Pairings brought up/mentioned: Gerita, Spamano, & Fruk
Warnings: None
-3.12-
And so, the next day brings with it a field trip to the museum, of which has been rented so that Vargas and co. may roam without worrying about bystanders or paparazzi. Arthur leads the way, carefully inspecting each exhibit for clues. Francis, whom lazily trails right behind his spirit, says he gets like that when in his 'Sherlock Holmes mode.' Following them are Gilbert and Roderich. My brother excitedly prances about, his charge occasionally tossing a reminder of their deal into the air, causing Lovino to snappily wonder what the hell's going on. He and Antonio walk beside Feliciano and myself, the younger twin slowing down every once in awhile to look at a particularly interesting painting. And then we reach the pirate exhibit.
"No, we're not stopping to 'find the awesome me,'" The rabbit testily answers before the question's even asked. "We have a mission, and damn it all if we don't complete it."
Gilbert whines, "Aww, come on! Don't tell me you're not even a little curious about how people see our past escapades! Besides, I want to know how they interpreted Toni and I's past relations!" He barks out a laugh, "Man, that must have confused historians."
Antonio chuckles, "Yeah, things were pretty crazy back then, weren't they?"
"Please?" Francis gives Arthur the puppy dog eyes.
The current leader heaves a loud, long-suffering sigh, but relents. "Fine, I suppose a few minutes wouldn't hurt."
"Aww yeah!" Gilbert cheers, dragging Roderich into the near-maze of artifacts. "I'm gonna find the awesome me! Kesesesesesesesesesese~"
Feliciano, arm linked with mine, pulls me off as well, "Luddy, Luddy, let's look at the portraits! I want to see the techniques they used!"
As I agree with an accompanying sigh, a certain fox and his irritable charge slip away unnoticed.
"Hey, Lovi, look!" The Spaniard of the group points to a large oil painting deep within the bowels of the museum.
His companion's eyes go wide. "Antonio, there is no way in Hell that was ever you."
Posed regally, sword aimed at the ground with both hands on the hilt's top, is a slightly faded form, narrowed, normally cheery eyes glowing faintly, grin stretched into what was almost a sneer. Draping over his shoulders and down to his thighs rests a long, blood red coat with golden embroidery, that and a matching tricorn acting as the only symbols of his authority, what with the pirate's simple combination of shirt-pants-boots. Expression dark, fully-armed, fairly built, Antonio almost seems menacingly.
Clueless as ever, he pouts, "What? Why not? For your information, I used to be one of the greatest pirates in Europe!"
"'Why not?' Are you kidding me?!" Lovino's face steadily turns red, "He looks way too s- I mean, smart to have been you! You're an idiot, idiot!"
"But Loviiiiiiiii-"
"I swear if you start that, you are so dead to me-"
"-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"
"Oh for crying out loud- ANTONIO, WILL YOU SHUT UP?!"
"-iiiiiii!" With the last syllable's end, the fox practically collapses on his charge, arms wrapped around his shoulders, a tomato-faced Lovino pushing at his chest.
The Spaniard beams. "Oh no, Lovi, I'm falling!"
"WHAT?! Don't you fucking dare!"
He laughs, lowering more and more of his weight. "Fusososososo~ you can't stop it now! I'm falling, I'm falling, oh nooooo!"
And so, with a resounding shout of "FUCK!" From the Italian, Antonio completely drops himself on top of Lovino, forcing them both to the floor, one failing to restrain their good-natured snickers and the other cursing loudly. As Lovino gently bangs his head against the floor, his spirit animal winds about his waist in a hug, face to his charge's upper-back.
Breath caught since the end of his incessant chuckling, Antonio casually breaks the comfortable silence they'd fallen into, "Hey, Lovi, do you remember when you were little?"
"You'll have to be more specific than that." He mumbles from the marble tiles.
"I remember," The fox smiles softly, continuing on as if the Vargas hadn't said a thing, "I remember one morning shortly after you took me home from the woods."
Several years ago, the same fox smiled softly in his sleep, cuddled up to a big, fluffy pillow. If there was anything he loved most about his new home, surely it was how plush and comfortable the bed was! With an incomprehensible murmur, he nuzzled deeper into the blankets, face relaxed and content.
"WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
At the sudden cry of distress, a pair of dark green eyes shot right open. Antonio leaped up and rushed out of the room, following the miserable noises that'd awoken him. Downstairs and a few twisting halls later, he slammed open the door to the kitchen, head whipping from side-to-side. At the feeling of tiny fists banging on his shin, he looked down.
"Lovi? What are you doing?"
The little ball of rage glared, tears sliding over his cheeks, whether from anger or anguish. "Antonio, you stupid buttface! This is all your fault!"
"Que? How am I a buttface?!" He questioned, "I didn't do anything!"
"YES YOU DID, YOU STUPID IDIOT!" He whined louder, pounding harder at his spirit animal's leg. "I TRIED TO MAKE BREAKFAST, THEN I- I- WAAAAHHHHH!"
As the elder twin continued to bawl hysterically, Antonio lifted the child into his arms, inspecting the tomato stains on his loose, once-white pyjama shirt, then shifted his gaze to the squashed tomatoes littering the floor. With a soft sigh, he plastered on a grin and turned to his charge.
"That's okay, Lovi! You tried your best and that's all that matters, right?" Antonio beamed, "Now, how about I clean this up, then make you some food, okay?"
Lovino sniffled and pulled his face away from the fox's chest. "Fine. Whatever."
He brought the kid back to the floor, and the rest of the morning flew by in relative peace and quiet.
"Remember that?"
"No," Lovino growls, elbowing his spirit animal in the gut. Antonio reluctantly rises from his place with a groan, moving to lay beside the fuming teen at a sloth-like pace.
"Really? You were pretty cute that day." He gives a slight pout, "Well, I mean, you were cute everyday, but you get the point." The fox perks up at a sudden thought, giving a snap of the fingers, "Oh, do you at least remember how you used to wet the bed and say squirrels did it? That was adorable!"
The other's expression morphs from pissed to horrified in mere seconds. "DAMMIT, ANTONIO, THOSE WERE SQUIRRELS! THE FUCKING SQUIRRELS DID IT, OKAY?!"
As the Spaniard continues his mirthful laughter, his charge begins to viciously hit his arm to little to no effect, yelling bloody murder all the while.
Meanwhile, Gilbert dashes ahead of his small group, peering this way and that for something pertaining to his time as a pirate. I follow at a brisk pace, Roderich slightly panting from moving around. As for Feliciano, I'm currently carrying him in my arms, seeing as he'd eventually started complaining about all this walking we have to do.
"Ve~ Luddy, look!" He points to a series of diagrams showing how ships of this era were designed and built. "Boats!"
"Kesesesesesese~" My brother interjects, "You think that's cool? Just wait until you see mine! The Raubkopierer was the greatest ship to ever sail the seas; it was almost as awesome as me!"
Roderich snorts, "Gilbert, you didn't really name your ship the Bootlegger, did you? Way to be blunt. I bet you got arrested at least a hundred times more than the others, doing stupid things like that."
"DON'T DOUBT THE AWESOME ME!"
As the two continue to bicker and Feliciano keeps proclaiming my need to look at various relics, I sigh. This is going to be a long day.
Then, I hear the arctic wolf gasp, "HA! SEE?! I TOLD YOU I'M AWESOME!"
We stop.
Hanging on the wall is a large portrait of the upper half of a man with pale skin, off-white hair, and almost glowing red eyes. A "Prussian blue," tricorn hat rests atop his head, a small, yellow chick sitting just inside its brim, long, matching coat closed over a collared shirt, trailing down to his mid-thigh. Mischief dances in his confident gaze, glinting with the golden buttons of his coat. Next to the painting lies a plaque reading "The Blue Menace," detailing the horrendous escapades of a dreaded pirate.
"I don't believe it."
He turns to gape at me, "Wha- What do you mean 'I don't believe it?!' It's right in front of you!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to believe it," I begin walking away, "Come on, Feliciano; let's go find the others so we can move on."
"Ve~"
"BRUDER!" He whines.
I simply sigh, "So where do you think your brother and Antonio went?"
"HONESTLY, I SAID A FEW MINUTES! A FEW MINUTES! NOT A HALF AN HOUR, A FEW BLOODY MINUTES!" Arthur screeches loudly as mutually sheepish looks pass throughout the reunited group. "NOW WE DON'T HAVE NEARLY AS MUCH TIME TO SEARCH FOR CLUES, YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!"
"Um, Arthur, mon cher, don't you think you should-"
"SHUT UP, FROG!"
Francis being ceaselessly ranted at by an angry Englishman, I turn to Ludwig and gently tug his sleeve. "Ve~ Hey, Luddy, let's sneak off and do some investigating ourselves," I beam, "It'll be fun!"
"No."
At his flat response, I pout, "Aww, but Luddyyyyy-"
He sighs, "I said no, and that's final. We are not getting separated from the others. Arthur already has to deal with our usual bouts of trouble-making; he doesn't need people wandering off on top of that."
"Ve~! But Luuudddddyyyy-"
"No."
"Lllluuuuuuuudddddddyyyyyyy-"
"Feli, no way in Hell are you seriously planning on walking out on us!" Before I know it, a sharp pinch of pain springs forth from my ear as fratello scolds me, "No!"
"Wahh, fratellloooo! That hurts!"
"Good!"
"Lovi, don't be so mean to Feli-"
"No, you shut up, you stupid tomato bastard-"
"Kesesesesesesesesesesese, looks like the old married couple's fighting again-"
"Gilbert, don't pick a fight with them right now-"
"DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULDN'T, STUPID POTATO-"
"Wahh, fratteeellllloooo, my eeeaarrrr!"
"OH COME OFF IT!" Arthur shouts, silencing the group save for my only minutely muffled whimpers. "I LEAVE YOU TO YOUR OWN DEVICES FOR ONE MEASLY MINUTE, AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS! I SWEAR-"
"Alright, we're done now!"
And then cousin Francis's at his side, dragging the still-screaming Englishman away while humming La Marseillaise.
A/N:
Hahahahah... funny story about this. I originally wrote a really thorough, good A/N, but the thing is, my internet connection is shit right now. So basically, I lost everything I wrote in the A/N, because my internet is really, really bad. Crazy, right?! Anyways, I absolutely love how I ended the chapter with Francis dragging Arthur off while humming La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. Heheheheh...
Aside from that, I gave you a lot of interesting information about the sequel in this chapter, mainly the pirate part of it. Which would be roughly 95% of it. Have fun making conspiracy theories about the blue, potato overlords and s- smart foxes!
Plus, I also pointed out just how adorable Lovino was as a kid, no surprise there. Apparently he gets rather testy when squirrels and beds are involved.
Also, I know it's been a month, but I really didn't expect such a quick response to the previous chapter! Wow! And I also got both a favorite and a follow! Thanks, guys!
Responses to review(s):
maryranstadler1: Thank you! Yeah, these two are adorable together. I personally imagine Feliciano as a very affectionate, touchy-feely kind of person, so I definitely think he would chose to sit in Ludwig's lap instead of on an actual chair. As for Antonio and Lovino... their relationship is kind of weird in that Antonio shows affection in a similar manner to Feliciano, but Lovino tends to show his love through angry-sounding Italian.
Seele Esser Deutsch: I mean, I guess I can sort of understand Germany bottoming; I just like it more the other way around. Hah, yeah, that just about sums up a beautiful friendship: you can joke about the OTP together. Thank you! I don't know if it's that new, seeing as it feels like they yell at each other every chapter, but I'm glad you thought so anyways! Hell, I even made a joke in there about how often I reuse their arguments!
See you tomorrow!