Li looked at Emil—the self righteous blonde—as he slept. The young man resembled a child with his reddened cheeks and messy hair. His eyebrows weren't scrunched up, though, like they usually were. Instead, they were resting peacefully over his eyelids. How did such a person exist, a person with hair as white as parchment paper and eyes that changed from soft to harsh looking so instantaneously? Was there anyone else like him? Knowing the vas diversity of the world, there probably was, but that wasn't the issue. Emil—self righteous Emil—was leaving soon. He would return all of Li's clothing and put on his own, would return to his hometown with Mr. Puffin when he woke up.

Li felt like an idiot. During all of the time they had spent together, every single last moment, Li had avoided the underlying situation. He had pretended like it didn't exist, though he had been constantly reminded that it in fact did every single time he had to write for the purpose of communicating. This was it, though.

Emil shifted. His eyes twitched as he pulled the bed covers over his head. It was a matter of time now.

Li thought about how they had met with a bang. It was preposterous now. Li thought about Emil complaining about how the clothing was just a bit too small. That had been cute. Li also thought about the whole Apricot Festival event. Now that was just an embarrassing memory.

"What are you doing?"

Li snapped out of his trance and looked at Emil. He scrambled for something to write on.

"You don't have to write stuff down, Li." He paused and yawned. "I mean, if you want, go ahead, but you're always writing things down."

The brunette returned.

Is there something wrong with writing?

Emil looked quizzically at the scribbles. He rubbed his right eye with the palm of his right hand.

"Yeah, of course there is."

Their eyes locked. What could it have been? Was Emil angry at something?

What is it?

"Well, it comes with a story, but I might as well tell you."

Li's mouth made an "o" shape. He straightened his back and become fully attentive. Whatever it was, it was most likely important.

"I was getting some apples one day at the trading market, right? Well, there was this old geezer that was bothering me about walking him home, so of course I got a bit angry." Emil paused for a bit. "Well, duh, like come on, who does that, right? Anyhow, it just so happened that he was some sort of magical being wizard or something because he put this ratty spell on me. So, basically, I've been getting progressively worse at reading because of that. Not that I can't understand, it's just that some letters have started to look a lot like others, so it's been getting harder and harder to read your notes. Does that have a name? I don't know. I have no idea how we're supposed to interact if I can't read though." Emil waited for Li to write something down, but Li simply waited for him to continue. "Why don't we make up a language using our hands or something?"

Emil balled his hand up and lifted his index finger.

"That can mean fish or something. What do you think?"

Li didn't mean to be so amused.

"What are you laughing over?"

An inevitable smile took over Li's face, causing him to go red with ebullience.

"I don't think it's very funny."

Li stopped silently giggling when he caught a glimpse of Emil's emotionless expression. He wrote something down.

That's really peculiar. I have a purple bottle, but it's magic. See, this wizard type person also came at me one day. I have no idea why, though. He put my voice in the bottle or something strange like that, but the point is that I haven't been able to talk since then. It's over there by my desk, hidden behind my recipe books. He said I had to get someone to love me. I'd rather have something easier, but whatever.

Again, Emil took his time trying to figure out the writing.

"Someone to fall in love with you? Why haven't you done that yet? Wouldn't it be the easiest thing for someone like you?"

Li didn't bother writing anything down, but put on an expression of disbelieve and pointed at himself.

"Yeah, you. Everyone seems to like you."

Li shook his head no. He pointed at Emil.

"I seem to like you? Well I guess I must if I can put up with you."

Li covered his face with his hands. That's not what he had meant. He had meant to express something along the lines of "everyone likes me except for you," but this new development worked as well.

"Are you a teenage girl or something? Look me straight in the eye and me like a MAN."

Li looked up amusingly. "Like a man?" he asked in his head.

Emil's cheeks puffed up from being exposed to so much awkwardness. The room fell silent for a few.

"If that's all you need I could introduce you to someone, I guess."

The brunette realized the mistake he had made earlier in elucidating about the situation. "That's how I could pay you back for letting me stay here so long. We'll have to go back to my place because I don't think my relatives would like it, though."

##

They were now in Emil's hometown where it was outrageously cold all year long.

"Snow in the summer, snow in the spring, winter, fall, whatever time of year it is. If there's no snow and it's, say, sunny, then people will sometimes wear their short-sleeved shirts outside. But for a foreigner like you, it would still be freezing cold."

"You bet your bottom cent," Mr. Puffin added.

Li folded his arms inward and sneezed. His breath condensed into white puffs when he breathed out. The tip of his nose was red. His fingertips were going to fall off any minute. He had expected climate change, but not to this extent. Emil trotted onward with Mr. Puffin on his shoulder.

"Chicks or guys, Li? Hold your right hand up for chicks, left hand for guys."

Li halted. Emil turned around.

"Or do you not like either?"

Li looked at the ground with an unsatisfied expression. How was he going to tell Emil now? The more time that passed, the more awkward it would get. What about now? Now was a perfectly good time.

"Or maybe you like both?"

Li couldn't bring himself to do it. There wasn't anything to write on either. He didn't mean to be rude by not answering, heck, he didn't intend to on being so specious either, but it had just happened. It was his fault, though. He should have thought before writing.

"Let's go to my house if you don't want to answer right now. Two days of traveling, well, you must be tired."

Li looked up and tried to look a bit more pleased.

"Oh yeah, one thing."

They started moving again.

"My relatives are really loud."

Emil had sounded very sluggish in that last sentence. It couldn't have been worse than Li's own.

The sun was visible behind a pair of clouds, but it didn't provide much heat. Li carried on in his thickest jacket, which in reality couldn't keep him properly insulated. Emil seemed fine, already accustom to harsh weather.

What was new to Li was something that Emil must have faced as well: the fact that everyone looked similar in an unfamiliar way. For one thing, as Li walked behind Emil, he noticed everyone around him was blonde. There were variations from person to person, yeah, like some where whiter blonde and some where the more cherry blonde. Where were all the brunettes? There weren't any. It struck him, though, that Emil must have gone through the same shock when he finally got to explore around Gao. Everyone there had dark hair and peachy complexions. Everyone here was more rosy and fair. Not that it was uncomfortable, for it was truly alright, but it was something completely different for sure. Height varied from person to person and structure as well, like it normally would. There were some laughing, some keeping to themselves, etcetera. It was nice being exposed to this new town. Li smiled to himself and lifted his scarf over his nose. It was cold as hell.

Emil grabbed Li's hand as they took a stone path away from the town square. It lead up to a subsection where all the housing was. There were mostly log cabin type structures.

"This is it. Brace yourself."

Emil tightened his grip on Li's hand. He twisted the knob with his other and pushed the door open before being greeted by an invading smell of baked bread. It was a delightful smell—thin and sweet. It intensified as they stepped forward into the energetic living room. Mr. Puffin hopped off of Emil's shoulder and went over to greet a tall man in a red apron.

"Mr. Puffin, where's Emil?" the man asked as he turned around. His eyes lit up as he saw the young man in front of the door with Li. He removed his oven mitts and stepped out of the kitchen.

"Is he your secret lover or something? Where have you been? Have you been with him these past couple of days?" he asked as he walked on over.

"Matthias, please," Emil replied as he took off his hat.

Matthias' eyes refused to stop searching for an answer. He stopped in front of Li.

"Hey there! What's your name? It's super rare for Emil to bring anyone home."

Emil scowled hoping that he would go away. Matthias just patted him on the head.

"Cat got you're tongue?"

"Matthias, he can't speak."

"Can he understand me?"

"Of course he can, he's not a total idiot like you."

Matthias single handedly filled the room with laughter.

a/n:

I feel like this is getting more and more idiotic and messy and awkward but I don't care because it's so fun to write omfg

And hello my babies I am back from school work

I don't even know what's going to happen anymore man the stuff writes itself. Oh, and I have graduated from my kindergarten days. I am now a self proclaimed first grader. I am so excited.

Anyhow, please leave a review or something if I'm still making dumb mistakes or if you want to tell me something!

Hetaliaforever123: I KNOW OMFG I WAS KIND OF CRYING ON THE INSIDE BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW IF IT WAS APPROPRIATE OR NOT THE WHOLE "I'M SO COOL I CAN BE OUTGOING AND STUFF" THING but yeah I think it turned out ok so you know lol all is well with the world