A/N: Ok, so first business first:
Anonymous person with no name (Looooooove back!)
JOSEY! (your face, I heart it XD)
Who (I'm so glad you enjoy! And glad I could update sooner than next month too!)
Lightwolfheart! (I get to bother you on THREE mediums now! Bwahaha!)
Blueisme (I'm sorry about school work! I remember that…sooo loooong agooooo. Glad you like!)
ITALIA. (Romano knows where you live!...yeah…..he should since it's with me XD What do you want for dinner? Do you like Tuna helper? I got one at the store…. And Canada is coming over. Maybe Spain too! It's a party. With wine. And food. And possible sleep later on.)
Bookboy42 (Thank you so muuuch! And yes, take care of your sister! You just never know what might happen, but let's hope not! 3)
To all of you! You all get molestings from Prussia (except you Italia, you get them from Ludwig because that is just weird) and hugs and hugs and hugs from Alberta.
You guys all rock my world and I adore you for your reviews and stalking and such!
Thank you once again for all the generous love and support over these last three months. For those who aren't on my DA, I put pictures up from Angel's Memorial. It was a beautiful day (though a bit windy and cold) and we had quite a lovely turnout. The balloon release was wonderful, the colors were perfect and they sailed off with the lovely little notes we wrote to her. My brother and I's balloons twisted around each other, we thought that was cool.
Anyways! Thank you sooo much to all of you and to everyone I didn't mention on here, even if your name is not on here, I'm looking at you, YES YOU and saying thank you for reading and reviewing and being with me while I write this!
I heart you ALL!
*past*
He knew he shouldn't be nervous. Why should he be? They'd been together for nearly two months now. Two months. Two whole, long, wonderful, perfect months. Surely this was inevitable. At least, for Matthew it was. Not that he'd been thinking about it for longer than the two months they'd been together. Of course not.
Rubbing his hands together to ward away the chill that was beginning to settle in, Matthew padded his way to the fireplace, gripping another small brick of wood and tossing it into the roaring flames warming the living room. The fire itself lit up most of the room, the walls tingling with the flickering light. It really was a good setting for such a question, he supposed.
And really, they'd been together longer than just the couple months. At least…the way he figured it they had. They'd been skittering around this for months prior, both of them knew it. Both of them felt it. Both of them desperately wished to find a way to make it happen and now that it had….well…it was everything Matthew had hoped it would be.
They were together almost constantly, except when Ludwig insisted that Gilbert come back to Germany in order to sort out paperwork or go to political meetings. It just…seemed pointless for the man to be going back and forth all of the time to get things he left at home or to get another change of clothes or to take his things back home. It all just seemed…pointless. Especially when he should be there with Matthew.
Gilbert shook the snow off of his heavy navy coat as he stepped his way up to the porch of Matthew's house, pulling out his keys to open the door. The day they'd gotten together officially, Matthew had tossed a set of keys he'd apparently been 'debating on giving to Gilbert' for the last few months. One to the front door, one to the back, one to the garage and one to his car. To Gilbert, he simply took it as one large key to Matthew's heart. But then, Mattie always made him a sap like that.
He kicked his shoes against the wood beams of the house, glancing over his shoulder at the landscape. By the time morning came, the top of his rental car would be covered in nearly two more feet of snow, he was sure of it. The snow fell here as though it would never snow again, blanketing the ground each year in a thick cloud of white so deceiving you'd never realize just how far down the grass really was until you stepped out into it and found yourself waist deep in the stuff. Not that he minded. They'd had plenty of great memories already playing in the snow, pushing each other down and chasing one another through the yard.
And now that they'd moved past that awkward attraction, he had a feeling that playing in the snow with his Mattie would be a lot more awesome. A grin began to form across his lips as he watched the large flakes of snow drift downward, imagining dragging his Birdie down into a drift of snow somewhere and kissing him breathless. After a long moment, the chill began to set in and he shook off again, making certain that the snow was cleaned from his shoes before tugging out his keys, swinging them around on the ring to find the correct one, one Matthew had given him months ago.
He suffered with the cold stiffened lock for only a few moments before it gave and he shuffled his way inside, shaking off the cold of the November wind and tugging off his coat. Only once he'd hung the dripping material on the coat rack did he notice the lack of boyfriend in the room. The fire near the kitchen entrance was lit, crackling brightly in the darkness of the living room. A soft frown covered his face in worry and he glanced up the stairwell to the right before a gentle clinking noise caught his attention from the kitchen. Turning away from the door and brushing his chilled hands against his darkwash jeans, he moved towards the sound.
A smile crooked on his lips at the sight that greeted him. Matthew moved about the kitchen quietly, setting down two plates of steaming food on the table, a few candles lit on the countertops. The kitchen itself radiated warmth, likely from the still heated oven, the main lights dimmed to allow the candles to light the room. He leaned against the entryway, sliding his hands into his pockets to watch his boyfriend's oblivious movements.
After a few moments, once the second plate was set down on the table, he cleared his throat, watching as Matthew's head shot up, obviously startled.
"Gilbert!" the smile that lit up his face, that genuine joy at seeing him, Gilbert was certain was the most beautiful thing he'd seen in a long time. He was going to have to make that smile come out as often as possible.
"Hey Birdie, what you got going on here?" he chuckled, pushing away from the wall. Matthew met him halfway, his face still flushing a bit as Gilbert didn't hesitate to lean down and press chilly lips against the younger country's almost anxiously. A slowly warming pair of arms slid around his waist, keeping him pressed close and soon Matthew found himself melting into the kiss. After so long of orbiting around one another, to finally collide into something much better; it was still so surreal. And Gilbert was never one to do anything half-assed. Every kiss he gave Matthew was full of raw emotion, sometimes desperate, sometimes slow, but always lingering. As though he wanted to make certain Matthew remembered each and every kiss. Which he did.
After a few moments, the shorter blonde pulled away carefully, his hands firm on Gilbert's biceps. "I made dinner. I thought it would be nice to sit down and have a…a..r-romantic dinner. Together." He breathed, watching in embarrassment as the smile on the Prussian's face only deepened.
"That sounds awesome Birdie." Gilbert's eyes roved over the simply set table, pulling away to take a seat on one side, quickly joined by his still skittish boyfriend. 'Soul mate', Gilbert corrected himself, smirking across the table at the light flush still present on the face of his companion. "It looks awesome, too. You made wurst? Und fried potatoes! Und greens…" he picked up the small bottle of maple syrup set between them and raised a brow. "You know I love this stuff on everything." He chuckled, pouring a generous amount on his plate.
Matthew began cutting at his food, eyes focused down ward. His knees were shaking. He could just feel it. Why was he so damn nervous? This shouldn't be that hard…
"Hey Gil." Best get it over with.
"Hn?" came the response, mumbled around a mouthful of potatoes, his focus completely on the food before him.
Once he swallowed, Matthew chose to speak again. "I want you to move in with me."
Gilbert's hand paused in mid-motion, mouth open in anticipation for another bite, eyes darting up to meet Matthew's own lavender ones. Slowly he placed his fork back down on his plate, an unreadable expression on his face.
Immediately Matthew began to stutter, brushing a chunk of his blonde hair from his face and behind his ear, eyes dropping away from the intense gaze. "I- I mean, you practically live here anyways. You are always here and that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing and I really love having you around cause well, I mean, I love you, so of course I love having you around and we're together now so that's even better, but this would just be much more convenient, you know, having you stay here instead of going back and forth all th-
Anything else that the Canadian may have attempted to say was successfully silenced. Gilbert's palms cupped his cheeks, the tall man leaning over the plates on the table to capture his love's mouth with his own. It didn't take a long moment for Matthew to lose himself once again to the kiss. One of the many talents this man possessed. His head was spinning when Gil finally pulled away, thumb brushing across his lower lip. The crimson eyes shone with mirth, a smirk creeping up on his face.
"I'll head back tomorrow morning und be back in the evening, ja? Bring the rest of my important things back."
Matthew nodded slowly, "And we can go into town and get anything else you want. I'll clear out half the closet and the chest of drawers so you'll have plenty of space."
"You're not going to make me buy another bed are you?" Gilbert snickered, raising an eyebrow, his thumb still tracing down along the line of Matthew's chin.
Instead of answering, however, the smaller man reached up, tugging his Prussian forward again (who found himself dropping one hand to keep steady over the plates of food) and into another heated kiss.
They really weren't getting any work done. Not that either would admit that.
They'd spent the better part of the last half hour goofing off with one another. All of four shirts had found their way, folded, into the top drawer of Matthew's dresser. The rest lay skewed on the floor, still in the luggage case or like the current two, wrapped around Gilbert's head. It had gone easily enough at first. They'd put a few shirts away, until Matthew had made a comment about one he liked in particular. This prompted Gilbert to make him try it on. It was too long for him, of course and a little wide, but felt nice nonetheless. The next half hour was unproductively spent between trying on Gilbert's clothing, teasingly shoving each other or sharing an impromptu kiss or two. The latter of which Matthew was more than happy to give in to.
It was something that still took him by surprise; Gilbert initiating most of their short list of intimacies. He was usually the first one to initiate the hug or the kiss. Matthew supposed it was likely just the leftover anxiety that came with the life he'd lead, the fear of rejection even though he knew he would never receive that from his Prussian.
Finally, all of Gilbert's items had been put away, clothing spread out between the dresser and the closet, shoes overlapping some of Matthew's. He found it strange, as he stood facing the bathroom mirror the next morning brushing his teeth, glancing around at all the small changes, at how normal it all felt.
Gilbert had brought plenty of his own things that seemed to integrate just fine with his. The book, reading glasses and small alarm clock that now sat beside his solitary lamp on the bedside table. The winter coats that hung mingled in with his own; the utensils that shared his kitchen drawers; the toothbrush that leaned up intimately against his in the tin; the shampoo that left a lovely lingering scent of Gilbert everywhere. Everything just felt right.
Matthew's brushes slowed to a crawl as he glanced over at the occupied bed. In the early glimmers of morning light that crept across the floor and over the thick down comforter lay his silver-haired boyfriend. The man was settled on his stomach, one arm stretched out on his own side of the bed, the other curled tightly around Matthew's pillow. His hair was askew against the olive of the pillow case, one foot dangling out from the bottom of the bed; that lovely back exposed down to his waist, a light tinkling snore drifting through the room indicating his continued deep sleep even once Matthew left his embrace.
The Canadian shook his head, a light flush crossing his cheeks and he found himself frowning at the reflection in the mirror. He was wearing one of Gilbert's larger shirts over his pajama pants, the clothing smelling strongly of the shampoo he used and a little tousled from their 'cuddling' the night before. He flushed even deeper, glancing out at the bed once again. He knew what road those thoughts led to and he wasn't certain he was ready to pursue it quite yet. However, that didn't mean that it did not affect him. He quickly found that, once they'd settled into a routine of sleeping in the same bed, whether they started on opposite sides of the bed or facing each other, Matthew always awoke to find Gilbert wrapped around him, one arm cradling underneath his pillow, the other curled tightly around his waist. Warm puffs of breath brushed his neck where Gilbert usually settled his head in the crook of his shoulder, as though needing to be as close to him as possible. Not that Matthew minded in the least, but he was a man, after all, and his boyfriend's close proximity and warmth didn't leave him unaffected.
Finishing up his morning routine, Matthew dropped the toothbrush back into the holder, watching with a satisfied smile as it leaned against Gilbert's, knowing that it was silly to enjoy such a thing, but allowing himself the feeling all the same.
He moved from the room, picking up the Prussian's discarded shirt and dropping it into the laundry on his way towards the kitchen. He had every intention of waking his love up with the best breakfast he'd ever had.
*end past*
"Now you boys behave. I don't want to hear any reports of you breaking things or getting into trouble, understand?" Matthew fussed, brushing the thick lock of bright blonde hair from Lukas's face, twining it around behind his ear.
"Yes, Papa." Came the twin groans and a set of rolling eyes.
"Don't give me that. You behave and listen to your uncle. Unless he wants you to play with fireworks or sharp weaponry and then you call me immediately."
"Hey!" Over Alberta's head (the little girl was nearly asleep in his arms), Alfred shot his brother a glare. "I am not a bad uncle. You are just picking on me now, Matt. And they'll behave. We'll have lots of fun, promise." He grinned, watching as his brother embraced the smaller of the twins, who pressed his ear to his father's heavily pregnant stomach. Jacques watched in nearly boredom from his uncle's side, hand clutched in the elder man's.
"We'll call you the minute anything happens, ja? And if you need us, you've got our numbers." Gilbert added, moving towards Alfred's car with a handful of bags. "I put some extra vitamin in for Alberta; it's in the side bag of the pink case. If she gets restless just give her one."
"Sure thing! Uncle Al's got this!" he chuckled, watching Gilbert put the last of the bags in his trunk before turning back to his overly nervous brother. "It'll be fine Matt, just relax, enjoy this time and call me the minute you go into labor, okay? We'll be there in a jiffy."
Matthew nodded, moving forward to embrace his children and brother in a tight hug. "You guys take care. I love you guys."
A murmured round of responses followed as he pulled away and Gilbert replaced Matthew's spot, patting Alfred on the back heavily and brushing a hand over his children's heads. "We'll let you know the minute anything happens." He reassured his brother-in-law with a grin, moving to wrap his arms around Matthew.
Herding the children towards his car, the elder of the North American twins glanced over his shoulder. "I'll have them call every night before bed, ok?" The tension that left his brother's frame brought a small smile across his face.
Alfred loaded the children into the Aveo, making certain that each of them were buckled in properly before moving around to his own side and climbing in. With a wave to their parents, the children drove away with their uncle, leaving Gilbert and Matthew to finish preparations for the birth of their next child. It would be nerve wracking, not having the children around, but there was not much time left and they needed all the relaxation they could get in order to concentrate on the upcoming addition to their family.
And there you have it. I just wanted to throw in a little bit more flesh before we got to the bone(haha…yeah swear to god I'm not perverted *LYING*). There will be more fleshing out as well, but from here on out, the timeline for the past is going to move a LOT quicker. I'm actually looking to have the story finished at Chapter 20 and I'm fairly positive it will happen by then. I've written out detail for each chapter so I know what it will be about and where we will end up.
I've gotta say I'm not looking forward to ending the story, but I'm also not going to stop writing once I do, I'll be picking up another story. Whether it's PRUCAN or not is yet to be determined. I do know that I'm writing a few side fics (in progress now) to this story with the kids like I promised. Those will be up in a chapter or two more on here.
Once again, I adore you all, you rock my socks and your support and love through these last few months has been amazing.
And I LOOOOOVE reviews! :D