Faded: yet another plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. i blame RP :P
Riane: and your over-active imagination
Faded: that too.
Riane: TFG doesn't own Hetalia. if she did, germany would be HRE & totally sweep italy off his feet & live happily ever after and kick gil out of his basement.
Faded: on with the show!
Reminisce
When me and her were kids, I'll admit, we did some pretty weird shit back then. Before she liked him, I seem to remember her beating him up half the times she saw him. Wishful thinking? Maybe; but it's what I recall.
"Hey, Prussia! Guess what! I beat the crap out of Austria again!"
"Hahaha! Nice! Did Switzerland have to come save him again?"
"Du-uh. He really needs to learn how to fight better. Guys like us, we gotta stick together and get rid of all the little wimpy countries, right?"
"Yeah! …wait…guys? You're not a guy Hungary…"
"Sure I am! I'm just not done growin' yet!"
It was the stuff like that that she said that reminds me why we were friends. Sure, she was a little crushed when reality hit, but it took her all of two seconds to get over it. It was around then that we learned to stop being kids and grow up a little. We were close, yea, but when we were older we never really established if we were a thing or not. Even now I'm not sure if we were back then; but even so, I liked out time together.
"Hi Gil!" She bounded through the unlocked door to my house. "You busy?"
Glancing at the paperwork that littered my desk I looked up and shrugged. "Not really. Why?"
She laughed and said, "Yes you are! Get back to work, you lazy ass."
I got up and hugged her, laughing along. "Yep! That's me! Herr Lazy, and don't you forget it."
After a long silence, she finally spoke again. "Gil…are we…together?"
I pulled back, jarred by the question and unsure how to answer it and change the subject instead, smiling and pretending I hadn't heard her. "Hey, Lizzie, can you go check on West for me really quick while I finish up this paperwork? He should be outside."
She didn't protest and went outside to look for my younger brother, not bringing up the topic again that day.
Or ever for that matter. But when he came into the picture, things changed. For better, or for worse, I don't really know, but they definitely changed. We fought more, yelled more, hit more, hurt more, and loved more. Things would get bad fast and things would get good fast. I guess being in love really is like being on a roller coaster. I don't even know how it happened, though. He just came into the picture one day and everything slowly started going up in flames.
My foot tapped impatiently as I waited for her to come through the door. I sat silently on the couch, waiting; just waiting. The sound of the door clicking shut alerted me to her presence in the—my—our—living room.
"Elizaveta."
She stopped, looking at me in terror. "Gilbert, I swear, it isn't what you think it is!"
I crossed my arms and scoffed. "Really? Then what is it? I'm dying to know, Lizzie."
"I swear! My boss is looking for better relationships with Austria! That's all it is!"
"Yeah? And that's why you're coming home at fucking midnight, huh? To 'better relations with Austria'?"
"Gil, stop. You know I care about you."
"Is that it? You care for me, Lizzie? Is that as far as it goes? Cause that sure as fuck isn't as far is it goes for me, and you know that."
"Gilbert, you hear me say it every day! I love you! You know that!"
"Whatever! I'm sleeping on the couch tonight."
At first I believed her; I really did. Things happen in every relationship (Mein Gott. Am I really calling it that? Shit.) I guess, so of course it would happen in ours too. But then things changed more. And more. And more and more and more and more until I didn't even know how to get off the damned ride anymore. I didn't even know if I wanted to get off.
The door clicked shut as he left the café.
"Well?"
No response.
"WELL?"
"I'm sorry!"
"Sorry for what? God dammit Lizzie! Why do you keep fucking with me like this?!"
"I don't know! I'm sorry that I love both of you, but you know you have my heart. You know it!"
"I don't know what to believe anymore! I want to believe that so badly, that it hurts. But then you turn around and do something like this! What the hell is going on with you two?!"
"I—it's nothing. Look, I'll stop seeing him like this, okay? I just want you to be happy, Gilbert."
"Promise me. Promise me you'll never think of him or look at him again."
"I promise."
And I believed that promise. I believed it because it was all I had left to hold on to anymore. So when she told be the first time, I didn't believe her and brushed it off. Though maybe if I had listened that first time it would have prevented the hurt I caused myself later.
"My boss wants a union with Austria."
"Haha…that's a good one, Lizzie. Hey, what do you want for dinner?"
"Gil, please, listen. I'm being serious, here."
"And so am I! Hmm…how's wurst and potatoes sound, babe?"
"Gilbert Weilschmidt! Listen to me when I'm talking to you! My boss is going to create a union between Hungary and Austria! Do you understand that at all?!"
"…go see if West is ready for dinner."
Listening has always been a problem with me. Even now, everything goes in one ear and out the other. West is right; I should work on that. But I don't, and I didn't listen to her that night. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't have been totally crushed when I proposed to her a month later.
I walked in the bedroom to find her sitting by the big bay window, looking out to the yard. She seemed so peaceful that this really did seem the perfect moment to ask.
"Hey Lizzie…"
She looked up and smiled. Not her normal smile, but one that was tired; she's worn from fighting her boss on some union proposition or something. "Yes, Gil?"
I sidled over to her, rocking on my heels. "Um…nice day, huh?"
She chuckled and nodded. "What is it that you want to ask?"
"I, um…talked with my boss the other day."
"About?"
"Alliances."
"And?"
"I'm free to make any alliance I want as long as it doesn't interfere with one the other country might already have."
"I see. That's nice of your boss to allow that."
"So…I thought that, maybe since we're at a good point in both our relationship and our country's relations, that we could maybe be in an alliance? Or even a union if your boss was okay with it."
"Gilbert…are you trying to propose to me?"
"Why? Is it working?"
"Kind of."
"Then yes."
She looked at me seriously and spoke. Words that, at the time, I didn't know would be my undoing. "Gilbert…Prussia…You know I love you, I care about you, and you do mean a lot to me, but…I can't."
The smile I had been wearing previously dropped immediately. "Wh-what? Why not?!"
"The union with Austria! Oh, come on Gilbert, you knew about that!"
"The fuck are you going on about? What union?"
"I told you about this a month ago, but you didn't listen to me! Dammit, you never listen! Even when it's important and affects both of us!"
"Well I'm listening now! Shit, Lizzie! You can't just do something like this to me!"
"I can and I have to. You know I'll always have a place for you in my heart, but I can't disobey my boss!"
"You can't or you won't? Forget it, Hungary. I'm done with you."
"Gilbert, please! Be reasonable!"
"Get out."
"Just let me—!"
"OUT!"
She left without a word, closing the door quietly on her way out. Stains on the carpet I thought were from spilt water were tears I hadn't noticed that she had shed. Little things that made a huge difference in the long run.
I cried when she left. I really did. And I do on the anniversary of that day too. But I learned to take my own advice and I got over it eventually. But when their little "empire" got broken up after World War One, I laughed. I laughed and went out for celebratory drinks with my brother. (Not that he understood why. The Allies had placed the blame for the entire war on us and here we were out drinking.) I don't think I'd ever had such a good day in my life. I'm glad I've moved on. I've found someone else. Someone better. Yeah. Someone better. That's where I'm going right now. To see him and our little girl.
Ding dong! Ding dong!
"Coming!" I hear feet shuffling to the door and smaller feet pounding down the stairs to the entryway. The door opens and there he stands with a soft smile on his face; Matthew Williams. I smile and kiss him gently in greeting; he giggles softly and pushes me away gently. "Welcome home, Gil."
"Daddy's home!" Minka Weilschimdt-Williams (otherwise known as New Prussia) flings her arms around my waist and hugs me with the strength only a child can have.
I lean down and ruffle her hair, giving her a kiss on her forehead to confirm my presence.
"Hello Matt, Minka. Do you know what today is?"
THE END
Faded: eh...sorry for the angst fest. it got away from me.
Riane: obviously.
Faded: anyways, don't forget to review! reviews get you a gilbird! :D