A/N: *Bangs head against wall* ANGST ANGST ANGST! ...Also, USxUK ahead. If you don't like that pairing, then please don't read/rant.
Three weeks passed, and Yao soon got used to the routine- even if he was dressed as a girl the entire time. He memorized where his classes were in the building, was getting better at speaking English (though he would never drop the aru), and was getting sort of used to his new friends and their weird antics. Being at this school was much more fun than the quiet, reserved house he had lived and learnt in the past sixteen years, even if he was surrounded by a multitude of people he didn't know.
Ivan didn't show up to class as regularly as he should have, not that Yao minded. But when he did show up, he always seemed exhausted and hardly spoke. Yao was sure that Ivan's fatigue was due to whatever he was doing outside of class, but whatever it was, he didn't need to know.
"Wang and Kirkland, you two work together." The history teacher, who happened to be Lovino and Feliciano's grandfather, called out. The entire class had been divided into pairs to create a slide show about World War Two for a presentation next week. It was tedious, but Mr. Vargas claimed that he had gotten in trouble spending too much time talking about his grandsons when he should've been teaching.
Yao sighed with relief. He was aware that a lot of kids in the class like Tino, Raivis and Eduard were nice, but he knew Arthur the best. Unfortunately, Yao had never made a slide show before, so Arthur agreed to have him over at his house.
Unlike Yao and his brothers, Arthur lived pretty close to she school, so there was no need for him to get a dormitory. Yao was amazed by the Englishman's house. It was enormous, with ornate furnishings, hardwood floors and antique paintings. They eventually went to the study, which was adorned with bookshelves stuffed to the brim with thick and difficult-looking texts, multiple tables and couches, and a large desk with a computer on it. Arthur went to go get them a snack, so Yao randomly pulled out a book from the shelf and plopped down on one of the many couches to read. The World's Best Fairytales, it read. Yao smirked; leave it to the self-proclaimed wizard to have a book like this lying around. The book was quite worn from use, with crayon marks and rips on the pages.
"What are you gendering at?" Arthur asked, carrying a small silver tray. "Oh, that book. It used to be Al's and my favorite." He sat down beside Yao, staring nostalgically at the old volume.
"Which one was your favorite-ahen?" Yao asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen between the two.
"Little Two Eyes." Arthur replied. "Or maybe Alice in Wonderland. I don't know, I always liked the weird ones. Alfred was obsessed with the ones where a hero would save the day like Robin Hood."
"That figures." Yao said sarcastically. "Leave it to the hero-ahen." He laughed.
"I guess…" Arthur trailed off, his eyes never leaving the book. He eventually noticed the tray, and held it towards Yao. "You want a scone?" Yao glanced at the pale, pathetic excuses for food that sat on the plate.
"No thanks, I'll just stick with tea." Yao said. I'd rather starve to death than eat that crap, he thought. Arthur poured them both a glass of earl gray tea in fancy, porcelain cups and turned on the computer.
"I guess we'll start with the economic downfal- bloody hell!" Arthur shouted.
"What is it-ahen?"
"Nothing. That bloody Alfred just keeps changing my background to something annoying." He gestured to the screen, where a giant, rainbow smiley face was flashing annoyingly. Yao laughed.
"You guys must be pretty close, huh?" Yao said.
"What makes you think that?" Arthur said, adverting his eyes so they wouldn't make contact with Yao's.
"He's all you ever talk about-ahen."
"That's only because we've known each other for awhile." Yao noticed Arthur's cheeks turn pink, and he had the same look on his face that Ludwig had when Feliciano made his clingy advances, or the look Matthew had had when he was watching Francis quietly. He smirked. Yao had no interest in love himself, but it would be fun to play with the others.
"You like him-ahen!" Yao said simply, causing Arthur to spill his tea all over his lap.
"What the hell are you going on about?" Arthur shouted frantically, his face tomato-red. "Never mind! I-I need to get a towel!" Arthur stormed out of the room and Yao sighed.
"Maybe that was a stupid thing to do…" Yao thought out loud. "It's obviously true though." At that moment, a boy walked in. He was very small, probably about eight or nine, and had eyebrows identical to Arthur, short, tan hair and big, blue eyes.
"Hello." The boy said. "I'm Peter."
"Ni-hao." Yao replied. "I'm Yao Wang. Are you Arthur's little brother-aru?"
"Uh-huh, but I bother him too much. He likes to pretend I don't exist." Peter said it with an air of confidence. "But someday, I'm going to be so much stronger than he is! He'll regret it."
"Good luck with that." Yao said, patting his head.
"What were you guys talking about? Was it something gross and romancey?"
"I guess you could say that-aru." Yao responded.
"It takes a lot to get him that mad." Peter said, pouring himself some tea and then dumping handfuls of sugar into it. "You mentioned Alfred."
"Yeah, I did."
"He likes him a lot." Peter took a sip of his tea, which was almost saturated with sugar. "I don't really get it, but I know that Al's family doesn't like that. You know, both of them being boys?" That's when Arthur walked in, his clothes still a bit damp. He glared at Peter and threw his towel at him.
"Hey! Don't bother Yao!" He scolded. "We're trying to do some homework! Go watch anime or something!"
"Whatever, it would be boring, anyways." Peter waved on his way out. "See you later, Yao."
"Ignore him." Arthur said after he left. "He thinks he's so mature just because he watches anime that's for teenagers."
"I think he's insightful-ahen." Yao said. "He knows about you and Alfred."
"He doesn't know anything! And like I said, there's nothing between us!" Arthur protested, his face turning red again. "Why do you care, anyway?" Yao grinned, happy for once to be in the girl's uniform.
"I'm a girl. I love all of that girly, lovey-dovey stuff!" Arthur stared at him for a moment, then sighed.
"C-can you keep a secret, Yao?" He finally asked. Yao nodded, and Alfred leaned in and whispered into his ear: "I like Alfred, okay? I have for awhile. It's just that…" He pulled away, nervously looking at the floor.
"What? I think you should go for it-ahen!"
"No, not that. His parents are homophobes; they'd kick him out of the house for sure if he was gay. And he probably isn't, anyways…" Arthur looked up at Yao hopelessly. "Could you do me a favour?"
"Of course." Yao answered, feeling a bit remorseful for bringing up this topic.
"Could you talk to Al for me, and… uh, find a way to, I don't know, bring me up? He can't talk seriously with me, but maybe with you…"
"No problem. I owe you for starting this anyway-ahen." Yao turned to the computer. "Now, let's get back to the project."
At school the next day, Yao made sure to pull Alfred aside during lunch. He was chatty and upbeat as usual, which was going to make the conversation a bit harder.
"Dude, what's up?" Alfred asked impatiently. "Why'd you take me all the way out here?" They were behind the cafeteria building in a small clearing surrounded by trees. Not very many students came out there because it was always covered in shade and cold.
"It's so no one will hear us-aru." Yao said.
"Ooh, is this a love confession?" Alfred asked bluntly, unfazed at the possibility. "Sorry Yao, but I got a bunch of other girls after me!"
"Oh really? Who?" Yao asked sarcastically.
"Uh, well…" Alfred scratched his head. "There's uh…"
"Well, I know someone that likes you-aru."
"Really? Who? I mean… who else?"
"Let's see. They're very close to you… and always have been."
"Who?" Alfred asked, getting impatient.
"Arthur." Yao stared silently at Alfred's stunned expression, and took his silence as an opportunity to talk. "Arthur told me he likes you. I know he's sarcastic a lot, but this actually isn't a trick-aru. The only reason he hasn't told you is because-"
"Of my parents." Alfred interrupted, his tone serious for once. "I should have guessed. Man, this causes a lot of problems…"
"What about you? Do you like him?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Like I told Arthur. I'm a girl; I'm interested in this sort of thing-aru."
"Well…" Alfred blushed ever so slightly, something Yao had never seen before. "Dude, can you keep a secret." Yao smiled; it was amusing how similar Arthur and Alfred truly were.
"Yeah." Alfred crossed his arms and gave Yao the same, over-confident grin he always wore.
"I don't like Arthur, and I wish he wasn't my friend. Because I love him, and I wish he were more." Yao gawked at him, and then began to laugh. It was the cheesiest thing he had ever heard; like a line you would expect to be in a princess movie. "Hey! Why are you laughing? I was totally trying to be serious here!" "Sorry, it was just so cheesy-aru!"
"Fine, I'll give you that." Alfred said meekly.
"Thanks for telling me that. Actually, Arthur wanted me to find out if you liked him too. I'll-" He was cut off by Alfred's firm grip on his arm.
"Don't tell him. Don't you dare." He said, glaring.
"What? Why-aru?" Yao asked, ripping his arm out of Alfred's hand fearfully.
"Because. News like this spreads like wildfire. If you told him, someone else is gonna find out, and if it got to my parents…" He trailed off
"Well, so what?" Yao questioned, a bit frustrated. "You should open up to them! If they truly loved you they'd be fine with it-aru!"
"It's not that simple!" Alfred shouted. Yao backed off, a bit scared. Alfred sighed and placed his hand on his forehead. "…I'm sorry. Just give me some time, okay? Don't tell Artie yet." He ran off before Yao could get another word in, leaving Yao feeling a bit anxious about what to do next.
A couple days passed with little event. Arthur kept giving Yao glances whenever they met, silently asking him if he had talked to Alfred yet. Yao simply wasn't sure what to do. He wanted Alfred and Arthur to get together, but he didn't want to piss Alfred off in the process. He had heard that Alfred could be pretty scary when he was really mad.
Finally, Yao couldn't take it anymore. Alfred was stubborn, but he'd have to get over his fears, especially if he was going to be happy.
"Arthur, can I talk to you-ahen?" Yao asked at the beginning of school one day. Arthur nodded, knowing what it was about.
"How's Alfred?" Arthur asked indifferently, trying not to make it obvious that he was nervous.
"He's… ayiaa, how do I say this?" Yao mumbled, scratching his head. "He's gay." Arthur's usually judgmental expression turned into an uncharacteristically bright smile.
"He is? Thank goodness, I-"
"Just don't say anything-ahen!" Yao warned. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that. He's worried about his parents." Arthur nodded, and Yao beamed. "Congratulations-ahen!" They stood in an awkward silence, other than the murmuring of the bustling crowd around them. Everything that needed to be said had been said, so they went their separate ways, both with a grin across their face.
Yao continued the day normally- boring lectures, lots of homework, entertaining fights at lunch between his friends, and Ivan didn't show up to class yet again. But from the corner of his eye, he noticed that Arthur seemed to be happier than usual. He went to his dormitories, feeling more content than usual at his accomplishments.
In the middle of fifth block, right after lunch, Yao felt a buzz in his pocket. It turned out to be his cell phone. Though he had already added all of his new friend's numbers, he rarely got any texts. He read the name out loud: "Alfred Jones". That's when he realized that Alfred hadn't shown up to any of his classes or lunch today. Yao flipped his phone open. Meet me behind the cafeteria building, ASAP, it read. Yao sighed. He was almost positive about what the matter was. But it's for Alfred's own good, he reassured himself.
The back of the cafeteria building was cold and deserted as usual. Yao shivered as he walked towards the figure of Alfred leaning against the wall. His eyes were red and swollen, and his usually cocky smirk was curled into a frown.
"Ni-hao, Alfred." Yao greeted as happily as he could. "How are you? I didn't see you in class-aru."
"How the hell do you think I am?" Alfred asked, shooting a glare at Yao. Yao silently took a few steps back.
"What happened?" He asked nervously.
"A certain somebody decided to tell Arthur that I was gay in a huge crowd of people. And somehow, that information got to my parents." Alfred's voice got louder and angrier as he stepped closer to Yao with each word. "They called and yelled at me for hours…" He stopped and grabbed Yao's shoulders and squeezed tightly, causing Yao to wince. "Who's fault is it?"
"It's no one's fault-aru." Yao said, staring back at Alfred as confidently as he could. "You're gay, and your parents are going to have to deal with it sooner or later-aru."
"Shut the hell up!" Alfred shouted, his face red with rage. "You just don't get it! They're gonna kick me out of the house! All because I chose-"
"You didn't choose-aru!" Yao stated, getting frustrated. "Don't you get it? It's your parents who are wrong, not you and-"
"I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP!" Alfred screamed. He clenched his hand into a fist and punched Yao in the stomach. Yao didn't see it coming, and fell backwards with a yelp. He clutched his stomach, trying to catch his breath. Alfred stomped over to him, glaring and shouting things too fast for Yao to understand. He began to kick him again and again in the head and the stomach, until Yao was coughing up blood. Yao knew martial arts, but he decided to take it, knowing that Alfred would realize his mistakes and stop.
"BURN IN HELL!" Alfred kicked Yao one final time, and he went numb. His vision got blurred and he felt sore all over- too sore to talk. He wanted to close his eyes and go to sleep, but he couldn't even do that.
"It's mean to hit a girl, da?" Yao heard the voice, but it didn't register. It wasn't Alfred's voice, so who…? Al disappeared from his view, and Yao slowly closed his eyes and let sleep take over. The last thing he noticed was a water pipe fall to the ground, and the sensation of being wrapped by someone's large, cold arms.
A/N: ...And the moral of the story? DUN F**K WITH AMERICA! ...Anyways, I'd like to thank you all for the massive amounts of favorites, alerts, reviews, ect. They really help motivate me to do more! Also, I do like Alfred. I just needed him to be a plot device for this chapter. Same with Iggy, Mr. Vargas, Sealand/Peter and... so much more. PLOT DEVICES! PLOT DEVICES EVERYWHERE! Don't worry, he'll stop bitchin' in the next one. And Ivan will make more appearances. Also, have any of you actually read "Little Two Eyes"? It's pretty weird. Anyways, til' next time! ~