"What is their current financial status, Toris?" a smooth voice enquired, reverberating around the tense silence in the atmosphere. Aside from the speaker, the other people in the room were sitting upright on the edge of their chairs, eyes darting around nervously and quietly trembling. After the calm man had spoken, all eyes landed on the addressed man, who shifted uncomfortably, back still aching from what he had undergone a few days prior.
The brunet licked his lips and his green eyes flickered up fretfully, and he suppressed a shudder when he met icy violet eyes. "Th-their liquidity rate is high. Their net profit effectively had about a five percent increase since last year, now being around one hundred and fifty eight thousand pounds." He fidgited uncomfortably, wincing slightly. Raivis offered him a shakey sympathetic look, whilst a recently awoken Eduard just appeared confused and worried. "All of their ratios are listed here." The brunet gingerly reached into his manila folder and slipped the papers over to Ivan, who snatched them up immediately, making Toris flinch. "I-I spent all of last night calculating them," he piped up, and then inwardly hit himself. Great. Now it sounds like I'm fishing for compliments. He sighed ruefully. As if that would ever happen...
Ivan appraised the figures with a serene smile on his intimidating face. The three other occupants watched intently, analysing his face for any sign of displeasure. They practically slumped in relief when he eventually lowered the paper, smile still intact, and then they all jumped violently when he slammed his fists down on the table, making it shake from the force. Raivis's previous trembling transformed into full-on turbulant shakes, lavender eyes wide and fretful. Eduard swallowed loudly, evidently nervous but trying his hardest not to show it. Toris tried to remain as professional as possible and not to dwell on what could happen if any of them made the wrong move in this circumstance.
"They are very successful," the Russian drawled, voice at an even level and sounding normal, but the three men who had spent most of their lives around this psychotic maniac knew how to read between the lines in regards to his words... and his voice. "Tell me, Toris," he began, glinting violet eyes piercing Toris's jade ones. "Do they have any shareholders? Partnerships?"
The brunet shook his head quickly. "No," he replied quietly, swallowing. "They're a family-based company. The creator of the business, Yao Wang, runs it solely on his own, although his siblings, Kiku Honda, Im Young Soo, Michael Tse, and Meimei Wang act as specialist managers of the business. Mr. Honda is the finance manager," he supplied sullenly, guilt overwhelming him. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to put up the barracades in his mind to keep out all of the hurtful and pessimistic thoughts.
"Kiku Honda, hmm?" the blond man hummed thoughfully, his smile briefly turning into a frown as his eyes flashed dangerously, and then he was suddenly smiling again. "What does Kirkland do in this organisation then?"
"He's a psychiatrist," Toris supplied reluctantly, unease growing due to the unusual display of open displeasure on Ivan's face.
"A psychiatrist?" the blond repeated, dissolving into a miniature fit of drunken-sounding giggles, making shivers run up the other men's spines. "How hypocritical." He smirked and stood up, looming ominously above the others. They all stared up at him fearfully. "I do believe," he drawled happily, "That I can kill two birds with one stone." He swerved around and briskly walked to the door, and paused before departing. "Oh, and could one of you contact my sisters? I require their assistance for this job." Smiling brightly, he waved, and the door slammed shut behind him, leaving his subordinates in the dark room, letting his words sink in.
O-o-O-o-O
"We should get out soon," Kiku started softly, his heat-induced flush growing deeper at his random outburst. He inwardly belated himself for being so forward, and he tried not to tumble over his words when the Greek glanced at him lazily. "Everyone got out a while ago," he explained nervously, shifting away as if only just realising how close they were. "We could faint..."
"Both of us are pretty accustomed to heat," Heracles replied languidly, his blasé gaze shifting up to the sky. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he murmured, changing the subject.
The Japanese man looked up as well, a small smile coming onto his features. "Yes," he agreed. "I remember," he began, and Heracles glanced at him again, "When I was young, Yao would take my siblings and I outside and we'd just look at the stars. Sometimes, we searched for bugs." He chuckled softly, features softening. "It didn't go very well. In fact, it was catastrophic. Meimei always screamed at the sight of them, and threatened Yao into killing any that came near her." He smiled uneasily. "My sister can be quite unsettling," he said, but he mean it in a fond sense. "Yong Soo always claimed to invent the constellations," he said, smile twitching, "And Michael always set fire crackers off to disturb us." He sighed.
Heracles's lips twitched. "Didn't you ever act out?"
Kiku glanced sharply at him. "Not at all!" he sputtered defensively, frowning in offense.
The brunet turned to him, an interested smirk on his face. "Didn't you want to?" he asked, and Kiku blinked in confusion. "Being the well-behaved child always means having less attention," he explained quietly, face more sombre now as he inched towards the shorter man, whose eyes were growing wide. "Meaning you don't feel wanted... or loved."
The Japanese man tensed up and he scowled slightly. "Please get out of my way," he said softly, voice taking on a poisonous undertone.
"When I was young," Heracles continued, disregarding Kiku's plea, "My parents were always too busy, being involved in government and all." He placed his hands beside Kiku's head, leaning down slightly, his hot breath ghosting over the other man's lips. Kiku shuddered and closed his eyes tightly, cheeks darkening. "So, I always acted out for attention... but it never worked. At least, not for whom I intended. That stupid Sadiq always found be doing chaotic and stupid things, and he always had to help me out of them or patch me up." His lips were just brushing over Kiku's now. "It happened again in high school and university. I fell asleep in class or purposely wrote smart-alek remarks on my homework, but only in the classes you were in." Kiku's eyes fluttered open, staring up in shock into Heracles's sullen turquoise ones. "I wanted your attention, Kiku, but you were always preoccupied. You were always trying so hard to live up to expectations or pass your brother's standards... that you forgot about me." A small sigh escaped his slightly parted lips, and before he closed the gap between them, he whispered, "I've always been so jealous."
O-o-O-o-O
"Can we stop for a moment please?" Matthew pleaded wearily, giving Francis a kicked puppy look. When he received a chuckle and confirmation, he gratefully slumped down and fell in a flowerbed, soon followed by Francis.
"Thuy may punish us for destroying her flowers," the French man warned, staring up at the dark sky.
"I'm too tired to care right now," the Canadian replied tiredly, and peaked open one eyes to look at Francis, appraising the man. Against his initial thoughts, Francis actually seemed like a half decent bloke, give or take. Sure, he was flirtatious and nosey and a bit of a pervert, but he'd been nothing but civil towards Matthew, and he'd even offered his brother some advice by the looks of it. Speaking of which, I hope Arthur can help Alfred with his homophobia so they can get past their glaringly obvious sexual tension...
"Take a picture, it lasts longer," Francis advised with a wink.
Matthew blushed at being caught staring and turned away to stare intently at the stars. "I-I was just thinking about my brother and Arthur."
"Oh?" his fellow blond drawled, gaze flickering back over to Matthew again. "Normally, when staring at someone, you think of that person."
Matthew ignored him. "I'm just hoping Arthur can help Alfred and that they get over themselves because the sexual tensions that builds up when those two are together drives me nuts." He huffed and pouted slightly.
The French man blinked before chuckling. "Oh, Matthieu," he said, voice lighter than it had been for a while. "You surprise me." He smiled. "You seem like the shy, quiet and unassuming type..."
"You shouldn't judge people before you get to know them," he reminded the other man, also turning to glance at him. "Before... I was also thinking something about you."
Francis raised a brow.
"N-not in a bad way! I mean, I-I..." He swallowed and sighed, closing his eyes as he hastily blurted, "When I first met you, I thought you were the one night stand type who just gets to know people to get into their pants, but..." He opened his eyes again and stared into the other man's breathtaking blue eyes. "But... well, now... I think you're actually a very selfless, giving person, and I..." Why were they suddenly so close? "You... er... well..." Oh, fucking hell. I can't do this. Not when Alfred's still... like that. He'll hate me. He sat up quickly, surprising Francis, and not missing the hurt look in his blue eyes, but pretending not to notice. "We should go inside now," he said. "Thuy might see us crushing her flowers, eh?" He avoided Francis's gaze, and continued to stare at his shoes even as he heard rustling beside him. He blinked in shock when he saw a hand in front of his vision. He blinked up at the hand, and then the person who offered it. Swallowing, he nervously placed his hand in Francis's, and let the man help him up. They held hands on the way back, but Matthew whipped his hand back and increased his pace when they entered the building.
Francis smiled sardonically and stared at Matthew's back sadly. You may not hate homosexuals like Alfred does, Matthieu... but that doesn't mean you aren't scared of them. That's just as bad.
O-o-O-o-O
"You get overheated so easily," Alfred commented when Arthur rushed out onto the balcony upon reaching their room.
"I can't help it," Arthur replied tiredly, closing his eyes as he sat down and leant against a pillar. "I'm used to cold weather and rain."
"Well, you'll have to get used to it when I take you to America," Alfred said as he threw down his towell and joined Arthur on the veranda, taking a seat next to him.
The Brit opened one bright emerald eye to look at Alfred. "You actually meant that? I thought you were joking," he muttered.
"A hero stays true to his word," the American said wistfully, as if repeating words he had heard before. When he caught Arthur looking at him, he blushed and mumbled, "M-my mom said that. She used to read to me and stuff..." He was mildly surprised when the other man smiled at him.
"She was right," he replied gently, and Alfred smiled back, relaxing a bit. They sat in a comfortable silence for a long while, listening to the gentle breeze rustle the leaves, smelling the scent of the flowers, and watching the stars twinkling above them. It was so peaceful that Arthur almost dozed off, but was returned to reality when Alfred's voice pierced his foggy mind.
"So, do you have a story?"
Arthur blinked a few times. "What?"
The younger man glanced at Arthur and then turned away again. "I asked if you have a story. Like, in the onsen, everyone was telling a story... and I told one of mine..." He looked embarrassed.
Arthur appraised him for a moment before sighing. "Don't you know enough things about my to realise I'm obviously a hypocritical prat?" he asked huffily, but he was smiling sadly. "What kind of story would you like to hear?"
"I dunno," the American replied nervously, twiddling his thumbs. "Something to do with your family?"
Silence ensued for a moment before the shorter man sighed again, leaning heavily against the pillar. "Well," he began, closing his eyes. "I have two older gits for brothers brothers and a non-identical twin--"
"You what? You never told me that!" Alfred said, shocked.
Arthur smirked wearily back. "You never asked," he merely replied. "Now, do you want to listen, or do you want to talk?"
"I'll listen," replied the American with a pout.
Arthur nodded. "Thought so," he said. "Well, as I was saying... I have three brothers. My father was a bit of a wanker and left mum. The only thing I wonder is why he stuck around long enough to impregnate her with me." He shook his head of these thoughts, and continued, "Mum fell into depression so we had to go to a children's home. No one wanted to adopt us, we were a bunch of misfits. As well as that, we often got into little 'wrestling matches' with each other. Cailean, my eldest brother, probably broke my arm about twice, and Ádhamh dislocated my right shoulder. Aeddan, my twin, and I always got into little tiffs but never dealt a lot of damage." He chuckled dryly, eyes foggy and faraway. "But when Cai turned eighteen, he got a job and a flat, and got us all out of there. Soon after, Ádhamh also turned eighteen. Aeddan and I were usually left alone in the apartment. He was always drawing or playing with plastic animals, whereas I..." He trailed off and shook his head, opening his mouth to continue, but Alfred wanted to know.
"Whereas you did what?" he asked pointedly, staring into Arthur's traffic light-green eyes.
The Briton moaned tiredly. "Whereas I acted in extreme emo fashion and wrote depressing poetry, forced myself into skinny jeans, styled my hair, and... well, did over things emos usually do."
"Labels are for soup cans," Alfred recited, but he had an uneasy feeling in his gut. "What were the other things?" he asked weakly, feeling slightly sick.
"I'm sure you can guess." Arthur turned to him lazily, eyes half-lidded as he was trying hard to stay awake.
"Do you... do you still...?"
"I haven't for a long time. Not since..." He trailed off again and shook his head. "We should go to bed."
"I wanna hear what happened," Alfred insisted, if only to ease the sickness in his stomach.
Arthur gave another long-suffering sigh. "Long story short, I did lots of things I'm not proud of and yet somehow still got into a fairly good university with Kiku, Francis and that lot, whilst Aeddan... Aeddan's... well, he was sent to a... er..." Arthur looked down at his hands anxiously. "He was sent to a psychiatric facility, and, erm, well... he... he's still there." He swallowed, now twisting his hands. "I-I'm still in contact with Cai, although we don't get along."
Alfred felt guilty. "And Ádhamh?" he whispered softly, trying to pretend Arthur wasn't shaking even though he could feel it.
"He's also in a psychiatric place. The schizophrenia ward."
"I hate you, Arthur! I hate you! You know why daddy dearest left us? Because you were born! You're a disgrace! He hated you! You drove him away! Why couldn't you have left? Then we'd still have a dad and mum wouldn't be in-fucking-sane!" Ádhamh screamed, green eyes flashing furiously as he charged towards Arthur and delivering a sharp punch to the shorter boy's jaw, making him stumble backwards into the wall, blood dripping to the carpet. Eyes wide, he was too shocked to move. He didn't even resist when Ádhamh approached again and pulled him forward by his collar only to twist him, grab his arm and slam him into the wall, twisting his arm behind him. Arthur's mouth opened and he let out a sharp scream.
"Ádhamh!" Cailean shouted furiously, grabbing Ádhamh's arms and pulling him back to restrain him from inflicting more damage. "Ádhamh, calm down! Aeddan, take Arthur out of here and see if he's okay. I'll take care of Ádhamh."
Aeddan, also wide-eyed, stared in shock at Cailean for a moment before glancing between his two other brothers, his eyes full of accusation when they landed on Arthur. "But..." he began, but was interrupted.
"Now, Aedan!" Cailean shouted authorititively. Hesitating for only a moment, Aeddan uncaringly grabbed Arthur's uninjured arm and dragged him out of the room, unable to prevent Ádhamh's words from echoing in his mind.
"All your fault," he mumbled quietly, not even looking at his twin to see the tears streaming down his pale, horrified face.
"Arthur!"
"What?" His eyes flew open and he blinked in dismay and confusion when he saw frantic azure ones staring right back. The man above him let out a sigh of relief upon finally receiving a reaction from Arthur. "Are you okay?"
Alfred stared at Arthur, frowning. "Am I okay? You're asking if I'm okay after you just blacked out?" He shook his head. "D'you, like, have no sense of self-preservation?"
"Do you?" Arthur retorted, still staring up into Alfred's eyes, who was also looking right back.
"We're a right pair, huh?" he joked hoarsely, lips twitching although his smile was anything but joyful.
Arthur mirrored his poignant smile. "Yeah," he agreed. "A right pair."
O-o-O-o-O
Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.
Well, Arthur has such a lovely family, doesn't he? I was being sarcastic, by the way.
Can't be bothered to write much of a comment, I'm tired and still getting over being ill, and I have school tomorrow... ugh, GCSEs in May... Fuuuuuuuck. -holds pistol to head-
Aside from that, I'm just glad 's letting me upload documents again. Frickin' bug/glitch. Bah, whatever. I also have other potential stories but probably won't write them up until this is finished, along with Paper Clips and Sticky Tape (Cannot Mend Broken Hearts) and To The Stars which I absolutely should update soon... -shot repeatedly-
Hope you enjoyed the GiriPan scene, and the Franada scene in which Canada's being a total prat and needs to get over it and shout, "I'M GAY, AND THAT'S OKAY. :D" But nooo. =3= Everyone's a hypocrite in this story. XD
G'bye, watching Superman III... (Just finished watching all the Batman's, old and new... RIP Heath. :( You were fucking amazing as the Joker.)