"So." The word was accompanied by dropping a huge armful of clothes onto the floor- most of them either dark green military uniforms and either green or red mandarin-style tops. Yao's laundry wasn't exactly diverse. But the amount of work he had to do at the moment wasn't what was giving him a vague expression of terror. Whenever Taiwan said "so" as a statement, it meant that bad things were coming. Bad, bad, very bad things.

"…So.. what, aru?" China replied with an attempt at a casual tone, although it was blatantly obvious from the nervous look on his face that he knew exactly what she was talking about. He busied himself with grabbing the nearest shirt and folding it neatly, trying to appear nonchalant. He wasn't succeeding.

"You know what." Wan stared at him sternly.

Yes, he did. It wasn't like it was the first time this subject had been discussed. "I.. have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."

The girl sighed exasperatedly and flopped onto the floor beside him, picking up a pair of pants and folding them absentmindedly. She'd offered to help Yao with housework today, but he should have know that no good would come of it. What was the American saying? "There is no such thing as a free lunch", that was it. His train of thought was interrupted by Wan again. "Yes you do. So just answer and this will be a lot easier."

China was in serious trouble.
"I've.. ah, well, I've been thinking about it aru."

Wan gave a small squeal of excitement and then clapped her hand over her mouth. "No shrieking, squealing, or sounds of excitement of any kind at my answers" had been the first ground rule Yao had laid down for this conversation. She wasn't about to give up her chances of finding out exactly what he had decided. "Yes, and? Was it A, or B? And you can't say C like last time, it's not one of the choices."

He really, really wanted to choose C.
"…A." The mumble was quiet.

"…Can I please shriek in girlish excitement?"

"Fine."

The resulting noise was loud and shrill enough that Yao figured a few of the glasses in the adjoining kitchen had been broken. Hopefully not the expensive ones. "That is the last time, aru!"

"Duibuqi, duibuqi! It's just- I can't believe you admitted it to yourself. You've been in denial about it for what, a few thousand years?"

"N-not quite that long.."

"Close enough." Wan smiled. It was a devious smile. Yao quickly turned his attention back to the pile of laundry.

"So.."

Oh god, not this again. "So what, aru? Wan, this time I actually do not know what you are speaking about."

"So, are you going to tell him?"

Yao raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"…Of course you aren't. I should have known."

"Yes, you should have."

She sighed again. "Yao, your relationship is going to go nowhere if you don't tell him. He thinks that you think of him only as family, and not even that anymore. That you don't trust him, not really. Well that part is fairly accurate, but the relations between the two of you cannot progress until you admit what your feelings are."

"..H-he thinks that? Really?" Yao wondered if he'd done a better job of hiding his affection then he thought. "How do you know, aru?"

"Believe me, I know."

She probably did, too. "Well, I'm fine with.. with the way it is now aru." Wan coughed, looking annoyed, but Yao continued speaking anyway. "Wan, you don't realize. We were enemies for so long. And it was partly my fault, as much as I hate to admit it. I didn't let him think for himself. Maybe, maybe if- if I hadn't been so controlling, if I.." He choked off the sentence and quickly folded several shirts in succession, lips compressed tightly and hands shaking slightly. Despite the appearance he tried to give off as a strong nation, Yao still was unable to speak on some certain topics.

Taiwan's eyes softened and she set down the jacket she had been folding for approximately the last ten minutes and scooted across the floor to the Chinese nation, patting him lightly on the back. "It's in the past, alright? Agonizing about it isn't going to change anything. What happened between the two of you, it was.. well, it's over and done with now. You can't go back-"

"No, we can't. Keep folding, you're not getting very much done."

She ignored the command and pulled his shoulder around until he finally looked up at her, golden eyes brittle. "But the two of you can go forward- no, stop shaking your head like that- Yao, that's the only direction left, the two of you have to move on without keeping things hidden, just trust me on this."

Yao pressed a hand to his forehead, eyes closed. It was a few moments before he spoke. "And if I destroy the little we have right now?"

The diabolic expression was entirely gone from Wan's face at this point, her smile slightly sad but still comforting. "But he'll know the truth. If you love him, you shouldn't be lying to him. You shouldn't be telling him you love him as family-"

"I do love him as family. As a brother, as a friend, I just- I can't, I can't imagine life without him, he's been around for so long-" Now that the dam had broken and the torrent of words was pouring out, he was unable to stop himself. "Wan, I have nightmares, every night, every night I wake up screaming, and sometimes-" his voice broke. "Sometimes I see him raping and killing my people, massacring them, and I can't stop him, I c-can't-"

Wan's hand was pressed to her mouth as she tried to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. She gripped his hand tightly.

"And, and I wake up trying to scream except I'm not able to but Wan, he's the one I want then, he's the person I first think of to embrace and help because he understands. And those nightmares, they aren't the worst, because the worst time I remember isn't when he grabbed that sword and sliced open my back, it's not the worst, the worst is when I was lying there on the ground in a pool of my own blood and he.. h-he walked away. And I could not stop him."

Yao took in a deep breath, and, having confessed that much, continued in a less panicked tone, although he was still talking almost too quickly to follow. "But I can't help it, Wan, I guess love is something you can't control, can you? Because if he ever left me again I do not think I could cope with it, and it's terrible to want more but I do. I could just love him as a brother and a friend, as someone I need in my life, but I love him in a romantic way as well, I love him-"

"In every way." Wan's voice was quiet.

Yao's nod was barely visible, it was so slight.

Taiwan took a slow breath before speaking. "Yao.. I can't pretend to even understand the relationship between you two even a little. It's too complex and multi-layered, I don't think even the two of you could figure out exactly what you think of each other. But you have to, because you're the only ones who possibly can. And you are too important to each other to even think about not having the other person in your life."

China was silent for another moment and then finally replied in a voice so quiet that it was almost impossible to be heard, the whisper too truthful to be uttered at a louder tone. "I don't know how, Wan."

"What?"

"I don't know how to change."

Wan set down her current shirt and leaned over to give him a one-armed hug. "He can help you."

They folded the remainder of the laundry in silence, a thoughtful silence neither of them was sure whether to break or not.

"I'm done, aru." Yao stood, one hand to his back. "Aiyaaa, I feel old at times like that. Taiwan, can you go get the laundry baskets? I left them in the other room."

Wan frowned. "Why don't you do it? You're already standing!"

"Because I am an old man and I also folded all of the laundry except those three shirts and that pair of pants you did. So go on."

She sighed good-naturedly and pushed herself to her feet."Fine, I'm going! Just keep this in mind next time you complain about your little sister never doing anything for you.." She strode over to the door connecting this room and the kitchen and pulled it open, trying to step through except Japan was standing in the middle of the door and blocking the way, looking shocked and stiff and unlikely to be moving soon. "Excuse me, Kiku, can you move over a bit that way- I'm trying to get the laundry baskets. ….K-Kiku?"

The armful of shirts Yao was holding slipped through his hands and he made no effort to pick them up. So much for all that time spent folding them.

"Kiku, what are you doing here- exactly how long have you been standing there?" The look on Kiku's face made the answer fairly obvious. "Yao, did you know-"

One glance at Yao told Taiwan that he wasn't going to be saying anything soon either. She waved her hand in front of Kiku's face gingerly, noticing that the two men were and had been staring at each other ever since the door opened. "..Ah, Kiku? Why are you here..?"

He finally seemed to snap to. "…Gomen. I.. came to see if you had any green tea, I am running low, I wasn't aware that you two would be talking about.." He didn't finish the sentence or shift his eyes to Taiwan.

Wan glanced between the two, her expression still shocked at first but then a smile slowly spreading across her face. "…I suddenly remembered that I have a matter to attend to at home. If you two will excuse me.." She hurried out the door.

It took a few seconds before Kiku finally spoke. "Was all of that.."

It took a great deal of effort for Yao to force himself to reply. "…What do you think?"

"Yong Soo, Hong Kong!" Taiwan hissed into her cell phone, eyes wide as she peered around the corner at the two men. They were talking quietly and she couldn't quite hear them. "You'd better get over here quickly- no, not after you finish the third level of the game- I think our lovely older brothers are going to make out-" Oh, now they were hugging and it looked like Yao was crying. And was that a tear she saw in Kiku's eye? Oh, now they were- oh.

Well, she certainly wasn't going to help Yao fold all that laundry again after he and Kiku were messing it all up. Maybe she should have set it down on the floor and not on the couch.

I don't own hetalia. you can probably tell.

drabble drabble drabble. I'm going to upload a lot of these. be warned.