Hey everybody. Finally back with the third chapter of Flipside Experience. I'm really sorry this hasn't been put up for awhile. I'm hoping to post up some more stories and more chapters of this so look forward to that but no promises.

On with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia

The three nations sat in a somber silence. Arthur had long since hung up promising to research more. Ludwig was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry Gil. I shouldn't have kept anything from you." Gilbert looked up at his now honey-haired brother.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why?" The hurt in Gilbert's voice was clear as day.

"You seemed happy to have an innocent little brother to be around." Alfred stood and moved to leave. Gilbert grabbed Alfred's arm and pulled him back into his seat.

"You sit and stay here."

"But this is between you and Ludwig!"

"And you are a part of our family Al. Besides you need to hear this for your 'bonding' with Lud." Alfred looked down at the table still feeling uncomfortable. The silence fell over them once more. Gilbert was the first one to snap.

"So what now? Should I just sit here and watch my bruder and best friend die?" Alfred and Ludwig looked up with identical expressions of worry.

"Don't say that dude, Artie will find a way to fix us. If not we will."

"Exactly. Believe in us bruder." They both reached across the small table and took one of Gilbert's hands each.

"I just don't know what to do." Alfred nodded.

"What you can do is find Lud a plane ticket to New York while I train him to be me." The brothers looked at him strange and Alfred looked away embarrassed. "Well...I may have forgotten to mention I have a meeting with Spain the day after tomorrow." Ludwig groaned and Gilbert cracked a smile.

"Have fun bruder." Gilbert stood and walked away.

"Why didn't you mention this earlier Alfred?" Alfred laughed nervously sensing Ludwig was mad.

"Sorry, I was still in shock over the whole 'oh hey I'm Germany' thing." Ludwig sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, for one I do not do that dude." Ludwig looked at Alfred with a deathly glare.

"Excuse me?" Alfred crossed his arms over his chest.

"Over 10% of my population has German ancestors, I can easily pull off being you. You on the other hand are going to need some help if you're going to fool the world that you are me. I have a lot of enemies and many of them wouldn't hesitate to attack if they knew I," Alfred motioned at Ludwig, "wasn't myself." Ludwig frowned and nodded. He understood the want to protect one's own citizens.

"I'm glad it was you Alfred." Alfred raised his eyebrows in surprise so Ludwig continued. "The only other person I probably would have gone through with this is Gilbert. Honda and Feliciano are close friends, yes, but you are family to me and Gilbert. You are putting a lot of trust in me and I am honored. I will try my best to not let you down." Alfred chocked out an inhuman sounds and his eyes watered up.

"Thank you! Danke Ludwig! I feel the same. You are entrusting Germany to me and I won't let you down." Ludwig flushed and turned his head to the side, not used to the flood of emotions from anybody but Feliciano.

"Um...you were talking about lessons earlier?" He was eager to change the subject. Alfred nodded and looked directly in Ludwig's eyes.

"No frowning, no doing work around others, don't look 100% at meetings, pretend like you are not paying attention, don't take notes, don't mess with your hair especially Nantucket, and don't be nice to me...ever." Alfred looked ashamed at the last one. "After the world wars every one of my bosses agreed that I should distance myself from you. I didn't-" Alfred stopped when Ludwig held up his hand.

"I know Alfred. Somewhere up here," Ludwig waved his hand around his head, "I understand. There is even a part of myself that remembers these talk. We may be getting each other's memories Alfred." The look Ludwig gave him hinted he was worried. Alfred nodded and continued with the rules wanting to stray away from the subject as much as Ludwig.

They both had horrible memories they hated. The Holocaust. The American Civil War. The Berlin Wall (though that was shared by both of them. There wasn't a moment Ludwig had along during that time. Alfred was always there supporting him). The Korean and Vietnam Wars. The Atom Bombings. And so much more.

"Right. Artie won't bother you too much knowing our situation. Mattie will know right away so don't try hiding it from him. And as long as you act like me the others won't suspect a thing. Now let me see a smile. A good American smile." Alfred's lips twitched at the inside joke. Ludwig narrowed his eyes but there was no actual anger inside the sky blue depths.

"You're an ass you know that?"

"I'm just trying to protect myself."

"And me."

"Most people would disagree with you."

"Most people don't know you like I do."

"Most people don't get to. Now quit stalling and get to smiling." Ludwig twitched and took a deep breath before grinning at Alfred. Alfred hummed watching Ludwig's expression for any signs that would indicate something was different about 'Alfred'. Ludwig leaned back looking and feeling carefree as he eased more into the role. The fact that he and Alfred were connected seemed to help the two act as each other.

"Come on dude, interrogate me. Give me hard questions ya damn kraut." Alfred's eyes narrowed in challenge.

"Favorite food."

"Burgers."

"Favorite color."

"Sunset orange."

"Favorite place in America."

"Depends, you want the press answer or the real one?" Ludwig's eyes sparkled with mischief.

"Ludwig-"

"I thought I was Alfred." Alfred growled and Ludwig put his hands up. "If anyone asks I'll say 'New York or D.C. baby. They're my heart and soul' but if you ask me I would have to say in the Summer you like to get lost in the middle of some forest or lake with a bunch of your old veteran citizens, in the fall you like to come here and hang with me and my bruder, in the Winter you like to be as close to your family as possible even spending several weeks in Canada with Mathew, and in the spring you like to travel your cities and beaches to hang with your younger citizens." Alfred slammed his hands on the table and glared at Ludwig.

"Don't speak like you fucking know me!" Ludwig stood up and stared Alfred straight in the eye with unwavering steadiness.

"I do know you. All because of this new 'bond' we share." Ludwig poked Alfred in the chest before sitting back down. "Now relax and calm down. I just looked into my side of this 'bond' thing and found this stuff out. You'll find out the same things if you look into your side" Alfred frowned.

"How do I do that?" Ludwig scrunched up his nose in thought.

"It's hard to explain. Try imagining the walls you have around your heart and just…let them fall down. You'll feel something tugging at your heart. That's this connection thing – I think." Alfred furrowed his eyebrows trying to do what Ludwig said.

Alfred imagined the walls he put up around himself to keep him safe then froze. He realized that Ludwig had to have trusted him enough to throw down the figurative barriers that kept Ludwig safe emotionally and psychologically. He figuratively laid himself out bare in front of Alfred. Ludwig stared at Alfred wondering if the blonde realized the seriousness of what he is about to do is. Alfred looked up meeting Ludwig's eyes before throwing down his barriers.

Ludwig jumped feeling the openness between the bond. All his instincts were telling him to reach out to Alfred but he held back. He felt like he needed to let Alfred explore this foreign thing on his own. He felt Alfred search and he opened and close letting him feel the differences.

"The sexual tension in this room is killing me!" Gilbert's voice made the two jump and grab at each other through the bond. The contact was electrifying. Alfred groaned and grabbed his head and Ludwig copied him. Gilbert's eyes widened. "Shit! Were you guys trying to do some curse thingy? I'm so sorry." Ludwig shook his head.

"No, it's fine. Let's just – Alfred let's just keep it closed unless it's an emergency." Alfred nodded in agreement and looked over to Gilbert.

"So what did you want?"

"Plane leaves in three hours."

There was a somber silence at the airport before Ludwig left on the plane. There was a lonely tug on Ludwig's heart as he looked out the window at his country. He was going to leave and leave Alfred and Gilbert behind. Alfred had relentlessly quizzed him and tested him all the way until the doors to the airport. He had to part with Gilbert and Alfred at security. He boarded the plane with heavy feet and slept the entire ride to D.C.

When he got to the airport he stumbled off the plane still a little groggy and moved to wade through the sea of drivers to get out when something caught his eye. One of the drivers was holding up his sign with a German flag on it. He made his way over and was about to ask why the man had that flag on his board when the man spoke.

"Oh you much be Alfred F. Jones. I will be your driver this evening. My name is Fabio. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." Oh, Alfred or Gilbert must have hired the man to drive him to Alfred's house. Ludwig voiced his thanks to the man and they left. When they pulled up to The White House, Fabio seemed unfazed. Ludwig tipped the man and got out. A maid showed Ludwig to his room and brought him a new pair of clothes rambling about how they weren't expecting Alfred until the next day at least. Ludwig took a quick shower in the attached bathroom and dressed for bed.

As Ludwig settled into bed he made the mistake of opening his side of the bond. He had been away from his country many times but this was for at most a year. Just the possibility of being away from his land for so long filled him with loneliness. Forgetting his own warning he poked and prodded at Alfred's side of the bond surprised to feel the American still awake. It was extremely early in the morning where the house was. Over in Germany Alfred paused his game carefully opening his side of the bond. Ludwig's surprise and loneliness flooded over Alfred. After a while of feeling each other though the bond (Alfred trying to figure out what was wrong, Ludwig tired and loopy and just enjoying his friend's presence) Alfred began to pull away about to go back to the game. When Ludwig tried following him Alfred realized Ludwig was homesick. He closed his eyes and thought of Germany. Of all the monuments and castles. Of the beautiful landscape and people. Alfred took all the thoughts of Germany and threw them over the bond at Ludwig.

Ludwig jumped at the sudden onslaught of images of his country. His eyes watered up as he felt the felling of…Germanness. Ludwig threw his feelings of thanks back over the bond before he fell asleep. Alfred hummed feeling the thanks. He left the bond open and he made his way to bed. Both nations drifted off to sleep thinking the same thing.

They could get through this…together.

Phew. Finially done with that chapter.

And YES Germanness is a word…..I looked it up

Please leave a review and tell me what you think is going to happen to Lud and Al.

I hope I didn't make anybody dislike this story because of the new development. I'm sorry this took sooo fricking long to come out. Tomorrow the 26th I'm heading out to a different state to see my best friend and I'm coming back the 31st. I'm taking a train and I'll be typing during the ride. Wish me luck everybody and I hope you all have/had a wonderful Christmas.

Again – I don't own Hetalia