The Truth and What Remains: An Adrienette story

Chapter 17 (Hugo): A Father-Son Address

"AHHH! There is seriously no way I'm gonna finish this in time!" Hugo groaned in frustration as he stared aimlessly at his computer. He was in a predicament; he had to somehow write a speech about Napoleon and the French Revolution and come to a conclusion about whether Napoleon's intentions were good. All in one insightful speech, isn't that a little too much to ask from an 8-year old?! "Useless. Brain. Think! What can you write about a guy who got exiled twice and died in exile?!" Hugo growled at the screen as he stared at what he had so far, which was only the heading. Louis had noticed he had been having some trouble and he stared from Hugo's bedroom doorframe as Hugo ghosted his fingers over the keyboard but never typed.

"Yo, Hugo, it's only Saturday, don't you have to present that on Tuesday?" Louis asked as Hugo laid back in his chair and groaned again.

"Yes, but Louis, you seem to have forgotten it's not just writing the speech I have to worry about, but actually saying it out loud," Hugo shivered at the thought of public speaking. Louis chuckled as he came in and slugged an arm over his brother's shoulder.

"Ahh, I forgot you have a slight case of stage fright, I mean, you just have to practice speaking in front of people," Louis ruffled Hugo's hair, who giggled slightly at the gesture.

"Yeah, I can speak in front of you, Mom, Emma, Auntie Alya, Uncle Nino, Gavin, and pretty much anyone I know personally. This is gonna be a class full of Emma and I's fellow students," Hugo explained as he continued to panic, "it's totally gonna be a disaster!

"You're starting to sound like Mom, you've got this, trust me, all you need to do is practice," Louis laughed as his eyes flickered back to the blank document that is Hugo's speech, "first things first, you need to actually write the speech before you can say it." Hugo looked gratefully at Louis, who bit his lip as he looked at the info Hugo had gathered on Napoleon.

"So you're gonna help me?" Hugo asked hopefully as Louis let out a small laugh and continued to look over the research.

"Well, I have a lot of experience doing this stuff, but more importantly, I'm gonna be listening to this speech too so I gotta make sure it's not a total snooze fest or you're gonna drive me insane trying," Louis smirked as Hugo laughed and lightly punched Louis in the shoulder to which he scoffed, "I'm helping you and this is how you repay your big brother?"

"Oh put a sock in it," Hugo said while laughing as him and Louis started typing in what he wanted to say. Here and there, Hugo was typing in bits of his speech is which Louis made comments.

"The phrasing's kinda awkward Hugo."

"Don't use colloquial diction, you need to sound intelligent."

"What does colloquial even mean?"

"Don't use simple, boring, basic vocabulary, you're the smartest kid in your class, how are you stuck on vocab?"

"Hey! Give me a little credit! By smartest, I mean in math! But-."

"No buts, come on, you gotta think of more formal diction than "mean," what can you think of?"

"Ummmm... maybe? Condescending?"

"Atta boy Hugo! Just keep replacing your words with complicated words that you actually know the definition to."

"Alright!"

"Semicolon here, and there's a double negative."

"What where?!"

"Here."

"Oh ok, thanks Louis."

This sort of conversation went well into the afternoon. Finally, the brothers were finished and they had a speech that could pass for a professional debate. Hugo sighed as Louis sat back in the chair he was sitting on and sighed.