And looked down one as far as I could – Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken)
It was the twins tenth birthday. Andrea danced in with the cake and set it down. "Alfred!" She called out.
Alfred Jones and Alfred Frost glanced at her. She laughed. "I finally got someone to rent the house across the street! It's a family of five from Europe."
"I hope they're British," Arthur mused.
"We'll find out when they get here in two weeks."
Kumajirou fell into the cake, setting everybody off into laughter.
Part of his fur was still stained blue when the moving van pulled up two weeks later. Andrea hurried over to help their new neighbours move in. When she returned she looked sad. Arthur and Matthew followed her into the kitchen. Alfred stayed in the living room and stared out the window, his ten year old mind curious. "They're the Braginski-Arlovskaya family. The mother is Ukrainian and the father is Russian."
Alfred mentally groaned at her words. From birth his parents had taught him to be afraid of Russians. The door opened and three children came outside.
"Their eldest child is Yekaterina. She is called Katyusha; she is 11 and was born in the Ukraine."
As on cue, one broke away from the rest and ran into the yard, looking around. The others followed.
"The youngest is Natalya. She's 8 and was born in Belarus."
A small girl trailed behind the other two.
"The middle child is Ivan. He will be ten in December and was born in Russia."
Alfred's eyes focused on Ivan, who as if he felt his gaze, turned to glance in his direction. They stayed like that for a while until the youngest grabbed his arm. Andrea came out of the kitchen with the pecan pie she had made for dessert tonight.
"I know I made this for you, but they need it more than us. Who wants to go with me?"
Arthur and Matthew wanted to. Alfred went back to staring out the window.
"Matthew, can you carry the pie for me?"
There was an eager nod. Alfred watched Matthew and Katyusha bond fast. Arthur was trying to talk to Natalya and Ivan… was staring at him again.
Enter Katyusha, Ivan and Natalya.
Get ready for cute Matthew/Katyusha friendship fluff thing and awkward Ivan/Alfred meeting.