Tell someone you love them today, because life is short. But shout it at them in german, because life is also terrifying and confusing.

…

Gilbertsat in the airport, waiting for his flight to board, looking at his phone. He smirked when he saw a meme about love and speaking german, both good things. He took a screenshot and sent it in a group message to both of his brothers.

…

Ludwig glanced at the text Gilbert sent him late last night/early this morning. Gilbert's usual erratic routine had been made even crazier by his decision to take an overnight flight and pay a surprise visit to his significant other (who Gilbert had yet to introduce to his family), which resulted in late night/early morning texts to Ludwig, and apparently Roderich too, judging by the other name included in the group text.

"Gilbert…" Ludwig groaned, "Why can't you just be normal for once in your life?"

Almost as if in response, the screen lit up with a new text.

Roderich: You are a complete and utter imbecile.

Ludwig sighed, his brothers would never change.

"Gerrrmaaanyyyy!" Italy yelled as he unexpectedly let himself into the house, "Germany, Germany!"

"Italy," he sighed, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I thought 'today's tuesday, so it's a good day to visit Germany.' Then I thought 'but what if he wants to make me train when I come over. But then we could make pasta later if you do, and that will make everything better.' So I came over. But then when I got here I saw your dogs were out, so I wondered if they were supposed to be, but then I said 'if Germany's dogs are out then that must mean that they're supposed to be out', so I came in to make sure you knew."

Germany was silent for a full minute, trying to process everything Italy had said. "My dogs are out?" he finally said.

Italy nodded, "Aren't they supposed to be?"

"Nein."

"I'm sorry, Germany! I'll help you catch them!"

"That's not necessary, Italy." He grabbed his coat and the dog's leashes as he went out.

"But I want to. Besides when we're done we'll be hungry and then I can make us pasta!"

"It's nine in the morning."

"So?"

Germany decided to ignore the other man's obsession at the moment, "Blackie! Berlitz! Astor!" he waited a moment, then whistled sharply, making Italy jump in surprise. He turned to the smaller man, "Where did you see them?"

Italy pointed towards the woods at the back of the property, "Back there."

Germany sighed and started walking, "It hope you wore your walking shoes, since you're so insistent on helping."

"Err, no." seeing the look Germany gave him, he scrambled to explain, "It thought it would be a good excuse not to run laps."

Germany sighed again as he continued, Italy still following.

Germany sighed, they had been searching for over three hours, and still nothing. He could tell Italy was tired, but still he walked, calling for the dogs occasionally.

"Wait,"Germany said, "Did you hear that?" They were both quiet, somewhere not too far away they could hear barking. They both looked at each other.

Italy pointed, "I think they're that way." He took off, calling for the dogs again.

Germany followed, almost telling Italy to slow down, but decided that he looked too happy for that. He stopped when he saw them. They were in a small clearing. All three dogs were licking and jumping on Italy, who was laughing and trying to hug them all. When they saw him, Berlitz and Aster rushed over to Germany. He smiled as he knelt down to pet them, then looked over at Italy, who was still being attacked by Blackie.

His smile grew a little, thinking of how Italy had been afraid of the dogs when he first met them. Now he was willing to spend hours searching for them when he would rather be napping or eating pasta.

Germany snapped Berlitz and Aster's leashes onto them, then stood up. "Italy?"

He pushed Blackie away so he could look up at him, "Yeah?"

"Ich liebe dich." It wasn't quite what he meant to say, but it was still true.

A look of confusion spread across Italy's face, then he smiled, got up, brought Blackie over, and wrapped his arms around Germany's chest. "Good. I'd feel a little silly doing this if you didn't."

Now it was Germany's turn to look confused, but it only lasted for a moment before Italy kissed him.

…

Roderich glared at the flowers on his kitchen table. They were for Elizaveta, who was coming over for dinner.

He was glad to see her. He missed the days when she lived with him. He missed her. That was why everything had to be perfect: the flowers, the music, the food, no Gilbert to mess things up.

Roderich turned his glare to his cell phone, he picked it up and unlocked it. One new message from Gilbert, to both Roderich and Ludwig. He read it, replied, then went back to his planning. Flowers: on the table. Music: waiting with the piano to be played. Dinner: reservations made. Gilbert: he turned his phone off before going to the piano room.

His fingers itched to play Chopin, but he had to be sure the music was perfect. It was a song he had written just for Elizaveta. He wanted to tell her how he felt and hoped the music would convey his feelings.

He groaned. He was such an idiot. He had lived with the woman for years and never said anything. Why would she want to hear it now? He resumed his piano playing as the front door opened.

"Roderich?" Elizaveta called, letting herself in. She followed the music to the piano room, stopping briefly in the kitchen.

"The flowers are lovely," she said from the doorway.

He barely glanced at her, "You're a bit earlier than I expected." That was an understatement, he had been expecting her that afternoon. Although he didn't really mind.

She nodded, "I didn't think you would mind." When he didn't respond she came to stand behind him. "That sounds nice."

"Thank you," he said, a little stiffly.

"Is it new?"

"It is."

"I like it." she wandered back to the kitchen. "Have you had breakfast? I haven't yet, and I'm starving."

"I hadn't."

"Well, I'll make you something. What would you like?"

He started to get up, "You don't have to do that. It's my house, I can-"

"No, I want to. And I want you to keep playing."

Reluctantly, he did as she said. She clattered around the kitchen for a few minutes, absently humming along. "Did you have any specific plans for lunch?" she asked, "I thought we could have a picnic. Maybe down by that lake we used to walk past?"

"You still remember that?"

She smiled, "Of course."

"That sounds nice." he said softly.

There was silence except for the piano for several more minutes. Roderich switched to a few other songs he had written for Elizaveta, some from during their union, some from after. But he had never played any of them for her. Not until now.

"Is this sachertorte?" Elizaveta asked from the kitchen.

"Um… yes."

"Maybe we should just eat that for breakfast."

"It's for after dinner."

"I know that, silly. I was teasing you." she loved teasing him, he always got so flustered. "What are we doing for dinner? Did you plan something nice? Will I like it?"

"You'll see, yes, and hopefully."

"Hopefully? Roderich, you've known me long enough to know what I do and don't like."

Instead of answering, he just found another song to play. He hesitated when he saw the sheet music. He had only played it once. He had written it specifically for their wedding, but he had never played it after that. Half of him hoped Elizaveta wouldn't recognize it, the other half desperately wished she would as he started playing.

Elizaveta froze. She took a moment to compose herself from the unexpected emotions the song brought up. "I haven't heard that in a while."

"No, I suppose not."

"Roderich?"

"...Yes?"

She hesitated. "How many eggs would you like?"

He sighed, "Just one is fine." He continued playing. He wanted to tell her, he just didn't know how. Maybe Gilbert had a point (Gilbert right? Even thinking that hurt). But maybe he should just say it… Maybe after dinner.

No. He stopped playing, "Elizaveta?" he called.

"Hmm?"

"Ich liebe dich."

There was silence for a moment, and in that moment, Roderich feared he had finally, truly lost her.

"I know." she quietly said from the doorway. It seemed like the final nail in Roderich's coffin until she wrapped her arms around him. "Èn is szeretlek." she whispered.

Roderich felt like his heart started beating again as he turned to face her. "Why?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"There are hundreds, thousands of reasons why-"

She cut him off by kissing him, "Those don't matter. It only matters that I do."

…

Gilbert quietly unlocked the door, letting himself into his boyfriend's house. He left his shoes and bag in the entryway, sneaking upstairs. Given the time, his boyfriend would still be asleep. He always slept as late as he could. He paused in front of the bedroom door, then threw it open.

"Birdie! Ich liebe dich!"

The poor, startled, abruptly awoken Canadian stared at him, confused, "...what?"

"Do you always sleep with a hockey stick?"

Matthew looked down at the impromptu weapon he was pointing at Gilbert, "No, I keep it by my bed in case of invading Prussians who like to break in and shout nonsense."

"Are there a lot of those around here?"

"Only when you visit."

"Well then, maybe I should stay here to protect you. And it's not nonsense: it's german."

"Well I don't speak it. And who let you in?"

"I did. I have a key."

"I never gave you key," Matthew said slowly.

"Sure you did! Last time I was here you sent me on some errands and I stopped at the hardware store and made a copy."

Matthew flopped back onto his pillows, "Gilbert…" he groaned. They were both silent for a few minutes. "What does that mean, anyway?"

"What?"

"Whatever it was you were yelling when you broke in."

Gilbert joined him in the bed, "I'll tell you if you make me breakfast."

"It's too early for breakfast," he moaned as he rolled over, away from Gilbert.

"Not for me! I'm on german time, it's, like, noon there."

"Then make your own damn breakfast."

"Unawesome, Birdie."

"You're unawesome."

Gilbert gasped. "How dare you! I am the awesomest! Besides, you make breakfast better than I do." When Matthew didn't answer, Gilbert burrowed under the blankets with him, wrapping his arms around him and tucking his hands under the other's shirt, making him yelp.

"Gilbert! Your hands are cold!"

"You're the Great White North, and you're bothered by that?"

"The 'Great White North' is trying to sleep."

"Birdie," he was interrupted by a weight on his side. He turned to find himself face-to-face with a polar bear, "Gah!" he definitely did not scream.

"Who are you?" The bear asked.

Oh, right. Gilbert had forgotten about Matthew's forgetful bear. Matthew snickered from under the covers. "I am the awesome Prussia!"

"Who?" the bear asked again before climbing over him and taking his place snuggled into Matthew's back.

Matthew rolled over and cuddled Kumajiro, laughing at Gilbert's dejected expression, "Where's Gilbird?"

"Huh?" Gilbert raked his fingers through his hair, searching for his feathered friend and not finding him, "I don't know. Probably downstairs. Looking for food. Because we're hungry."

"Hm, too bad." Matthew closed his eyes.

Gilbert groaned, throwing himself back onto the bed. He looked at his boyfriend for a while, before picking up Kumajiro and depositing him on the floor, "Go find Gilbird," he told the bear.

"Hey," Matthew started to object.

"Nope. You want me to wait for breakfast? Fine. But I get cuddles."

Matthew giggled as Gilbert wrapped his arms around him, "I can live with that."

A few hours later, Gilbert awoke to find his arms full of a pillow that looked like the Canadian flag instead of his actual Canadian. Even worse, he was hungrier now than he was when he fell asleep. He slowly crawled out of bed, heading back downstairs in search of his Birdie. "Birdie?"

"In the kitchen."

He followed Matthew's voice, and his own nose to find Matthew cooking pancakes. Gilbird was nestled in his hair. "I was about to send Kuma to wake you," he smiled.

"You have my bird."

"So I do," he said as he opened the fridge, "Want some eggs?"

"Traitor, and yes." the first part was directed towards the bird, the second to Matthew.

"Bacon or sausage?"

"Yes."

Matthew rolled his eyes, closing the refrigerator. Gilbert took the opportunity to scoop his feathery companion from the other's hair and place him on his own head. Matthew smiled and handed him a bottle of syrup, real maple syrup (the best stuff), "Why don't you sit down?" he suggested, "Breakfast -lunch, brunch, whatever this is- will be ready in a couple minutes."

He did as he was instructed, watching Matthew finish cooking while trying not to trip over Kuma, who was hoping for him to drop something.

Finally Matthew placed a plate in front of him. He placed a hand on his hip, "Now will you tell me what it means?"

"What? Ich liebe dich?"

Matthew nodded and Gilbert pulled him onto his lap before kissing him. "That. That's what it means."

"Then Ich liebe dich, too."

…

Èn is szeretlek - (Hungarian) I love you too

…

In case anyone was wondering, and also because my proofreader (everythingisdragons) asked, I'm not entirely sure why I used country names during the GerIta part. The best explanation I can give you is that Germany likes to be formal, so he calls anyone he's not related to by their nation name. Roderich probably does the same thing, but his former marriage to Elizaveta makes her close enough to be on a human name basis. Gilbert just doesn't care about formality and calls Birdie whatever he wants.

Or I just don't consider myself as familiar with GerIta as I am with AusHun and PruCan, so I just did it unintentionally and was too lazy to change it.