"I'm sorry when I say this but I don't think it's going to work out between us."
Ludwig stopped and froze. The same hands that scrubbed the white plate clean dropped it back into the sink, along with the rest of the crockery and cutlery submerged in the slightly murky water. It took him a few more seconds to process what had been said, before he slowly turned his head and met with an uncomfortable expression from Kiku. His brown eyes couldn't even make contact with the German's icy blue as the Japanese hands gripped the tea towel tightly. Germany gulped down the sore lump in his throat before speaking.
"Vat makes you say zat?" He did his best not to stammer through his strong accent. "If it's somezing I've done wrong, I'm sorry."
"No, you've done nothing wrong," Japan finished drying a white bowl and placed it on the top. "It's just…" Ludwig felt uneasy when Kiku paused because that meant that he was trying to say the cause of the problem in a polite way. However blunt or tactful his explanation would be, the truth was still going to hurt him emotionally. The Japanese man finally made eye contact with the blonde as though he was ready to speak. "I know we've been going out with each other for two months but for some reason, I don't know, I feel like I'm not the same person as I was when we first started going out together."
"Vat are you saying?" Ludwig said with concern as he passed a freshly cleaned fork to the dark haired man. "Do you feel awkward about us being togezer? Are you losing interest?"
"I don't know," Kiku snapped his eyes back to his hands wrapped around the tea cloth. "Until I know why I'm feeling this way, I wouldn't mind us being just friends. As soon as I find the problem and sort it out, we can go out with each other again like we used to. That is, if that's alright with you."
Ludwig had to admit that lately the Japanese man had been acting distant. He said he was fine every time the German asked about his well-being but his body language betrayed him every time and indicated what he said were lies. Ludwig remembered how they both confessed they had strong feelings of affection for each other; it was after Kiku invited him round for tea at his place and both of them felt since they were finally alone, they could admit their sentiments and share their first kiss with each other. However, that was two months ago. Perhaps after all that time, the relationship started to lose its novelty. Its one thing to be in a romantic affiliation but sticking to that commitment is a completely different matter and this was a hard lesson Ludwig was learning. He could beg to Kiku to try with him for a little longer, however, he didn't feel right denying him of that wish and plus begging wasn't his style. Despite not being happy with the decision, Ludwig looking down at the plate he previously dropped and gave it another wipe.
"If zat's vat you vant, zat's fine by me," He said monotonously. "I suppose it's best if we stay friends for the time being until you sort yourself out. Letting zhe problem escalate to zhe point vhere ve could fall out vith each ozer would be a sad scenario, so it's good zat you've bought zis up sooner."
"Arigato Ludwig-san," Kiku gave him a bow accompanied with a smile. "I glad you understand, even if I'm not sure myself what's going on with me. But I promise as soon as I've sorted my problem out, we'll go out with each other again."
"Ja," Ludwig nodded and passed another mug for Kiku to dry. "Zat sounds good."
!
A week passed since Ludwig and Kiku demoted their relationship to being just friends. The blonde, wearing his maroon suit, meandered down the hallway searching for the room where the world conference was being held. After all, he was the host country for the next couple of days and he couldn't afford to let the bitter blow distract him from that. He believed that all personal matters were to be left at home and that it shouldn't interfere with work life. But there have been times when that belief was tested; he grew a lot more agitated by people asking whether he was alright and generally felt down about his split up with Kiku. Feliciano had caught Ludwig more than once lamenting in his room and wondering why Kiku wanted to slit up with him an then he had to deny that he wasn't secretly on the verge of tears. Speaking of Italy…
"Ludwig! Ludwig, there you are!"
The blonde groaned. He recognised that shrill cry of excitement coming from him (Feliciano Vargas no less). Honestly, he's so childish that anyone would think he's still a teenager and even then he'd still be considered immature. He still sleeps around the German's house when he isn't at his own country and to top it off, Ludwig is always greeted with Feliciano sleeping next to him the next morning. But having said that, Ludwig did have the occasional soft spot for the Italian's child-like behaviour. It was the sort of foolish naivety that made him want to make sure he didn't land himself in a spot of bother no matter how annoying it was. But today was one of those days where he wasn't in the mood in dealing with Feliciano's cheerfulness. Finally, the auburn haired Italian caught up to Ludwig's side and walked at the same pace.
"So how are you feeling this morning?" Feliciano beamed. Ludwig glanced at the radiation the Italian emitted. It was almost as bright as his yellow, pinstripe shirt Italy wore. The German turned his head forward.
"I am feeling stressed about this conference," He started. "I doubt ve'd get anyzing sorted out to be honest."
Feliciano blinked his hazel coloured eyes. "Are you still sad about what happened between you and Kiku?"
There was a part of Ludwig that regretted telling Feliciano about his split with the Japanese man. But after one drunken evening, he ended up revealing his bottled up emotions in a tear-filling tale of woe. Although his version of events seemed more exaggerated than before he got himself drunk, Feliciano did have a better idea of what went on after speaking to Kiku, who was reluctant at first to divulging such information. In a way, he was glad that he told Feliciano about the events that occurred since the constant badgering from the Italian stopped. But that didn't mean he stopped him from worrying about him.
"Well it's like Kiku said, as soon as he sorts himself out, he's more than happy to go out with you again right?" Feliciano gave a comforting smile. Ludwig found it strange how the roles had reversed, seeing how he was usually the strong supportive figure who usually helped him out when he got himself into bother. Now Feliciano was the one giving him the encouragement needed to stay positive and the truth was, it did have some effect. Proof of this was a smile that rose on the German's lips as he turned his head to show it to the Italian.
"Ja, zat is true," Ludwig nodded. "He did promise after all."
"Well that's great Ludwig!" Feliciano raised his clenched hands into his chest and beamed once more. "At least you two still have a chance with each other!"
"I suppose zat is somezing," The blonde smooth his hair back before both countries finally arrived at the doors to the conference room. "You know? I'm starting to dread zis conference less."
!
And sure enough, the conference went smoothly considering the usual suspects disrupted the meeting at several points; mainly Arthur and Francis bickering, Ivan trying to get as many people as possible to become one with him and Alfred coming up with yet another illogical scheme that would be a fantastic idea for a fictional film but not for solving world problems. But not a single awkward glance was shared between Ludwig and Kiku throughout the conference. Both of them carried on professionally as if nothing had happened which was a pleasant surprise for the German.
Hours passed until Ludwig declared the meeting over for the day much to everyone's relief. Everyone apart from himself left the room (save for one or two cleaners who began tidying up the room for tomorrow's conference meeting). Feliciano did ask whether he wanted to walk home with him but the German told him he would be fine. After he packed the papers and black folder into his leather brown brief case, he made his way towards the door when he heard a buzzing sound coming from the large horseshoe shaped table. This made Ludwig stop and turn his head to find a silver mobile phone vibrating on the table. Who on earth would leave their mobile phone in such a place where people could easily take it? Without hesitation, Ludwig picked the phone up and read the name on the screen. Alfred? Whoever's lost their phone must have asked him if they could borrow his to call the one in the German's hand. Seeing how it was a sliding phone, Ludwig slid the keypad out and held the device to his ear.
"Hallo?"
"Ludwig-san? Oh thank goodness you've picked it up!" A relieved voice sighed through the speaker.
So it was Kiku who misplaced his phone? Normally the Japanese man wouldn't be so irresponsible as to not have it on his personnel. Feliciano he could understand but never Kiku. However, now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things because most probably he would have the solemn duty of delivering it to him.
"I'm so glad you've picked it up! I thought I've lost it and I was very worried someone else might have stolen it or worse." Kiku's voice spoke once more.
"Vell I vas just about to leave zhe building anyvay," Ludwig said as he exited the room into the hallway. "Just tell me vhere you are and I'll meet you zhere so I can give it back to you."
"Ah yes. Alfred-san and I are at the hotel we're staying in. It's called the Diamant-Platz hotel. My room number is one eight three." The Japanese answered.
"Alvight," The blonde walked out of reception out onto the cobblestone pavement. "Just stay vhere you are until I get zhere."
"Hai. Thank you ever so much Kiku. I'll see you when you get here." And with that, Kiku's voice was replaced with a long beep before Ludwig closed the phone keypad and placed the device into the inside pocket of his suit before making his way to the hotel.
Since he knew his home country well, it didn't take him long to find the hotel Japan spoke of. He hardly stayed at the place himself but he could tell this place was as luxurious as its name. A giant crystal chandelier hung from the white ceiling and the black and white marble tile people walked on had a shiny surface.
Nevertheless, Ludwig took the elevator to the appropriate floor and glanced at all the numbered doors until he found the wooden door labelled '183'. He bought out the phone ready to give to Kiku and knocked on the door with his free hand. The blonde gazed at the phoned and reminded him of all the messages he received from Kiku in the past; messages that said how much he loved him. Ludwig was half tempted to see whether he still kept some of them in his inbox somewhere but he decided against it. Besides, the door squeaked open before he even dared himself to do it. Ludwig looked up to find the dark haired man wearing everything (minus his suit jacket) standing at the door and he instinctively handed the phone over.
"Zis is yours I take it?" Ludwig asked.
"Hai, thank you so much," Kiku took his mobile back and clutched it close to his chest. "I am very grateful that you've found it. If there's anything I can do to repay you, you just need to tell me and I'll happily-"
"Nein, it's fine," Ludwig raised his hand to stop Kiku mid-sentence. "You don't need to do anyzing like zat. By zhe vay, is America still vith you?"
"Well-"
"Hey Kiku! Is Ludwig still at the door?" The American accent rang and before both countries knew it, the honey blonde haired man hovered behind Kiku. "Ludwig! How's it going?" He grinned.
"Not too bad danke," The German nodded his head slightly. "I trust you're happy vith your stay here so far?"
"Dude! I'm totally having a blast!" Alfred placed one hand on his waist. "Although those burgers you guys have ought to be eaten hot rather than cold. I mean, do you skip out on heating them sometimes or something?"
"They're called frikadellen and they can be eaten cold as well as hot because they've already been cooked previously," Ludwig explained unenthusiastically. And judging by Kiku's uncomfortable gestures, he felt awkward as well until he took the initiative of speaking up.
"Thank you once again for finding and delivering my phone," Kiku gave Ludwig a little bow of respect.
"Zat's no problem. I vas just doing vhat any decent person vould do," The German said. "Vell zhen, I should be vaking my vay home."
"Of course," Kiku smiled politely. "I'll see you tomorrow if I don't see you for the rest of the day."
"Yeah, same from me too," Alfred beamed.
"I'll see you tomorrow zhen," Ludwig turned to make his way back down the corridor.
He couldn't help but wonder what Alfred was doing in the same hotel room as the Japanese man. Maybe both of them were staying at this hotel because of coincidence. Actually, it was very likely that it was coincidence. It's not as if they planned to- what was Ludwig thinking? How could he accuse his friend of doing what he thought he was doing? Kiku would never ask to demote their relationship to being just friends and go out with someone else. He's too meek and polite to do such a treacherous thing as he would call it. Ludwig smoothed back his blonde hair until he remembered about some of the copies of paper in his brief case. He knew he gave them to everyone but knowing Alfred, he'd leave his copy as he did in the past. Then he'd ask for another copy because of whatever excuse he came up with at the time. Kiku turned on his heel and headed back towards room 183. He paced towards the door and grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.
"I'm sorry for barging in like zis but I vas wondering vether either of you two wanted another copy of-" His blue eyes suddenly widened with horror. What he witnessed in room 183 shattered his heart into many tiny pieces.
!
A/N: I've been a bad girl and have decided to start another fan-fic instead of doing coursework. Oh the shame! This one came from a character meme I did a while back on DeviantArt and one of the questions asked to come up with a title for a fic based on a given summary. Bear in mind that I picked all ten names out of a hat, in a random order but I'm not going to give you the summary as I don't want to spoil the story too much. However you can find it in my gallery if you really want to know that badly (it would be under 'APH Meme Again'). But even so, I have changed the structure a lot and I have included things that are not mentioned in the paragraph.
And I have decided to experiment with dialect and accents in this story so I want you guys to tell if I'm doing a good job on that. Otherwise, leave your reviews and I hope you enjoy this story.