AN-This chapter will make no sense if you haven't read the previous chapters. No beta. Read at own risk.

"What in Maple do you mean you're moving to England!?"

Matthew took a moment to stare down at his phone is disbelief before placing it back to his ear to hear the rest of Alfred's impromptu life decision.

"….. and we really hit it off. So yeah, I'm hanging out here for a while.", Alfred, of course, had kept right on talking. Matthew didn't know why he bothered sometimes.

"Hit it off with who?", Matthew asked, glaring up at the lighthouse's conical high ceiling. He needed to dust up there again, the lighthouse keeper noticed, sighing.

"Mattie! Are you even listening to me?", Alfred whined with all the impressive skill of a four year old.

"Alfred. Slow down and tell me what is going on, eh.", Matthew slid his fingers underneath his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose, a headache threatening to arise.

"Ok, you know that naga Gilbert told us about, his drinking buddy that lived the cliffs. Well, he was…is real and he's totally hot.", Alfred stated cheerfully, causing his twin's shoulders to slump an ocean away.

"Al, I think it's safe to assume when a shark man tells you about the existence of a naga, that it's going to be real.", Matthew sighed, glancing over at his own supernatural creature. Gilbert was currently sleeping in a patch of sunlight, dressed in another one of Matthew's sweaters and nothing much else, which was fine for the moment since his legs and everything else that lay between them were currently in the form of a long tiger shark's tail. Apparently it didn't bother Gilbert to have it out on dry land, as long as he returned the ocean once month for the three nights of the full moon and took the occasional sea salt bath in the tub.

Matthew smiled despite his current source of irritation, the shark man looking adorable all curled up tight, the sunlight making his messy white hair shine like a halo sterling silver and his metallic stripes shimmer.

"I know, but he never mentioned how cute Arthur would be.", Alfred laughed. "And you know me. I just had to see it for myself.".

"Yes, I guess you did, didn't you?", Matthew said wearily, Alfred's insatiable curiosity a blessing and a curse, for them both really. Matthew could remember quite a few times where he had gotten dragged into childhood adventures that hadn't ended too well for either of them and had resulted in quite a bit of grounding. "So, let me get this straight, you're staying in England because Arthur turned out to be cute?".

Matthew tried to envision how a half snake, half man could ever be considered appealing but considering he was in an odd relationship with the napping shark man in his living room, he didn't have a lot of room to comment or pass judgment.

"Bro, he is so much more than that! He's super smart and read books in different languages, and has been everywhere when he was a pirate!", Alfred was warming up to his subject, Matthew could tell, his twin's tone and sentence speed increasing rapidly. "Yeah, a pirate! How fucking cool is that!? He was a pirate king before he got all cursed and stuff! He's been living in these massive cliffs since it happened in this tunnel maze thing. I got lost for a couple of hours in it!". Only Alfred would happy about that, Matthew reflected to himself as his twin rambled on. "Oh, and he has a secret lair! How fucking cool is that!? It has all this historical junk in it, like swords and shit and he sleeps on a pile of gold coins! How pimp is that?!….".

"Al…."

"…..and he has all these book. You would shit yourself if you saw all of them. Just shelves and shelves of old books and scrolls, and he's read them all!….."

"Alfred."

"…..He been sneaking up at night on the new moon cause it's all dark as shit then, and steals stuff he needs like the occasional goat and tea, which by the way, is awful no matter how much sugar and milk you put into it…."

"ALFRED F. JONES!", Matthew finally resorted to yelling point blank into the phone, making Gilbert's head shoot up in alarm, his crimson eyes wide looking for the threat. Matthew waved him back down, mouthing 'Alfred' as he pointed to the phone. Gilbert cracked his jaw yawning wide to show off all of his impressive rows of razor sharp teeth before snapping them like a trap.

"Tell him he's an Arschloch.", Gilbert muttered sleeping as he curled up again. He was back to snoring in seconds.

"I heard that.", Alfred complained, "Damn dude, you're so damn quiet I forget that you have pair of lungs. I think you popped my eardrum. Not cool, bro.".

"It would serve you right. Answer my question.", Matthew stated solidly, knowing if you gave Alfred an inch in a conversation, he would steal a cross-country roadtrip.

There was a long pause of silence over the line, the length of which made Matthew think that Alfred had hung up on him. "Which was?", Alfred making Matthew jump in surprise with a squeak of 'maple'. The normal stoic light housekeeper fought with the inner urge to rant hardcore at his dippy twin. Sometimes it amazed and made Matthew wonder how the formerly employed secret service agent and decorated Marine with four tours of bloody, war torn duty under his young belt had survived his chosen professions.

"England, Al. You are staying in England for Arthur? You just met him.", Matthew inner peace won out in end, allowing the question to be spoken in a calm, rational voice.

"I know it's crazy, right?", Alfred chuckled, his tone holding a fondness in it Matthew had only heard used to describe burgers and the love for his country. "But it just feels right, you know? I've always gone with my gut and it's kept me alive so far and right now it's telling that I should stay. I think I've found something special here. Really special and not just cause Artie's a naga.".

"As long as you're happy, Al. Just remember to keep in touch and come visit me every once in a while.", Matthew let out a little breath of air he hadn't know he had been holding.

"You're okay with it?", Alfred asked hesitantly. Matthew could already envision his twin's face right now. His smile would be still there but fragilely so. "You know I'm not leaving forever. You'll be alright, won't you?".

Matthew couldn't help but smile. Despite all his bravado and self hype, Alfred had a caring, loving heart. Even now his twin was worried about him being alone on his little island, in his own little world of providing guiding light in a constant war with the night and a vindictive sea. He was far away from the world at large, a lone soul on an island of surf battered rock. Matthew knew if he asked Alfred not to move to England that he would be back in the States the next flight available. He wouldn't be happy about it but Alfred put Matthew before himself, like he so selflessly did as brother and as a soldier with everything in his life.

Expect there was no need to, not now. Without even realizing that he had walked over, Matthew found himself standing beside Gilbert, the man kneeling down to card his fingers through messy silver hair. Even in sleep, the shark man leanrf into his touch, making odd grating noises of affection that probably sounded completely different underwater.

"Yeah, Al. I'm good.", Matthew hoped that Alfred could hear the warm smile in his voice. "I hope it works out for you and I get to meet Arthur one day. He must be amazing to hold your ADD attention span.".

"They never definitively proved I had that. All the Adderall was nice though.", Alfred laughed, the edges of it tinged with relief. "Thanks, Mattie.", he added softly.

"No problem."

AN- Thank you for your patience. I haven't abandoned this story. I took a long break from writing Hetalia to focus on other projects. I was also having problems with certain aggressive members of the fandom. It was kinda killing my wanting to write it. So anyway, I'll ease back into writing. Thanks for reading.