Chapter Twenty-Nine: All The Things She Said
It had been a few weeks since Matthew had regained all his memories, as well as about a week since Kiku had been discharged from the hospital. He had come home to a garden of flowers and get-well gifts from all his friends. As for Matthew? Well Ludwig had let him off of work for about a week, but he seemed to come back fine and ready to work after that short bit of time. Yao was beside himself in regret, and decided, to punish himself, he would visit Ivan with Katyusha every week, and soon, it was just Yao making the visits by himself, at his own request.
"Something's going on between them," Elizabeta said. Francis had let the Good Slash Forever Fangirl Alliance set up home in a secluded corner of the Rose Café, and the girls enjoyed watching over they're charges from there every lunch break.
"Ivan and Yao?" Heidi asked, scooting close to Sesel for a minute before blushing and thinking better of it. She scootched away and went back to her tea. "Uh… good."
Sesel squealed, "Jeez I hope so, it was Bella who saw Ivan kiss Yao, after all."
The girls were waiting for Natalia and Katyusha to come, along with Kiku, who was still bandaged and bruised, but the girls always fawned over him and made him feel better, much to Ludwig's chagrin. Kiku always went back to him, however.
"I hope they are…" Heidi said, just as Katyusha and Natalia entered with a bandaged Kiku.
The girl stood up and fawned for a good minute before Natalia pushed them off and pushed Kiku into Ludwig's sweaty (from working near a hot stove) chest. He winced a little as Ludwig hit a sore spot on Kiku's face, but Ludwig's big arms came around him softly and they snuggled for a second. The Good Slash Forever Fangirl Alliance squealed loudly, but Elizabeta stopped dead when she noticed Natalia was fishing for something in her pocket. Her Yaoi-eyes switched to Yuri-eyes; the Hungarian woman smiled at the white-blonde as Natalia tapped Katyusha's shoulder.
Katyusha turned to her girlfriend and gave her a big smile, "What is it, sweetie?" she asked.
"I…" Natalia seemed to want to back out of doing whatever she wanted to do right then. But then a knowing nod from Elizabeta pushed her to look back at her girlfriend. Natalia breathed in and took a small box out of her jacket. She then got on one knee and opened the box. The entire café was silent as Natalia composed herself and then asked, "Will you marry me, Kat?"
"Y-Yes! Nat, I will!" Katyusha yelled, hugging her now fiancé. They kissed briefly before wordless stares came, and they were out the door as fast as they had been in.
The other couples simply stared at one another.
Lovino sighed in his kitchen, trying desperately to cut tomatoes without taking his fingertips off. It had been only a few hours since Natalia had proposed to her lady love, but Lovino was sweating anyway. All the couples were sweating, but Lovino wasn't part of a couple, so he was sweating more. The proposal had been an eye-opener to Lovi.
His knife grazed his knuckles just a tad. "FUCK!" he yelled, pulling his knuckle away a little bit.
Heidi had just walked in. Lovino left his door unlocked since Feliciano didn't have a key yet, and probably would never get one. Heidi knew about this since it was her idea in the first place. She looked over Lovino's shoulder and sighed, "Never think and use sharp objects, it always gets you in trouble."
Lovino put the knife down and went to the bathroom to clean and bind the wound. There wasn't blood or anything serious about it, but it stung like hell. Heidi continued cutting Lovino's vegetables. She looked over the recipe (lasagna) and decided not to mess with Lovino's cooking. She sat down at the table instead.
"Are you stressed about love, Lovi?" Heidi asked when Lovino came back into the kitchen.
Lovino blushed and went right back to work, now placing the vegetables and pasta and other ingredients into his pan. "Y-y-y-yes," he replied.
"Will this speed your confession up?" Heidi then asked.
"Probably," Lovino replied. "How about you?"
"I've already confessed," Heidi replied, "I'm going over to her place in an hour."
Lovino stared at her. So Heidi had confessed to Sesel… so that left him alone in the single world. Except maybe for Vash.
"I would have had Sesel come over to my place since Vash is out with Roddy tonight—" Scratch that, "Oh! Yeah! Sesel and I got Vash together with Roderich! Anyway, Sesel wanted me to come over to her place because it looks like something is going to happen between Arthur and Francis that could speed up their relationship a bit more… so I'm going over there."
Shit. Shit. Double shit. Lovino was so screwed if he ever wanted to be happy.
"Am I making you nervous?" Heidi asked, her green eyes bright.
"A little… I think… I'll go over there tomorrow after… uhm… work. And… you know…" Lovi tried to get out.
Heidi smiled and stood. "I should go now. Have a good dinner."
"Have a nice… stakeout."
Feliciano looked over the TV menu and sighed. There was nothing worth watching. Wait… wait, wait, wait. There was an episode of Gilmore Girls on the Family channel! Crisis adverted. He thought. Turns out, it was the proposal of Rory's teacher to Lorelei at the end of the first season. That immediately got Feliciano thinking about Natalia's proposal to Katyusha… and then Feliciano got depressed again.
He decided not to call anyone about it this time. He had come home from getting take-out from Café Monde, and he had seen Vash and Roderich there all ready. So all couples were accounted for. Except for him. And maybe Sesel and Heidi, but they were bound to find each other one of these days.
Feliciano glanced at the phone, shook his head, and turned to volume up on his television, as a new show came up. He didn't want to watch it, so he switched the channel to the USA channel, instead watching an interesting marathon of NCIS.
Matthew was looking out the window, watching the snow come down. Funny… it was almost the end of February and it was snowing, albeit lightly, outside, covering the dry ground once more with snow. Matthew was washing the dishes that night after a fairly quiet dinner with just Alfred.
Alfred was in the living room, getting the couch ready for another marathon of the Gilmore Girls and then… naughty things, if he got his way. Matthew rolled his eyes and continued fiercely scrubbing the dishes used that night for their quiet dinner alone. Where was Arthur, you ask? He had been whisked away by Francis earlier that evening. For what, Matthew could only guess.
But, what had Matthew in such a quiet mood was the fact that his best friend and first girlfriend was getting married. Grant it, he was very happy for Kat and Nat. They had deserved this happiness, and with a little help from the Good Slash Forever Fangirl Alliance, she was getting married. But… now what? A wedding was being planned (Nat wanted Mattie to be one of the best men, along with Toris, who had been one of their roommates in college along with the French-Canadian) and…
…And what?
Matthew might have been a little jealous of Kat and Nat's good fortune.
Kiku smiled at his girls as they twittered to each other. He was just starting to make them a celebratory dinner of sushi and rice balls when they entered the room. He was in the middle of making the first rice ball, so what they were twittering about wasn't about dinner.
"Kiku, darling…" Katyusha whined lightly, taking his hand.
He smiled at her, noticing that she had missed touching his broken finger. "What is it, Katyusha?"
"We've been talking, and, since my dear brother is indisposed… well, there is no one else I would rather have give me away, but you know how brotherly Ivan was to me. What I am saying is… Would you do me the honor of giving me away at our wedding?" Katyusha asked.
Kiku's heart swelled. He knew what Katyusha was saying was that Kiku was her first choice, since Ivan had kind of been dropped out of the family upon the girls moving in with him anyway. He was honored that he would be able to give his little Katyusha away. "I'll do it. Congratulations, you two…" Kiku replied.
The girls smiled at him and at once began helping the wounded Japanese man prepare the rice balls for dinner.
But something popped in the back of his head. Kind of like a timer dinging when the oven is hot, he knew he was ready for something. Ready for… intimacy. Intimacy with someone he loved very much, and he was sure that that person loved him just as much. Funny how it had taken the idea for a lesbian wedding for Kiku to see that Ludwig was… the One, and that it was time for them to consummate their relationship…
Arthur has been pensive the whole night at Francis's. He was waiting for that moment where he would just burst out crying or something. Francis had shooed Sesel out of the house promptly at seven so he could prepare something that sounded (and tasted) vaguely French by himself, with no help from his 'African birdie.' And from the looks of it, Sesel had a date as well.
Is that Vash's little sister? The Brit thought as he saw Sesel meet up with a little (looking) blonde girl in the middle of Francis's walkway.
He has shaken off the feeling that this was something involving the Good Slash Forever Fangirl Alliance and let Francis serve him a meal that looked like salmon and noodles.
During dinner they tried to make conversation, but it all pittered out into nothing. Finally, Arthur started with something that was hanging on both their minds. "Katyusha and Natalia are getting married."
"Yes, they are. I'm very happy for them," Francis replied. He had had a hand in getting the two together, in his own special way, but it was Natalia's almost mannish spirit that had landed them in this new, special position.
"I am too… but…" Arthur shouldn't have trailed off, because Francis almost jumped down his throat.
"You are jealous?"
"No—Yes. No. I'm not jealous of them. And before you say anything, I'm not jealous of their relationship, either."
"All right. But there is something on you mind that only came to your mind after Nat proposed," Francis replied.
"O-Oka—Yes. There is," Arthur replied, blushing lightly, "I… want to know where we stand."
"We stand together, mon petit lapin," Francis replied, setting his cutlery down and gazing at his lover with wary blue eyes.
"I know… but… Katyusha and Natalia have gotten much further than us in the two months they've been going out…" the Brit told Francis, looking off to the side.
"Is l'amour a race to you, Arthur?" Francis asked, crooking his head to one side. It wasn't as if he was angry with the suggestion… just curious.
"NO! God, no. I'm just pointing something out," Arthur replied.
There was a tight silence as Arthur picked at his food, his appetite gone in an instant, his stomach too busy tying into knots and doing back flips at this point. France finally spoke: "They had been living together since college, though…"
"Katyusha and Natalia?" Arthur asked, quick as a chess-clock thumper.
"No, Dorothy and Blanche," Francis replied, getting a little snippy.
"I—was that a Golden Girls reference?" Arthur asked, doing a (rather cute) double take.
"Yes. Ludwig reminded me of our glory days as the Golden Girls of high school…"
"Ah, yes. I remember those days," Arthur replied, just as Francis jumped in with: "Move in with me?"
It took Arthur a minute to sift through his words and figure out why Francis was looking at him expectantly, and Sesel and Heidi fell out of the closet, gasping lightly. Something about they're state of dress told Arthur that they hadn't been fondling each other in that closet.
"Live… with you?" Arthur asked, now ignoring the girls to gaze at his boyfriend's face.
"Yes. Live with me. I'm sure your present housemates won't mind…"
"Alfred and Matthew would welcome my move but… Francis… are you sure?" Arhut asked, his food going cold.
"I'm so sure, Arthur, I got you your very own key…" Francis replied, taking the shiny gold piece out and placing it on the table next to Arthur's untouched wine glass.
"Then… then I'll… I'll move in with you," Arthur said, staring off to the side with a dark red blush on his face and a hint of a lovesick smile on his face.
Can you tell I have a little bias with my lesbian couple? As for Francis and Arthur ROFL. Just let me have my fun.
Please review!
Ana
