This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to factual details is purely coincidental. Also Hetalia's not mine.

It started snowing for this first time this winter. With roughly a few weeks left before Christmas, they started packing for the trip to England.

A few weeks until next year. A few days until he get to meet his dad again. Then Alfred guessed any minute might just be the last together. Alfred was not in any way ready for all these. So was his family it seemed. Mom kept staring off in the distance and Matt was forgetting stuffs as he read off the list of things they would need, assuming that they would stay at least 2 months.

It would be the first time they leave the states too. Alfred bit his lips as he sat on his unmade bed, trying to stuff some clothes in his cabin bag without breaking it somehow. Wherever he's going, he would need some winter wears and those weren't exactly light. They were informed of dad's condition 2 days ago, got the emergency travel paperwork through yesterday and his visa would be here this afternoon or so. The urgent process was unexpectedly smooth for them, even though it was during the end of the year peak period. Mom had booked the tickets that day and they would get on the plane tomorrow. Of course they called off work and informed the relatives as well so someone would take care of the house while they are gone. The only things left to do were packing, and wait. Alfred was going to explode over the frustration of not being able to cram his favorite jacket inside when Matt walked in.

"You know, if you want, you can wear that to the airport?"

Alfred plopped onto the bed at Matthew's voice from the door.

"Too tired for this." he whined. "Are you done over there, Mattie?"

"I think. I've got Mom to help me with the clothes this morning, since we were packing together. I only need to get a few things in my room..."

"You're not bringing that teddy bear with you, right?"

Alfred's mention startled the Canadian, which was plenty to confirm that it was exactly what he was looking for.

"Eh... why not? I can't just leave Kuragino here..." Matthew mumbled his face troubled as he walked faster to his room.

"It's Kumajirou." Alfred sighed with a small chuckle. Matthew is still Matthew.

Then it hit him. "Hey, why is Mom helping you? Why not me too?"

"As I said—" Matthew sighed and was about to repeat before he got cut in.

"Yes, Alfred sweetheart. I'm right here. You should have woke up a bit sooner." His Mom was just outside of his door now. Though she looked a bit tired, she knew better than to trust Alfred with his clothes, as sad as it sound. And her hunch was just right, as the cabin bag was about to break even when it was unzipped and socks were hanging out of the small pockets.

"YAHOO! Thanks a bunch Mom! Anything I can do, other than that?" Alfred asked sweetly, now that he was free of the horrendous task, which made his Mom laughed.

"Can you go make some tags for the luggage? I would need them in case anything goes wrong and we can't find the bags. Just put my name and our address— wait, actually. Hang on."

She stood up and went out to the kitchen table. Their paperwork was all there, and would probably go into a smaller bag so they can board the plane and get through the custody smoothly.

"Here, write this address down." Mom pulled out a small note from a small pocket of her purse nearby.

"Who is this Linda?" Alfred looked over the note Mom gave him.

"His secretary, the one who called."

"Oh." Alfred's mind clicked. That person. Of course he didn't expect Dad to call Mom, that's not even physically possible.

"By the way, use that." Mom pointed at the hard poster board in the corner. "Print paper probably won't last, I think."

He snuck a Sharpie and scissor along with the poster board and hurried after her.

On his way back, they spotted a Matthew hanging out at his door.

"Things are going fine over there, dear? Did you find whatever it is?" Mom asked with fondness in her eyes.

"Eh, yes. Hey, Mom... I might need a little bit help though..."

"What is it dear?"

They walked in his room. It was... different from Alfred's room. Much different in fact. Everything was in order and tidy. His cabin bag was already packed and the carry-on bag was organized on his bed.

"There's not enough space for Kurasino... And it would go over the weight limit anyway..." He picked up the bear from the table and gave it a hug.

"Won't the phone strap do?" Moriah smiled sadly at him. Usually, Matthew would carry a smaller version of the bear around, the custom made phone strap of Kumajirou.

"But I can't sleep without him." He looked like he was about to tear up right then.

"Why don't you carry it in another bag then?" Alfred finally spoke up to save the situation. The bear was not that big anyway. He could feel the other two's stare and it was making him a bit uncomfortable.

"Eh... there's a limit on how much you can carry by hand though..."

Dammit. His suggestion went down the drain that easy. And he tried even though he had this intense dislike toward that evil teddy bear Matt have had for years.

"What the heck Matt? Your stuffs can't possibly be that heavy. Lemme see." Alfred laughed and jumped on the bed, started unzipping the luggage excitedly.

"Wait! You can't—"

"What is this? Maple syrup? And 3 big bottles to boot." Alfred yelled out loud before Matt could do anything.

"You plan to carry these?" his Mom was now looking at him with concerned eyes.

"I found another in his carry-on bag, too." Alfred was not laughing anymore. Wow, dude have this huge obsession over maple syrup, he didn't even know there were that many bottles stocked in his house.

"I just... I won't survive without them..." Matthew answered softly, avoided their stares.

"Matthew, there is maple syrup in the U.K. I'm sure." his Mom patted his shoulder." You can carry one if you must, but leave the rest and we should have enough space for your bear."

"Okay..." He said dejectedly, putting 3 bottles back in his closet.

The she left to finish the mess in Alfred's room.

"I'm sure you'll be fine Mattie. People can't die over not drinking maple syrup." Alfred zipped the bags back and smiled at the sad boy. That earned him a pretty heated glare from the smaller brother.

The room had gotten much colder than he thought. As Alfred walked out, he could swear he saw the bear making grim face at him from the table.

He suddenly got another idea as ran over to Matt again.

"Hey Mattie, want me to sneak one over there for you? I should have some space if it's just one bottle."

"You would do that?" Alfred could see the enlarging pupils in those violet eyes.

"Of course! Anything for my little brother." Alfred laughed and grabbed the one bottle that was still in Matthew's hand.

"Thank you so much, Alfred!" The Canadian's cheerful mood was back and that made Alfred feel much better too.

He walked out in high spirit, didn't forget to hide the bottle from Mom.

"When are we leaving again, Mom?" Alfred hurried back in his room.

"We leave at 5 in the morning, though the flight won't be until 6: 45. We should be there around 6 in the evening."

His Mom was refolding everything he had in the bag. Alfred put the bottle under his pillow and sat down at his desk and started cutting the board to the right size. It was silent between them again.

"Do you think he want us to visit him?"

"... I don't know, Alfred."

"Do you want to see him?"

"I do."

"Me too then."

*~oO(15:12)Oo~*

It wasn't long until everything was in place. Alfred checked the house for anything he might have forgotten again. Mom had got the renewed visa and some hygiene stuffs like toothbrushes and towels. As they sat down at the table, their luggage in the corner of the house, they put the paper work in the manila folders and were ready for a break to eat. Matt ordered 2 pizzas, one for Alfred, the other for the two.

"Somehow it doesn't feel like we are leaving at all..." Matthew smiled, looking a bit sad.

"We'll be back in a flash. It's not like forever ya know." Alfred said, sitting down.

"Do you think the food in the fridge will be fine?" Mom glanced back in concern. Though they would have their aunt take care of the house, they would probably shut down the gas, water and electric since no one would be using it.

"There's still food in the fridge?" Matthew gasped.

"Not as much since I didn't go shopping that Sunday, but yes, milk, ice cream and some frozen desserts... yogurt, Alfred's frozen pizza, your maple syrup.. That's about it I think. The food on the cabinet probably won't be expired." She uttered nervously. "Giving it to the neighbor would be kinda awkward, but I don't want to throw away the lots."

"Think Max would clean the place out for us? I think he would." Alfred laughed. The Canadian didn't like the idea, but Max probably would... as long as it has nothing to do with Alfred. Well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him, the pizza was untouched anyway.

"I'll text him over this evening anyway." Matt said as he picked up another slice. "Aren't you going to tell Natalia or Ivan?"

"Natalia maybe. Ivan no. Why?" Alfred drank his soda and looked up at Matt. They were the siblings living a block away that the brothers used to go to school with. Ivan and Alfred was quite some enemy in middle school, but who know, they might have become friends somehow. Maybe not. But Natalia was sorta his adopted sister a while back. She's pretty cool to talk to, most of it was trashing Ivan, but that kinda blurred out over the year too and now they mostly talk about rock music. She would go on trips with the two brothers to historical places and tours, which usually turn out badly with her occult view freaking everyone out. He visited the Russian kids from times to time now to spar with Ivan and borrow rock CDs from Natalia.

"Don't you have to return some CDs to Natalia then? I found them lying sloppily on your bookshelf."

Oh shit. No kidding, the girl would be furious and come "knocking" on their door if Alfred didn't return the CD after a month from the day he borrowed them.

"I'll go visit them this evening... By the way Mom, I'll probably drop by Toris's place on the way." Alfred was more close to Toris. He was probably the only other person Alfred was in talking term with. Toris is pretty easy to get along with and is probably the nicest guy in the neighborhood. But he've got the worst luck, having to put up with Ivan and Alfred's continuous fight years back. The poor guy was also stuck with this annoying but extremely shy Polish dude he met from the uni.

"It's fine, tell him I said hello. And be back before late okay? You would need your sleep to wake up early for tomorrow's flight." she smiled at him.

"No problem, Mom!"

*~oO(London)Oo~*

"Oi Gil. The usual if you please." He beckoned at the bartender as he slipped on his usual seat at the left corner of the pub, loosening his tie a little.

Gilbert turned to the Brit and laughed even louder.

"Hey it's Arthur! How have you been, not drinking your arse off for a whole week? Missing my awesomeness?" He said with a small wink.

"Bugger off mate. Pour the drink. Long day." Arthur sighed at the albino, who was literally dancing around on his feet.

"Whatever dude, I'm totally awesome. Here ya go, my awesome drink." A cup of red wine slid from the Prussian's hand to Arthur. Then he went off laughing maniacally again with some friends. Arthur sighed again as he catch the drink, wondering why he still frequent this pub. Or why he was that guy's friend in the first place. Then there's the whole complicated story about how they met multiple times involving Roderich and Elizabeta that are too long to even think of. Suddenly someone came up and quietly sat down next to him.

"Hello Arthur. Good to see you here."

Arthur turned to his side to find Kiku with a small drink on his hand. The Japanese had obviously been here for a while already.

"Hey Kiku. Alright?" They usually see each other at the pub so it didn't even surprise him anymore.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Thursday... been a freakishly long day, I don't know what else to tell you... But that aside, how's the new job going?"

Arthur was particularly interested in knowing how the Japanese man have been, working under the new lawyer. He saw them the other day out in the hall, and they seemed to be in some heated conversation, it would have seemed impolite to cut in.

"It's alright. I'm still trying to learn some new things here and there, but I get general idea on most of them. Heracles had been pretty cooperative and helped me out a lot." Kiku looked at the drink, a small smile about to play on his lips.

"How was the date to the museum the other day?" Arthur suggested, teasingly.

"It was fun— wait no, it was not a date at all!" Kiku blushed, waving his hand trying to reject the idea. "They had this cat festival with arts and cat figurines... it was very cute. Though Heracles bought a lot of souvenirs. Got me a cat too..."

"Really? That sounds wonderful." Arthur chuckled at the image of two grown men carrying too many plushy cats on their arm. He then smirked to himself while looking at how red in the face his friend was.

"DID I JUST HEAR ABOUT KIKU HOOKING UP WITH SOMEONE?" The loud Prussian popped into their conversation uninvited and made a ridiculous statement.

The pub was rather local and most people are regular, which earned them even more attention. Kiku was now on the table with his head down on the countertop. Arthur couldn't do much more but smile apologetically as he gave Kiku a light pat on the shoulder, then turned to Gil and gave him a shuddering silent F finger with the most forceful smile he could pull. Stupid Albino, messing up his scheme of possibly being a future Cupid.

He got himself a fourth drink as Kiku left, then he noticed something about the music. The pub was playing some classical for once, considering that the owner wouldn't stop playing his rock music almost nonstop, all day, every day. Arthur adores rock. But a change was nice too, he guessed.

After his seventh glass, he noticed again that the music changed yet again. Is Gilbert okay? He couldn't have gotten drunk himself, right? And jazz now?

*~oO[A few hours ago, London]Oo~*

Alfred hopped down the plane, while the other two dragged their feet from the long trip and raging headaches. He mostly slept the entire time listening to music, woke up for lunch, which wasn't all that bad, watched this odd movie about bunnies on the mini-tv, then fell asleep again.

"You alright Mom? I'll get that." Alfred leaped before her and took the cabin bags from the carousel. Mattie was hanging on there; he just walked a bit more slow as he tried to adjust after the flight.

At the welcome area, they spotted the secretary in no time, a mature-looking, young woman with brunette hair in a small bun, blue eyes, and dark blue uniform vest. She was smiling and waving cheerfully, while 2 other men in black tuxedo carried a big welcome sign, laughing nervously at all the attention they were getting from passerby.

They got a ride to a nearby hotel, a pretty big one too, called Euphoria with ready booked rooms, 1 for Moriah and a twin room for the brothers.

"How is everyone?" Linda smiled as she walked over after she told the men to carry in the luggage.

"Thank you for the warm welcome, dear. You really didn't have to..." Moriah tried for a weak smile as she sat, exhausted. The headache from the plane really got to her, Alfred thought.

"Not at all, ma'am." She insisted. "Please get rested. I'll have the boys pick you up tomorrow for the hospital visit, if that's okay?"

"Are you sure? That would be great." Moriah smiled.

"Not a problem. Would 9:30 in the morning be okay for you?"

"Yes. Thank you. How he's doing these days?"

...

While they were talking, Alfred was helping with the luggage.

"Dude, like your tux! I'm Alfred." He smiled at the British men. Blue eyes, one brunette, another blond like Alfred, around the same height, slightly more skinny than Alfred, maybe a bit shorter, but they looked friendly enough. There's some resemblance, maybe they are brothers?

"Robert. Linda's brother." The brunette patted Alfred's shoulder.

"I'm Greg. No jet lag?" The other grinned at him.

"Nah, I'm cool. How old are you guys? You look younger up close."

"24, my brother's 21. You?" Greg nodded thoughtfully.

"Aww, 19. Thought you guys would be around my age." Alfred laughed.

They talked some more as Linda gave a short tour of the hotel on the way to their room, which they later found out, was owned by Linda's family. When they were done, Mom and Matthew sorta retired to their room for a nap. Alfred, of course, had had enough rest.

"Mom. Do you mind if I go out for a bit?" He asked as Linda and the boys were about to leave.

"Go head. You have your phone and some money right?" she said after a yawn. "Remember to adjust your watch..."

"It's alright. I'll give him a tour, ma'am. No worries!" Robert swung his arm around Alfred's shoulder and grinned.

"Linda, do you mind if I borrow your cousin for a tour around London then?" Alfred asked excitedly.

"Not at all. Take Robert. I need Greg to drive me." She laughed cheerfully. "Have fun, boys!"

"Thank you! This is gonna be awesome!" Alfred grabbed his new pal and head outside.

"So where do you wanna go first?" They got some McDonald on the way. He also gave a sidenote about the hotel being a 5 minutes walk from the London subway so that was another plus if Alfred ever wanted to go to hot spots nearby.

"I dunno. Any cool places still open around these hours?"

"Hmm... there are many... but you probably have heard of them... wait. One place I bet you never set foot in." Robert flashed a boyish grin. "Your mom is not against alcohol hopefully?"

"Nope, she's a pretty good drinker herself." Alfred said innocently, a twinge of hurt in his chest remembering the past, but it faded soon. They stood before a pub,"Preußens Kneipe".

"German?"

"Germanic, but Prussian to be exact. You are 19 if I remember it correctly? As long as your mom doesn't mind, no harm done?" Robert winked at the man.

"Yeah! But I don't wanna get drunk so just checking it out a little bit?"

"I'll hold you to it."

"I'm suppose to trust someone who just showed me a bar as the first place to visit in London." He joked.

"It's really all there is to London. People get drunk and have a good time." Robert winked."Though don't tell anyone else that. They usually get offended."

The pub is pretty old from the outside, but everything looked expensive in shiny wood with tip top condition. A big flag with a black eagle on it, probably Prussian flag, was hung near the ceiling, many iron cross was spread throughout the pub. Another flag, this time the U.K.'s, was by the right side. There wasn't many crowds of people around like Alfred had expected in a pub, but the atmosphere was pretty warming and friendly. Slow classical was in the air, which make the place even more desolated.

"Hey Robbie! Newcomer? How can I help you?" The bartender grinned, then looked (Or leer? Alfred couldn't really tell under the dim lighting) at him as they moved closer. White hair and...red eyes? Okay, one have gotta be fake. Or he's an albino, Alfred thought. That's still pretty awesome. The man was probably the owner of the place, seeing there's no other waiter or waitress around.

"Yep, he's with me. The usually for me, and a light drink, Alfred?" Robert leaned toward on the counter.

"I'll have bourbon." The American said cheerfully, which earned a slight raised brow and a pat at the back from Robert.

"Bourbon it is then! You've gotta try our beer next time though. It's the most awesome in the world!" The Prussian quickly got out the glass and popped a new bottle for the drink. "So where are you from boy?"

"New York." Alfred said, and then took a small drink. Robert left him with the man as he trailed off to talk to a friend nearby.

"Vacation?" he raised his brows.

"Something like that."

"I wouldn't mind some of that myself. But then there's this awesome pub I've got after my old man died. And my idiotic brother."

"Hmm, yeah..." In a split of a second, Alfred thought about how it would be with just Mattie and him. Great, he had just made himself sad. "Ya know, I didn't exactly have the image of a pub playing classical music though. I guess it's a British thing?" Alfred commented as he finished the drink. Not as bad as he thought it would be. He didn't even feel anything yet, which is probably a good thing.

"It's just today. I like my rock, and we all know it's awesome. Only I got blackmaile- I mean... a close friend of mine wanted me to try different things. Ya know how friends are like." the bartender's laughed, a bit forceful as he glance to the doorway. A young Japanese man, who was just leaving, returned with a slight glare.

"What's your name?"

"Gilbert Beilschmidt. Call me Gil." He resumed to his task of cleaning some cups.

"Okay then, Gil. Mind if I recommend you some music, too?" Alfred grinned through his second glass, and got out his Ipod.

"Sure, cowboy. The stuff is over there at the end of the counter. However, I'd say the chance of me listening to pop is almost never, okay?"

Alfred sneaked inside and went for the audio mixer with a bunch of cords lying around the expensive main speaker, which explained the high quality sound unlike some random coffee shop back in New York. Plugged his phone in, he searched for his jazz album. It's kinda a soft topic that he still like the old jazz and blue, but they have some pretty good ones recently too, of course.

Sophie Milman's "People Will Say We're In Love" streamed through the air at a not too loud volume. It's not yet his favorite, but that doesn't matter since Alfred usually just listen to whatever he's in the mood for.

"Oi, isn't this jazz, Gil? I didn't know you listen to tha— Oh, hey." A man stood up and looked in from the counter seat. His mesmerizing green eyes stood out most from the dark shadow his face was cast in.

"Hi. Problem?" Alfred looked up and smiled. He was not ready for criticism against his music this soon but it happens, most of the time actually.

"Not really. I just thought it's new for him to actually play anything beside rock... Where is he?" The man was now seated again, leaning on the counter. Alfred now noticed the most visible feature on his face was not his eyes after all, but his eyebrows. They are... slightly larger than normally seen, but it's kinda cute in a way, Alfred didn't know why. Maybe it's the slightly pink shade on the man's smooth skin.

A voice rang out behind them before Alfred could answer.

"Over here, I'm so disappointed that you didn't notice the absence of awesome me. I was just getting some more awesome beer." He cackled loudly as he put the crate in down beside the cabinet.

"Give me a beer, Gil." the man leaned his face on the cool wooden surface.

"You have work tomorrow don't you?"

"It'll be fine. I'm feeling just fine."

Light by Ellie Goulding started playing. Alfred almost forgot he had it on shuffles at the waiting room before the flight.

"Ah. This song." The Brit on the counter suddenly started talking again.

"Yeah?"

"It's my old teacher's favorite." he laughed lightly.

"I wouldn't have remember it if I were you." Alfred shrugged and sat down on a chair he found at the corner. Gil didn't seem to mind him, still chatting with some girl on his right hand.

"She's a special case." the man sounded almost sleepy now.

"Yeah?" Alfred got himself a cup of beer from Gil.

"She saved me."

"Hmm, yeah? Teachers are kinda cool, ya know. I had this physic teacher a while back. His class was the hardest I've had in all of my year. And somehow, I ended up being the black sheep ya know. Just because I know stuffs, because I excel his class... At the end of the year, he called me back and told me that I was his favorite student in all his years teaching, and he found me as a challenging student than just any other that wanted to pass for credit."

The man was now sitting upright, his face leaning slightly on his right palm. A goofy smile played across his red lips, or maybe that's just how things look in yellow light? Somehow, Alfred felt a little bit of tingling red too on his face. Must have been his imagination.

"My teacher used to hit me. With a frying pan."

"What the heck dude?" Alfred was a bit unsure if the man was being serious. Maybe he was too drunk?

"Death serious. I deserved it though. Bloody frying pan." The man laughed dryly. Then he gave a warm smile at Alfred.

"She was the best teacher I could ever ask for." He said softly, and then plopped onto the counter.

Alfred flinched on reflex, then smiled at the sleeping man in front of him. Then he picked up a random pen that happened to be right there next to his hand and wrote a note on the man's hand.

He pocketed his Ipod a while after and said goodbye to Gil, who just looked at the passed out man on the counter with eyes full of pity, then tried to get him on the sofa a few feet from there.

Robert was waiting for him outside, his breath fogged in the cold weather.

"Did you have a good time?" Robert glanced over. "I feel like I could have taken you to a more interesting place, not a pub anyway."

"I did have a good time though. Thanks, Robert."

"No problem. It just happened that I frequent this place. I don't even know why, since I don't live near here or anything. It's not the nicest pub around either. It just... draws you in, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." Alfred smiled broadly, thinking about how the man, who he didn't even know name of, would react in the morning at the small note.

You probably won't remember

but I think your teacher is great.

Hitting people with frying pan is awful though,

even if you liked it ;)

Smile more often :D

-Alfred

[To be continued...]

A/N: Yeah sure, Robert. You are hella gay too lol :p I wasn't sure at first, but now I'd like to think Linda, Robert, Greg, are just Brits(human), so I won't dwell much more on it. Also the case for Moriah, as Americans(human). So yeah, clarifications :)

Song(youtube): watch?v=xGl82j74vxw

Tell me what you think of the story so far :) I'm also open to suggestions ya know ;)