Arthur P.O.V.

Alfred stopped in his tracks, I was about to ask why but stopped when I heard a voice.

"Oh Alfred, who is your new friend. He is quite cute, da?"

What a silky voice... And undeniably Russian, very strong accent too. Let's see, twenty-four years of age maybe- non-smoker for sure. Very tall, taller than Alfred- I would say, so maybe... One hundred and eighty two, eighty six? It's harder to pinpoint when they are as tall as that!

"His name is Arthur, and please keep your opinions to yourself!" I could hear hostility in the American's voice. I was confused, but remained silently studying the conversation.

I felt a calloused grab the hand that was empty, I flinched but the grip was surprisingly strong despite feeling gentle, so I let it be held.

"Privet podsolnechnik! How are you?" The Russian asked me, happily.

"A-ah, I'm-"

"Don't ignore me, bastard!" Alfred interrupted, his hand tightened around mine.

"Alfred," the man was trying his best to be polite, I could hear strain in his voice. "I just want to introduce myself to this beauty in front of me, da?"

"Well don't-" Alfred began, but stopped immediately. There was a pause, I wonder what happened...

"Ivan Braginski, it's nice to meet you Arthur..."

"Kirkland, Arthur Kirkland." I replied, smiling slightly. I felt the hand fall away from my hand.

"It has been very nice to make your acquaintance, Mr. Kirkland, I hope to meet again... Bez Nyoho." And with that he walked off.

As we walked into the cafeteria hurriedly, I heard Alfred muttering under his breath.

"B-eh Bezz Neh-hoe? The hell does that mean..."

I chuckled, before replying: "without him."

The American growled and grumbled some unintelligible nonsense under his breath, with the occasional "stupid Russian".

"Here ya go, Artie!" Alfred said happily. "I got you rice-krispies, I hope that's okay with you... It's all they had left."

No, that's not okay.

"Yes that's fine, Alfred. Thank you." And began eating, slowly.

"Anyway it's nice to see you again," pop. "I never thought anyone-" pop. "But Elizabeta would-" pop. "Be able to be close to Roderich!" Pop. "But hey, you play violin huh?" Pop. "I'd really like to hear you play sometime-" pop.

I shot up from my seat, seething in rage.

"Take that bowl away from me!"

"Ar-"

"Away!" There was a pause, and it was mostly quiet. The cafeteria was closing and I could only sense maybe two or three people in the room, not including Alfred and I.

I could hear the grin in the man's voice when he giggled out:

"Is little Artie... I-rri-tated by the noisy kid's cereal?"

I felt my cheeks heat up.

"N-no, how preposterous would that be!" I let out a fake laugh.

"Aw, he is, isn't he?!" Alfred walked slowly up to me, before squeezing my cheeks. "Poor baby!"

I slapped his hands off of me indignantly, pursing my lips and giving him a death-glare.

"I'm only joking, Artie." He said comfortingly, patting my head.

"The names Arthur, you arse." I mumbled, still glaring.

"Yeah, okay Ar-tie!" He made sure to pronounce the syllables in the name, who knew this man could be so evil?

Alfred P.O.V

"So, it's free-time what do you wanna do?" I asked. He'd probably wouldn't wanna go outside again, because of what happened last time-

"Can we go outside?" What.

"A-ah- Are you sure you want to go outside, I mean, with what happened last time..." What if the same thing happened again, I don't want Arthur to go back into solitude for so long again!

"I was merely feeling under the weather, I would like to go outside." He said firmly.

I stared at him for a while, but there was no uncertainty in those unseeing eyes. I breathed in, I hope I wouldn't regret this.

"Okay, but if you show any signs of being unwell I'm taking you back in."

We walked out, slowly. Looking around there was only a few patients outside, along with carers. I saw someone I knew, and I waved them over. Glancing at Arthur beside me, making sure he was okay. I gently took his hand and led him over to the two, meeting them halfway.

"Hallo Alfred, Guten Morgen!"

"Heya Gilbert, I see you've got Toni with you today!"

"Hola Alfred," He said smiling widely. "¿Qúe tal"

I quickly tried to translate in my head.

"Nothing much Toni, Artie here wanted to be outside... So here we are!"

"Ah, so this is the Arthur my Lovi has been talking about, hm?"

Gilbert laughed loudly.

"I heard he made a fool out of Lovino!"

I looked at Arthur in shock.

"You did?" I asked wide-eyed.

Arthur looked up slightly.

"I didn't make a fool of him, he simply didn't know I was blind."

Gilbert laughed harder, before saying: "Lovino told him to stop staring at him!"

I tried to, I really tried... But then I couldn't hold it any longer and burst out laughing too.

"It's really not that funny guys." Antonio said happily, then added: "You could hurt his feelings."

"Anyway, Arthur: this is Gilbert and Antonio."

He held his hand out, and let them both eagerly shake his hand.

"It's nice to- I want to go..." Toni said. "I want to be alone forever... Why doesn't Lovi love me back? Oh well. Who cares... Nobody."

"A-ah" I started, "you'd better be off."

Gilbert nodding grinning and slowly dragged the depressed Spaniard away.

"Poor Toni..." I said, watching their figures walk out of sight.

"Bipolar?" Arthur asked.

I hummed a "yep".

When free-time was over, we walked back in. Looking at my watch I realised where I would need to take Arthur next.

"I've go to take you to Dr. Laurinaitis." I informed him, guiding him to the office; thankfully it was close.

"Dr. Laurinaitis?"

"Yeah, he's just gonna check up on you and stuff, he's real kind." Remembering when I first met the doctor... He was shy and kind, but now he's opened up more and he's still kind but less shy, we were quite close now in the workplace and I would even consider us friends.

Arthur P.O.V.

"Hello Mr. Kirkland," a friendly soft voice said, as I entered through the door, leaving Alfred behind waiting. The new man touched my shoulder gently and guided me to a seat. "How have you been lately."

I saw no reason to lie, and so I replied:

"Not very well... Nothing will leave this room right?"

"Not a thing." And I could hear the honesty.

I sat down, slowly, hoping the seat was there and was relieved when I touched the object.

"I heard you took a week of solitude, why was that?"

I shuffled awkwardly, trying to get comfortable.

"I- I needed to have some time alone to think."

The man hummed before replying: "If I may be so bold to ask, what that was about?"

There was a long silence, I didn't want to talk about it... I don't want to.

"The past," I paused "I needed to get it out of my system."

"From looking at your file, your past looks rough... I apologise for looking into your story, but it's my job to help you... You see?" This doctor was genuine, and so I attempted to trust him.

I nodded.

"So... What about your past was bothering you, all of it?"

"Someone."

"Someone... Your mother, father, foster carers?"

"My loved one."

"And what was it about your loved one that you were thinking so much about that it took you a week of solitary? Do you miss them? We could schedule a visit-"

"I hate him." I mumbled.

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

I burst into tears. "I hate him and I love him! Why can't I just let him go?" I sobbed into my hands. I hated showing my weakness, I was weak... So very weak.

Ending on a low today, poor Artie... Sorry if Toris's character isn't correct, but I've never wrote with him before and I rarely read with him in a fanficfion, but I tried. I know I exaggerated bipolar on Antonio, but I don't have bipolar, and I did research a little about it before writing about it. The story will be picking up soon, but hey is that one-sided RusEng I can spot? No I will not do RusAme, I hate that pairing so very much. I don't know Russian, so I asked the internet (not google translate). They may not be right and I didn't write in Russian characters because I find that changing characters in a story can be kind-of distracting. Thankyou to all followers and reviewers who have stuck by this journey, and I look forward to welcoming new ones!

TRANSLATIONS:

Russian:

Privet podsolnechnik - Hello sunflower

Da - Yes

Bez Nyoho - Without him (But Arthur already did that for you)

German:

Hallo - Hello

Guten Morgen - Good Morning

Spanish:

Hola- Hello

¿Qúe ta. - What's up? (Informal "How are you?")

Sorry if translations are wrong, I searched these up as the only language I average in is French.