Hot and Cold

Algebra and Tulips

"Agh, why is this so confusing?" Ivan buried his face in his pillow to let out a muffled sigh, looking over it at the textbook in front of him. He'd been waiting for twenty minutes or so for Madeline to come and help him with the stupid subject. He sighed again and threw the pillow behind him so that it landed back onto his bed and decided he would continue waiting for her until she arrived before he tried to do anything himself.

Madeline had already exited her house and was on her way to her best friends'. She walked around a corner while looking at the very pretty sky; it was a deep, royal blue with strands of cirrus clouds floating around, high up in the Stratosphere; and was knocked backwards by someone bustling around the corner. She tripped when she had stumbled back and landed roughly on her bottom, then looked up to see who'd knocked her down. Abel? He looked a bit abashed, but stooped over to help her up since he was considerably taller than her. "Sorry about that," The spikey-haired boy looked to the side and looked to be hiding something behind his back. Madeline thought about asking what it was, but thought better to pry. Abel looked back to her, but she only smiled nervously since his eyes were quite sharp no matter what his expression.. plus, pretty much everyone had some way of intimidating her. "Oh.. um.. I was on my way over to your house to give you something, but I guess it was lucky I just ran into you." Abel said after a few moments of awkward silence, bringing what he had behind his back to offer to her. "I guess so.. a-ah, for me?" Madeline flushed a bit when he offered her a small bunch of brightly colored tulips, their stems tied together with a small ribbon. "Yeah.. um.." Abel brought a hand up to scratch the back of his head idly, his striking green gaze moving to the sidewalk again. "They're beautiful, thank you," She smiled, studying the bright blossoms with a faraway look. "Ik hou van je, Madeline." He muttered suddenly, and now it was his turn to flush. "I-I mean.. I know that you get bullied and treated unfairly sometimes, and, well.. just know that I'll be here for you. For anything." Abel took a step closer to give her a quick embrace, and then briskly started walking off again before she could say anything in reply. Madeline stared after him with wide, lavender-hued eyes, her pale face still flushed red. She shook her head to distract her out of her thoughts. What does 'Ik hou van je' mean..? She supposed Francis would know.. plus, she would probably have to take the tulips and put them in a vase of water, so she headed back to her house.

"Home so soon, mon cheri?" Francis opened the door when Madeline had knocked, looking surprised. He grinned, however, when he saw her gently holding the small bouquet of tulips. "Onhonhon, and who are those from?~" The Frenchman gave her a wink, stepping back to let her in. "U-um.. a boy named Abel, he's in my class at school.." Madeline replied bashfully, looking at the ground. "By the way.. papa, do you know what 'Ik hou van je' means?" Francis thought for a moment. Abel.. ah, the Dutch child that represented The Netherlands. He was startled back to attention by her next words. "Why, Maddi.. I think you have jsut gotten a confession from this Abel!~ It means 'I love you' in Dutch, and your admirer happens to be Dutch.~" He smiled, reaching down to pinch her cheek playfully. Madeline pulled away with a squeak, her cheeks getting even redder - Mister Antonio's tomatoes would be put to shame. "W-well, I'm going to put these in a vase, I suppose.." She scampered up the stairs to her room, clutching the stems of the flowers a little bit tighter out of her embarrassment, then set them down softly on her desk by the window, proceeding to pick up a vase and walk into the bathroom to fill it with water from the sink.

Madeline quickly left her room again, but turned to give the tulips in the stained-glass vase another look before smiling to herself and heading back out. She still had to help Vanya with his Math.

Now knocking upon Ivan's door, feeling bad that she'd delayed the visit another fifteen minutes or so. When the door opened, she stopped herself from beginning to apologize once she realized that Ivan's big brother had answered the door - Dmitri. "O-oh, hello, Miss Madeline!" Dmitri said with a smile, opening the door for her to come inside. "Vanya has been waiting for you. He's up in his room." Madeline obliged, giving Dmitri a smile. "Merci, Dmitri," She replied, heading up the stairs and down the hallway to his room.

"Vanya, I'm here.. sorry that I took so long to get over!" She spoke after knocking on his door. Ivan jolted awake - he'd fallen asleep while staring at the book folded open in front of him. "A-ah, um.. da, it's fine! Come in!" He pulled himself up and brushed his shirt off. She opened the door and came into his room, then shut it behind her and went to go sit with him. "Heh, getting a head start, huh?" Madeline said with a slight smile, seeing the open textbook. "Da, I tried to.. I can't seem to make heads or tails of any of it though," Ivan said sheepishly. "Don't worry - I'll try to help it make sense to you by the time dinner's done," Madeline said with a confident look, scooting over to sit next to him and pulling the Algebra book over to them. She then started to explain to him how square roots, negative numbers, and a bit of geomerty mixed into it as well. Ivan tried to focus on her help, but couldn't help glancing over to her every few minutes or so, then looking away quickly in case she caught him. Madeline would repeat anything she said if Ivan asked her to, which made him happy because he was getting blown away by how much she understood how most of this worked.

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Author's note ;;

There will be a part two to this, so don't think I'm leaving you guys hanging. c:
Also -- love you, Ash~ ♥