And So, FIRE ANTS!
Hiccups were very annoying.
"What happened to your eye?" Matthew asked him.
Francis shook his head, not wanting to talk about it. At least, not while Antonio was still in the country. For no reason except he figured that Antonio did not want the story spread about on his wedding day. Francis could understand that. After all, he had not been very happy to see Arthur flirting with that other Frenchman the day before they had gotten their papers signed, but he did not want everyone to know how he had bribed a cab driver to forget where the man wanted to be left off at for two hours.
"I liked your speech," Matthew diverted off into instead.
"Despite the –hic–" Francis did not even finish his sentence, the hiccups doing that for him. His son smiled sadly, patting him on the shoulder.
"We all could hear what you were saying still, papa, and it was very nice."
"At the very least I was glad to –hic– go before Marcus. I do not envy –hic– Elizaveta for having to go after words like –hic– those."
Matthew shrugged, looking off into the crowd. Francis followed his gaze, knowing that both of their eyes probably landed on Kiku and stayed there for a while, watching as Heracles was trying to take a bottle away from him.
"You moved to Hearth, eh?" Matthew suddenly asked, looking back toward him. Francis blinked, hiccuped, and nodded.
"Oui," he responded absently, there not being much more to say about it. Matthew did not respond immediately, looking back out. This time, Francis noted, it was toward Arthur.
"I never thought much about the fact you never told me anything of your past, eh," Matthew said, slightly apologetic. Francis sighed (hiccup catching in his throat) as he leaned back in his chair.
"I did not raise you –hic– to question it, mon fils," Francis responded, sipping at his newest glass. Matthew did not push the subject, thankfully, and Francis stood up. "I'm going to get away from the –hic– the drink here, before I inebriate myself." The last thing he needed to do was that, at least before he had managed to give Antonio what he needed so as to get out of Hearth.
If even just for a month or so.
He escaped into one of the side rooms, stepping in front of a full length mirror to check his eye. Just wonderful, he would rather not have to be wearing cover up for a week, nor did he want it to be obvious for a week. Francis nearly brought his hand up to it, but reminded himself otherwise at the last moment and brought his hands back down. He hiccuped again.
As long as the hiccups faded soon, he would be fine with the black eye for a while. He turned around to have some small things cascade down on his head.
"Enjoy the burning sensation," Maddox said, leaving the room. Francis gaped, appalled, then looked down at the ants on him.
Shrieking, he batted them off for a total of ten second before he realized that when they hit the ground they were not moving, none of them at all. He stopped, not feeling any crawling. Bending down, Francis picked up one of the plastic red ants and stared at it.
He supposed from an outsider's point of view this would be funny, but he was not laughing. And he wanted some sort of revenge on Maddox. But that was what the man would want, was it not? Francis to do something and be caught by Arthur! Oh, he was trapped!
"Ha~! You win this time, but I will figure out something..." Francis shook his head, swiping off all of the other plastic ants. Which was when he realized the hiccups were gone.
Now it was funny. Francis burst into laughter. He only stopped laughing when someone else entered the room. "Have you seen– oh. Hello, Francis."
Francis coughed. "Arthur."
They both stood there awkwardly. It was no longer funny.
Notes:
I believe that is the end to referring to fire ants. You can thank DF for mentioning this possibility.
