"Here's to you Bruder." Gilbert muttered, taking a swig from the glass clutched in his hands. He was sitting in their favourite bar, in the back, surrounded by empty beer mugs. The sad part being that he'd barely started. The waitress who was bringing his drinks would ask every time, 'Are you okay sir?', but he would always wave her away, and drink away everything.

The only voice that caught his ear was the one that he couldn't believe he was hearing at the front door. "I really doubt he'd be here Toni. Let's just go back."

"Francis, there's no where else he'd go." Out of the corner of his eye, Gilbert could see Antonio pulling on Francis' arm as the Frenchman tried to leave the bar. He would forever blame it on all the alcohol in his system, but Gilbert waved, catching the others' attention.

"Gil! I knew you'd be here!" Antonio cheered, running towards him.

"There's no place like home, right?" He said with a grin, and raised his mug to them both before tipping it back, and emptying it.

"Right! Now, Francis had something he wanted to say to you."

When the blond didn't even open his mouth, Antonio stomped on his foot, and glared at him.

"I'm sorry for blaming you for… for Mathieu. You were trying to help, and I realize now that I would've done the exact same thing."

"R-really Fran? You're serious?"

"Yes. But only under the condition that you pay for all of the drinks we have today."

A grin made its way up Gilbert's face, and he nodded. "There's my Franny! Oi! Let's get some rounds over here for my buds!"

{}}{{}

About four hours later, Francis was half naked, Antonio was singing loudly in Spanish, and Gilbert was talking to rocks as if they were Gilbird, who was still at home. This was still after they'd been kicked out of the bar over an hour ago.

Suddenly, Gilbert's babbling stopped, and he sat up on the bench they were all sprawled across, and stared up at the dark sky, which was thick with clouds that threatened to rain on them. "Remember the time when we went drinking in Canada and we got arrested, and Mattie refused to bail us out for three days?"

Beside him, Francis nodded slowly. "Mon petit Mathieu had such a cruel sense of humour… I, of course, blame that bushy-browed fiend, for raising him in such a crass manner."

"At least he bailed us out eventually." Antonio pointed out. "Lovi flat out refused, and we had to wait for Ludwig."

"That's my Luddy! He would've come for us halfway across the world." Gilbert cackled, and then suddenly stopped smiling, and let himself slide over to lean against Francis. "Aren't we older ones supposed to die first? Teach our little brothers everything they need to know about being real men, and then setting them free?"

None of them really knew what to say to that, so they all continued to stare up at the black sky, until light footfalls caught their attention.

"Gilbert!"

The trio looked up to see Feliciano running towards them in a panic. He was carrying what looked like a jacket in both arms, and breathing heavily, like he'd sprinted the entire way there. Or at least jogged, which was more likely, given his weak constitution. That he was still standing after that alone was a small miracle.

"Gilbert I woke up and you were gone and I didn't know where you were and you left your coat and it's gonna be cold tonight and I was so worried you left me forever!"

"Gil! You left him all alone?" Antonio accused, looking horrified.

"I left a note!" He defended; raising his hands in surrender against the murderous stares his friends were giving him. "On the coffee table, I swear!"

"Ve… but it just said 'going out drinking.' I didn't know where you went at all."

Gilbert gave him the best 'are you serious?' look he could muster without hurting the Italian's feelings. "Obviously. I went drinking. That's where I was, no more info needed."

He was just about to get going, when Feliciano threw his arms around the German's waist, burying his face in the fabric of his shirt. "I thought I'd lost you too!"

Gilbert didn't know what to say to that. The boy had already lost so much; of course he'd be worried about losing more. So what else could he do but wrap his arms around his shoulders, and hold him close until he stopped shaking. "I'm not going anywhere." He murmured.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Pinkie swear." Feliciano demanded, holding out his hand.

The albino complied, ignoring Francis' cooing about how adorable they looked, and smiled warmly at the Italian. "Do you wanna spend the night here? It must get kind of lonely in that big house, and I'd hate to see you panic like this again."

"Ve~! I'd love to! But could you put on the coat? It's getting really cold out, and just looking at you makes me feel cold."

"Ja, ja." He slid the coat over his shoulders, and even bent down so that Feliciano could wrap the scarf he'd also brought around his pale neck. "It's good to talk to you again Franny!" He called to the other two as he left after Feliciano. "See you two around then!"

"We'll all go drinking again soon!" Antonio declared, turning back to Francis, who was now passed out on the bench they'd just been recently occupying. He sighed at the thought of having to take on the task of dragging him back home, and for a moment; it was like old times, where a half-naked, passed-out Francis was the worst of his troubles.

"Sure!" Gilbert shouted back with a wave, not turning around to face them. "So did you have a good nap Feli?"

"Yeah! And I had a really nice dream too!" He chirped, wrapping both of his arms around one of Gilbert's. "You, me, Fratello, and Ludwig were all together in this big open field, and we were having a picnic with lots of pasta, and sausages that didn't taste like death!"

Gilbert could hear the change in tone as the smile faded from the Italian's face as he continued. "And everyone looked so happy. Even Fratello was laughing… I'm sorry for siding with Yao, Gil. I really am."

"Hey. It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself."

"No! It's my fault that Fratello is dead! If I hadn't gotten scared and clung to the stronger power, then Lovino and I could've stood together, and protected each other like we used to!"

They'd stopped walking, and Feliciano was crying again, wiping his eyes as quickly as the tears came as if trying to force them away. "Feli. If you keep staying in the past, you'll miss out on a whole lot of good things to come."

"I don't know what else to do…"

"Think about it this way. You know when I stopped being a country?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Well. I could've been really mad at West. I mean, I was stuck at Russia's place for years, and I couldn't even call myself Prussia, but you know? I was actually really proud of him. That was the first time he'd made a big decision for his country without coming to me for advice. So no matter how many times he tried to apologize afterwards, I just kept on telling him how frickin' proud of him I was. So I'd bet that Lovino is really happy that you were able to make a decision for the good of your country."

"Y-you really think so?"

"I know it. Now. Let's get you to bed. All that running around must've really worn you out."

Instead of answering, Feliciano just yawned, and started leaning against Gilbert as they continued walking.

And as much as Gilbert would've blamed the alcohol in his system later for the feeling, he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit warmer at the contact.

Or maybe that was just the friction of the scarf against his neck… it was really scratchy.

The streets, which had been speckled with people a few hours ago, were now practically empty, which meant less awkward stares for Gilbert to have to deal with. Feliciano's strides were steadily becoming slower, and shorter, and his weight was getting heavy on the albino's arm.

"Feli. Don't fall asleep on me just yet." He muttered, nudging the Italian lightly.

"Mm…" Was the only reply he could get out of Feliciano.

He should've known that carrying him would've been the inevitable outcome of his offer to let the boy stay.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading~!

PruIta? Yes. Yes indeed. I promised cracky pairings at the beginning of this shindig, and I didn't quite feel as if I'd delivered yet. Now I think I'm good. Well… I had one more in mind, but my advisor didn't seem all for it, so I figured going without would be better.

Also, I'm thinking of a rewrite of this sometime in the very distant future. Like, years and years in the future. More action earlier on, and less of this wind down now.

I nearly cried when I realized that I killed the Bad Friends Trio's charges. I didn't even notice, and now I just want to crawl into a hole somewhere… or at least I would if I weren't already there for letting this go this long without an update.

Review, yes?