Kind of Homo: Chapter 10

July, Age 10

.

"Okay, so why is it that you have to wear so much sunscreen, but Alfred gets off all willy-nilly?" Francis asked as he glanced over his shoulder, before smearing a blob on Gilbert's back. Antonio sat on the tile next to them, chatting away with Lovino who was snacking on a tomato.

From the lawn chair he was sitting on, Matthew shrugged as he finished applying lotion to his pale, but already pinkening, arms.

Alfred swung an arm around his brother's neck and chuckled. "I guess I'm just lucky! I don't sunburn like Mattie here does!"

Antonio cut off midconversation with Lovino and turned to the boys. "Oh yeah, Gilbert gets crazy bad sunburns! I'm surprised your even taking your shirt off amigo!"

The albino quirked an eyebrow and flexed his barely-there-muscles. "I gotta show off my guns. A little sun is no match for my awesomeness!"

Matthew tugged at the hem of his tank top. "Yeah, I'm not sure that's a good idea for me. The last time I got sunburned, I didn't want to move for a week!"

Gilbert rolled his eyes and patted the boy's head. "Oh Birdie, if there is anything I've learned from you in the last few months, is that you are wayyyy over dramatic!"

Matthew, who had gotten much more comfortable (not completely yet) with the trio since the day he spent with Gilbert back in March, raised his eyebrows. "I am?" He was genuinely perplexed to hear this, for he was speaking to one of the biggest drama queens he knew.

"Oh, yeah definitly!"

Lovino and Francis shared glanced and rolled their eyes. Antonio chuckled into the back of his hand.

Alfred nodded and stretched his arms above his head. "I know! Once we went sledding, but he was taking soooo long, so I shoved him down the hill before he was ready and he wouldn't talk to me for three days because it was my fault he broke his arm!"

The five boys boys listening all glanced at each akwardly, even Gilbert, who sent the younger twin a sympathetic head shake.

"Okay, well you're a jerk, and who wants to go swimming?" Francis broke the brief silence.

Toni's hand was first to go in the air, quickly followed by Gilbert bouncing on his heels. Lovino raised a brow before pushing his sunglasses over his nose and lying down on his towel. "No thanks, losers."

Matthew's eyes scanned the perimeter where most of the other kids in their class were out and about. "Um, I'm not sure I'm ready to swim yet either."

The French boy clicked his tongue and held out his hand toward the pool. "Oh come on Mathieu!"

"Yeah," Antonio commented as he stood and pulled up his red swim trunks. "It's just like that hockey thing you do!... Except the water isn't frozen!"

Gilbert and Francis both gave Antonio a deserved flick on the head as Matthew shrugged slightly. "It's not that I can't swim, I just don't want to yet." He glanced down at Lovino, who seemed to be enjoying his time in the sun. "I guess I'll just hang out with Lovino for a while."

Lovino made no indication that he heard his name mentioned, but Matthew sat down next to him anyway.

"Oh come on Matt! It's the fourth of July! The celebration of the greatest country ever!" Alfred grinned as he wrapped his towel around his neck in an attempted makeshift cape.

Matthew wrinkled his nose, disagreeing somewhat with that logic. "I'll stay here I think." Noticing the looks on his friend's faces, his cheeks pinkend and in his typical anxiousness he softly added, "for now at least."

The four others pouted for mere seconds, before Gilbert shrugged and grinned. "Well, I had an idea, but I guess we'll have to go with the next best thing!"

Antonio scratched his head. "What's the next best thing?"

Gilbert's grin grew wider, and soon they all picked up on where his gaze was directed. Antonio, Francis, and Alfred smiled in approval, but Matthew's eyes widened. "G-Gilbert I don't think that's a very good-!"

But the snowflake haired boy barely heard, for he was already scooping up the targeted Italian the best he could and trudging toward the pool.

"WHat are you DOING?!" Lovino's voiced cracked in what Gilbert assumed was fear, but he chose to ignore it at the moment because he had to focus all his energy on carrying him. They were roughly the same size but Lovino was much heavier than he looked.

"We're just going for a swim!" He cackled as he was now holding a squirming and screeching Lovino bridal style over the water.

"No! No stop it! I don't wan- I CAN'T go in the water! You disgusting, filthy moron! Let me go!" he continued screaming and sticking his hand in Gilbert's face in an attempt to make him listen. And frankly, it was kind of annoying!

A few chuckles were heard from behind, and Lovino distressingly poked his head over the albino's shoulder. With his sunglasses lost during the struggle, Lovino's eyes narrowed in on one of the accompanying parties. "Antonio, I swear on all things holy, I will never ever be your friend if you don't make him stop!"

Antonio's eyes widened and his mouth fell into a straight line. "Never be friends... Ever?"

"Ever! " Lovino tried to repeat in an intimidating way, but in reality he looked like a frightened toddler as he wrapped his arms tighter around Gilbert's neck and glanced nervously at the water.

"I thought we were having fun because this is the only way we would get you to play with us, but Gilbert, you should probably stop now!" Antonio said as walked closer to the edge of the pool where they were. Francis and Alfred followed him.

"Oh come on! He's just being a baby whose scared of the water!" Gilbert taunted, but in reality his arms were getting very tired. He bounced Lovino in his arms once and earned a hilarious shriek out of him.

As he felt Gilbert's grip loosening around him, his screwed his eyes shut and let out a pathetic, "Fine I can't swim!"

"Huh?" Francis inquired. "But your like ten, right? Like the rest of us?"

"Not everyone can swim you jerk!" The Italian defended himself as his cheeks puffed out.

Antonio smiled and leaned around Gilbert's shoulder so he could smile at the terrorized boy. "That's okay Lovi! Not everyone can, you're right!"

Gilbert glanced around for a moment before smirking. Then he chucked his younger classmate into the pool.

Alfred's and Matthew's jaws dropped. Antonio let out a high pitched squeak. Francis gripped his hair, "WHAT THE HECK GILB-!"

Lovino was under water for no more than three seconds before Gilbert dove in and fished him out. At first Lovino was so shook that he latched onto the albino like a koala, coughing up water and being grateful he was still alive. But after a moment of realization, he was distangling himself and wishing he were dead.

"Come on little boy, I saved you!" Gilbert reasoned as he tried to keep the stubborn kid from paddling off by himself into the middle of the pool where he almost drowned.

Lovino spit out some water and gasped for air. "But y-you almost killed me too!" He broke away, but his feet couldn't touch the bottom, which left him no choice but to rely on Gilbert, who luckily was the tiniest bit taller then Lovino. And with the smallest height advantage in the world, he was able to stand on his tippy toes, and as long as he kept his chin up, could breath perfectly fine too.

"Fine, take me back to the edge! Or I'll drown you!"

"Seems a bit counter productive," they heard Francis chuckle before diving into the pool himself and popping his head up from underwater right next to them.

Alfred quickly followed and jumped in too. Antonio squatted down on the edge side. "Lovi! Are you okay?"

Lovino scolwed. "Do I look okay to you, stupid!?"

"I'm not sure, but you're in the water. And holding onto Gilbert, who is almost known for being fire proof— he starts a lot of fires, did you know that?"

"Antonio."

"Anyways, that means he's one of the safest guys to be around in case of a fire, I'm not really sure if he's better than the fire department but—"

"Antonio."

"I mean, I would call him! But usually I'm with him when it happens so I actually wouldn't have to call him would I? Would save a lot of time! Plus, I don't even have a phone yet so that makes it—!

"ANTONIO WE ARE IN A POOL BEING FIRE PROOF DOESN'T HELP YOU STUPID IDIOT!"

Antonio blinked as Lovino scowled at him from across the way. During the whole event, Gilbert had waded into the shallower part of the pool, but the Italian still clung to him like his life depended on it, possibly not even noticing the change of location

The Spaniard then cocked his head to the side and grinned. He held out a thumbs up and winked, "See! You're even calling me names! I think you're going to be okay Lovi!"

Lovino's brows furrowed further and he tightened his grip on Gilbert's shoulder.

"Geez noodle kid! Chill out, and get a nail file!" The German complained, bouncing the slightly smaller boy like a father would to amuse his child.

"Stop it—! "

The argument was cut short when a shadow overhead caught them off gaurd. They both looked up in time to see Antonio jumping into the pool, right above where they were standing, screaming "CANNONBALL!"

All three boys were sent underwater, only to resurface seconds later with a lot of coughing, spitting, and yelling.

"Toni you mother trucker!" Gilbert gurggled as he angrily blinked his eyes, trying to regain his vision from the chlorine that was burning through his head.

"Are you INSANE!?" Lovino growled and latched onto the poolside, where he, thankfully, drifted to naturally in the whole echange. He pulled himself onto the ledge before spitefully kicking water at the Spaniard.

"Hehe, sorry amigos," he innocently chuckled, his eyes covered by his dripping hair.

"Lovinoooo! Dont let Toni's stupidity stop you from playing with us!" Francis cried dramatically from the deeper end, where he easily floated on his back.

"Oooooo Lovi was in the water?!"

All at once, each member of the trio broke into a grin and poked their heads up. "Feli!"

Beaming, Feliciano strolled up with an exasperated Ludwig and an indifferent Kiku. They all held small plates of food, mainly full of fruit and a few chips.

"How did you guys get Lovi to swim!? He never swims with me!"

"Oh I'll tell you how, " Lovino hissed as he tried to get the water out of his right ear. "These crazies attacked me and almost drowned me!"

Francis waved a hand and paddled toward Feli. "Please, he almost only a little drowned."

Lovino shot him a look. "How do you only a little drown genius?"

The blonde scrutinized him with half lidded eyes before smiling slightly. "I am a genius, merci, and—!"

"Forget that!" Gilbert butted in and hit the water with his fist. "Lovino was just being a scaredy cat afraid of water!"

Lovino raised a brow and pointed at him with his toes. "I'm not scared, okay, I just can't swim!"

"Lovi you did look a tad bit scared, " Antonio shrugged a bit as he spun circles on the surface of the water with his index finger.

"Was not!"

"So, hydrophobia? " Ludwig offhandedly commented, drawing the attention of the others.

"Huh?" Antonio squinted up at him.

"Hydrophobia. He's afraid of water. Prefix hydro means water and phobia—! "

"Ludwig, dude!" Alfred held up the timeout sign. "English please!"

The albino nodded in agreement and threw up his arms, sending water at anyone walking by. "Or German at least! What is all that mumbo jumbo?!"

Ludwig narrowed his eyes and looked as if he were ready to start yelling something, but Alfred beat him to it. "Hey Kiku, whaddaya got there on that plate!" His eyes zoomed in on the target, yet he could not see very well, due to his lack of glasses.

Kiku glanced down. "I have some grapes and—!"

"GREAT!" Alfred slammed his palms on the water. "Throw me some!" He then turned up his chin and dropped his jaw, waiting for the younger boy to toss them in.

Kiku blinked and glanced at Ludwig who raised an eyebrow before plucking a raspberry into his mouth. Kiku turned back to the American. "Alfred, I don't think it's a good idea to throw fruit into the pool."

The blonde stuck out his bottom lip and flopped into his back, barely managing to keep afloat. "Why not!? It's my house!"

Kiku noticed Matthew sitting in the back, holding a thumbs up. He let out an amused sigh and followed Ludwig as he blatantly ignored Gilbert demanding him throw fruit at him too. Feliciano noticed his friends leaving, so he told his brother to have a nice swim and bounced away.

Lovino made a face and muttered something like, "Yeah right" before shaking off his dripping legs and standing up. Before he could get far though, he felt a somewhat pruney hand wrap around his ankle that stopped him in his tracks. He looked down to see a puppy eyed Antonio.

"Ugh what do you want?" He tried shaking him off in a lame attempt.

"Please let us teach you to swim! It would be fun!"

"Are you kidding me?! It will not be fun!"

"Awww I think it's kind of a bon idea!" Francis nodded,drifting closer to the pair. "It's good for you to know how to swim, and you might actually have fun!"

Lovino scowled. "Have fun with you guys!?"

Francis raised a brow in amusement. ''I mean, I'm only speaking for myself, but I'm a pretty great teacher."

Antonio beamed. "Me too!"

Gilbert cleared his throat behind them. "I don't know what these losers are talking about, since I'm clearly the awesomest one here therefore the best teacher! But I guess we can give you ONE lesson."

"YEAH SOUNDS KIND OF FUN!" Alfred gurgled as he attempted doing laps around the pool.

"Okay, step one:get in the pool." Francis ordered.

The Italian looked taken back and kicked Antonio off him. "What! No!"

The Frenchman rolled back his eyes and held out his arms. "Sorry, yes I promise I'll catch you."

Lovino held a fist to his chest and glared darkly at the group of boys. He noted Gilbert's extremely pinkening shoulders. "No! I didn't even agree to the stupid thing so no!" He spun on his heel, nearly slipping on the water when Antonio called out—

"Please play with us! I'll make it up to you! By.. Um.. "

"You can make Toni do whatever you want him to do!" Francis filled in.

Gilbert clapped his hands. "Yeah! One day, you don't feel like taking out the trash? BAM! Toni does it! Don't wanna do your homework? BOOM! Toni's on it! Getting tired of your own voice? BAM! Toni's on his way to punch ya in the mouth!"

"Yeah!" Antonio grinned before his green eyes lit up in what Lovino thought was realization. "I mean no! Not hit you! But anything else!"

Lovino crossed his arms at the compensation. "Anything?"

Francis draped an arm around a nodding Toni. "Yeah, one get out of jail free card. You can use it any day you want with no expiration!"

Lovino clicked his tongue. "Fine." He relented and dropped his bottom to the ledge again. They were on the shallow side, yet he slowly lowered himself in and approached the others even slower.

"Good, we finally accomplished step one!" Francis clapped and chuckled when Gilbert and Antonio joined in.

"Haha whatever. What comes next, Mr. Know-It-All?"

Francis looked as if he were about to continue, but Gilbert held up a hand to silence him. "I got this."

Francis crossed his arms and frowned but didn't stop him. He watched as Gilbert somehow convinced Lovino to allow him to place his hands on his stomach and hold him up much like a waiter would do with a plate. And due to the weird like gravity in the water, he wasn't heavy at all!

"Okay, Lovino. I'll hold you up and walk you around, and all you have to do right now is keep your head out of the water and move your arms like you're swimming by yourself."

Despite the cool water, Lovino's face was a light pink. "I cannot believe I'm doing this, I feel like a two year old," he muttered but did as he was instructed.

Moments passed and things seemed to be going pretty smoothly. They stayed mostly on the shallow end since it was easier for Gilbert to hold him up when his feet were flat on the ground. The self employed teacher was pretty satisfied with himself, and he was pretty sure Lovino was getting used to the rhythmic motions. He glanced up and noticed Matthew watching from the lawn chair, his legs criss crossed and a hand raised to shield his eyes from the sun. Matthew caught him looking and gave a hesitant wave before turning away. Gilbert grinned and looked to his two friends.

Antonio was watching intently and Francis was nodding along as he observed the technique. "I gotta say, Gilbert, I'm pretty impre—!"

Gilbert's mischievous wink caused the blonde to stop mid-sentence and raise a confused brow. He watched carefully as the albino removed his hands and gave the oblivious boy a light shove in the direction of the deep end.

Francis rushed toward and shoved Gilbert to the side. "What part of he can't swim DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!"

Gilbert ignored him as he watched Lovino quickly begin sinking, but Antonio was on the rescue so quick he didn't even see what the big fuss was all about.

Lovino emerged from underwater and didn't even react to the fact he was being held flush against Antonio. He was more interested in screaming his head off at the moronic idiot who tossed him in the water. "WHAT ARE YOU?! A COMPLETE IDIOT?!"

Gilbert shrugged and leaned up on the pooliside. "Well, it's like when you're teaching someone to ride a bike. You push them around and then let them go without them knowing!"

"Sure!" Francis agreed with a mock smile, before splashing Gilbert in the face. "Except you won't drown if you fall off a bike!"

"Well I don't see you with a better idea, Francis!"

"Actually I did, but you butted in like the big mouth spaz you are!"

Gilbert narrowed his brows. "You know what—!" He started, before just lunging at the other boy. It quickly turned into a full out tustle, with both of them taking turns gaining the advantage and shoving each other underwater. There was kicking, and namecalling, and spitting, and near death.

Antonio made a face. "Okay guys you can stop now!" They just continued on. "Guys?!"

Lovino, still ignoring that he and the Spaniard were holding onto each other like two Velcro monkeys, rolled his eyes. "No, just let them. At least if one of them die, we won't have to deal with them both any more."

Antonio raised his eyebrows. "Umm, Lovi I think I better do something." He dropped Lovino off at the side and gave him a pat on the head before jumping in the middle of the mess. It didn't turn out so well, and he ended up just being used as a human shield to Francis' advantage.

Lovino clicked his tongue and sighed. He let it play out for a few more minutes because he gained a sort of sick satisfaction by seeing the three of them beat the living crap out of each other. Then, being the generous boy he was, he picked up two pool toys and chuckled them one at a time. He had been aiming for Francis and Gilbert, but they both just ended up hitting the latter. Gilbert grabbed the back of his head where he was hit and spun around, shoving both Francis and his human shield away as he did. "What was that?!"

Lovino ignored the stupid question and allowed his eyes to scan the backyard where kids were playing in the sprinklers and running around with water guns. The parents were all gathered by the grill near the house, seemingly tuning everyone else out. "Okay, just— can any of you morons actually swim?" They all nodded. Lovino narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Fine. Prove it "

The other three, as if completely forgetting they were just beating the daylights outta each other, lined up on one side before showcasing their swimming style for the younger boy. Lovino watched in an unimpressed manor as Francis and Antonio lamely doggy paddled and Gilbert just threw his limbs around and still managed to stay afloat somehow.

"Okay stop!" Lovino groaned, and tossed his arms up when they all gave him their attention. "You guys call that swimming!?"

"Well yeah," Antonio nodded.

"If you're not dead at the bottom, I'm pretty sure it's swimming you delusional chicken nugget. " Gilbert assured him and Francis actually agreed.

Lovino shook his head. "No, that's a load of crap. That's not swimming, it's flapping your arms around like a crippled duck trying to swim."

Francis raised his arms him in an annoyed manor. "It so counts— hey Matthew! Come here for a second!"

Mathew's eyebrows raised up and he adjusted his glasses on his nose before approaching. His shoulders and cheeks had a pink hue to them already. "What is it guys..?"

Francis pointed accusingly at Lovino. "He says that doggy paddling doesn't count as swimming!"

Antonio placed his hands on his hips and held up his chin. "Yeah, I think it counts!"

Gilbert punched the water. "Tell him that he's wrong and we're right, Birdie!"

Matthew took a step back and felt the stress rising. Gilbert, Antonio, and Francis were staring at him expectantly and Lovino was just narrowing his eyes. Luckily, he was spared the responsibility because his mother calling his name from the house caught his attention.

"Matthew? Have you seen your brother anywhere ? Because I need— nevermind that. Can you just come here instead please?"

Matthew glanced around before remembering that Alfred was, in fact, in the pool with the others still. Matthew held up his finger in a silent gesture asking her to wait, and strolled around the pool. He leaned over and grabbed hold of the snorkel sticking out of the water, fishing out Alfred as well.

"Mattie! What are ya doing! I just found my Army Guy that I lost last month!" He groaned, pulling off the goggles that he must have put on while no one was paying attention.

"Has Alfred ever gone that much time without people paying attention to him?.." Lovino whispered to no one in particular.

Matthew ignored that. "Mom needs you." He said and pointed at the house where she was waiting with another one of their classmates.

He groaned and pulled himself out of the pool before sprinting over. There she stood with Arthur, and Alfred raised a brow in a little bit of confusion and ammusment.

The others watched as Matthew and Alfred's mother pushed the boys toward the door before rejoining the other adults. Alfred, with his hands on Arthur's shoulders, stopped them both at the threshold of the door and called across the yard. "Hey Gilbert! I'm taking Artie to the bathroom, come on guys!"

Gilbert and the rest of his gang immediately jumped out of the pool, Antonio snagging Lovino's arm on the way. Gilbert glanced over his shoulder and waved Matthew along. "Come on Birdie!"

Matthew shrugged. "I don't have to go to the bathroom though."

Gilbert snorted. "None of us do! Come on! It's your house what are you worried about!" He then ran off without waiting to see if he'd follow. Luckily, Matthew did end up following, and he walked in the house just in time to hear Arthur shout "Don't wait right outside!" Before slamming the door.

"You know what would be funny?" Francis snickered as Matthew approached the group.

"Oh I can only imagine, " Lovino sarcastically said as he glanced around the room, never having been in Alfred's home before.

"No," Francis shook his head. "If we pulled a prank on the Burnt Crumpet in ther—!"

"I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!" could be heard from the other side of the door.

The boys broke out into laughter, beside from Matthew, who was too busy worrying over the amount of water being dripped onto the floor. He ran off to fetch a towel, and when he came back the sink was running in the bathroom. He wasn't sure why the boys were getting a kick out of waiting for Arthur to finish peeing, but he just decided to leave it at that they were weirdos.

When the Brit exited the room, he immediately stepped in a puddle that was right outside the door. He stumbled foward, straight into Matthew who fell back and dropped the towels everywhere. Both boys sat on the floor covered in towels, annoyed, and a little embarrassed as their friends laughed at them.

"Did you enjoy your pee?" Alfred asked as he squatted down in front of Arthur.

Arthur scowled and turned to Matthew. "Sorry Matthew." He picked up the towels and mopped up the floor before looking back at Alfred. "And no, not really. All your mom did was ask you to show me where the bathroom was, not bring a whole party with you!"

Alfred shrugged. "I thought it would be more fun this way."

Arthur adjusted his t-shirt and stood up. "Oh yeah. Because I can't use the restroom without your guys' support." he turned to head back outside but both Alfred and Francis jumped at him.

"Wait Arthur! This is the first time you've been in my house! Come look at my bedroom!"

"No thanks!"

"Come on buddy!" Francis smiled sweetly, and Arthur couldn't help but destest how fake the smile was. "Let's gooooo!" And before Arthur could even fight back, both blondes were dragging him down the hall with Gilbert and Matthew following behind and Antonio dragging a whining Lovino along.

Once entering the room, Alfred released him and did a somersault onto his bed. He pointed to a poster on his wall with his foot. "That's my Captain America poster, and that's my George Washington poster—"

"And you just got water all over your bed, genius." Arthur snapped.

Alfred glanced down and threw his bed back. "Ughhh! Whatever it will dry."

Antonio turned to Lovi next to him. "See? Arthur is usually mean, but he just complimented Alfred even though he did something dumb! Maybe he's finally going to change for the better!"

Lovino stared blankly at him. It was unbelievable how his smile was actually genuine; his eyes squinted in the way they always did when he made that expression. His skin was slightly flushed due to the heat, but his darker skin tone made it almost barely noticable. His wet hair was dripping down his forehead and the green of his eyes looked a tad bit darker than usual in the dim lighting, yet they still sparkled. Everything about him, it just, couldn't keep Lovino from asking the question: "Have you always been this stupid?"

Antonio's smile dropped for a split second but it quickly came back when he cocked it to the side. "Oh Lovi, you'd have to ask Gilbert or Francis that because I don't known if I remember!"

Lovino nodded. "Right okay. Hey Frenchie, has Antonio always been this stupid?"

Francis pretended to think. "Yup, definitely "

"For sure," Gilbert also added in.

"He might have actually gotten stupider over the years," Arthur threw in as he walked toward the door.

Lovino nodded. "You're right Antonio! I think he is becoming nicer."

Antonio half smiled. Lovino wasn't quite sure why he was smiling but he didn't like it. "Okay morons, time to head back outside!" He announced as he followed Arthur out and pushed Matthew along side them.

The rest of the Fourth of July turned out alright. They all ran around on the slipping slide and played on the tire swing. They even had an intense water balloon fight with a group of other kids where Yao, a short Chinese boy, claimed victorious somehow. (He didn't have a lot of brawns, but he had a lot of brains and enough sass to make up for it).

They played Marco Polo in the pool with the rest of the class, and at one point Matthias got so frustrated with losing so much that he grabbed the hose and began spraying everyone down with the cold water. (Lukas was actually the mastermind behind all of it, telling him to take out the kids he didn't like. Gilbert was the first to go.)

Once all the food was actually done, the kids grabbed their flimsy red, white, and blue paper plates, dropped some grub on it and ran off to find some comfy places to eat in the grass. A game of Never-Have-I-Ever broke out, resulting in Gilbert and Elizabeta getting in fight over whether Gilbert had actually ever scored higher than an eighty-three percent on an assignment before. (Ludwig could actually vouch for his brother knowing fully well Gilbert had scored at least a ninety-three before on a spelling test, but decided to keep that information for himself. He liked seeing his brother getting his butt handed to him by Elizabeta.)

As dusk rolled around, everyone was getting anxious for the fireworks. Unfortunately, the father of the household forgot to pick them up like his wife specifically asked him to, so they all had to settle for watching the ones going off across the trees, which luckily weren't too far away. (Alfred blamed his father's Canadian heritage for the screw up.)

They all settled down, and changed into their clothes, knowing they would be starting any minute. Antonio laid out his Ninjago blanket for him and his friends to share. Francis settle down in the middle and the other two sat down on either side. Antonio patted the spot next to him and Lovino feigned annoyance before sitting down.

Francis draped his arms around the two boy's shoulders. "Another fourth of July with you guys!"

From next to them, Lovino snickerd. "Sap."

Francis smirked. "Don't worry Lovino! We didn't forget about cute little ol' you!" He leaned over Antonio and gave Lovi a big fat kiss on the cheek.

Lovino's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and he pulled away. "EW GROSS!"

Francis, Gilbert and Antonio were already laughing though and the Italian continued to rub his cheek with the sleeve of his hoodie.

"What's going on here?" A newly dressed Alfred smiled with Matthew and Arthur strolling up behind him.

"Francis kissed Lovino!" Gilbert huffed out and doubled over again. Lovino noticed a few parents glancing their way and he yelled, "STOP LYING GILBERT!" Which just set the boys off for a third time.

Matthew grimaced as he adjusted his sweatshirt, the sunscreen not quite doing it's job that day. "Don't people usually kiss on New Years?"

Arthur crossed his arms. "Don't look at me." He then snatched the America Flag patterned blanket out of Alfred's hands and spread it across the ground. Alfred plopped down and grabbed the two blonde's hands, pulling them down on either side of him.

As the other boys chatted next to him, Alfred turned to Arthur. "So what was your favorite part of today?"

Arthur stared up at the sky, trying to pick out constellations. "I don't know. Playing Marco Polo and just getting out of the pool illegally was nice."

Alfred waved a hand. "Well my favorite part was when we were fighting over the crocodile floaty and I shoved you off! When you came up out of the water, your face was priceless!" He chuckled just thinking about it.

Arthur scowled and shoved his shoulder. "I-I let you push me off!"

The American crossed his arms and smiled slyly. "Suuuurrre you did Artie."

Completely ignoring the newfound argument next to him, Gilbert conducted a quick inspection of Matthew's cheeks. "Sun gotchya didn't it?"

Matthew squinted his eyes. "Not nearly as bad as you! You look cooked! Does it hurt?"

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Psh nah." He boasted, but held back a whimper when Francis tightened his grip on his shoulder. Matthew noticed the grimace and looked away.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"That you're burnt?"

"Dude!" Gilbert chuckled. "It's not like you control the sun. Besides God, I'm like the only one awesome enough to do that!"

Matthew blinked. "You think you could control the sun?"

"Sure! If I wanted to!"

"But it burnt you. You wanted to be burnt?"

"Uh, yes!"

Matthew's lips couldn't help but twitch into a smile at his pathological liar of a friend. "Oh okay." Gilbert grinned back.

Francis and Antonio were also in a discussion, as Lovino chatted away with Emma and Elizabeta on the other side.

"Ya know, watching fireworks is suppose to be romantic," Francis said and leaned into Toni.

Antonio stared out at the campfire a little ways in front of them. "Really?"

Francis rolled his eyes and sat back up. "Yeah, haven't you seen any movie ever?"

Antonio shrugged and pulled his hood over his head as he watched his mother greet his brother at the gate. His brother often showed up late, and Antonio was surprised he actually came to hangout with the neighborhood families rather than stay out with his friends. Glancing down at Arthur, he noted that none of his brothers shows up except for Peter, who spent the whole day with their mother.

"Sure, I've seen loooots of movies!"

"But you've never seen any with fireworks? "

Antonio held a hand to his chin. "Maybeee.."

The French boy just sighed. "Ugh nevermind." Then he turned to Gilbert to make the same comment.

Antonio just sat there in silence for a moment before tapping Lovino's shoulder. He turned to him in his oversized purple sweater with his arms wrapped around his knees and a questioning look on his face. "What? Can't you see I'm talking to Emma?"

Antonio gave a side smile and waved at Emma, who happily waved back. He then looked back at Lovino and said, "You know what I just learned?"

"Huh? "

"Fireworks are suppose to be romantic."

At that very moment, the first firework went off, bursting into a giant green explosion above their heads. Lovino stared at him for a moment, before puffing out his cheeks. "Yeah right." Was all he said before standing up and walking away.

Relatively quick update! As soon as my Holiday Break was over, I finally got motivation to write this! Funny how I love to torture myself because now school is killing me.

Anyways, I hate to make promises on quick updates, but I already have ideas for the next two chapter whereas I usually have writers block, so hopefully I can work.

And I know I never said it before (I think at least) but I think it's pretty clear that this story takes place in America. (Sorry! It's all I know!) And sorry if things seem a bit off, there was a four month time skip from last chapter so some characters like Matthew have been evolving offscreen.

~Iwilldrinkthiscoffee

1/9/18