Homeless (a Hetalia Fanfic, Book Three)

Chapter 4~!

"Yes," Milo cheered under his breath when he managed to perform his skateboard trick correctly without having to step off the board. When he came to a stop, he could hear a couple of girls at the corner giggling and stealing little glances his way. They just made him smile a bit and adjust his beanie before winking at them. The giggling grew in volume.

Sadly, he couldn't stay at the schoolyard any longer. He needed to get home and look after the younger kids before Dad got home; Dani wasn't going to come again until that following weekend. As Milo pushed off and headed down the sidewalk, the sound of his skateboard's wheels was a comforting noise that was one of the few constants in his life. Between the drama of high school and the drama of living the home life he lived, there were very few constants he could count on.

He rolled on up the driveway of his house a few minutes later and kicked his board up so he could grab the edge and put it under his arm. His backpack was hanging off his other shoulder by one strap. Milo Williams stepped over the threshold of his front door and announced "I'm home!" to the others who were already there. He was often the last one to come home, other than Dad.

"Milo!" Sarah exclaimed happily, and the sound of a chair's legs protesting against the dining room floor screeched. She ran into the foyer and beamed up at him. "After you do homework, can we practice on the boards?" she asked him eagerly, her dark brown pigtails swinging around her shoulders as she whirled around excitedly.

"Sure," he answered cheerfully. "After homework, though."

Sarah giggled adorably. "That's what I said! Heehee~ Come on, I wanna show you my pictures."

She grabbed his hand and dragged him into the dining room, where she had been coloring on printer paper right up until he'd arrived.

Meanwhile, Tael and Tatiana were sitting in the living room and eating a snack while they watched a movie. It was Friday afternoon, which meant no school tomorrow! Tael couldn't believe how relieved he felt now that he didn't have to worry constantly over his culminating projects. Those were over and done with for now.

"Tael, can you help me with this one?" Tia asked her brother as she reached for a handful of popcorn with one hand and pointed to the problem with the other. The elder one scooted over to look at it, and then lifted the workbook from her lap so he could read the instructions at the top of the page.

"Oh, yeah, I know how to do this one," he said, launching into a very basic description of how to solve the problem.

Yes! Tael goes to school, just like his siblings. He was very adept in sports, especially ones that involved running. Math wasn't his strongest subject, but it wasn't his worst one, either. History was probably his best topic because he had a wonderful source of knowledge on the very same matter living under the same roof as he.

"Okay... Yeah, that makes more sense," Tatiana admitted after listening to Tael explain the steps she needed to take. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome," he replied, eating another piece of buttered popcorn.

A little while later, Milo and Sarah were out in the front driveway and practicing on their skateboards. Sarah even had her own small one that was just perfect for children her age.

As she skated past Milo slowly, trying to stay on without letting the board fly out from underneath her, a question popped into her head. Because of her childlike tendency to not filter what was coming out her mouth, she just blurted the question out.

"Milo, why isn't my mommy dead?"

Milo stared at her disbelievingly. "Uh... What?"

Sarah came to a stop before she continued. "Well, some of the other kids in my class, they have mommies. And some of them don't. Theirs died. Mine's not, so why isn't she dead if she's not here?"