My Ex
October 25th 2014
by Esile the Raven, Hetalia by Himaruya Hidekaz
Nirinni from House of Truths by diamondsnake

A new house. A new life. Kiku was all smile as he and Arthur watched their new house. The delivery guys were busily taking in their belongings into the building. The thick-browed man wrapped an arm around Kiku's shoulder and waved his other hand to their home.

"A new beginning, love. Such a beaut, isn't she?" he grinned proudly.

"Yes, it is so," Kiku nodded with a gentle smile. "You should invite a sprite into our fridge. You know, the one that will produce food at certain amount of money? Then we can all live in peace," he stretched and walked away from his husband.

Arthur put his hands up with a confused frown. "You mean Nirinni? Why would you need her...?" he went to tag along behind the Asian.

"Well, in case I'm not home or sick, I wouldn't have to worry about cooking with Nirinni-san in our fridge," Kiku moved away from a guy who's bringing in the drawer. "Oh, be careful with that one. There's something made of glass in there,"

Arthur puffed his cheeks and went into the house, crossing his arms. "You still don't trust me to cook?"

"Yes, it is so," Kiku nodded, and approached where the drawer was dropped. "I suppose I won't ever be,"

"I did it on purpose, alright?" Arthur blushed angrily and again, followed his lover to squat beside him, taking out things from the drawer. "My food taste bad, but I-I did that on purpose!"

"Yes, it is so," Kiku chuckled, and noticed Arthur was taking out a smaller box from the drawer. "Ah, that's it. Please hand that over to me carefully,"

Arthur stared at the box in his hands with a scowl, but did as told. "What could that be?"

Kiku didn't answer, but he took out a beautiful tea-cup and the saucer as the answer to Arthur's question. It was really beautiful and was made of expensive porcelain. The dark-haired man set it down on the table nearby and smiled, staring at it with a happy blush.

The British man frowned. "...Hmph, I have better ones," he crossed his arms. "If you'd ask, I'd give you something more beautiful than that set,"

Kiku chuckled, and leaned his chin onto the table. The way his eyes gleamed happily staring at the teacup set made Arthur began to grow jealous.

"I suppose you can, but I love this one enough."

Arthur puffed his cheeks, glancing away. He tried to be subtle about his feeling and curiosity. "Huh, who gave it to you anyway?"

"My ex boyfriend. It's really precious to me." answered Kiku, and for a second there, Arthur froze, feeling something pricked his insides, and his abdomen was filled with churning metal. The smile didn't leave Kiku's smile, and that bugged Arthur so much.

"Huh, your ex boyfriend," his eyes were cold, and he stood up. "I see. Your ex, huh," Arthur walked upstairs without looking at Kiku, who was utterly confused with Arthur's sudden change of mood.

The delivery guys called Kiku, saying that they were done taking down everything. The man set his curiosity and worry of Arthur for later and went to pay the men and arranged the living room. Arthur didn't come down at all, and Kiku was even more worried. He made sure he put his precious tea set in the cupboard before checking on his husband.

Arthur was quietly arranging their bedroom and the corridor with their paintings. When he noticed Kiku was watching, he blushed and scowled, turning away.

"Arthur...?"

"You should fix the kitchen," Arthur coldly said, acting busy with the vase in his hands. Kiku frowned in worry, but didn't say anything and went onto the second floor to do as he was told.

~.X.~

Along with arranging the kitchen and dining room, Kiku eventually fixed their dinner. It was already evening, and maybe, while the stew was boiling, Arthur would talk to him through tea break. He smiled with hope and went to take Arthur's favorite tea-cup and his own. Kiku decided he'd use his precious tea set instead of his clay Japanese tea-cup.

"Arthur, let's have some tea?" he offered with a gentle smile, and decided that he didn't want Arthur to refuse, he took the taller man's hand. Arthur was still sulking, but he came down with Kiku.

Though his mood worsened as he watched Kiku sipping his tea from his ex's tea-cup. The British man scoffed and looked away, sipping his tea angrily—still with his pinky out, the gentleman he was. Kiku noticed this and set his cup down, getting more worried.

"Arthur, is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Arthur scoffed at Kiku's insensitivity, still not looking into those brown eyes. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"Well then...why are you in a bad mood?" Kiku asked, frowning. He stood up and reached over the table for his hand. "Arthur, we promised there won't be secrets, right?"

Arthur scowled at Kiku. "Will you look at yourself? I refuse to talk when you're also being secretive, young man,"

The Asian twitched, irritated but confused. "I'm being secretive? Arthur," he sighed and stepped back. "I won't push you when you're like this. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold my temper," he said, and collected his tea cup.

"...Well why are you so hang up on your ex, then!?" Arthur suddenly burst, unable to control his jealousy. He glared at the tea-cup in Kiku's hands and snatched it away. "I can give you better ones—why'd you say this one's enough!? Is your ex really that precious to you!?"

Kiku was dumbfounded for a while as Arthur kept ranting and comparing the teacup in his hand.

"Huh! This set! It's not even the best porcelain! I can give you the royal ones—I can even give you one with the Queen's signature! But you said this one is enough...?" Arthur had a strong grip with the cup in his hands, as if wishing that it would crack. "Is it because it reminds you so much of your ex? Is it because that person still has a place in your heart? So you won't let me, your husband, replace him?"

Everything clicked, and Kiku was so worried that he couldn't straighten this misunderstanding, so he quickly held both of Arthur's hands, hoping that he wouldn't crack that cup into pieces.

"Arthur, please calm down," he asked, while Arthur was slightly tearing up, blushing angrily. "Yes, you can't replace my ex boyfriend, yes this cup is so precious to me because it's from him..."

"So you..." Arthur dropped his gaze down, afraid. "You still love your ex boyfriend?"

"Yes, I still do, very much," Kiku smiled wryly, and carefully wrapped the taller blond into his arms. He flinched away, but the Asian squeezed.

"But Arthur, my ex boyfriend is you," he looked up with those doe eyes filled with mirth. "You're my ex boyfriend, because you're my husband now, isn't that right?"

Hearing that gentle chuckle, feeling something cool dripping into the heat inside him, Arthur blushed even harder at realization.

"Oh, um..." bewildered, he looked around, anywhere but Kiku's smug smile. "Y-Yeah, I hadn't thought of that...Uh..." he groaned and hit his head with one hand. "I'm a bloody idiot...aren't I?" he then hid his face by returning Kiku's embrace.

Kiku was shaking with laughter, and he could feel his lover began to shake in mirth as well.

Jealousy could be really ridiculous, to the point that you became so insecure.

"I can't believe I got jealous of myself..." Arthur facepalmed. "I'm so sorry, love..."

Kiku dropped his head onto the blond's shoulder, smiling gently.

"I guess that's because you're just so charming that you became jealous of yourself, Arthur..."

A short fluff. If you enjoyed it, please put this story into your favorite list, and some reviews if you have the time!