Thank you, Idea-Explosion for the review. I'll try my very best to improve my writing with your advice.
Now you'll finally get to know why I had to put in that last chapter. It's still random, but not as random anymore.
~o~o~
That morning, everyone gathered in the hall at half past eight. Of course some students had hardly even closed their eyes during the night, and it wasn't exactly a secret who those students were.
Both Abel and Arthur tried their very best to keep their lids from closing entirely, but even that proved to be difficult after a night of only three hours of sleep. Let alone standing straight up.
Completely the opposite seemed to be Mrs Bennett. She was the perky young art teacher who had been their homeroom teacher in first year and was still the youngest teacher, even though she had already been working for the Hetalia College for five years.
She was slim, but not skinny, had a light skin with prominent freckles, naturally red hair and contrasting green eyes. She wore her hair in a jumpy and carefree updo, giving her a quirky and bubbly appearance that perfectly fitted her personality. "Okay, everyone!" Bennett drew their attention. "Today is our first real day in Paris, so we'll have a long day up ahead full of art and French culture. We're going to Musée du Louvre right now, so that's quite the exciting start. Now let's go!" Her French pronunciation was very close to perfect. Some suspected Trouillefou to have given her pronunciation-lectures before allowing her to speak only one word French in public.
The group followed the art teacher closely. On their way there, Bennett told plenty of facts about the museum she knew. Not only did she tell about the artworks, but also the general time periods they would come across. She liked talking about art, even though she knew only five people would be listening to what she was saying.
When it came to Paris and art history in general, she had a full encyclopaedia in her head.
Matthew didn't see the point in listening. He had more important things on his mind at the moment. The thought that maybe getting Alfred in one room with the person he had had a crush on for quite a while had been a bit cruel. If things were to go wrong, he would be the one to blame for the disastrous outcome.
True, up until now he had no reason to think things would go wrong. Through the years, the twins had gotten along very well with Arthur. Maybe they were even his best friends. But sharing a room was something different for sure.
Well, the easiest way to find out, Matthew concluded, was to just ask. He already started getting suspicious when he didn't see Arthur anywhere near Alfred. Something had to be off. "Hey, Al. How are you and Arthur getting along in one room?"
Alfred looked around and waited for his older twin to completely catch up. He had his hands in his pockets and didn't exactly look pleased. The bubble of energy he usually had around him was suddenly nowhere to be found. "Horrible. You have no idea how awkward those hours with him were. What about you and the porcupine?"
"We're getting along just fine, thank you. But what happened, Al?"
"I kinda blurted out that-"
"Oh, ouch. You'll be fine. It's not like that would be a reason to-"
"It is, though. As I said, awkward."
"You can stick with me in the museum." Matthew tried. Maybe some time to let everything that had happened, whatever it was, tide away a little would do the trick for him.
It took the group quite a long time to actually get there, and the surprise was even bigger when they saw the queue.
Because they were a group, they were inside the museum in just a matter of minutes. In here, they were free to go wherever they wanted. The majority immediately went off to see the Mona Lisa, the most famous piece in the collection. Matthew however, wasn't in such a hurry. Neither were Judithe and Abel. The two had already taken a flyer and looked at the artworks they wanted to see.
"Okay, I don't understand a word French." Abel grumbled. "What does that say?"
Judithe sighed and rolled her eyes. "You should have paid more attention when mom tried to teach us French."
Abel glared at his sister. "Nah. That language is hella difficult."
Matthew decided to have a look over their shoulders and got into the conversation. Just for the sake of joking around with Abel, he decided to speak French to Judithe. "So, what did you want to see?"
"Well, I wanted to see the Mona Lisa, but not right away. Everyone does that. What if we'd just go there and then follow this route?" Judithe pointed out on the small plan.
"Good idea."
Alfred and Abel just stood there right next to them, left entirely clueless about what they were saying.
"Do you have any clue?" Abel asked Alfred.
"Nope." Alfred replied blankly, not understanding a single word out of what his brother or Judithe were saying. "I didn't know Matthew spoke Spanish." He immediately got knocked on the head. "Ouch! Hey! What's your problem, dude?!"
"It's French, smartass."
"Let's go." Judithe said. They went into the museum and wondered around a little. They saw all kinds of artworks, and some had a small description. Of course, it was in French. "Judithe. Translation." Abel commanded at one of the pieces.
"What am I, a walking dictionary?" Judithe asked, giggling lightly.
Abel responded with a pout and a long drawn out "Nooo." before adding with a big grin: "Google Translate."
Judithe laughed again, lightly jabbing her brother in the ribs with her elbow.
"Hey, this one kind of looks like you." Abel said, pointing at one painting. It was a woman with blonde hair holding a candle. She had gigantic eyes and the expression made every one of them think of thriller.
"Hey!" Judithe squeaked before whacking her chuckling brother on the head with the plan.
The four went further into the museum, Abel and Judithe still occasionally whacking each other on the head with the plan or pinching each other in the waist. This was still taking a little revenge on Abel for comparing her to a zombie.
In the meantime, Alfred got bored. "Matt? Why are we following them?"
"For fun." Matthew simply replied. Abel now mixed into the conversation. "Well, obviously, we're just very pleasant people to be around." He said with a chuckle, obviously being sarcastic. The longer they were in the museum, the conversation lived up between the four.
When they reached the African Art-room, Matthew stopped in front of a certain sculpture of a head. It was rather long, had a grin that was wider than its face, and one eye that was bigger than the other. It was a serious piece of artwork, but Matthew couldn't help but giggle.
"What's that-Oh, my god, that thing is so weird!" Judithe laughed.
Since Judithe still hadn't given Abel some proper payback for comparing her to a zombie, she decided this was a nice opportunity. "Hey Abel! This one kind of looks like you!" Judithe nearly got tears in her eyes and had to lean on Matthew in order not to fall.
Abel sheepishly looked around at the thing. "Huh, whud? Ah, what the hell, sis? I don't look like that!" He shortly threw a weird expression, consisting out of a wide smile and one eye squinting to caricature the head he had just been compared to.
Matthew still laughed. "You have to admit she's kind of right."
This time, Abel whacked Matthew upside the head. "So what's your doppelganger? That Easter Island statue over there?"
Matthew shook his head. "No, that is Alfred's…where is he?"
Abel and Judithe looked at each other and then back at Matthew. Alfred wasn't in the room anymore and they hadn't noticed him leaving either.
"We'd better find him before he's going about being himself and ends up being kicked out." Matthew suggested. They went to the next rooms, not paying attention to any of the artwork anymore and only looking for Alfred. That was much more fun anyway than looking at dusty old stuff.
They found him amidst another group of classmates being his hyper and loud self. The group seemed to enjoy his obnoxious behaviour, but Matthew could sink into the ground at the spot. Alfred's little show-stealing didn't take long though: It appeared the other visitors weren't too charmed of the American teenager and within a few seconds, there was a guard tapping him on the shoulder.
Matthew pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "I'll go help him out before he gets arrested." He said and went to his brother.
Of course Alfred didn't understand a word of what the guard said. He only blankly stared at the man and pretended not to give a damn. This annoyed the guard, who already was about to lose his temper.
Just in time before this actually happened, Matthew interfered. He got between the guard and his brother and tried to convince the man not to kick Alfred out. Matthew's desperate expression, polite tone and carefully chosen words did seem to help. The guard mumbled something and left with one last warning glance.
"Pfew, thanks Matt." Alfred sighed. "Okay, where was I-Oh, hey! There are Kiku and the other guys." He ran in their direction immediately, leaving Matthew behind with Judithe and Abel.
"What did you even tell that guy to save Al's butt?" Abel asked, blankly staring at his running and hyper classmate.
"I told him Alfred is my autistic brother with ADHD and that he can't help being the way he is and that I'd keep a better eye on him from now on." Matthew said in one tone, also staring blankly at his brother.
Judithe and Abel sniggered. "Autistic? ADHD?" Judithe asked. "And he fell for that?"
"It does sound like Alfred." Matthew answered.
"True."
In the end, they hadn't seen the Mona Lisa. And neither of them cared.
Not long after that, it was time for lunch. The class gathered in the hall where they had arrived again and went outside to find a park to have their lunch. Just fifteen minutes before, Mr. Knox, the blonde English teacher with the thick glasses, and three students had gone to a supermarket to buy all kinds of food to form an improvised buffet for lunch. Creative, and it worked very well.
After that, the class was taken sightseeing around the city. One of the things they quickly ran into was the Notre Dame. Everyone in the class knew about the church. If they hadn't read the book, they had seen it in the old Disney movie in whichever language of the world. There was a queue the size of a street leading in, and one the same size was going out. While the majority decided to have a look inside, some decided they weren't so eager to see the gigantic church on the inside.
Abel, for example thought it was time to take a break to light a cigarette. His usual buddies didn't seem interested either, so they formed a casual group that was just a bit too big to ignore.
Some people were interested in neither joining them nor going into the Notre Dame. Matthew was one of those people. Because it seemed like the perfect opportunity, Matthew carefully went to Arthur, who was about to head for the church. "Hey, Arthur. Alfred said he wanted to talk to you."
"Huh? Now?"
"Yeah."
"O-kay."
Matthew quickly darted away, and Arthur gave him a bit of a suspicious look. Something was off. What was he up to?
When Alfred looked around and spotted Arthur still outside, decided not to go because of that. He needed to talk to him, even though he didn't have the slightest clue of how he should start a conversation. He wasn't one to pick his words carefully, and but he realised very well that a small slip up could completely ruin everything. Of course, after knowing him for more than five years, Arthur was probably used to him saying the weirdest things at the strangest of moments but this wasn't a moment he could afford ruining and saving himself out of with a cheap joke. "Hey, Arth. You're not going in?"
"No. I am not really interested. What about you?" Arthur seemed very calm in the dimmed sunlight of the city.
"Meh, me neither. Catholic churches are all the same anyway." Alfred answered. He tried his very best to hide his disappointment that none of their conversations seemed to go any further than just a shallow level and were only a way to kill time. He just hoped he didn't let it show through his ever-lasting façade of cheerfulness, whether it was sincere or not.
"Okay, Alfred. Spill it. What is bothering you?"
"Wud?"
"You've somehow managed to keep your mouth closed for a few seconds today, which is quite the achievement for you. What is wrong with you?"
How had he even noticed that? "About what we talked about this morning?"
"Yes? I thought we would forget that ever happened." Arthur didn't look at him. He looked past him with an indifferent expression.
"I don't think I want to forget."
"Pardon me?" Arthur asked, eyes growing wider in surprise. "It seems like the kind of conversation you'd wipe from your memory of you had the chance. Or a time machine."
Alfred looked down at the ground. There was no turning back anymore now. "I know what I said, but I didn't think you'd hate me for it."
Arthur's brow furrowed as he processed the links. "Alfred. I don't hate you! Quite the opposite, in fact. What in the world makes you think I hate you?"
Say what? "Dude, you just cut off the conversation and went back to sleep and you've been avoiding me all day." Alfred said flatly.
Arthur rolled his eyes. "It was half past six in the bloody morning! Can I have my moments to sleep too, please? Besides, it's not as though what you told me was something I hear every day. I might very well just have dreamt it." He sneered.
"You could've said that before, you know! Dude, you have no idea how much I worried about tonight! I mean, dude, awkward!"
"You're such a complete idiot, you know that?! Even after so many obvious hints, you still didn't notice a bloody thing!"
"You gave the hints? Yeah right! It's not my fault you never noticed anything unusual about me hugging you or ruffling your hair randomly for no flipin' reason!"
"You call that hints? That's the worst kind of hint in world history! It's so ridiculous no one would even think about seeking anything behind it. You've got to be more secure."
"Say what?! Dude, you read too much Shakespeare!"
"What?"
"You gotta be clear with these kinda things, man! We're not in some cheesy Hollywood chick-flick where people can read each other's minds or something!"
Arthur crossed his arms and glared with narrowed eyes. "So you want clear language?" He asked calmly. He rolled his eyes, shook his head, smacked Alfred hard on the side of the head and then hugged him before he could completely comprehend what had just happened.
Arthur had to stand on the tips of his toes to reach above Alfred's shoulders, but that didn't matter. In a very strict tone, he continued: "Let me tell you this very clearly then: You are my boyfriend from now on, and I am yours. No discussion. Clear?"
This was too amazing to be true, but too strange to imagine. It was laugh-out-loud, funny, but also outright ridiculous. Smiling, Alfred hugged Arthur back around his slender frame. "Yeah, clear enough. Wow. You've got to be the most adorable boyfriend in the world, you know that?"
The Brit pulled away. He was looking a bit shocked, as though he just now realised what he had said was reality and not just a daydream. "How the bleeding hell am I adorable?!" He shrieked.
Alfred laughed. "That! Haha! You should see yourself right now."
"Oh, cut it out, you git!"
"Too late to go back now, Arthy. You've said it yourself, you're my boyfriend now and I'll make sure you keep that promise." Alfred grinned widely and laughed. The sudden urge to hug Arthur wasn't in any way suppressed, and he held the shorter blonde tightly around the shoulders just a second later.
It didn't take the small group of friends long to spot their a-little-too-intimate-to-be-casual hug.
Abel whistled at them and smirked.
"Wohoo, way to go, Alfred!" Mathias shouted, and a cheer was heard form the group.
"Nice catch, Arthur." Abel shouted with a grin and a chuckle that made everyone doubt if he actually meant it. He blew out another long string of smoke and laughed. Ludwig shook his head at how obnoxious his friends could be at times. "Can't you guys just leave them alone?"
"Ah, where's the fun in that?" Mathias asked. "A bit of teasing won't hurt. Besides, we're not half as bad as the Trio. Just wait 'till they're out and see that."
Ludwig's eyebrow twitched at the mere possibility that he'd have to apologise for his brother's obnoxious behaviour. Again.
"Ah, speak of the devil." Abel said, grinning sadistically. "Looks like the show's about to start. Who brought the popcorn?" He dropped the cigarette stub on the ground and crushed it under his foot. With an amused smirk, he blew out the last bit of smoke as the friends they usually referred to as 'the Bad Touch Trio' walked out of the Notre Dame.
It didn't take long before Antonio spotted Alfred giving Arthur a kiss on the cheek and hugging him like a teddy bear. "Eeey! Look at that!" He pointed at the two of his classmates and the other two followed his gaze.
"Oi, oi, oi! When did that ice queen of a caterpillar-face melt? Kesesese." Gilbert laughed at his own joke. He stuck his hands into his pockets and straightened his back.
"It seems even Arthur isn't frozen enough to resist the warmth of l'amour." Francis sniggered
The other group heard the teasing from a distance. "Wasn't Ice Queen Aleksander's nickname?" Abel asked.
"Yeah." Mathias said casually. "Until he stabbed Gilbert in the hand with his hairpin."
"Ah. Makes sense."
The trio didn't particularly run out of jokes. Quite the opposite: they were just getting started. They started hanging around the newly formed couple and made one remark after another. From a bit of teasing, it was starting to go a little too far now. Everyone sensed that.
"Aww, don't you two look sweet together." Francis said teasingly drawing his words out a bit too long to take it seriously. "See, Gilbert? I told you the caterpillar-face had a heart."
"Yeah, sure." He slung an arm around Arthur's shoulder and leaned a little too close to the Briton's comfort. "I'm not convinced until I've seen a kiss. You know, one of those with a looot of tongue. What about you, Toni?"
"Ahaha. I'm not sure if I'd really want to see tha-Ugh." A quick punch in the stomach was all that was necessary to cut the Spaniard off. Romano was the one who had thrown said punch and dragged his still gurgling and cringing boyfriend away by the ear. "Stop being an asshole or I'll show you stuff you don't want to see starting with your own insides!" He doomed. His action drew laughter from the other two of the trio, but that was quickly cut to an end when Ludwig dragged his obnoxious brother away from Arthur by the arm, and then took him into a solid neck-lock. "I can't believe you're this much of an Arsch. Haven't you got just the slightest bit of decency?"
"Thanks, Ludwig." Arthur said.
"You're welcome!" The German shouted back in between barking at his brother and scolding him like a child.
Francis breathed in for another series of comments, but he got cut off before even uttering one tone. "Don't even think about it." Matthew quickly said, and Francis decided not to utter a single word and retreat while Matthew still kept a close eye on him just in case.
So it really had worked out. He couldn't help but chuckle at how Alfred was right now. It was just hilarious to see him bouncing up and down like an excited puppy while Arthur's scowl grew fouler and fouler every second until he got enough of it and smacked him upside the head. Matthew silently wondered how long Arthur would hold out with Alfred before going insane.
After this short break, it was time for dinner. They went to a small, quaint Italian restaurant, owned by a childhood friend of Trouillefou's. Luckily, the teachers hadn't noticed a thing of what had been going on between the students earlier at the Notre Dame; the entire class had helped to make sure of that. None of them were quite feeling like letting the teachers ruin the mood that was really starting to grow within the class now.
~o~o~
Say hello to the Bad Touch Trio! You'll read more of them. ^_^
Anyway, according to my stats, the number one country in which this story is read is United Kingdom, followed by Canada. *does happy-dance*
Yes, this surprises me because usually, my only readers are friends I asked/begged to read it. Thanks, guys/girls! *hugs you all*
As you may be able to tell by the long time it took me to update, I was rather hesitant to upload this chapter. Please don't burn me into the ground.