Matthew POV
I looked at my watch for what had to be the twentieth time in half an hour. Where the hell was my stupid partner? He promised to meet me after school in the library and I specifically told him that I had to leave at three. Raivis was especially eager to leave school since his brother started teaching and Feli said he had a project of his own to finish. In short, I was screwed. I was just going to pack my stuff up and ditch when I heard a familiar obnoxious voice coming from a few rows back.
I got up and saw Alfred talking to Monique Bellerose. She was a girl in our French class. She had long dirty-blonde hair pulled to the side in a loose braid. Her bangs were pulled back by pins and she wore a ribbon in her hair. She was glaring at Alfred over the tops of her glasses. It didn't take a genius to tell she was annoyed.
I marched over there and grabbed Al by the collar of his shirt. "I'm so sorry for interrupting, mademoiselle, but I have to take him off your hands."
"Oh, please do," she made a shooing motion towards us. "I have a lot of things I need to get done."
"Understood." And with that, I dragged my brother towards where I had set up shop.
Of course, Al couldn't come silently. "Hey! What are you doing? You ruined my chances with her!"
I rolled my eyes. "Please, you two weren't going anywhere anytime soon."
Al took a seat, crossed his arms, and frowned. "I bet you couldn't do any better."
I perked up. This was something I can do. I watched Papa flirt enough times with practically everything that moved. "And if I can?" I challenged.
"Then, I'll stay focused for the rest of the project and I'll dye my hair pink for a week."
I fought to hold back a smirk. Now I can get rid of that pink hair dye Bella decided to put in my backpack for a "disguise". Please, I knew it was a joke. "If I lose?"
Al gave me a wolfish grin. "First, I get to say I told you so, and you have to dye your hair pink."
A smiled curled on my lips. "You've got yourself a deal." I stood up and walked over towards Monique. I gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Excusez-moi, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think my project partner left something over here."
She turned. "Alfred's your partner?"
I nodded.
She shook her head. "You poor soul."
I smiled and slid into the chair next to her. "Yeah, I know. Did he leave his binder over here?"
She shook her head. "Non, sorry. Was it important?"
"No, he just refuses to work without it. It's got all his notes and things."
"Why can't you just work off yours?"
"That's what I said!"
She laughed softly. I smiled. I liked her laugh. "I just think he enjoys being difficult."
She nodded. "I believe it."
I looked over at the papers she was nonchalantly trying to cover up. "Whatcha got there?"
Monique blushed and trying to stuff the papers into her bag. "It's nothing, really. Just terrible poetry."
I was intrigued. I never really pegged her as one for poetry. Then again, you'd never suspect Emil was into that sort of thing too. He has this notebook that we're not allowed to touch. Still, growing up with my Dad's library, I could appreciate written works. "Mind if I take a look?"
She raised her eyebrow. "You're into poetry?"
"I like all things written. Books were pretty much my only friends growing up. Do you write free verse or fixed form?"
"A little bit of everything."
"Impressive."
"You know, I never pegged you as a lover of Literature."
I smiled at her. "Do I not look the type?"
She laughed and pulled a paper out of her bag which she handed it to me. "Here. You seem to know what you're talking about. Tell me what you think."
I took it and looked it over carefully. "This is great! I love the imagery and your use of metaphors. Your words really convey your message."
She blushed. "Really? It's good?"
I nodded. "Really good."
"Hey, Matt?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you free this Friday after school?"
"I'm pretty sure. Why?"
Monique nervously brushed a piece of loose hair behind her ear. "There's this café down the street from here, Café España, ever heard of it?
I nodded. Antonio worked there Mondays through Thursdays, sometimes the occasional weekend if they were busy.
"Well, they have poetry and short prose readings every Friday night. I'm wondering if you'd like to go to one."
I smiled. "I'd love to."
"That's great! I–" she was cut off by an text alert on her phone. She started to pack up her up her things. "I'm sorry, I got to go. Five sound good?"
"Yeah, sounds great."
"It's a date, then." She winked at me and left.
I tried not to look smug as I walked back over to Alfred. Apparently, I have a pretty good poker face because the first thing out of his mouth was, "So, was I right or was I right?"
I sat down on the opposite side of him. I kicked my feet up on the table and examined my nails. "Actually, you were wrong."
It was worth it to see the shock on his face. "I'm what?"
"You're wrong," I stated again. "We have a date Friday."
"How on earth did you get a date?!"
I stretched and put my hands behind my head. "I guess I'm just a hit with the ladies."
"Alright, teach me."
Okay, was not expecting that. "Excuse me?"
"If your such a hit with the ladies, teach me how to do it."
I looked up at the clock. 2:50. I got up and gathered up my stuff. "Maybe some other time."
"What? Why? Where are you going?"
"I told you earlier, I need to leave to pick up Eduard."
Alfred's shoulders slumped. "Okay. See you tomorrow, man."
"Wait, before I forget," I tossed him a pack of pink hair dye. "You're gonna need this," I smirked. I left before I had time to hear his response.
"Mattie!" I got hug/tackled by Raivis.
"Hey, buddy. How was your day?"
"It was good." He seemed tense about something.
"Is something wrong?"
He wrung out his hands. "Well, you see," he voice dropped to a whisper, "Toris knows. About Eduard, I mean. He knows he's dead."
"Does he know about you?"
Raivis shook his head. "I don't think so."
I ruffled his hair. "That's good buddy."
He looked around. "Where's Vene?"
"Veneziano had to stay and finish a project. He said he'd meet us at home."
He nodded. "Okay." As we walked home, he rambled on and on about his day, math class, and that funny thing Peter did. It really did amaze me how much this kid could talk. I had heard comments from his teacher who constantly said how quiet he was. I fond it pretty funny, honestly. At home, it seems like he's always talking to at least one of us. I figured that he has to truly trust someone before he opens up to them. But there was one thing about what he earlier said that was burning in my mind. I waited until he took a breath.
"Hey Raivis?"
He looked up at me. "Yeah?"
"How do you know that Toris knows about Eduard?"
Raivis tore his gaze from me. "Well, I got there early today and he seemed sad. So, I asked him if he was sad. He said he was. I asked him why. He said it was because he found out his brother was dead. I said I was sorry."
"You said sorry?"
He looked back up at me. "Well, yeah. What else was I supposed to say? When people die you usually say sorry, right?"
I nodded. "Usually."
"Why do people say that?"
I paused for a moment. "You know, I'm not really sure."
"I mean, it wasn't my fault he dead. I guess you say sorry because someone is sad and you're sorry you can't make them happy right now."
I looked down at him. Where does he come up with this stuff? "You're a pretty smart kid, you know that, right?"
He blushed. "I'm not that smart."
I ruffled his hair. "You are too that smart."
He giggled and I just had to smile. It was always worth it to see his smile, or anyone at home's really. It reminded me that there was more to life than the crap we had to put up with and that we don't have to be alone anymore.
"Hey Mattie? You never told me about your day."
"My day was just fine, buddy."
"What made it fine?"
I fought to hold back a smile. "Nothing really."
"Oh come on, tell me! I told you all about my day! It's only fair!"
"I'm meeting someone Friday."
"Who?"
"It's no one you know."
He nodded thoughtfully. "I see." I knew he knew something. I found out what that was a couple seconds after we walked in the door.
Bella and Emil were both in the kitchen when we arrived. Emil was at the table doing his homework and it looked like Bella was cooking something. She smiled warmly at us when we came in.
"Hey guys, anything interesting happening?"
"Mattie's got a date on Friday."
Emil's head snapped up and Bella instantly stopped what she was doing. "You got a date?" they said in unison.
I nodded and (I will deny ever doing this) slightly blushed. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Not a big deal? Mattie, it's a huge deal! You're finally growing up!"
"I'm sixteen, Bella."
"So, this isn't your first date then?"
I nervously scratched the back of his head. "Well..."
"Matthew Williams, is this your first date or not?"
"It's my first date," I muttered.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"It's my first date," I said a little louder. The next thing I knew was that Bella had me in a bone-crushing hug.
"Oh my gosh! Congratulations!"
"You are now a man," Emil said.
"So I wasn't a man before?"
He looked me straight in the eye and simply said, "No."
I ruffled his hair. "It's nice to know I have your love and support."
He fought back a smile and went back to his homework.
I fought back a grin myself. This is what a family should be like, people who feel at ease around each other and whom you can trust with anything.
Feli bounced into the kitchen. "We're home~!" He was always bursting with energy.
"Where's Lovino?"
"He's outside. He said he needed to de-stress."
If his de-stress was anything like my de-stress, this wasn't going to be anything good. I walked outside. He was leaning against the front of the house looking out across the road. A familiar scent hit my nose. "Hey."
He turned around, a cigarette between his fingers. "Hey."
"Where'd you get that?"
"Took one from you. I don't care if you care."
"You only smoke when your stressed."
"Yeah, so?"
I sat down on the step and patted the spot next to me. Lovino huffed and sat down. "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing. Feli's just being stupid, that's all."
"How is Feli being stupid?"
"He messing with things that should be left alone."
"Like?" I prompted.
"None of your damn business."
I stood up and dusted off my jeans. "Okay. Just make sure you finish that before Toni gets home."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "You're not gonna interrogate me?"
"No. That's not my job. Something tells me that you won't talk anyway. Somethings should just be left alone but Bella and I are here if you ever want to talk."
He stared back out over the street. "Yeah whatever." I could he took that to heart though.
"I'm sure dinner will be ready soon. Come in when you're ready."
He stood up and put out the cigarette. "I'm ready now."
I slung my arm around his shoulder. "Awesome. Come on, Antonio's coming home early. He said he's gonna make some spanish dish."
Lovino fought back a smile. "Stupid tomato bastard and his stupid spanish food," he mumbled.
"Antonio's great at cooking and you know it."
He shoved my arm off of him and went inside. "Yeah, yeah." He almost ran into Bella going into the kitchen. She raised and eyebrow as he walked past.
"I can't believe you actually got him back inside. That's usually a two person job. You must really have a way with words, Mattie."
I shrugged. "I guess so. Let's get in before Toni comes back."
AN: Another long overdue chapter, please don't kill me. The first part of the chapter to the Guest who suggested that Mattie should be at bit of a flirt. I think he would be too. He has mastered the art of conversation. And Lovino smoking is a personally headcanon I have that when the mafia is stressing Romano out, he stress-smokes. I don't care if that's not a thing. I know I haven't been updating recently which was due to a very bad case of writer's block and school. However, I do hope to update this story more frequently. The next chapter will most likely be in Toris's POV and one will be coming up soon in Antonio's POV because I feel like I haven't been giving him enough love.
Oh, and Monique is Monaco.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or the South American nations would be there.
