AN: I. Am. Soooo. Sorry. Ack. I've been busy with life and yadda yadda yadda. :/ Here's the next chapter~ Enjoy~
Disclaimer: Hidekaz Himaruya owns Hetalia, not me. I'm just a fan. o3o
Ludwig tapped his fingers against the wheel of his car as he made his way through morning traffic. He had no idea what had happened back at the apartment, and honestly he really rather not think about it. Whenever he did though a hesitant blush would appear and his headache would pound steadily. Scoffing, he turned the corner and finally pulled up to his destination; a small restaurant owned by his cousin, Roderich. He eased out of the car with a sigh and slowly trudged through the door. Inside there were only a few stray costumers, scattered apart from each other and causally eating their food. Ludwig hesitated, trying to deiced which table to sit at when a loud cherry voice broke through his thoughts.
"Ludwig! Is that you? It's been ages!"
Flickering his eyes over to the voice he wasn't surprised to see Roderich's wife, Elizaveta, standing behind a counter top brandishing her usual curly brown hair in a tight pony tail. She waved him over, a cheeky grin plastered on her face as he finally sat down in front of her.
"Hello Elizaveta." He said politely, forcing a smile to replace the grimace that had formed on his lips.
"Good morning to you Ludwig! How have you been?" Her bright green eyes seemed to dance as she quickly finished cooking orders.
"Uh, fine I suppose. Und you?"
"Great! Business has been booming! We've been really busy nowadays." She replied as she finished the final touches to her last order and handed it over coolly to a costumer nearby. She carelessly wiped her hands against her apron and smiled over at Ludwig. "So, are you going to order anything?" Ludwig pursed his lips and quickly glanced over at the menu hanging above him.
"Anything with potatoes is fine." He mumbled, running a tired hand through his hair.
"I should of known." She winked before turning over and yelling into a slightly ajar door leading to the second kitchen.
"Édesem?"* She called out as a healthy blush warmed her face.
"Yes dear?"
"One order of the creamy hash brown crepe!"
"Verstanden wird!"* Roderich replied back quickly, slipping into German without realizing it. Elizaveta smiled softly before turning her attention back to Ludwig.
"So, I hear you and Feliciano are roommates! How is it going?" She laughed quietly as Ludwig flushed out of surprise. He sighed and scratched at his jaw, glaring down at the counter top.
"I-It's going fine." He said bitterly as he watched Elizaveta's face become more and more amused by the second. Luckily, his phone begun to ring and he took advantage of the call. Flashing a small, hasty smile at the girl, he flipped open his phone.
"Hallo?"
"RAUS AUS DEN FEDERN, BRUDER! Are you tired from playing doctor all night or something?"* The obnoxious voice of his brother immediately made his everlasting headache throb all the more. Growling, Ludwig kept his phone a great distance from his ear as he answered.
"For the last time, you've got the wrong idea." He grumbled, nodding his thanks as Elizaveta placed a iced water in front of him. "I...slept in."
"Sure you did." Gilbert chortled, snorting as he did so. "Where are ya anyways?" Before Ludwig could reply, Elizaveta snatched the phone from his hand and pressed it against her ear.
"Gilbert, seriously, you need to learn how to tone it down." She smirked as she heard Gilbert sputtering.
"Y-Yo, Lizzy! It's been a while, ja?"
"Sure it has." She yawned as she looked over her nails, ignoring the looks Ludwig kept giving her. "Didn't you stop by, like , a week ago?"
"Did not."
"Did so"
"Absolutely not! You're crazy women; all women get crazy with age! It's like, holy crap, calm your tits."
Elizaveta rolled her eyes and switched the phone to her left ear.
"Roderich told me that he saw you lurking near the windows last Tuesday...Spying again, are we? Don't you think you're too old for that now?"
"He's lying." Gilbert retorted back after a moment of hesitation.
"Hmm, I don't think so~" She laughed as Gilbert suddenly became silent.
"...Put my bruder back on the phone."
"How about no?"
"Bitch, you want me to come over there and kick your ass?" He snarled, though Elizaveta knew well enough that Gilbert was all talk and no game.
"Oh~ I'm so scared! God, help me!" She taunted, smiling at Roderich as he entered the front of the restaurant, holding a plate overfilling with cheese and little hash browns. Roderich returned the smile, placing the plate in front of his cousin and nodded in greeting.
"Hope it's to your liking, Ludwig." He murmured quietly as to not disturb Elizaveta call. Ludwig nodded back and begun eating, all the while patiently waiting for Elizaveta to return his phone.
"Be there in a couple of minutes." Gilbert finally muttered into the phone. He hung up quickly, not caring for her approval. Elizaveta gaped for a moment before bursting into a fit of gentle giggles.
"He never changes, does he?" Ludwig grunted back, stuffing his face full of the delicious crepe as to not make anymore conversation. He really did like Elizaveta; she had been practically family even before she married his cousin. She just had a certain quality about her that irked Ludwig to no end- something that his brother constantly jabbed him about. The fact that his and Feliciano's relationship was so close. No matter what, every time they'd meet, she'd lightly tease him about it. Even when he first introduced Elizaveta to Feliciano did she start winking at them together or sending coy little smiles every now and then. Ludwig felt his eyebrow twitch at the thought of her unusual behavior and settled for a drink to slow down his thoughts.
"Now, back to Feliciano- what's it like having him as a roommate?" She breathed happily, leaning forward and placing her head into her cupped hands. Ludwig struggled to swallow what ever was left of his water and to get rid of the blush slowly creeping it's way to his face.
"H-He's...alright." He stammered, covering his mouth with a shaking hand. Elizaveta cocked an eyebrow at him and smiled kindly at him.
"Just alright?"
"Well, you know how Feliciano is! He's lazy, messy, and a complete fool when it comes to organization. Yet, he's good at cleaning and cooking, and he knows how to do the laundry, god forbid that he forgets to do it. He keeps me up at night with his nightmares and he leaves the television on too much. Other than that, he's alright as a roommate."
"Oh~ I see~" She giggled again at Ludwig's unimpressed face, only to be interrupted by a loud slam of the door. Gilbert sauntered in, happy for all the attention he was being given and roughly jammed his hands into his pockets.
"Everybody make way! Awesome has just arrived." He grinned widely at the shocked faces before walking over and sitting next to his brother. "Morning bruder!" He laughed as Ludwig glared at him. Elizaveta crossed her arms and scowled at Gilbert as he stole Ludwig's drink and gulped down the remaining liquid.
"Did you have to make such an entrance?" She grumbled as she filled up his own glass quickly, replacing the empty cup he had stolen.
"But of course~" He seethed, giving a eat shit grin before laughing once more. "So, are you going to feed me or what?"
"What is it that you want exactly?"
"Hmm, surprise me!"
"Coming right up, sir." Elizaveta rolled her eyes again as Gilbert continued his laughing, turning over and fetching a frying pan from the back and preparing a batch of eggs for her friend. Meanwhile, already becoming bored, Gilbert leaned back and poked his brother.
"Was?"
"Why exactly were you late today?" Ludwig frowned and sat down his fork against the leftovers of his crepe.
"Feliciano had another nightmare last night and we couldn't get to sleep after it."
"A nightmare?" Gilbert chuckled, raising his eyebrows. " Is that really something he'd get worked up on?"
"Ja. Especially when he keeps having them over and over again."
"What do you mean by that?" Gilbert nearly frowned, resting his elbow against the table and leaning in towards Ludwig.
" I mean he keeps having reoccurring nightmares and they just won't go away." Ludwig grunted out, picking up his fork again and indulging himself into the cheesy goodness once more.
"Huh." Gilbert puckered his lips out. "And they're so bad he can't fall asleep afterwords?"
"Basically."
"What are they even about?" Gilbert pressed on, getting curious and slightly concerned for the Italian. Ludwig furrowed his eyebrows and frowned for the third time that morning.
"I don't know... Feli won't tell me anything."
"Why won't he tell you?" Elizaveta had finished cooking the scrambled eggs and cooking the toast, and managed to catch onto the conversation between the two Germans. Gilbert scoffed loudly and whirled around in his chair to face the girl.
"It's none of your business, women! Hurry up with my breakfast now, ya old hag." Ludwig watched slightly bemused as a nerve in Elizaveta broke. Her face darkened and she held up the still sizzling frying pan as weapon, expertly holding out a plate as to catch the tumbling eggs falling from the pan.
"I swear to god Gil, if you don't stop with these old jokes..." She threatened, her voice wavering with a mixture of anger and promise. Gilbert stared right back at her, not even flinching at the pan she wield.
"They're not jokes, they're cold hard facts. How old are you now? Thirty? Forty even?"
"Te szemét!"* She swore, her fist becoming a patchy white from her gripping onto the handle so hard. Ludwig sighed. He didn't want to cause trouble for his cousin, or to cause damage to his restaurant, even if it was Gilbert making the mess he was always the one who had to clean it up.
"...At least you've got the body and the face of the twenty year old still." Ludwig muttered, keeping his eyes glued to his plate and trying to seem causal about it. There was a strangled silence before Elizaveta's laughter filled the area. She slapped Ludwig's shoulder playfully, with a little bit of too much strength and undid her hair from the ponytail, allow it to cascade beautifully against her shoulders in heavy waves. Ludwig winced at the ache in his soon to be bruised shoulder and finally finished the last bite of his breakfast.
"Well, I think I should be going."
"Aw, so soon?" Elizaveta pouted, her head tilting to the side as her eyes followed Ludwig as he stood up.
"Ja, we should be getting to the shop now, shouldn't we bruder?"
Gilbert looked up from his now empty plate and flashed his usually smirk. "Of course!" He replied and together they left, waving goodbye to his cousin and his wife.
Once outside, Ludwig stretched and yawned, ignore his accustomed routine and permitting himself to relax for once. He looked over at his brother, who was already walking back to his car, burping into his closed hand and laughing at himself.
"...Bruder!" Ludwig called out suddenly. Gilbert twisted around and raised an eyebrow at him.
"What?"
"Who was at the shop when you left?"
"Nobody." Gilbert grinned, turning back around and opening up his car's door.
"...Then who was managing the shop?" Ludwig yelled, bawling up his fists in an attempt to calm himself.
"Like I said, nobody! I just wrote a note saying, 'Be right back, goldfish is drowning.' on the door and hoped for the best." Gilbert seemed to scream with laughter as he started the engine and left the scene, leaving his dumbfounded brother behind for the taking.
AN:
"Édesem?"* = Sweet Heart?
"Verstanden wird!"* = Understood!
"RAUS AUS DEN FEDERN, BRUDER! Are you tired from playing doctor all night or something?"*= RISE AND SHINE, BROTHER!
"Te szemét!"* = You bastard!
Reveiw and tell me what you think? :3
-Thisbey