Gold Forever + Francis & Gilbert

[Antonio F. Carriedo]

Perhaps normally an eleven year old boy would not be allowed to be about on his own in a foreign country. Not by most parents, especially when they were a child as easily pulled into trouble – some of his own making, true, but not ALL – as Antonio. Alas, his parents were of the trusting sort. He had never gotten himself into any sort of legal trouble. The most danger he’d gotten into by that time in his life had been a broken arm on their own property climbing trees, then getting lost a handful of times when taken to unfamiliar places. And in the latter case he always ended up alright. Able to charm his way into a shop owners good graces or make friends with other children whose parents welcomed him in. Luck was more often than not on his side.

Besides – what trouble could become of him just sitting in the hotel lobby? The Carriedos had met the Bonnefoys and the Beilschmidts previously, and had been in relative contact due to the closeness of their boys. If Antonio was waiting for his friends to arrive to the hotel the three families would be staying in for the same get together, and he did so while still on the premises, what could it hurt? At worse he got a few odd looks from employees or other guests.

Amongst other Europeans and Russians Antonio did look a bit dark of the skin, natural olive tone already darkened a hint at the age of eleven due to his propensity for spending time outdoors. Dark chocolate brown hair was a childishly sweet mess of curls atop his head round big, excitable green eyes. He kicked his legs back and forth in the chair he had chosen for his vigil. The chosen outfit of comfortable layers didn’t quite make him look like eldest child son of a major corporation. Not that he usually cared to fit the part – if his hair and actions said anything at all. At that moment in time all he really gave any thought to was when he would see his friends. What they could do this time with all of them in the same place.

It had been a matter of months since they could last meet up. Interactions for the most part of their friendship had been confined to letters and emails and those sort of long-distance correspondences. Occasionally at times like these they could meet – when their parents happened to all be in the same area and allowed the boys to come along. For one or two birthdays the other boys were allowed to visit their friend’s home for a couple of days. That was always a treat. Antonio personally, however, really quite enjoyed being somewhere other than home. It made it even more of an adventure when he was with his friends and it was on foreign ground for the lot of them.

Words: 488

Tags: Francis L. Bonnefoy & Gilbert Beilschmidt

made by MISSO for use only by BECCA

[Francis L. Bonnefoy]

It wasn’t very often Francis got this excited about going on the business trips with his parents, for he was usually left with tutors and nannies who kept him from doing anything fun. Even when he stayed with his parents, all their meetings just contained talking and no one had any pictures to look at to make it any better. It didn’t help that Francis couldn't understand the big words in the foreign language he was forced to learn. But this case was different, Francis actually wanted this day to come, and come it finally did. There were only two reasons that got him this excited, and their names were Antonio and Gilbert.

These two people where the only ones that could make him attempt to learn English, thoug it was a constant struggle with him. It wasn't as fluid as his beloved French, and his tongue often tripped over the words. He could always count on the other two to understand what he could not get across, and in an odd way, or at least for Francis, he picked up words in the languages of his friends. But that made it all the more fun and delightful to see the surprised and wondrous looks that graced their happy faces at hearing their own languages.

Fixing his hair to just how he wanted it, slightly messy and hanging about his shoulders, he all but ran down the stairs to find his friends. He was allowed almost anywhere in the hotel, (had heard his parents confirm the increase in security for their presence) and he was going to take advantage of it. After all, what growing boy didn't leap at the chance to explore and potentially cause a little mischief? Smiling as he saw his darker haired friend, he poured a moment at seeing he couldn't sneak up behind him. Shrugging, he walked over.

Before getting a chance to really see Francis, he moved quickly the last bit and sat in Toni’s lap, wrapping his arms around that tan neck. Grinding, he leaned forward to press a kiss to either cheek, as he had seen both parents do, before pulling away, grinding. His blue eyes sparkled in mirth.

"Bonjour mon ami, are you well? Trés Bien? It is excitante to see vous~"

[Gilbert Beilschmidt]

We are the lions....
      ...Free of the coliseum

Gilbert ran through the halls of the hotel, excitement pounding through his veins at every step. Today was the day! After what felt like forever (but in reality was only a month) it was finally here! More than one reprimand was thrown his way, both by scandalized guests and exasperated staff members, but to hell with them, he was a boy on a mission.

Gilbert didn’t like to think of himself as lonely, but when his only daily ally was a brother for years younger than him, it was easy to see why these fleeting visits with Fran and Toni were treasured. That’s not to say that he didn’t love spending time with West, quite the opposite really—he adored that boy and never missed an opportunity to drag him on whatever misadventure he managed to scrape up in their sleepy little suburb. But it wasn’t the same, sure West admired him, but there was only so much admiration could do to curb his natural anxious nature. Gilbert always ended up feeling too bad about making his precious little brother nervous to really push the boundaries of his mischief. Besides, more often than not, he was content enough to limit their brotherly bonding activities to more innocuous pursuits, such as fishing or riding bikes.

But now! Now at long last he was reunited with his best friends, his willing accomplices. They never questioned his odd looks, never gazed at him with suspicion, instead they treated him like an equal. It went beyond friendship, Gil had decided at their last meeting. They were a trio, brothers connected by a shared love of life. Nothing was going to get in the way of that, Gil was absolutely certain.

He skidded to a halt in the hotel lobby, his eyes squinting as they the room for any sign of his friends. He found them in an instant, Fran perched happily on Toni’s lap as though it was the most natural thing in the world. For a moment, Gilbert couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy as he watched them. The two made quite a picture, both were objectively stunning. Toni with his tanned skin and chocolate-colored ringlets contrasted perfectly with Fran’s porcelain complexion and golden waves. Gil knew he was far from the only one admiring the pair; around him, passing guests were making cooing comments about the angelic looking boys. No one spared the third boy another look, and why would they? Gilbert, in comparison, was a collection of thin, awkward limbs, severe eyes, and a shock of spiky silver hair. His latest bout with sickness had not been kind to the boy and he still had the slightly pinched features of one still on the road to recovery, making him look all the more angular. No one was ever going to coo over him. He was no one’s angel.

But none of that mattered. Not at the moment. With a whistle to announce his presence, Gilbert jogged over to the pair, his hands clasping each other behind his head.

“Oi… so are we going to go exploring or are you two love birds going to make out all afternoon?” His words were softened by a brilliant grin that had take over as he made his way to them. “Take your time, I can come back later.”

word count: 556
tags:Francis L. Bonnefoy, Antonio F. Carriedo
notes: The gang's all here

by worldie for kat

[Antonio F. Carriedo]

It’s an exaggerated gasp, made so unintentionally or otherwise was uncertain, that Antonio gives the moment Francis is in sight. And in hand. In lap? He was THERE. HERE.

There was such instant delight in being with his friend that Antonio gave little reaction to the how, just wrapped his arms right around Francis, and merely giggled at the kisses his cheeks received. He was still young enough to receive cooing pecks from older women. Didn’t see why there was a different between that and this. So he didn’t mind. “Holy, Joya! I’m good – how have you been? Cuánto tiempo!”

Not much could be exchanged between the first two on the scene before the final piece to their puzzle arrived however. The last of the trio. Antonio’s head jerked up and his lips pulled into a grin automatically at the whistle. Loud and proud, that was usually how it went with Gilbert. And they wouldn’t have it any other way, the rest of their little trio of friends. The sort of affection in that was evident by the way Antonio just laughed at the sort of sly prod that Gilbert gave them. Was it odd for two boys to be sitting like this? He did this all the time with his little siblings and cousins! Maybe it was because they weren’t related? Or was it because they were the same age?

“Why, do you not wanna join and make it tres?” Laughing as if he really did have no idea what it implied or that Gilbert was making fun of them. Or that Antonio was just tossing it back at him. But really, who could know or answer? Because as he had spoken Antonio had reached forward to tug Gilbert in, playful. But he hadn’t quite factored in the sudden movement of the weight of three boys in one direction – or the way this could case the chair he had chosen to tilt back on it’s legs… wobble… woBBLE… and then CRASH backwards with all three of them on top of each other.

Perhaps, somewhere, some parent heard the loud bang and wondered if this was the start to a story they would have to hear later either from their son or the hotel staff.

For now… Antonio just blinked… and burst out laughing at the mishap. “Oops!”

Words: 388

Tags: Francis L. Bonnefoy & Gilbert Beilschmidt

made by MISSO for use only by BECCA

[Francis L. Bonnefoy]

Francis was always a child that did what he wanted, and he saw nothing wrong with sitting in his friends lap. After all, it gave him a place to sit too and made it easier to hug his friend in greeting. It had been too long since he had seen the cheery Spaniard and the quick minded German who swore he was Prussian. Whatever nationalities they were, Francis didn’t care, they were his friends before anything else.

“Oi… so are we going to go exploring or are you two love birds going to make out all afternoon?” His words were softened by a brilliant grin that had taken over as he made his way to them. “Take your time, I can come back later.”

“Why, do you not wanna join and make it tres?”

Francis could only grin at his friends as he rested his head on Toni’s shoulder. He loved his friends, they meant a lot to him; and these get togethers, where they could just be regular children and not told to behave a certain way because they were children of important people, helped keep him looking forward to the next trip he was forced to take with his parents. None of that mattered to Francis. All that mattered was the boy that had a hold of him and the other one smiling at them both.

Shifting so he was only sitting on one of Toni’s knees, he knew Gil would have room on the other so they could all be together. Though his eyes went wide as Gil was pulled forward with a sharp tug, the arm around Toni shifted to protect the brown haired head from hitting the floor as his free arm held onto Gil. He didn’t want any of his friends to get hurt so he would try to protect them as best as he could.

The sensation of falling sideways was always weird to Francis; tumbling through space as the world moved to something it wasn’t supposed to look like in his eyes. The landing was never fun either, but this time he was cushioned by his friends, protected from harm. Looking up from where he had tucked his chin down, he could only sigh as Toni laughed.

Carefully, he reached out to Gil and smiled at his friend. Leaning forward, kissed Gil on the cheek before repeating the action to Antonio once again. It was his way of showing gratitude that they were alright.

"Let’s not do that again, find something different to do, oui?

He was always slightly jealous of how well Gilbert spoke English, better than his own at least. Gil and Toni were the sole reasons that he worked to improve, so one day they could all communicate perfectly in the same language.

[Gilbert Beilschmidt]

We are the lions....
 ...Free of the coliseum

Gil barely had anytime to react as he was being pulled into the chair. “Oi, dummkompf! You’re going to—“ He couldn’t even finish the sentence before the chair toppled backward sending them crashing to the ground in a tangled mass of limbs. He just lay there for a moment, stunned by his sudden position on the floor. Around him, he could hear the mingle of shock and disapproval from the adults around them. Dammit, the last thing he needed was to get in trouble before they even got to have any fun.

“Ow…” Gil managed to extricate himself from his friends, sitting up to rub the sore spot on his head. He glanced to Fran, only to be rewarded with a kiss to his cheek. He made a face at the blonde, rubbing said cheek. “Ugh, lay off on the mushy crap, will ya, Fran? What are you, my grandma?” He stuck out a tongue at the boy to show he was joking before glancing back at the Spaniard.

He couldn’t help but grin as he helped Toni sit up. “You two are such a pain, but I’m so happy to see you! Glad to see you two haven’t changed! I really missed you guys!” He scrambled to his feet, all too conscious of the stares the trio was currently getting. Righting the chair, he looked around, eyes dancing with the promise of a new adventure. “C’mon we should make ourselves scarce before one of the employees does something lame like call our parents.” He extended his hands to Toni and Fran, pulling them both up with a strength belied by his thin-limbed frame. No amount of bed rest was going to turn the awesome Gilbert Beilshmidt into a wuss, thank you very much. He looked around, taking stock of their surroundings. The hotel itself might have some fun nooks and crannies to discover, but then, they ran the risk of bumping into parents or other disapproving authority figures. He decided the hotel would be a good back up for any rainy days, but today? The sun was out and the sky was a perfect shade of blue. There was only one place Gil could think to be on such a glorious day. “There’s a lot of woods, I bet there’s plenty of cool things out there. What do you think? I bet we can even find a good hideout! Every operation needs a secret base, right?”

Gil had probably been watching too many spy movies since he’d been recovering, but so what? With a beautiful day ahead of him and his best friends at his side, Gilbert felt larger than life. He pulled out a large pair of dark sunglasses and put them on, shielding his sensitive eyes from the sunlight. His mother had insisted and for once, Gil didn’t argue. At least these were cool. (Better than the oversized hat she had tried to make him wear for nearly two months before the damned thing was “accidentally” tossed over the rails of a tour bus in London.) With a beaming grin, he turned back to his friends. “Race you to the door!”

word count: 525
tags:Francis L. Bonnefoy, Antonio F. Carriedo
notes: Gil's taking the lead... something tells me this isn't the first time XD

by worldie for kat

[Antonio F. Carriedo]

The amount of sheer dumb luck held within Antonio Carriedo's body even at his current age was astounding. While he had fallen and broken or twisted a limb once or twice in his lifetime up to that point, it was nowhere near the level of bodily destruction that was to be expected when looking at the activity level of the boy. What made the whole situation even more exasperating was that half the time the child was not even aware of how much pain he managed to avoid. While it did occur to him that his friend had been making an attempt to cushion the fall - his mind did not connect that to the worst case scenario of what would have happened if Francis had NOT done so. No horrifying image of his skull bouncing against hard floor, whiplash or even concussion being possibilities that would run through the mind of many others. Instead he only continued to laugh - smile when Francis kissed either of his and Gilbert's cheeks in gratitude for their safety - and be pulled to stand.

"Would you have us any other way?" He asked when Gilbert called his friends 'such a pain.' This was his usual response to the equally usual comment towards his actions. His friends, aside from his siblings, were probably the ones who were most accepting of that.

At the mention of woods Antonio automatically perked up. Climbing trees and exploring were some of his highest rated activities, how perfect! "Buena idea! Driving around I was wondering how different the árboles are around here." From a car window it was difficult to tell in the distance what sort of trees they were. Was there rough bark, or smooth? How close together were the branches? Were they weak or flimsy, unable to hold up even their child weights?

"From climbing chairs to trees, huh Fran?" Antonio grins to their blond, excitement already thrumming through him in a faint, constant buzz. Anticipation for the fun and adventure - with his friends most of all. It leaves Antonio hardly even waiting for Gilbert to suggest a mad dash for the door until Antonio is doing just that.

Words: 364

Tags: Francis L. Bonnefoy & Gilbert Beilschmidt

made by MISSO for use only by BECCA

[Francis L. Bonnefoy]

"Ugh, lay off the mushy crap, will ya, Fran? What are you, my grandma?"

Francis watched his friend’s antics and only giggled as he stuck his tongue out. Carefully reaching out, he tapped his friends nose before sitting up from where they had all crashed to the floor, he didn't mind the looks they were getting, but he knew that this one way for them to get into trouble with their parents, and if they weren't careful, they could all be sent to their own respective rooms without each other and no fun to be had. He brushed himself off after he stood up with the help of Gilbert, he continued to listen to his friends talk and be excited by the idea that Gilbert had proposed.

"There'ss a lot of woods, I bet there's plenty of cool things out there. Every operation needs a secret base right?"

[color=olivedrab"From climbing chairs to trees, huh Fran?"[/color]

"Oui oui~ Lets go see the trees, perhaps find flowers or something to sooth parent's upsets once we get back."

Francis was always trying to find a way to smooth over the ire that the adults could feel when all three of the boys were together, but he knew that the parents wouldn't stop them from having fun unless they did something truly awful. Which so far, hadn't happened, but Francis knew it was only time until they did.. He knew he wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and some of the ideas that he had himself weren't on the straight and narrow, but being young was the time to be alive.... he also knew that he had started showing some signs of something he didn't want.. And he hid it, but he wanted these times with his friends to last, to just have fun.

"Race you both to the door!"

Francis heard his light blond haired friend yell as he took off, a bright smile on all their faces. Running after both Gilbert and Antonio, his bright hair bouncing on his shoulders, no one seemed to notice as a live potted plant turned its leaves in the direction the three kids had gone, as if seeking something out that had yet to be named.