When Francis woke up, it was already past 2 PM. Dozing and stretching, he slowly sat up and looked around his room. Gilbert was still snoring in the bed on the left wall, but Antonio was missing from his bed. Even though he slept a lot and had multiple naps during the day, he was known for being an early riser. "And an early comer," Francis could already hear Gilbert's perverted comment in his head. He stood up and went for the window. December the 31st was a beautiful day and he was sure that tonight would be much different than the last one. They had all agreed not to speak of their little game to anyone, especially Alfred - knowing him, he would probably want to check it out immediately. Francis shuddered at the thought of going back to the horror mansion. He had been through many idiotic and scary situations with his friends over the past years, but this had certainly taken home the crown. Even though he hadn't thought of it at that moment, he later realized that even though he didn't like their time there, he had somehow enjoyed holding Arthur in his embrace.
"Non-non-non!" he yelled as he knocked against his forehead. There was no way he could think, or rather, feel, something like that. He of all people shouldn't be interested in Arthur in such a way. In his circle of friends he was known to be the lady charmer, the cherry popper, whatever, but nothing related to men. "It was just the situation we were in," he reassured himself. "Merde, even if it had been Gilbert I would have probably thought the same way." He was sure that that was what he really thought. Even though he enjoyed Arthur's company, they were just good friends. Nothing more. Francis smiled happily for clearing and explaining those thoughts, and he went to Gilbert's bed. He looked at the Prussian sleeping, a stupid smile on his face. Grinning victoriously, Francis slapped him across the forehead and emptied his bottle of water on him. Confused, Gilbert woke up mumbling something about "no, no, no means yes, yes, yes to me, Bock" to an empty room. Francis had already fled the scene of the crime.
When he reached downstairs, he was greeted by Kiku, who was on his way to the garden with a platter filled with bread, fruit and a cup of tea. "Good morning, Francis," he greeted him and Francis replied, smiling. He took some coffee and joined him.
They sat themselves behind a white table under a tree. "I can't believe I woke up so late," Kiku said as he cut himself small slices of bread. "Later than Arthur, that is." Francis took a sip of his coffee and asked where the Brit was. "I don't see Antonio around either," he added. Kiku continued to chop his meal into small pieces and answered: "They went to the hospital to get Arthur's hands looked at and after they would go to the airport to get Alfred." Francis nodded and sighed. He was glad Arthur's hands would be alright now, but he wasn't too happy about the Brit's cousin coming over. "One loudmouth is enough or else my head will start to hurt," he thought when he looked at Gilbert coming across the grass towards them. "Morning, bitches," he gruffed and sat down, taking a few slices of pineapple from Kiku's plate.
Arthur was impatiently pacing around the airport's arrivals section, his hands in bandages. He had only needed a few stitches for some of the larger wounds, but otherwise his hands were just cleaned and sanitized and then bandaged. Right now he was waiting for his cousin Alfred to arrive, who was already an hour late, even though the plane had already landed. Antonio was somewhere, probably at the bar, hitting on flight attendants. Arthur sat on one of the benches and let his eyes lazily glance over the waiting hall. He thought of going to see where Antonio was when he suddenly sprung up. He had noticed Alfred. Furiously he stomped his way to the small burger joint and slammed his hand on a man's shoulder. Startled, the man started to choke, and turned around on his seat to see who had surprised him. Smiling, he took a swig of coke to water down the burger and having swallowed, he opened his mouth to let out an annoying cry. "Artie!" he yelled and hugged his cousin. Arthur only patted him on his back, maybe a little too roughly, and immediately started to put him off. "How on Earth could you think of getting a burger when we are on a tight schedule?! You could have at least called and told us you were hungry or something!" he yelled, furiously shaking Alfred from his collar. Arthur was in a bad mood. His hands were hurting from the ethanol the nurses used to clean them, he hadn't had a neck of sleep that night, Alfred was giving him a headache, it was hot in the airport and he was cursing himself for what he had thought of when he was in that bedroom with Francis. He had tried to assure himself that what he had felt was a sense of comfort, a ticket away from all the horror going around them. He had a feeling what he might have thought of the Frenchman, but he quickly cast it away as the stereotypical aura the French, the natives of the nation of love, had. He also didn't want to ruin the friendship they had. Even though he had Kiku, Alfred and some others before, it was Francis who had made him truly feel not that alone. He was sure Francis would never think something like that, so he had thought it best to discard these silly thoughts he suspected himself of having.
"Okay, I'm done!" Alfred's voice suddenly woke up Arthur from his thoughts. His cousin wiped his mouth clean from the sauce and stood up, patting his stomach with a hearty smile. "That was delicious! Alright, let's go, Artie!" he yelled and stormed off, leaving Arthur to pay for his meal and run after him. Antonio had already come back and noticed Alfred running towards him. He greeted him happily and after Arthur had arrived too, they decided to visit a tourist info booth before heading back to the guesthouse. After that they were really excited about all of this while talking through their plans in the car. At midnight they would be at the Copacabana Beach, where tons of magnificent fireworks will be released into the night sky. Various festivities also took place there, so they decided this would be the perfect place to be. The three back at the guesthouse agreed with them. With spirits high, they talked about what they should do there for an hour or so, until Arthur said he still wanted to see some sights before the celebration started. Alfred quickly disregarded him; he said there was time after today too and that they should keep their money for tonight. A little hurt, Arthur decided it was for the best of the entire group not to tire themselves before the big night and went inside to get a cup of tea.