I kinda feel disappointed about this since I barely had time to read this over and edit this cause of school. Urgh, I hope this is decent though.
Feliciano woke up to the sound of the ocean clashing against the coast. He turned over in the bed and saw that it had been another beautiful day. Early morning sunlight beamed against the ocean surface, creating a glittering view. He got up and did his daily morning routine, wearing a beige shirt with khaki pants.
The brunette went to the kitchen and saw Michelle reading the newspaper. She waved to him and he returned it with a wave of his own. There was a plate of eggs and bacon at Michelle's opposite, utensils laid out neatly beside it.
Feliciano sat down. Michelle turned her newspaper over to him, with the headline "The Shuffle Happening in The Hearts Affecting World Economy."
Michelle frowned, "I hope the inflation's not gonna get worse."
Feliciano stiffly nodded. He felt guilty. The Shuffle really did affect everyone, he knew. But he never really experienced how it felt for the common people. He had heard rumors of people killing each other for a single slice of bread in the Clubs when The Shuffle happened there. He hoped it wasn't as worse here in the Diamonds. A little spark of hope couldn't hurt, right?
"Oh!" Michelle seemed to remember something. She snapped her fingers with a bright grin on her face, "I was going to take you to town today to meet everyone!"
Feliciano mirrored her grin, "That's an eccellente idea!"
The two quickly finished breakfast before they put on their shoes. They left the cottage soon after, taking a turn for the left. Michelle was telling all sorts of stories revolving around La Frontière and its residents when a blonde girl approached them.
"Michelle!" She called out, her braided pigtails resting on her shoulders. The brunette waved, "Erika! I thought you weren't supposed to be back by next week!"
The girl, Erika, smiled. "Big brother's supplies were all sold out when we were passing through Seville."
"That's nice," Michelle commented. She gently pulled Feliciano to stand by her as she introduced him, "Erika, this Feliciano and he just arrived a day ago."
"Oh, are you from the Hearts?" she asked curiously, her green eyes scanning Feliciano.
Feliciano froze up. No, no, it was too soon!
He quickly made up a lie. "I'm from the Spades but I went to the Hearts to study Art but I got shipwrecked!"
Yeah, as if they're going to believe that, dumbass. His brother's voice chided him. Feliciano was never really the one to lie that well. When he tried to lie, he always got caught. Lovino and Marcello were far better at lying than him.
But for some reason, the lie worked.
"Oh, is that so? I read that The Shuffle in the Hearts is really devastating," Erika said. Michelle nodded, "It's affecting us also."
"That's terrible," Feliciano added. The blonde nodded. "Oh! I must be going now! Brother's expecting me for a few minutes already!"
"Which reminds me, there was one time when a friend of Erika's big brother was scared of a herd of goats that passed here..."
They soon got to the plaza. They walked around town, Michelle introducing everyone to her new friend. Feliciano realized how much he's been shut from the world, having grown up in a castle with strict confines. The feeling of someone calling him a friend made him happy, unlike everyone in the Hearts referring to him in a formal way and acting professional with him. Sure, he was the next heir to the King's throne (Lovino didn't have a mark on him so he was out of the equation), but he knew his mark was too incomplete to tell. His grandfather and the other Heart officials had long given up trying to complete Feliciano's mark.
The fishergirl pointed out some of her favorite shops. There was the candy shop which was run by Chun-Yan (who always gave her and her brothers extras). There was a general merchandise store, run by Emil. There was a cafe run by Tiina (who was the owner of the old orphanage in the next town over, and also her mother figure).
Everyone had greeted Michelle and also welcomed Feliciano after a few words of introduction. Some others had given the girl several food items as a reward of the girl helping them out. The Heart Prince had realized how much he had been missing his life within tall, red brick walls. He knew Lovino was able to roam the streets freely while Feliciano was the more favored one. It meant that he was basically guarded at all times, not even able to bathe alone without a solider/maid guarding him. His parents hadn't even looked at his big brother for a second chance, considering how he was a delinquent, even as a toddler. He knew how he elder had felt; he just never really had the spine to speak his mind out.
It was depressing really.
"Are you hungry?" Michelle's question snapped him back to reality. Feliciano slowly nodded, "Why not?"
As they walked to the café, Michelle explained her relationship with the owner of the café. Her biological parents gave her away to the orphanage, and that was where she met Alfred and Matthew, who also lost their biological parents due to an attack on the village they lived in when they were one. They had grown close, to the point that they do anything in their power as children to prevent anyone in their group being adopted alone. That, of course, had given problems to anyone who wanted to adopt only one of them.
"Mr. Heracles always had a problem with us but we always managed to calm him down by getting him more kittens!" Michelle chuckled.
When one of the older kids, Arthur, had turned fifteen, he left the orphanage in search of a better life. The three was devastated, having known the blonde for most of their lives. Unfortunately, Arthur hadn't known location of the trio and , unknowingly, reigned pillage on the village where the orphanage was at. They had gotten transferred to the orphanage that Tiina managed. The town as again attacked by a pirate by the name of Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, who had been enemies with Arthur, and they eventually ended up in La Frontière.
They soon arrived at the heart of town.
Michelle pointed to a quaint little shop in the plaza circle. Orange had been the main theme in the building, a simple white and orange design striped pattern for the wall outside. Through the huge glass window, there was a polka-dotted orange and white wallpaper along with handmade chairs and seats inside. There was an assortment of pastries and cakes inside an expensive glass case.
They entered the shop. Michelle waved to some of the wait staff as they went to the small table for two at the window. A brunette teen approached the table with menus. Michelle waved, "You're working today, Leon?"
The teen nodded, "Like, I have to work shifts since working at Sensei's store isn't gonna put enough food on my plate."
"I thought she gave you extras?" Michelle asked.
"I'm gonna have to go to the Spades soon for the Turning," Leon said, taking his notepad out. "You'll be having the regular, then your friend?"
Feliciano had been watching the conversation and forgot to order. He quickly looked over the menu until he decided on one item, "I'll have the Matsutake Bacon Pasta."
Leon raised an eyebrow but wrote down his order anyway. He collected the menus and went to the counter. Michelle turned to Feliciano. "So what do you like to do for fun?"
"I like to paint," Feliciano told her. Michelle smiled, "That's a nice hobby. Painting isn't a common hobby in the Diamonds."
"What about you?" Feliciano asked back. She replied, "Crafting, I guess. Whenever I pick up trash from the sea, I try to think of ways to make more money."
Leon soon arrived with their orders. "Oh, Boss just arrived from the Spades today. She wanted to meet your friend."
"Ve... how do news spread around so fast?" Feliciano mumbled.
"Michelle!"
Tbh, Michelle's backstory was confusing, even for me (well the preliminary draft), but for this, I edited it since the original one I wrote wouldn't work out for other events in the future. I feel guilty for not updating this in a few weeks.
If I had to set an update schedule, it'd be probably the next, next week after next week on either Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday. I can't really update on Tuesdays and Thursdays since my dismissal causes me to get late (at least for me).
Tell me which characters you want to appear in the next chapters! Enjoy reading? Why not leave a review? A simple "Cool story" or a essay long review would be lovely!
Chapter Notes:
Eccellente (It.) - Excellent
Matsutake Bacon Pasta - This comes from a game on Android phones called Hunt Cook. I used it cause I ran out of ideas.
Erika Zwingli - The name I used for Liechtenstein. While Lili is a cute name, I feel like it would fit more in an AU with Royalty.
Chun-Yan Wang - Nyo!China. She'll be an important figure later.
Tiina Väinämöinen - Nyo!Finland. While she won't be really important, but I felt like Icey should have another fellow person from the Clubs since in this AU, they face a lot of stereotypes and discrimination. Not to mention I feel like Michelle, Alfred, and Matthew should have a parental figure.