Title: Symphony
Pairing(s): Light, fluffy Prussia/Austria.
Disclaimer: Hetalia and all affiliated characters do not (and will never) belong to me.
This is set in the same universe as Conference, but it's not necessary to read that to understand this. Basically it is just an AU wherein Gilbert and Roderich are raising a little Ludwig c:
This is also my Christmas contribution for the moment (and it is PURE FLUFF), written while I sat miserable and sick on my aunt and uncle's couch tonight.
Best of wishes this holiday season to each and every one of you!
-x-
If he could, he often liked to think he would capture the beauty of winter, harvesting it and transforming it into one of the most beautiful melodies the world had ever known. And yet, he knew that it was the kind of beauty that would never be done justice through words, through art, through song, through music. No matter how much one wrote on the matter, now matter how many flowery words were put together in a composition, no many how many symphonies and operas were made in honour of it, there simply weren't enough.
Pressing fingers to cold glass, Roderich Edelstein mussed lightly that perhaps, this one day, he was all right with that.
"Oi, little master, are you just going to stand there all day and stare at the snow?" Gilbert called from his place by the fireplace, a blanket wrapped around him as he sipped the hot chocolate he had made earlier, all the while staring balefully at the calendar that proclaimed today as the twenty-fourth as opposed to the twenty-fifth.
"Gilbert," Roderich admonished quietly, giving him a meaningful look, and for a moment he thought he saw something soft flash in the red eyes of the German mechanic at the sight of little Ludwig, who was currently curled against Roderich's shoulder, his blue eyes closed in sleep and his blonde hair pleasantly mussed from the sleep that his nightmare had dragged him from.
A moment or two of silence passed after that, a comfortable one, with Roderich occasionally shifting his weight a little to allow relief on some areas of his shoulder, one hand still pressed against the cool glass window of their… their… home.
"Oi, little master."
Roderich glanced towards Gilbert again, keeping his face blank as the mechanic seemed to argue internally with himself before coming to a conclusion. "Come sit over here, little master. Bring... bring Ludwig."
Hiding a smile, Roderich stood carefully, placing one hand on Ludwig's back to keep him steady as he moved to sit carefully by the fire, where Gilbert promptly shoved one end of the blanket over both him and Ludwig, the warmth of the blank material obvious almost at once.
"He's so small," Gilbert mumbled then, and Roderich was caught off-guard by the sheer pride in the man's voice. He felt rather than saw the way Gilbert's hand curled around his own under the blanket, and he reciprocated the gesture with a faint smile.
"Watch him get older," the Austrian responded.
It was quiet again after that, a silence only broken once again by Gilbert when he rested his head on Roderich's shoulder, bringing the hand that held Roderich's own over to rest in the musician's lap, where they could feel the soft skin of Ludwig's foot, like he was imagining a connection - a thread - between them all.
"Hey, little master?" Gilbert mumbled sleepily.
"Mmm?" came the noncommittal reply.
"Fröhliche Weihnachten."
Roderich allowed the smile through a little more, glancing at the two tired brother's. Internally, he added what Gilbert could not, the meine Familie echoing through his mind before he rested his own head softly on Gilbert's mass of snowy white hair.
"Fröhliche Weihnachten."