Disclaimer: The computer I used to write this fanfic is mine. As for Axis Power Hetalia and its characters, they belong to Himaruya Hidekaz and nothing is left for me to own but the idea of this fanfic!
A/N: "Le chat qui fume" means "The smoking cat" in French. It's the name of the Parisian Café where Prussia and France meet in the story.
That place isn't an existing one, I made it up.
Have fun reading this and please review if you feel like it. Also, if things are not clear, I'll be happy to clarify them !
Le Chat qui fume : Chapter one
Prussia glanced at his watch and groaned. He was usually the one who was always late and who used to always get away with the same old excuse: He was too awesome to care about punctuality.
This time, he was the punctual one, it never happened before.
He was even in advance, how un-awesome was that?
His rendez-vous eventually showed up, right on time, and saluated his friends as soon as he noticed him.
-" Gilbert! Bonjour! Have you been waiting for a long time?"
-" Guten tag, Francis...I just arrived" Prussia lied. He glanced at his empty cup of coffee. By the look of it, he has been there for a moment already.
So un-awesome!
France took a seat in front of his friend and gave the waitress a charming smile so she would come and take their order.
-" So, mon ami, how are you?" Francis ignored the empty cup in front of his friend and Gilbert was glad for that.
-" I'm awesome, of course! And you?"
-" I'm fine really. So, why did you give me the privilege to come all the way from Munich here in Paris, just to see me ?"
-" Yeah, I figured you would be missing me"
France observed him- even if he didn't seem to- and kept smiling. He knew that his old friend didn't come here just for hanging up with him. He also knew that Gilbert wouldn't talk to him about what bothered him right away, he needed to be given time.
Conveniently enough, Francis had time to give.
(One week before:)
It was nine days before Germany's 129 th birthday. That special Friday of September, Germany woke up to a different atmosphere. Nothing had changed for the world since the previous day, really.
It was his inside world that was suddenly totally different.
The day before has been warm and sunny , something that was quite unusual for a late September day. Germany would have loved to spend the day out, as Italy had enjoined him to, but important documents had been occupying his desk and his professional consciousness would not allow him recreational time as long as work was pending.
He had politely declined Italy's invitation, promised him they'd meet during the weekend, then hung the phone up.
Then, Ludwig had spent the day working, enjoying the sun only through its vivid light casting warmth upon his back and shadows upon his papers.
after he had finished his daily work and could take some time for himself, (something he enjoyed more than anything else) there had been a storm outside. The expand of blue sky had been quickly hidden behind tick dark clouds rolling low and spreading all over. Soon, thunder and heavy rain followed.
That storm, Ludwig thought, would probably take the dead summer's remains along with him
Then, Germany's train of thoughts had suddenly taken a strange path: From the regret he had felt about spending what had probably been the last nice day of the year inside his office, came the realization of something else. He decided that he would not waste any more time to be happy.
The thought, strange- almost alien- had crossed his mind along with an even weirder feeling that had suddenly took over his body: He thought of how it would have been to spend the day out with Italy, under the sun, and maybe...
Then his thinking had turned into day dreaming, and, in his mind, he had been wandering the sun-bathed fields with Italy and they were holding hands, and later, they would...
A noise from the kitchen ( Gilbert had tried to cook alone again) had awoken him from his reverie but the feeling in his gut was still there: fluttering butterflies that didn't want to stop flying around in his belly.
The feeling followed him through the entire evening and, despite Gilbert doing his best to distract him from his sudden change of mind, the stubborn idea had kept him awake until late night.
The morning after- it was Friday, exactly nine days before his birthday- he had taken a decision.
Enough time had passed since the 'valentine' accident, he had understood his mistake and he had been reading enough books to know exactly what ' dating ' meant. He had grown wiser-or so he thought- and he had found his confidence back since his country was doing much better. Ludwig felt ready to make a move again.
That evening, he had decided, he would invite Feliciano to some very nice place to eat, then he would tell the Italian how he really felt. Tonight, it would not be Germany and Italy, but only Ludwig and Feliciano.
The double nature of his kind had confused him before, but now he had learned to cope with the Nation and the human inside of him. His inner human had always been in love with Feliciano even though his inner Germany had little to do with Italy.
It was that simple.
He waited noon to call his once-ally, knowing that the airhead rarely woke up by himself before 11. As usual when Italy picked up the phone, his voice was cheerful and loud.
-" I'd like to treat you to a dinner tonight " Ludwig didn't waste time asking him. " If you agree, I'll come pick you at 7. I have something important to tell you! " if his voice waved at the end of the sentence, Italy didn't seem to notice and answered in his ever-cheerful way.
-" A dinner? Ve! That would be great! Can we go to a place where they serve pastas?"
-" Of course!" Germany said, smiling against the speaker.
-" Then okay!" Italy's voice burst through. " I'd love to go to the restaurant right now, but my boss really want me to attend some kind of boring internal meeting today! But don't worry, I'll be certainly free at seven tonight"
-" That's good! But you know you shouldn't consider work to be boring and...." He realized he was lecturing the man again and decided it wasn't the best approach if he wanted his evening to be a 'magic moment'. So he cut himself short. " I hope this meeting is not going to be too tedious for you! See you tonight at seven then..Oh, and put on a nice suit, I'm taking you to a 'really decent' place."
-" Really? Woah that's so cool! Thank you, Germany! See you tonight, ciao!" And he hung up after that.
Ludwig placed the phone down and smiled to himself.
He was confident about their 'date' and had good hope that Italy-no, Féliciano would react positively to his declaration.
-" Why are you smiling like that, West ?"
Ludwig blinked and looked at his brother who had just entered his office without knocking as per habit.
-" I'm not smiling" He said, forcing his mouth into a more usual shape.
-" But you were smiling...Quite stupidly I must say !" Gilbert came closer and squinted his eyes, as if he wanted to read his brother's mind. " As if...something really awesome had just happened to you. What is it?"
-" I..." Ludwig cleared his throat. " It's not important, really. Oh, and, by the way," He continued " I'll have dinner outside tonight, so you know"
Gilbert stared at him a moment then nodded very slowly. " I see..." The concern displayed on his face was quickly wiped off by his signature smirk. " I'll go at Antonio's, then, and surely we can get Francis to join. Of course, as I will spend the evening with them, I'll certainly come home late, if not even tomorrow...Afternoon"
-" That's fine!" Ludwig said, still in his happy world. " Hope you'll have fun!" the butterflies in his insides would not let him back in character, but he didn't realized that.
Prussia, in an other hand, knew that his little brother was hiding something. And, by the stupid look on his face, it was obvious what that sudden change was all about.
He simply shrugged and told himself it didn't matter.
TBC
