Let the filler chapter commence!
*The Kingdoms of Hetalia*
In the Northern quadrant of the lands lays the two divided kingdoms of the Northwestern and Northeastern Kingdoms. The Northwestern Kingdom was ruled by King Mathias and Queen Lukas and the queen's brother Prince Emil while the Northeastern Kingdom, the smaller nation of the two (but not by much), was ruled over by King Berwald, Queen Tino, and their adopted son Prince Peter. Since their nations had divided, their border has been since plagued with constant conflicts. Though despite this, the pair of kings and queens still remember when they were one nation.
With this in mind, every once in a while one set of royals will invite the other to their kingdom for lunch or sometimes dinner (or both on rare occasions) but despite the good will of this gesture, most of the time the meeting ends with an argument between both kings, the queens trying their best to prevent another war while the princes watched on.
Today was one of those days where both sets of royals would sit down for lunch—this time the Northeastern Kingdom is hosting—so Queen Tino was preparing the table for the six of them outside in the garden's gazebo. The family dog, Hanatamago (or simply Hana), was watching her owner set the table for six, following behind his feet quite closely for she figured she might get some food later.
However Berwald came walking out into the garden, Peter running out before him, arms extended out as he pretended to be a bird as he ran around in the garden. Hana saw this and abandoned the notion of food for the moment to go play with Peter. She yipped playfully at the boy as the two began to chase each other amongst the flowers and trees.
Berwald approached his wife and wrapped his arms around him from behind. Tino jumped slightly—his husband can be so quit at times—but he soon smiled at him. "Hey Ber. Ready for today?"
"Hm." The king sounded.
"Can you try not to start another fight with Mathias again?"
"Hm."
Tino sighed and rolled his eyes, placing the last utensil on the table before turning in his husband's arms to face him. "Can you at least try? I don't want Peter to see you two fighting like that."
Berwald blinked and looked back to Peter who was playing catch with Hana and her pink ball. It was true that Peter has been living with violence around him since when he was first adopted his brother had to go through so much to protect him. At least the civil war had ended before that moment but in the following years with the border conflicts it has been tough. And of course one can't hide the truth from their twelve-year old son when the truth was no secret. Peter knows that the princess of the Central Kingdom is his older brother; he knows what he did—and what happened to him—to ensure his own safety from the rest of his siblings and real father. Peter had discovered the truth himself when he was nine, the same age Arthur was when he risked his life for Peter, when he was overhearing a group of people talking about him and his family (and how sorry they felt for the two youngest sons of the Kirkland family).
Berwald himself was planning on telling his son the truth but when he was older. He had even changed his son's surname and had given Peter his own last name but upon figuring out the truth Peter wanted his old surname back. It was still remarkable to him how grown up the nine year old was when he said "I want his surname 'cause… 'cause he's done a lot for me…"
Both Berwald and Tino knew that at the moment he found out the truth the boy changed. For years before hand he had met Arthur a few times without knowing the truth and Arthur just acted as if they weren't even related but afterwards when they met up again that same year Peter dropped his manners towards Arthur and he started acting more like a true brother to Arthur instead of just another unrelated royal. Arthur—though shocked—quickly fell into being an older brother to Peter.
But at the same time Peter couldn't forget what Arthur has done for him and he always acted reserved around him as well. When his parents asked him what was wrong Peter remained silent. Though the king and queen of the Northeastern Kingdom speculated a few reasons as to why their adoptive son was both open and reserved to his older brother, they just simply didn't know the truth and it looks like Peter won't be telling anyone anytime soon since it has been three years and still not a word from him on the matter.
The king sighed heavily and turned his face back to his queen. Tino smiled softly, his head tilting slightly. The corner of Berwald's lips curled up slightly. "'K… I'll try."
"Thanks Ber…" Tino sounded as he stood on his tip-toes and placed a kiss to the king's check. "Would you mind getting Peter? I'm sure the others will get here soon.
"'K." The king sounded as they broke apart. Berwald approached his son and their dog, Hana yipping at him as she bounded to him. He bent down and scooped the tiny dog in his arms. "Mama's callin' ya ov'r t' get ready."
Peter nodded once and smiled. "Okay papa!"
Berwald and Peter walked back to the gazebo, Tino already seating down in his seat. Berwald placed the dog down and sat next to Tino on his left while Peter sat to the king's left. A maid came up and started to pour them some tea as they waited.
After a while another maid was entering the garden, the royalty from the Northwestern Kingdom following behind her. She directed them to the table and the three took their seats, mirroring the royalty before them. "A beautiful afternoon isn't it?" King Mathias grinned his greeting.
Tino smiled. "Yes it is. Bright and sunny. Perfect for lunch in the garden."
Mathias chuckled and looked around the table which had tea and various small sandwiches to begin with before lunch was actually served. "So where's the beer huh?"
"I'll have the maid bring some out when she comes back."
"Haha! Thanks Tino!"
Lukas sighed and turned his head away from him. "Why do you have to be so obnoxious?"
"Eh?!" Mathias sounded as he looked to Lukas. "Why do you always say that? I'm not that obnoxious am I?"
"Hm." Berwald sounded as Emil said "Truly? Yes."
"Gah!" The king of the Northwestern Kingdom sounded. "I hate it when ya all gang up on me." Tino and Peter laughs. "It ain't funny!" He tries to defend himself.
"It is a bit." Peter stated. Over the years he has gotten close to the royalty of the Northwestern Kingdom. In his mind's eyes he considers them all family for even though they fight, on days like this it was just like a family reunion.
"Oh I see little guy." Mathias begins. "Obviously your parents didn't teach ya proper humor. I guess it's gonna be up to me to educate ya properly."
"Please don't." Both Lukas and Tino uttered at once. Everyone knew that Mathias' humor tends to get on the more mature side and Peter was only twelve—though naïve it still didn't sound like a good idea.
At that moment two maids came up carrying trays with bowls of salad to begin with. Tino asked one of them to bring a pitcher of beer for Mathias and just as quickly as the two arrived they left leaving the royals to begin their meal.
"So let's change the topic…" Tino began as he looked over to Emil. "How has it been going with Prince Li?"
Emil nearly choked on some lettuce as Lukas' eyes narrowed. "What? W-Why do you say that?"
"Well last time we were at a ball and he was there you two seemed cozy."
"It's nothing." Lukas responded for Emil. "Besides, they're both princes, I doubt the council will allow them to marry."
"It would be good for a treaty…" Tino tried.
"With the Eastern Kingdom? Doubtful."
The table got quiet and Mathias, not one to like the quiet, began to speak loudly. "Well anyway I say that if a treaty will to come out of anything it would have to be economically."
"We're still talking about the Eastern Kingdom I presume?" Lukas asked his husband.
"Of course! They're in a recession and despite what they did to us during the Great War perhaps we can prevent something like that from happening again."
Berwald blinked slowly as he thought. "'Mpossible."
Mathias' eyes narrowed to the king across from him. "What makes ya say that?"
Without looking up from his plate Berwald explained. "'F we c'nt ev'n 'ave a peaceful bord'r… how can ya keep r'lations w'th 'em?"
Silence once again overtook the table and as this occurred one maid placed a pitcher of beer and five glasses onto the table. "May I collect your plates?" She asked as she looked around the table. Not receiving an answer she bowed and walked back towards the castle.
Collectively they all sighed. "I hate ta agree with ya Ber… but I agree with ya." He poured himself a glass of beer and leaned back in his chair, downing half of it.
"Plus treaties are just something on paper." Tino added. "Marriage is a better way to hold onto a treaty."
"But no kingdom right now has a marriage treaty." Lukas brought up the fact. "King Francis just married a general from the Central Army; Prince Antonio's going to marry an ex-maid from the castle; King Ivan and Queen Yao's marriage was pre-arranged within their borders. We ourselves our married within our borders; we all were born in the Northern Kingdom. And I hear that Crown Prince Gilbert isn't going to marry Princess Arthur but some commoner." He elaborated.
"I coulda told ya that." Mathias stated as he finished off his glass. "Prince Gilbert, though he loves Arthur like a brother, he woulda never married 'im. They're too close as friends."
Emil looked to Peter who was sitting beside him. "The second best way to hold a treaty is through relation." Peter looked up at Emil but soon Emil turned his head to look at his adoptive parents. "That's something you as a kingdom hold over our own. You have a treaty with the Central Kingdom as long as either Princess Arthur or Prince Peter should live. Unless otherwise."
"I doubt Arthur would go against Peter." Tino stated.
"But what about Peter himself?" The king of the Northwestern Kingdom questioned. He then looked to Peter then. "Would'ya ever break the bond ya share as brothers?"
Peter's mouth was slightly agape for a few seconds before he clapped his lips shut, a glare going across the table. "He may be a jerk at times but he's my brother!"
The adults watched Peter for a moment, the young prince steaming with the accusation. The simple fact that Peter called Arthur a jerk was proof of their brotherly bond since more often than not true brothers always downplay the other (without the abuse of course). But still, there was this slight hesitation in Peter's voice that caused some doubt amongst the other royals.
"Speaking of marriages…" Tino forcefully moved the conversation away from his son. "Were you also invited to Prince Antonio's wedding and coronation?"
"Yeah we were!" Mathias replied quite loudly. "I was upset that we couldn't go to Francis' wedding."
Berwald sighed and held his tongue. They couldn't make it either because a border dispute started due to King Mathias' people a week before the wedding and even though it ended just in time to go to the wedding, neither of them couldn't go because of the cleanup and paperwork that needed to be done.
Mathias on the other hand was expecting some kind of reprimand from his ex-war minister but instead he was surprised to see the quiet male remain quiet. He saw Tino smile at his husband and Berwald seemingly smiled back. Mathias himself found himself smiling. He may be dumb (from the words of Lukas) at times but he was smart enough to know that they were trying to cut the violence down around their adoptive son.
"So I suppose we'll see you there." Tino eventually said.
"Yeah! It'll be all peaceful like since I doubt Antonio and his parents want a war to break out in the middle of his ceremony."
The adults chuckled at the light joke while Peter remained silent. He twiddled his thumbs in his lap while he kicked his legs back and forward. He'll get to see Arthur again. It was without a doubt that the most revered group of royals was the one commonly known as the Bad Touch Friends and everyone knew that Arthur was known as their honorary member. Wherever the three main members went it could be guessed that Arthur would be there too. They were all around the same age, Francis being the eldest at twenty-six, Antonio at twenty-five, both Gilbert and Arthur being twenty-one*.
The two maids came back again and placed their meal before them—chicken with two types of fish and mashed potatoes. They also took up some of the empty plates of salads before leaving again.
They ate relatively in silence— Mathias being the only one really talking throughout the lunch with Tino and Lukas being the ones to mostly reply back and Emil putting in his two cents every once in a while. Peter was sitting there listening mostly, learning how to interact with different royals while trying to understand the political conversation that was going on right now. Hana barked at him and Peter smiled before sneaking a piece of chicken down to her. She chewed it up and stood onto her back to legs, her front paws against his thigh to hold her up as she begged for more food. Peter was able to sneak her two more pieces before Berwald scolded him. Hana was shooed away, much to her aggravation, and Peter began to eat again in silence.
Eventually dessert came around and all the other plates were taken up—even the beer much to Mathias' begging to Lukas to let him drink some more but Lukas wasn't hearing it. The dessert was rich chocolate cake to which Peter was more than excited to eat it. Tino chuckled as he watched the young prince gobble up the cake. "Peter, please eat a bit more politely would you?"
Peter swallowed a piece of cake and grinned, a chocolate smudge on the side of his lip. "Okay mama!" Berwald grabbed his napkin and reached over to Peter's face to clean up that smudge on his face. "Papa…!" Peter said as he tried to pull his face away. It was embarrassing to be treated like a child in front of other royals, even if it was just the Northwestern royals.
Tino began to giggle at the scene and Mathias 'awed'. He then turned to Lukas. "Babe, why don't we have any kids?"
Lukas stared wide-eyed at him as if to say 'You're gonna bring this up now?' before his face became its usual emotionless face. "I told ya Mat, I don't want kids."
"But I do… if ya ain't gonna carry 'em, can we adopt like Ber and Tino did?"
"Tino's infertile even with the remedy so they had to adopt to have an heir." Lukas then looked over to Tino and put on an apologetic face for bringing his infertility up and Tino smiled in response. It didn't bother him one bit since they adopted Peter. True Tino often finds himself asking Berwald if he would rather have a child of their blood but Berwald keeps on insisting that Peter is a fine enough son as it is.
"Yea but Lu-Lu."
Lukas snapped and brought his hands to Mathias' neck. "I told you not to call me that you obnoxious king!"
As Mathias was being choked by his queen, he managed a grin. "Ya still love me Lu-Lu—" The hands around his neck tightened. "—Lukas—" Mathias modified and the hands loosened slightly. "If not," the king continued, "ya wouldn't have married me."
Lukas' eyes narrowed. The two had been slowly falling in love since they first met in their early teens— Mathias being the Crown Prince of the Northern Kingdom (he's was the only child) and Lukas was a lord's son training to take his father's place. Once they realized they were in love by the time they were in their late teens, it was then on to try and convince the council to allow them to marry (well Mathias was the one to try to convince the council, he wanted to keep his proposal plans secret).
It was a bitch to try to get permission to get married since Lukas wasn't a boygi and Emil was (until he became a royal and he became a prince). It took more work that Mathias would have liked but eventually the council folded and the then soon-to-be-king proposed to this young lord in his land, turning Lukas into the Queen (after he said yes of course which took some more convincing) and his younger brother into the Prince of the Northwestern Kingdom.
Lukas sighed heavily and removed his hands from his husband's neck. He didn't say a word in response and instead continued eating some of the herring he had placed onto his plate. Mathias' grin grew. "I love ya too Lukas."
Lukas scrunched up his nose as a stupid blush faintly appeared on his cheeks. "Shut up… idiot."
Mathias just continued to grin as he began to eat once more. Tino chuckled softly and placed his left hand under the table, his hand falling atop of Berwald's right. The king flinched slightly, unaware that his queen was going to do something like this, before he relaxed and turned his right hand around, his palm to the underside of the table while the two intertwined their fingers.
They, though they had quickly become enemies with the royals of the Northwestern Kingdom, they were secretly rooting for Mathias to get the queen he so wanted. It was much simpler for them to get married since Tino's family had raised him as a boygi despite him being the only child and they still taught him how to fight, which was frowned upon. Later Tino became the Minister of Trade for the Northern Kingdom and he began working closely with Berwald, who was the Minister of War at the time, when the Civil War came along (started by Berwald in fact), no one frowned upon Tino and his fighting skills.
It was clear then that Tino would become the queen to their new nation, Berwald as king but the two married not just because of this but because they had fallen in love with each other as well. It just took Tino a bit longer to understand his feelings since Berwald was quite a scary man to him back then, even with a young son hanging about him.
After lunch had ended the maids came by and cleared most of the table off, adding a fresh pot of tea onto the table as well as some more finger foods. "So what now?" Mathias asked as he reached over and grabbed a snack before popping it into his mouth.
"Hm…" Berwald hummed. He glanced over to Peter and soon took a hand and placed it onto his small shoulder. "Go 'n' play with Hana."
Peter stared at his papa for a few moments before nodding. "Okay papa." Peter jumped off his seat and went quickly to Tino's side, giving him a kiss on the check before giving a kiss to Berwald as well. "Come on Hana!" Peter called to the dog and she yipped happily at him as she chased after him.
After Berwald was sure he was out of earshot he turned to the King of the Northwestern Kingdom. "We need ta talk 'bout our bord'rs."
Mathias sighed and nodded. "I agree. We need to stop these disputes. I don't want another civil war."
Emil sighed. "If we could somehow convince our citizens that there's no need to fight over our borders then we wouldn't have this problem."
"The border lies on the largest river in the Old Kingdom. It's heavily used by both kingdoms' people." Lukas said dejectedly. "They're always going to fight over it."
"Yes… I remember the dispute we had over where the border should lie." Tino added.
Emil looked around the table and sighed again. "Well… Prince Li actually gave me a good idea last time we talked." The other royals looked at him as Emil stared down at the table. "He was telling me that a neutral zone could be used. It would just follow the river and if any fighting occurs then it has to be punishable by both kingdoms no matter who it is because it's suppose to remain neutral but still part of a specific kingdom depending on which side of the river you stand on…" Emil looked up then and saw the looks of the other royals, some were intrigued others (mainly Lukas) were doubtful.
"Well I guess we could try it." Mathias said as he looked to Berwald. "Don't you think Ber?"
"Hm. Yea."
"You have to thank Prince Li next time you talk to him Emil." Mathias said towards his brother-in-law.
"Uh… y-yeah."
"Why would Prince Li give you advice on what to do with our kingdom Emil?" Lukas asked.
Emil scoffed softly and stared at his brother. Tino however came to his rescue. "As I said when this lunch of ours started, Queen Lukas, they looked really close at the last ball we attended. Let them talk to each other. If it works out you have a marriage treaty with the Eastern Kingdom."
Emil blushed. "Who said anything about marriage?" He retaliated.
Lukas looked to Emil then back at Tino. "The worse, however, is that we loose our neutrality pact with the Eastern Kingdom."
"King Ivan ain't stupid Lukas." Mathias said as he leaned back in his chair. "He needs can't afford to break anything with the other kingdoms. Especially trade."
"So in that case," Tino began, "let's try to think about how we work this neutral zone between our kingdoms shall we?"
Mathias sighed heavily and sunk into his seat. "Oh… work. Always work. Even when it's supposed to be a casual meeting."
Tino giggled. "We're royals… when is anything casual?"
Mathias scoffed. "I guess yer right… as always Tino." He said to his ex-trade minister.
The royals continued to sit at the table under the gazebo, Peter playing with Hana in the garden, their causal lunch turning into a business meeting like usual. And it also looks like this will be one of the rare meetings that will be one to also include a dinner as well.
*The Kingdoms of Hetalia*
Filler chapter 9 completed. Next chapter is another wedding! Antonio & Luciano's wedding that is. Also lots of brotherly moments that it is almost blinding. More PruCan and some more (light) USUK and even some more Gerita mixed in there. Plus whatever happens while I'm writing and something just POPS up.
*I know that Arthur/England is actually 23 but for the purposes of this story I made him a bit younger.
Please review!
