Chapter 7
**Sigh**
*I have a bad feeling about this...it's feels unawesome...*
For some crazy ass reason Gilbert found himself standing outside of Alfred's doorway. He knew instinctively that this was a bad idea. He couldn't decide if it was his natural personality that caused such a conflict with Alfred, or if it had more to do with him being friends with Francis…he was betting on his friendship, but it didn't help these two were almost similar enough to be opposing magnets. The same, but they repel each other.
*Why the hell am I here? What did I come here for? Think Gil think! Oh, right…*
He came because he was asked to get something from Mathew by Francis (who obviously couldn't come himself) but Gil wanted to know why the hell he had to do it? Why couldn't he ask Antonio? Everyone liked Antonio! (wrong again, Alfred pretty much loves only himself with the exception of Arthur and Kiku) at least if it was Antonio he could just talk to Mathew, get what Francis wanted and then leave without any confrontation. But noooo, here he was, at the gates of hell, waiting for the devil's brother to hand him a packet from the class Francis decided to ditch today.
*F*ck Francis! Next time he'll come himself, I will never do him another favor again! I'm too awesome and busy to do another man's errands!*
"I just got to work up the guts and awesomely knoc-"
**WHACK**
Right as Gil reached his hand out to knock on Alfred's door it came flying open, hit him square in the face, and he went crashing backward into the hallway.
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Are you alright? I'm so, so sorry! Please forgive me; I didn't think any one was standing out here! Are you alright? Um…excuse me?"
Gil's rage meter = 100 max
"I'll awesomely kill you!"
"Kya! N-no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry!"
Mathew was practically melting into the wall with fear. He'd heard threats before, though never directed straight at him, and even if he did, no one had ever said they'd kill him! If he had hit anyone else they'd have just said it was their fault for standing in the doorway. But this was Gilbert, he wasn't just "anyone else" he was a king (in his own world) and above all else in Mathew's mind, he was really, really scary!
"You hit me you bastard! What the hell? Who unawesomely just swings a door open like that! Huh? Huh?"
"U-u-uh, Y-You're right, I'm sorry, I should always check from now on if there's someone on the other side of the door…through the peep…hole…eh?"
It was only mid-sentence that Mathew finally got the guts to look up, and when he finally did he saw that Gil's nose was bleeding.
"What? What is it? Why'd you go eh?"
"AHHH!"
Mathews sudden screaming actually managed to scare Gil a little, he was shocked that all of a sudden this little mousy guy would start yelling hysterically for no reason. Well it wasn't for any reason, Gil knew his nose was bleeding, he was just trying to wipe away the blood with a napkin he had in his pocket but apparently this sudden sight of blood freaked Mathew out.
In reality Mathew screamed because he was terrified at what Gil was going to do to him now that he had made him bleed. He was now envisioning some crazy scenario where Gil said "nobody makes me bleed my own blood!" and then proceeds to torture Mathew in any demented fashion as Gil saw fit.
Instead the situation just unfolded with Gil, being confused, Mathew panicking, then himself being confused as to why Gil was confused, and finally after a few minutes of just staring at each other Gil asked if he could come in (if Alfred wasn't there of course).
Mathew said Alfred was out for the day for some kind of sport thing? Shopping? Or a friend thing? (Come to think of it he doesn't remember what Alfred said) so Gil could come in. Mathew got Gil a tissue and an ice pack for his nose and then just sat at his dining room table waiting for Gil to speak.
"…What?"
"W-what! Is the ice pack not cold enough? Do you need another tissue? Ah! Silly me, of course you'd need more tissues…I'll go get more."
"No, that's not what I meant; I guess I was just asking why are you just staring at me? Aren't you going to ask why this awesomeness is here? What do my awesomeness want? Don't just sit there looking unawesomely dazed!"
"Eh? Oh! Right…why are you here?"
Mathew was still just a little in awe of having someone like Gilbert in his house. Antonio had been over, Francis had too, but never Gil, and he was now wondering just why that was…
*Hmmm…why has Gil never been over before…maybe he doesn't like my brother, that wouldn't be surprising…not a lot of people do…*
"I came over here because Francis asked me to get the assignment from his Art class that he missed today; he said he called in advance to let you get in prepared for me."
''Huh? Oh, right, hold on, I'll go get it."
Mathew didn't even leave Gils sight, his backpack was on the table still from when he got home, apparently he had not been home for long, and now that Gil assessed everything around him, especially the other boy he was with, he was still in his school uniform, and he didn't even have time to change. So why was he leaving his house so soon? Where was he going in his school uniform? If he was going to see a friend he would change…maybe there was an emergency? But then why would he forget about it to talk with him? If it was urgent he would have said something like "sorry, something happened, could you come back later!" or something…huh.
"Uh, not to be intrusive or anything but, were you going somewhere before I got hit with the door? You're still in your uniform, so if it was important, I could come back later."
While Gil had been analyzing everything and thinking Mathew had already gotten everything for Francis out of his backpack, and was making sure everything was there, he didn't want to have Gil of Francis have to come back because he left something out. Finally, after deciding everything was perfect he had turned to face Gil when he was asked about where he was going.
"Hm? Right, no, that was nothing, I had just forgot to grab the mail before coming upstairs so I was going to go grab it, ha-ha, yeah, silly me, my brother hates having to get it, so I try not to forget."
"What are you the slave or something? If I can do something I never make my brother do it in my place, that's just unawesome laziness, nothing good comes from being lazy, and definitely being unawesome! Tell him to get it himself it's that damn important!"
"No, no, I could never, he's my brother, it's no big deal, besides, I like doing things, it's how I feel usef- ah, ha-ha, sorry, you don't want to hear about this, here, here's the homework for Francis, if he's feeling sick I hope he gets better, tell him to drink lots of liquids, and get a lot of sleep, I hope my notes will be good enough, if not I apologize, thank you for coming to get them."
*What a sad guy, how he feels useful? Does he not feel useful very much, so even the most trivial tasks make him feel important and necessary? Wow, that's even more unawesomely depressing, must be tough being the brother of Mr. hero, tough and outgoing, makes a lot of enemies, must be hard to stand out against someone who steals all the attention…he must feel invisible!*
"Ah…not that I care or anything, I mean, your problems are all stupid and stuff, but thanks to your lucky day you were blessed with this opportunity to meet the awesome me! Yes, that's right, meeting me is the best thing to happen to you, you know why? I feel bad for you."
"Eh?"
"Wait, that sounds wrong…I pity you? No, you're pathetic! No. Hm…I know! I'm sympathetic to your issues of invisibility and am about to offer you my time in something I'm calling the "Stand Out" project!"
*Awesome name Gil, I'm such a genius!*
''That's right, I'm the most awesome person, and can thereby help you become awesome too! So by joining my Stand Out project you can learn to be as awesome as me! Aren't you just feeling it already! The feeling of being less invisible and more like a mega shining star! Shine on tiny star! Let's make you a super nova!"
"EH?"
"First lesson, no more "ehs" it makes you sounds lost or confused. It also sounds unawesome!"
"B-but I am confused, stand out project? Star? Super nova! I don't feel invisible…at least, not all the time…a-and I'm very happy the way I am! So…so thank you, but no thank you."
"No. that's not acceptable! "At least not all the time" is not an acceptable response, this is what I've decided, I'm going to help you become more confident, and in exchange you can….you can….ah! Tutor me in math, right, two days into the new year and already I have an F, probably should've done the first assignment, eh? Kesesesese, oh well."
"Um, I'm not really sure how to think about all this…it's all very sudden, you just came over to get Francis' assignment, now all of a sudden we're in some kind of weird pact…I'm dizzy."
"It's all good! In fact, this'll work out just fine, I need something awesome to do to keep my mind off some crazy stuff happening with my friends and their issues, and then there's my brother…boy don't even get me started on all the relationship drama everyone is going through, I wish more people were like me when it comes to that stuff, who needs others! When you're as awesome as me all you need is yourself! Why depend on someone else to make things better, or good or happy! Bah! I'm awesome, awesomer than ever, and all I've got is my awesome self, that's all there needs to be!"
*Oh…sounds really lonely, so this is Gilbert Beilschmidt, huh? I can't help but feel kind of bad for him too, I guess we're both just…kind of lonely…maybe this "project" won't be so bad after all…maybe, we can be, friends…heh, that would be really nice actually…*
"Ok, I'll, I'll go along with this, you can teach me to be, confident, and in exchange, I'll tutor you in math, it's a deal than?"
"Sure, yeah, at my house, you have to tutor me at my house for obvious reasons, I don't think I can be over here when your brother's home…you know, if that's alright with you, and your lessons will happen whenever the two of us have free time, wherever, school opportunities or after school opportunities, confidence is all about testing it in different settings, with different people, and you have to set a goal! How confident do you want to be? Confident enough to stand up to your unawesome brother?"
"Ah…I think that's a little too high…maybe, maybe confident enough…confidence to do…ah, I don't know."
"Jeez, you really do need this, oh come on, there's always something people want to do but are too afraid to do, what is it, what is it you want to do? That one thing you're too chicken to do?"
"W-well…don't laugh at me for this, but, but I do…uhm, I do really want to be able to…err…I want to, confess…I want to be able to confess to someone…that I l-like them…"
"Kesesesese! Seriously! That's what you want to be able to do? That's so simple! But whatever, so who is it you want to confess to?"
"No one as of now…it's just, a "one day" kind of thing…you know, for when I do feel something, I don't want to be a coward or…chicken out!"
"Geldstrafe, it's settled than, nice doing awesome business with you Mathew, I'll be seeing you tomorrow!"
And with that, Gil shook Mathews hand to seal the deal, he then took the homework for Francis and left. Gil felt very assured he could make Mathew more confident therefore making him less invisible, he felt bad for the kid, he wanted to make him strong enough to have a backbone against his brother, but what Gil didn't realize is that this pact would change his world dramatically, setting the stage for a very shock filled year of new emotions and events, just waiting to unfold.
As for Mathew, he was concerned with what he was doing, but happy at the idea that he could spend time with someone as cool as Gil, maybe his project really would make Mathew more confident, and even if not, maybe he could make a new friend, someone he could learn from about things he would never experience in his quite slow paced way of living…the idea was exciting, not even knowing just how exciting things were going to get.
Somehow by the pure stroke of coincidence football practice was cancelled today, so there was nothing to keep Yao and Arthur from going home to talk about the summer and about Francis. Nothing to distract them from getting down to what was going on between them and why Arthur changed so much because of it. Nope, nothing at all, no one calling to pull Yao away, no one showing up suddenly to bother Arthur, nada, not a thing…
*Bloody hell! I thought I was ready for this, this morning I was finally feeling prepared to go into this when Yao asked me, but now that we're on our way back to my place I'm so nervous, what if after telling him everything he thinks I'm stupid and that he worried over nothing, what if he thinks all this was a waste of his time and that he should have never asked me? What if he thinks I've been acting like a baby and I should just get over it…uhhgg, I don't want to do this anymore, can't anything or anyone come and interrupt! I'm losing it…*
"Arthur? What's wrong, your face is giving off a lot of emotions; do you not want to do this anymore? I want to say that if you don't want to do this it's fine, but I feel it would do you a lot of good if you did, just to get it off your chest, maybe by telling someone new and getting more opinions you can get the advice you need."
"Uh, yeah, you're right…it's just that, well I'm just a tad worried about what you'll think of me when I do tell you all this. I mean, we are friends and all, it's just that, I haven't known you as long as I've known Alfred, I'm just afraid that, unlike him, who accepts me for pretty much everything, others will act differently, that they might…judge me harshly, or not want to be friends with me, because maybe they'll think I'm being too dramatic and stupid…that's all."
"That is stupid! I would never do that to someone, you're right I haven't known you as long but, I care about you as much, you're my friend, and anyone who calls themselves somebody's friend, they should accept them for everything, understand them, help them and not judge them, friends don't let other friends suffer, they don't laugh at their friends problems and they lend their ears to all of their friends "trivial" and "crazy" problems! So be dramatic, I won't ever hate you or leave you because of it…I promise."
"Heh thanks…"
*Damn, he really is over-concerning, he's like a mother hen…he's the opposite of Alfred, whenever I tell him I don't want to talk about it, or for him to go away, he does, he drops it and we don't talk about it until the next time he tries to bring it up, or until I feel like talking about it, which is never, but…I do feel happy, happy that I do have good friends who care about me so much…even Alfred, he gets so misunderstood for not caring, but that's not it, it's just that…he cares too much…enough to…to understand when something is too painful for me to talk about…aw jeez, now I feel bad, I look like the unwilling friend…I really AM bloody dramatic!*
As Yao and Arthur walked neither of them noticed that someone had started to follow them. Luckily this person isn't physically dangerous, but he isn't innocent either…let's just say you wouldn't want him to catch you doing anything you don't want others to know, seeing as he's "the gossip monger" of Hetalia High. Whatever it is it would definitely be all over the place before morning, twisted into so many versions even you'd be surprised.
Yes, somehow seeing Yao and Arthur walk home together caught the attention of Feliks Lukasiewicz, HHS' biggest lover of juicy news and made up BS. This was the exact type of thing that Feliks could use in the future…
*Like, wow, are Yoa and Arthur an item? I totally thought Arthur and Francis were in a sticky situation, and, not to mention, let's not leave out dear Ivan who's only got like the biggest crush on Yao…I wonder where they're going? Heehee, I wonder how long Yao will stay…Oh my! C-could this be! It has to be! OO. AM. GEE! I totally gotta tell Toris about this, like, later! After I follow these guys home of course and get the deets~*
And Feliks did indeed follow them home, he watched as Yao entered Arthur's house, and as Arthur closed the door behind them. He snuck up to look in through the side window and watched as Yao removed his coat and hung it by the door, followed by Arthur leaving the room only for a while to place his backpack in his room. He watched as Arthur returned, mouthed the words "Do you want something to drink? A snack maybe?" to which Yao replied with a "No thank you" and then saw as the air around Arthur plummeted as he slumped down on the couch, like all of a sudden a black cloud started forming around him and pushed him down.
*T-totally scary! Like, what's up with that?*
The expression on Yao's face said he was thinking something similar to Feliks, but it didn't last long because all of a sudden Yao's face went to utter concern, and a tad bit curious…what was Arthur going to say?
**You make me~ feel like I'm living in a teenage dream~ the way you turn me on, I can't sleep~ so let's run away and don't ever look back, don't ever look back~**
"Oh my gosh! Shhhh, crap!"
Right as it looked like things were going to get good, Feliks' phone rang, he had completely forgotten to turn it on vibrate when he decided to follow these two.
It didn't go ignored.
"What the bloody hell was that? Was that someone's phone?"
"I, I think so, but where did it come from? That's not your ringtone…EH!"
Arthur after having heard Feliks' phone had only hesitated a bit before knowing where he heard the phone coming from, he walked unbelievably quick, and very noticeably angry toward the side window of his living room, threw it open and looked out…
Feliks hauled ass the moment his phone started ringing. He ran toward the side of Arthur's house in between his and his neighbors house and kept going, luckily Arthur lived in a place with other exist rather than like a cul-de-sac where there was one in and one out.
He didn't stick around to be caught and even luckier for him neither of these guys knew him well enough to know that that was his ringtone. Besides, a popular new song like that, so many high schoolers would have it…he was totally safe!
**WHAM**
"Gah! W-what the hell, move it assho-oh…god…"
Had he have run into anyone else Feliks would've called today a victory for his gossip column and his social life as the "queen of HHS news" but now that he sat looking up at Sadiq Adnan, the final "king" of this town his day just went straight to hell.
*D-dude, like why? Why of all people did it have to be HIM of all people, I mean like, if it was Ivan I could've diverted him by telling him Yao was at Arthur's house, and if it was Gil I coulda told him Ivan was not too far away looking for a fight, but HIM! Like, this totally sucks, I'm so freakin' screwed!*
**Sound of clearing throat**
"Hm, I don't think you were about to call me an asshole right, Feliks?"
'Like, no way! Never in a million, billion years Mr. Adnan, yeah, no way, actually…uh I was totally talking on my cell just now, y-yeah, stupid Toris, he can be such an asshole, ha-ha~"
"Oh? Really? Because I can see that no one's on the other line, your screen shows you're not talking to anyone, so now you're lying to me, Feliks?"
*Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, like, shit! I'm dead, I'm so totally completely dead, please, when they bury me, let it say on my headstone: Here lies Feliks Lukasiewicz, a total professional reporter, totally cool and really handsome guy. Goodbye cruel world!*
"Feliks! You jerk! What the hell did you think you were doing outside my house you wanker?"
"Arthur!"
*Like, thank you god, someone to save me~*
"I don't have any time to deal with you right now, be lucky I've got a lot to do today, Feliks, but run into me again, and I'll snap your arm like a pretzel stick. Got it?"
"I totally do, ha-ha, yeah, yup, like a pretzel stick; I will NEVER do it again…ever! Bye-bye~"
As Sadiq walked away he eyed Arthur carefully, he also walked around him like there was a force field keeping Sadiq from coming too close. Arthur was confused as to why he did it, and he thought on it a bit before coming back to reality, to get back to talking to Feliks.
Who was running away again! As soon as Sadiq turned his back on him he got off the ground and kept running. There was no way in hell he was hanging around to get yelled at after his near death experience with Sadiq Adnan, oh no sir. And he was fast, Arthur didn't even try to go after him, he figured he'd just let him go and then confront him at school tomorrow.
"Jeez, what the hell is wrong with this week, if this keeps up all year I might die before I graduate…"
"Arthur, did you talk to Feliks, what was he doing, aru?"
*Sigh*
"He ran away, so I didn't get a chance to find out why he followed us and was listening in on our conversation…little that there was."
"Oh…so I guess we're going to have to talk to him tomorrow…and I guess…we'll wait to talk later too, seeing as who knows what kind of damage control we'll have to do tomorrow if Feliks runs his mouth…jeez, such a pain! Besides, it's kind of late and I have homework to do…so I guess, maybe we can talk over the weekend? That might work out much better!"
"Uh, y-yeah, sure. Why not…so I guess I'll see you Saturday then?"
"Right."
As Arthur and Yao walked back to Arthur's house both worried as to what Feliks would be spreading tomorrow for new gossip. Though Arthur didn't linger on that long, after he got Yao's coat and said his goodbye, his thoughts went back to why Sadiq walked around him…
"Why? Why did he do it? As one of the three gang leaders in this town why did he walk around me, why not just keep going straight, I'm no threat to him, I've never even talked to him. I got mugged by one of his members before…back then…b-but I've never done anything to get his attention! Let alone his…his what? Was him walking around me, fear? Curiosity? Suspicion? What?*
"Damn! Screw it, I'm freaking tired. I'm just going to bed, screw all this crap, I have other things to worry about and think about. I'll do my homework during my free period tomorrow, so goodnight…"
…
Arthur looked around as he realized how empty everything was…to say goodnight to an empty house, to no one at all. He slowly moved over to the couch and even slower slumped to his knees and placed his face on the cushions, wrapping his arms around his head. And for the first time in a long time, Arthur started to cry.
A/N:
I have no excuses, I lost the will to write…I go through anime moods like I go through music moods. One minute I'm really into One piece, the next I'm re-watching Durarara! And now I'm going out of Durarara! And catching up in Naruto, so seeing as I'm still not fully in a Hetalia mood I question whether or not this chapter was at all good :/ I kind of just went with what I'm feeling this could go, which is different from where it was going 6 (7?) months ago…change in ideas, seeing as I was way more active when I was in school, now I'm kind of just moseying along. But whatever, here we go….
I do NOT own Hetalia nor did I create any of the characters, this is all fan created material, so please don't hate me ^ ^
Seeing as this is a Hetalia story the characters introduced are as followed:
Feliks Lukasiewicz - Poland (cliché gossip monger? I think I did, but what else can he be? Head cheerleader? I think not!)
Sadiq Annan - Turkey (and the final gang leader is revealed! So that makes it: Gil, Ivan and Sadiq, anyone saw that coming? And I will eventually tell you Ivan and Sadiq's gang names, but for now we just have Gil's)
And finally in mention:
Toris Lorinaitis - Lithuania (poor Lithuania always Poland's tool)
Feliks' ringtone is "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry
No translations, wouldn't even know what to put for Polish or Turkish, besides, I think I put a good amount of Valley Girl in here, like totally.
NOTE: please tell me if you catch spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, etc. I will re-read all of the chapters multiple times before submitting it, but just in case one sneaks by me, I will be ever so grateful to have them pointed out, nothing makes me angrier than a typo (other problems) , and I'll be embarrassed, but the sooner they're found the quicker I can correct them. Thank you :)