Chapter Eleven: Every Day

Love was in the air. France could always tell. It hadn't quite acquiesced yet, but he could sense it. Miles away, his fellow nations were in unrequited romantic torment. No one had told him anything, but he had known for centuries that this was coming. His friend wasn't as discreet as he thought, and his poor little frère* wasn't either. He'd expected this for years. He knew he couldn't outright day all he knew, but he could make them realize for themselves, maybe. So, it didn't come as much of a shock when the phone rang and it was his cute little brother with quite a few questions.

"France? Is now a good time?" Italy's voice trembled musically down the line, and France instantly inferred the reason for his call.

"Italy, mon Cher**, it's been ages, why don't you ever call me these days?" He smiled radiantly.

"Um, well, you kind of creep me out, but I wanted to ask you some things so I called..."

"Of course, you can ask me anything, cherí***. What is it? Girl trouble? Boy trouble? Other trouble?" He only asked to feign innocence in the spirit of politeness; he knew exactly what the problem was.

"Kind of, all of them? But like, not with me, all of it. Um, France?"

"Oui, mon Cher, I am listening, tell me what's up!" He tried to keep his patience, knowing that Italy might take a while to get to the point.

"France, I have a lot of questions. I didn't know who else to ask, and you know a lot about these things and you're the one who told me..." He broke off tremulously. "I need to know. I need you to tell me..." He broke off again, and France waited expectantly without moving a muscle. "What happened to Holy Roman Empire?"

"Italy, of all the questions! Are you sure?!" He had to make sure he was ready to think of this for himself.

"I'm sorry, but I need to know! Even if it upsets me."

France sighed, and when he answered, his voice was somber. "Holy Roman Empire is no more." There was a choking little gasp, and France half expected Italy to hang up the phone, but he didn't.

"I know. You told me that. But... What... Actually... Happened to him?"

"He was lost after many battles. The Holy Roman Empire was never seen again." His words were chosen with care, and Italy, uncharacteristically attentive, picked up on them.

"But... Did he... Die?"

"That's a complicated question." France said evasively, hoping to prod Italy into asking just the right questions.

"Right. So... Did he?"

"I told you, after the battles I never saw the Holy Roman Empire again. The nation dissolved." The nation. The empire. Come on, Feli, you're so close!

"And then what happened?" Yes! The question he'd never asked before! The question he'd never had answered! Francis nearly jumped for joy before he forced himself to calm down and give his sweet little frère the final push he needed to understand.

"I don't know, Feli. The nation dissolved. And then what happened?"

"I'm asking you."

"And I'm asking you." He parried.

"I don't know."

"Nor can I tell you."

"What does that mean?"

"You already know." Silence.

"Ciao, Francis." I guess that's as far as we're going to get.

"Au revoir, Feliciano." Auf Wiedersehen.

Ludwig let out a shaky breath as soon as Feliciano disappeared into his own room for the afternoon.

"Y' alright?" Gilbert looked over. "Your face looks kinda red."

"Halt die Klappe****!" He snapped before sitting down. "It is not!"

"Ja, it is, and don't talk to your awesome brother that way."

"No I'm not—I mean I'm not!"

"You said 'I'm' again, what are you doing?" Gilbert definitely seemed suspicious now.

"N-nothing!" I'm just making myself look guiltier, aren't I? Maybe I should just tell him… I mean, I don't think he'd react badly… He is my brother, after all, and it's not like he's never looked at the same sex… Maybe he can help me. He'll be able to tell me if it's okay or if I'm being weird. He sighed and sat down across from his brother in the sitting room. "Gilbert," he began nervously. "I've been having really strange thoughts lately."

Gilbert looked nonplussed, but fortunately not yet disturbed. "Like?"

"Um… I think I like someone."

"Like, like sexually?"
"Nein, you perverted ass!" He exclaimed defensively. "Like, romantically! But I feel weird about it because I've never liked someone like this before!" He was starting to regret this decision, but he still needed answers to his burdensome awkward questions, and he didn't know who else he knew well enough to turn to.

"Wait, like like how? Someone like how?" Prussia still didn't seem to be totally sure of what he was getting at, although Germany thought he already knew. Maybe he just didn't want to be presumptuous in case he had drawn the wrong conclusion. Even so, did he have to make him spell it out like this? His stomach squirmed as he tried to explain the next part of what he was trying to say.

"Like… I said I used to like a girl, once, a really really long time ago, but I don't remember her, but now I feel like I like someone else—"

"If you say 'like' one more time in that sentence—" Prussia interrupted. Germany huffed.

"Fine, I think I'm attracted, (is that the right word?) to somebody else, somebody I didn't think I would be attracted to because they're not the type of person I was attracted to before." Prussia's face cleared in realization.

"Ohhhh, I see." He nodded. "So you like a guy." Germany jumped as he said it.

"Wh—I— No! I mean, yes, but I didn't expect you to understand so quick! Isn't it weird?"

"What do you mean? Why would it be weird?" Only at that did Prussia seem properly bemused.
"Uh, I don't know, I just thought…" He trailed off. "I mean, I've never felt this way before. But I can't stop thinking about him."

"Who is it?" Germany recoiled. "Oh, come on, you can't just tell me you have a crush on a guy and then not tell me who it is! I mean, I have an idea, but you have to say it yourself." Prussia prodded.

"Okay… It's…" He broke off as he realized Prussia's muscles were tense and he was holding his breath. "Mein Gott, bruder, you already know what I'm about to say!"
"Just say it!" He hissed.

"Fine!" He snapped, and took a deep breath. "I think I'm in love with Feliciano Vargas!" He spoke much louder than he meant to. There was a loud gasp, a shriek, a thump, and the sound of what they could only assume was Italian cursing.

"Scheisse!" Both brothers exclaimed at once. Ludwig started hyperventilating. "Scheiße! Did he hear us? Is he still there?" He jumped up and scrambled back against the wall.

"I don't know!" Gilbert hissed. They listened for a moment and heard muffled sniffing and a hastily silenced sob. Gilbert hesitantly ventured out into the hall and peeked around.

"Did he hear me?" Ludwig asked in trepidation.

"Feli!" Gilbert called out. "You okay?"

"I'm Lovino, you stupid potato bastard!" There was another muffled sob.

"Oh shit. Sorry! Are you okay there? Oh, hey, um, did you happen to hear what we were talking about just now or—" He turned back to Ludwig and hissed, "What do we want him to do? Do we tell him to forget it?"

"Uh, yeah, I heard. I'm not hurt. Not any more than usual just from being near you both." The next sentence was gratingly bitter. "I knew anyway."

"Right, um, that's a bit rude but I wanted to ask… Wait, could you… Give us a sec?"
"Take all the time you need." There was another muffled sobbing sound.

"He hates me!" Ludwig whispered in terror. "This is almost worse than Feli finding out!"

"I don't see how this could be worse than that, but okay. What do I tell him?"

"That I'm sorry and please not to tell his brother?"

"That he's sorry and please not to tell your brother!" Gilbert repeated. "That's what Ludwig wants to tell you. Like, don't tell him what you heard, if that's cool with you?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Lovino coughed, and from the noise, it sounded like he was dragging himself to his feet. "I'm not gonna tell him."

"Are you sure?"

"I think I would know if I was gonna tell him. How's this—I promise not to tell him, as long as your brother promises not to tell him either. Stay away. Don't let him get too attached. Capire*****?"

Prussia scowled at him. "That's ridiculous, what's it to you anyway?"

"I'm just here to protect my brother."

"Well, that's an absurd request."

"Just agree." Ludwig whispered.

"Nein!" Gilbert protested. "He's being obnoxious, he can't decide what you're allowed to say to his brother."

"Gilbert, just agree, please." As ashamed as he was to admit it, he was legitimately afraid of what Lovino could say to Feliciano. If he ever did tell him, if he ever confirmed his own feelings, he would have to do it himself. "If I break that promise, it doesn't matter if he does anyway."

"Ugh, I see your point." To Lovino, Gilbert said, "Just please don't tell him; we agree to your terms."

"Whatever. He's sleeping now. He doesn't know and I'm not gonna tell him." Ludwig didn't catch the next words, but he figured 'bastard' was one of them. "Just stay away and leave me out of it."

A door slammed somewhere, and Gilbert shrank back into the room. "What a jerk, he can küss mein arsch." Gilbert growled through gritted teeth.

"Please don't make him angrier." Germany's hands were actually shaking.

"Mein Gott, Italy's made you into a nervous wreck!" Prussia said in shock, taking his brother gently by the wrists and forcing him to sit down. "How long have you liked this guy?"

"I don't know…" He moaned and ran a hand through his hair in agitation. "I'm so confused. I don't know why I'm feeling these things. Is it normal? Or, I mean, not 'normal' but… Is it okay?" Prussia looked horrified at his uncertainty.

"Of course it's okay! Why would it be anything other than okay? You realize who you just asked, right? You just asked me, the awesome Prussia, polyamorous pansexual founder of the Frying Pangle, if it was okay if you liked a guy. Not just any guy, a really cute one too." What? Where does he even come up with those words? He pushed past it.

"Well maybe it's okay for you, but you're gross and your love life is ridiculously complicated, what about me?"

"Excuse me? I'm awesome, actually, and that has little to do with the fact that this is absolutely okay! Why on earth would you think it wasn't okay, who even told you that?"

"Um, I asked Roderich about it a while ago and he said I shouldn't think such things."
"Wait, you asked who?" Gilbert said, like he hadn't heard.

"Roderich. Austria. I asked him and he said it was wrong and I should forget it." There was a moment of quiet, before Gilbert took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he doubled over in raucous, seemingly uncontrollable laughter. He clutched at his sides and fell over onto the couch, howling with glee, and a moment later convulsed onto the floor where he lay on his stomach for several minutes. Tears leaked from his eyes and started to stream down his face, red from laughter, and he curled onto his side and gasped for breath before he started coughing and crying from his position staring up at his brother.

"Gilbert? Mein Gott, are you alright? Are you in pain, do you want me to call you an ambulance?"

Gilbert gasped, coughed, and cried for another minute, and all he could do to communicate was shake his head before he finally gasped for enough breath to wheeze, "No! I want you to call Liz!" Before he dissolved into helpless giggles again.

As soon as Prussia apparently thought all the laughter was gone from his system, he gasped and pushed himself up off the floor on his forearms, then bowed his head in helpless giggling again. He tried a second time to push himself up, and this time grabbed onto the side of the couch before he went down, and he was able to haul himself up to the phone on the end table so he could dial. "She needs to hear this!" He wheezed. "Roderich, telling my brother it was wrong to like someone of the same sex! Roderich!" He gasped and fell back onto the couch again, still unable to keep his laughter under control for more than a few seconds.

"Gilbert, what are you doing?" Germany demanded in exasperation. "Why are you laughing so hard? What's going on?"

Prussia wiped several tears away from his eyes and visibly tried to restrain himself long enough to explain. Would he be able to, with a straight face? "Austria's got the hots for me!" No, apparently not.
"Was zum Teufel?" Germany asked, baffled, as Prussia descended helplessly into uncontrollable cackling again, subconsciously scrabbling for the phone as he did so. He shook his head through his tears of laughter and automatically dialed Austria's house, hoping Hungary would answer. There seemed no way he'd be able to talk to Austria even for a few seconds without laughing. Surely enough, after a few rings someone answered, and Germany guessed from her voice coming faintly over the phone that it was Hungary. She immediately recognized Prussia, probably by his laugh.

"Gilbert, what's up? Find something good?" Her voice sounded drawn and tired, and it trembled slightly, but she also sounded excited to speak to him.

"Liz! Mein Gott, you've gotta hear what Roderich—" He gasped to regain his voice from his laughter. "What Roderich—Said to my brother!"

"Eh? What'd he say?"

He couldn't answer; he was fighting for breath again. He wiped his eyes and gasped, then handed the phone to Ludwig. "I can't—You tell her—" Ludwig awkwardly took it and brought the phone to his ear.

"Um, Guten tag, Miss Elizaveta? This is Ludwig, I am Gilbert's brother and he has asked me to speak on his behalf because he currently seems to be incapacitated."

"Holy shit, he's right, you are really formal." That flustered him; he hadn't spoken to Hungary very often, even over the phone, and he had been caught off guard already.

"Um, yes, well, he seems to want to share some information he thinks you might find… Humorous?"

"Oh, yes, what is it that's made him laugh so hard he can't even tell me? I can still hear him."

"Right, well, um," Well, this is fucking embarrassing. Would Elizaveta care if I explained everything that was going on?...Actually, she probably already knows, if Gilbert has had his own speculations to offer. "I was asking your husband about something because I know him and it led him to say that I should not pursue a romantic relationship. Um, my brother finds this funny because apparently Roderich himself is…" Um, how do I explain this to his wife? What does 'the hots' even mean? He comes up with such strange phrases. "I suppose that Roderich was in a similar situation? Somehow? I don't really understand, he was laughing too hard to explain and I don't know exactly what he meant—"

"Oh mein Gott, just give it to me!" Prussia exclaimed, seeming to have recovered enough to talk. Germany dropped the phone like it burned him and Prussia caught it and raised it to his ear. He had to yell through his own laughter. "Liz, it's Gil! Explain this: Your husband told my brother it was wrong to like a man!"

She spluttered in laughter. "What the fuck? Why? Didn't he used to like you?"

"JA! He's such a hypocrite!" Her laughter almost echoed down the phone line.

"Did he seriously? Put Ludwig back on, you're not trustworthy on your own."

Prussia snorted and raised the phone up to Germany again. "She wants you to say it. Tell her what you told me, we can't let that stupid hypocritical aristocrat get away with this."

"Um," Ludwig leaned into the phone, looking uncomfortable. "Well, like I said before, he basically said it was weird." Her giggling was audible even from Gilbert's position.

"Thank you, Ludwig, I needed someone to verify it before I confronted him. I mean, I love him and everything but honestly, what a stupid man I've married. Gilbert?" Gilbert brought the phone back to his ear. "Why do you think he said it was bad? He's so weird sometimes, I don't even—" She exhaled and didn't bother finishing her sentence.

"I have no idea! Is he that bitter still? Even though he's got you? What a loser!"

"Ja, he's a loser, at least he doesn't spend hours every day talking to another man's wife." Ludwig said, much too loudly even though he was far away from the phone.

Gilbert slammed a hand over the receiver and shot Ludwig a hasty "Halt die Klappe! At least I don't loudly announce my taboo love for my housemate when his violent-tempered brother is within easy earshot!" Before redirecting his attention to the phone. Ludwig rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna get him, let him explain this." Elizaveta was saying. "RODERICH!"

There was some kind of scuffling sound, and then Roderich's voice came over very faintly. "Elizaveta, what is the meaning of your summoning me in such a way?"

"Hang on, let me angle the phone so we can all hear each other… Gil, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, this is fine," He looked over to Ludwig. "West, come here and listen."
"I'll just use the extension in the next room." He left the room and a moment later his voice came through. "Hello, can you hear me?"

"Ah, that's good, Ludwig's here with us." Prussia said. "Hey, Roderich! What's up with telling my brother who he should and shouldn't date, huh? You know whenever you talk to him it's eventually going to get back to me, because I'm just that awesome of a brother."

"Gilbert, please, I have no idea what you're referring to. Elizaveta, why are you still talking to him so often?"

"Oh come on, this is, like, the one other person I talk to every day. Roderich, I just heard something I thought was interesting. And before you say he was lying, I asked Ludwig and this is what he said happened too. Roderich, did Ludwig happen to tell you he was romantically interested in Feliciano?"
"How does she know that?!" Ludwig demanded.

"I didn't tell her!" Gilbert snapped back. "I mean, I told her I had suspicions, but I think she just senses these things!"

"Ja, because you're so bad at telling them to her, she figures it out all on her own, even though she's never been here or seen us together."

"Well now we all know, because you just said it." Elizaveta pointed out.

"There are other people in this house, guys! One of them hates me, we're talking about the other, and I don't know where the third one is, but I don't particularly want any of them to overhear this!" He shuddered as he thought of Romano, probably still sulking somewhere.

"How crappy are your telephone speakers that people overhear your entire conversation?" Roderich scoffed.

"Oh, this coming from the technological genius who couldn't even hang up the phone properly during a personal argument and then gets pissy with the Awesome Me for overhearing it, you're the one who left the phone on, idiot!" Gilbert retorted.

"It was rude of you to call in the first place, and the argument was not intended for your ears!" Roderich retorted hotly.

"Calm down, that's not what we're here to discuss." Elizaveta said authoritatively. Then she intoned more gently, "Roderich, did he tell you?"

"How should I remember? I've had too much romantic drama in my own life to remember that concerning others." Austria said haughtily.

"Now Roderich," Hungary said in the same gentle tone. "That doesn't make any sense. We've had almost exactly the same experiences after a certain point, and I remember everything."

"Well, is it really so important that I do?"

"Maybe not in general, but if you don't remember these things, why are you commenting?" Prussia cut in.

"Um, in his defense I did sort of ask for his opinion." Germany ventured.

"But he's a hypocrite and he didn't even pay enough attention to remember it! Austria, you remember that huge fight we had like two days ago about my diaries? You told my brother he shouldn't date a man, when you've been attracted to me for, like, centuries, and also confessed your love for me that one time and I wrote it down in my awesome diary which is why you got mad… Anyway, that's not the point, the point is that you totally contradicted yourself!"

"I don't see how, I stand by what I said." Harsh, Roderich, Ludwig thought.

Prussia sounded like he felt like he should be offended, but he wasn't quite sure why yet. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked defiantly.

"I'm not going to have this conversation in the same room as my wife."

"Mein Gott, Roderich, you are such a prude!" Elizaveta snapped in frustration. "I know everything that's happened between you, there's not really much sense in covering it up for my benefit. I'm insulted that you think I'm not just as interested as you are."

"'Mein Gott'? You've been talking to him so much you've picked up his speech patterns. Next you'll be running around like a hooligan telling everyone how you're so much more 'awesome' than they are. I can't stand for this."

"I will not! And so what if I did? Shouldn't that be my choice?"

"Elizaveta, can we discuss this later?" Roderich asked. There was a moment of very charged, very awkward silence. A moment later, a mysterious, reserved-sounding voice interrupted it.

"Excuse me, may I speak to your operator?" Ludwig jumped in surprise and embarrassment.

"Kiku, this is a personal call!" He shouted flusteredly.

"Oh, I am sorry! I was confused. I could not hear because you were speaking so fast and I do not understand much German. Please excuse me, I will try again later." Kiku hastily apologized and seemed to be about to hang up. We… Weren't speaking German… Is he just being polite? How much did he hear?

"No, that's fine, Kiku, we'll go. You make your call, we aren't discussing anything important anyway." Ludwig insisted.

"Oh, no, you must not end your discussion on my account. I will wait for you to finish. It doesn't pay to prioritize professional relationships over personal ones all the time."

"Huh? What do you mean?" There was expectant silence from all four other listeners.

"I meant, you should not ignore your romantic interest, if it is important to you…" Kiku murmured. "I am sorry, please excuse me, this is not my place. I will try to call again later."

"N-no, Kiku," Ludwig said through his growing embarrassment. "It's fine, we were just finishing up here anyway. Gilbert, hang up and let him use the phone for something useful."

"Okay, you're right, sorry Kiku. Liz, I'm gonna call you later, and Roderich, you're being an ass as always. The Awesome Prussia is going to go do something else now." One of the phones hung up.

"Right, well, I'll leave you to make your call, Kiku. Oh, um, I trust you to be discreet about anything you may have overheard by mistake."

"Of course, Germany-kun. Thank you." Ludwig hung up and rejoined Gilbert in the sitting room.

"Well, that was awkward." Gilbert said as Ludwig sat down.

"I've never known you to say something was awkward." Ludwig commented.

"It was really awkward. Hey, do you have any idea how long your other housemate was listening to that call? Does he do that often?" Prussia sounded nervous, almost guilty.

"Um, I've never known Japan to do that before and it doesn't seem in character for it to be a habit. I'm sure it was an honest mistake. It's not that surprising, though. He lives far away, so he makes frequent calls overseas. Why? Has he interrupted one of your calls before now?" What are you hiding, Bruder?

"Well, nein… It was just surprising. I didn't think anyone else was listening."

"You knew I was there, that didn't make that argument any more awkward?"

"Well… It kind of did. But we're used to it, I guess."

"Gilbert, how often exactly do you talk to Elizaveta? I mean, you do call other people, besides her, occasionally, right?" Ludwig asked, remembering some of Roderich's pointed comments.

Gilbert looked instantly uncomfortable. "Not that often. Just… Once or twice a day. If we're busy." Ludwig winced. He wasn't usually one to give his older brother advice, and he knew he probably wouldn't take it anyway, but he had to push the subject. This was getting out of hand.

"Once or twice… A day. For how long?"

"Not long," He said defensively. "An hour or two, maybe." He spends between one and four hours on the phone with her every day? When they're busy?

"And… Who usually calls first?" He may be terrible at reading social signals, but this definitely felt off.

"I don't know." Gilbert sounded even more defensive. "She makes a lot of calls, but I guess maybe I call her more often."

"So… In the last week, has she ever called you first?"

"I don't know! Shut up already!" Gilbert snapped, flopping back on the couch in apparent exhaustion. Okay, he definitely knows that this is off too.

"Look, I'm not trying to interfere in your life, because I understand boundaries somehow even though you raised me. But I just want you to think about this. I think you know it isn't right."

Prussia glanced back over. "What do you know about it?" Okay, that's it, I've said my piece, now I should back off.

"Nothing. I just want to make sure you're alright."

"I'm fine."

"You're fine." A statement, not a question.

"Ja. I'm totally fine."

"I'd have believed you if you didn't add 'totally'."

"I'm more than fine. I'm awesome. Totally awesome. I love being alone." Uh-oh. This is worse than I thought. I've never heard him talk like this.

"Who said anything about being alone?"

"Look, I'm fine, okay?"

"If you say so."

He sat up, and clutching the throw pillow from the couch. "I am. I'm fine, I don't need people to tie me down. I'm not like that stupid—like that stupid—" His voice broke. "—that stupid aristocrat!"

AN: Hey, friends! It's only been six days but I just couldn't wait! I need the attention *laughs nervously* Didja miss me? No? Oh well, I missed you.

*frère- brother

**mon Cher- my dear

***cherí- darling

****Halt die Klappe- Shut up

*****Capire- Understand?

******küss mein arsch- kiss my ass

*******Was zum Teufel- what the hell