Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
Note: I would be using their character names, mostly. This is an AU fic—a very AU one. Also, I would like to apologize early for any out of character behaviour and/or poor plotting.
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Arthur knocks on the apartment door. He waits patiently as he looks down on the bouquet of flowers in his hand. He doesn't know what to expect from the person living inside; what if another person resides in it? His sources and information were a bit dated, but he would reassure himself that everything was still the same—
Kiku opens the door, surprised at his sudden visitor. There was no heartfelt sigh of relief, no passionate embrace of two lovers, or even a smile etched on either's faces. There was just intolerable silence. Arthur pathetically presents the bouquet of flowers to Kiku. The other accepts the gesture and hints the Englishman to head inside.
"How are you?" Arthur tried to ask, but Kiku remained silent as he reached the table to put the bouquet down. It was only then did he realise his apartment drastically changed. Everything was more suited to Kiku's culture. Arthur wondered how the other got a hold of it.
Five more excruciating minutes of silence was spent before Kiku said anything. Both were standing across each other by the stairs. "I saw you on the news some time ago." Kiku developed, to Arthur's surprise, an English accent. "I've been watching it more often than not," he answers, reading Arthur's mind.
Arthur walks to Kiku, eliminating the large gap between them. "I found someone else." Kiku says it as if to defend from Arthur's advances. "You haven't," says Arthur. Even with Kiku backing up to the wall behind him, the distance between them almost became non-existent. "I do know that you weren't always spending your nights alone, though," he added. Arthur motioned to the stairs, and Kiku said that no one was there. "You aren't as mad at me as I expected you to be." Arthur smiles at the other. "There is nothing to be mad about," Kiku replies.
"What happened to my furniture?"
"This is your furniture… I made it look different."
Arthur smiles at Kiku, knowing that he wanted to talk about something else. "As you saw on the news, I was locked up in Egypt for sexually harassing a general's daughter. I didn't do any of it, of course. I was just trying to find a clinic for her skinned knee, but you know how fathers overreact with strangers." Arthur wipes away a tear forming in Kiku's eye. "When they knew who I was, they informed the organisation I work in." Kiku gives a shaky sigh and rests his forehead on Arthur's shoulder. "I could easily escape that place, but something told me not to. Until now, it still bothers me to no end." Arthur embraces Kiku as he feels his shoulder becoming wet. "When I served my stay there, my crew brought me back to headquarters. They kept me bound in a chair and discussed the punishments I should take. Death was one of them." Arthur kisses Kiku's neck, calming him down for a bit. "They decided to let me go under strict supervision since I spent some years in that Egyptian prison; there are men just outside that door. You didn't see them a while ago because I told them to hide for a while." Kiku shudders with a final muted sigh before meeting Arthur's eyes. "But when they let me go, they made sure I worked like a dog before they started to pity me." Kiku smiles and wraps his arms around Arthur's neck. They share an innocent kiss.
"Would you like to go for a walk with me?" Kiku asks. "Are you sure? I'm not as attractive anymore, so I can't make you feel like the most envied person in the world. The years of my youth have finally escaped me." Arthur laughs.
"You still look like the man I fell for all those years ago."
"I remember him having more hair than I did."
"I didn't notice."
Hand in hand, they enjoyed their years of retirement. Friends would look at them and swore that the two of them felt as if nothing happened. Their years of separation seemed non-existent to them.
Two years later, Arthur dies from a slow disease he contracted from prison. It was curable, but he made it his own personal form of punishment and did nothing about it. He died at the age of sixty-eight. Five years after Arthur's death, Kiku dies from a natural death. People knew he could live longer, but his heart couldn't be anymore lonelier. Kiku dies at the age of seventy-three.
The apartment complex will be occupied by a family of five.
Their story is none of our business.
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Now don't go 'eeew, old people' on me. The ending suited the long hiatus that I unfortunately had with this. I'm sorry for that. The original plan was to have them break-up and whatnot, but I didn't have the heart to do it. I just made them old and happy. Ha ha ha.
Thank you for sticking by this story, but I should now move on to another. Please enjoy my future fics. Thank you all for the endearing reviews and support.
Take Care,
SoundsRight