With My Life

Woo! Another chapter! :D I've actually got some very good ideas for this fic. I promise, it may suck right now, but it'll get better later on! ^^ Anyways, not much to say here, so I'll just let you all read the chapter. Hope you enjoy~! :3

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HETALIA OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS!

Eli woke to the sound of his stomach growling the next morning. This wasn't unusual, since he and his friends were living in not the best conditions with practically no money. He winced as his stomach gave another groan, this time accompanied with a sharp pain of hunger, got up off of his mattress on the floor of his bedroom, and went down the creaking stairs after combing his fingers through his wavy hair and pulling it back.

The young Hungarian went into the kitchen, searching through all the cabinets. He was disappointed to find that there was no food or anything-just spiderwebs and dust. Great.

Hearing the sounds of fighting from outside, Eli went to the kitchen window and peered out. He saw Gilbert and Antonio were play fighting with tree branches while Francis sat in the shade underneath a tree, watching. Eli left the window and went out the back door, his hands on his hips.

"Hey!" he yelled, looking annoyed at the three. "There's no more food! Did you guys eat the last of the bread already?"

"Ah, je regret, mon chere," Francis apologized, grinning sheepishly. Antonio and Gilbert paused their battle for the moment. "We were hungry, and you were sleeping. We went upstairs to wake this morning for breakfast, but you looked so peaceful. We did not want to disturb you."

Eli rolled his eyes. Basically, they were too lazy to wake him up in time for breakfast before it was all gone. "So, I get no breakfast. Thanks, guys."

"Oh, don't complain!" Gilbert scoffed, leaning on his tree branch with a smirk. "You can always just go steal some more."

"It's true, amigo," Antonio agreed with a nod.

Eli sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Fine. I'll just go steal some more food." He shot them each a glare. "For myself. You guys don't get any."

"Hey! That's not awesome at all!" Gilbert whined. He yelped as his stick sword snapped in half from the pressure he was applying. He fell on his side and both Antonio and Francis began snickering at their clumsy friend.

"You ate my food," Eli retorted. "So there!" He turned on his heel and stormed back inside the house before either of them could protest. Muttering to himself, the Hungarian boy grabbed his page boy hat and slapped it on top of his messy hair before leaving the cottage. He began walking through the forest, making his way into town.

As usual, the city of Vienna, Austria, was bustling in the morning. Shop vendors were in their market stalls selling products, citizens were walking around and shopping, and children were running around and laughing in joy.

Ah, yes, how beautiful the kingdom of Austria was.

Eli strode along the dirt paved road of the town, his hands in his pockets as he kicked a small rock along the road. He glanced around, taking in his possible meal options for the morning and to see which one would be the easiest theft. It was hard to steal something discreetly when your stomach was growling louder than a lion's roar.

Then he saw the perfect target. At a market stand selling all kinds of fruit and loaves of bread, the shop owner was arguing with a customer over something Eli really didn't care about. With a sly grin, the boy crept over to the side of the stall and began grabbing as many things his arms could hold. He kept glancing the store owner's back every now and then just to make sure he wouldn't get caught. Just as he was about to grab one more loaf of bread, his stomach betrayed him and released a very loud and very long groan of hunger. Eli snapped his head up, eyes wide, when the owner spun around to face him with a surprised look that very quickly turned into anger.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Put that back, you insolent little..."

Eli didn't catch the rest of that statement because he had started running, careful not to crush any of the food in his arms. God, running on an empty stomach was a bad idea. Already the Hungarian's lungs were burning and he was out of breath, but he needed to keep going. He glanced back to see where the stall owner was when he hit something in front of him. His breath escaped him and he fell back to the ground, his stolen food flying up into the air and scattering to the ground around him. Eli began cursing under his breath as he scrambled to gather up the food he dropped. He was hungry, and he would rather eat the food that fell than nothing at all. He then realized that he had ran into someone else and knocked them over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" he said to the man with wavy brown hair. "I didn't see you there, I-"

"It's all right," he replied with a light chuckle as he stood up. He brushed himself off as Eli studied him. The man appeared to be about forty or so, maybe early fifties with a kind face and soft gray eyes. He was also dressed quite nicely, wearing white britches and a long navy blue coat over his white shirt and jabot. He had to be high class or something.

Eli gave a yelp as a strong hand grabbed the back of his shirt and almost yanked him off the ground. "You little street rat! How dare you steal from me! I ought to hand you over to one of the guards and throw you in jail!" the store owner snarled.

The Hungarian was about to retort when the rich Austrian spoke. "Excuse me," he said in a calm tone. "What is going on here?"

The owner's eyes went wide in horror. "K-King Roderich!" he gasped. "Oh my, I'm so sorry you had to witness this, I...I didn't realize it was you, Your Majesty. Please forgive me for my behavior, but this boy-"

"Is one of my new servants," the king interrupted. He glanced down at Eli and gave him a kind smile and a look that said "play along". He turned back to the other man with a stern expression. "I've just taken him in recently and he still doesn't quite understand the concept of paying for food. Now if you'll just release him..."

"Ah, yes! And I'll even supply you with fresh food since that all fell on the ground, Your Highness," the owner replied, letting go of Eli. "Free of charge, too. It's the least I can do for acting like such a fool in front of you and attacking your servant."

King Roderich nodded and gave him a smile. "That sounds nice, thank you, sir."

Once the shop owner had given the king fresh fruit and bread along with a dozen more apologies, King Roderich had Eli follow him to his home. Needless to say, Eli was impressed by the palace. It was large, white, and gothic-looking on the outside, seeming like a super sized mansion with a large doorway and a very nice water fountain in the center of the courtyard. It was even nicer on the inside with white marble flooring, white walls decorated with gold floral designs, and very intricate paintings on the ceiling of the entrance hallway.

Okay, Eli was more than impressed.

King Roderich led the boy into the very large kitchen and allowed him to sit at the small table. He sat across from Eli and raised an eyebrow at him when no one spoke.

"You know, you can eat that food," the king said, making Eli jump in surprise. "I'm not hungry at the moment, but you seem to be. Go ahead, dig in."

The Hungarian blinked and hesitated, but picked up a loaf of bread. He broke a piece off, tossed it into his mouth, and swallowed. Oh, god, food never tasted so good. He continued munching on his delicious bread, his hunger fading away with each bite.

The king watched him with a small smile, his chin resting on his hands. "Would you like something to drink? Water, perhaps?" When Eli nodded, he glanced at a young boy with auburn hair that appeared to be the same age as Eli and gave him a nod. The boy blinked and turned around. He set a glass of water on the table in front of the Hungarian boy, who stopped eating for a moment to take a few sips. King Roderich waited until he was done to ask him a question. "So tell me, why did you attempt to steal that man's merchandise?"

"I...Well..." Eli mumbled, looking away. He frowned and glanced down at his hands in his lap. "I couldn't afford to pay for it, but I was hungry. I have no money. I live in a small, abandoned cottage in the middle of the woods with some really good friends that I think of as brothers. The only way I can eat is by stealing food."

King Roderich frowned. "I see," he murmured. "I wish there was something I could do..."

"You could give me some money," Eli replied quickly, turning his green eyes back to the older man. He looked hopeful that this would work. "That would help a lot."

At this, the king gave a little smile. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I feel that people should work to earn their money instead of it just being given to them." When Eli's hopeful expression turned to one of sorrow, King Roderich went over to the boy and knelt next to him. "But I can give you a place to stay, food to eat, and some decent new clothes. The only thing you'd have to do is stay here and work for me as one of my servants. I can promise you a good life here, and I feel like I'm a fair boss."

Eli put a hand to his chin as he mulled it over. "What would I have to do as a servant?" he asked.

"Nothing too hard. Just run out and do errands when I ask, perhaps set the table and help serve meals, maybe take care of the horses."

"Would my friends be able to come and work here too?"

"If they would like to, of course."

Eli hesitated before nodding. He grinned. "All right," he replied. "It sounds good."

King Roderich smiled. "Wonderful."

Gaaaah, sorry this update took a while. I had a little bit of writer's block here. Dx But now we're getting somewhere! It's only a matter of time before Eli meets Prince Roderich~! :3

Please read and review! Reviewers get free pasta~! :3