Ah! Sorry it took me awhile to update this, school has been so stressful as of late! Here it is though! Also, I would really appreciate some reviews, it helps motivate me a whole bunch! (Not afraid to say that, ha ha.) Ah, but yes... Enjoy!
Warnings: Swearing, Slight abuse.
Alfred stared out the window with numerous thoughts in his head. He couldn't get Lovino out of his mind. Why did the boy run off after Feliciano? He was way too nice to be hanging out with him! He had called the pink eyed boy his 'fratello', that Alfred remembered. What the heck was a fratello though?
As much as the younger boy wanted to find out, he really had no chance to. He didn't go to school. His mother realized she could be put into jail, or worse, if they found out about Alfred's beatings. It was pretty obvious too, he nor she could hide it very well. Still, everyone in the neighborhood already knew. They probably did it to their kids too.
However, the only school nearby was miles away and was actually run by decent people. Hence, he stayed home and did chores instead. Alfred's mother worked, but he wasn't sure as what. She'd leave in the middle of the night for her "job" with some strange man who each time Alfred hoped was his new father.
As for said birth father? He never got the chance to see him; he has no clue where he could have gone. Mother mentioned him sometimes, but not in the best of ways. She was usually screaming about how he abandoned her. It made Alfred hate him a little when he heard about him. Why would anyone want to leave his mother? Sure she hit him, but that was his mommy!
So school was out of the question. They couldn't afford a computer either, even though everyone seemed to have one now. He didn't have any friends as well, except for one creepy girl who he saw every once in awhile.
Her name was Natalia, but Alfred knew nothing about her. She was found sometimes searching through their garbage out in front. He managed to speak to her a few times, but she seemed shy and not the most social of people. He remembered how she mumbled on and on about her brother, but nothing more. The conversation only last about five minutes when she suddenly ran off.
Did she actually count as a friend? Alfred doubted she knew anything anyway.
Alfred sighed heavily and closed his eyes. He began to think about the young blond boy, how he seemed to limp away when he followed after Feliciano. There was no doubt in his head that he was the boy that he witnessed being stabbed not too long ago. Though he wouldn't say so out loud, he thought Lovino was really brave. He was like those knights Alfred read about in the stories; the knights who would chase after dragons to slay them and protect others.
Alfred nodded to himself before opening his eyes again. He made a decision! The only person who could answer his questions was Lovino himself. The only problem was he really had no idea where he was, nor did he know how he'd be able to get out of the house without a good excuse.
Alfred planned for a few days how he could find Lovino before the perfect opportunity came.
"Lil' runt, wake the hell up!" Alfred's mother bellowed by his room door. His room was just bigger than a closet, the dry wall peeling around it. Alfred's eyes slowly opened. He knew if his mother was screaming, he'd either have to wake up, or face consequences.
"I need you to go to the store. Hurry the fuck up, why are ya takin' so damn long?" Alfred groaned to himself, slowly rollng off the bed. Almost immediately as he did, he felt a buzz of pain on his head. He winced and glanced upward, watching as his mother gripped hs hair tightly. "If you fuck this up and come home beat up like a lil' pussy again, you'll be better off in hell."
She let go of his hair, which he silently thanked whatever force made her do it, and walked away. He rubbed his head softly, running his fingers through his hair in attempt to comb it. His crimson hair was all tangled and filled with knots. He didn't own a brush, once he did, but it broke. Of course his mother didn't buy him a new one.
He quickly looked over to his pile of clothing, he usually slept in his underwear. He crouched down and reached for the least disgusting looking shirt. It was hard to choose. One with a ketchup stain from last weeks hamburgers, which he hated, or the one with a large hole in it? In the end he chose the one with the stain. He quickly tugged the shirt on before pulling up a pair of ripped jeans. One hole was enough, the stain would at least be better than feeling an awkward breeze. He stepped into his sneakers, at least they were intact still.
As soon as he stepped out of his room his vision was blocked off. His mother was shoving multiple dollars at his face, nagging about something he was too tired to catch. He assumed she was just explaining the whole, "Don't fuck up," thing.
He obtained the money and smiled up at her with large, innocent eyes. How he loved mommy. She rolled her eyes and walked away. Alfred began heading for the front door at a slow pace, the sleep in him still in affect. Why couldn't he just go back into his room and sleep? He wouldn't mind if he never woke up actually.
Alfred always wondered what that meant, if he were to never wake up from slumber. He remembered Natalia once talked about a place called Heaven. She had said it was full of angels and happiness. Would he end up there? She said you have to be dead though, but forever happy? Alfred wondered why people weren't out killing themselves to get to this place. Maybe it wasn't real. Natalia was a weird girl after all. Still, maybe if he became one of those pretty angels she described, his mother would be kinder to him.
With a sigh Alfred shaked the thought away, looking around the living room. There were bottles spread all across the floor. He wasn't sure what they were, all he knew was that they were his best friend and worst enemy. His mother called them "happy juice". Sometimes when she drank them she'd get even more cruel than Alfred could ever imagine. She'd throw glass cups at him, forks, plates, once she even threw a knife. However, on rare times, she was completely different. She would hold Alfred closely and apologize for all the things she had done to him in his short life. Alfred really loved moments like that, but he wasn't sure if she meant it. All the same, he was happy when it happened.
He passed by the bottles, stepping over a view before he finally reached the front door. He reached his arm up to open the door before walking out. There was a cool breeze blowing by, it make his hair go wild in a dance. He pouted and tried to comb it back down. He looked down at his hand with the money in it, there was also a small white crumpled up paper among the dollar bills. It must be the list of items he needed to get, he didn't even notice his mother hadn't told him in the first place.
He stuffed both the money and the note back into his pockets, looking around cautiously before jogging down the streets. He didn't want to end up in another mess with Feliciano or any other bully roaming around. He just wanted to do what his mommy said, so that way she'll be happy. However, with that in mind he also knew he had another objective. He didn't want to get caught, but he also wanted to find Lovino.
He slowed his pace down a bit, his breathing slightly rougher as he panted softly. He stopped in place and took a few moments to inhale and exhale. He closed his eyes for a moment, leaning up against a nearby tree in front of a house. All the houses looked the same, it really was boring. Alfred would personally color them red, he really liked red. He wasn't sure why, maybe because his mother told him it was the color of love once.
He opened his eyes after catching his breath and stood up straight. Alfred brushed himself off quickly before resuming to jog at a quick pace, the store wasn't too far. Only a few blocks away and he'd be there, and no one would have bothered him along the way! If things went well he'd be able to spend time looking for Lovino.
Of course, as he said that he came to an abrupt stop. His eyes narrowed as he quickly hid behind another tree. Across the street, right in front of the store, was Lovino and another girl. It took a few moments for the crimson haired boy to realize who the girl was. Her hair was long and blue, she had a strange posture with her head tilted downward, and she wore a puffy white dress that Alfred thought looked funny. Her dress seemed to be covered with grime and looked more gray than white. It was Natalia.
He stared at the two from afar, wondering why they were together. Lovino seemed to be talking, running his fingers through his hair as he spoke. His blond hair had that odd curl sticking out, bouncing as he brushed around it. He had another scarf on except this one was pink, it even seemed to have glitter. Alfred thought he looked pretty girly. He also wore a plain white sweater and a pair of black leather pants. Why did Lovino have such pretty looking clothing?
He continued staring at them, tilting his head to the side. He never saw Natalia outside of digging in his garbage, she looked a lot nicer when she didn't have stinky old fish in her hair. A soft smile spread across his face, so she was a normal girl!
Lovino suddenly stopped talking, freezing in place for a moment before averting his gaze to the direction to where Alfred was hiding. Alfred's eyes opened wide, wondering if he had been caught. He thought he was hiding pretty well! He had a small body and the tree was really big!
Lovino suddenly smiled a bit and looked back at Natalia who had followed his gaze and seemed to see what he saw. He quickly whispered something into her ear before grinning and waving at her. Natalia seemed to giggle, wait, why was she so happy? Alfred watched as she turned around and began running away, Lovino turning around as well.
The young boy leaned against the tree, looking away from the scene. Were Natalia and Lovino friends? There was no way. The blond looked as if he was a rich boy, while Natalia was a poor girl who was apparently caring for her whole family. Or so she would ramble on about when he actually spoke to her.
Alfred only thought for a moment, because quickly after, a hand was on his shoulder. Had the bullies finally noticed him? He quickly twisted around, fear clear on his face. It soon faded when he noticed Lovino was standing in front of him. However the relief didn't last long either, what if the blond was mad because he was spying on him? Did he even know he was staring?
"Hey, I remember you! Why were you here staring at me and Natalia?" Well that answered that. Alfred opened his mouth to respond, but as he did he was suddenly pulled away. He nearly stumbled, had two arms not wrapped around him. He looked around with wide eyes, finally looking up at the older boy. "Stay here and don't move."
Alfred blinked a few times in confusion, what was going on exactly? He realized only when Lovino began crawling away that he was forced under a car.
"Hey there, Lovino," a voice boomed, a dark tone in his words. Alfred looked in the direction of the voice, seeing a crowd of feet on the street. Alfred didn't recognize the voice, but he was sure he didn't want to deal with the owner of it.
"Hi Ludwig, what are you doing here? If you're looking for my fratello, he's off being stupid," Alfred heard Lovino quickly snap back. He sounded angry, but Alfred could make out the slight fear in his voice.
A pair of feet, which Alfred assumed to be Ludwig's since he had on black boots and he couldn't imagine Lovino in such manly like footwear, stepped forward. At the same time as if in a dance, Lovino stepped back. "Your brother is not stupid, mein gott, how does he deal with you?"
At that point Alfred noticed another pair of feet behind Ludwig's step forward. "What a faggot."
"I know right? Let's find Feli, Gil." Both pairs of feet opposite Lovino began walking away. Alfred waited, tense from the conversation and the aura the two boys seemed to radiate. He waited a few moments before a silent sigh was heard.
"You can come out now," the voice just hardly whispered, seeming to be drained of energy. It took only a few seconds for the young boy to crawl out of the car. It smelled under there! He hoped he didn't sit on a bug or something; bugs were nasty.
"Who were they?" Alfred responded quietly, still pretty shaken up. Lovino rolled his eyes, which Alfred assumed was a dumb question to ask then. He frowned, wondering how stupid he must be.
Lovino seemed to notice because he quickly shook his head, reaching over to pat the red haired boy's shoulder. "Oh no, I just don't like thinking about them, I'm sorry. I don't know if you saw, but the one who first came up to me was Ludwig. He's a weird boy, always looking around for mio fratello. The one who was behind him, the second voice, was his brother Gilbert. He's very scary, really quiet."
Alfred nodded once, when finally it struck him. That word again, that's why he was here! He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, "What's a fruh...tell...oh?" The blond's eyebrows rose at the question before covering his mouth with a well manicured hand, snickering to himself. Once again, Alfred couldn't help but feel a bit dumb.
He shifted uncomfortably onto a leg, his hands intertwining in front of him. "Fratello means brother in Italian! Feliciano and I are Italian." Although that's what Lovino said, all Alfred heard was Feliciano and I are brothers.
Brothers? How was such a nice boy, who had not only helped him after he was stabbed, but also protected him from Ludwig and Gil, be brothers with Feliciano? The name burned Alfred's mind, a clear expression of disapproval on.
"I know it's hard to believe, but yes, we're brothers." Lovino paused, taking in Alfred's reaction. He couldn't help but notice Alfred's eyes were beginning to grow wider. He knew it was a shock that they were brothers, but that much? Alfred looked as if he had just seen a ghost!
Alfred may have seemed that way, but as he stared at Lovino, he only wished it was a ghost compared to this. Alfred's body began to tremble until he opened his mouth, letting out an ear-bleeding scream.