Ivan Moves Around A Lot
Or First Impressions, because I can't come up with something else that isn't as cliched, Where Ivan honors the ancient tradition of introducing yourself to the neighbors again and again and again.
Word Count: 3,541
I. The Kirkland-Bonnefoys
Katyusha nervously rang the doorbell and adjusted the container of pudding in her arms.
“Do we have to do this?” Natalia complained, “We do this every time and it’s boring.”
“Of course we do,” she smiled down at her sister, “How else are you supposed to make new friends?”
“We never stay long enough to make ‘friends,’” she muttered, “and there are never any other kids anyway.”
“Well, maybe this time will be different.”
“You say that every time and it never is.”
Ivan wasn’t paying attention to this as he was staring at the rosebushes along the side of the house. He could have sworn he saw them moving before…
“Ow! Al, that’s my foot!” one of the bushes hissed.
“Sh! Quiet Matt! You’ll give us away, mate!” another hissed back.
“Both of you shut up!” a female bush hissed at both of them.
“Kat,” Ivan tugged on his sister’s arm, “the rosebushes are talking…”
“Don’t be silly Ivan. Plants can’t talk.” She consoled, patting her little brother on the head.
“But…” just then the door opened, revealing an older, blonde man with long wavy hair and a sort of beard on his face.
“Well well, what a lovely surprise,” he basically purred, “Can I help you with anything?”
“Hello!” Katyusha smiled and offered him the pudding, “We just moved in next door, so, uh, we thought we’d come over and introduce ourselves.” The man took the pudding and continued staring at her. “My name’s Katyusha Braginski,” she gestured to her sister, “my younger sister Natalia,” a hand was placed on Ivan’s head, though he was still staring at the rosebushes, “and this is Ivan.”
“Trés magnifique,” he exclaimed before wrapping a spare arm around the young woman’s shoulders, “My name is Francis Bonnefoy. Why don’t you come inside so we can get even more acquainted?”
“I’m fifteen and my dad is in the military…” came the rehearsed response.
“I’m married and have four children, who are around here somewhere,” he laughed it off, “Come in come in; we can still have coffee, non?”
She smiled awkwardly but let him usher her inside, shutting the door and leaving Natalia and Ivan to fend for themselves.
“Now what?” Natalia asked. Ivan just shrugged. The rosebushes shouted “NOW!”
Four kids jumped out of the rosebushes and started pelting them with water balloons and spraying them with squirt guns. It was a hot summer day, so it felt nice, but it was still pretty rude, so Ivan tried his best to protect Natalia from the evil rosebush savages that lived in the area. He tried to back away, but that accidentally pushed his little sister off the stoop they were standing on causing her to take a tumble off the stoop, onto the cold, unforgiving brick walkway below.
“Natalia!” he shouted a moment to late as he was forced to watch his sister fall to her certain demise. Only not quite so much, as one of the savages darted away from the mob at the last second and caught her before she hit the ground, causing his cowboy hat to go flying.
“Are you alright there Little Miss?” he asked her with a blinding grin on his face. Natalia blushed a little but nodded.
“We did it mate!” the brown haired savage shouted, “We saved the princess from the dragon!”
“Hooray!” the other two shouted as the savage still holding his sister stood up and helped her to her feet.
“Eh? Dragon?” Ivan was confused, “I am not a dragon, I’m Ivan. And she is not a princess, she’s Natalia. We just moved in next door.”
“No,” The cowboy exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around his sister, “You are the terrifyingly powerful dragon that has been kidnapping young maidens and forcing them to eat scones, uh, Ivansauruscopter. This is the Princess Nataliabelle from the kingdom of Justoverthereoplis who is very beautiful,” the female savage squirted him with her gun, “But not as beautiful as Adventurer Angelchelle. We are the Adventure Squad, and we were sent to defeat you and rescue the princess and save the world!”
“Eh?” Ivan was starting to think his new neighbors were crazy.
“We’re just playing around mate,” one of the savages winked at him, “don’t take it too seriously.”
“Al, I told you, you can’t just make just make random people the villain,” the savage who looked just like the cowboy said.
“But we need a villain! And call me by my adventure name!”
“Hero Adventurer Al the Awesome,” he sighed, “we can’t just force people to play with us.”
“Why not? We’re pretty awesome. They should be honored to be included in our game.”
“We should have asked first,” the girl said to Ivan, “we’re sorry we dragged you into our game. Would you like to play with us?”
“Eh?”
“I’m Alfred Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the cowboy introduced himself by taking his sister’s hand and placing a kiss on it, “otherwise known as Hero Adventurer Al the Awesome!”
“I’m Matthew Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the other blonde said with a smile, “um, Adventurer Mattnuk!”
“Jake Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the other boy smiled, “Adventurer Jakearoo!”
“And I’m Angelique Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the girl stated, “Adventurer Angelchelle!”
“Ivan Braginski, and that’s my sister Natalia.”
“Nice to meet ya,” Al the Awesome saluted, “so you wanna play or what?”
No one outside his family had ever offered to play with Ivan before. Usually there either weren’t any children his age in the neighborhood he moved into or they all didn’t bother with him because they knew he was going to move soon. As a result, Ivan also didn’t have any real attachments to people outside of his sisters, but maybe he could change that. Natalia was already warming up to Al, going so far as to cling to him instead of Ivan, for which the latter was eternally grateful.
“Sure, we’d love to play with you.”
***
II. The Wangs
Ivan hated moving in the winter. It was already halfway through the school year, so no one was willing to make new friends again, and it was cold, so he couldn’t see the neighborhood before he had to move again.
Still, Katyusha dragged them next door with the pudding and was knocking on the dragon-shaped knocker like always, and Ivan was thoroughly miserable.
At least he was until the really pretty lady answered the door.
“Can I help you, aru?”
Oh, the voice was too deep. Really pretty man then.
“Hello!” His sister said, handing him the pudding, “My name’s Katyusha Braginski. This is Ivan and Natalia. We just moved in next door and thought we should come over and say hi.”
“Yes, hello,” he took the pudding and gave them a skeptical look over. “…Do you want to come in?”
“Well it is a tad nippy,” the three of them made their way inside, kicking off their shoes as the man shut the door.
“Wang Yao,” he introduced himself as the trio took off their winter coats, “we were just about to have some tea, if you’d like to join us.”
“Thank you very much,” Katyusha smiled as Yao led his guests into the sitting room area where a kotatsu was set up with three other people already snuggled under it.
“Yao!” the youngest shouted, “Who are they?”
“Yong Soo, Kiet, Hong, these are the Braginskis. They just moved in next door," he turned to face his guests, "Kiku and Mei are out today, so you can just squeeze in with the others while I get the tea.”
Katyusha made herself comfortable next to Kiet, Natalia next to Hong, and Ivan sat at the empty space where he knew Yao would sit.
“S-so,” Kiet started, face extremely red. It was very warm under that kotatsu, “how do you like the neighborhood so far?”
“It’s lovely,” Katyusha answered, “Although we haven’t seen much of it yet, because of the snow.”
“Well, maybe later I can show you around…”
She smiled. “My dad’s in the military.”
“Burn.” Hong stated. Kiet shot him a glare while Yong Soo laughed.
“I wasn’t, I-I mean that doesn’t really…ana…”
“Kiet it’s a lost cause,” Yong Soo reached over and pat his arm, “trust me. I invented flirting.”
“Eh? Is that true?” Ivan asked.
“No.”
“Yes! Of course it’s true! And you’re going to have to move once Yao comes back…”
“No, I am perfectly content right here.”
“No seriously, he’s not going to like that…” the young Asian stood and grabbed Ivan’s arm to drag him to his side of the table, “just sit by me…”
“Here we are aru.” Yao returned with the tea and poured everyone a cup, “So how are we all getting along?”
Kiet grew even redder if that was possible and refused to make eye contact with anyone. Hong calmly sipped his tea while Natalia sniffed it suspiciously. Yong Soo was trying to keep Ivan on his side of the kotatsu. Katyusha just smiled at him.
“I think we’re getting along great!”
***
III. The Vargas’
The General had warned them against talking to the Vargas’. He told them that he knew it was polite to introduce themselves to the other families in the neighborhood to make their stay their better, but not to do that with those Italians. They were just no good.
Naturally, this made Ivan curious, and a curious Ivan was usually up to no good anyway, so why not?
He managed to sneak into their backyard through a weakness in the hedges surrounding their property. Really they should be mindful of those things if they really didn’t want anyone on their property. That’s when Ivan saw the Vargas boys.
They were taking advantage of the nice spring weather to paint outside. Each had his own canvas set up and seemed to be doing landscapes, although in Ivan’s opinion the one on the left was much better. A man with curly brown hair and bright green eyes was watching them work while he picked tomatoes from the garden. A squirrel ran by, startling the poor Russian in the bushes, making him cry out and jump away from it, insuring that the three pairs of eyes were on him when he came out of hiding.
“Wah!” the youngest screamed, “Scary bush people!”
“Antonio, save me damnit!” the other shouted as he hid behind the man, who seemed unperturbed at the intrusion into the yard.
“Hola! Who might you be?” he greeted with a smile.
“I, uh, I-I’m Ivan Braginski and I just moved in next door.”
“So what are you doing in our yard bastard!?!”
He just wanted to play; the two Vargas kids were the only children his age in the neighborhood, but he couldn’t just tell them that. What was it his sister said when things got awkward? “Uh…my dad’s in the military…”
“What does that-?”
“Really? That’s so cool; mine was too,” the man laughed. The youngest joined him while his elder scoffed and buried his face into the man’s leg. “We were having a Painting Hour. Would you like to join us?”
“Antonio you bastard! You can’t just invite him to join us!”
“Oh, right sorry. I’m Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and these are my little cousins Lovino and Feliciano Vargas. Would you like to paint with us?”
“Grandpa’s not gonna like you having random bush sneakers playing with us…” Lovino muttered.
“Ve, but it’ll be fun! We never get to play with other kids outside of school,” stated Feliciano.
Antonio just laughed, and it was infectious enough to get Ivan and Feliciano laughing in no time at all, and even Lovino cracked a smile eventually. A third canvas was set up, and Ivan Braginski spent the afternoon painting and eating pasta. It was a good day.
***
IV. The Bielschmidts
Ivan buried his face further into his scarf as the chilly autumn winds blew. The neighborhood had been quiet for the most part, but when Katyusha rang the doorbell, crashes and curses could be heard along with a shout of “Gilbert you moron,” promising this house would be much more interesting.
A not-entirely-sober albino answered the door, “Can I help you?” he asked, staring right at Katyusha’s vital regions.
“Uh, hi. My name’s Katyusha Braginski and these are my siblings Ivan and Natalia. We just moved in next door and thought we’d come over and say hello,” she offered him the pudding, but by this time another aristocratic looking man had appeared and he took it instead.
“Well hello Ms. Braginski,” the albino leered as he dragged Katyusha into the house. Ivan and Natalia followed not far behind. “May I just say it’s a thrill having you living next door from now on…”
“I’m sixteen and my dad’s in the military.”
“Never stopped me before…ow.” A lady came from out of nowhere to whack him over the head with a frying pan.
“Really Gilbert,” the other man lectured, “Ludwig can’t afford to have you go to jail yet.”
“Pft…”
“Sorry about him,” he said as he shut the door, “I’m Roderich Edelstein; the one with the frying pan is my wife, Elizaveta,” she hid the frying pan behind her back as if that would make a difference and smiled at them, “We live just down the street. Your ungracious host for the evening is Gilbert Bielschmidt.”
“Yo,” he waved a he took a sip of beer.
Roderich guided the trio into the kitchen, where a blonde woman and a blonde man were debating chocolate. The woman was holding an almost full pint of beer while the man had a gun. This probably would have disturbed Ivan if he wasn’t so used to having various weapons and vodka around the house.
“In here we have Vash and Clara. Vash also lives down the street, but Clara is just visiting from out of town.”
“Hello!” Clara greeted cheerfully as she put her beer down. Vash looked at them suspiciously.
“Who are these people? Were they at the door?”
“Yes, these are the Braginskis. They just moved in next door.”
“My condolences,” he said solemnly, “for having Gilbert as your neighbor.”
“I’m not that bad!” Gilbert shouted from the hallway. A metallic sound like some sort of cooking implement striking a skull rang out shortly afterwards.
“Rupert and the kids are playing outside,” Clara said as she got up and opened the backdoor, “the little ones can join them if they want.”
It was better than staying inside and listening to the adults, so Ivan and Natalia scampered outside to see what was going on.
A tall man and two children were playing soccer, or as much of soccer as you can with three people.
“Rupert,” Clara called sweetly from the doorway. The playing stopped as the three of them stared at the newcomers, “some more kids came over to play.”
The girl looked up at them curiously; the boy looked away and continued kicking the soccer ball around. Rupert huffed and pulled out a pipe.
“Play nicely with them, will ya?” she winked before going back inside.
“So, who’re you?” Rupert asked when he got his pipe lit.
“Ivan Braginski. This is my sister Natalia and we just moved it.”
“Ludwig Bielschmidt,” the boy announced, “this is my house. This is my cousin Heidi Zwingli. She’s a little shy.”
“My sister is too,” Ivan smiled in a way he hoped was non-threatening. He had been told he had a creepy smile. “So…you guys were playing soccer yes?”
“Football,” all three corrected.
“Well, I don’t play much of either,” he admitted.
“W-would you like to play with us?” Heidi shyly asked.
“Is that alright?”
“It’s usually us against Rupert,” Ludwig admitted, “But I guess he could use the help.”
The older man exhaled and tapped the boy's head with his pipe, “Big talk considering you’ve yet to get the ball by me, Short Stuff. Take the new kids and make some friends…not like even the four of you can beat me.”
Heidi gathered up enough nerve to stick her tongue out at him before running over and grabbing the younger Natalia’s hand to guide to where they were playing. Ludwig nodded to Ivan, who ran over shortly behind them.
They played well into the night, and although Ivan discovered he was horrible at the game, causing Ludwig the shout a few choice curses (that he had learned from his brother, or so he was told) at him that he never heard the boy utter ever again, he also discovered that playing sports with other people was a lot more fun than watching them alone.
***
Bonus: I.V. Dinner at Alfred’s
“So who are these people again?”
“They just moved in next door, mon cher. No reason to feel threatened.”
“I-I’m not threatened! I’m just wondering why they’re still here…”
“They’re here for dinner. It’s rude to try and kick them out after you invited them, non?”
“Stop twisting my words! I merely want to know why they are here in the house in the first place…”
“We never have guests over anymore.”
“We are trying to raise four kids here. We do not have time for an active social life.”
“Not like you had much of one before…”
And it went on like that for some time. Back and forth, back and forth…Ivan found Alfred’s fathers so amusing! He was glad they had invited them all for dinner after Mr. Kirkland got home.
They were all seated around the table in the kitchen, save for Mr. Kirkland and Mr. Bonnefoy, who were ‘making dinner,’ although Mr. Bonnefoy seemed to be doing most of the cooking, and Mr. Kirkland most of the skulking. Matthew assured him that this was for the better.
He was seated between Matthew and Jake, who would randomly poke him for some reason, with Angelique on Matthew’s left. Natalia had glued herself to Alfred’s side ever since meeting him outside, so he sat in between her and Katyusha. Ivan did not like this, although didn’t exactly know why.
“Dinner is served!” Mr. Kirkland shouted eventually as he and Mr. Bonnefoy brought the food to the table.
“Bon appetite.”
As soon as the food hit the table, Alfred and Jake lunged at it, gathering as much as they could on their tiny plates. Mr. Kirkland shouted some things about manners and having guests as he sat down at the end of the table between Jake and Natalia, but it was lost of the noise of their scuffle. Mr. Bonnefoy just laughed and put some of the food he was still carrying on Ivan’s, Matt’s, and Angelique’s plates while he sat at the end of the table between his daughter and Katyusha.
When Al and Jake had all they could safely fit on their plates, everyone else had at what was left in a calm manner. Alfred sniffed a piece of meat on his plate before asking, “Did Dad make this or did Papa?”
“Papa,” Mr. Kirkland responded as he dumped vegetables on Jake’s plate. He seemed to have missed those somehow.
The eldest boy tossed the meat in his mouth and picked up something else. “What about this?”
“Papa.”
“And this?”
“That was me.”
“Natalia, do you want this?”
“Alfred!” Angelique shrieked, “You can’t poison your girlfriend like that!” Al blushed as Natalia took the food from him and put it in her mouth anyway.
“She’s not his girlfriend!” Ivan found himself shouting. The break from having her constantly by his side was nice, but her being his girlfriend implied so many things Ivan didn’t want implied. Ever.
“Al and Natty sitting in a tree,” Matt hummed under his breath.
“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Jake shouted the continuation.
“Sh-shut up!” Alfred shouted, “It’s not like that. Sh-she’s just my friend…who happens to be a girl.”
“First comes love,” Matt went on anyway.
“Then comes marriage,” Angelique joined in.
“Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!” all three siblings finished in fits of laughter. Little Natalia looked positively thrilled by the idea, Alfred went even redder then before, Ivan felt himself get even redder than him, if that was possible, and Katyusha found the whole thing amusing.
“Ah, l’amour,” Mr. Bonnefoy said, staring into his wine. “It went something like that, oui mon cher?”
Mr. Kirkland coughed awkwardly and went as red as his son. “Yes, something like that. Angelique, you aren’t dating until you’re sixty.”
“Dad, that’s not fair! Shouldn’t Papa get a say?”
“Indeed I should. Angelique, you aren’t dating until you’re sixty-five.”
“That’s not fair! The boys don’t have any restrictions…”
“Quite right,” Mr. Kirkland amended, “Boys, you can’t date anyone until you’re thirty.”
“Fine by me,” Jake muttered as he picked at his potatoes. Natalia shot Mr. Kirkland a death glare, but it went unnoticed.
The rest of the dinner conversation was just as interesting, interrupted by praises to Mr. Bonnefoy’s cooking while the children poked fun at Mr. Kirkland’s. It all led up to dessert, some delicious chocolate mousse cake made by Mr. Bonnefoy, and coffee for Mr. Bonnefoy, Katyusha, and Alfred for some reason, with tea for Mr. Kirkland and hot chocolate for everyone else. Ivan and his sisters eventually had to go home when Natalia fell asleep, clinging to Alfred’s arm, at around 9:30.
Ivan was sad to go, but knew that this was going to be one summer he’d never forget.
A/N: And now I've convinced myself Al is going to grow up and marry Natalia if Ivan doesn't kill him first. :) Oh what happy days for them that lie ahead. XD
Word Count: 3,541
I. The Kirkland-Bonnefoys
Katyusha nervously rang the doorbell and adjusted the container of pudding in her arms.
“Do we have to do this?” Natalia complained, “We do this every time and it’s boring.”
“Of course we do,” she smiled down at her sister, “How else are you supposed to make new friends?”
“We never stay long enough to make ‘friends,’” she muttered, “and there are never any other kids anyway.”
“Well, maybe this time will be different.”
“You say that every time and it never is.”
Ivan wasn’t paying attention to this as he was staring at the rosebushes along the side of the house. He could have sworn he saw them moving before…
“Ow! Al, that’s my foot!” one of the bushes hissed.
“Sh! Quiet Matt! You’ll give us away, mate!” another hissed back.
“Both of you shut up!” a female bush hissed at both of them.
“Kat,” Ivan tugged on his sister’s arm, “the rosebushes are talking…”
“Don’t be silly Ivan. Plants can’t talk.” She consoled, patting her little brother on the head.
“But…” just then the door opened, revealing an older, blonde man with long wavy hair and a sort of beard on his face.
“Well well, what a lovely surprise,” he basically purred, “Can I help you with anything?”
“Hello!” Katyusha smiled and offered him the pudding, “We just moved in next door, so, uh, we thought we’d come over and introduce ourselves.” The man took the pudding and continued staring at her. “My name’s Katyusha Braginski,” she gestured to her sister, “my younger sister Natalia,” a hand was placed on Ivan’s head, though he was still staring at the rosebushes, “and this is Ivan.”
“Trés magnifique,” he exclaimed before wrapping a spare arm around the young woman’s shoulders, “My name is Francis Bonnefoy. Why don’t you come inside so we can get even more acquainted?”
“I’m fifteen and my dad is in the military…” came the rehearsed response.
“I’m married and have four children, who are around here somewhere,” he laughed it off, “Come in come in; we can still have coffee, non?”
She smiled awkwardly but let him usher her inside, shutting the door and leaving Natalia and Ivan to fend for themselves.
“Now what?” Natalia asked. Ivan just shrugged. The rosebushes shouted “NOW!”
Four kids jumped out of the rosebushes and started pelting them with water balloons and spraying them with squirt guns. It was a hot summer day, so it felt nice, but it was still pretty rude, so Ivan tried his best to protect Natalia from the evil rosebush savages that lived in the area. He tried to back away, but that accidentally pushed his little sister off the stoop they were standing on causing her to take a tumble off the stoop, onto the cold, unforgiving brick walkway below.
“Natalia!” he shouted a moment to late as he was forced to watch his sister fall to her certain demise. Only not quite so much, as one of the savages darted away from the mob at the last second and caught her before she hit the ground, causing his cowboy hat to go flying.
“Are you alright there Little Miss?” he asked her with a blinding grin on his face. Natalia blushed a little but nodded.
“We did it mate!” the brown haired savage shouted, “We saved the princess from the dragon!”
“Hooray!” the other two shouted as the savage still holding his sister stood up and helped her to her feet.
“Eh? Dragon?” Ivan was confused, “I am not a dragon, I’m Ivan. And she is not a princess, she’s Natalia. We just moved in next door.”
“No,” The cowboy exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around his sister, “You are the terrifyingly powerful dragon that has been kidnapping young maidens and forcing them to eat scones, uh, Ivansauruscopter. This is the Princess Nataliabelle from the kingdom of Justoverthereoplis who is very beautiful,” the female savage squirted him with her gun, “But not as beautiful as Adventurer Angelchelle. We are the Adventure Squad, and we were sent to defeat you and rescue the princess and save the world!”
“Eh?” Ivan was starting to think his new neighbors were crazy.
“We’re just playing around mate,” one of the savages winked at him, “don’t take it too seriously.”
“Al, I told you, you can’t just make just make random people the villain,” the savage who looked just like the cowboy said.
“But we need a villain! And call me by my adventure name!”
“Hero Adventurer Al the Awesome,” he sighed, “we can’t just force people to play with us.”
“Why not? We’re pretty awesome. They should be honored to be included in our game.”
“We should have asked first,” the girl said to Ivan, “we’re sorry we dragged you into our game. Would you like to play with us?”
“Eh?”
“I’m Alfred Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the cowboy introduced himself by taking his sister’s hand and placing a kiss on it, “otherwise known as Hero Adventurer Al the Awesome!”
“I’m Matthew Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the other blonde said with a smile, “um, Adventurer Mattnuk!”
“Jake Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the other boy smiled, “Adventurer Jakearoo!”
“And I’m Angelique Kirkland-Bonnefoy,” the girl stated, “Adventurer Angelchelle!”
“Ivan Braginski, and that’s my sister Natalia.”
“Nice to meet ya,” Al the Awesome saluted, “so you wanna play or what?”
No one outside his family had ever offered to play with Ivan before. Usually there either weren’t any children his age in the neighborhood he moved into or they all didn’t bother with him because they knew he was going to move soon. As a result, Ivan also didn’t have any real attachments to people outside of his sisters, but maybe he could change that. Natalia was already warming up to Al, going so far as to cling to him instead of Ivan, for which the latter was eternally grateful.
“Sure, we’d love to play with you.”
***
II. The Wangs
Ivan hated moving in the winter. It was already halfway through the school year, so no one was willing to make new friends again, and it was cold, so he couldn’t see the neighborhood before he had to move again.
Still, Katyusha dragged them next door with the pudding and was knocking on the dragon-shaped knocker like always, and Ivan was thoroughly miserable.
At least he was until the really pretty lady answered the door.
“Can I help you, aru?”
Oh, the voice was too deep. Really pretty man then.
“Hello!” His sister said, handing him the pudding, “My name’s Katyusha Braginski. This is Ivan and Natalia. We just moved in next door and thought we should come over and say hi.”
“Yes, hello,” he took the pudding and gave them a skeptical look over. “…Do you want to come in?”
“Well it is a tad nippy,” the three of them made their way inside, kicking off their shoes as the man shut the door.
“Wang Yao,” he introduced himself as the trio took off their winter coats, “we were just about to have some tea, if you’d like to join us.”
“Thank you very much,” Katyusha smiled as Yao led his guests into the sitting room area where a kotatsu was set up with three other people already snuggled under it.
“Yao!” the youngest shouted, “Who are they?”
“Yong Soo, Kiet, Hong, these are the Braginskis. They just moved in next door," he turned to face his guests, "Kiku and Mei are out today, so you can just squeeze in with the others while I get the tea.”
Katyusha made herself comfortable next to Kiet, Natalia next to Hong, and Ivan sat at the empty space where he knew Yao would sit.
“S-so,” Kiet started, face extremely red. It was very warm under that kotatsu, “how do you like the neighborhood so far?”
“It’s lovely,” Katyusha answered, “Although we haven’t seen much of it yet, because of the snow.”
“Well, maybe later I can show you around…”
She smiled. “My dad’s in the military.”
“Burn.” Hong stated. Kiet shot him a glare while Yong Soo laughed.
“I wasn’t, I-I mean that doesn’t really…ana…”
“Kiet it’s a lost cause,” Yong Soo reached over and pat his arm, “trust me. I invented flirting.”
“Eh? Is that true?” Ivan asked.
“No.”
“Yes! Of course it’s true! And you’re going to have to move once Yao comes back…”
“No, I am perfectly content right here.”
“No seriously, he’s not going to like that…” the young Asian stood and grabbed Ivan’s arm to drag him to his side of the table, “just sit by me…”
“Here we are aru.” Yao returned with the tea and poured everyone a cup, “So how are we all getting along?”
Kiet grew even redder if that was possible and refused to make eye contact with anyone. Hong calmly sipped his tea while Natalia sniffed it suspiciously. Yong Soo was trying to keep Ivan on his side of the kotatsu. Katyusha just smiled at him.
“I think we’re getting along great!”
***
III. The Vargas’
The General had warned them against talking to the Vargas’. He told them that he knew it was polite to introduce themselves to the other families in the neighborhood to make their stay their better, but not to do that with those Italians. They were just no good.
Naturally, this made Ivan curious, and a curious Ivan was usually up to no good anyway, so why not?
He managed to sneak into their backyard through a weakness in the hedges surrounding their property. Really they should be mindful of those things if they really didn’t want anyone on their property. That’s when Ivan saw the Vargas boys.
They were taking advantage of the nice spring weather to paint outside. Each had his own canvas set up and seemed to be doing landscapes, although in Ivan’s opinion the one on the left was much better. A man with curly brown hair and bright green eyes was watching them work while he picked tomatoes from the garden. A squirrel ran by, startling the poor Russian in the bushes, making him cry out and jump away from it, insuring that the three pairs of eyes were on him when he came out of hiding.
“Wah!” the youngest screamed, “Scary bush people!”
“Antonio, save me damnit!” the other shouted as he hid behind the man, who seemed unperturbed at the intrusion into the yard.
“Hola! Who might you be?” he greeted with a smile.
“I, uh, I-I’m Ivan Braginski and I just moved in next door.”
“So what are you doing in our yard bastard!?!”
He just wanted to play; the two Vargas kids were the only children his age in the neighborhood, but he couldn’t just tell them that. What was it his sister said when things got awkward? “Uh…my dad’s in the military…”
“What does that-?”
“Really? That’s so cool; mine was too,” the man laughed. The youngest joined him while his elder scoffed and buried his face into the man’s leg. “We were having a Painting Hour. Would you like to join us?”
“Antonio you bastard! You can’t just invite him to join us!”
“Oh, right sorry. I’m Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and these are my little cousins Lovino and Feliciano Vargas. Would you like to paint with us?”
“Grandpa’s not gonna like you having random bush sneakers playing with us…” Lovino muttered.
“Ve, but it’ll be fun! We never get to play with other kids outside of school,” stated Feliciano.
Antonio just laughed, and it was infectious enough to get Ivan and Feliciano laughing in no time at all, and even Lovino cracked a smile eventually. A third canvas was set up, and Ivan Braginski spent the afternoon painting and eating pasta. It was a good day.
***
IV. The Bielschmidts
Ivan buried his face further into his scarf as the chilly autumn winds blew. The neighborhood had been quiet for the most part, but when Katyusha rang the doorbell, crashes and curses could be heard along with a shout of “Gilbert you moron,” promising this house would be much more interesting.
A not-entirely-sober albino answered the door, “Can I help you?” he asked, staring right at Katyusha’s vital regions.
“Uh, hi. My name’s Katyusha Braginski and these are my siblings Ivan and Natalia. We just moved in next door and thought we’d come over and say hello,” she offered him the pudding, but by this time another aristocratic looking man had appeared and he took it instead.
“Well hello Ms. Braginski,” the albino leered as he dragged Katyusha into the house. Ivan and Natalia followed not far behind. “May I just say it’s a thrill having you living next door from now on…”
“I’m sixteen and my dad’s in the military.”
“Never stopped me before…ow.” A lady came from out of nowhere to whack him over the head with a frying pan.
“Really Gilbert,” the other man lectured, “Ludwig can’t afford to have you go to jail yet.”
“Pft…”
“Sorry about him,” he said as he shut the door, “I’m Roderich Edelstein; the one with the frying pan is my wife, Elizaveta,” she hid the frying pan behind her back as if that would make a difference and smiled at them, “We live just down the street. Your ungracious host for the evening is Gilbert Bielschmidt.”
“Yo,” he waved a he took a sip of beer.
Roderich guided the trio into the kitchen, where a blonde woman and a blonde man were debating chocolate. The woman was holding an almost full pint of beer while the man had a gun. This probably would have disturbed Ivan if he wasn’t so used to having various weapons and vodka around the house.
“In here we have Vash and Clara. Vash also lives down the street, but Clara is just visiting from out of town.”
“Hello!” Clara greeted cheerfully as she put her beer down. Vash looked at them suspiciously.
“Who are these people? Were they at the door?”
“Yes, these are the Braginskis. They just moved in next door.”
“My condolences,” he said solemnly, “for having Gilbert as your neighbor.”
“I’m not that bad!” Gilbert shouted from the hallway. A metallic sound like some sort of cooking implement striking a skull rang out shortly afterwards.
“Rupert and the kids are playing outside,” Clara said as she got up and opened the backdoor, “the little ones can join them if they want.”
It was better than staying inside and listening to the adults, so Ivan and Natalia scampered outside to see what was going on.
A tall man and two children were playing soccer, or as much of soccer as you can with three people.
“Rupert,” Clara called sweetly from the doorway. The playing stopped as the three of them stared at the newcomers, “some more kids came over to play.”
The girl looked up at them curiously; the boy looked away and continued kicking the soccer ball around. Rupert huffed and pulled out a pipe.
“Play nicely with them, will ya?” she winked before going back inside.
“So, who’re you?” Rupert asked when he got his pipe lit.
“Ivan Braginski. This is my sister Natalia and we just moved it.”
“Ludwig Bielschmidt,” the boy announced, “this is my house. This is my cousin Heidi Zwingli. She’s a little shy.”
“My sister is too,” Ivan smiled in a way he hoped was non-threatening. He had been told he had a creepy smile. “So…you guys were playing soccer yes?”
“Football,” all three corrected.
“Well, I don’t play much of either,” he admitted.
“W-would you like to play with us?” Heidi shyly asked.
“Is that alright?”
“It’s usually us against Rupert,” Ludwig admitted, “But I guess he could use the help.”
The older man exhaled and tapped the boy's head with his pipe, “Big talk considering you’ve yet to get the ball by me, Short Stuff. Take the new kids and make some friends…not like even the four of you can beat me.”
Heidi gathered up enough nerve to stick her tongue out at him before running over and grabbing the younger Natalia’s hand to guide to where they were playing. Ludwig nodded to Ivan, who ran over shortly behind them.
They played well into the night, and although Ivan discovered he was horrible at the game, causing Ludwig the shout a few choice curses (that he had learned from his brother, or so he was told) at him that he never heard the boy utter ever again, he also discovered that playing sports with other people was a lot more fun than watching them alone.
***
Bonus: I.V. Dinner at Alfred’s
“So who are these people again?”
“They just moved in next door, mon cher. No reason to feel threatened.”
“I-I’m not threatened! I’m just wondering why they’re still here…”
“They’re here for dinner. It’s rude to try and kick them out after you invited them, non?”
“Stop twisting my words! I merely want to know why they are here in the house in the first place…”
“We never have guests over anymore.”
“We are trying to raise four kids here. We do not have time for an active social life.”
“Not like you had much of one before…”
And it went on like that for some time. Back and forth, back and forth…Ivan found Alfred’s fathers so amusing! He was glad they had invited them all for dinner after Mr. Kirkland got home.
They were all seated around the table in the kitchen, save for Mr. Kirkland and Mr. Bonnefoy, who were ‘making dinner,’ although Mr. Bonnefoy seemed to be doing most of the cooking, and Mr. Kirkland most of the skulking. Matthew assured him that this was for the better.
He was seated between Matthew and Jake, who would randomly poke him for some reason, with Angelique on Matthew’s left. Natalia had glued herself to Alfred’s side ever since meeting him outside, so he sat in between her and Katyusha. Ivan did not like this, although didn’t exactly know why.
“Dinner is served!” Mr. Kirkland shouted eventually as he and Mr. Bonnefoy brought the food to the table.
“Bon appetite.”
As soon as the food hit the table, Alfred and Jake lunged at it, gathering as much as they could on their tiny plates. Mr. Kirkland shouted some things about manners and having guests as he sat down at the end of the table between Jake and Natalia, but it was lost of the noise of their scuffle. Mr. Bonnefoy just laughed and put some of the food he was still carrying on Ivan’s, Matt’s, and Angelique’s plates while he sat at the end of the table between his daughter and Katyusha.
When Al and Jake had all they could safely fit on their plates, everyone else had at what was left in a calm manner. Alfred sniffed a piece of meat on his plate before asking, “Did Dad make this or did Papa?”
“Papa,” Mr. Kirkland responded as he dumped vegetables on Jake’s plate. He seemed to have missed those somehow.
The eldest boy tossed the meat in his mouth and picked up something else. “What about this?”
“Papa.”
“And this?”
“That was me.”
“Natalia, do you want this?”
“Alfred!” Angelique shrieked, “You can’t poison your girlfriend like that!” Al blushed as Natalia took the food from him and put it in her mouth anyway.
“She’s not his girlfriend!” Ivan found himself shouting. The break from having her constantly by his side was nice, but her being his girlfriend implied so many things Ivan didn’t want implied. Ever.
“Al and Natty sitting in a tree,” Matt hummed under his breath.
“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Jake shouted the continuation.
“Sh-shut up!” Alfred shouted, “It’s not like that. Sh-she’s just my friend…who happens to be a girl.”
“First comes love,” Matt went on anyway.
“Then comes marriage,” Angelique joined in.
“Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!” all three siblings finished in fits of laughter. Little Natalia looked positively thrilled by the idea, Alfred went even redder then before, Ivan felt himself get even redder than him, if that was possible, and Katyusha found the whole thing amusing.
“Ah, l’amour,” Mr. Bonnefoy said, staring into his wine. “It went something like that, oui mon cher?”
Mr. Kirkland coughed awkwardly and went as red as his son. “Yes, something like that. Angelique, you aren’t dating until you’re sixty.”
“Dad, that’s not fair! Shouldn’t Papa get a say?”
“Indeed I should. Angelique, you aren’t dating until you’re sixty-five.”
“That’s not fair! The boys don’t have any restrictions…”
“Quite right,” Mr. Kirkland amended, “Boys, you can’t date anyone until you’re thirty.”
“Fine by me,” Jake muttered as he picked at his potatoes. Natalia shot Mr. Kirkland a death glare, but it went unnoticed.
The rest of the dinner conversation was just as interesting, interrupted by praises to Mr. Bonnefoy’s cooking while the children poked fun at Mr. Kirkland’s. It all led up to dessert, some delicious chocolate mousse cake made by Mr. Bonnefoy, and coffee for Mr. Bonnefoy, Katyusha, and Alfred for some reason, with tea for Mr. Kirkland and hot chocolate for everyone else. Ivan and his sisters eventually had to go home when Natalia fell asleep, clinging to Alfred’s arm, at around 9:30.
Ivan was sad to go, but knew that this was going to be one summer he’d never forget.
A/N: And now I've convinced myself Al is going to grow up and marry Natalia if Ivan doesn't kill him first. :) Oh what happy days for them that lie ahead. XD