Author's note: Hello everyone.
Glad you all liked the singing last chapter, makes me really glad. ^^
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
{+} Hetalia! {+}
"-itch...?" the words left his mouth.
Arthur found himself in a very familiar office and two pairs of blue eyes set on him.
Ludwig… Frog-eater… That means I'm here! Ah, holy shi-
"Arthur, can you… Get off the table?" he noticed his boss was blushing and looking away, finding the wurst painting on the wall very interesting to see.
"Petit ange, you look so sexy, come here come here!" Francis looked like he was mesmerized and extended his long arms to grab the boy.
"Back off, back off!" Arthur shrieked as he swatted his arms away and hid behind the table, "I have Pierre hostage! All seven Pierres!"
"All of them? You kidnapped all of them?" it was rare to see Francis having a puzzled expression.
"Bloody hell, why the heck do you have so many in the first place?" as soon as Arthur grumbled, the cages materialized out of thin air and occupied the limited office space. The birds were squawking away, flustered by the journey.
"Pierre! Are you all alright?" Francis was frantic in checking whether his flock of birds were alright. He let out a string of foreign words as he tried to soothe them and made sure they were alright.
Arthur pushed him away from the cages, "hands off, wine freak, they're mine until you agree to stop bothering the café."
"Oh how cruel of you!" Francis waved his arms dramatically like he was in an opera.
The blond haired boy was very pleased with himself, almost forgetting he was still in a costume, "of course, and your house was really easy to break into anyway. I can take more stuff if I wanted."
A thought struck Francis and he stopped his weeping to look at Arthur.
"So you personally went to my house? I thought you said you never wanted to step it there again?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Sh-shut up! That's not the point!" his face flushed red.
"You miss your darling Francis, don't you?"
Arthur ripped the telephone off its cord and hurled it at him, "shut up, you damned motherf-"
Outside the office, a faint sound of "PASTAAA~" could be heard.
"Was that Feliciano?" Ludwig asked.
Arthur shrugged in a nonchalant way, "who knows? I have to kill this stupid man now!"
Thankfully, Francis avoided the telephone or it would have made a nasty bruise. He sashayed over to the angry boy and patted his forehead, "always so fiery and passionate now…"
"Get away from me!" Arthur kicked him away and hid behind the table.
"Erm… I'll just go out and check if it's Feliciano…" to Ludwig, it looked like the boy was fully able to take care of himself.
"Arthur… You appeared here, why is your friend so far away? When will your spells ever work normally?.." Francis let out a dramatic sigh as he dodged another kick.
"I couldn't bring Sparkly the unicorn with me, I had no choice but to teleport," his lips started trembling, "I hate it when I can't control my magic, I hate you too!"
With the smile of an empathetic school counselor, Francis put an arm around the boy, "mon cherie, are you still angry with me?"
"Arrgh, that's it! Prepare to suffer!" Arthur grabbed his neck and started strangling him.
Outside.
Feliciano found himself hanging from one of the rococo style ceiling lamps.
"Veee~" he liked the journey of teleporting, it was like falling through fluffy clouds in a purplish sky. There was even a cloud shaped like pasta, which made him feel very hungry. He wanted to grab it and accidentally strayed from Arthur, who was holding his hand.
There was a tearing sound. The brown eyed boy could feel his jacket ripping under the pull of gravity.
"Feliciano!"
He looked down and a frantic Ludwig was the last he saw.
"Meow…"
Feliciano blinked open an eye.
He was lying down on the carpeted floor of the café.
"Meow…"
He looked around and saw a blonde furry cat swishing its tail curiously at him.
"Uwa, a little kitty!" Feliciano cried for joy and scooped up the friendly cat.
It had eyes like the clear blue sky and was blinking at him in slight amusement.
"Meow…" the cat said, and Feliciano couldn't resist but to cuddle it happily.
"You're so cute! You look like, you look like…Eh…" the boy lost track of what he wanted to say and he didn't notice the cat shaking its head in disbelief.
"Mew."
Feliciano heard another voice coming from behind him. He turned around and saw a dark furred cat with round dark eyes looking at him.
"Another kitty? Yay!" he scooped up the cat and hugged it lovingly. It purred and licked his cheek.
"Veee…" Feliciano blushed and placed the dark furred cat with the big, blond cat.
It hissed at the blond cat and ran back to Feliciano.
"Kitty, you're so funny," he patted it on the head and it purred again, "you know, you like... Ah…"
"Meow…" the big cat interrupted him.
If Feliciano was afraid of cats, he would have been scared stiff by the group of felines that were behind the big cat. There were five of them and they were looking at Feliciano intently.
"I'm in kitty land!" he hugged every single one of them until he had different coloured fur all over his shirt. Then he looked down at his shirt, it was his café uniform.
Eh… Wasn't I still wear that school girl uniform?..
"Meee…"
A small cat wiggled its way out of the big group of cats. It had brown fur and a weird curl at the side of its face. Feliciano watched it intently as it walked like a drunkard to him and even tripped over its own feet.
"Meee…" it looked up at Feliciano with dazed eyes.
"Veee…" Feliciano picked up the small furball and smiled like a ditzy boy.
"You look like, erm, you look like…"
"Feliciano?"
Blue eyes. They were the first Feliciano saw when he woke up.
"Eh…"
Oh, it was just a dream, he thought to himself. Feliciano was still lying on the carpet floor as he was in his dream, just that there was a coat covering him like a blanket.
Ludwig looked quite stressed out, "are you alright now? You were talking in your sleep, your head must have hurt a lot, I'm sorry."
"Head?" Feliciano ran his hand over his face and found something that felt like a plaster on his head.
"You fell and when you knocked your head against mine, you blacked out. I'm sorry I couldn't catch you properly."
"Eh, I knocked your head? But your head looks fine!" he looked at Ludwig's forehead, which was looked unmarred and perfect as usual, "where's your plaster?"
"I don't need one…"
"You do you do, it must have hurt!" Feliciano got up and scrambled around to get a first-aid.
"It hurts me more when I see you get hurt!"
"Eh…"
Realising what he just said, Ludwig blushed and quickly grabbed hold of Feliciano and made him sit down in the comfy chair.
"Just sit down, okay? I'm alright."
"Okay…"
"And don't go running off doing crazy things again! We're lucky it was only Francis, and not some sick, weird person… Hmm…" Ludwig contemplated whether the man was harmless.
Ah, he should be… I think… Yeah… I mean, he can't be all that weird, right?..
"Ah, is Ludwig there?"
Ludwig heard Feliciano's voice and quickly continued, "you made me so worried!"
"Erm, I just wanted to help Ludwig… Ludwig helps me a lot so I want to help him too…" his eyes became teary.
"You…" Ludwig let out a sigh.
He placed his hands on Feliciano's shoulders, "you don't have to do that, okay? Just stay here, where it's safe. Where I can look out for you…"
"Waa, but I want to be useful too…" the tears rolled down his cheeks like a waterfall, " and help because this café is important to Ludwig…"
Ludwig pulled out some tissue paper for him, "you helped a lot, really. I feel better when you're here, with me."
Feliciano blew his nose and scrunched up the papers like a wet ball, "really?"
"Yes," Ludwig ruffled his soft brown hair fondly.
"Really?" those brown eyes sparkled.
"Yes…" Ludwig stopped playing with his hair.
Feliciano's eyes widened, "really?"
"…Yes," there was a scowl on the handsome man's face.
Feliciano gave a vacant smile, "uwa, really?"
"Yes, yes, I meant it, stop it!" he glared at the silly boy.
The brown haired boy lunged forward and embraced him, so close that he would have been able to hear Ludwig's heartbeat, "yay! Ludwig is the best, I love Ludwig!"
Usually Ludwig's inner self would be jumping for joy though the man would never admit, but now he had to ask, "Feliciano, why do you say that?"
"Eh?" Feliciano looked up at Ludwig with an adorable, lost look.
"Do you really mean it when you say… that?" Ludwig couldn't say those words so freely.
Feliciano seemed puzzled, "mean what?"
"That you lov- Sigh… You know what you said right?" Ludwig was getting frustrated, his vocal cords simply wouldn't churn out what he wanted to say.
"I can't remember!" then he continued his cuddling, blissfully ignorant of everything else.
This is going to take a while…
Ludwig rubbed his temples in preparation for an on-coming headache. He suddenly recalled the bouquet of flowers on his table.
"Ah, Feliciano, stay here..." he struggled to pry off the affectionate boy and went to his office to get the flowers.
The hazel eyed boy sat there obediently and hummed a tune. There wasn't anyone in the café, was it closed already? He looked out of the café windows and saw that it was really dark outside, maybe evening?
He smiled when Ludwig came back and asked, "where did everyone go? Is it late?"
Ludwig looked like he was struggling to hide something behind his back and there were lots of ruffling sounds, "they all went out for supper and a lot of partying I suspect."
"Partying is fun!" Feliciano raised his arms for a cheer.
"It's what happens after the partying that worries me…" Ludwig shook his head as though he was trying to forget some embarrassing memories.
"Waa, they must be really happy for you and the café. Eh, then what about Kiku? I didn't see him when I came back…"
"Oh, he went off half an hour ago because his boss needed his help. He was waiting for you to wake up and make sure you were alright," Ludwig recalled the dark haired boy.
Feliciano seemed thoughtful, "veee… Kiku's like that…"
"I think he's a good friend to you. Ah, these are for you, Feliciano…"
Ludwig shyly held out the bouquet to the brown haired boy, whose eyes widened with delight.
"Uwa, they're so pretty!" it was like eye candy for him, the splash of colours was vibrant and rich.
With one arm cradling the bouquet, he wrapped his other arm around Ludwig, "thank you, Ludwig! I've never gotten flowers before…"
He happily stuffed his face into the flowers to smell them and they had a wonderful fragrance.
"Veee…"
So cute…
Without a second thought, Ludwig planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Eh…" Feliciano blushed and hid his blushing face in the flowers. Ludwig turned away and there was an awkward silence.
Then he popped his head out, "do you like me too, Ludwig?"
"I, I…" Ludwig was flustered and even more so when he saw the tears of rejection building up in Feliciano's big eyes, "well... I don't hate you…"
The tears stopped but Feliciano was still trembling.
"Like you… I do like you. Even though you're really a baby sometimes-" luckily for Ludwig, Feliciano only heard the first six words he said and hugged him again.
Is it free hugs day today?
Ludwig lost count of the number of hugs he received from the boy but he loved every single one he got.
A slight buzzing sound along the hallway went unnoticed.
"They're hugging again," Matthew reported.
"Awesome, totally!" he could hear Feliks was delighted even though there was loud, jarring music in the background.
"Can I go home now, Feliks?"
"Uh, nooooo… Wait and see if they end up kissing!" he could imagine Feliks jumping up and down excitedly.
"But I need to feed my pet bear… He's probably starving by now."
"Prolly not, stop worrying! Alfred can feed him anyway!"
"He's partying with you guys right? Please get home by three am this time. And anyway Al can't remember my bear's name, he doesn't even remember I have a bear!"
"Ok, ok, calm down… Breathe in, breathe out…"
"I'm not pregnant. Erm, they're still hugging, I'm going home now."
"Okay, byeeee~"
"Bye…"
As Matthew kept his cell phone and took a last look at Feliciano and Ludwig, he couldn't help but smile.
They look so cute together…
He gently shut the back door on his way out.
{+} Hetalia! {+}
He pranced down the empty street in his loafers, swinging his lunch bag and singing happily. A much more reserved boy followed him closely, listening to his song.
"I love Ludwig, Ludwig loves me!"
Near the traffic light, a lazy cat stretched itself and yawned at Feliciano.
He held it up and twirled around, "oh, kitty, we're in love!"
"Meow…"it sounded like 'put me down please'.
He stroked its fur for a bit until the light turned green and Kiku made him cross the street.
Almost nearing the café, Kiku stopped his friend "Feli, I have something to give you."
"Is it a present?"
"Oh no, it is just a small gift…"
Kiku nervously took out a pouch and his hands were shaking, all under the pressure of Feliciano's big staring eyes. He decided to close his eyes.
When he opened them again, there was a pink ribbon tied around his wrist and a small bell dangled at the end.
"Eh… Why pink?"
Kiku looked at his wrist and nodded, "because it'll suit you."
"Really? Thank you!" Feliciano wiggled his wrist and the bell jingled cheerfully.
"You're welcome… Ah, I'll be on my way now. Your café is that way," Kiku maneuvered Feliciano in the right direction.
After their good-byes, he went on his merry way to the café.
Standing outside the café, he had his smiley face on when he greeted the blackboard and easel, "we almost lost you, little café. Be glad to be here!"
A passerby glanced at Feliciano and made a weird face at the fact that the boy was talking to a notice board.
"We are lucky you kno-"
The wind blew and a giant leaf smacked Feliciano on the face.
"Uwa, leaf, leaf!" he swatted it away from his face in fright. Deciding not to goof off any longer, he went to the backdoor and entered the café.
His trained ears could hear a pot of soup simmering over the kitchen stove though he was in the locker room. Quietly, he dropped his bag and tiptoed to the kitchen, his nose twitching to pick up a scent. There was Yao, glaring at the shelves above the stove. His uniform looked ruffled, like he had been running around or jumping a lot.
"What's wrong?" Feliciano asked, bouncing into the kitchen.
"Hmmm…" Yao acknowledged his existence with a nod but he was still frowning.
"Want something from the cabinet?" Feliciano realized Yao wouldn't notice so he took the ladle and scooped out some soup.
He turned a deep red, "I'm fine, no problem at all!"
Yummy…
Feliciano decided to steal a few gulps of the soup, not seeing Yao jumping up and down and flailing his arms to reach that very high shelf.
Huffing and puffing, Yao was getting really annoyed, "when I found out which idiot put the pepper so high up, I'm gonna kill him aru!"
The kitty-chan cell phone on the kitchen table buzzed and he flipped it open roughly, "what is it, Ivan?"
"Yao yao, I hope you have fun trying to reach for the bottle on that extremely assessable shelf."
"What? You did that?"
"Yes, I think it's funny to see you suffer. Just like how you thought putting chilli seeds in my vodka was funny. Kolkolkolkol~"
Yao hastily let go of his phone, it was glowing dark purple ominously.
"Are you and Ivan playing a game?" Feliciano had unknowingly emptied the pot of soup and only scraps of food were left.
Faced with the innocent Feliciano, Yao cracked a smile, "yeah we are. We annoy each other until someone screams and gives up (sadly, that's me but you don't need to know that)."
"Really? It sounds a little scary…" the brown eyed boy seemed quite puzzled.
"Nah, we're used to it. We do it all the time, don't worry," Yao patted Feliciano on his back.
"I thought what you both do all the time is have s-"
Not wanting to hear anything more, Yao pushed him out of the kitchen, "go and change, Feliciano! We're opening the café early today."
"Yes sir!" Feliciano saluted, he was happy to start work today for some strange reason.
Yao watched him as he skipped to the locker room, "your new uniform's inside the second locker aru."
"Eh…" he pulled out the set of clothes folded neatly inside the locker.
It looked very different from his regular uniform, it had a lot more frills and most noticeable of all, it was pink. Just like the ribbon Kiku gave him. Picking out piece by piece, he truly wondered how to wear it.
Back in the kitchen, Yao was enjoying his almost instant vegetable soup. As he was about to bite into a delectable piece of cabbage, he heard a strange shuffling sound. Getting down from the kitchen counter and wiping his mouth, he checked the locker room.
"Aiyeeah, what are you doing, Feli?" he cringed when he saw Feliciano in a mess looking like a rag monster. The sleeves were on his head, the skirt was inside out, his apron was folded into a butterfly.
Wow, I didn't know I could that to the apron…
Brushing away random thoughts, Yao stepped in to help out his poor friend who seemed very confused, a lot more than he usually was.
"Is it a new uniform?" Feliciano asked, turning around so Yao could tie the apron in a cute, enormous bow.
Smoothening the ends of the skirt, he replied, "yes, do you know what it means aru?"
The brown eyed boy thought for a moment before concluding "we have a new tailor!"
"No, silly! Anyway, you're all done! Take a look in the mirror!"
"Where? I didn't know we had a mirror…"
Yao was making some strange hand gestures and a mirror with hands at its sides and legs and shoes at its bottom shuffled out of the corner.
I'll try opening my eyes…
As his reflection greeted him, Feliciano automatically widened his eyes in amazement.
"Eh… This is a maid outfit."
"Heee… you like it aru?"
Feliciano twirled around and watched the skirt float along with his movements.
"It's a special dress, I like it!" he marched around, swinging his arms and felt the fabric lightly on his skin. Yeah, it was nice and airy, surprisingly.
Yao grinned, "hey, heard that, Feliks?"
"Eh?"
Feliks' head popped out from behind the mirror and he squealed.
Totally delighted, he tossed the mirror to Yao haphazardly, who caught it just before it would collide with his forehead.
"EEEP, you look totally adorable, Feli!" he flung out his arms and wrapped Feliciano in a tight embrace, "like, I knew you would look good in pink!"
Appearing from where the mirror had been hiding, Alfred slurped down the rest of his cola and crushed it in his hand effortlessly, "heh heh, told ya he looks nice in a short skirt." Matthew nodded in agreement.
"Ludwig'll definitely let him be a café maid, I can vouch for that," his wavy curl bounced as he spoke.
"Looks like you'll be the new junior here, Feliciano," Arthur patted his head gently.
Feliciano did a flimsy salute, "please take care of me!"
With a proud look on his face, Arthur nodded, "of course."
"Hey, you just joined too, Mr newbie," Alfred commented.
"Shut up, I have work experience elsewhere!"
"You were a waiter."
"So, aren't you a waiter too?"
"But I'm so awesome compared to you."
"Eh, where's Ludwig?" Feliciano popped out in the middle of the bickering duo.
"He'll like, totally be here soon."
"I wanna show him how I look!" Feliciano chirped.
"Yeah, he's totally gotta see you in this!"
Feliks was pressing a button on his cell phone repeatedly and grinning. "Like, check the windows," he instructed to Yao.
Yao nodded and peeked out through the fancy curtains, giving a thumbs-up, "our first customer is here today aru!"
"Uwa, I wanna greet them!" Feliciano skipped over to the entrance, not noticing everyone giggling.
After a fruitless attempt at opening the backdoor, Ludwig gave up and dialed a few numbers on his rugged-looking cell phone. How convenient it was that no one was picking their cell phones to help him open the door so he stomped over to the entrance of the café. He rarely did that since there was a staff entrance but today would be one of those rare days.
Ludwig gently pushed the door opened and he heard the bell ringing to signal his arrival.
Not expecting to see Feliciano in the lead, he was surprised to hear the most cheerful greeting ever.
"Welcome home, master!"
{+} Hetalia! {+}
Ending note:Thanks for reading.
See you all next chapter!