Title: Perfect

Pairing: FrUK

Rating: K Plus

"Work sucks," Arthur Kirkland muttered to himself as he walked home from work. He kicked at a pebble lying on the road, then growled lowly to himself as the pebbled went skittering into the street. He followed its path as it was hit by a car's wheels, then thrown across the street and lost from his sight.

It seemed like everything nowadays was lost from his sight. It seemed like everything was lost. He couldn't find his purpose. Hell, he didn't know if he had a purpose, but he sure fucking wanted one.

A drop of rain hit his hair, and he cursed under his breath. He didn't want it to rain right now. He was in a nice suit, and he'd already had a bad day, and he didn't want it to get even worse!

Seeing the opening of an alleyway ahead, he ducked into it, hoping that the slightly leaning walls of the buildings to either side would shelter him from most of the rain. Or some of it. Maybe a couple of drops.

He sighed, holding his briefcase above his head, then heard a sound coming from his right. He whirled around, expecting to see a man in a mask (this was New York, after all) but instead finding... a couple of small garbage cans. He edged closer to them, suitcase still propped weirdly on his head, and peered behind the garbages, only to find...

"Oh dear God," he said, British accent biting through the rain. "What the hel- I mean, what on Earth are you doing here?"

Behind the garbages resided two little boys. One was slightly bigger than the other, from what he could tell (they were huddled closely together), had short golden hair with a cowlick that stuck up into the air, bright, determined blue eyes, small glasses, and was wearing nothing but an oversized white t-shirt. He was wrapped mostly around another boy, who had shoulder-length, curly blond hair, purple-ish eyes, small glasses, just like his brother, a strange, curling sort of cowlick, and was also wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt, though his was red. Neither of them looked like they could be any older than three or four, and both were shivering violently.

Arthur threw his briefcase aside and rushed to the boys as the rain fell, removing his jacket and wrapping it around their shoulders, trying to cover them both as equally as he could. "Are you okay? What are you doing here, you poor little angels- Oh Lord, where is your home? Mother? Father?"

The boy with the shorter hair wrapped the suit jacket around his little brother, letting it fall off of his shoulders. "M-my n-n-name is A-Alfred," he said through chattering teeth, his voice high and sweet and tired. "Th-this is m-my b-brother, M-M-Matthew." He sneezed, nearly jerking into the air with the force of it.

"What are you two doing here?" Arthur asked. He wrapped the coat more equally around the two boys, then noted Matthew's closed eyes with a worried frown. "How long have you two been out here? Where do you live?"

"Th-the sun was o-out wh-when we g-got here. M-Matty tripped and fell and hit his head a-a-and I t-tried to g-get help but n-no one l-l-listened-"

"Oh, God... Oh, no, um, Alfred, where do you live? Do you think that you can show me?"

Alfred glanced around, eyelids wilting and tired-looking, then nodded. "Yeah, I th-think th-that I c-can get you h-home." The little boy got to his feet- which were bare -then turned to wrap Arthur's suit jacket more securely around his brother, though his shivering body made it extremely hard.

"Here, let me," Arthur said, reaching out to wrap his jacket around Matthew. He picked the little boy up and cradled him in his arms, then reached down and grabbed Alfred as well. He tried as hard as he could to shelter them both from the rain, but he couldn't.

"Alfred, can you tell me where to go?" Arthur prodded the boy, who's head was lolling toward his shoulder. Alfred jerked awake, eyes clouded with sleep, but then glanced around and pointed further down the alley.

"That w-way," he murmured quietly. "That's wh-where Maman is."

"Maman? What about a Papa? Do you have a father?" Arthur tried to keep the little boy talking as long as possible so as to keep him awake.

"Papa?" Alfred murmured sleepily. "Maman didn't like to talk about Papa. I don't know who he is. Go that way now," he directed, resting his head on Arthur's shoulder and pointing to the right.

"Well, can you tell me about Maman then?" Arthur asked, struggling with Matthew's limp weight as he continued walking. His arms were growing tired, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that he get these two children safely back home.

"Maman is the bestest lady ever," Alfred mumbled sleepily. Feeling terrible, Arthur jerked him slightly to keep him awake. "She makes yummy cookies and cakes and she kisses my forehead every night before I fall asleep."

Arthur reached a road and glanced up and down it fruitlessly. "Which way now, Alfred?"

Alfred glanced up sleepily. "Down that way. It's that one, there, with the cake on the sign. I can't read it, but Maman says that it says that she makes yummy cakes."

Arthur's eyes alighted on a sign that read Bakery and Pastry Shop. He shrugged, figuring that even if it wasn't where their mother was, it was at least somewhere warm. The rain was really coming down now, and he was getting more and more worried about Matthew, he looked absolutely lifeless but for the fact that he was breathing.

He half-stumbled, half-jogged over to the bakery, opening the door and stepping inside. A bell over the door rang, but it's cheerful tinkling sounded threatening somehow.

Footsteps came from a stairwell to the side of a counter against the back wall of the shop, and a beautiful woman with long golden hair and blue eyes came down the stairs. Tear-tracks and makeup stained her perfect face, but the moment she saw him, her face burst into a smile.

"Matthieu! Alfred! Mes anges!" She ran over to Arthur, grabbing first Alfred and kissing him on the forehead, then grabbing Matthew and kissing him.

"I'm sorry- Matthew, he won't wake up, I don't know why-" Arthur said, feeling worry claw at his gut. The woman just laughed, thought a couple of stray tears fell from her eyes.

"It is nothing to worry about," she said in a heavy French accent. "He has- how you say? -narcolepsy? Oui, he has that. He didn't take his pill today."

"Maman, I stayed with Matthew, just like you told me," Alfred said, tugging at her skirt and rubbing his eyes tiredly. A yawn burst from his throat, and he looked surprised.

"Oui, oui, good job, Alfred. You must go to bed, oui? You are tired, oui?" Cradling Matthew expertly in one arm, she reached down and grabbed Alfred, then turned to Arthur, a smile lighting her features. "You must come too, monsieur. You found mes anges for me. Come, come, you must stay! I have an extra room for you!"

Arthur shook his head, feeling his cheeks heat up. "I couldn't- I wouldn't want to impose-" He began.

"I will not take no for an answer!" the woman said, pouting at him. "I will make you breakfast in the morning, yes? To repay you for your good work."

"Al-alright then, if you're really sure..." Arthur said, following her up the stairs.

The funny thing was... he stayed there the next night, too. And the next. And the one after that. Some people are... just meant to be together.

A/N OMG, GIVING FRANCOIS A FRENCH ACCENT. "He has- how you say? -narcolepsy?" X3 X3 X3 X3 SO CUTE.

*coughs like Zuko to regain her honor* I was thinking... would anyone like to Beta these? I just need someone to read through and check for typos or random drunk shit, and maybe go through and italic all the stuff that needs to be italicized, because once I'm done writing these I literally do not ever want to look at them ever again. It's just a thing with me, I never want to look back on my writing.

Story idea brought to you *cough cough as usual cough cough* by VivaAmerica! Hopefully we'll get back into our weird request war thingies... o.O