Sadik is just awesome sometimes.
Next chapter a lot of the stuff raised in this one will be resolved, which should lead onto the beginning of the end. There are perhaps three or four chapters left to write, it depends on how things go.
November 29th
"Hey, did you hear? People are saying Herakles found himself another girlfriend." Loukas commented as he sat down to lunch with Gupta and Sadik.
"I don't think it's true." Gupta contested. "If he had a girlfriend he'd never stop talking about her. I've heard nothing of this the last week."
"Who are they sayin' anyway?" Sadik inquired.
"Eliza apparently." Loukas answered.
"Eh? Come on now, they're clearly just friends." Sadik scoffed.
"I know." The Cypriot agreed. "But they won't listen when I say that. People here go rumour crazy."
"That can't be helping Herakles to find an actual girlfriend," Gupta pointed out.
"We'll try to set the record straight," Loukas suggested. "I'm just not sure how much luck we'll get."
"Speakin' of, where is the brat?" Sadik asked.
"It's been a while since we sat out like this," Kiku remarked, sitting down on one of the benches in the grounds with his lunch.
"Hmm…" Herakles nodded. "It's getting colder, so we might not be able to do this again for a while."
"Right," Kiku concurred. Herakles nodded again and they fell into silence.
"Kiku…" Herakles spoke up after a few minutes.
"Hm?" His friend responded, looking up to him.
"Is everything alright?" The Greek checked.
"It's nothing important." The smaller man insisted.
"What is it though?" Herakles pressed.
"I was just thinking about those rumours…" Kiku blurted out. Immediately he regretted it, and looked up to Herakles in embarrassment.
"Rumours? Why? What have people been saying?" Herakles demanded.
"Well, they say you have been dating Miss Hungary," Kiku admitted.
"Really?" Herakles appeared shocked at the news. "That's weird… She's only been hanging out with me recently because her own love life was upsetting her. I was just being a good friend, I thought."
"I see," Kiku accepted.
"Were you so quiet because you were unsure as to whether to tell me? You're not normally very talkative, but even for us this lunch has been silent." Herakles continued.
"I was unsure as to whether to congratulate you or tell you." Kiku answered.
"Ah. Well, thank you for caring. I suppose I'll have to find a way to get rid of these rumours before they hurt Eliza." Herakles decided.
Kiku felt himself blush a little at the words. At that time, he had no idea why.
"There you are," Gupta chided when Herakles returned home that day. "We missed you at lunch."
"I wouldn't say missed as such," Sadik sneered, hanging over the couch lazily.
"Well, maybe I don't care if you didn't miss me," Herakles retorted. "Since I was eating lunch with Kiku anyway."
"I see. How is he?" Gupta encouraged, trying to get the conversation away from whatever argument had a chance of brewing between Sadik and Herakles.
"He's absolutely fine. And certainly not caring at all about how little he's seen of Sadik recently." Herakles jeered back at the Turk.
Gupta rolled his eyes. "Herakles, that wasn't nice."
"Yeah, and it ain't true anyway. I saw Kiku this afternoon, and he told me just how much he wants to see us all again, not just you." Sadik boasted.
"Yeah? Well…" Herakles began, getting cut off as Gupta covered his mouth with a frown on his face.
"Shut up, both of you." He warned.
"Someone's touchy." Sadik observed.
"Maybe I have more important things on my mind." Gupta brushed off. "For example, we still need to deal with those rumours surrounding Herakles."
"So you heard too…" The Greek mused.
"Loukas told us at lunch," Gupta revealed. "I'm assuming Kiku told you?"
"Right. He seemed kind of worried about it, but he said he was just fretting over whether or not they were real and so whether I should be told or not." Herakles shrugged. Behind his back, Sadik made a love-heart symbol with his hands in Gupta's direction. The Egyptian ignored him.
"Right. So Kiku knows too and like us is probably fighting those rumours." Gupta summed up. "But it doesn't seem to be having an effect."
"Yet we can't exactly dump Eliza in it either." Sadik considered. "The two of ya can't stop being friends just because of this. It wouldn't be fair."
"So what can we do?" Herakles asked.
"Maybe ya should get an actual girlfriend. That'd deal with things." Sadik proposed.
"Or boyfriend…" He added quietly after.
"That's… Not going too well." Herakles admitted.
"It'll all turn out in the end," Gupta assured.
"Yeah, if he wakes up to what's in front of him," Sadik cut in.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Herakles fumed, not understanding Sadik's words and so assuming them to be a slight of some kind.
"I mean," Sadik explained. "Kiku. Come on, he's so clearly into ya! He was in pieces while ya were with Michelle, and now the minute he thinks ya got a new girlfriend, he's back being all quiet and contemplative? He's gotta like ya. I bet he's just in denial or something. And man, a guy like Kiku… Why wouldn't ya?"
"Excuse me?" Gupta folded his arms, a warning tone in his voice.
"Of course," Sadik backpedalled. "I'm spoken for. But ya sure as hell ain't Herakles! So go on!"
"But if you say he's in denial… I don't want to force him." Herakles fretted.
"Right. Not helping Sadik." Gupta complained.
"…I wouldn't go that far." Herakles mused. "It's given me… Something to think about."
"Something wrong again Kiku?" Mei asked, walking into her brother's room that night. "You've been acting all down."
"It's nothing much," her older brother replied.
"Are you sure?" Mei pressed.
"I just jumped to conclusions about Herakles and Miss Hungary. It was embarrassing." The older sibling relented.
"Oh, so they really aren't dating?" Mei absorbed, before locking onto the rest of what Kiku had said. "Hey, you're getting embarrassed a lot around him lately, aren't you?"
"I wouldn't say that," Kiku protested.
"I would. You keep on coming home feeling embarrassed or upset or nervous, and Herakles is always the cause." She folded her arms. "From where I'm standing, it looks like you like him a lot."
"He is one of my best friends," Kiku pointed out.
"I meant as more than friends and you know it." Mei pouted.
"I think you've made a mistake…" Kiku sighed.
"I know you," his sister argued. "And I've seen you get embarrassed at social situations, let friends down, feel neglected by people and even be hurt a whole deal by your friends. And nothing else elicits a reaction like the one you're having. What else can it be but love?"
"I think there is a flaw in your reasoning." Kiku objected.
"Where?" Mei demanded.
"Well…" Kiku thought out loud. Several seconds later he hadn't come up with anything, and Mei went back to pressuring him.
"Admit it Kiku. You love him." She concluded.
"No." Kiku denied.
"You do." She argued.
"No." He repeated.
"Come on!" She whined.
"…Maybe." He let slip. Mei knew that was as close to a 'yes' as she was ever going to get.
"I knew it." She replied smugly. "So tell him."
"No," Kiku insisted yet again.
"Seriously Kiku, you have to ask him out before someone else does! Herakles is seriously in demand, in case you hadn't noticed." Mei discussed.
"I know." Kiku admitted.
"So act!" She pressured.
"No," the man shook his head. "I couldn't do that."
"We're all behind you," his sister encouraged.
"I can't tell him." Kiku sighed.
"Then I will," Mei threatened.
"Don't," her brother growled.
"You'll tell him by the end of the week or I will," she finalised.
Kiku sighed and let his head fall into his hands.
Norway was annoyed.
It was almost as though Sweden and Finland were trying to make him jealous. They had gone out for dinner somewhere fancy at the beginning of the evening (leaving him sandwiched between Iceland's indifference and Denmark's excitability), and then came back only to spend the entire of the rest of the night curled up together on the couch, blankets covering them as they cuddled and whispered to each other. As he watched from the counter, sipping impatiently at some coffee, the Norwegian couldn't help but feel irritated. Couldn't they just go to bed? He knew that at this rate, he was going to end up doing something that would involve him swallowing his own pride. And that was something he really didn't want to do.
Ten minutes later, he found himself caving in.
"Denmark." He stated flatly, knocking on his flatmate's door.
"Hm?" The Dane answered, opening the door a little and peeking out.
"There's no one else watching is there?" The smaller man checked.
"Don't think so?" Denmark guessed.
"Alright…" Norway frowned. "I'll go to the stupid dance with you."
"Really? Why the change of heart?" The tall one laughed, ruffling Norway's hair. "Did you get lonely or something? You miss me?"
"Shut up," Norway scowled.
"I'm gonna tell everyone," Denmark boasted, running down the hallway.
"Don't," the Norwegian warned, sprinting after him.
Iceland had been minding his own business when there had been a crash in the hall and a large amount of shouting. Without even getting up he looked to the doorway, rolled his eyes and turned back to his computer.
"Idiots."
Austria paced nervously over the floor, running a hand through his hair as he stewed in his own problems. Fine, so he was a fool. He had put his own pride and dislike of being gossiped about ahead of Hungary's own feelings. He could understand how selfish that had been. And when he thought back, he knew he had upset her. But to so quickly go off with another man…! He had to wonder whether her words and actions from before had been creative lies.
"But then, you denied those rumours yourself… And every time she asks you about it, you brush her off. It's not like you make it obvious you care." He complained to himself. His own last words caught his attention, and he took to thinking for a few moments.
"Perhaps I need to do something. Something that will prove my feelings to her." He decided. The more he thought about it the more his plan became obvious. Not even in the wildest of the rumours did it sound at all like Hungary was in a serious relationship with anyone- it seemed more as though she was messing around. And maybe, Austria thought, that meant that she was trying to bring him to his senses. Perhaps she was waiting for him to take her back. The Austrian smiled to himself as he walked over to his piano and sat down, fingers dancing over the keys experimentally as his mind raced to come up with something.
There was no way now that he would even consider giving up.