I See Emeralds

Chapter Eighteen (Antonio's POV)

"I'm in a bad mood, mes amis," Francis groans and puts his head down on the lunch table. 

"What's up?" Gilbert asks, poking Francis' golden hair.

"Arty was being a meanie." I chuckle. "It's not funny, Toni!" 

"Nah, it's just...well, try dealing with Lovi every day." A tray clatters harshly on the table and Francis looks up. Gilbert gives me a "now you've done it" look.

"Speak of the devil and here I am!" Lovino announces, sliding into his seat on my right.

"Heard you talkin' smack, is it Birdie or Wizard today? Or..." He sighs at the corny code name we gave him. "Tomato." He stretches the word out like he doesn't want to complete it.

"Wizard mainly, Toni just barely brought you up," Gilbert says. Francis has returned to his moping position at the mention of his soulmate's code name. Honestly, these names aren't very subtle, but it's the best we've got.

"Come on, if we're gonna gossip we've got to do it before the others get here!" Lovino insists, suddenly having a determined twinkle in his amber eyes. It freaks me out a little.

"Tino mentioned he won't be sitting with us today," I decide to share my bad news. Lovino and Gilbert look confused, while Francis remains unresponsive. If it weren't for his breathing, he would appear to be dead.

"Huh? Why not?" Gilbert asks, sounding a little concerned. He would never admit it, but Tino reminds him of his own soulmate who constantly rejects him, Matthew. If Gilbert wasn't so massively head over heels for Matthew I would dare say he's got some minor feelings for Tino that he hasn't realized.

"He didn't tell me much. Said it was an issue with his other friends."

"You mean that Mathias dude who totally separated himself from him with no explanation?" Francis murmurs, sounding ticked. We trash talk Mathias a lot. Tino used to complain about it, but after a month of no interaction with his so-called best friend he started joining in.

"Not exactly. That's part of it. He said he had to meet some people and that he may be busy for a while. Whatever any of that means."

"He better not go do some disappearing act thing like Mathias has been doing to him. What has that guy even been doing all this time? It's been two months! He started in December and now it's February!" Lovino rants. Before he can start cursing, our two other table members besides Tino sit down next to each other. We all tend to have usual seats.

"Somebody was taking forever to order and holding up the line," Alfred complains.

"I'm pretty sure that somebody was you Alfred," Kiku says and smirks. Alfred shoots him an overly-offended look.

"Have you spoken to Arty lately?" Francis looks up at Alfred. He's the only one of us besides Francis himself who really talks to his crush. Alfred shakes his head and messes with his food.

"I've been hanging with you guys so much lately that I haven't said much to my other friends," Alfred admits awkwardly. He lowers his voice as if to share a dark secret. "You guys are a lot cooler though." I smile and Lovino scowls.

"Gosh, I think we made Mr. A-list clinically insane..." he mutters.

"Haha, thanks. Apparently there's this new kid who's supposed to be a threat to my status. They say he's been homeschooled forever and is really cool," Alfred tells us. "I don't particularly care though. The title I have is a bit overwhelming. I'll gladly give it up." It makes me feel happy that he's willing to share more private stuff with us now. He wasn't always like this. He's gotten more down-to-earth since he became friends with us. Much easier to get along with.

"You've changed a lot, but not in a bad way," Kiku voices my thoughts. I nod in agreement, as does Gilbert.

"Jeez you guys, it's only been a few months," Alfred says and laughs. Francis suddenly sits straight up.

"I can't take it anymore! I have to tell you what happened!" he exclaims rather dramatically. The people at the table next to ours give us a funny look but go back to ignoring us. We're used to it by now.

"What?" I ask. Lovino seems to be incredibly disinterested as Francis clutches his hand to his heart. A true thespian.

"Arty denied that we kissed and then-"

Lovino looks a whole lot more interested now, as does the rest of the table. "Hold up, when did you two kiss?" he demands.

"Ah, did I not mention that? Guess I skipped ahead. It was on our walk to school today. We often see each other because we're neighbors." I noticed Kiku has closed his eyes. He must be imagining what Francis puts into words. He's artsy like that, something I'm not very good at.

He continues. "So we saw each other as usual, but what was unusual was that he actually walked over to me. We usually dodge each other. He mentioned he was cold so I offered to let him borrow my jacket since I felt fine. It's actually pretty warm today, don't you think? And then he just randomly kissed me as thanks after he took it!"

"Yes, I see it vividly," Kiku says, eyes still closed. He gestures with his hands. "What an odd situation, especially considering the weather. Does this mean he's finally returning your feelings?"

"I don't know. When I bugged him about it when we got to school, he denied it ever happened. Is that some sort of weird other country thing? Kissing people for coats? Because it wasn't on the cheek or anything," Francis asks Alfred.

Alfred and Matthew are cousins with Arthur. Their families have always stuck together. They've moved to the same countries and everything. They've been to America, Canada, and England the longest, and a few others for just a few months to a single year. Matthew and Arthur ended up picking up slight accents from Canada and England because they spent a large chunk of their childhood in those countries. Alfred just has a regular American accent of no particular area. He explained the reason for this as, and I quote, "I didn't want to sound like a weirdo." Francis has been their friend for a very long time.

"No, not that I can remember. That was a genuine kiss," Alfred answers. Francis grins.

"He was probably just embarrassed, that's it! I'll pester him more about it later," he decides. He has a bit of a maniacal glimmer in his eyes thanks to his plan.

Poor, poor Arthur.

(I'm starting to have second thoughts about finally publishing this story, but I'm too far in back out now. Welp!)