Arthur awoke to Ralph sitting on him.
'Do I really look that comfortable?' Arthur wondered
"G'day, Arthur. How are ya this fine morning?" Ralph said cheerfully.
"I would be better if I wasn't being sat on by a certain small boy." Arthur told him.
"I wonder who that could be?" Ralph replied as he got off. "Get dressed, we're gonna go out to the big house soon~" Ralph's koala was still clinging to his head.
'Oh god, it's staring at me. Please go away soon evil koala.'
Arthur walked down the stairs cautiously, afraid of getting tackled by Ralph or someone else. He didn't, which made him rather happy. At the bottom of the stairs a tall blond boy who looked rather a lot like Kurt and a smallish boy with a curl who looked a lot like Lovino were chatting.
'Oh, must be Lovino's brother'
"Ciao!" the small (Italian) boy said to Arthur after registering his presence
"…Hello, I'm Arthur… this is Ralph…" After seeing Ralph wasn't there, he got confused but couldn't say he wasn't surprised.
'How does he do that?'
"He went to the kitchen." Said the other boy, whose accent was, quite obviously, German
"Ve~ he must be hungry~ I can't blame him, you guys didn't come down for dinner last night, it was pasta~" The small Italian gave Arthur a once over. "I'm Feliciano Vargas! Your eyebrows are amazing~" Arthur frowned a little at the eyebrow comment, but let it slide because he probably didn't know better; he only looked to be about nine.
After a silence, the blonde boy began to speak "I am Ludwig Beilschmidt… please tell me when Feliciano annoys you too much." Feliciano looked hurt at this.
'What did he mean by 'when'?'
"Umm… if you don't mind me asking are you two related to Kurt and Alvise?" Arthur asked
"Not at all" replied Ludwig "They're our grandfathers."
"Ve~ they're so old~ they're almost fifty~" said Feliciano.
'So he and Lovino are brothers'
"Well I'd better go find Ralph…" Arthur sighed.
'He's such a handful sometimes. The last thing I'd want is him beating everyone to death with his stuffed crocodile' Arthur had no idea that the crocodile was, in fact, not stuffed but real. However, that's another story for another time.
As soon as Arthur walked into the dining room to look for Ralph he noticed the very small amount of people in the huge room, an Asian boy and the three 'must avoid' teenagers… he didn't really get to finish that thought because the blonde teen with douchey hair kissed him. On the lips. Arthur was immobilized by rage until douche-hair shouted with his thick French accent to the other two teenagers: "I said I'd do it! You owe me a favour Gill!"
Arthur started to swear like a sailor, his anger seemingly taking the physical shape of a badly damaged watermelon (A/N: I have absolutely no idea how anger would look, if it isn't already apparent). Now you might say he was overreacting a tiny bit, but his rage was amplified by his blinding hatred for all things French, never mind the kiss.
Arthur proceeded to kick his pompous French arse and made sure the frog regretted what he did.
Arthur heard a snickering coming from behind him. He turned around and the two he assumed were friends of this frog were standing there, laughing.
"What?" Arthur glared at them
"You're the best, British guy. You just kicked Francis' butt!" said the German albino as he glanced at the aforementioned Francis
"I mean it's not exactly hard to do… but it was a good show~" said the albino
"Show? Show? I assure you, it was no 'show'. I hate the French, this 'Francis' will die by my hands if he tries something again. " Arthur said, letting his true nature shine through just a bit. That is, his undying hatred for the French.
"He knows my name!" exclaimed Francis from his place on the ground
"Shut it, pansy" said the heavily accented Australian voice that belonged to Ralph, who had appeared next to Arthur seemingly out of nowhere.
"Kesesesesesesesese! This is the best! Francey-pants, you're totally getting served by two little kids" said the albino.
"You should be quiet too figjam*, unless you'd like a cricket bat up your-"
"Who are you people!?" Arthur exclaimed, cutting Ralph off before he could finish.
"Fusososososo I'm Antonio Carriedo" Said the brunette, who had a huge smile on his face (like the rest).
"I am the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt!" Said the albino
"So you are related" Arthur mumbled to himself
"Hmm… what's that my awesome ears hear? Who am I related to?" Gilbert said, standing much too close for Arthurs liking.
"Oh, nothing, you're too egotistical to be related to them" Arthur stated
"I'm not egotistical; I'm just being honest in a really awesome way!"
Arthur proceeded to face palm at the overuse of the word 'awesome'
"Ahem, forgetting someone are we not?" said the so-called Francis, who had somehow recovered from the beatings Arthur gave him and was sparkling more than ever. "I am Francis Bonnefoy" he said, giving the douchy-est smile ever. "And you are…?" He gestured to Arthur
"I'm Arthur." Arthur turned to Ralph, who, strangely, had not said anything in a while and was staring at something
"They already met me, so introductions are done! Let's get brekkie" they walked to the kitchen for some porridge, upon getting said porridge, they walked to the closest table and sat down.
"Hey, Australian kid, I've been thinking that you use a few too many big words to be an entirely normal kid" said Gilbert, who had decided to take the seat in the corner with the least light.
"I spent too much time around well-read poms" Ralph replied
"That makes sense"
Arthur had never given it any thought before he did find it slightly odd, but decided to stop thinking about things that didn't really matter, at least not as much as his food right now, Arthur was ravenous.
Arthur moved from Ralph and the group of teens to sit next to the Asian boy at the other end of the table in hopes of making a new friend and having a quiet breakfast.
"Hello, I'm Arthur, nice to meet you." Arthur noted how much he'd been saying that sentence (or a variation of it) in the past few hours.
"I am Kiku Honda; it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance" he said politely, he quietly continued eating his food.
"So… umm… where are you from?" asked Arthur after a silence
"Japan."
"Do you have many friends here?"
"Not many."
"Would you… umm… like to be my friend?"
"That would be good."
"…thank you?"
"Tell me, Arthur-san do you enjoy reading…uh…book?"
"I love books!"
"You will like the book room"
"The library?"
"Yes. There's one on the… two… floor"
"You mean second"
"That's the word"
"Can we go there after we're done eating?"
"Yes, I would enjoy that"
"Good, good"
Arthur and Kiku finished eating as people started to file into the room. As he walked past, Arthur saw Lovino (who he proceeded to wave at), Feliciano and Ludwig standing in line for breakfast, talking to some other boys Arthur had yet to meet; some taller ones with blonde hair, a sort of normal brunette with glasses, some shorter ones with platinum blond hair, and a… puffin.
Deciding to just look away from the puffin that had started to death stare him (why did animals hate him so?), Arthur just silently followed Kiku up the few flights of stairs to the library.
Deciding to read a book about swashbuckling pirates, and Kiku doing the same with some sort of an oriental book with a dragon on the cover, all was quiet for some time until about 11:00 AM when the two boys had finished their books and had started to have a conversation.
"How did you end up here? Shouldn't you be in Japan? I mean, not to sound rude, but our countries aren't the best of friends at the moment" said Arthur
"That I am not sure of. The owner said he knew my parents somehow and decided to take care of me and from what I have heard most of the other children have a similar story to mine"
"That's odd… he's from somewhere else too, isn't he?"
Kiku just hummed in agreement for lack of the word 'probably'
"How long have you been here?"
"Not long, nearly a half year"
"Your English is extremely good"
Kiku smiled "Ariga-"he cut himself off "Thank you, I still need to get good-er"
"Better I think is the word. Would you like me to teach you a few things once I've settled in?"
"Yes please"
"Good" Said Arthur, who noticed he was still holding his book and promptly placed it back where he'd found it. There was a smashing sound, then a loud thump. Assuming Ralph had gotten up to no good with his new found friends, Arthur decided it was time to leave the comfort of the library. "I'm sorry Kiku, I'm afraid I have to go check on Ralph, I'm worried he's being naughty" Apologised Arthur
"It's okay Arthur-san, I understand" and with that, Arthur was running downstairs to see the damage done.
figjam: Fuck I'm good, just ask me