How These Floorboards Creak

8

The drive back to the house was a quiet and tense one. Alfred had taken the offer Toris had made for a long needed nap. He was wide awake and feeling calmer and even more tired than before by the time they made it back to the house. Everyone got out quickly to get out of the stuffy atmosphere of the car. They all noticed Toris and Alfred having stayed in the car. They all sat at the porch watching the two bickering in the car. It was like a TV show on mute. 

"I feel like I'm watching a TV on mute." Lovino groaned, bored as ever.

"You're not watching closely enough." Francis said, focused heavily on the two in the car. "It's an intense argument."

"I didn't know Toris could argue like that." Ivan commented. They all watched as Toris was the one clearly yelling at Alfred. Alfred yelled back with seemingly equal force. Perhaps it wasn't even yelling. It was hard to tell but it was an intense argument either way.

"Alfred must hold Toris in high regard if he's letting him argue in the first place." Kiku said causing a silence among the nations.

"How is Toris that close to him?" Feliciano mumbled to himself, not intending for anyone to answer.

"Who knows." Ludwig had answered. "All we know is that whoever gets out of that car won't be happy." Just as he said that, the car door slammed shut and the car drove off. It was Toris to get out. He didn't watch the car drive off, instead he stomped past the nations, mumbling about Alfred being insufferable. He swung open the house door and continued on his path. The other's followed behind, crowding around the doorway to the kitchen. They watched as Toris stomped to the kitchen, impatiently looking through drawer after drawer, still mumbling. His mumbling wasn't even in English anymore. He reverted to his native tongue.

The anger radiating off of him filled the kitchen. It was enough to make the other's fearful of him. He seemingly found the drawer he was looking for. He pulled out a lighter and a cigarette. He lit the stick and threw the lighter back in the drawer. The smoke easily slipped through his lips and he noticibly relaxed.

He went to the drawer next to the one he had just shut. Metal clashing against more metal sounded out. He pulled out a key and slammed the drawer shut. He grabbed the cigarette from his lips, turning around with annoyed look.

"If I show you a room you're not allowed to go to, will you try harder to behave?" He asked almost like an irritated mother.

"Won't you get in trouble?" Arthur asked in response.

"Like he'll know that I'm showing the room. It's not even a room he mentioned."

"What if he comes back while we're in there?" Feliciano nervously asked.

"He won't. He's off on a long drive to clear his mind." Toris chuckled. "It's the same as always."

"You've lost your mind haven't you?" Lovino asked, suspicious of the nation.

"Look, do you want to see it or not?" Toris put the hand with the key on his hip. "I really don't have the patience to keep talking pretty."

"What's in it for us?" Arthur took a stand at the front of the group, arms crossed.

"You really don't listen." Toris rolled his eyes. "It'll feed your curiosity so you don't end up in the basement." That seemed to shut Arthur up. "So, yes or no?" All nodded. "Good."

They let him there out of the kitchen. He popped the cigarette back into his mouth and headed to their destination. It was on the first floor, a seemingly random door in a regular hallway. He popped the key into the keyhole and unlocked it easily. The door creaked open. He stepped forward, the floorboards beneath his feet whining loudly. Once in the middle of the room, he turned on the light above, illuminating the neatly placed boxes and paintings.

"This is the storage room." He stated, looking bored. Only two of the other nations stepped in. Ivan and Feliciano. Their curiosity written all over their faces.

Feliciano dropped to the ground at the sight of a little toy. He picked it up and saw it was a wooden soldier. It was at this discovery that Arthur stepped foot in the room.

"There's no way." He said in complete disbelief. He grabbed the toy from Feliciano's hands, inspecting it. "He kept this?"

"Mhm." Toris hummed in response. He sat at the window sill, slipping out smoke from his lips. "What makes you think he wouldn't?"

"I thought he hated me."

"For a time he did." Francis started, stepping into the room the boards creaking louder than really necessary. "It took about thirty years but he eventually realized that you were a big part of his history."

"Toris," Arthur set down the toy on a nearby box. He looked to the nation at the window. "What's your relationship with Alfred?"

"What do you think it is?" Toris shot back without hesitation. The bored tone shifting to a more playful one.

"I think it's suspicious how you know so much about him."

"It's really not." Lovino cut through the tension. "If you got your head out of your ass, you'd realize why we're all here." He stepped in, the floorboards noticibly quieter under him. "We all have some relationship with him in some way."

"You overheard him, didn't you?" Toris grinned at him.

"I didn't mean to, he's just insanely oblivious to his surroundings." Lovino rolled his eyes. "Point is that I know why we're here."

"So, if we all have some particular relationship with him, what do you think yours is?" 

"I think it's a bit of a distant one."

"Why?"

"It just feels like it."

"But you know why you're here."

"Yes-" The connection was made in Lovino's head. "Shit." He swore under his breath. The idea that he was here to really get Alfred more so than he already knew. He saw Alfred more as tutor if he was honest.  "Then why are you here?"

"Well, look at the evidence. I know what's in the attic and the basement. I know of this room. I know every inch of this house. He's comfortable around me. The evidence just goes on and on. Why do you think I'm here?"

"For support." Ivan suddenly answered from his spot next to a painting.

"Mhm." Toris hummed "You all are so tiring to deal with."

"Do we ready cause Alfred that much stress?"

"Ask him that, not me." Toris pushed himself off the window. "Speaking of, we have about two minutes to get out of this room and lock it."

All went wide-eyed. In seconds they were piling out of the room and scattering about. Toris was left alone to lock the door. He did it with ease and casually going over to throw the key back in the drawer.

Right then, the front door opened and closed. Toris merely went to the fridge, looking in it tiredly as if he would actually grab anything. He shut it and opted for leaning on it. Cigarette smoke vaguely lingered in the kitchen making him anxious. Alfred wouldn't like it. In fact, it was kind of hypocritical of him to be smoking in the house if he was the one that didn't like in the first place. He really didn't think too far ahead on this. 

"Hey." Alfred appeared at the doorway with a frown. 

"You're back earlier than I thought you would be." 

"Yeah, I just-" Alfred interrupted himself. The room filled with a silence which Toris used to put out the cigarette, lifting his foot and pushing it down on his shoe. He flicked it into the nearby trashcan. "You want to go up to the attic?" Alfred finally said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, let's go."