The Issue with Arrangement! Okay, if you haven't read A Question of Arrangement, that's okay. But this is a companion to Chapter two of AQoA, my Cardverse story which is centered on Kiku. Anyways, this is basically supposed to explain why Ludwig did all the weird things that freaked Kiku out in AQoA. Also Gerita is really cute and my favorite Hetalia pairing. 3

Also, I really think that Ludwig's internal monologue would be 50% freaking out and overanalyzing everything and 50% telling himself to shut up. Thus, the whirlwind, grammatically-negligent voice you see below. Kay, that's all! Enjoy!

~Elsi


"Ludwig Beilschmidt." That was his name. By a methodical understanding, not his own arrogance, Ludwig had known it was coming, so he slowly got to his feet and made his way through his classmates to the stage. He watched the Jokers calmly, and his stomach folded into a knot when Gilbert gave him a huge wink. Why did Gilbert have to wink? Everyone would see the wink, and then they would think that Ludwig had been given the position for being Gilbert's nephew, and oh he didn't want that to be the reason that they hated him as a ruler.

Calm down, Ludwig. Taking a huge breath, Ludwig turned back to stare out at the sea of faces – his subjects, he reminded himself. He wanted to smile, like any kind and just monarch would, but his face remained stubbornly marked in its constant frown. He could feel his heart threatening to leap out of his chest, and began to feel dizzy as he figured out what part of the ceremony was coming next.

The announcement of the Queen of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts. His husband. Or wife, he supposed, although it would be better if he was to marry another man, because that would at least make the physical relationship easier, regardless of personality –

No. He would learn to love whomever he was assigned to marry, regardless of their gender, or their looks, or their personality. The Joker would choose the right person, right? And even if he was locked inside a horrible marriage, that would be okay, because they would be ruling together, and through that, they could learn to love each other – or at least tolerate each other, because Ludwig didn't want to push anyone to love him and he knew that he was unlovable at times. It was because he was always frowning and cleaning and worrying. But that wasn't his fault, was it? It was just the way he was, and his mother had always told him that there was nothing wrong with being himself. Oh...he had to calm down.

By the time he managed to settle his thoughts long enough to pay attention, Rome was already reading out the name of his promised.

"Kiku Honda."

There was a pause, and Ludwig stared out over the crowd. Kiku, Kiku was a man's name, wasn't it? It sounded foreign though – the Far East…

The pause faded away as an Eastern young man stood up, his face stricken with just a little bit of shock. The crowd parted obediently for Kiku – Kiku was a pretty name. Kiku and Ludwig. It had an okay ring to it, he supposed. Ludwig and Kiku, King and Queen of Hearts.

Getting a better look at Kiku, Ludwig decided that he would be okay. He looked calm, and was actually pretty nice-looking, and didn't seem crazy, so that was probably good, and hopefully he would be amiable and able to put up with Ludwig's ridiculous personality ticks – Ludwig. Ludwig, stop. Calm. Calm Ludwig.

Kiku stuck out his hand for Ludwig to shake.

"H-hello," he said quietly. Ludwig, still in a dream, shook Kiku's hand. Distantly, he noticed that the Eastern boy was quiet and shy. He had decided that he was going to learn to love Kiku. He could do that.

"Hallo," he said, unable to help himself from bringing out the accent that he lapsed into when he was nervous. It was a little speech problem, something that he had been struggling with since he first learned to talk, but he didn't think it was a problem. At least, he hoped Kiku wouldn't think it was a problem, and he could learn to speak his speeches in a proper accent, so he would be okay. Ludwig tried to take a deep breath and settle his stomach, turning back towards the crowd. How did he look right now before these people? Could they see how nervous he was?

Their eyes seemed mostly fixed on Kiku, and Ludwig was glad. That was good. If the people liked their new Queen, he could, too. Although, Kiku was from the Far East by the look of his face and his clothing – would that hurt their rule in any way? No…the Jokers would have prepared for that sort of thing. It didn't matter to Ludwig, so it couldn't matter for anyone else. He would love Kiku. He would. And he would make a good husband, and a good king. That was all it took, his own determination to rule Hearts as best he could. That meant being a good king and a good husband to his new queen.

And then the Joker called the name of their new Jack of Hearts, and everything that Ludwig had been repeating in his head was thrown out of the window.

"The Jack of Hearts is Feliciano Vargas."

Of course, the name didn't mean much to him. He looked down at the origin of an excited squeak, and then a brunette jumped up from the crowd and began hurrying towards the stage with a big stupid grin on his face. Ludwig's fears and anxieties suddenly stopped short when Feliciano tripped on the steps making his way up. He didn't even react, noting that the young man tossed himself back up. Feliciano up close was shorter than Ludwig or Kiku, and he had a thinner build than Ludwig – which wasn't surprising. His hair was this sort of rich auburn color, and there was this odd little curl sticking out from the side of his head. And then he was grinning at Ludwig and Kiku with this ridiculous smile and these big, glittering auburn eyes, and there was a bounce in his step that made him reflect light in every direction at once. Ludwig considered him to be very good-looking, all in all, and there was this weird sort of perfect feeling that settled inside him just looking at the man and –

LUDWIG.

"Hi!" said Feliciano, teetering a little as he moved forward on his toes to offer a hand to shake. "It's so great to meet you, Ludwig and Kiku! I'm Feliciano!"

That was all it took, and Ludwig was in love.

"Of course you are," said Ludwig as he shook Feliciano's hand. The touch was warm and golden, just like he was, and Ludwig could feel the tension in his entire body as this little ray of sunshine spoke to him. He was quite aware of the way his words had come out – harsh and pointed, when they were supposed to be smooth. Feliciano's face fell momentarily, and Ludwig opened his mouth to apologize. He hadn't meant for his words to come out sarcastically, not at all! He just wanted…ah…

He cast a look at Kiku, trying to harden his focus on the Eastern man. That was his queen – Kiku. Kiku and only Kiku. He would marry Kiku.

The rest of their court was announced, but Ludwig was far too busy staring at Kiku and trying to stop his eyes from redirecting to Feliciano, who was rocking back and forth on his feet with this bright little look on his face as he gave a congratulatory ve~ to anyone who came by.

Kiku. Focus on Kiku. Don't look at Feliciano, don't look at how good he looks in those nice brown pants, and definitely don't think about the way he said Ludwig…Ah. Doesn't Kiku look nice in his robes? Yes, yes he does. He spoke, too. His voice is pretty, isn't it? All shy and cute and stuff (but not quite bubbly and happy like Feliciano's and Ludwig what are you doing stop thinking about him).

It kind of became harder and harder as the day went on, because then it was time for congratulations, which meant that Ludwig had to try to focus on keeping his stupid accent under control while Kiku did his little bow thing – which was cute, it was very cute, and Ludwig was determined to love it very much. And meanwhile Feliciano was over there giggling and shaking hands and kissing the hands of the pretty young ladies and gentlemen and memorizing their names and introducing Ludwig. You know, Ludwig's name sounded a lot prettier when Feliciano said it…hmmm. And Feliciano was such a pretty name, too…

Watch Kiku. Kiku was important. He had to look like he was fond of his new queen, because they would be happy together. Ludwig would fall in love with Kiku and they would get married and their reign would be perfect. Absolutely perfect, right? Even though it was an arranged marriage.

At the end of the ceremony, before they split to gather their belongings, Feliciano grabbed his hand again and looked into Ludwig's eyes and tilted his head to the side and bounced a little bit.

"Ve~ Ludwig, I am so happy that we'll be working together!" said Feliciano, and oh, how his voice was so pretty, and his eyes were very sparkly in the sun, and very brown, and very alluring. "Ludwig and Kiku and Feliciano! How much fun!"

"Ja…very fun," stammered Ludwig, cursing the fact that his little accent had to pop up. Hearing it, Feliciano smiled wider.

"I like how you say things, Ludwig," said Feliciano, squeezing the hand he was still holding. "I speak funny, too, and Lovi and Mother and Father always say, 'now, Feli, you can't go around saying ve all the time because people will think there's something wrong with you,' although Lovi doesn't usually say it so nicely because Lovi never says anything nice! But anyways, whenever they say stuff like that, I always try to ignore it, because the way I speak is a part of who I am, and anyone who really loves me will just see past it, ve~? Oh, look, there I go…" And then he broke off into excited giggles. A few seconds in, and Feliciano broke off and looked up at Ludwig, suddenly realizing that Ludwig may not be one of those people that would be so accepting of his enthusiasm.

But Ludwig had never been more in love in all his life.

"Your family calls you Feli?" he found himself saying. He didn't know why that had stuck out from Feliciano's story, but it had, and as the nickname slipped off his tongue, Ludwig found himself desperately wishing that it was Feli that he would be marrying in five years.

"Yeah, and Ludwig and Kiku can do that, too!" said Feliciano.

Right. Kiku.

Ludwig shot a guilty look at Kiku and found his heart sinking to new depths. He had forgotten about that little detail. Suddenly, his determination of loving Kiku and marrying him and ruling proudly seemed…a little less strong. Maybe this arranged marriage thing wasn't what would be best, after all.

Watching Feliciano bounce off towards the direction of the attendants ready to usher him to his home, Ludwig found his spirits drooping at the arrangement he was being forced into.

The issue with arrangement, after all, wasn't gaining the love of a one man, but of losing the love of another.


So, it was that poor Kiku thought he was being glared at the entire day, and that Ludwig hated him. Luddy is just a little intense.

Oh, and the accent thing. I really wanted to keep Ludwig's accent over everyone else's, but I thought it would be a little strange to give him a German accent when everyone there would speak the same way. And I don't think that Feli would sound good speaking with a German accent as well. So, Ludwig's German twitch (which is basically just Ja and replacing a lot of w's with v's and v's with f's) is going to come up very occasionally. It's what happens when he gets stressed out, and he uses it around Feli after this conversation. They are adorable.

~Elsi