Good news! I'm almost done writing this story XD which means faster updates from me! XP
Anyway, special thanks to SaraBarns, cheshire13 and AllinahPony. You're comments made my day when I read them X)
And of course thanks to everyone who's been reading this.
"What do you me. . .?" Arthur started. He was cut off by an abrupt, "Quoi?"
They both looked over to see Matthew, on the verge of tears, standing in the now open doorway. "Papa?" he asked. "Que voulez-vous dire que nous allons perdre le restaurant?"
Arthur knew that Matthew and Francis both tended to switch to French when they were upset about something. He saw it a lot when the Frenchman got really mad.
"Matthieu," Francis said, standing. "Don't worry, mon cher. It will be fine."
The boy quickly shook his head. "Comment peut-elle être bien quand nous perdons notre maison loin de la maison?"
Francis moved around Arthur and the desk to go over to him. "It will be, mon cher. It will be." He opened his arms to hug his son.
Matthew shook his head again and turned away, running out the front door. "Non!"
"Matthieu!" Francis called, trying to go after him, but Arthur gripped his arm.
"Give him some time," the cop said softly. It actually hurt him to see the Frenchman so upset. He'd only ever seen tears come from the man on the day Matthew was born and when his wife died a year later.
"That place means everything to us," Francis said quietly. "Matthieu was basically raised there."
Arthur moved a step closer and set his head on Francis's shoulder. "Is there anything you could do to keep it?"
He shook his head, "I don't know." He hid his face in one of his hands. Arthur frowned and wrapped his arms around him in his own hug. He felt the other's arms come around him and the Frenchman's head setting on his shoulder.
"We'll figure something out," Arthur said softly.
He made the Frenchman some coffee and sat on the floor in front of the couch with him. The papers were spread out on the coffee table. He looked over them to try and see what their problem was exactly.
They bounced ideas off each other, Arthur having to keep Francis focused. Francis was worried about Matthew. Arthur had thought he'd have gone to Alfred. He offered to call Alfred to see.
"Ello?" Alfred answered.
Arthur sighed, "Don't answer the phone with a full mouth, Alfred."
"Oh, hey pops, what's up?" he asked after swallowing.
"Is Matthew with you?" Arthur asked.
"Mattie? No, I haven't seen him today. Why?"
Arthur frowned. Matthew had run out almost an hour ago. If he wasn't with Alfred, where could he be? "Can you call around to the others in your group?" he asked his son. "See where he is?"
"Yeah, sure," Alfred said. "What's up?"
"I'll explain later," Arthur told him. He hung up and glanced at Francis who was in the kitchen. The Frenchman was a natural stress cooker. Arthur sighed and hoped that this could be fixed.
/ *_* /
Glibert was in his room with a goofy grin on his face. He was considering his and Mattie's outing a date.
He heard a knock on his door, "Ja?"
"Gilbert," Ludwig said, opening the door to look at the albino stretched out on the bed. "Have you heard from Mattie since you dropped him off?"
"Uh. . . no," he said, sitting up. "Should I have?"
"Alfred called," the blonde said, holding up his phone. "Arthur had asked him to see if anyone knew where Mattie was."
Gilbert frowned. "I'll drive around," he said, grabbing his phone and keys from the nightstand. Ludwig nodded and called Alfred back to tell him they were looking.
Gilbert first stopped at A Taste of Heaven. All lights were off, and no one was sitting outside. He wasn't there.
He drove around to all places he knew meant something to the young blonde, but he wasn't anywhere. He was running out of options till he was struck with a thought. He doubted it, but he decided to check anyway.
He went to the hill he'd taken Mattie to earlier. He scrambled out of the car when he saw someone sitting at the top. "Mattie!"
Matthew looked at him, and Gilbert's heart clenched when he saw tears running down the blonde's face.
He knelt in front of him and took Mattie's face in his hands. "What's wrong, Birdie?"
Matthew tackled him, wrapping his arms around him and crying into his chest. Gilbert wrapped his arms around the boy and texted his brother that he had found him. He pulled Matthew into his lap and gently rocked, rubbing his back until the cries quieted.
"We're losing it," Matthew said quietly after a while. "The restaurant. We're losing it." He cried again.
Gilbert shushed him softly. "It's okay, Birdie." He hugged him tight. "It's okay." He petted the blonde's hair. "Come on. Everyone's worried about you."
Matthew shook his head fast and clung to Gilbert's shirt. Gilbert sighed and stood, picking Matthew up bridal style. "Let's at least get you inside. You'll get sick out here."
He walked down to his car and sat in the back with Matthew. He sat with the blonde in his lap, rubbing his back as he clung to him. It took a little while for Matthew to calm down enough to pull back. He sniffled and rubbed his eyes.
"You okay?" Gilbert asked him.
Matthew nodded. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Gilbert shook his head. "Don't worry about it. But your pops is worried about you. Let me take you home?"
Matthew nodded again and moved from his lap.
Gilbert held Matthew's hand as he drove back to Francis's house. Inside, Francis was pacing in the living room. Arthur was sitting on the couch, watching. He had tried getting the Frenchman to sit, and it hadn't done anything. Francis ran to the door when it opened and hugged Matthew.
"Matthieu! Où étiez-vous?"
"Je suis désolé, papa," Matthew said, hugging him back.
Francis sighed. "Well, you're home now." He ran his hand through his son's hair.
Arthur and Gilbert watched as Francis took Matthew's hand and went upstairs. Gilbert looked at Arthur, "Figure anything out?"
Arthur shook his head. "They just don't have the money to keep the place going."
"How much do they need?" Gilbert asked. Arthur showed him the files. "Autsch," he winced. That was a lot. "Hm. . . Let me call to Antonio. Maybe there's something we can do to help out." Antonio owned a small café. He said he liked the quiet calm the place gave out.
Arthur nodded. "I'm going to stay here and see if I can get Francis to calm down enough to sleep."
Gilbert laughed. "Good luck with that." He walked outside to call his other friend, and explain Francis's dilemma. Arthur went up to check on Francis and Matthew. He found them in Matthew's room, Francis sitting on his son's bed with Matthew asleep curled at his side.
Arthur walked up to him. "Will he be alright?"
Francis nodded. "We'll find a way through this." He petted Matthew's head.
Arthur looked at him. "You should get some sleep, too."
Francis looked at him when Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder. He smiled a little at him, covering his hand with his own. Arthur returned the smile and let Francis hold his hand as they walked out of the room.
I notice, the more I write this, is that I focus more on PruCan than I do on FrUk. . . oh well. I love them both, but PruCan seriously needs more love. I'll make it up later.
Quoi? – What?
Que voulez-vous dire que nous allons perdre le restaurant? - What do you mean we're going to lose the restaurant?
Comment peut-elle être bien quand nous perdons notre maison loin de la maison? - How will it be fine when we're losing our home away from home?
Où étiez-vous? - Where have you been?
Je suis désolé, papa – I'm sorry, papa
Autsch – Ouch (German)