure her family is doing just as well. There's no need to raise an unnecessary fuss after all."
Before Francis could respond to this, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around both of their shoulders and was shortly followed by a distinctly American voice. "Hey, whatcha two talkin' 'bout all the way back here? You're not keepin' secrets from the rest of us, are ya?" Arthur let out a loud groan at the younger blond's use of American Slang. He probably did it just to get a reaction out of him, Arthur was sure of it.
Francis chuckled and lightly pulled Alfred's arm off of his shoulder. "Now, if we had any secrets then why would we tell you? They wouldn't be secret then, non?" Alfred scowled and led the way into the restaurant where the others were already waiting.
After ordering, Mei looked around at the people around her and started up conversation to stimulate the mood. "So, how do you all know Gege and Kiku?"
Ivan, the tall Russian boy who was alternating between smiling at Mei and Yao and glaring competitively with Alfred, laughed lightly and childishly at this. For some reason, Mei felt a little…intimidated by his smile. Kiku and Yao grasped at her hand, so she assumed it was something he did with everyone. "Well, Yao and I are very good friends, da." Mei could only nod at this, feeling like it was the polite thing to do. Actually, now that she thought about it he looked a lot like her friend Natalia… wasn't his name Ivan as well? What an uncanny coincidence.
"Well, I'm the hero so of course I know everybody!" Alfred said cheerfully, getting looks of scorn from the people around him.
"Oh? So you know who the three new kids are?" Francis asked lightly, propping an arm on the arm rest of the chair he was sitting in and resting his cheek in his hand. Mei choked slightly on her drink at this, but luckily nobody noticed. Alfred pouted and slumped in his seat childishly.
"No one really knows them, since they live on Nordic Avenue," Alfred explained to Mei when he saw that she was watching. "The people over there like to keep to themselves mostly, and they won't say anything about the new kids. All I really know is that one of them likes to stalk Artie here," he said as he elbowed the Englishman slightly, a grin on his face. Arthur blushed and scowled as he looked away.
"He does not stalk me! We've only met up a few times, and they were completely random!" Arthur blustered. Francis and Alfred gave him looks that clearly said 'sure, it is…' Mei let out an inaudible sigh of relief; it looked like her secret was safe for the time being.
At the sound of a throat clearing, Mei looked over to Kiku's other side where she saw Ludwig looking uncomfortable in the loud, boisterous setting. He glanced at her and when he saw that she was paying attention and that nobody else was going to answer the question he said "Kiku and I have most of our classes together, along with another friend of ours who couldn't be here today. We've had the same classes for a few years now." Mei smiled warmly at him which seemed to set him at ease just a little bit. She was glad that her family seemed to have such good friends. She had a feeling that Ludwig was very good friends with Kiku since they both were the serious type. Now she wondered about the 'other friend' that he had mentioned. What was he like? Yong Soo and Hong didn't really describe Kiku and Yao's friends very well, most likely having only thought about them in the sense that they didn't want to get caught and have the bet end.
Talking was put on hold for a while when their order arrived. The group spent a companionable time together as they ate, with Mei informing Yao and Kiku about how she, Yong Soo and Hong had been doing for the past few years, abridged of course. When Mei was in the middle of an amusing tale about how Yong Soo had gotten in trouble for something or other at school, she noticed someone entering the restaurant. Her eyes met with the newcomers and upon seeing the smirk on his face she knew; he must have been there for her.
Why did he have to come now, of all times? Not when she had company, especially with Gege and Kiku here!
"Um, please excuse me for a moment," Mei said suddenly, standing up. When she saw the blank looks she was getting she quickly put on a smile and said "It's nothing, I think someone wants to speak to me for a moment, it won't take long." With that, Mei tried to casually make her way to the front of the restaurant while also trying to hurry and get the talk over with.
The man at the door, around twenty years of age and tall with dark hair, leaned casually against the wall next to the door, waiting for Mei. He smirked at her as she approached him.
"Mei dear, what a pleasant surprise," the man said in a deep voice. Mei faced him with a grim expression. "And here I'd heard that you and those runt brothers of yours had already left town, when what do I see? Little Mei herself, walking down the street as calm as can be, surrounded by, what is it? Six different men? Seven?"
"It's none of your business Gerald," Mei said carefully, clearly not liking the situation she was in. "I'm just here for the one day, showing some friends and relatives around. After lunch I was going to take them back to the train station and leave shortly after, there's no reason why you should be here."
"Now, that's where you're wrong Mei," the man, Gerard said as he leant near Mei. "It seems to me that those charming people over there don't know that you don't live here anymore. It would be a shame if they still had that misconception, don't you think? Since they're friends and family, they should know these things."
Mei paled at the subtle threat, knowing exactly what the older man wanted. "How much for you to keep quiet?" Gerard smiled again. It seemed that even after Mei's short time away, she still knew the rules of the town. And Gerard's people made the rules of the town.
"How much do you have on you?" he asked curiously. Mei quickly took out her wallet and started counting bills. She looked up apprehensively when she was done.
"Not much more than what I need to pay for my portion of the tab and for the ticket home," she said slowly. When Gerard held out his hand, she handed over the extra money to him. After counting it, he sniffed but pocketed the bills.
"Not much here, but I've always had a soft spot for you and your brothers, Mei," Gerard answered. "Don't worry; I'll even help you out…dear." At Mei's sudden confused look, he gestured with his head behind her. Mei looked and felt her blood freeze—they were coming over!
"Mei, aru?" Yao asked, looking between Mei and Gerard suspiciously. "Who's your friend, aru?" Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Ivan, Ludwig and Kiku were coming up behind him and also looking over curiously at the two.
Mei felt the words close up with her throat; this was the exact situation that she had wanted to avoid. Gerard spoke up instead.
"I'm Gerard, Mei's boyfriend," he said easily, putting an arm around a frozen Mei. This was most definitely not the response that Mei was expecting, and it seemed to surprise the others as well.
"Boyfriend, aru?" Yao asked incredulously, eyebrows raised. This look didn't last long though when he looked at Gerard suspiciously. "Then why did I see Mei give you money earlier, aru?"
Gerard shrugged, not put out in the least by Yao's questioning or the glares that he was receiving from a few of the people behind him. "I needed some cash and I asked. She gave it to me. Isn't that right Mei?" he asked, looking down at her. Mei could only nod with her eyes wide, not trusting herself to speak right now. Her voice would probably be cracked, considering how dry her throat suddenly seemed. Mei swallowed, hoping that would help.
Gerard smiled brightly once again before pulling his arm back and waving a jaunty goodbye to those gathered. "Oh, and Mei? I'll see you soon."
Once he was out of sight, Mei turned back to the group and mumbled an apology on behalf of Gerard. How embarrassing!
Yao was still frowning as Mei led them back to the train station. "Mei, I don't like that boy," he said finally. Mei could only nod in agreement, but said nothing. "He doesn't take your money often, does he?" Yao asked worriedly, giving his sister a concerned look. Mei managed a smile and shook her head.
"No, it was just a one time thing," Mei assured him. "He just…was short on cash at the moment and needed to borrow a bit, that's all."
Yao still didn't seem fully convinced but let it go. Mei noticed that Kiku hadn't said anything since then, and hoped he wasn't upset.
Well, this day didn't exactly go as planned…
Feliciano rested in the double bed he shared with his twin in their father's house and thought about the day's events. Judging by the lack of evenly spaced breathing, Lovino was probably awake. Or at least, he hoped he was awake… Better check to be sure.
"Ve~ Fratello~" Feliciano asked softly, not wanting to make too much noise in case his older brother was asleep after all. "Are you awake?"
"No dumbass, I'm sleep talking," Lovino answered, just as softly.
"Ve~ really fratello? That's so cool!" Feliciano said happily, not catching the sarcasm.
"Idiot, I'm awake," Lovino said grumpily as he turned over to look at his twin. Feliciano frowned in the darkness.
"Then…why did you say you were sleep talking?"
"Ugh, you're just like the Tomato Bastard," Lovino groaned, shoving his head into a pillow. Feliciano kept frowning at him.
"Fratello, did you mean what you said at supper with Papa?" he asked softly again. Lovino stilled but answered anyway.
"Of course I did," he said, sounding confident. "And if you were smart you would do the same thing, Feli."
Feliciano swallowed hard and looked down at his lap. "But…it doesn't seem right, fratello."
"Right or not, it's what we have to do to make sure Father still likes us," Lovino said resolutely, sitting up and leaning against Feliciano. "Remember, we promised each other; you're not going to go against that, are you?" For once, Lovino sounded just as scared and lost as Feliciano had. It pulled at Feli's heart strings, knowing that they were even in this dilemma because of him.
And because of him…
Lovino wrapped an arm cautiously around his brother when he heard the first sound of a choked sob. "Hey, don't worry; I'm your big brother, I'll make sure nothing happens okay? So go ahead and get some sleep; we have an early start tomorrow, you know." With that, Lovino lay down to get some much needed sleep. After a few minutes in which Feliciano carefully managed to get his wayward emotions under control he did the same thing.
Notes:
1. Gerard: yeah, I ended up putting an OC in here. It was needed, though, and he probably won't appear again. Maybe. It depends on if I need him again or if I want to use some other expendable OC…
Horde: I needed some name for it, and it was the first one that came to mind. I'm quite happy with myself for this one.
3. Bad Touch Trio: I'm pretty sure in an earlier chapter I've called these three the Bad Friends Trio; this isn't a typo or me being wishy-washy about naming them, it's to differentiate them. Bad Friends is just the normal Francis, Gilbert and Antonio as, well, friends. Bad Touch is their gang name back when they were a gang; this may or may not come up again. You'll just have to wait and find out XD
4. There may (most likely) be gramatical errors; my excuse: I've been typing on this thing all day, most of it actually. It is now almost midnight, and as I am currently a college student with 9 o'clock classes, I like sleep. The fact that I actually don't have any classes tomorrow notwithstanding XD
5. Special thanks to FigydaFlygon, yullenxneko-chans and, I suppose (jk, ily!) b4ndg33k for reviewing! Thanks for the character suggestions, and I'm sorry I couldn't really put them in this chapter but they will appear next time!
6. And above all else, please review! ^_^