Adding Music to the Lyrics of Life

by yellow blaze

Human AU: Junior year has started up for Arthur, Gilbert, Matthew, Lovino and friends. Arthur's just hoping he can get through the school year without having another fiasco like his sophomore year.

21. Similarities between past and present

Moving on. ...This chapter got really long, but that's because I was combining all the parent day chapters into one.

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Timeskip since last chapter: Approx. One month

Today is: Wednesday (Parent Appreciation Day: Parents come to school and walk around with their kid(s), though some will walk alone, and look at the different projects in the classrooms)

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Antonio stretched his arms above his head with a content sigh. One day out of the school year where they could just relax at school, oh this was paradise... Antonio glanced over at where Gilbert was sitting (sulking). Obviously he was NOT happy with the events of the day. And probably would have stayed home if he had been given the chance. "Cheer up, Gilbert~!" Antonio gave him a playful smile.

"No." Gilbert scowled and promptly stretched his arms out across the table, laying his head down on the top of it. "Why do we even have to be here? Can't it just be a stay-at-home day or something?"

"I like free days. We get extra credit for showing up, and there's no homework or gym class." Antonio continued smiling and poked Gilbert's arm, "Cheer up, cheer up!"

"No, it's not extra credit if it's mandatory that you're present." Gilbert continued scowling, "I don't want to be here."

Arthur wandered into the room and instantly sat down next to Gilbert, "That makes two of us."

"Oh, are you done walking with your parents?" Antonio glanced over at Arthur.

"They went into the home education room." Arthur glared at Antonio, "I am NOT going in there."

"Oh, that's right, they have our quotes for family time displayed on the wall, don't they?" Antonio laughed, "Ahahahaha, I wonder if mom and dad will even recognize mine~"

"Considering each one has a little card with the student's name underneath it, I'm pretty sure they would." Arthur commented, "I saw her doing that yesterday after school."

"...Hm...I wonder if I'm gonna get in trouble for that then." Antonio tilted his head slightly, but perked up the instant Lovino came into the room, "Lovi!"

Lovino pulled out the chair next to Antonio and collapsed in it, "Ugh...so worn out and it's only the start of the damn day."

"Second." Gilbert raised his hand off the table for a second before it fell back down again, "I wanna go back to beeeeed…"

Alfred peered into the room, "Hey guys, come on! Stop sitting there like bumps on a log!"

Gilbert glared at Alfred, "I am going to be a bump for the entire day. Deal with it."

Arthur scowled in response, "Not happening. I'm staying right here."

Antonio, on the other hand, hopped up out of his seat and skipped over to where Alfred was standing, "Come on, Lovi~ Let's go walk around~"

"I just did! I am worn out, I said!" Lovino snapped.

"I can carry Lovi~" Antonio glanced over his shoulder and saw Lovino was already up out of his seat, "Oh you changed your mind~"

"I am NOT being carried." Lovino stalked out past Antonio and Alfred, cursing under his breath.

"Come on, come on!" Alfred tried pulling Arthur out of the chair.

"Leave me alone." Arthur scowled, but ended up getting pulled off his seat anyway since Alfred was (quite a bit) stronger than him, "Are you trying to dislocate that arm?"

Gilbert sighed in defeat and followed Alfred and Arthur out the door, "Don't wanna…"

"I wanna check out the Home Education classroom and see what funny quotes people put up~" Alfred cheered.

"I don't want to go anywhere near there." Arthur retorted.

"Ja, me neither." Gilbert shook his head.

"Let's go~" Antonio cheered, one hand in the air, he promptly pulled Lovino along behind him, not giving the small Italian a chance to object.

"We're outvoted, aren't we?" Arthur glanced at Gilbert.

"No kidding." Gilbert sighed heavily.

"Oh come on you two!" Alfred yanked both of them down the hall.

"You really are trying to dislocate that arm." Arthur grumbled, though managed to keep up with Alfred.

"What part of: I don't want to go, do you not get?" Gilbert snapped.

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Arthur sighed but walked into the classroom, mostly because of Alfred pushing him in, and spotted his parents (along with Allistor and Reilly) along the wall. "...Do we have to be in here?"

"Oh cheer up." Alfred sulked for a minute before skipping over to the wall, "I didn't get a chance to see what everybody put up on here."

"Probably a good thing." Arthur commented.

Gilbert wandered into the room and glanced up at the needlework displays, "…Oh look. There's mine. Right next to Little Stiff and Mini Stiff."

Arthur edged over and peered up at the three wall hangings, "…There are too many stiffs in this family?"

"Ja." Gilbert grinned, "Totally mine~"

"'Why can't we sit together without arguing?'…Huh. I kinda feel bad for Ludwig with that." Alfred tilted his head slightly.

"What the heck? His and Mini Stiff aren't that much different." Gilbert glanced at Ardrich's, "What's the point of family time if we can't get along? He's the reason I don't even sit with everyone!"

"Maybe he's regretting arguing with you so much." Arthur commented.

"Ja, right." Gilbert rolled his eyes in sarcasm, "Not happening." He moved further down the wall, glancing up now and then for anyone he knew.

Arthur blinked and stood on his tiptoes for a minute, glancing at smaller print that was on Gilbert's frame, "...but I love them anyway?"

"Awww! How cute!" Alfred laughed.

"Huh." Arthur raised an eyebrow and glanced downwards at the row, spotting his right in front of where they were standing, "..."

"Oh~ It's Arthur's!" Alfred followed his gaze, "…" He patted Arthur on the head instantly after reading it, "Poor Arthur."

"Don't make it sound like you're feeling sorry for me." Arthur scowled at Alfred and smacked the hand away.

"Oh, I found Lovi's!" Antonio called, standing a couple feet away from where Alfred and Arthur were.

Lovino smirked at Antonio, "She asked for what we thought of it. She got the damn answer."

"I hate family time...that sounds pretty accurate actually." Antonio laughed and ruffled Lovino's hair, "There, there~"

"Family time is fine when it's not forced?" Lovino read off the frame right next to his own.

"That would be mine." Antonio laughed, "Mom decided to have this brilliant idea of having a family night once a week."

Gilbert edged along the wall back up to where they were standing, "Boy. Some of these are rather hilarious. Oh hey Alfred, you should totally check out what Cruz put on his!"

Alfred hopped down, pulling Arthur along behind him, "What'd he put?" Alfred scanned the wall until Gilbert finally pointed it out.

"Time often spent alone rarely leads to a good school record...well. That fits him perfectly." Arthur started laughing.

"Dude, it sounds like he's blaming his parents for his behavior." Alfred started laughing as well.

"These things are great." Gilbert grinned. He glanced to the left and spotted his parents wandering into the room and instantly the grin turned into a scowl, "Okay, I'm outta here now, later."

Arthur watched as Gilbert made a break for the door and exited as soon as Regis got up to the wall, "...He moves fast."

"Yeah." Alfred nodded in agreement.

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Matthew edged along the side of the hallway, glancing around now and then for any sign of his parents. So far there was none. Actually there was no sign of anyone he knew for that matter. He sighed and leaned up against a random locker, glancing around once more. One month. One month had gone by already. One month of school gone by, one month since he broke up with Cruz, one month since deciding he should speak up more...actually those last two were related to one another. And now that he thought about it, one month since he had seen Roma.

Matthew tilted his head slightly. He'd gone down to the guidance office several times after that, but Roma was never there. "Well he is just a volunteer…but still…she said she'd let me know when he was in…and nothing…" Matthew hit his head against the locker with another sigh. Of course now that he wanted to talk to Roma, Matthew had absolutely no idea where the other person was at!

"Morning."

Matthew blinked and realized Cruz was standing next to him, "Eh? Hello. …How long were you standing there?"

"About a minute." Cruz responded, "Thinking about something again?"

"Maybe." Matthew blushed a bit and glanced away.

Cruz let out a noise that sounded like a scoff of some sort and shook his head, "Maybe, nothing. You didn't even notice that someone was standing right next to you." Cruz sighed and poked Matthew's shoulder, "Thinking is a bit dangerous for you, isn't it?"

"Not half as dangerous as not thinking." Matthew stuck his tongue out in response and waved Cruz's hand away.

"Usually only dangerous to your brother." Cruz scowled for a minute, thinking of Alfred. He shook his head to get rid of the unpleasant (to him, anyway) thought.

Matthew smiled slightly, "He does think." He commented, in defense of his twin, "He just…speaks before he does usually."

"Noticed that." Cruz remarked flatly and glanced up the hallway, "Waiting for your parents?"

"Yeah. But I haven't seen them yet." Matthew leaned forward and glanced around Cruz, "I wonder where they're at?"

"They might have gotten distracted by one of the food stands set up…" Cruz shrugged.

Matthew made a face and scanned the crowd. "Oh." He blinked. His eyes had settled on a slightly tall male with brown hair, "Roma!" Matthew instantly hurried through the crowd.

"Hey, wait up!" Cruz hurried after him, "Idiot, at least say something before running off!"

"Sorry!" Matthew apologized hastily and hurried to keep going so he didn't lose sight of his old counselor, "Roma! Wait up!"

"Who?" Cruz blinked but kept up behind Matthew quite easily, "Who are you calling to anyway?"

"Someone who's not hearing me." Matthew sighed heavily. He looked up for a brief second, seeing Roma pause where he was at. It looked like he was by himself.

Cruz blinked and glanced over Matthew's head, trying to tell who the blonde was calling for. He didn't see anyone who looked even remotely familiar adult-wise. Student-wise, yes. Some of them were a little too familiar, like soup-head over there. Cruz smirked.

"ROMA!" Matthew yelled, after finally finding his voice to do so.

Cruz jumped at the sudden loud voice from in front of him, as did several other people, "Geez!"

"Sorry!" Matthew's face turned dark red as he caught up to Roma, who had stopped to see who was calling for him.

"Oh! Good morning, Matthew~" Roma smiled cheerfully, "Sorry about that. I kept thinking I heard someone calling me, but I couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from!"

"Since when can you even yell that loud?" Cruz gaped at Matthew for a minute.

"Shut up." Matthew elbowed Cruz, his face still red from embarrassment. He looked up at Roma with an apologetic smile, "You haven't been here in a while!"

"Ah, my apologies. I really meant to be volunteering a couple times a week, but something came up." Roma rubbed the back of his head, looking off into the distance for a moment.

"Eh? Something came up?" Matthew tilted his head.

"Volunteering for what?" Cruz looked at Matthew in confusion.

"Oh, I volunteer as a counselor when they need extra people~" Roma smiled at Cruz cheerfully, the distant look completely disappearing off of his face, "Sorry again!" He ruffled Matthew's hair for a moment, "I'll try and come back more often."

Matthew ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to fix it again, "…I was just worried." He glanced away for a minute, finding a spot on the wall to stare at.

"No need to be worried about me~ I'm fine!" Roma continued to keep the same smile on his face, "And Lovino probably does enough worrying for everybody." He heaved a heavy sigh.

Cruz blinked for a moment, "…the loud yelling guy who's with Antonio? He worries?"

"Of course he does." Roma laughed, "…I just wish it wasn't over me." He sighed again, "I can't seem to convince him otherwise."

"Ehhh…" Matthew stared at Roma for a minute, "…"

"Oh. I have to go, otherwise Lovi will come looking for me again! I'll talk to you both later~" Roma waved and hurried off down the hall, disappearing into the crowd of people.

"…" Cruz turned his head to stare at Matthew.

"Huh. Maybe it was just my imagination…but he seemed rather depressed." Matthew stared at the crowd that Roma had vanished into.

"…" Cruz looked back down the hallway again, "A very energetic depressed. What the hell."

Matthew started laughing, "He's always like that, though!"

"Way too much energy for this early in the morning. That goes for you, too. No more running down the hallway without warning, please." Cruz slapped Matthew on the back of the head.

"Ow. Okay." Matthew rubbed the back of his head, giving a fake-hurt look to Cruz.

"That could not have hurt." Cruz didn't fall for the expression on the blonde's face.

"Does your hand sting when it does hurt someone?" Matthew smiled before hastily ducking out of hitting range.

"You…" Cruz chased after him down the hall, "Get back here!"

"No!" Matthew laughed and ran off with Cruz in pursuit.

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Roderich walked along beside Ludwig, still trying to figure out how he had ended up walking with him in the first place. Though he wasn't about to admit he had been looking for Gilbert, he supposed Ludwig's company was semi-pleasant (but the silence was starting to bother him).

Ludwig turned his head and glanced behind them for a minute before turning back front again.

Roderich sighed. For some reason, Ludwig kept feeling the need to look behind them every couple minutes or so, as if expecting the crowd of people around them to change, "Who are you looking for?" Roderich finally asked, in pure exasperation.

"Hm?" Ludwig blinked, reddening a bit, "No one."

"Then why do you keep turning your head?" Roderich raised an eyebrow, now slightly amused.

"Ach…" Ludwig's face reddened even more, "No reason."

"Gilbert would be making fun of you right now if he were here." Roderich commented, but kept walking anyway.

"Ja, I know." Ludwig shook his head with a sigh, "If you must know, I was looking for Feliciano."

Roderich blinked in surprise, "I thought he would be with Lovino?"

"Ardrich said he was meeting Feliciano in the hallway this morning, so I doubt it. Lovino and brother don't get along." Ludwig glanced behind them once more.

'Is that jealousy I'm sensing here?' Roderich smiled to himself, "Well I'm sure we would have noticed if we walked right by them."

"Ja, probably." Ludwig agreed. He still seemed distracted in looking around.

"Why don't you just call?" Roderich glared at Ludwig, seeing him turn his head once more, "You're going to strain your neck at this rate!"

"…I didn't want to interrupt if they were talking." Ludwig's face reddened once more.

"And yet…you're looking for them?" Roderich stopped walking and glared at Ludwig, "Make up your mind and stop being a hypocrite already!" He started walking once more.

Ludwig sighed and walked alongside Roderich again, "I wonder if Vati found Gilbert?"

"He was looking for Gilbert?" Roderich blinked.

"Ja. He told us this morning that he'd try and spend some time with all three of us. He was going to walk with Gilbert this morning." Ludwig glanced around the hall again before realizing what he was doing and quickly looking front again.

"…I assume by your wording that Gilbert knew this, however…" Roderich took out his phone and showed Ludwig a text message he had gotten.

"…" Ludwig read over the text. Yo, Roddy, I'm hanging out with Antonio, Arthur, Lovino, and Alfred~ You should come join :D "Bruder. You're going to get in trouble again."

"He has yet to tell me where they're at." Roderich commented, "I sent a response over a half hour ago now."

Ludwig took out his own phone, but no messages were there. "Well at least vati isn't calling me or trying to ask where Gilbert is."

"He should know it's hopeless by this point. Though that might be why I have not gotten a response." Roderich blinked as he suddenly came to that realization, "If he's ignoring messages thinking they're from his dad."

"You'll be waiting a long time for a response then." Ludwig commented.

"Well then, I guess he doesn't want me to join up with them that badly." Roderich shrugged and kept walking around at the same pace they had been walking at. "I'm certainly not going to go around to every room and try and find him."

"You could try sending a message to one of the other four." Ludwig pointed out quietly.

"Antonio will be pestering Lovino about now, and no doubt Alfred is doing the same to Arthur, if Allistor and Reilly aren't." Roderich commented, "Frankly, I don't think any phone messages are going to be getting anywhere." He took out his phone and updated his status instead.

Roderich- *is wondering how he's supposed to meet up with someone who does not disclose their location*

Ludwig smiled, seeing the update on his own phone.

Ludwig- *is wondering how Vati is going to react to a certain brother not walking around with him*

Roderich laughed, "Are you making sure I don't get a response via status messages, too, now?"

"He responds faster when he's provoked." Ludwig responded, smiling slightly.

Gilbert- *is thinking Luddy needs to shut up, and Roddy needs to come towards the lunchroom*

Roderich covered his mouth as he started laughing again, "Well it's better than saying little stiff!"

"Ja…but…Luddy?" Ludwig blinked at the status, "What the heck?"

Ludwig: Since when do you call me Luddy?

"Oh well. Shall we head to the lunchroom?" Roderich changed directions, pulling Ludwig along behind him.

"Oh, I'm sure Gilbert will love that." Ludwig commented sarcastically.

"Well he should have realized that we were walking together since you knew he wasn't with Regis. And the fact that our status updates were only a couple seconds apart from each other…hm?" Roderich looked down at his phone again.

Cruz: Some blonde had better stop running so damn fast! So help me if you fall down the stairs!

Matthew: Cruz is really angry, I hope he doesn't catch me~ XD

"…What the hell are they doing?" Ludwig blinked at the updates.

"My guess is, chasing each other through the hall…" Roderich let out a surprised yelp when someone ran right in front of him and kept going, soon chased by someone else.

"Oh. There they go." Ludwig laughed.

Roderich: TWO IDIOTS BETTER STOP RUNNING! YOU ALMOST RAN ME OVER!

Matthew: Oh, was that you? Sorry Roderich!

Cruz: His fault.

Roderich glared at the phone, "Mental note to self…find Cruz and hit him over the head."

Ludwig smiled and followed Roderich towards the cafeteria, "You can find him later."

"Later." Roderich nodded and kept going.

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"This is fun!" Feliciano cheered, skipping around the hall with Ardrich following along behind.

"Ja." Ardrich nodded in (mostly) silent agreement. He kept glancing at his phone now and then with the (weird) updates that kept popping up.

Feliciano peered over his shoulder and read the updates, "Aw, it sounds like Matthew and Cruz are having fun! I wonder if they're playing tag?"

Ardrich scrolled up and found Matthew's song-quote-status, "…Somehow I don't think so. It says Cruz is mad."

"Oh. Oh well, Matthew can run fast!" Feliciano smiled cheerfully and kept skipping.

"Oh…Gilbert is outside the cafeteria." Ardrich made a face, "Roderich is going over there…looks like Ludwig might be heading there, too."

"Luddy?" Feliciano peered over his shoulder again, "Where does it say that?"

"Well, it doesn't, but I think he and Roderich are walking together."

Feliciano made a face, "I didn't think they got along that well." He pouted but shrugged it off, "Oh well! Where should we head to…oh hi Grandpa Roma!"

Roma blinked at the sudden sight of Feliciano, "Oh, morning." He waved for a second before slowly letting his eyes fall on Ardrich, "…" The smile remained frozen on his face, along with his hand in mid-wave.

"Oh, you two haven't met, have you? This is Ardrich~" Feliciano cheered, motioning to the blonde next to him.

"Nice to meet…" Ardrich held out his hand slightly but Roma backed up from it, "Huh?"

"Ve?" Feliciano blinked.

"Ahahaha…" Roma let out a nervous laugh, "Nice to meet you, too…" He stepped back slightly.

Ardrich glanced over his shoulder in confusion, then back to Roma, "Huh? Is something wrong?"

"Ah…no…you just look like someone else. Your last name is Beilschmidt, isn't it?" Roma tilted his head.

"Ja." Ardrich nodded, still confused, "You know my brother, Gilbert."

"And also your dad. Excuse me." Roma shot off down the hallway.

"…" Ardrich and Feliciano stood in silence as the adult vanished.

"…I guess they don't get along." Feliciano spoke up.

"…Funny. Vati doesn't seem to have a problem when talking about him." Ardrich tilted his head in confusion, "What the heck?"

"Hm. Grandpa has been acting kinda weird lately the past couple weeks." Feliciano blinked, "I wonder if it has something to do with that?"

"Dunno." Ardrich shrugged, "So where are we going now?"

"Oh…um…" Feliciano tapped a finger to his chin, looking thoughtful.

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---

Allistor tilted his head while looking at one of the frames up on the wall of the Home Education classroom. "…I'm sorry I can't talk to you without freezing up?" The redhead glared at the name that was underneath it. "What the hell kind of apology is that, Arthur? At least say it to our faces." He turned his head towards another frame that had a couple staring at it.

"Sometimes the time spent together is better spent in silence?" Mrs. Jones blinked, "Well. That's fine and all well and good, Alfred, but…Matthew screamed last time. Maybe it was too quiet?"

"We can be together in silence. The heart speaks more than words do?" Mr. Jones raised both eyebrows, "You're the one who screamed, Matthew." They both sighed heavily before shifting down the line, glancing up at different quotes other people had done.

Allistor smirked slightly. Just like the idiot twins to say something similar without even trying.

Roma tilted his head, reading over Lovino's wall hanging and laughing a bit. His eyes glanced to Antonio's, which was so similar to Lovino's, that he started laughing again. "I wouldn't trade family time for anything!' Well. Feliciano got sentimental." Roma smiled and looked around at some of the other quotes, "…and looks like he's one of the only ones who did."

"No matter where it is spent, family time is rarely hated?"

Roma turned his head slowly to look at the reader.

"How are Gilbert und Roderich even friends? They have such opposite views." Regis shook his head in disbelief, not noticing the person standing to his immediate right.

Roma backed away a couple paces before hastily walking out of the room, making it out without Regis noticing him, "Run away..."

Allistor, not noticing the antics of the man he had been standing next to, opted to take a cell-phone picture of Arthur's frame and post it on the status board.

Allistor: Hm. It'd be nice if apologies were said in person rather than on a wall hanging, don't you think?

He wandered around the room for a bit longer, waiting until he got a response, which didn't come until after he had stepped out into the hallway.

Arthur: You clearly didn't read it then.

Allistor: Obviously I did if I posted it on here, brother. Apologies are so much more meaningful when said to the other person's face, hm?

Arthur: You're not getting one to your face. Deal with it.

Allistor: I shall.

There wasn't a response after that. Allistor smirked slightly and headed off down the hall, keeping his eyes open for any sign of his little brother. In the meantime, might as well meet up with Reilly and his parents for some more walking around. There was an event in the auditorium planned later, for all parents and students to attend. Apparently there was going to be some videos of some kind showing. It promised to be amusing moreso than anything else was today.

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Arthur swore quietly at the hidden threat in Allistor's last status and put his phone away. Ignoring Alfred's sympathetic pat-on-the-back, Arthur leaned forward to glance at Gilbert, "When is Roderich coming?"

"Dunno. He said he would be here. But that was before the you-almost-ran-over-me status at Mattie." Gilbert shrugged, "And if that's him with Little Stiff, then we're going to have an issue."

"Oh, the more the merrier?" Arthur teased.

"Nein." Gilbert sulked.

Alfred grinned and waved to Roderich and Ludwig, "Heeeeyyyy~"

"Hallo." Ludwig did a short wave in response to Alfred's over-enthusiastic one and glanced at Gilbert, "…Vati?"

Gilbert responded by sticking his tongue out at Ludwig, "Don't know where he is, nor do I care. Roddy, why'd you bring Stiffy along?"

"He was walking with me at the time, it would have been rude to just leave him by himself." Roderich commented.

"…Stiffy…" Ludwig blinked before sighing.

"Not that much different from Little Stiff." Arthur commented.

"Nope." Gilbert grinned, "Shorter to say though."

Arthur took out his phone, feeling the slight buzzing motion go off again.

Allistor: Oh where, oh where could my brother be?

Alfred blinked, "…Uh…is he talking about you?"

Arthur put his phone back in his pocket, ignoring having ever read the status update, "I haven't the faintest idea."

Gilbert made a face, "Ja, right, he's talking about you, und you know it." He had taken out his phone as well and blinked when a new status popped up, though the scowl came back in a hurry.

UnawesomeStiff: My name changed on here, too I see.

UnawesomeStiff: Now where is Gilbert? I could have sworn I was walking with him first this morning. *sarcasm*

Gilbert: I know you're being sarcastic, Vati. Leave me alone.

Gilbert glared at Ludwig, the threat being passed in silence over what would happen if Ludwig told Regis where they were currently at.

Roderich shook his head, "Still didn't have that conversation…"

"Nope~" Gilbert grinned momentarily before glancing at his phone again.

UnawesomeStiff: ._. Where the **** are you at?

Gilbert: Somewhere you're not :D

Cruz: Hey. This sounds familiar.

Matthew: Yeah it does.

UnawesomeStiff: What? What sounds familiar?

Matthew: The conversation you and Gilbert are having. Sounds very much like a text convo between me and Cruz last year.

Cruz: Rather strange similarities.

Gilbert rolled his eyes, "The conversation was hijacked. Works for me." He laid his phone next to him on the floor and let out a quiet sigh of relief…the feeling didn't last very long.

UnawesomeStiff: Gilbert, where the heck are you at? Nice needlework frame by the way. Too many stiffs in the family. Cute.

Gilbert: Ja. Big stiff, little stiff, und mini stiff. Too many stiffs.

"…You should probably not provoke him…" Ludwig spoke up quietly, watching the status updates go back and forth on his phone.

"I don't give a damn if he's feeling provoked or not." Gilbert grumbled in response.

'…His dad didn't read the small print on Gilbert's frame…' Arthur looked over at Gilbert, noticing the albino seemed slightly annoyed. Either that was at the status argument, or that his dad hadn't read the whole quote.

Gilbert glanced at the status update from Regis for a moment.

UnawesomeStiff: Will you stop calling us variations of Stiff?

He pocketed his phone without sending in a response and just leaned his head back against the wall once more. At least sitting here on the floor was semi-comfortable. A cushion would probably make it more so.

Roderich sat down next to him, not saying anything, just sitting there. It took a few minutes of awkward silence before Ludwig sat down a foot or two away from Gilbert and Roderich, slightly in the middle of the hall, but people could walk around anyway.

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---

Arthur moved around inside the crowded auditorium, trying to either locate someone he knows that he can sit with, or find somewhere to sit. Alfred was apparently right behind him, so it would probably help to find two seats, rather than just one. Which would make this a bit more difficult…or not. He glanced around and spotted two open seats at the end of the aisle, "Hey, Alfred, there's two."

"Sweet!" Alfred bounded over and hopped into one, wasting absolutely no time in doing so.

Arthur shook his head at the still-energetic-blonde and sat next to him. "How the bloody hell do you have so much energy when it's already after three?"

"I didn't use it at all today!" Alfred laughed, glancing around the room, "I wonder where everyone else is sitting~"

Arthur looked around as well, leaning forward slightly, "I don't see any of them." He leaned back in his chair again and peered behind him, trying see through the crowd that was moving down the aisle.

"Huh. I hope they knew what time it was." Alfred leaned back in his seat again, peering at the screen that was pulled down on the stage. "I wonder what kind of movie this is going to be?"

"I asked the principal the other day. He just started laughing." Arthur made a face, "So I'm not entirely sure what kind of video this will be."

"Oh great." Alfred sunk in his seat, "And our track record of good vs. bad presentations is against us."

"Yes, well, you never know, it could be something interesting." Arthur shrugged.

"And you're not even in student council this year to tell me if a paper came through about this thing or not~" Alfred sighed heavily, "No help at all..."

"Well. I'm sorry for deciding to devote my time to my schoolwork this year, instead of papers that kept coming in signed Resident Hero." Arthur hissed Alfred's pen name.

Alfred responded by sticking his tongue out at Arthur, "I'm totally a hero."

Arthur buried his face in his hands and shook his head, "You are such an idiot."

"Aw, it's okay Arthur!" Alfred patted Arthur on the back with a grin, "There, there~"

Arthur shot him a glare and leaned back in his chair again, turning his gaze towards the stage. What kind of movie indeed.

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---

Antonio laughed at Lovino's annoyed expression. Currently seated in the front row (and having been there for some time now), Antonio poked his boyfriend's arm playfully, "Cheer up!"

"We've been sitting here for over a damn hour." Lovino scowled, ignoring the poking finger.

"But we got great seats!" Antonio smiled cheerfully. He glanced up at the stage. This was definitely the perfect spot to watch the video…whatever it would be about. "I wonder what they're showing."

"In other words, this could be the most awful spot to be sitting." Lovino commented, "So help me if this is a documentary of some sort."

"Nah. It'd have to be something exciting for parent appreciation day, right?" Antonio laughed, "Think positive!"

"I'm positive we're going to regret sitting in the front row." Lovino grumbled, sinking in his seat.

"Not that kind of positive." Antonio pouted for a moment, before poking Lovino in the side, causing the Italian to sit up straight all of a sudden, "Yay!"

"Don't do that." Lovino scowled.

"Cheer up then." Antonio smiled cheerfully.

Lovino sighed heavily, "You're optimistic about everything…"

"Of course!" Antonio laughed.

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---

Ludwig blinked. Somehow he had ended up sitting with Gilbert and Roderich in the auditorium, though he couldn't quite remember why they had all sat in the same row. It was a miracle they even found three seats next to each other. And now…

"Gott…when is this thing going to start." Gilbert repeated (for what Ludwig could swear was the fifth time now; though Gilbert denied ever having said it).

"Be patient." Roderich sighed (also for the fifth time).

Ludwig looked at the two. Gilbert was sitting in between himself and Roderich, not that he minded…but he was surprised Gilbert hadn't complained about sitting next to him. Maybe they were getting more tolerable of each other? Ludwig glanced at the movie screen, "What is this even going to be about?"

"No clue." Gilbert grumbled, "Better be something entertaining before I fall asleep."

Roderich looked disdainfully at how Gilbert was sitting: with his shoes propped up on the back of the seat in front of him, not that the students sitting in front of them minded, apparently. "Gilbert, at least put your shoes down."

"Why? He's not complaining." Gilbert motioned to the head in front of him, "Shush."

"Don't shush me." Roderich glared at Gilbert.

'Maybe it would be quieter if I sat somewhere else.' Ludwig leaned on the armrest away from Gilbert. He glanced forward a couple rows and blinked, "Oh. Vati and mutti are down there."

Gilbert turned his head towards Ludwig and gave him a scathing glare, "Did you have to point them out?"

"Sorry?" Ludwig blinked, "It was more of an observation said out loud by accident."

"Bad mood?" Roderich asked.

"No shit." Gilbert retorted.

Ludwig and Roderich both gave him wide-eyed stares at the sudden harsh comment. Ludwig looked away rather quickly and found a spot on the wall to focus on instead. This was definitely going to be a not-good spot to sit.

Roderich could have easily spat something out in response, but he just crossed his arms and looked front again, seething quietly to himself. 'That was absolutely rude.'

'Bruder und Roderich are never going to board that train at this rate…why am I even thinking that? Gilbert would kill me.' Ludwig let out a quiet sigh. Those moods of Gilbert's really should come with warning signs.

---

.

.

Matthew looked back and forth between the two people he was sitting in between. Cruz was on his left, however…Cruz's ex (Souphead also known as Maria) was sitting on his right. This was not going to be good. And obviously these two were not anywhere close to getting along…and it wasn't just the insults going back and forth that was telling him that. Body language (clenched fists in Cruz's case) was another factor. Sitting in between these two was not the smartest career choice here.

"Well you don't have to be so damn rude all the time!" Maria snapped.

"Oh sure, look who's talking!" Cruz retorted, "I remember last year perfectly well!"

Matthew leaned back in his seat, humming softly, trying for the most part to block out what they were saying to each other.

"I remember someone dumping a bowl of soup on my head in the lunchroom!" Maria snapped.

'Souphead. That would make sense.' Matthew nodded inwardly to himself. One more note for the list of why he shouldn't annoy Cruz. Didn't want to become another Souphead incident. The thought almost made Matthew start laughing, but that wouldn't be a smart idea at all.

"And I can remember why that someone dumped the soup on your head. As well as why the same someone hit you in the next class!" Cruz snapped.

"Oh, sure, bring that up. Look, you moron…" Maria started, she didn't finish.

"Don't call me a moron." Cruz scowled.

'Temper is going to an all-time high.' Matthew thought inwardly. Not going good.

"I am not taking back a single thing I said last year, so you can get the heck over it." Maria gave a somewhat evil-smile towards Cruz.

Cruz's eyes narrowed, and Matthew could swear he could see the aura of anger around Cruz. 'Oh great. Going to be stuck sitting in between two people in a fight.'

"You are never calm, you're unbelievably rude, and your behavior is going to tank as soon as you and blondie here have a breakup." Maria snapped.

"Blondie?" Matthew spoke up finally. I guess the rumor mill didn't reach her that we already broke up.

"Excuse me?" Cruz asked.

"You heard me." Maria flipped her hair over one shoulder.

"Blondie?" Matthew repeated, "I have a name."

"So, you don't even know mine." Maria rolled her eyes.

"Souphead?" Matthew tilted his head, keeping an innocent smile on his face.

Cruz instantly burst out laughing.

"Ugh, you two are two of a kind I swear!" Maria scowled, "Invisible boy." She stuck her tongue out at Matthew.

"…" Matthew stared at Maria for a minute, now he was the one feeling angry, which was saying something even for him.

"Don't call him that." Cruz had stopped laughing instantly, "How the hell is it his fault if people are too caught up in their own damn cliques to even notice that someone else is walking nearby them?!"

"Invisible boy and Rage-boy, I guess it's true that opposites attract." Maria waved around her hands with a flair of mock-emotion.

It's a good thing Maria was sitting on the aisle seat. Matthew shoved her as hard as he could out into the aisle and onto the floor, he wasn't even sure how the female had gotten past the armrest, until he noticed it was still folded up.

Cruz leaned over Matthew to look at Maria on the floor, "…Well. We're not so opposite."

"I am not invisible!" Matthew snapped, "And anger isn't the only emotion Cruz shows, if you weren't so caught up in your own stupid world, maybe you would actually see that!"

Cruz leaned back in his chair, smirking at the faces the two of them were getting from the students sitting around them, "What the hell are you all looking at?"

"I am reporting you for that!" Maria snapped, picking herself up and stalking away from Matthew.

Matthew shrugged and leaned back in his seat, "Thought she was going to claw me."

"That would have been amusing to see her try." Cruz smirked, "Good thing that armrest was up."

"Yeah. I didn't even notice it was until now." Matthew glanced at it for a moment before turning his head back towards the screen, "At least there isn't a distraction now for when the movie comes on."

Cruz laughed in response, "Well, I'm sorry I was distracting you!"

"No problem. Distraction is gone." Matthew smiled cheerfully.

---

.

.

Feliciano bounced up and down in the seat next to Roma, "This is going to be so much fun to watch!"

Roma watched him bounce up in seat a couple times before looking over at his son, "Where does he get all that energy from?"

"I have no idea."Alexander, sighed heavily. "Feliciano, please stop bouncing up and down in your seat. You're going to annoy the people sitting around you."

Roma looked back to Feliciano, barely noticing Ardrich sitting next to his grandson over the top of the bouncing head, "At least save your energy for later, so you don't disrupt the view of other people behind you…"

Feliciano pouted for a moment but stopped bouncing, and proceeded to swing his legs back and forth at a rapid pace instead.

"Restless leg syndrome?" Roma turned back to Alexander.

His son just gave him a look that clearly said I-Have-No-Clue-Where-He-Got-That-From. Roma laughed and turned his eyes back front again. He leaned forward slightly and glanced up and down the rows that were around them, but then leaned back again.

"Who you looking for?" Feliciano asked, scanning the seats for anyone who looked familiar.

"Oh just a classmate of yours. It doesn't look like he's sitting near here though." Roma commented quietly.

The lights dimmed once, then twice, before remaining off.

"May I have your attention?" The principal called, tapping on the microphone several times, "I understand we have a full room here, but if the talking and overall chatter would please go to a minimum, I would appreciate it, thank you."

Mr. Smith waited until the talking had quieted enough so that he could be heard easier over the crowd, "Now. As you all know, we have a festival coming up a couple weeks from now. I am allowing some rules to be bent, allowing students to stay overnight to help with preparations. However! Keep in mind, that there WILL be teachers also staying in the building. This is not a time for goofing off, partying, or anything of the sort!"

"What's wrong with a small party?" Roma blinked.

"DAD!" Alexander looked at him, appalled, "At least don't say that in front of Feliciano and his friend! That's a bad influence!"

"Huh?" Roma tilted his head in confusion.

"But a party sounds like so much fun…" Feliciano pouted, "Don't you think so, Ardrich?"

"Uh…" Ardrich looked at him, not quite sure what to say, "…Sure?"

---

.

.

"Partying?" Gilbert asked, dumbfounded, "Why would he even say that?"

"That's just going to give people ideas." Roderich huffed, "Honestly."

"Why did our parents have to come to this?" Ludwig blinked.

---

.

.

"Can we leave now?" Lovino asked.

"Oh cheer up. They said it would be a movie. The movie hasn't even started yet." Antonio put an arm around Lovino's shoulders and brought the male closer to the armrest that was separating them.

---

.

.

"Partying." Cruz repeated.

"Eh. That sounds like fun." Matthew laughed.

Cruz stared at him with a shocked expression, "Staying overnight at the school to have a party?"

"You don't think so?" Matthew tilted his head.

"Depends on what music is playing and if the parents would ever get called." Cruz grumbled, sinking in his chair a bit, "I am not looking to get grounded for the next quarter of a century here."

Matthew started laughing.

---

.

.

"Oh right. I can see what people will be doing already. Blasting music and doing just about everything he's telling us isn't allowed." Arthur commented.

"Party~" Alfred cheered, "Arthur's gonna stay overnight, too, right?"

"I will not." Arthur glared at him, "Schoolwork, remember?"

Mr. Smith continued his speech, "Now! As many of you may have heard, some of your parents, grandparents, stayed overnight in this same school building!"

"Oh my god. I don't want to watch parents partying." Arthur buried his face into his hands.

"Oh this is gonna be awesome!" Alfred burst out laughing.

---

.

.

"Oh no." Roma buried his face in his hands.

"What? Wait, what, they never caught us, did they?" Alexander paled, his wife just busted up laughing.

"Oh this is going to be funny!" She continued laughing.

---

.

.

"Ja. Like vati ever had a day of partying in his life." Gilbert commented.

"I'm sure there was an occasion or two." Roderich looked at him.

"Nein." Ludwig shook his head, in full agreement with Gilbert, "Mother maybe, but not father."

"And so, I shall leave you with this warning. Just because there are no teachers present, does not mean we don't know what you're up to. For all you alumni in the room, consider this your punishment for those parties so many years ago now." Mr. Smith walked off the stage, "Play video."

"Oh I cannot wait to see this." Roderich started laughing.

"It looks like vati is looking for a way to get out of his seat." Gilbert commented.

"Odd. I wonder if he is in here after all?" Ludwig tilted his head.

.

.

---

"Wait what?" Lovino gaped at the credits that appeared on the screen, "They're showing us our parents in school breaking rules? Oh my word."

"The school board is gonna hear about this one, no doubt." Antonio watched with sparkling eyes, "I wanna see if my parents are in here!"

.

.

---

"Yay!" Feliciano cheered, "Ve, hey Ardrich, we should keep an eye out for our parents~ I'm sure mom and dad will be in here!"

"Oh no." Alexander looked up and down the aisle, "How the heck do I get out of here?"

"You're not saving face even if you abandon the room." Roma said flatly, "And I'm in no better of a situation considering he said grandparents."

"Oh this will be a nice trip down memory lane." Amelia, watched the screen with a smile (both Roma and Alexander just stared at her in disbelief).

.

.

---

"Parents partying. Right. Like hell mine are gonna be on here." Cruz commented.

"You never know." Matthew elbowed him, "I'll help look~"

(A.N. – dance music playing on your computer or mp3 player would help for this part.)

The beginning credits vanished off the screen as a narrator's voice (sounding exactly like Mr. Smith had recorded his own voice), started speaking.

"We start off on our tour of the school, investigating this loud music coming from room 207." The door slowly creaked open on the video and the camera moved in at just enough angle to see the entire room.

The room was filled with about twenty teenagers all moving in time with the music, though one or two stood by the wall, just watching the crowd out in the middle of the floor.

Lovino just gaped in silence, "Please tell me…"

"Whoa! Can your grandpa still dance like that?" Antonio started laughing, "Roma's having fun!"

"Oh my god." Lovino buried his face in his hands, "This is going to scar me for life."

---

.

.

"Well. This is embarrassing." Roma sunk in his seat, his face turning red.

"…" Alexander just patted him on the top of his head, silently showing sympathy, due to his wife and son having laughing fits around them.

---

.

.

"Huh. That's Roma." Gilbert blinked, "Oh und…" Gilbert's face went blank.

Ludwig raised both eyebrows, "Uh…"

"Isn't that your dad dancing with him?" Roderich tilted his head.

"OH MEIN GOTT." Gilbert pointed at the screen and just burst out laughing.

Ludwig watched as Gilbert almost fell out of his seat because he had completely doubled over from laughing so hard, "Hm. I don't think I've ever seen him laugh this much."

"Neither have your parents, judging by the stares we're getting. Or would you call that a glare?" Roderich smiled at Ludwig.

Ludwig looked down at Regis and Myla and smiled, "I would call that a glare from vati."

"Ahahahahaha! Vati's actually dancing at a party, oh mein gott~" Gilbert managed to speak out through his laughter, still doubled over.

---

.

.

"Oh. I didn't know Gilbert's dad and Roma were going out." Antonio just stared at the screen, "I kinda feel like I should look away, but this is rather funny."

"Well. That's just going to get added to the list of things I would have rather not known." Lovino muttered.

"Well now." The narrator cleared his throat a couple times, "I think I have seen just about enough in this room. No upstanding for rules in here. And what kind of music is this even?"

The camera slowly edged out of the room and back into the hallway. It shook for a moment as if the person holding it had shook his head before moving down the hallway.

The screen faded to black before the voice came back over. "We skip forward some class years, because some people actually LISTENED to the rules…"

---

.

.

Roma just kept his face buried in his hands. Alexander put an arm around his dad and patted him on the shoulder in sympathy, "Feliciano, stop laughing."

"I knew that was going to come back to haunt me at some point…" Roma moaned.

"Aw, dad, I liked your dancing~" Amelia laughed, leaning forward a little, "That was fun!"

---

.

.

Myla patted Regis on the shoulder, "There, there. Let it go."

"Nein. He's laughing at me." Regis scowled, referring to Gilbert who still had yet to sit up, "I can hear him from here!"

Myla put a hand over her own mouth, also trying to restrain laughter, "Well it was a different side of you he hasn't seen before."

"…Okay apparently I lied. There must have been more than one party that year."

---

.

.

"Oh great." Roma looked up at the screen, "Now what…oh. Oh." He repeated himself and turned red almost instantly.

"…" Alexander made a face at the similar dancing as well as music, "Don't you all ever listen to anything else while partying?"

"Oh, there's mom." Amelia spoke up, referring to Roma's wife.

"…Ve? Your dad's not in this one." Feliciano pouted at Ardrich, whose jaw was still dropped from the last dance scene.

"I can't even believe he was in the LAST one!" Ardrich yelped, "What the heck!"

"If it's any consolation, we were a little drunk." Roma sighed.

"Oh that helps." Alexander stared at him in disbelief, "There most certainly was not alcohol at any of the parties I went to!"

"You were at a party sober?" Roma tilted his head.

"…" Alexander looked away.

"You're in troubleeeee…" Amelia teased her husband.

"Okay. Definitely skipping that one." The screen faded to black again and reopened at the school again. "Alright. Now this is a different class. Going to investigate some music and we find…"

---

.

.

"Hey. Mom and dad." Alfred perked up, "Awesome! They totally went to a party!"

"…it'd be a little humourous to see my parents in one of these parties, but seeing as how they didn't even attend school in this country, I suppose that won't happen." Arthur sighed, "And I can't see dad at a party anyhow. I can certainly see mom at one."

---

.

.

"See, there's your parents." Matthew pointed to the screen.

"I'm just going to say I've never met them before in my life." Cruz hid his face in his hands, "What the hell are they even doing."

"…Dancing?" Matthew tried, but the tiny laugh escaped, "My parents are there, too!"

---

.

.

Gilbert, having finally regained his composure, sat up just in time to see Roderich's mom go dancing by the camera lens and promptly had a fit of laughter again.

"Oh my word." Roderich's jaw dropped, "She was actually at something like this?!"

"Well. I think our parents' reputation got a major dive." Ludwig commented, "I'm not going to be able to keep a straight face now. Everytime I see vati, I'm going to start thinking of that song that was playing."

"Should totally start singing it." Gilbert laughed, "It would make him so mad~"

---

.

.

"Oh. There you go." Roma pointed at the screen, "…and again. You're sure making the laps on the dance floor."

"I know." Alexander said without even looking up at the screen. He was mimicking his father's earlier actions and now had his own face in his hands.

"Memory lane is right. Oh my word." Amelia watched with one hand over her mouth, "Well. Definitely not drunk."

"Why can't I go to a party?" Feliciano pouted, "You all went!"

---

.

.

"There's your mom and dad!" Antonio laughed.

"I have never met those people in my life." Lovino said hastily, "And another thing for the list of things I wish I had never known!"

"That must be a long list." Antonio patted him on the head cheerfully.

"And of course…we wrap it up with some of the parties from THIS class." The narrator announced loudly as the scene changed again. "Can't let the parents take all the embarrassment, now can we?"

Antonio watched students moving around on the screen, "There's Lovi~"

"What?" Lovino stared at the screen, "I don't even remember this!"

"Oh there's me, too!" Antonio perked up, "…it looks like we were going out without even knowing it." He tilted his head.

"Oh my god." Lovino buried his face in his hands, "Grounded for a century."

---

.

.

"Dude." Alfred blinked at the roomful of students, "Where is this even at? It's not the school is it?"

"No. This is someone's house…oh. There's Gilbert." Arthur blinked, "…With…Roderich."

"Huh. They were getting along fine then. This is like our freshman year right?" Alfred laughed, "They're totally dancing~"

"…Was there alcohol at this?" Arthur paled, "Roderich actually danced with Gilbert?"

---

.

.

"I don't even remember this." Roderich's face turned red, "What the heck?!"

"Huh. I don't remember it either." Gilbert blinked, "Whose house was this?"

Ludwig looked at the two, leaning away from them slightly, "Nice dance moves."

"Shut up." Gilbert scowled at him, "Stiffy."

---

.

.

"Aw. I'm not here." Feliciano made a face, "Oh but Lovino is! With Antonio even!"

"…" Alexander leaned forward, squinting, "When was this?"

"Huh. I wonder." Roma tilted his head, "Oh. Freshman year maybe? I recall hearing about an underage house party getting busted by the police for having alcohol."

Alexander and Amelia both turned their heads to stare at Roma in disbelief.

---

.

.

Regis turned in his seat to look back at Gilbert and Roderich, raising one eyebrow.

"I don't even want to hear it from you." Gilbert called, "Your dance moves were much worse than that." He motioned to the screen, a smirk coming across his face.

Roderich's face went noticeably red and yanked Gilbert back in his seat again.

"Let it go." Myla patted Regis on the arm, shaking with laughter.

Regis stared at her in disbelief, "Did you know he went to this?"

"Yeah. See? I'm right there." Myla pointed at the screen, "Ta-da!"

"…" Regis stared at the screen blankly.

"Huh. I didn't know mutti was there." Gilbert blinked.

"Well then. I'm sensing we're going to be having family night whether we want it or not tonight." Ludwig commented, sinking in his chair, "Great."

Roderich huffed and sunk in his own chair, "Stupid principal."

---

.

.

"Oh look. There's grandpa." Feliciano started laughing again.

"Eh? I don't remember being at this one at all." Roma stared at the screen, "Huh…was I already drunk when I got there maybe?"

"Dad!" Alexander gaped at him.

"Oh she's cute. Who's the albino you're with?" Amelia leaned forward, squinting at the screen.

"…That's my mother." Ardrich stated flatly.

Roma let out a noise that sounded like a yelp and instantly buried his face in his hands again, simultaneously sinking in his chair.

"Just blame it on the alcohol, dad." Alexander sighed and started patting him on the shoulder again.

---

.

.

"…Alfred is at this party." Matthew whispered.

"We're not. Thankfully." Cruz grumbled, "Would not be living that one down."

"…Oh. Alfred and Arthur were on the plane already."

Cruz raised both eyebrows, "The lip-lock tip you off?"

"Mhm." Matthew nodded.

---

.

.

"WHOA!" Alfred recoiled from the screen, "Dude! I don't even remember this!"

"What the hell?!" Arthur yelped.

---

.

.

((Timeskip of a few hours))

Antonio: Well. Let's hear it for family nights :D

Lovino: No. I hate family time.

Gilbert: Mein gott, someone save me D:

Arthur: Someone should buy stock in earplugs.

Alfred: Oh my wooooord DX Can someone tell mom and dad that it was just a party?!

Matthew: Just a party with alcohol. I'm not getting involved.

Cruz: Serves you right, Jones!

Roderich: So how many are grounded?

Ludwig: Vati is such a hypocrite…

Ardrich: Why do I have to listen to this?

Feliciano: Ve~ I wasn't even at the party! Why am I in the lecture?!

Arthur stared out the window, determined to completely ignore his family members that were in the car. And why the hell was this car ride taking so damn long? It was a fifteen minute walking distance! Now it seemed like a car ride was taking an eternity. He glanced down now and then to his phone, which was chiming with status updates from his friends. Apparently some of the lectures had started in the car. Arthur's gaze travelled up to the mirror and saw the crease lines on his father's forehead. Obviously his dad was attempting to calm down before attempting to say much of anything. Allistor on the other hand…

Arthur's eyes narrowed as he glared at the redhead sitting right next to him. Why had he gotten stuck sitting next to this person anyway? Granted it was probably better than Peter (who was sitting to the right of Reilly), he was really wishing his older brother would shut up…sometime this century.

"I didn't even know there was a party for students to attend! I can't believe I missed it!" Allistor commented.

Screeeeeeeeeeech!

The car ride ended rather abruptly after that comment. Arthur rolled his eyes and opened his door, kicking it open so he could get away from Allistor faster. Grounded, most definitely grounded. There were multiple slams of the car doors, but the driver's side door was definitely the loudest (and the one that shook the car the most).

"Calm down, Aedan." Victoria sighed and patted her husband on the shoulder, "Deep breaths."

"He hasn't even said anything on the whole way home, what makes you think he's not calm?" Reilly asked, though a hint of sarcasm could be detected on his voice.

"Probably because he's still counting to ten." Allistor grinned and poked the back of Arthur's head, indicating the comment was more directed as a warning at him moreso than a response to Reilly.

Arthur rubbed the back of his head and glared at Allistor in response before heading for the front door. Like it was really his fault! Considering the behavior of the other students at that party, they should be glad he was only dancing (and kissing). Arthur's face turned hot at the last thought that popped into his head and hastily pushed open the door before the others reached the porch.

"The last thing I heard of that party, was that it was supposed to be an overnight stay at the school for a festival!" Aedan snapped as soon as he made it into the kitchen. "What kind of festival was that?!"

"How the heck should I know?!" Arthur retorted, just as loud.

"Oh now calm down you two." Victoria sighed, "We can all sit here at the table and talk about this in a nice civil manner and tone of voice." She indicated to the chairs. Upon seeing no one moving, she added with some force, "NOW."

Arthur rolled his eyes again but sat in the nearest chair and glared at the wall. He was really wishing he had earplugs at this point. To his relief, Allistor and Reilly both ended up sitting at the opposite end of the table, though that meant he had Peter sitting next to him (which was more of a curse).

"Do I have to listen to this?" Peter sighed in an annoyed tone, "I'm not even in high school yet!"

"Consider this a warning for the future." Allistor scowled.

"Quite." Aedan nodded stiffly, "Now then…"

Arthur let out a long sigh. He could always tell when there was about to be a long-winded lecture when his dad started out with the words "now then". It didn't matter WHO the lecture was directed at or who was in trouble, they were all stuck listening to it. Apparently Allistor had picked up on that as well, because he instantly hit his head against the table, much to Reilly's amusement.

"I'm sure we can all agree that some of the behavior on that videotape was downright awful. And obviously not approved by any school rules." Victoria started out, folding her hands neatly on the table.

"You covered my eyes, so I wouldn't know." Peter grumbled.

"I wonder why." Aedan glared at Peter, "Hush."

Arthur drummed his fingers on the table, keeping a bored and annoyed expression on his face. How the bloody hell was it his fault anyway? He didn't even remember the damn thing!

"No overnight preparation for a festival is to have alcohol. Absolutely none. And under no circumstance do I even want to hear that one of my children has been drinking alcohol." Victoria gave a glare to all four of her sons.

Arthur made a face. If he didn't remember anything from the party, didn't that mean he had been drinking at some point?

"What's wrong with a glass of beer now and then?" Allistor blinked.

"You're underage, that's what!" Aedan snapped.

"And your point?" Reilly raised both eyebrows, "We used to drink all the time in Ireland."

"This isn't Ireland." Victoria sighed.

"Obviously." Allistor commented.

Arthur clenched his fists underneath the table, noticing his dad's gaze shift away towards the wall. If you miss it so much then go back there already!

"Now hopefully a certain someone at the table did not partake in the drinking at all, even if he did with the dancing part of it…" Victoria commented.

"Just say my bloody name." Arthur snapped, "And like I would really dance with that git when I'm sober."

Allistor burst out laughing, "Aye, you gotta remember, mum, he did kiss the guy. You really think little brother would do that when he's not drunk?"

Arthur heard the audible sighs coming from both his parents and looked upwards towards the ceiling. Definitely going to be grounded. And apparently Allistor had no faith in him when it came to showing emotions. How rude, Allistor shouldn't even be talking, he had no luck on the romance front either.

"Okay then. Everyone at this table who took part in drinking any kind of alchohol while they were living under this roof and underage, is grounded. How's that?" Victoria smiled cheerfully.

"For how long?" Reilly stared at his mother with a blank expression on his face.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Allistor hit his head against the table again.

"I'm going to go with two weeks here." Victoria nodded her head, after glancing towards her husband, who was still looking away from the table, "That should be plenty time for you three to reflect on what happened."

"How am I supposed to reflect when I don't remember it?" Arthur asked.

There was a definite sound of muffled laughter coming from Reilly and Allistor, because both of them were now doubled over. His mother, however, was not amused, at all. Arthur continued staring at her, deciding inwardly that he probably should not have said that.

"And for you, it will be three weeks." Victoria said flatly, "Since you drank that much apparently."

"Well excuse me." Arthur grumbled, leaning back in his chair.

"And let that be a lesson to you for being truthful." Allistor commented, smirking cheerfully at his parents.

"Obviously someone else wouldn't object to being grounded for three weeks." Victoria glared at Allistor.

"No, I really don't care one way or another. Not like I go anywhere after school." Allistor rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair again, though Reilly was snickering beside him at his twin's punishment.

.

.

---

Lovino rested his chin on the table, glancing back and forth between his parents, his grandfather, and Feliciano (who was probably the only person not in trouble). "Can we get this over with instead of sitting in silence?"

Roma tapped a pencil up and down on the table, having picked it up from the counter as he passed by it while entering the house, and waited for someone else to start the conversation. "I believe we're experiencing what is known as thinking-before-speaking."

"Uh-huh." Lovino rolled his eyes and sighed. His phone was silent now, it must be that the other lectures had started already, that or phone privileges had been yanked as a result of partying (which Lovino barely remembered at all, and he most certainly did not remember Antonio being there). "Can we just summarize it to the being grounded portion of it?"

Roma quickly covered his mouth with his hand to keep the laughter from escaping, and quickly received a glare from Alexander in response. "Well you two are the ones who are supposedly upset about this whole thing, though you have really no room to talk whatsoever." He tapped the pencil on the table again.

Lovino sighed. Sometimes it just seemed like Roma was doing that on purpose. Was he trying to make Lovino's dad snap? It certainly seemed to be working so far.

"I was not underage when I was drinking." Alexander forced a smile in response.

"At least not on that tape." Roma commented, tapping the pencil again.

"Okay, so before we get into another argument having nothing whatsoever to do with the topic on hand," Amelia quickly spoke up before her husband could retort, "There was drinking at the party that we did not know about, but there were adults there…"

"Drunk adults." Alexander corrected.

Roma started humming quietly and looked up towards the ceiling, finding a stain to stare at with curious eyes.

Lovino made a face, "Uh, just saying here, I don't really remember much what happened, I definitely don't remember drinking anything that even resembled alcohol."

"How do you know what alcohol looks like?" Amelia stared at him with a blank expression.

"It's in the fridge sometimes~" Feliciano spoke up, swinging his legs back and forth underneath the table.

"Oh, well, I suppose there could have been punch or something that was spiked maybe." Amelia glanced at Alexander.

"Someone at that party should have been charged for that, then." Alexander grumbled.

"Aaaaand who was pressing charges exactly? The students who don't remember the party at all?" Roma tilted his head curiously.

Amelia sighed, "Okay, so there are a couple issues here. But since it was an unknowing consumption of alcohol…I think we can agree that there really shouldn't be a punishment for it." She glanced at Alexander for a moment before looking back at the other three at the table.

'I'm not getting grounded.' Lovino blinked. 'Seriously?'

"I didn't even get to go to the party…" Feliciano pouted and stretched his arms out across the table.

"Consider yourself lucky." Lovino snapped, "You also don't have a video with you on it doing crap you don't even remember doing!"

"He has a point. That would be punishment enough anyhow." Alexander sighed, "So I guess we will let it drop this time, however…" He glanced at Roma, "You were drunk before you got there?"

Lovino glanced at Roma, "Your turn."

"Shush." Roma smacked Lovino before waving a hand dismissively at Alexander, "Getting a drink is not an unusual circumstance for me. Even if I had gotten one before ending up at the party, using the same logic as the spiked drink already there, not my fault I was completely drunk by the end of it."

"He has a good point." Amelia tilted her head.

"I know he does." Alexander sighed.

"And I'm not about to hear a lecture from my son on drinking." Roma added flatly.

Amelia quickly put a hand over her mouth and looked away, trying to hide her laughter.

"Daaaaad…" Alexander started.

"I don't want to hear it~" Roma put both hands over his ears.

Lovino buried his face in his hands and heaved a heavy sigh. 'Why does it seem like everyone in this damn house is so childish?!'

---

.

.

Ludwig watched his father stomp around the room with an expression of slight worry on his face. So far his dad was yelling at pretty much anything that moved, though hadn't directed his rage at anyone else yet. Yet. Ludwig made a face and glanced at his older brother, who was idly rolling a pencil across the table. He glanced back at his mother who was watching her husband with a worried expression.

"Why do they even have those videos?!" Regis continued storming around the room, still cursing at anything that was moving.

"Well, they did say that it was them getting even at us for breaking school rules." Myla pointed out, trying to put a cheerful expression on her face.

"They couldn't just give us a damn detention?!" Regis continued on.

Gilbert rolled his eyes and slouched back in his chair. His eyes rolled lazily over to Ardrich, who was sitting at the opposite end of the table, unfortunately for him on the side where Regis was stomping back and forth.

Ardrich looked up as Regis passed behind him again. "Can I just go upstairs…since I wasn't at the party at all?"

"Shush." Myla whispered, holding a finger to her lips, "Let your father vent a bit."

'A bit?' Ludwig raised an eyebrow. He would have said something aloud but a loud crash distracted him, as well as everyone else. He glanced to the right towards where Gilbert was…or had been sitting. Apparently he was now on the floor.

"Gilbert! Are you okay?" Myla hurried past Ludwig and peered over the table.

"I'm fine." Gilbert stood up, swaying in one spot for a moment before picking his chair up from the floor, "Stupid chair fell over when I was leaning on it."

Regis scowled and continued pacing back and forth, "Und why was Roma at that party during the freshman year anyway?"

Myla peered over at Regis, "He was supervising of course, same as I was. We got a little carried away after the whole 'spiked drink' thing though."

"Obviously." Regis continued scowling, "Was he sober even before he got there?"

"Oh he can have several drinks and not be affected and you know it." Myla commented, waving her hand in the air for a moment.

Regis rolled his eyes and paused in his pacing. He crossed his arms and glared at the wall. He didn't have a retort to make and resorted to pacing around the room again.

Ludwig watched as Gilbert laid his head down on the table and sighed. The whole 'rant' their dad was going through was certainly becoming rather tiring to watch. 'What's the point of us sitting here again?' Ludwig looked at his parents again.

"Can we go upstairs now?" Ardrich asked, annoyance clearly laced in his voice.

Regis turned and glared at the three sitting down at the table, "I never want to see or hear any of you being involved in a party like that again."

Ludwig resisted the urge to retort at all. The bad mood was practically radiating off of Regis now, arguing would be completely useless. 'Never mind the fact that I wasn't at the party.' Ludwig just nodded and stared off at a random spot on the wall.

"I wasn't even there!" Ardrich complained, but quickly closed his mouth at the harsh glare he got in response, "Fine, whatever."

"Ja, ja." Gilbert spoke up, barely audible. His voice sounded muffled since his head was face-down on the table now.

"Gilbert, are you feeling-" Myla started.

"I'M FINE." Gilbert snapped before she could finish the sentence.

Myla let out a soft sigh and moved into the kitchen, "Anyone want supper?"

"Light one." Regis wandered into the kitchen to help, his bad mood seemingly dissipating into the air.

"Geez. What the heck was dad's problem?" Ardrich grumbled.

"Just be quiet." Ludwig buried his face in his hands and let out a frustrated sigh, "Don't make it worse."

Gilbert got to his feet and peered in the kitchen, "I'm just going upstairs. Not hungry." He wandered past Ludwig and started up the stairs, dragging his feet.

Ludwig looked up as Myla put a plate in front of him and Ardrich and sat down herself with a plate of her own. Regis walked right by all three of them and headed up the stairs after Gilbert, carrying two plates.

"Bruder said he wasn't hungry?" Ludwig looked at his mother in confusion.

"Yes, well, your father is in one of his stubborn moods." Myla munched on the sandwich she had made herself.

Ardrich lifted the top slice of bread to discover the leftover sausage from the night before and started munching on it, choosing not to make a comment. Food was food.

Ludwig looked at his own plate for a minute before shaking his head. He started eating slowly, waiting for the usual signs of argument upstairs that followed when either Regis or Gilbert was in a bad mood. Surprisingly, there was only the sound of silence.

Gilbert hugged his pillow and half-glared at the intruder in his bedroom. "Said not hungry." He buried his face in his pillow again.

"I heard you. However." Regis set the plate down on the desk next to Gilbert's bed, "You've lost weight recently."

"Thanks for pointing that out as if I didn't know that already." Gilbert grumbled, his voice coming out muffled through the pillow.

"So eat something." Regis pulled out the desk chair and began eating his own sandwich, waiting for the lump on the bed to move.

Gilbert lifted his head enough to glare at his dad before burying his face in the pillow again. "Go away. Not hungry."

Regis looked upwards towards the ceiling, dropping his sandwich on the plate. "You know, you're doing a fine job of looking like you're starving yourself."

"Don't care." Gilbert retorted. He rolled over onto his side to face the wall, scowling into the pillow he was still hugging.

"Are you feeling sick?" Regis asked.

"No." Gilbert snapped, "You und mutti need to quit asking that stupid question."

"One of these times we might actually be hoping to get a truthful answer." Regis leaned back in the chair, spinning his dinner plate around with one hand, eyes staying on Gilbert.

"I am not feeling sick. How many different ways do I have to say that?" Gilbert rolled over onto his back and glared at Regis, "Seriously, go away and take your unawesome conversation with you."

Regis sighed in annoyance, but didn't get up from the chair, "Sitting here until you say something other than go away."

"I don't think you would be very happy with anything else I say." Gilbert grumbled, covering his eyes with his arm. "Shoo."

"Shoo?" Regis raised an eyebrow, still not moving.

"Ja. Means leave."

"I know what it means, und I said no."

Gilbert lifted his arm long enough to shoot another glare at Regis. He stared at the ceiling for a minute before just rolling over and redirecting his attention to the wall. "Stubborn dummkopf."

"Better than unawesome stiff." Regis sighed.

Gilbert snickered through his pillow, "Stubborn stiff~"

"Nein!" Regis raised his voice in annoyance.

Gilbert grinned to himself before closing his eyes and pulling his pillow closer.

"Gilbert?" Regis asked.

He paused a minute before realizing he wasn't getting a response. Regis stood up and placed one hand on Gilbert's shoulder, shaking him gently. "Did you fall asleep?" He leaned over Gilbert and peered at his son.

Still no response.

Regis sighed heavily and sat back down in the chair.

---

.

.

Matthew looked back and forth between Alfred and his parents. At least the yelling wasn't directed at him, but he still felt bad for Alfred. 'This is really getting out of hand…they were at a party similar to the one Alfred was at, so they really have no room to talk.'

"Well I would have told you guys if I had remembered it! It's nothing but a haze in my memory! And I didn't even know there was alcohol there to begin with!" Alfred was in mid-protest when Matthew tuned back to the conversation.

"It was supposed to be a class get-together to get ready for the festival the following day! There shouldn't have been any of that there!" Mr. Jones argued.

"What do you want me to say?!" Alfred raised his voice, "I can't remember everything that happened that night, and I don't know what was set up when we got there and what was set up while we were there!"

"…" Matthew hesitated. He was unsure whether or not trying to calm them down would even work. It would probably be best to just stay out of it, but…Matthew looked at Alfred again. He was looking rather agitated if anything.

Their father just let out a heavy sigh and focused on a part of the wall instead of Alfred.

"If you didn't remember anything from the night before, why didn't you tell us in the morning when you woke up? For all you know, something bad could have happened!" Their mother started off where her husband had left off.

"Obviously since someone was there video-taping it, nothing bad happened. Otherwise they would have stepped in by that point." Alfred retorted, "And how exactly am I supposed to say that I don't remember something? For all I knew, I was sleeping the entire time!"

'He has some pretty good responses to these.' Matthew continued moving his head back and forth with each response being thrown across the table. It was almost amusing…if they weren't practically screaming at each other.

"Why would you think you were sleeping if you were supposed to be doing set-up?" Mr. Jones asked.

Matthew blinked a few times. Apparently they had decided to just skip right over the logic Alfred gave them and present him with another question instead. '…if they're going to ground him, they could just save their voices and just say that.'

"Right, like falling asleep when I'm supposed to be doing something isn't a common occurrence." Alfred snapped, "Especially at night."

"That doesn't-" Mr. Jones started.

"Can you stop." Matthew spoke up finally.

Alfred looked at Matthew with an expression of pure shock on his face. His parents had almost the exact same expression. Apparently none of them were expecting him to say anything, that or they had forgotten he was even sitting there.

"All you three are doing is yelling at each other…can't you just skip the entire argument? You two were on those videos, too, and I distinctly remember grandpa saying you two were 'model students', so it doesn't seem like you told him either." Matthew looked over at his parents, trying not to lose the nerve that had come out of nowhere.

Alfred perked up a bit at his brother sticking up for him and looked across at his parents, who were both now looking very uncomfortable with the situation.

"And don't start with that 'it's different' line." Matthew interrupted before either one of them could speak again, "No it's not. The only thing that changed is the generation."

Alfred and Matthew both sat in silence while their parents exchanged glances with one another. At this point it was impossible to tell what they were thinking. Alfred clenched both hands in his lap, waiting to see their reaction with what Matthew had said (hopefully it would get him out of being grounded).

Matthew leaned back in his chair, waiting for the yelling he was almost-positive was coming. Speaking out in the middle of a lecture was something that never paid off for Alfred, and doubtless would get him in as much trouble as Alfred was now, regardless of any logic the two brothers had on their side. 'Hopefully the sudden nerve I had to speak up doesn't appear in the middle of class when I don't want it.'

Alfred perked up a bit when his father let out a resigned sigh. If the past was any indication for whenever there was a disagreement, then maybe…

"Only because your brother defended you." Mr. Jones commented. The unsaid warning-threat was left hanging in the air for both of them to interpret on their own.

Alfred wasted no time in bolting up the stairs, with Matthew close behind him. "Oh man!" He turned and instantly hugged Matthew the instant they had gotten to his bedroom door, "You totally got me out of trouble!"

"You're welcome." Matthew jabbed him in the side, "And don't expect me to do that again. I don't even know where that came from!"

"Grateful for it no matter where it came from!" Alfred grinned, "Thanks, Mattie!"

Matthew slipped into his own bedroom and shut the door quietly, making his way slowly over to the computer. 'Well…who knew I could stop an argument…' A small smile came across Matthew's face and he slumped down in his chair, a small burst of giddiness coming over him for a minute. 'At this rate, I'll achieve my goal of talking out more in no time!'

---

.

.

Roderich drummed his fingers on the table. Lectures he could sit through without a problem. There was always a lesson to be learned, and he had full respect for his mother to sit through one. However, uncontrollable laughter he could not sit through. "Any time you're done!" Roderich snapped.

"I can't believe you were dancing with Gilbert~" The laughter continued despite Roderich's protests.

"I am not sitting here listening to this!" Roderich stood up and stormed out of the room, "So help me when I see Gilbert tomorrow…" He strangled the air in front of him and stalked up to his room, slamming the computer mouse angrily to get the computer to wake up.

Roderich has signed on

HappyMatthew: Eh, hello! Are you all done talking with your mom?

AnnoyedRoderich: There was no talking to be had. She's still down there laughing.

HappyMatthew: …O-oh…sorry.

Cruz: …I guess there's no point in asking why she's laughing. The dancing?

AnnoyedRoderich: I swear when I see Gilbert tomorrow I am going to strangle him.

HappyMatthew: …if you were both drunk… it's not really his fault is it?

Cruz: Some people just need a way to vent.

HeroAlfred has signed on

HeroAlfred: What's up people!

Cruz: Not grounded.

HappyMatthew: eh…no.

HeroAlfred: Mattie totally talked me out of getting in trouble!

Cruz: Why would you do that…

HappyMatthew: I was getting tired of the yelling…

AnnoyedRoderich: Any sign of anyone from the Beilschmidt household?

Cruz: No

HappyMatthew: None of them have signed on at all today

AnnoyedRoderich: right. Well I imagine they won't be signing on if they're grounded. Though Ardrich I thought would be online. Not that he's one I want to talk to.

Cruz: I'd rather talk to one of the other two. Still want to punch the short guy's lights out.

HappyMatthew: …still annoying in class?

Cruz: Of course he is.

HeroAlfred: Arthur's not getting online apparently. He's grounded, and being forced into family time.

HappyMatthew: …one person grounded…

Lovino has signed on

Lovino: Geez. Finally.

AnnoyedRoderich: Oh, how did it go at your house?

Lovino: I think grandpa was in more trouble than I was thankfully.

Cruz: How did that work?

Lovino: Grandpa told dad he didn't want to hear a lecture from his son, and that pretty much ended the conversation.

Cruz: …

HappyMatthew: um…

AnnoyedRoderich: Well then. More power to him.

Lovino: I give it ten minutes before I hear them arguing again.

HeroAlfred: I guess I'm gonna turn in then if Arthur's not getting online…before mom and dad change their mind. Night!

AnnoyedRoderich: Good night.

Lovino: Bye…

HappyMatthew: oh, goodnight Alfred!

HeroAlfred has signed off

AnnoyedRoderich: Well I guess I should go, too. Try and sleep and ignore my laughing mother.

Lovino: …Laughing…

AnnoyedRoderich: I can sit through a lecture, but forget about being laughed at.

AnnoyedRoderich has signed off

Lovino: Why was she laughing?

Cruz: Because of dancing with Gilbert apparently.

HappyMatthew: It was pretty funny.

Lovino: I'm going to not make a comment.

Cruz: Yeah since we weren't there, we can make comments.

HappyMatthew: I think we were two of the few who weren't! That party certainly was crowded!

Lovino: I don't even remember it…

.

.

---

Antonio stared at the wall, his head laying on the table, while the lecture kept going. So far it covered something about personal safety, and some underlying hint about leaving if alcohol is at a party. Not like he remembered the party. Could have saved him a year and a half of teasing Lovino. Antonio let out a long sigh as the lecture continued. If it was possible to get blisters on his ears, he was no doubt going to have red ears in the morning.

"And as happy as we are about knowing you're having fun with social gatherings, this was taking it a bit too far."

Antonio's eyes flickered briefly to his mother, "You never went to a party?"

"Well I did go to a couple when I was in college, but I was of age and alcohol wasn't that big of a deal at those parties…"

Antonio grinned as his dad promptly buried his face in his hands, "At least I was at one where I knew people, that counts for something right?"

"Well, yes, you were with Lovino…obviously…"

Antonio hit his forehead against the table again. 'Cannot believe I didn't remember that.'

"And there were adult chaperones…though they looked a little drunk themselves…"

Antonio's shoulders shook with the laughter he was suppressing, "Oh…that was great watching Roma dance like that…"

"I can't believe he was even dancing…" Antonio's mom made a face.

"I can." Mr. Carreido raised an eyebrow, "It's ROMA. Regis, however, took me by surprise. I will admit that one."

"That was so funny…" Mrs. Carreido giggled before bursting out into fits of laughter.

---

.

.

Roderich rolled over on his bed, about to welcome sleep, until his phone started going off. "Damn it!" He sat up and grabbed the small device from the floor, "Who is calling at this hour?!" He glared briefly at the caller ID before registering the number to Gilbert and answered (despite the temptation to throw the thing at the wall), "Hello?"

Roderich listened to the speaker on the other end for a few minutes, before any anger he had been feeling went flying out the window. He stumbled out of bed and ran out the door, not bothering to change back into his daily clothes. "Damn it!" Hanging up the phone as he went, Roderich's bare feet skidded across the hallway floor, grabbing a coat off the hook as he passed by it, barely avoiding tearing a hole in the fabric.

"Roderich, what's going on?" His mother peered out of the kitchen but Roderich was already out the front door.

"Going out, don't know if or when I'll be back tonight, sorry!" Roderich yelled, running down the sidewalk. At least he had managed to put on a pair of slippers before running out the door.

"Roderich!" His mother yelled, "You'll catch a cold!"

Roderich only waved an arm and kept running, not bothering to stop or look back at all.

---

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.

Grammar updates and a bunch of chapters combined. Some dialogue added here and there, but not much.