"Hey, Kiku!" Alfred called across the hall to the slightly confused looking boy, "Come sit with us!" He grinned as the quiet Japanese boy moved through the crowd towards their table and took one of the remaining seats. "So how have your lessons been?"
Kiku nodded and smiled very slightly, glancing around at the group, "They have been good so far, though it is a little early to tell. And different schools teach things in a very different manner."
Alfred nodded and grinned, "Cool. Well let me introduce you to everyone! That's Antonio and Lovino," He pointed at a cheerful brunette with green eyes who was holding another – grouchy looking – boy with a strange curl in his hair on his lap.
Before Alfred could continue a tall boy wearing a light coloured scarf over the top of his uniform despite the warm weather reached out with one hand to shake Kiku's, "I am Ivan. And this is our friend Ludwig," he gestured with his free hand towards a blond boy with his hair slicked back and light blue eyes.
"I'm Sadiq" a slightly older boy nodded at Kiku, "And this is Heracles. I am in the year above the rest of you, in the same year as Ludwig's brother, Gilbert."
Alfred took over again, "You'll know Gilbert when you see him. He's best friends with my twin even though he's a year older. He's an albino and a pretty cool dude, even though he does have the biggest ego in the known universe. Also, Lovi has a twin brother as well and he's really good friends with Mattie too. Feli's always really happy though, which is completely unlike Lovi."
"Shut up, bastard," Lovino interrupted, causing a few people to laugh.
"See what I mean?" Alfred grinned. "Also, over there is Natalya, she's got a bit of a thing for Ivan." He nodded slightly across to a serious looking girl with long blonde hair with a bow on the top of her head. "You do not want to get on her bad side. And... I think that's everyone. Except for Peter but he isn't really one of our friends, he just hangs around with us when he can. He's not here yet, thank goodness. He's only in year 7 but sticks around with us which is really annoying."
Kiku nodded politely at everyone as they were introduced, glancing briefly at Natalya before Alfred's words had drawn his attention back to him. He was slightly disturbed by the cold aura that the girl gave off.
"Have you met my brother yet?" Alfred's voice interrupted his thoughts, when he nodded Alfred continued, "He's pretty cool but really quiet, to the point you can forget he's there half the time. But as I said his friends are Gilbert, Feli and Carlos. Carlos and Mattie both really like ice cream which is pretty funny when they get together." He glanced at Ludwig and grinned, "Also, Feli is Ludwig here's boyfriend," laughing as the other boy spluttered indignantly and turned red Alfred then continued, "Oh come on Lud, everyone knows it."
Kiku watched them silently, his gaze shifting from the reddening face of Ludwig to Lovino, wondering what he thought of this. Presumably he wasn't overly happy as he was glaring at Alfred though his expression softened as Antonio held him closer and softly murmured in his ear.
As people's attention was diverted from him and onto what their plans were for the upcoming weekend and general dread about their exams, Kiku couldn't help but notice that Alfred quietened down considerable. He seemed to just be eating and no one else seemed to have noticed the change in him. He still acted the same when he was addressed or had something to contribute to the conversation, being loud and boisterous but then he want quiet, seeming to recede into his own thoughts. Kiku noticed a very faint aura of sadness around the boy which no one else seemed to be able to pick up at all.
A few minutes later the bell went and everyone said their goodbyes, making brief plans to do the same as normal for lunch before dispersing and moving to their various classes. Kiku hung back slightly and checked his timetable before slowly following the crowds out of the room, still wondering about the aura he'd felt around Alfred.
Author's Note: I'm free of work! Which means I have more time to write my stories! And sleep... but stories!
So yes, we have now met most of Alfred's group of friends and some of the other important(ish) characters have been mentioned. with the school, they have two lessons, break, two lessons, lunch, one lesson. Al and most of his friends are in year 10 (14/15) Gilbert and Sadiq are year 11 (15/16) and Peter is year 7 (11/12).