Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or the characters that are involved in it.

Tied by fate: Chapter 4 - Getting Along

I was in my room holding the beautiful handkerchief that Arthur made. I admired every stitch that was threaded into the cloth, the fabric felt so nice against my face. He's the type that used harsh words to hide his feelings I suppose, the way he blushed when I complimented his needle work was just too cute, and I couldn't help but laugh. It's almost like he's a completely different person when he talks about his mother though, he looks so calm. He loved his mother very much; it must have been difficult for him when she passed away…. As I got lost in my thoughts, my mama walked in.

"Oh, Francis where did you get the handkerchief?" She asked

I turned to notice that my mother was standing behind me. "Arthur made it and gave it to me" I smiled

"That's so sweet of him! You should do something for him too!"

"I suppose…" I don't know what I could do for him, I can't think of anything.

"Before I forget, at the end of the week, it's the wedding ceremony!" She announced.

I was taken by surprise, weddings take months to plan, and she plans on doing it in one week? I just can't see her doing it. "Are you sure you can do all of that work in one week, mama?" I asked in disbelief.

"Of course, Richard (Arthur's father) will do most of the work, but he told me to find clothes for you boys, and a dress! I'm so excited!" She was practically jumping for joy.

I sighed, of course, it was obvious that her future husband would do all the work while she did the simple things; she's not very reliable when it comes to hard work. "Thank you for telling me, mama. I will go and tell Arthur for you"

"Merci, sweetie~" she ran up and kissed my cheek before she skipped into the hallway humming a happy tune. My mama is such a ditz that it's unreal, but I still love her. I gently placed the handkerchief on my dresser before leaving to tell Arthur the sudden news; the hallways were quiet as I made my way to his room.

I opened the door to his room forgetting to knock, I gazed at him holding the photo with his mother in it, pressing it against his chest, and tears were streaming down his face, looking shocked from my sudden intrusion. He tried to wipe away his tears but it was quite ineffective "What do you want?" His voice shook slightly, and he placed the photo in the drawer slamming it shut. I noticed that he tried to sound intimidating, but it was quite ineffective.

Is he still grieving over his mother's death? "Why are you crying?" I asked

"None of your business! Just leave me alone, it's no big deal" He replied loudly, he's using his harsh words to distance himself from me.

I don't like invading in people's privacy all that much when it involves someone's death but this must be really bothering him if he continues to keep crying in front of me. "You're crying over your mother's death aren't you?" His eyes widened, I must have gotten it right.

He still continued to deny it. "No! I'm not crying! Real men don't cry!" That's a strange reply; I certainly didn't expect something so childish.

"So it's wrong for a man to cry over the death of his mother? I find that strange" just what was he taught when he was younger?

"My father told me not to cry about it, so I won't!" I figured as much, his father is so cruel to say something like that to his son. He just needs to be comforted and cry out his pain because he had not done it earlier, and his pain is becoming unbearable to him. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly, I don't really know what to say to help him through this, but I can at least say what I think he should do, and maybe he would take my words to heart.

"I don't really understand why your father tells you these ridiculous things, but I think that any man needs at least one day of mourning when the one he loves dies. Your father would have been heartless if he didn't cry at least a little bit, don't you think? If you bottle up your emotions, then eventually it will not be able to contain anymore, and sooner or later it will overflow." I gently pulled him back to gaze at his face, the tears still continued to run down his face, but what took me by surprise was that I never realized how beautiful his eyes were. The green orbs shined like rare jewels and the tears continued to make them sparkle. "Go ahead, I'll be here until you stop" I smiled. I expected him to at least yell and throw me out, but instead, the stream of tears intensified and wrapped his arms around me wailing and sobbing. It must have hurt so much to keep his pain inside for so long. I heard the crying slowly come to an end, only to find that Arthur fell asleep, with I slightly saddened expression, I picked him up bridal style and gently placed him on his bed.

He was surprisingly very light, but then again he was quite smaller then me even though we were somewhat close to the same height. His face looks so relaxed right now, I walked over to the drawer to find the picture that he kept, and then I sat on the edge of the bed comparing him and his mother. He has a baby face like her, he also has her eyes and body frame too…the more I looked at him; my desire to touch him grew. It's ok if I touch him a little bit; I don't think he'll wake up anytime soon, I thought to myself. I reached forward, cupping his cheek then slowly dragging the hand across his skin, down his neck, then stopping at his collar bone. His skin was amazingly smooth, I lifted the same hand to feel through his hair, it was naturally messy but it was light and it was so soft. I glanced down at his small and tender lips, my hand left his hair then planted itself beside his waist on the bed, I brought my other hand up to run my finger along the sensitive skin, leaving the photo on the chair beside me. His lips were also soft, as I lost myself in my thoughts, I leaned down and pressed my lips against his, kissing him gently. His lips felt perfect against mine, but before I could go any further, I stopped myself. He's so helpless and cute when he's asleep, if I stay longer I may do something I might regret. I lifted myself off the edge of the bed to put the picture back, as I reached for it and then I accidentally knocked it off the arm of the chair, thankfully it fell on the cushion. As I reached to grab it again, I noticed quite a bit of writing on the back. I brought it close to read it only to find that it was a recipe for a cake, and some of the ingredients were quite different from a usual cake.

My mother said that she wanted me to give something back to Arthur; I may as well try this recipe. I hope he doesn't wake up before I put the picture back, but I'll worry about that later, right now I want to see what kind of a cook his mother is for her to make her own recipe. I took one last look at Arthur's sleeping face before leaving the room to head to the kitchen; thankfully no one was in the kitchen when I walked in. I placed the picture on the table and washed my hands, I looked for all of the measuring equipment and ingredients that I needed and began to cook. It was turning out very well, and it smelled great, and it wasn't even in the oven yet, I'm getting so excited. I poured the batter in a cake pan then placed it in the oven, setting it at the said temperature and time. While I was waiting for it to finish cooking, I cleaned the dishes that I used. Finally the cake was finished, I took it out of the oven and placed it on the stove top to cool, and at that moment Arthur came in with a worried face, he was probably looking for the picture. This was not going to end well, since I took it without even asking him. I expecting him to yell at me, but instead he gazed at me then the cake, and then the photo that was on its face, showing the recipe.

"You made my mother's cake?" He asked.

I took this as my moment to apologize "I'm sorry, I was curious to find out what kind of a cook your mother was"

He crossed his arms putting on a slightly angry expression. "Normally I would have beaten the daylights out of you for taking the picture…but I can see that your intentions were not bad, so I won't hurt you." He passed then gave me a sharp glare. "He this better not happen again" He warned.

I nodded my head, thankfully he wasn't too angry. He took the picture and placed it in his pocket, and then he gazed at the cake, taking in the wonderful aroma. "My mother made this cake for me on my birthday every year; after she passed away I tried to make it myself but…"

"What happened?"

"It would keep getting burnt or explode in the oven" He placed his hand over his face as though he was ashamed.

I just looked at him in shock "How can a cake explode!? How is that even possible? You did use the ingredients in the recipe, right?"

"Well I didn't have all the ingredients, so I just decided to improvise" he mumbled

"I don't even want to know what you used to improvise" I said. "What did your mother use for frosting?"

"She just used icing sugar and milk, so I guess anything would be good with it"

I took out a bowl and some icing sugar and other kinds of ingredients. "I can make a raspberry icing, would that be ok?" I asked

"Sure that sounds good" I replied. As I made the icing he continued to stare at me, and the icing that I was stirring, I suppose teasing him wouldn't be a bad idea right now.

"Are you falling for me, Arthur?" I winked.

"No bloody way in hell, fool!" He replied harshly. I could only laugh at his sudden reply.

"What's so funny, you stupid git!?" I he yelled.

I continued to laugh "If you get rid of all the curses that you use, then you would be so cute" He certainly didn't like that; he continuously cursed and swore at me for the past few minutes. I just smiled and took it as the fact that he was embarrassed, and the more I smiled the more angry he got. He's so weird, but he's fun to tease, I'm glad that I can have him as a brother, it will be so much less lonely with him around to keep me company.

As he continued so yell at me, I spoke in a gentle voice "Arthur" his yelling seemed to stop and he stared at me with a slightly confused but still furious face. "I'm glad I have you as my brother" I smiled.

His furious expression seemed to have melted away and changed into something slightly coy. "I guess I'm happy to have you as mine, too" he spoke quietly. Looks like getting along with each other won't be as difficult as I thought it would be.

I walked over to the cake that seemed to have cooled off enough for the icing to be poured onto it. Once that was finished, we each took a piece of cake and ate it together, and I was the most delicious cake I have ever made.

I placed the cake in the fridge after I properly covered it to prevent it from drying out, then we did the dishes together, of course I couldn't stop myself from teasing him a majority of the time. He would get angry each time as well, which didn't surprise me, he has such a short fuse, it was just too funny.

Once we finished washing the dishes "Francis, why did you come into my room?" I froze for a moment, and then I remembered why I walked in on him.

"Ahh, my mother came into my room saying that the wedding was going to be at the end of the week, so I went to tell you myself. I'm glad my mother didn't see you crying like that, she would have panicked" Oh, I didn't want to bring up the crying incident again, but he didn't seem angry about it at least.

"I see, my father would most likely be planning most of it" He got that right.

"Yes most likely, my mother will be choosing our outfits for the wedding as well, so we don't really get to control anything"

"Oh…." he furrowed his eye brows.

"Don't worry, my mother may seem useless, but she has an amazing fashion sense and she knows what looks good on everyone just from a glance" I explained.

He sighed but nodded, he still seemed a little unsure about it, but there was nothing I could do about that. As we both exited the kitchen I was about to walk to my room, but then Arthur clutched my sleeve. I turned my head to look at him to only find his head bowed, attempting to hide the blush that took over his face. "U-umm, thank you… I guess" he spoke in a gentle and quiet tone. I couldn't hold back my smirk, from hearing those sweet words from him; I turned around and hugged him tightly.

"W-what are you doing, let go!" His voice shook, he was probably startled.

I pulled away and took a few steps back, noticing the intense redness of his face. I smiled "I'm sorry, you were just too~ cute~, I couldn't help myself." I teased, and then I ran to my room with an angry Englishman on my tail, throwing random curses at me. We are going to get along just fine in my opinion.