AN: so I shouldn't be starting a new story but anasthaeziiya's idea from tumblr ate my brain so lol, here.

It'll be FACE family with AmeRus and a few background pairings, will be triggering in other chapters but not so much in the first one!

Gigglesnort. Someone needs to physically restrain me.

This is all an accident.

A misunderstanding.

He shouldn't be here.

"Ivan..."

The other boy raises his eyes slowly to meet Alfred's, his teeth are gritted and Alfred pretends he doesn't see the tears in those odd purple eyes. "Alfred," Ivan hisses. "I would like for you to leave, now."

There's a lump in Alfred's throat that keeps getting bigger and a roaring in his ears that might just be the wind rattling against the broken window pane. Ivan's room is so much bigger than his but he sees now how empty it is, how there are cobwebs hanging from every rafter and mould and damp and what he's fairly sure are rat droppings in the corner. There's nothing homely about this room, nothing warm.

He looks back up at Ivan who's trembling, Ivan who's shaking, Ivan who's not supposed to be like this. He wonders if the alternative - the reason he came here in the first place would have been any easier. He notices the long sleeves, the way Ivan's coat hangs off him in places, wonders if anyone else had noticed. (He knows in his heart they haven't and if they have they've looked away, averted their gaze, keep calm and carry on as Dad would say)

There's a hole in Ivan's blanket and he stares at it (it's thin, too thin to keep him warm in this big empty room with its broken windows - Alfred wonders why he's suddenly so concerned)

"Leave." Ivan growls but it doesn't sound threatening it sounds desperate.

Alfred closes his eyes.

This isn't right.

He shouldn't be here.

"Mr Jones, if you do not sit down within the next five minutes I will be forced to disembowel you," Mr Beilschmidt snapped.

Alfred giggled, there was a vein pulsing in Mr Beilschmidt's neck. "I'm pretty sure that's illegal, sir."

Mattie tugged his sleeve, "Al, sit down." He hissed, "If you get detention again Dad will kill you."

Mattie was right, as usual and Alfred sighed, dropping in to his seat and glaring at his brother. In front of him Kiku and Chelles (his best friend's aside from Mattie) shot him identical grins and the entire class were sniggering, well, the entire class except the creepy Russian kid sat alone at the front. Personally, Alfred thought his impression of their history teacher was perfect.

"Don't start anything," Mattie whispered, nudging him as Mr Beilschmidt began to drone on about the Soviet Union.

"Awh, Mattie, you think so little of me!" he hissed back.

His brother rolled his eyes and Chelles leant back, her long dark hair brushing against Alfred's desk. "This is so boring." She hissed. Alfred nodded in agreement. World history was Alfred's least favourite subject, he just didn't get why he should care about stuff that happened a million years ago in other countries. Then again he didn't get why they needed to learn things like algebra and calculus. Or about books written about white whales a hundred years ago. Mattie shot him a warning look and Alfred sighed, sitting back. His Dad would kill him if he got another detention from Mr Beilschmidt.

He could make one lesson without doing anything hilarious, right?

Okay so he made it half way through.

"We don't need to learn about this, sir," He interjected. "We could just ask Ivan. He's a Commie, right?"

Ivan stiffened visibly and Mr Beilschmidt sighed, "Alfred, apologise."

But Ivan spoke up before Alfred could say anything. "Nyet, it is no matter," he said, creepy grin fixed firmly on his face. "I am sure Alfred was just joking, da?"

Alfred sniggered. "Da, Ivan." Stupid Commie.

Mr Beilschmidt shook his head, "Alfred go to the office please."

"What? But he said it was okay!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Office. Now."

From his seat at the front Ivan smiled at him smugly. Alfred stood up with a huff, "Fine." he growled, snatching up his bag and storming out of the room, pausing beside Ivan's desk to knock his books off and kick his bag away.

"ALFRED!" Mr Beilschmidt roared as Alfred took off down the hallway with a cackle.

It was worth the detention.

He dawdled on his way to the main office, dropping in on Mr Vargas the art teacher for a quick chat ("Oh, Alfred! You shouldn't torture poor Luddy! He has a difficult job you know!") And taking the long way across the playing fields. When he finally reached the office the guidance councillor/Vice Principle greeted him not with a dark look but with a smile.

"Ah! Alfred, I was just about to send for you, aru!" Yao said with a grin.

"Oh, well great!" (Did this mean he was off the hook?) "How come?"

"We have a new boy starting in your grade today; I thought you would be a good candidate to show him around...Even if you are not the best influence."

Alfred grinned, "Sure! Where is he?"

"With the headmaster, he will be out in a minute." Then Yao frowned, "Why are you here, Alfred?"

"Uh...Well..."

Yao narrowed his eyes, "Alfred?"

"I may have been sent out of Mr Beilschmidt's class..."

"Again Alfred? What is your problem with that class, aru?"

Alfred shrugged, smiling winningly and Yao rolled his eyes. "We will talk about this later, Alfred." He said with a stern look. Luckily for Alfred the new boy chose that moment to appear. He was shorter than Alfred, with light brown hair and bright green eyes.

"Hi, I'm Alfred!"

The new boy smiled shyly, taking the hand Alfred offered. "Toris, it's nice to meet you, Alfred." Toris had a slight accent and Alfred frowned.

"Thought you'd transferred from Pennsylvania?"

Toris chuckled nervously, "I'm from Lithuania originally."

"Oh cool!" (That was somewhere in Europe, right?) "How old were you?" he asked, leading Toris out of the office.

"Ten. It was a bit of a change," he answered.

"I'll bet!"

He chattered with Toris as he showed him round the school, introducing him to a few teachers and filling him in on who was nice and who was strict. He learnt that Toris had moved because his father had got a new job at the same company his dad worked at and that he had two brothers, one in elementary school, the other in middle school. The bell for lunch rang just as Alfred was finishing the door.

"Great!" he cried, "I'm starving, plus I can introduce you to everyone else!" he led Toris to the canteen, still chatting merrily to him.

"So you'll be okay with most of the kids here, they're all pretty nice but if you have any problems you come to me, right?" Alfred said as they queued to get their lunches. It was true; their school was a fairly safe place, most of the students were fairly friendly.

Toris laughed, "Right."

Mattie, Kiku and Chelles were already sat at their usual table and Alfred waved enthusiastically as they made their way over. "Hey, everyone! This is Toris, he's new!"

Mattie and Kiku smiled politely and Chelles grinned, "Hi, I'm Chelles, well it's Michelle but no one's allowed to call me that. This is Kiku and this is Mattie. Nice to meet you!"

Toris smiled nervously as he sat down, "Hi."

"So anyway, as I was saying, you'll be pretty okay with everyone here." Alfred said, taking a bite of his sandwich and scanning the crowded lunchroom. His eyes fell on a solitary figure at the other end of the room and he huffed. "Okay, maybe there's one guy you should watch out for."

Toris followed his gaze and yelped,"Ivan Braginsky!"

"Oh my god dude, how did you know that? Are like psychic or something?"

"No-No, he went to my old school."

"Oh."

Toris laughed and shook his head. "He was terrifying."

"Dude, he is terrifying," Alfred corrected.

"Yeah," Chelles hissed, leaning closer to them, dark eyes bright. "He broke Mr Beilschmidt's brother's arm last month just for touching his scarf!"

Toris shuddered, "He got kicked out of my old school after almost killing a boy in eighth grade. We were in sixth."

"Oh my god, what a psycho!" Alfred giggled.

"Al, you shouldn't be so mean about him," Mattie muttered. "And besides, Gilbert is really annoying."

"Your brother is really annoying; does that mean I can break his arm, Mattie?" Chelles asked with a smirk.

Mattie seemed to consider this for a few moments, "Hey! That's just mean." Alfred said, "Besides, not like you could break my arm anyway."

"Wanna bet?"

Kiku rolled his eyes, "If you two are going to arm wrestle again I'll go sit with Kaoru and Emil."

"Killjoy," Alfred muttered with a small smile at the Japanese boy. Glancing over at Toris he realised his new friend was still staring at Ivan so he turned to glance at the Russian. "Something wrong, Toris?"

"No," Toris smiled awkwardly. "Just...It's weird seeing him again."

"Don't worry about him, Toris," Chelles said warmly. "We'll protect you from the big bad Russian! Right, guys?"

"Yeah!"

Two weeks after Toris moved to their school and it was like he'd always been there. He got on well with everyone, fitted right in to Alfred's circle of friends.

They were sitting in the canteen when it happened, when Alfred's life changed forever. Chelles was telling them about the disastrous date she'd been on the night before and everyone (including Kiku) was trying not to crack up too loudly.

"So then right, he goes 'Oh, Michelle, you are even more beautiful than the stars in the sky' and this guy who looked exactly like Mr Vargas came out of nowhere and attacked him! It was insane! So then-"

She was interrupted by the loud arrival of Kiku's cousin who skidded to a halt beside their table panted, "I...I just heard that that Russian kid bought a gun. Emil's brother and Mathias saw him and asked why and he wouldn't answer and we think he's going to shoot up the school!"

"What?"

Kaoru took a steadying breath. "Well it's just he hates everyone, right? And I told a couple of other kids and they think so too, I mean why else would he need a gun?"

"Maybe he wants to take up hunting?" Mattie suggested weakly.

"Has anyone said anything to the teachers?" Kiku asked, watching his cousin intently.

Kaoru nodded, "But they said they had no evidence so they couldn't do anything!"

"That's bullshit!" Alfred cried, "So what we just wait for that crazy Ruskie to shoot us all to pieces?"

"Don't jump to conclusions, Al," Mattie said.

Kiku nodded, "He is right, Alfred. We don't know anything about why Ivan would have done this."

"Well I'm damn sure going to find out!"