Hi! So, to clear things up, Heracles is Greece, Julian is Cyprus, Theia is Ancient Greece, Sadık is Turkey, and Tarkan is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Yes, I am aware that Greece and Cyprus are not brothers, but Ancient Greece did help raise Cyprus, so I decided to make them adoptive brothers in this AU. Greece is still Ancient Greece's biological child, though. That's not going to change. I do know that Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are also not brothers, but the relationship fit here. This is a human AU. Felt the need to make that clear before you started reading the actual story. Anyway, I hope you like this! Enjoy!

Greek Villa

Heracles Karpusi took a deep breath as he inhaled the early morning air. It was peaceful here; the birds were chirping, the neighbors were relatively quiet, and the air was warm and cold at the same time. His home, the home that he and his brother hadn't returned to in over twenty-five years, was in ruins, likely from being abandoned long ago when they and their mother, Theia, moved away. It stung a little, they had never imagined that it would have crumbled this much, but it had, and that made Heracles sad.

When they had moved away, to Rome, they had never imagined that this would have happened. The marble columns had crumbled, there were trees growing inside of the house instead of outside of it, and the house had fallen into general disrepair. They hadn't even wanted to move away, his mother had to move due to work and family relations, and she had taken them with her, because he was six and Julian was barely three, for god's sakes, and they couldn't leave children alone in such a big house, could they? His mother didn't want them to stay with the neighbors, she didn't trust them, so they went with her, and they hadn't returned since.

But when their mother had passed away from cancer, in her will, she had left both the Greek estate and the Roman estate to him and his adoptive brother, Julian, and left them to decide which one to live in: should they stay in the old Roman estate, where they had spent the majority of their lives, or should they stay in the Greek estate, where he was born and where his brother first had a place to call home?

While making their decision, the Greek estate had sort of called to them, so they decided to sell the old Roman estate and move to their childhood home instead. They had expected it to be in disrepair, but they hadn't expected it to be in such a state of dissolution, what with the graffiti on the outside walls, the holes in the upper levels, and the crumbling pillars that decorated the outside. But even though it was in such a state, the house sang its hellos to them and welcomed them, and they both felt immensely glad that they had picked this house to stay. Although the house was in disrepair and the landscape was overgrown and muddy, it had a magical air about it that made Heracles and Julian happy beyond words, and it called to them.

He loved it here. They both really did.

Heracles reinspected the house again. Yes, the pillars were crumbing, there were holes in the walls and ceiling, the gardens were immensely overgrown, graffiti decorated the walls, and there were trees growing inside of the house, but it felt like home to him, and although it would take some serious fixing up, he was willing to spend the money to do so.

A cat meowed and purred, rubbing his head against his feet. Heracles smiled, sat down on one of the crumbling benches, scooped the cat up, and petted his head.

"I shall call you- ummm... Larry. I'll call you Larry." The newly-crowned Larry purred up at him and smiled, at least, as well as cats could smile, and rubbed his head against Heracles' arm. He smiled warmly back at him, and Larry meowed loudly.

"Hey! Heracles!" His adoptive brother, Julian Karpusi, ran up to him, gesturing happily. He looked beyond thrilled with the house.

"Have you seen the backyard? It's a mess! This is going to be fun!"

"If your definition of fun," said Heracles lazily, "is cleaning up and doing some renovations, we need to buy you a dictionary for your birthday, because I'm fairly sure my definition of fun and your definition of fun are wildly different." He smiled. "Sure. It'll be "fun"." He made quote-on quote marks.

Julian sighed. "Come on, you know you're excited."

Heracles smiled to himself. He was excited, he did like cleaning things up, he just liked ragging on his brother. And living here would be fun, and hopefully the previous neighbors had moved out...

Loud crashes next door became largely audible as a semi-familiar face made himself known. "Yo! Heracles, Julian! You're back!"

Heracles internally winced at the loud voice. So he hadn't moved away. Dammit...

Julian waved hello. Sadık grinned back. A little kid followed him, tripping over the large brush. "It's been years!" Yes, it had been years. Long years spent happily away from all of the loud noises and the ruckus that Sadık often created. Even at the age of eight, he had been a troublemaker, and frequently got Heracles in trouble for things he didn't do. And that little kid he had in tow... Heracles pitied the poor kid. It would be a miracle if he even got an ounce of sleep. Sadık paused in front of the brothers, pointing at the kid.

"And this is Tarkan. He's my little brother." Tarkan waved hello, before cautiously scanning Heracles and Julian. He pointed a finger at the both of them.

"I don't like them." He spoke quietly, but with the slightly-high pitch that children spoke with. Sadık laughed loudly and clapped him on the back. "Good for you!"

Julian and Heracles glared at Sadık.

"Who do you think that you're picking a fight with?" Heracles growled lowly, switching between shooting poisonous glances at Tarkan and Sadık. Sadık laughed even louder and clapped both Heracles and Julian on the back. His ears rang loudly from the noise as he winced.

And there went the so-called peace.

A/N: Something that isn't angst, for once. Wow. Are you proud of me? You should be. Thanks for reading this! Ciao!