"As I said, you don't have to participate in this meeting."
"Of course, I have to. It's my duty!"
"Then get out of this car. We're here for 20 minutes and I want to watch 'Supernatural' it's starting soon, so, hurry up!"
"Lately you're really addicted to this series, aren't you?"
"As if that was possible. I just watched the whole fourth season yesterday. Does this automatically mean I'm addicted!"
"I think it does."
"Tch! Anyway, get out! Otherwise I'll have to use exorcism to torture you."
"Fine... See you later." Ludwig left the car and waited until his brother disappeared. Then he turned around and went upstairs. Now he stood right in front of the door, raised his hand hesitating.
I don't want to enter this house. This meeting will be different, definitely.
Germany always felt a bit uncomfortable when such official conferences became more private. He thought it was strange to talk about reparations or contracts while you were sitting in someone's living-room drinking tea and eating cake.
I hope Arthur bought one, otherwise... Anyway. It didn't fit.
On the one hand he could just miss this meeting. It would be the first time... Just once... But on the other hand... It was his obligation to participate! He would never try to neglect his duties, of course!
Ludwig raised his hand once again but when he wanted to ring the bell, someone grabbed him from behind.
"Moron, what are you doing?" The German sighed. Seems the "hero" arrived...
"I could ask you the same thing." Alfred ignored Ludwig's comment, reached the door knocker and hit it three times against the door.
Ludwig felt like hours had passed until Arthur finally opened it.
"Hey, Artie, I'm here! Let's get the party started!"
"Welcome, Alfred. First, this is a conference so please stop talking about parties." Alfred pouted but quickly showed his well-known, dopey grin. "Second, I think you know this house very well, since you played here when you were a little likeable child, so please come in."
"Alright! We'll save the world!"
"Sure..." Arthur sighed till he saw Ludwig who stood right behind the four-eyes.
"Oh... Sorry about that. Hello, Ludwig."
"Hello, Arthur..." You could almost feel the tensed atmosphere between them. But Germany didn't know what to say. He was really bad at small-talk.
"You've never been here before, right?"
"That's right."
"Shall I show you around my house until we start the meeting?"
"I don't want to bother you..."
The Briton smiled. "No, it's fine, come on." The German entered the simply but still appealing hall. Arthur closed the door to start his guide.
"This house is quite an old one... It was built a few centuries ago. That's why the entry hall isn't really pretensions. Follow me." They walked along a long corridor that was filled with lights which looked like little flames and lots of different pictures, mostly portraits. It seemed like the lights were framing the images.
"Don't worry they're not real. Little Alfred thought it would look to old-fashioned if I'd chosen real flaming torches, so I chose lamps that looked similar. It would have been also quite dangerous if you think of Alfred as a child playing with fire... Sooner or later we would have to move house."
"Definitely but good to know... Who are all these people?"
"Previous kings and queens."
"Impressive. You got a quite long story, don't you?"
"More than five centuries. Yes, it has been a long time."
"My story is... if you can call it a story, it would be only a short-story. About 40 years."
"But it was definitely a memorable time", said Arthur sarcastically. Ludwig smiled but despite that sighed once again. "Yes, a "memorable" time…" Arthur's smile disappeared.
"I.. I.. am sorry. I didn't want to bring this horrible incident up again."
"No, no, I'm fine... But please let's forget that topic and continue our tour."
Arthur harrumphed and went on when they entered the kitchen.
"On the left side is the kitchen. It seems to be old but the equipment is really modern. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to cook so many different meals."
"So it's true that you make everything by yourself."
"Of course. I also wanted to make something for today..."
"And did you?"
"No. I hadn't enough time to prepare anything. But I might be able to arrange something for the next conversation."
"Great..." Germany thought that it was nice that Arthur strived to cook something for them but his food was so disgusting... and sometimes even radioactive. He could abstain from this kind of food.
"Anyway, next to the kitchen is the dining room. But we shouldn't enter it now because they're doing some repairs." Both men left the kitchen and stopped in front of a giant wooden door.
"Opposite to the kitchen is the living room. Alfred and Francis are in there but we're first going to finish our tour until we accompany them..."
"If they don't kill each other it's fine." "I think they won't."
"Then let's continue."
"That's fine by me. So at the end of this corridor you find the bathroom behind the stairs and those stairs lead to the basement. But now we're going upstairs."
"What's there?"
"There you can find, except another bathroom, Alfred's nursery, two guest rooms, my bedroom, of course, and one of my favourite places in this whole house."
The corridor upstairs looked like the one downstairs, except the pictures. Instead of previous kings and queens there were merely pictures of different places in England. They were ordered the way that you could see how these locations have changed over the years. Starting with paintings black-and-white shots and at least one coloured photo. Pictures of these places under construction and after they were finished.
Ludwig knew even a few like the Palace of Westminster, the Tower Bridge or Buckingham Palace. But there were also lots of buildings he had never seen before.
"Excuse me, but what is this?"
"You don't know? That's the Tower of London."
"And this?"
"The Canterbury Cathedral. Strange that you don't know these sights. Have you ever participated in a sightseeing tour or have you ever at least read up on England's history?"
"No. Every time I visit England I'm here because of political issues. I never get enough time to do something like that."
"You should take your time to get to know England. I think you'll like it."
"Maybe but then you should learn more about my country, too. I think you know as much about Germany as I know about England."
"Sorry, but I believe you're wrong."
"Fine, then tell me something about Germany."
"Okay, let's see... Germany's capital is Berlin. Its most famous sight is the Brandenburger Tor.
I also know a interesting and wonderful castle called Neuschwanstein.
Then we got the city Bonn where Ludwig van Beethoven was born. Maybe you were named after him..."
"I don't think so. Gilbert is not the musical type."
"Anyway, another really old city is Cologne whose well-known emblems are the Kölner Dom which exists for more than three centuries and of course its beer called Kölsch. Actually Germany seems to be well-known for its different beer varieties. I think you got at least ten different sorts... Then there is also a festival called Karneval which is a little bit like Halloween but it seems to be still different. Lots of people living in Cologne say that you have to experience it. I really want to know how it is like... Shall I continue?"
"No. I think that's enough..."
Ludwig felt beaten. Arthur mentioned even things which he didn't know... That was just embarrassing. England knew more about Germany than he did. He would, of course, never admit that. But maybe he should at least learn more about England as Arthur said...For now he tried to ignore the fact that Arthur knew all these details and tried to switch to another topic.
"Could we soon finish our trip, please? I'm not quite sure if those two will wait any longer."
"You might be right..." They entered the room at the end of the floor. The German couldn't help it but he stared at the lines filled with nothing but books.
"Impressing, right?"
"Definitely! That's amazing!" This room was bigger than any library and had surely more books than any library. But there weren't only books. There was also a fireplace and in front of it four armchairs and two little tables. Next to the fireside in a shelf was a book that seemed to be at the wrong place. Ludwig didn't think of it but it looked like one of those books which let a hidden door appear. Stupid nonsense. But still...
"Arthur, what is this strange green old book about, the one that sticks out of the line?"
"Er...er... mmh... I don't know, but it isn't an important book. I just bought it because the cover was so interesting... Don't mind it."
"...Okay... It just looks like you recently used it."
"...Probably... but I... cannot remember... Oh, I think we should go back. We're late. Let's go. We'll take a shortcut." Arthur went to the right. You could see a spiral staircase leading downstairs. England took these stairs while Germany slowly followed him.
"Where do these stairs end?"
"You'll see. Just wait a moment." Downstairs were even more books. Ludwig guessed that Arthur must own about at least 100.000 books.
"What a surprise! You got a personal library on both levels. Impressive!"
"Thanks. But now we should really enter the living-room."
"And how? I can't see any door."
"Not yet." Arthur stepped to a wall and placed his hand on it. Suddenly a part of the wall seemed to move. After a few seconds a door appeared. Ludwig gasped.
"Don't stare at me like I was crazy! I also found this secret entry a few weeks ago. Useful isn't it?" Arthur opened the door and went into another room.
"Yes... Useful..." The German followed the Briton and found himself in the living-room. It must have been the living-room because Alfred and Francis were sitting there starring at them.
"Oh, mon Dieu!"
"What the hell is that, Artie?"
"Nothing. Just ignore what just happened. I won't scare you again."
"I wasn't scared! Just wanted to know if I could use this secret entry sometimes?"
"For which purpose?"
"You don't need to know", said Alfred grinning. Before England could respond to that Francis clasped his arms around him so that he was barely able to breath.
"Don't shock me like that again, mon cher. I nearly died!" Arthur fidgeted until he broke free.
"Might be better... As if I'd care what you want! Don't dare to touch me again, pervert!"
"What did you say, you tea slurping idiot?"
"Tea slurping idiot? You're the one to talk you wine swigging perverted alien!" Just now they came to blows again. Every conference which didn't contain any fight between the two of them was like a miracle that wasn't supposed to happen today.
Germany tried as always to stop their little battle. In this situation he thought that war between them had never ended.
"STOP IT! WE HAVE A MEETING! SO END THIS OR I WILL PARTICIPATE!" Both stopped immediately and didn't make any noise.
"That's a shame! I just filmed this play and you got nothing to do but to destroy everything. Boooooooring." Ludwig turned around angrily.
"Did you say something?"
"Forget it. Don't worry, Tony, we'll get our material." When did this THING show up? He wasn't with Alfred when they first entered this house, was he? …Creepy red eyed alien... Tony stared at Ludwig. Is he able to read my thoughts? Tony nodded. The German swallowed hard and sat down. …Help...
But they were at least able to start the meeting and Ludwig tried to ignore Tony who was still starring at him as good as possible.
Another boring meeting, another wasted hour...
So another chapter of my story... because of school and all that horrible stuff I totally forgot to upload it... to be honest it was already finished more than two months ago... I'm soooo sorry! ;( I could bang my head on a wall for forgetting it... but it might become even worse...
Anyway have fun reading the chapter. Hope you'll like it :D