Into The Afternoon
FACE family (France, America, Canada, England)
"Mattie! Mattie!"
At the sound of his brother's voice, Matthew looked up. He had his arm wrapped carefully around Kiku, trying to soothe the smaller boy with limited success. His knees were bloody and still bleeding, the red liquid flowing along his pale skin as easily as the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. His ankle was swollen and red. Matthew didn't like seeing his friend in pain.
Alfred roughly shoved his way into the office, tripping over his own feet. "There you are! I was looking all over for you!"
Matthew braced himself for impact as Alfred flung himself down onto the bench beside them. Kiku let out a tiny gasp of pain as his injured leg was jostled, biting down hard on his lip.
"Hi, Al," Matthew said softly, letting Kiku squeeze his hand tightly. The smaller boy managed to compose himself, but not before two fat tears escaped the cusps of his eyelids. He hurriedly wiped at his face, trying to force a smile despite the fact that his entire body was trembling. He nodded stiffly to Alfred, pretending that he wasn't in pain.
"How're you holding up, Keeks?"
"I am coping." Kiku's face twisted into a slight grimace. "I have caused onii-chan immense inconvenience, however."
"What do you mean?" Matthew asked.
"Yao-nii attends ressons in the morning, and he goes to work for the afternoon. Now he needs to retrieve me, and Yonsū-kun from his detention. Mei-Mei has dance after school, but she needs to be driven, and Yao-nii won't get back in time to do that if he has to bring us home..." Kiku gnawed on his lower lip. "Mashū-kun, you're working on a project with my otouto, hai?"
"Yes, I'm working with Hong, on that interview thing." 'That interview thing' was a project that the younger students were doing, interviewing an older student outside of their family. Matthew had agreed to be interviewed by Kiku's little brother, Hong.
"Yao-nii is going to be busy, with disciprining Yonsū-kun, and he wirr need to attend to my injuries, in addition to discussing his departure with Roma-kun and Roma-Teikoku, so-."
"Roma-who?" Alfred interrupted, blinking his wide blue eyes, perplexed. "Who are these Roma-people?"
"Lovino and his grandfather," Matthew explained. "Roma-Teikoku means Roman Empire, right, Kiku?"
"Hai. He shares the name of a Roman emperor, and emigrated from the city of Rome. He said that I could call him Roma-Teikoku. Romano is his grandson's middle name, and I find it easier to pronounce than Ro –" with visible effort, he corrected himself. "Lovino."
"Well, that's kinda cool!" Alfred grinned.
"As I was trying to say, Mashū-kun," Kiku continued, "Yao-nii is possibry going to be busy for the afternoon. I have to ask, might Bonufowa-san or Kākurāndo-san be abre to bring my otouto home tonight?"
Matthew winced slightly at the bad pronunciation of papa's name, but he knew that Kiku was trying. At least he wasn't like Alfred, who pronounced Bonnefoy like 'bonnie-foy'. Hearing people mispronouncing papa's name, distinctly French as it was, made him think of his papa's disparaging response : 'Zey butcher my language, les maudits anglais,' his accent coming out more strongly in his displeasure. He always smiled when he heard Kiku struggling to pronounce his name, though. He liked Kiku, and appreciated the effort he made.
"One of them should be able to," he said slowly. "I imagine that papa Francis would be more than pleased to drive your brother home. He likes you and your siblings."
Kiku exhaled quietly, relief evident on his face. "Arigatou, Mashū-kun."
"Yeah, I totally forgot about that!" Alfred interjected. "Hong's coming over after school! Will he be bringing more of those cool sparkler thingies that he showed me last time he was over? Those were awesome!"
"I do hope not," Kiku answered quickly, "as he was instructed not to use those without Yao-nii watching him. He is not permitted to use them on his own."
Alfred pouted. "But he brought them last time, and Yao wasn't there! And it was so cool, too!"
Kiku sighed with a resigned air, swiping at his teary eyes. He just wanted Yao to come get him. Matthew could see it in his face, the tightness of his pained expression. He squeezed his friend's small hand reassuringly, gently rubbing Kiku's raw knuckles with his thumb, just like how papa did when Matthew had fallen off his bike last summer and had scraped his palms bloody.
Alfred's mood dropped dramatically in an instant – his lower lip began to wobble slightly as a small tear slid down Kiku's cheek; Kiku's eyes were wet with tears and watering from wiping at his eyes, causing a tear to escape. Alfred grabbed Kiku's other hand, clinging to him. He didn't want his friend to be in pain. He nuzzled Kiku's shoulder, mumbling under his breath, "The Hero will protect you, Keeks. The Hero will make you all better."
Kiku sniffled wetly, his fingertips quivering as he slowly curled his fingers around their hands in a shy display of affection.
Unbeknownst to the three boys, Francis stood outside the office door, looking in with a soft smile. He worked at a restaurant that happened to cater to the school's hot lunch program, which was offered in place of a cafeteria. He'd just finished his rounds. Francis didn't often take the delivery, but they were short-staffed, and he enjoyed seeing the schoolchildren.
He smiled at his boys, waving to his petit Matthieu, before moving to leave. He held the door open for Yao as the teenager rushed in, a flurry of long, waving jacket sleeves and rapid Mandarin.
Kiku smiled tiredly, reaching out to his ge ge. Yao was quick to pull him in close, cradling his little brother like he was a fragile little doll. He buried his face in Kiku's silky black hair.
"Ju Hua," he whispered, pressing a kiss to Kiku's forehead.
Normally, Kiku would have wrinkled his nose in displeasure, but he simply leaned into Yao and mumbled responses to him in quiet Mandarin, the Chinese language unfamiliar on his lips.
Matthew slid over on the bench, closer to Alfred. They were going to have to stay in the office until the bell went, so they might as well sit together. They watched as Yao picked up Kiku, carrying him out of the office while being careful not to jostle his injured legs. The smaller boy waved goodbye to them as Yao carried him out, on their way to pick up Yong-Soo from his detention.
Alfred sighed. "I hope he heals up soon, Mattie. Kiku is too little for that much hurt."
"He's our age, Al. He's not that little."
"But Keeks is tiny! He's so little!" Alfred made several gestures to get his point across. "He's just a lot smaller than us, Mattie, so, since I'm the Hero and you're my totally cool brother, so we've gotta take care of him!"
Matthew rolled his eyes. "Of course, Al." More seriously, he added, "We'll both watch out for him. C'est un promis."
Translation
Onii-chan – big brother
Otouto – little brother
Hai – yes
Maudits anglais – damn English
Arigatou – thank you
Ge ge – big brother
Ju Hua – Chrysanthemum, the Chinese equivalent of the name Kiku
C'est un promis – it's a promise
Well, these are almost all words I've used before. Do correct me if I'm wrong. ^J^
Reader-senpai!
I am, in fact, still alive, not that anyone here cares. Here's my latest update, it's kind of really bad. And I'm sorry to anyone who happened to be following this story, but my life has been a little hectic. I'm working three extracurriculars, school projects, personal issues, and social drama, and I haven't been around much to write enough consistently. My choice of invalid excuses tonight is the textual fight I'm having with my friend. He did something stupid, and I got mad at him, now he's mad at me for being mad at him. Then there's the whole thing about how he's the only one I've confided in (keep my secret, internet-senpai, I'm genderfluid and pansexual, out as pan at school but entirely closeted at home), and the stupid thing he did was disrespectful to me, but you don't want my drama.
Sorry once more. Hope you enjoyed this fluffy trash piece between the North American brothers and my baby Japan.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)
~Kouhai