Main Street

“It’s great to see you, too!” Matthew said, returning the grin. He gave a small smile also to the other three, recognizing two of them immediately people Gilbert had drawn earlier.

Which, if he remembered their conversation earlier, meant that the blond one was Gilbert’s brother. He was definitely the spitting image of his drawing, in any case.

Still, the smallest of the three was still a mystery to him. Matthew wondered if he (or she; he couldn’t even determine that much) was someone's younger sibling or something along those lines.

(Check the notifs option under "U.C.P." --> "Preferences", maybe, Gil? Mine was screwed up for a while and that's how I fixed it)

Gilbert allowed the smile to linger. He looked at the brunet and said "This is the charming Roddy, my brother's..." he glanced between Ludwig and the young man. "...roommate."

He waved to Ludwig. "The reason Mom and Dad no longer have intercourse, my brother Ludwig."

Turning to the small child in his brother's arms and once again ruffled the front of her bangs. "This pretty little thing we just picked up."

Ludwig glared at his brother. "I'm only sorry that you had to meet this dummkopf first. I'm sure he didn't paint a very good picture of me." He shifted Chibitalia slightly in his arms as he extended a hand out to the teen.
"It's nice to meet you, regardless."

He waited for the teen to shake it before he shifted Chibitalia in his arms once again. "You wouldn't happen to know where we could find someone to help us with the kid, do you? The school really isn't the place for a child this age."

Chibitalia looked up at Matthew with a cute look on his face and giggled when his bangs were ruffled by Gilbert. He waved at Matthew and said " Hi~ I'm Chibitalia~ " with a smile.

Matthew shook Ludwig’s hand with a friendly smile and introduced himself. “Don’t worry, he didn’t say anything incriminating,” he added, before taking the time to think. “Hm, I’d say try a social worker, but I’m guessing you've already thought of that.”

When Chibitalia spoke, Matthew looked at the child, trying to determine whether he or she was a boy or a girl. Unfortunately, the rather unique name didn’t help much. But for some inexplicable reason, Matthew got the feeling that Chibitalia was a boy. "Nice to meet you," he said, waving back.

Matthew turned back to Gilbert, perplexed. "Where did you find him?"

'It's Roderich,' Roderich said, offering Matthew his hand and giving Gilbert the briefest of eyerolls. He took in the other young man's appearance; he looked far too nice and well-behaved to be a friend of Gilbert's, proving Roderich's theory about Gilbert's preference on the spot. He smiled slightly; it was almost sweet, seeing him suddenly so friendly.

'We have talked about a social worker, but none of us are natives to this town, obviously, so we wouldn't know where to look...and in any case, Chibitalia's parents would have to be found, and that doesn't seem like a popular option.' He glanced at the child, still concerned about who these parents were, and where they might be.

"The poor kid was left alone by her parents, and she wandered into the lunchroom to make herself some food. Can you imagine? A kid her age having to make her own food?"

Gilbert's nose crinkled up in disgust. Taking the kid back to her parents was a bad idea, the same thing would just continue to happen. Or worse. If Gilbert knew anything about anything it was that uncaring people were often abusive people as well.

“Roderich, eh? Alright, I’ll remember that,” Matthew said, shaking his hand as well. He had to wonder a bit why Gilbert had hesitated before calling Roderich his brother’s roommate, but decided not to dwell on it.

“Well, this is a dilemma,” Matthew said, although it was more thinking aloud than anything, “On one hand, it wouldn’t be right to leave Chibitalia with such negligent parents but on the other…it might look suspicious if he’s found living with someone.”

That is (and Matthew hated to think of it), if Chibitalia’s parents were even searching for him in the first place.

Ludwig nodded. "Though... if he would have to stay with someone, if it were someone with a big, private room and a pet baby bird, it would probably be better suited than a double room with very little extra space."

It wasn't that Ludwig was throwing Chibitalia to the wolves. He trusted his brother to take care of the child and not harm it too much, so long as Ludwig checked on it every so often. Space was tight, thanks partly to Roderich's huge trunk. Admittedly, there was some selfishness involved, too. He and Roderich were enjoying their privacy quite a bit the night before.

"But realistically, an adult in town would be better suited," he said, gently patting Chibitalia on the back.

Chibitalia looked up as he was patted on the back with a cute little smile on his face. He smiled at the little bird comment...and then wondered what it would be like living with the person Ludwig had described, "maybe it would be fun~' he thought to himself with another smile.

Gilbert felt his head whip back to his brother. "M-me? Why would you--"

He looked down at the little girl with the big brown eyes. She seemed so happy to simply be taken care of. He didn't wish for her to return to the sad eyed creature she had been in the lunchroom.

"I-I guess I could take her for a bit. If she needs a temporary home after all. Gilbird would probably adore her." He gulped.

Matthew thought it was really sweet of Gilbert to agree to taking in the child. So maybe he had needed a little prompting from his brother and it would be rather impossible for anyone to not want to help the poor kid. But Matthew wondered if he would do the same were he in that position.

It made Matthew happy to know that there were people like these three who were willing to go out of their way to help someone and he hoped that things would turn out alright.

Chibitalia looked up at Gilbert with wide eyes "R-Really?" he asked, his voice full of surprise and happiness. He hugged onto Gilbert with the biggest smile on his face that he could manage. "And what's a Gilbird? " he asked with a questioning face.

Gilbert took the hug awkwardly, then slowly wrapped his arms around the little girl in return. He patted her back.

"Yeah, I think that'd be fine for anything short term. I mean, we'd want to find you the best forever parents and home any kid could want, right?" He laughed. "We'll that wouldn't be me, I'm afraid. But I couldn't do too much harm to you for a few days or so." He grinned as he gave her a light noogie.

"Oh, Gilbird is my pet. He's small a yellow and has a most excellent eye for art." He winked at her.

Ludwig was, admittedly, a little surprised that his brother agreed so easily to take on the child. Which meant he and Roddy could be alone again...

He still felt selfish for suggesting it. However, he wasn't really changing his mind on the issue either.

'You cant be my forever-parent?" Chibitalia asked with a pouty face. "but you seem so nice and cool~" he added cutely, looking at the white haired boy. He couldn't wait to meet this Gilbird, it sounded so cute~!

Gilbert felt his eyebrows draw together and refused to say the "awwwwww" out loud that he had in his brain.

"Uh well, I would love to keep you forever...sweetie," he grew slightly red at the pet name. "I'm still sort of a kid myself...not legally anymore but...Oh for the love of--Ludwig...tell her how immature I am, will ya?"

The child’s expression was so adorable that Matthew thought that it’d be hard for anyone to refuse to be his parent. It would be great if he got a permanent caretaker soon.

“If I find anyone who would make a suitable parent, I’ll let you guys know,” Matthew told them, “Though it looks like he’ll be in good hands for the moment.”

Roderich briefly wondered about the practicalities of a student taking care of a small child- what would happen when he went to class, or went out? Would they need to arrange some kind of babysitting rota? What would the school officials say, anyway? But on second thoughts, looking at Gilbert so flustered and the child so happy, he decided not to nitpick for once. A little optimism never hurt any- well, alright, it probably had, but he didn't want to kill the mood. Besides which, since he now had less to worry about regarding Chibitalia, he could get back to...well, Ludwig and all he entailed. That thought cheered him up.

'Immature or not, the willingness to take care of a child says a lot, Gilbert,' he said, quite sincerely. 'And you'll have help, anyway.'

(Excuse me while I beat myself with a squeaky mallet, I should have updated this thread sooner. Live, school AU! Liiiiive! *flail*)

Ludwig smiled and nodded. "We'll all help you," he told his brother. It was a nice note to see Roderich on board with this. It was a bit stupid, but surely they could figure something out. "We can find out who we should talk to about Chibitalia. Maybe we could even find a way of early admission into the school. Do you think we could pass you off as a child genius, Chibitalia?"

"Well i could try~!" He said before giggling cutely as he looked around at the group. 'Maybe I can stay at this school until i find my new forever-parent~' he thought to himself happily.

Ludwig smiled at the child in his arms. "We will have to see what we can do," he said. "But if we're going to keep you at the school, we'll need to get you all of your essentials." He tried to think about what a little child would need. "That's if we can't find an adult, of course."

"Are you good at music or something? Math maybe? They do have a program for gifted or savant children." Gilbert grinned at the little girl.

"Well~ I'm good at singing...and cleaning....and cooking....and drawing...." He replied as he counted each one on his fingers. " Ahh...I'm also good at making pasta!" he stated with a smile as he looked at everyone here.

'Drawing?' Roderich said, with interest. 'How good? The art department might be interested in a child prodigy painter, or something. Anyway...where now?' His sense of direction was failing him already. He looked at Ludwig for an answer.