❝ French Perfume ❞ - FrUk/UkFr Pirate Novella

Chapter 16

A twig had snapped somewhere in the nearby distance as Arthur had hopped up, only to sit back down as the carriage had come to a rough halt.

The horses lifted their front legs as Matthew tried to calm the horses down and then a high pitch voice could be heard from the thick bushes.

"Hold onto your butts!"

"...Excuse me ...?" Mattie shouted and waited for a response. He placed a calm hand on the horse's neck. Coaxing his fingers thru the horse's mane.

"... That's not what I meant to say..!" A whistling, high pitched voice called in response. 

A boy hopped into the road in front of the horses and he had brown hair that shagged over into his closed eyes; he wore black getup clothing and he placed his hands on his hips, sticking his tongue out.

"... Hands up or I'll .. !" The short male pulled out a sword that gleamed in the light. Arthur stuck his head out of the carriage, one of his bushy eyebrows perked up in interest. 

“A worthy opponent, I am guessing.” Arthur jumped out of the carriage, his emerald green eyes blazing with the intensity of the sun as he jumped out of the carriage, a smirk carving itself onto his face. “This’ll be easy... More easier than beating Francis against the deck.” 

"ARTHUR!" Francis shouted out after the crazy Brit, trying to grab the male’s shoulders to keep Arthur back.

 Matthew only let out a small whimper, "oh sir, I wouldn't do that.."

"No worries, beating him will be a compliment to all the drunken pirates out there,” Arthur veered his head over his shoulders and pridefully stated. Francis crossed his arms as he only huffed. 

No one responded as the short robber cocked his head towards the side. "Huh?" 

"Means your skill set will make a drunken pirate look like a real pirate."

"... Tch ... ! " The small male pulled on the curl on the top of his head as he responded, "my name is Felicano... !"

The male charged forward, his sword pointed at the Brit as soon as Felicano had arrived in sword's distance, Arthur stepped out of the way calmly and tripped the male.

"You're unbalanced."

"... What ... !?" The male had landed roughly on the ground as he tried to reach for his sword, Arthur stepped towards the male and stepped on Felicano's hand that was reaching for the sword. He let out a loud wail as Arthur applied more pressure before taking his black boot off the Italian's squashed hand.

"However, you're better than untamed hair over there…" Arthur turned his head towards Francis and smirked, a small "hey!" exploding from the Frenchman's mouth. 

The male began crying as Arthur picked up his sword from his belt and shook his head softly. "Don't worry... Life is too short..."  Francis jumped out of the carriage as he shoved Arthur hard, causing a small "umph !" To come out of his mouth.

"Don't kill him Arthur ...!" The Frenchman begged as he stared down at the young male who had dirt all over his baby face. "He looks like a sweet guy ...!"

"Don't tell me you're soft for ... For, for, for him !?!?" Arthur scoffed as he stared down at the crying male who cradled his hand closely to his chest.

"Tell me..  Felicano, was it ..?" Francis asked, kneeling down towards the crying Italian. Felicano perked his head up towards the Frenchman and waited in silence, his small sobs escaping as hiccups escaped out of his small mouth.

"Are you from around here?"

"MmMm ..!" Felicano shook his head as he pointed to a small village along the way, his eyes still closed.

"I come from that poor town over there... Too much taxes and ... I wanted to help the town out which is why I'm out here... My brother doesn't grow enough tomatoes to support both of us..! Just wanted to help him out... Don't kill me!!"

"Oh..? See Arthur, he isn't a bad guy, he's a sweet guy !"

Arthur grumbled something angrily under his breath and then turned towards the carriage, kicking the wheel ever so slightly and sat back in the carriage, leaning back, his eyebrows narrowed down into an angry glare.

"Where are you heading?" Francis asked, a small smile appearing on the male's face as the shorter male played around with his oversized, dirty sweater .

"... I'm going up north to help my older brother Romano ... "

"How north ..?"

"... Just around the road from my town, I wanted to see if I could …"

"We can take you there since we are going past that city you're heading to ...! "

"We are ...?'' Matthew questioned, Francis shot him a small look and Matthew slouched down as his face had gathered a bit of blush from embarrassment.

"REALLY —?!!?!!?" An angry voice shouted from the carriage and then a huff afterwards. Francis knew that his ear was going to be chewed out by the angry Brit.

"... I don't want to ... Intrude ..."

"Then don't accept his —" Francis had enough of Arthur's sour attitude and a smile painted itself onto his face,

"You're not intruding. We love company ~" Francis chirped as Arthur was gesturing something with his hand. Francis squinted and wrinkled his nose at the foulness of what Arthur was doing. 

"If Arthur has a problem with you, then he can walk ~" Francis tried his best to reassure the burnet male, and this time, Arthur didn't say anything, or atleast what was in earshot of Francis.

Felicano took one glance at Francis and then at the carriage. He smiled widely as he raced towards the carriage, his eyes finally opening and he giggled,

"Thank you so much —"

"Francis. no need to thank me ~ !" Francis chirped as Arthur scootched over as the Italian jumped in and sat in-between the two.

Francis elegantly hopped in the carriage and glanced over at Matthew.

"You may proceed now."

"... Sorry for the intrusion …" Felicano whined softly as Arthur only gave the small male a glare and his words fell out like poison.

"You're not intruding.." It sounded so blatantly like a dirty lie.