A/N: Thank you for your patience.
Also, no love triangles I'm afraid. Author is not the biggest fan of them.
Truth is, I saw him after he died.
...Really?
I mean, I never met him before this. The first time I heard about him was when the headmaster announced his death.
What the fuck is going on!?
I don't know.
What did ya do to make 'im like you this much? The only thing that got 'im this riled up back in high school was when I said something about his ma.
I don't know what's going on. But I have to tell him to stop.
You sure? Didja see what he did to me?
But... you said he told you to leave me alone, right? Maybe I can convince him.
Look, jus' don't do anything dangerous, alright?
A couple days later, Kiku was eating another container of pasta with Herakles and the other guys outside of campus. All of them were quietly (or as quietly as it could be with Matthias and Feliciano) eating when Lukas looked off to the side and saw two people approaching in.
"Look at that, the lovebirds are back."
Feliciano, in his excitement at the news, nearly dropped his plate on the grass, "Really!? Oh, I'm so glad everything's alright!"
Kiku searched everyone's faces for an explanation, feeling completely lost. Herakles seemed to pick up Kiku's internal questions and responded:
"Those are Alfred and Arthur. I think they just got back together."
"Watch them break up again next week" added Ludwig, unimpressed.
"What!? No! Don't say that!" Feliciano screamed.
"Dudes, if I knew you were all gonna be asses today, I would have taken Artie here to some burgers instead."
Feliciano got up from the grass and hugged them while shoving them containers full of pasta "I'm so glad to see you here! It's not as fun when you two aren't here."
One of the two young men, the one with the glasses, turned his head and looked straight at Kiku. His face went from annoyance to excitement in less than a second and he went straight to Kiku in order to shake his hand.
"Hey dude! Nice to meetcha! Name's Alfred. The sourpuss behind me..." he said while pointing to said person, "is Arthur."
Arthur managed to yell an annoyed "Hey!" at Alfred before crossing his arms with a grouchy expression.
"A pleasure. My name is Kiku. I came here thanks to Herakles and Matthias over here."
Just as Alfred was about to return his container to Feliciano, both saw that Arthur had already sit down on the grass and was eating pasta along with the others. Alfred gasped and looked at Arthur with a face that spoke of betrayal, but the latter seemed nonplussed by it.
"What? Unlike you, most people can't live on hamburgers alone and I won't turn down Feliciano's food."
"Aww, c'mon! You said Bernie's was good!" said Alfred as he sat next to him on the grass and pouted.
"I did. Doesn't mean I want to eat there every day."
Kiku went back to sit next to Herakles and whispered to him, "I think I get what you were all saying now."
"They are always like this" Herakles whispered back.
Both of them laughed and everyone kept talking and eating.
After a while, Kiku turned over to Alfred, Arthur and Feliciano, who were chatting.
"... Say Feli, you said this was brother's recipe, right? You should ask him for more stuff. This is pretty great." To Kiku's surprise, Feliciano's seemingly perpetual smile faltered for a moment before quietly responding:
"Ah, about that... Lovino and I haven't been on speaking terms since last year."
Everyone gave him a sympathetic look, and Ludwig gave him an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder.
At the same time, Arthur was reading something on his phone when he accidentally dropped his container on his clothes. His vest was stained red with pasta sauce.
Alfred quickly turned his attention to him, "Artie, lemme help yo-"
"It's fine, I'll clean it up in the restroom. Knowing you, you'll smear it worse. Besides, I have class in half an hour." Arthur picked up his backpack and went to the closest building on campus.
Kiku decided to gather his things as well while saying "I have class soon as well. I'll see you later." and left.
"Um... hi there. I came here to help" said Kiku while he entered the restroom.
Arthur was dampening a piece of a paper towel on the sink when Kiku came in. He turned off the faucet and responded "Oh hey... What was your name again?"
"Kiku Honda"
"Right, sorry. I won't forget next time." Arthur said sheepishly while taking off his vest.
Kiku dampened a papel towel and did what he could to clean the garment. He didn't want to make the silence awkward, so he said the first thing that popped on his head
"So.. you and Alfred. You are together?"
Arthur stopped cleaning his vest for a moment as his head went through all over his past memories. He gave a quiet and fond laugh.
"Met the git four months ago on campus. He asked me out on date at some burger place even after I threw a teacup to his face."
"That... sounds more annoying than cute, to be honest."
"And that's what I told him. But then, I was an idiot and said 'alright, surprise me', so he took me to this joint in Downtown and one thing led to another, so at the end I thought he was more of an idiot than a creep."
"Sounds nice. I've never been in a relationship, so I don't know what would I have done in that situation. Maybe lock myself up and study until he got away."
That seemed to surprise Arthur a bit, since he raised an eyebrow at Kiku and said "Really? Ludwig said that you and Herakles were really close. Honestly, just by looking at you two I would have thought you were together."
This time was Kiku's turn to be surprised, "Huh? He and I, well, we became friends recently and we get along fine, but we haven't known each other that much to reach... that."
"Fair enough." said Arthur with a shrug. "Anyway, I have to clean this before class. I don't really want to go to the laundry room two days in a row, and I really don't want to tell mum why the vest she sent me last month is dirty with pasta sauce."
"Mothers are like that, yeah." Kiku said while cleaning one of the last spots.
"Ugh, you tell me. I love her, but I'm really going to miss being on my own once I go back to Birmingham."
Kiku paused while throwing the dirty towel on the trashcan "I'm sorry, but you said Birmingham?"
"Right, I didn't tell you. I'm here thanks to an exchange program. I'll go back home in Birmingham once the semester ends next month." said Arthur as he put his damp vest inside his backpack.
"Oh" said Kiku sadly more to himself than to anyone else. Before Arthur reached the door, however, he added.
"I know we just met today, but I hope we can see you again after you return home. Maybe on vacation or after graduation. I'm sure Alfred would be happy about that, too."
When Arthur heard Alfred's name, he froze as if time had pushed the pause button. He kept staring at nothing with a blank expression on his face for a few seconds.
"I would be happy about that, too." With that, he was gone.
Just as Arthur left the restroom, Kiku heard something break behind him. When he turned around, he noticed that one of the mirrors above the sink had cracked, almost as if someone had thrown a rock against it.
"What are you doing?"
"Homework" Kiku said while still typing on his laptop.
"And it's about..?"
"Just finishing up some code, nothing really complicated"
"Oh..."
Herakles sat on the right side of the bench, petting a cat Kiku didn't recognize. Kiku himself was on the left side of the bench, using his bag on top of his legs to prop up his laptop.
"Alright, I'm done. Where did you say you wanted to go?" said Kiku twenty minutes later while turning off the computer. Herakles got up from the bench, cat in arms, and motioned with his head for Kiku to follow him.
They walked for maybe a full hour until they reached the beach. They went to the overlook and just gazed at the wonder that was the sea.
"I don't know how you feel about this, but sometimes, I just like to take a moment and just think about anything that crosses into my mind."
Kiku laughed and asked "And what do you end up thinking about".
Herakles frowned in deep thought and then responded "Cats, the Acropolis, what's the real color of the planets, the price of groceries over the years, I don't know. It may look boring, but I think you should try it."
"Alright then."
Both stood there leaning on the handrail and looking at the sea for a long while. Neither said a word the entire time.
It would have been odd for other people, but Kiku actually enjoyed times of silence. While he enjoyed the company of Feliciano, Matthias, and the others, he was more of an introvert. Maybe the fact that Herakles seemed to enjoy these quiet moments as well was one of the reasons he liked being with him the most.
After almost three hours of admiring the ocean, Herakles broke the silence and asked:
"I was thinking of learning how to cook moussaka. What were you thinking about?"
"About how expensive bus fares are."
"I also thought about one time I got lost in a grocery store."
Kiku giggled.
"I thought about my Naruto phase when I was thirteen."
"And me about that time my mom destroyed a VHS copy of My Big Fat Greek Wedding" said Herakles with a smile that almost broke into laughter.
"Me about how can anyone like the taste of the marshmallows that come in cereals."
"And me about living in an apartment with ten cats once I turn thirty."
They kept going until laughter overcame both and words turned into chortles and snickers.
Once their fit died down, Herakles looked at the sunset and said:
"It's getting late, I have to go."
"Me too. I need to study for next week's exams."
Suddenly, Kiku remembered he had to talk to Herakles about something important.
"Wait! Before you leave, there's something I needed to tell you about."
"What is it?"
"I, uh..." For some strange reason, Kiku just not could not remember what he was going to say. It was as if his head was covered in fog. "um... sorry, I forgot."
Herakles just smiled and said "Maybe next time you'll remember."
And then he was gone.
Kiku felt confused for a long moment. His left hand slowly went up to touch his neck, and he didn't know why.
Almost all of the fic's main players are in (finally!).
Hopefully next chapter won't be as slow.
Also available on AO3.