Day 11 Someone's Hero
Warning: PruCan shippers, this is where you find out why Prussia and Canada are no longer together in my world.
"Dudes, you will not believe what I heard!" America came back from the bar with a fresh round of beer for himself, Denmark and Prussia.
"I'm sure I've heard it already," Gilbert yawned. He thought it was cute how Alfred Jones was always trying to impress him with old news.
"Vash Zwingli is doing all kinds of freaky shit to his sister!" The American nation was caught in a crossfire of beer spit takes.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Matthias thumped the table with his big fist. "There was always something weird about those two, but no one ever had any proof. So where did you hear all this?" He turned to Gilbert, who was sitting at the table, eyes wide and mouth open. "You better write this down for your blog, ven1, this is major."
"Who's your source?" Gilbert's brain started to work again after the initial shock.
"It's just around, I've heard it from more than one nation," American started fiddling with his glasses and avoiding Gilbert's eyes.
"That's a pretty serious accusation to make about someone without a specific source or proof," Gilbert replied. He was already trying to think of possible suspects from the dinner party. He hadn't said anything, obviously, and he doubted Ludwig would have mentioned the party to Feliciano. That left Roderich and Elizabeta.
"Since when do you need proof? You always put blind items on your blog, and if you don't address this, people will think you're out of the loop." Matthias ran his hand through his unruly crest of hair and finished his beer. "Who wants another round?"
Beer was always tempting, but America insisted on bars that served it ice cold and Gilbert really needed to keep himself sober for his next step. "Of course, it would be an awesome story." He decided to play along with their view of him as a callous gossipmonger. "If it were true." He tossed a few euros on the table and before Alfred could whine about their uselessness, he strode off.
"Are you accusing me of gossip?" Roderick looked down his perfect nose and through his glasses at his cousin.
"I know it's not me, it's not Ludwig, it sure as hell is not Vash or Lili, so who else?" Gilbert leaned in, inches away from Roderich's face. He watched the other nation grow pale. "So 'fess up, Specs, before you have to buy a pretty new set of glasses."
"Elizabeta and I talked about it, but not to anyone else." Roderich was surprisingly calm, too calm. Out of his peripheral vision, Gilbert saw a black object whir at him. He blocked it with his elbow and it fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
"The frying pan's getting old, Elizabitch." Gilbert said without breaking eye contact with Roderich.
"Leave him alone, Gilbert." Elizabeta said. She strode over and pushed her way between the two males. "If you want to pick a fight, pick it with me." She crossed her arms and locked her green eyes on Gilbert's red-violet ones. Gilbert noted with amusement how Roderich sidled along the wall until he was around the corner. Schwächling2,he thought.
"So Frauleinchen,3it seems you're the leak." He focused on Elizabeta. "Care to explain?"
"I might have mentioned my concerns to Feliks when he stayed over my house last weekend. You know, Roderich and I were floored by what Lili said. She is my friend—"
"—So of course, you have to go around asking things that make your friend look like a slut or her brother look like an incestuous creep. Very thoughtful of you, Elizabeta." Gilbert was already planning how to get to Warsaw. Mein Gott, he was going to owe Ludwig a lot of money.
"Watch your mouth, gossip boy. You're just pissed because the rumor hit the streets before you posted it." Elizabeta stared smugly at him. For the first time in a long while, Gilbert wanted to slap her.
"You think that's all this is?" He demanded. "You think you and Roderich are the only moral nations in the world? Have you ever had people spread nasty shit like this about you?" He thought about all the rumors about him and Ludwig and how they sickened him. Invariably, he was the corrupter, the bad influence, the serpent in the garden of Germancest. He disliked Vash, but he didn't want to see this kind of garbage about him and Lili. Lili.
"The white Teutonic Knight returns to the fray!" Elizabeta said, and he could barely resist grabbing her and shaking her until her chestnut hair whipped about. Instead, he pulled back and turned to leave Austria's house. As he strode through the door, Elizabeta called after him," Why so keen on the trail,Gilbert?"
"My blog's reputation for truth!" He called over his shoulder. Now , zum Teufel4 could he get to Warsaw quickly?
"Okay, so Elizabeta might have put this bug in my ear and I might have been a little worried, because Lili was, like, just at her house, and in the next room, and all I could think was 'oh mój Bóg, poor little thing' and no wonder she was freaked out by the yaoi and the porn and-"
"So you're the one who found out the truth?" Gilbert tried his best to sound nonthreatening as Feliks took swigs of tea and vodka. He wanted to lull the Polish nation into complacency and a full confession before he wreaked revenge.
"No! All I did was try to feel out if Elizabeta's concerns were real or not. I mean, we can all see that Vash is like super-possessive of Lili, but I just thought he was like guarding her purity or whatever." Feliks leaned in and tapped the wooden bar table. "It wasn't until I went to Ivan's party this past Friday that my suspicions were confirmed and that I knew Elizabeta's worries were totally true."
"Do tell." Gilbert cracked his knuckles to keep from pounding Feliks's face. Fortunately, the other nation didn't notice.
"Okay, so Ivan and I are on like good terms now and he invited me to his house for a party. And I got to have a nice talk with his new boyfriend Matthew." Gilbert felt a sudden stab in his heart. "Have you ever met him? He's a really nice guy. I think he's like in the Western Hemisphere or something—"
"He's Canada. United States' brother." For a second, Gilbert remembered sweetness and quiet. Matthew Williams, he of the soft violet eyes, floppy flaxen hair, gentle demeanor. He of the quiet wit, the understated jab, the perfectly hidden lie that was revealed when it was too late. He had to shake his head to get rid of all the images and words. "So, you talked with Ivan's new boyfriend. . ."
"Oh yeah, and I asked him,' Like what do you think is going on with Vash Zwingli and his adopted sister Lili? Doesn't it seem kind of funny to you?' and he was like, 'Yeah, they act kind of weird, like he's jealous of her or something," and I said, 'Oh my God, you're so right,' and I told him what Elizabeta told me about the party, and he was like, 'Oh my God, that makes perfect sense, I can totally see him asking that and then what happened after she said that?" and I was like, 'I dunno, I wasn't there, but I bet it was awful,' and he was like, 'Yeah, I bet it was, like he probably grilled her and she refused to answer until he like stripped her naked and inspected her and can you imagine being Austria and Hungary and having to see that, that's just sick, and the poor girl was probably crying and saying anything to make him shut up and—'"
"Ja, great, gut, thank you." Gilbert cringed as he threw his few remaining zloty on the table. The stab in his heart had traveled southward and was now turing his stomach in circles. Oh Matthew, sweet, imaginative Matthew, so quick with possible scenarios and plausible lies. So quick and eager to seduce with secrets about his brother, England, France. How zum Teufel was he going to get to Canada?
"I'm so glad we could meet." Matthew Williams smiled warmly as he and Gilbert sipped beer in a bar in Toronto. "I really feared that you would never speak to me again."
Gilbert shrugged. "The past is the past. And I had to get over shit and realize that you needed to be happy." He leaned in, trying to look concerned. "Everything is okay with you and Ivan?"
"It's splendid. He's really a good fellow." Matthew looked dreamy. Gilbert dug his nails into his palms to keep from crying or vomiting, as loss and rage fought each other in his core. He stared out the bar window to compose himself and saw a mortal woman walk by. She smiled as they locked eyes briefly, green eyes like Lili's. He shook himself and felt awake again.
"So I heard from Feliks that you and Ivan co-hosted an awesome party last Friday. Obviously," Gilbert tried to look jovial, "I wasn't invited, and that's cool, I get it, but I heard that it was full of juicy details. Care to fill me in?" He tilted his head and smiled, trying to channel all the heat and mischief he had into his eyes.
It worked. Matthew blushed and looked down at his Canadian beer. "It was a blast. Belarus is still having a hard time with me, but Ukraine is so sweet, and she gave me a lap dance, even thought I told her I was not interested. And Cuba brought his best cigars; I get them anyway, but I figured I'd take a few and smuggle them to Alfred when he isn't acting all self-righteous. China catered the whole affair, and I thought I got great Chinese food in Vancouver!" Matthew shook his head. "And Feliks? Feliks is a hoot. I know you don't like him, Gilbert, so I stayed away when I was with you—sorry, didn't mean to bring that up!-, but he and Toris are so cute together and I brought some Yukon Jack and we got to doing shots."
"Oh, I remember Yukon Jack." Gilbert was so glad he was pacing himself and his beer. "So you finally got to hang out with Feliks. Tell me what you think."
"He's very funny, and I know everyone thinks he's a ditz, but he's got a really good heart." Matthew finished his beer and Gilbert signaled the waiter to bring another round. "He told me how worried he was about Lili Zwingli and what happened at this party his friend Elizabeta went to, and it sounded terrible. Poor little thing, someone needs to do an investigation."
"What do you mean?" Gilbert called on his days in the Stasi5to appear as nonthreatening to his prey as possible. "What did Feliks say that she saw?"
"They were playing Truth or Dare, and Vash got angry and asked if Lili was a virgin and she said, no she wasn't." So far, so good. Matthew drank his beer. "But then Vash lost it and started demanding Lili tell him what she meant and when she wouldn't answer, he started smacking and shaking her in front of their guests until she yelled she had been seeing mortals on the side. Can you believe that?" Matthew looked so earnest. "The poor little thing has to stoop to picking up mortals?"
Gilbert took a long sip of his beer to keep from exploding. That's not what happened at all. Vash stared like a statue, Lili curtseyed and said goodnight, and everyone made their farewells in an awkward silence. "So," he tried to be as neutral as possible, "that's what Elizabeta told Feliks?"
Matthew looked like he was trying to recall something. "Well, I don't know the details, but I can just imagine. We all know Vash has a vicious temper when it comes to protecting his territory. And then he demanded a strip search, right in front of Elizabeta and the others!"
"Elizabeta said that?"
"Well, not in so many words, but when Feliks told me what happened, I could just imagine. . ." Matthew looked earnestly at Gilbert. "I mean, we all know something fishy is going on between those two, right?"
I can just imagine. That's how Matthew had gotten Gilbert into bed, murmuring those words when he had told him about how lonely and low he felt after unifying with Ludwig. I can just imagine when Gilbert had made passing references to how Ivan had broken him. I can just imagine you think that's what it means became a synonym for Your gut instinct is wrong and my lie is the truth. That's what Matthew had said about the text messages, the long-distance calls and long absences until he had gotten what he wanted, a real nation with resources and power that would scare his brother into showing him some respect. That's when he had finally told Gilbert the truth.
"So, is this going to be a blind item, Gil?" Matthew smiled, a sweet mix of shy and sly. The same smile he had used to lull Gilbert into believing he was really a nice guy.
Gilbert put down his beer glass, leaned forward and gently played with Matthew's fingertips. "I'm thinking about it, but there's just one thing, Mattie." He watched the Canadian look politely puzzled. "I was at the party. I know what happened." He smiled as sweetly as he could as the other man's face grew white, then red where Gilbert's fist smashed into his nose.
1 Danish: friend
2 German: weakling
3 German: Missy
4 German: how the hell
5 Stasi (short for Staatssicherheitsdeinst): State Security Service. East Germany's secret police.