Hey guys! Thank you again for the bunch of nice reviews! Yes, the life of a teenager can be so tough.
~o~o~o~
After a rather restless night for both of them, Matthew woke up to the sound of distant arguing. A man and a woman were arguing down below on the street exactly underneath their open window, and they didn't seem to be aware of anyone hearing them. It was a rather private argument, Matthew quickly picked up.
It seemed Abel's sleep was also disturbed by the couple as he grunted and slipped out of bed. Within a few seconds and without saying a word to Matthew, he was in his clothes and occupying the bathroom to slick his hair back up again. He seemed rather irritated. Still seemed rather irritated.
When Abel rushed out of the room, he nearly bumped into Trouillefou but passed him quickly.
"Ah. I see you two are already awake." The teacher said, and went downstairs as well. He gave the tall teenager a questioning look but let it slide for now.
Matthew sighed, quickly dressed up and darted out of the room as well. Apparently, things wouldn't fix themselves as they always did. As Matthew had hoped they'd do again.
On the stairs, he nearly ran into Mathias. "Wow, watch it! Hey, another thundercloud." The energetic Dane said when he looked at Matthew. "You two had a little domestic?"
"No. Excuse me." He tried to shoulder passed Mathias, but he was grabbed by the arm before he had even taken a step.
"Hey, Matthew. Seriously. Did anything happen?"
"No." He wrenched his arm out of Mathias hand, which was quite easy and went downstairs.
Mathias watched him walk away just when Ludwig, who had overheard the conversation, came downstairs too. "Lover's quarrel?"
"Seems like it. Damn, Abel's an idiot with the boys."
"Look who's talking."
At breakfast, Matthew and Abel were as far away from each other as the room would allow them. Both had other friends as well.
Francis knew right away something was off. When Matthew was down, it was the easiest thing you saw. It was just impossible to miss…if you noticed the lad in the first place. He never did anything to attract attention. One glance at Abel was enough to tell him that he was the problem. Not surprising, but not the reaction Francis had hoped for.
Even on the way to Centre Pompidou, Matthew and Abel were nowhere near each other.
Abel lit another cigarette and took a long drag. It calmed his troubled mind a little. It always did whenever he was worried about something.
Judithe left her chit-chatting group of friends to keep him company. This was one of the moments it was an advantage they both spoke a language no one else in their class understood a word of. She wasn't anywhere near stupid; she could see that whatever was troubling her little brother, it was very personal and had something to do with Matthew. "Abel. Spill it."
"Things are awkward for no reason." He blew out another cloud of smoke and took a new drag.
"Your fault?"
"Afraid so. I may or may not have crossed a few lines."
Judithe showed as much disappointment as he felt. "And Francis was so sure. I was so sure."
"Maybe Beardface lost his skills."
"Could be." Judithe looked up. "And get that damn thing out of your face."
"Huh?"
Within a split second, she snatched the cigarette from his lips and stamped on it much harder than she had to.
"Hey!"
"Would you just stop doing that? I don't like to see you killing yourself." Judithe hissed.
"Tsk. You're exaggerating as always."
"I'm not exaggerating. It doesn't make you look cool and I don't think Matthew is particularly fond of it either otherwise it would be a lot easier for you to get him."
Ouch.
"Shut up." He sneered with a sharp glare. What did she have to do with that anyway? She should just mind her own business and let him do as he wanted.
She took a deep breath and calmed down. "Never mind." She went up ahead and left her younger brother behind.
Abel knew perfectly well whether snapping at someone was justified or he just lashed out because someone had said something spot on. This was one of those moments. He caught up with Judithe and put an arm around her shoulder. He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. "I'm sorry, zusje. You were right."
"It's okay, broerke van me."
He waited a moment and took a second to shove his pride aside. "Okay. I'm lost. Can you please tell me what to do?"
Judithe smiled. "You're a guy, and you don't understand guys?"
"Do you understand girls?"
"Not in the slightest. Okay, point taken. I hope you realise that you're the problem here?"
"Hey." He glared. "How am I the problem? I didn't suddenly stop talking."
"Yes, you did. Now. Why don't you stop being a complete ice-queen and get on talking?"
"You're the second person to call me a queen this school trip." Abel deadpanned, glaring icicles at his sister.
"It's true."
"Hm. Yeah." He admitted.
Even though Centre Pompidou had basically everything, Matthew was still bored. He aimlessly dragged himself around a gallery with all kinds of modern art. Some of it made sense, some did not in any way, whatsoever.
In front of one of the artworks, three white canvasses in a row, he stopped. There were two people in front of it, sitting on the floor. At least they were enjoying it. They saw extensive landscapes; he only saw a white surface.
He read an information-board on the wall that explained the idea behind abstract art. That to understand abstract expressionism, one had to forget about what they expected to see and open the mind like the artists had done when they made it.
Sure.
He was back in the entrance hall, unlike a few students other students, which, as usual, annoyed Trouillefou terribly. They waited for ten minutes, and twenty minutes, and then Trouillefou had enough of it. He went to the Info desk and seconds later, there was an announcement over the intercom if all students of Hetalia International College would be so kind to go to the entrance hall because their class was waiting. After five minutes, there was still no sign of the four. Trouillefou rolled his eyes and grabbed the intercom microphone himself. "Antonio, Gilbert, Francis and Mathias! You four jackasses better drag your lazy ass to the entrance hall right now before I drag you here by your ridiculous hair!" He barked over the intercom.
Everyone in the entire building stopped dead in their tracks with the shivers up and down their spines. Seconds after the announcement, they all burst into laughter at the four students that ran to the entrance hall as though their pants were on fire. The four arrived in record time, and first got a good scolding in front of the entire class for being extremely late.
Without further ado, they went to Musée Rodin. It was mainly a big garden with all kinds of statues everywhere, but Matthew didn't care in the slightest. He needed some time to think and the benches in the sun made it very tempting to sit down and enjoy the warm French weather.
A thought hit his mind like a small bubble. What if he only saw what he expected to see? Like with the paintings, everyone saw everything a different way. Thinking about what Francis had told him, the difference between Francis' and his own observations suddenly made a lot more sense. He had always been in everyone's shadow, especially Alfred's. Of course he didn't expect anyone to like him more than any other random person. It had become standard over the years.
Time to stop doing that, Matthew decided for himself.
As a last activity for that day, the class went to another famous building: The Eiffel Tower.
The line into the Tower proceeded slowly. As Trouillefou had predicted, it was really crowded. This was to be expected, but for some the number of people per square meter still came as a surprise.
The class somehow managed to make it through to the first floor. When they were all counted, Trouillefou went to buy tickets for the next floor. In the meantime, they were allowed to look around on the first floor. Of course after hearing this, every single one of the students rushed to the sides to look out over Paris from there.
Alfred was one of the first ones there. He looked down through the mazes at the people walking below, laughing. "Woah! They're tiny!" He shouted in excitement. "That's so awesome!"
"Oh, keep it down, Alfred." Arthur hissed right next to him. "You're behaving like a child."
"Aww. But it's funny! I mean, look! They're like, ants!"
Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, hiding his gradually more failing attempt to hide a smile.
The view from the tower was beautiful. As it gradually got darker, more and more lights compensated the darkness. It was clear weather, so the view reached far. Very far.
It was already half dark already when Trouillefou called them together again. "Okay, you guys. I got all of you tickets for the second floor. You can join the queue after getting a ticket from me. Everyone gets one, so no pushing, pulling or jumping the queue. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
"That also goes for you, Gilbert!" The French teacher added.
"Yeah, yeah."
One by one, the teenagers got their tickets and joined the queue. As well as the last one, also this proceeded very slowly. Abel, mildly irritated with boredom looked out over the rest of his class. He was the last one in the queue, and the sight of the long sea of people was slightly depressing. It did give him a nice view over all of his classmates, so it wasn't long until he noticed there was one missing. "Hey, Al. Where's Matthew?" He asked.
"Erm, who? Oh, Matt. He was here a second ago, and now he's…"
"There." Arthur added, pointing.
Indeed, in the middle of the crowd behind them was Matthew, getting yelled at by two tourists who apparently weren't too happy that he was jumping the queue. Of course they didn't know that he should actually be with that large group in front of them. It wasn't in his nature either to speak up or be rude, so he got completely mowed over by the two rather snappy young ladies.
"I'll go fetch him." Abel said. With Judithe's and Francis' advice, and nothing to lose anyway, he pushed back through the group of people to Matthew.
"Hey, Matty. There you are." He said from right behind his classmate, startling him and quieting the two tourists. "Trouillefou gets pissed if he loses anyone from the class." He made sure to subtly emphasize that. "Come on and leave those stick-up-the-butts for what they are."
"Hey!" One of the two young women shouted. "Where are your manners? Do you even know who you're talking to?"
Ah, English. English, posh and arrogant. Those were easy to annoy. Abel smiled friendly and made sure to answer in a very polite and official tone. "I couldn't give less of a shit. Come on, Matthew." He put an arm around his classmate's shoulder and they went back to their class again.
"Hey, wait you! We're not done yet!"
"We are, in fact."
"No, we are not! Come back here-!"
"Laterz!" Abel shouted over his shoulder with a smug grin that would only come across as at least twice as arrogant as they were.
Matthew didn't quite know what to think about the arm around his shoulder or what the two tourists now thought their relationship was. For now he'd just pretend there was nothing unusual going on. He was just relieved that Abel was finally talking to him again. And not just a simple one-word greeting either.
"You okay, Matty?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. They were scary." He said in a quite light tone.
"Yes, they were. And so is Trouillefou when we explain that that one ticket he had left is yours."
"Ow." Yes, Trouillefou wouldn't be too happy if he found out one of his students had gotten behind.
Abel smiled. "Come on." He guided him through the group to the teacher. Luckily getting through a crowd of classmates was a billion times easier than passing a few grumpy tourists from all over the world.
"They seem to get along." Arthur observed, crossing his arms.
"Yeah." Alfred said, not looking to happy. "I hope that stoner keeps his hands off my bro."
"I'm quite sure he's not nearly as handsy as you are." Arthur responded.
"What do you mean?"
"How many times have I asked you to keep an appropriate distance as long as we are in public?" Arthur deadpanned.
That small reminder was enough to make Alfred realise where his hand was: On Arthur's hip.
Once the class reached the top floor, it was entirely dark. Something else everyone immediately noticed was that it was significantly colder due to the wind.
But once they saw the view, they all agreed it was entirely worth it. The view reached over all of Paris, which was now a sea of small lights against a black background. Absolutely breath-taking.
"Wow." Matthew said, smiling as he looked out over the huge city down below. His violet eyes lit up and shimmered.
"Awesome, isn't it?" Abel asked, leaning on the handrail next to Matthew.
"Yes, it is." He said dreamily. Matthew took a quick glance at Abel, but looked entirely away when a warm electric pulse shot up through his spine, slightly colouring his cheeks. He gripped the handrail a bit tighter, hoping Abel wouldn't notice.
He did, but that was nothing Matthew needed to know. He was cute.
"This is totally super awesome, yo!" Alfred shouted, promptly planting himself against the handrail between his brother and Abel, completely oblivious to the warm mood he had just mercilessly shattered to tiny bits.
Of course, the two were all but amused by this loud and obnoxious interruption. Especially Matthew, who had always been the victim of his brother's bluntness one way or another. This time, he really had enough of it. This was the worst time for Alfred to drop in he could possibly have thought of. Matthew gathered all courage he had and put his hand on Alfred's shoulder. "Al. You're annoying. Get out of my way."
"Eh?" Alfred asked with a blank stare before he was pushed aside, having him almost trip over his own feet. The shyer one of the twins then picked up where he had left, pretending Alfred hadn't dropped in at all.
"Woah. What the hell? Did Matt just…?" Alfred wondered. He had never expected Matthew to be able to push him aside like that. Up until now, he had always won in any kinds of physical fights! How had this just happened?
Arthur crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "It seems like you were interrupting." He smiled.
"Butbutbutbut…" Alfred stammered.
"Come on, Al. What's the matter?"
"Pointy hair?!" Alfred shouted. "Why the heck pointy hair?! He looks like a fricken' porcupine! I swear, Matt has no taste."
Arthur was a bit startled for a moment. He sighed and slapped his forehead. "And that's what's bothering you? Really, Alfred. You're impossible."
"Butbutbutbut-"
"Oh, shut up, Alfred." Arthur sneered and dragged him away by his hand to the other side of the top floor.
Matthew saw them disappear around the corner and smiled. He wouldn't be bothered by his brother again this night. Arthur would make sure of that.
Now that he didn't need to worry about that anymore, Matthew fully set his mind on the person next to him. It was worth a try to let him know something. But how? He couldn't just tell him like that.
Francis always said one shouldn't tell, but show, but he was quite sure he could not do that. To be sure, he just dismissed the thought.
The two made a trip over the top floor, making sure to enjoy the view over the city from every side of the tower and trying to find places they had seen or were going to see. They found the Sacre Cœur, their hotel, the Arc de Triomphe, the Nouveau Arc, and various other things.
"Matthew." Abel said from behind him.
"Huh?" He looked around over his shoulder, completely unaware of what would happen. The next thing he saw was the dimmed flashlight of a camera and Abel grinning.
"Did you just take a picture of me?"
"No, I stole your soul. Now let me see…" He checked how the picture had turned out.
Beautifully.
It was perfectly Matthew. Shoulder length wavy hair, big friendly violet eyes looking half over and half through a pair of glasses and a genuinely questioning expression. No fake smiles or planned poses, just Matthew as he was.
"Can I see?" Matthew asked, instantly reminding Abel that he was staring at the picture on his camera.
"Sure."
Matthew shook his head when he saw the image. "Oh, gosh. Please delete that."
"Why?"
"It's awful!"
"Nah."
"I always look terrible in pictures."
"You don't in this one. Quite the opposite." He quickly hoped Matthew hadn't heard that second comment.
"Do you need my glasses again? I think you're nearly blind as well."
"I think you are."
Matthew was about to respond to that again when he suddenly realised Abel had just called him…beautiful? Nah. He just forgot about it and simply gave in to the teasing.
"I'll keep this one." Abel grinned widely and put the camera away again.
Time passed by in record time when having fun. The visit to the Eiffel Tower was no exception, Matthew noticed as they had to make their way back to the souvenir shop on the first floor much to early to his liking.
Trouillefou told them that they could choose how they would get downstairs: by the elevator, or taking the stairs. Strangely enough, no one went for that last option.
Until Abel, however, did. "I'll take the stairs." He said with a grin.
"Are you crazy?" Matthew asked.
"Yes. Come on. Just for fun."
"No way." There was something about the way he said the word 'fun'. Something evil.
"What's wrong, Matty? Scared of a few stairs?" He tried to provoke Matthew a little with his decision.
"I'm not scared. I just think you're not quite right in the head for taking the stairs when you can take the elevator."
"So you're afraid you won't keep up with me?"
That hit a spot. "Not unless you decide to jump all the way down."
"Who's the first one down?"
"You bet!" What was wrong with him? Where had he gotten this confidence? And what was he getting himself into?
Minutes later, he found himself running down brightly lit, metal stairs, chasing loudly laughing after Abel. Their feet clanged loudly on the metal and their laughs resounded through the caged staircases. The people they passed gave them strange but amused looks, but they didn't care. This was just hysterical.
Abel cheered when the last staircase was in sight, and Matthew sprinted quickly after him, passed him and he would be the first one.
He would have been first if Abel hadn't jumped the last five steps. They had their feet on solid ground again at the exact same time.
The two of them laughed loudly, and were one of the first few to drop themselves into a chair in the bus that would take them back to the hotel. Only Mr Knox, who had a fear of heights, was there, so they were actually quicker than their lazy classmates!
Matthew laughed and panted at the same time. "That was the craziest thing I have ever done!"
Abel panted as well. "You ram people into walls."
"That's only on the ice and it's not just me."
They looked at each other silently and burst into laughter again as they waited for their classmates to arrive as well.
~o~o~o~
Sorry, I couldn't resist the so much hated 'Who?'. It is just inevitable. I am sorry Matthew!
Yes, I gave Matthew a slight inferiority complex. It's nothing too bad.
Translations:
Zusje = Little sister
Broerke van me = Little brother of mine. (I'm not too sure about this one. I've seen many people spell it like this, but if there are any professional Belgians out there, please feel free to correct me. ;) Thanks!)
Anyway, please review my dearest readers. I read them all.