To the new readers of this story, welcome. To the readers who've read this before and were waiting for me to re-upload the chapters, then welcome back and hopefully this will be a bit better than before.
This is technically my first Hetalia story. It is Human, Gauken AU! that obviously means their human names will be used... which also means they could die...
But enough rambling, please enjoy the story and reviews are welcomed, reviews help me improve and just make me feel like this story is worthwhile while plotting out the future chapters. Oh also as a warning, I try to use different languages here, but I only speak English and Spanish so sadly, I will be relying on Google translate... So I do realize that it is not a useful tool but I also try to use other means to translate sentences from native speakers, but I know that sometimes I will fuck up a language. Please don't kill me for that...
EDIT: Ok guys, so... Haha, funny story... I'm completely taking down the chapters. My muse for this story has died, and I re-evaluated this story, deciding to split the whole thing into three different stories with different names. Maybe that way, I can actually get down to business and if I stop updating one of the stories, then at least you'll have the others to look forward to. Trying to integrate the Rochu portion is harder than I thought and so maybe once I'm done with the USUK and GerIta side, I can completely focus on Rochu. Sorry for soooooooo much bullshit editing for this story but this means that I care about making the story good. So... I'm making this title for GerIta (title will probably change though, just as a heads up) and make a new one for USUK.
~Demise
Hetalia including all the characters does not belong to me, it belongs to the wonderful creator Himaruya Hidekaz.
Winter 199X
The first to notice the first snowflake was my brother, Lovino. "Ack! Cold! Feli, did you feel it too?" he asked, angrily covering himself with his fuzzy hood. I blinked and breathed out, "Veeee~*?". I looked up and noticed as well. Fuzzy white flakes left tiny wet spots as they landed gently on my face. I was a bit slow, even at that age, and it took a moment to realize that it was snowing. Lovino muttered angrily in Italian, something he learned from our grandfather. I think he just threw words together that he believed to go together. I grinned widely at my brother.
"Hey, Lovi, it's snowing. Do you think it'll snow a lot? I hope it does. I like snow. We should build a snowman with Mom and Grandpa! That'll be fun, right?" I rambled eagerly. He grumbled something about "talk too much" and "lame" but I didn't care much about what he said. Lovino was always grumpy about something and though he said he didn't like doing something, I secretly knew he did.
I began to hum tunelessly as my legs dangled back and forth from the swing seat. I think I must have concentrated too hard on what things to do with the snow because next thing I knew, my brother suddenly gripped my hand tightly. He scowled and stared ahead harshly at the four boys in front of us. I looked at Lovino then at the boys. They were about Lovino's age and lived in our neighborhood. One of them was our neighbor's son in fact. They sneered at us and one of them spat near Lovino. That angered him even more.
"What do you want?" Lovino demanded angrily. The "leader" stepped closer and jabbed his thumb at us as he cocked his head sideways to address his gang. "Look guys, it's the little Italians brothers. Ain't they cute together?" The others snorted and an acne-ridden boy stepped up. "Hey Lovino, how much does your mom pay to suck dick?" the acne boy sneered and the boys laughed. Lovino clenched his hands into tight fists now and his face turned bright red. "Back off man," another boy behind them smirked, "she's sucking me off for the next few days so wait your turn." I was pretty young then, so I didn't know what "suck dick" or "sucking me off" meant, but Lovino obviously knew. His small body began to shake and his eyes began to tear up of frustration.
"Aw, look at him, he's gonna run home and cry to his mamma!"
"Better knock first! Who knows if she's getting fucked by some guys!"
"Wahhhh! Little Lovi is a cwy-bwaby!"
"What a little fag."
Lovino growled and roared with anger as he threw himself onto the boys and began to punch anyone who got near him. The boys cried out in shock and pain every time my brother's fists made contact with their bodies. The tallest boy in their group caught his hand and lifted Lovino like a rag doll.
"You're dead now, you little shit!"
"Grab his brother too! We don't want him to go without learning a lesson either!"
"Feliciano! Run, dumbass! Corri a prendere il nonno!Feli, affrettatevi!"
I froze up in fear. I looked at my older brother as if his words were gibberish. As they came closer to me, I began to flail my arms.
"P-Please don't hurt me! I'm only 5! I'm sorry for what my brother said or did or whatever you're mad about! Just don't hit me!" I cried out while large tears hung at the corners of my eyes.
"Feliciano! Damn it! Run you idiot!"
"But Lovi…"
"…Hey."
The boys turned to find a small blonde boy behind them, glaring sternly at them. The boy seemed a bit taller than me but smaller than the rest of the boys. The boy's hair was neatly slicked back, not even a single strand out of place. His cheeks and thin lips were red in contrast to his pale skin because of the cold. His stony blue gaze made me shudder slightly. Though he must have been maybe a year older than me or so, the boy looked like he could handle himself well against the older boys.
"What the hell do you want, 'Hansel'?"the acne boy snickered. The others joined in laughing at the boy they called "Hansel". I thought maybe Hansel was his name but then, why would he say it as if they were teasing the boy?
The boy said nothing and simply stepped forward. "Hey, we're talking to you, kid!" the leader growled.
"... Leave them alone," the boy spoke quietly but firmly.
"Tch, fuck off German shit, you don't understand grown-up business." The boy's eyes turned dangerous and spoke quietly again, yet it boomed loud enough for everyone to hear clearly. Just remembering the tone of the boy's voice makes me shudder to this day.
"Leave them alone, and never bother them again."
I didn't know if it was warning or not, but as he finished his sentence, his gloved fist buried itself into the tall boy's stomach, causing the tall boy to lose his breath and release Lovino. Lovino scrambled to his feet and ran to me.
"Come on, Feli, let's go!" my brother tugged my hand. "But Lovi, we can't leave him with those bullies alone!" I protested. Lovino growled lowly and glanced back before turning to me. "Fine, but go up the tower and hide there. Go now!" I nodded and ran up to the playground as fast as my small legs could take me. I panted as I made my way up the playground tower and as I got there, I looked to my brother from the small foggy window. Lovino had just finished kicking the last retreating boy's bottom and cursing them in Italian.
"You better stay away from us! Don't you dare talk about my mother like that ever again!" he shouted after them. "Hansel" regained his breath and looked at me at the tower. Maybe it was that I was too far to tell, but it didn't look like the boy was injured, or even that a strand of hair was out of place. I jumped up happily and waved at them.
"Veeeee~! Lovi! Lovi!" I eagerly waved my small hands back and forth. I stopped, realizing I didn't know the blonde boy's name. So I called out to him.
"Hey! 'Hansel'! What's your name? You really saved us from those bullies!" the boy gave me a funny look and blushed a bit. Lovi glanced at "Hansel" and crossed his arms, sour at the fact that he owed the boy for saving us.
"I'm –."
"Oi, Lutz! We're leaving!" a rougher sounding boy's voice called out. The boy sighed, "Gilbert…" He looked at us, and nodded stiffly. "I have to go… and it's Ludwig," he answered before running to meet his mother. "Eh?! Wait! Where are you from! Do you live nearby? We can be friends!" I shouted out but he kept running.
Lovino scoffed and muttered something. "Come on Feli, we should probably get home too," he said after a while. I stared at the direction where Ludwig disappeared for a moment before turning to my brother. Throwing a silent prayer to God to allow our paths to cross again, I grinned at my brother.
"Ok. Do you think we can make a snowman in the backyard when we get there?"
Fall 200X
Lovino cursed under his breath for the fifth time since we got into the car. "Fucking hell, I can't remember if I brought my pocket knife…" he muttered to himself. "What do you need that for Lovi? We're only going to school, not prison!" I asked, looking up from the school's brochure. Lovino snorted, narrowed his eyes and turned his head away. He pouted and said childishly, "It's my lucky pocket knife. Besides, we might run into some thugs there."
"We're just going to school," I said again, stifling a laugh. "And we're the new kids too. Who knows what kind of assholes are waiting for us," Lovi snapped. "Grandpa said that since everyone is different there, everyone is super nice to each other. I hope we could make some friends. Maybe you might find a friend too if you really tried, Lovi!" I grinned. Lovino scoffed but said nothing more.
I hummed to myself and looked at the brochure once more. The school seemed nice enough, though the name sounded a bit bland: Gauken International School for Young Boys. It was a private boarding school created by the U.N in hopes to establish world awareness, or something like that. Since the name was so boring, I kind of zoned out.
Grandpa told us that maybe this school would "stick" with us, whatever that means. Maybe he meant that this was the ninth school my brother and I would be attending since we started high school. Who knows, Grandpa always talks about things in a funny way.
I looked up and saw a large sign welcoming incoming cars to the school. "Veeee~, Lovi, Lovi! We're here. It's so prettier than the picture! I hope the rooms are nicer than the picture too!" I exclaimed eagerly. Lovino scoffed again and crossed his arms. "This is going to suck," he grunted.
(0oo0oo0)
I stared sadly at the door which led to my assigned room. Lovino had been assigned a different room on another building. Since he was two years ahead of me, Lovino was on a distinct schedule than me and had to be with boys of his year. Before we separated, we compared schedules and found we would hardly have time to see each other, causing him to curse loudly and storm off. I sighed as I approached the door and opened it.
My luggage was already there, waiting for me to unpack them. My roommate had arrived before me and had taken his side of the room. His bed was freshly and neatly made; not a single crease or wrinkle was visible on the crisp grey sheets. The desk next to his bed was neatly organized and had a large stack of textbooks set off to the side. I grimaced, having seen the books and - from a quick glance at the calendar on the desk - his impressive schedule. I looked at my own schedule in shame. I barely had to buy any textbooks, mostly since I had taken up subjects like painting and choir. Not to mention that any books I did buy were brand new, a gift from Grandpa. My roommate's books, on the other hand, appeared to be old and used. I wonder what kind of guy he was and how he managed to get into a private school like this one with books like those.
Without much thought, I threw my clothes hastily in the drawers and stuffed it best I could before forcing it shut. "Done," I hummed happily to myself. Not as neat as my roommate but neater as it'll ever look once I get settled. My stomach interrupted my thoughts, grumbling loudly for food. Deciding to take this chance to explore the school (for food mostly), I tucked in my phone in my pocket and headed out.
The hall was now bustling with people and many ran past me, almost shoving me against the wall. Only one of them turned his head and shouted out loudly, "Oops! Sorry bro, my bad!" as he ran around the corner. I smiled widely. At least there were some nice boys here! I've been pushed around like plenty of times, but not one had apologized for it. I like it here now. Maybe Lovino found nice boys like that one too.
Remembering about my brother, I took out my phone and sent him a quick text asking him where to meet for lunch. I wonder if they serve good pasta here…
(0oo0oo0)
After spending two hours asking around for Lovino's room, I finally found it. It was farther from my room (about three buildings away) but not a long walk.
"Lovi!" I called out while knocking on the door, "Lovi~ !" I continued to knock on the door for what seemed like hours. "LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO VI~!" Finally, the door swung open, but it wasn't Lovino who opened the door. I withheld a scream (would have been pathetic and shrill) as soon as I saw the boy (more like a man!) who is sharing a room with my brother. His broad shoulders nearly blocked the entire doorway and his muscles were threatening to rip through the tight sleeves of his black shirt as he folded his arms. Scary! His blond hair was combed back neatly, leaving not a strand of hair out of place and allowing his sharp, icy blue eyes to see me clearly. He stared down at me, making me feel really small…
"S-scary…" I stammered, shrinking back. "What do you want?" his voice is so deep and thick! Did he hit puberty when he was 2? Even his voice is scary! What if he did something to Lovino!
"Ehhh… Scusi… I-is my b-brother there?" I nervously asked. He's so scary!
He didn't say anything but just stare at me. Is there something on my face? I touched my cheek instinctively. Did I fall asleep with a slice of pizza on my face again? But I didn't even have pizza today! Why is he staring at me so scary?
"Nein*… He's not here. He left an hour ago," he finally stated. "V-veeeh~ and here I was looking for him!" I exclaimed, laughing nervously to try to ease the tension. Again, he didn't say anything. I cleared my throat, hoping that if I continued babbling on, I'd get some reaction from this scary man other than what I was getting.
"Since he's not here, do you know where they serve good food? I'm hungry and I wanted to eat with my brother! I hope he found somewhere good to eat. Oh, but I'm being rude! Grandpa is always telling me to introduce myself before talking my mouth off… whatever that means! I'm Feliciano, but you can just call me Feli for short though Lovi might get mad if you do. Oh, Lovi is short for Lovino, my brother, you see? What's your name?"
He had this weird look on his face again. Was it wrong I said? Did I offend him? I began getting scared again. "…I'm Ludwig. Ludwig Beilschmidt, and no, I was getting ready to go to the dining hall when you arrived. I can tell you where to go from here," he said. "Oh! That sounds fancy! Are you German? No wonder you look so scary!" I stopped, processing what I had just said, then I freaked out, " E-eek! Y-you don't look scary! I mean, I didn't mean to say that out loud! It just came out like that! I'm sorry, please don't kill me, I'm just a young Italian, and a virgin at that!"
"Kill you?" he repeated, confused, "why would I want to kill you? You're strange."
"You don't want to beat my face in?" I asked again, "but I called you scary."
Ludwig furrowed his brows, as if he didn't know what to say. "That… doesn't mean I'm going to beat you up. Why… Why would you assume I'd beat you up?"
"Isn't that what people do when someone insults them?" I relaxed a little, seeing he wasn't going to hit me any time soon. Maybe he wasn't scary after all!
He looked at me strangely. I blinked, confused. Oh! A light bulb went on in my head. Maybe it was a weird, German way to try to be friends with someone! I looked at him strangely too.
So there we were, staring strangely at each other. Looking at his eyes now, they weren't as scary as I thought before. They were actually a nice shade of ice blue. Even with his eyebrows creased in the middle, he was just a normal guy! I like him! I'm having fun with this funny guy!
"…"
"…"
"….."
"….."
"…Why are you looking at me like that?" Ludwig asked, annoyed.
"I don't know. You looked at me first. We weren't playing a weird German game?" I asked, confused.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…V-veh?"
"…You're the weird one."
"…You started it."
"…"
"…"
Wow… this is starting to be a really awkward conversation!
"…So… do you want to eat with me?" I asked, getting bored of standing there. Ludwig seemed a bit surprised. I wonder why? Doesn't he have friends? Hasn't he ever been invited to lunch before? He's really weird, even if he says I am.
"…Ja… Why not?"
(0oo0oo)
"Do you only eat wurst? What if there are no wursts here? What does wurst taste like? Does it go well with spaghetti? Hey, Luddy, are you listening?"
Ludwig growled under his breath, but I pretended I didn't hear. As long as he wasn't talking, I might as well do all the talking. "For the fourth time, it's not 'Luddy', it's Ludwig," he snapped. "Yeah but 'Luddy' sounds so cute, and it makes you look less scary to me!" I explained as if it was as simple as 2 + 2 (which to most kids growing up, me included was not that simple!).
"Could you please just stop talking for a second?" Ludwig gritted his teeth in annoyance. I pretended not to hear. I just couldn't stop be cheerful with him for some reason. I hummed a song instead as we continued our way to lunch.
(0oo0oo)
Lunch with Luddy was fun! Turns out they have a German cook at the dining hall and she had made lots of wurst! She was a nice, big lady like Ludwig, with his type of blond hair and same blue eyes. They could have been related! Then again, Grandpa did say Germans look alike. I wonder if Ludwig's grandpa says the same thing about Italians too. I think he was happy even though he denied it. The pasta was disgusting but their Chinese food was ok, so I ate that instead. I think I made a lot of people angry because I was holding up the line… I couldn't decide between orange chicken or beef and broccoli! They're both delicious and I didn't know I could pick both. Ludwig spent a long time cursing in German behind me, though I pretended I didn't hear him again.
While we were eating, I swear I heard Lovi shouting but when I looked, I couldn't find him. Maybe it was my imagination. I asked Luddy about it but he said he didn't hear anything. I hope I'm not going crazy. I sent him another quick text.
Our peaceful lunch (since I went quiet after Ludwig threatened to shove a nasty wurst in my mouth) was disrupted (seriously, it was gross!) by a loud argument which turned out that one of them knew Ludwig. He was tall and muscular like Ludwig but had white hair and red scary eyes! They were scary but cool! He called out to Ludwig but Ludwig ignored him. When I asked why, all he did was shake his head disapprovingly and muttered something like "stupid Bruder" or something like that. After that, Luddy got up to leave and we left together.
I sighed, contentedly full and resting on my bed. My roommate still was nowhere to be found. I wonder if he has lots of friends here to hang out with. I hope we can be friends too. I smiled and closed my eyes to take a small siesta.
That is, until my phone rang and the door swung open and closed shut loudly, followed with quick footsteps and a thud. "Veh~?" I sat up and saw a blonde boy sitting on his chair, head buried in his hands. He was already wearing the school uniform, clean and crisp. I could barely see his pale face, but it looked like big caterpillars invaded his eyebrows, even from here. He was muttering something fast and out of breath. I guess he didn't notice me.
He slammed his fists against the desk and sighed deeply. E-eh?! Is he mad at something? I jumped back slightly. I never liked violence and always got scared whenever someone yelled or hit something or someone. He stood up and as he turned, he finally noticed me. The caterpillars shot up, making him look surprised. He stayed frozen for a while, just staring at me. I stared back. He wanted to play the staring game like Luddy and I were playing before!
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…."
"Err… Hello," he said.
"Hi!" I greeted back.
"Err… sorry… about storming in like that…"
"Veh? It's ok! But, are you mad at something?" I asked.
"E-eh… Something like that… Oh, but where are my manners? You must be my roommate, correct?" I mentally giggled. He sounds real funny!
"Yeah, I'm Feliciano! You can call me Feli for short!" I jumped off of the bed and shot my hand out for a handshake. He nodded and shook my hand. "I'm Arthur Kirkland," he said. "Wow! You have a firm grip!" I exclaimed, "My Grandpa says that's how you tell a real, honest man from a weak one! I always get my hand crushed by his, though. His grip is too strong!" Arthur smiled softly. "Thank you, you have a firm grip as well."
"You have a weird accent. Where are you from?" I asked. "Weird? My accent isn't weird… Your accent… is rather weird to me. I'm from England," he announced proudly. "An Englishman! It's true! Your eyebrows are huge! I thought they were caterpillars! My brother Lovino told me to watch out for your eyebrows because they might come to life and eat me! Then again, my brother says things like that about everything…"
Arthur made a face and touched his eyebrows. "They're not that… big…"
"…"
"…"
We looked at each other.
"…Oh, like it matters!"
"Seriously, they're big!"
I could tell that we're going to be good friends.
Veee~* - Italy's/Feliciano's verbal tic. It irritates some people to even see this tic used at all, but I think it's really cute for him. I also find it annoying when he says it in every sentence so if it does irritate you, I apologize but rest assure, I will use it sparsely.
Nein* - Germany/Ludwig will also be using German words (at least the ones I know) and this will be explained with this: Gauken International is a school with boys from around the world, so Ludwig obviously came from Germany. He is still trying to transition from German to English, the school's "suggested primary" language.