Dear West

Chapter 1:

April, 1970

Stretching, Gilbert couldn't help but yawn as he slung the cloth over his shoulder. After clearing the last table, he got ready to leave. He threw the towel into the sink and washed his hands. Turning off the tap, he grabbed his share of leftovers and headed for the exit. But before he could get out from behind the counters, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Blinking, he turned around to face the person, "oh hey Lars, something wrong?"

Lars was another worker at the café he worked at to put it simply. A tall blond man, originally Dutch, got caught up in the mess after moving to Berlin with his sister. It was a small hidden place where they worked, but the business was usually more than decent. Owned by a mysterious blond man that they rarely saw, all they knew about him was that he had long golden hair, a braid, an indifferent expression on his face at all times and that he was their employer who let them take leftovers home. But whether the man hired them out of pity or not, it didn't matter to either of them; all that mattered was the money and food they received at the end.

The blond shook his head and handed him something behind the counters, hidden from possible prying eyes. They could never be too safe, one wrong move and they could disappear off the face of the earth for good. "For the kiddies, you know. I already have enough for me and Bella, so you can take it," he muttered quietly with an offhanded shrug before heading back out with a tray in his hand to continue his shift.

He looked down to see leftovers and extra food stuffed surprisingly neatly into a paper bag. Lars knew about the children he took in, all five of the boys. It all started when he decided to bring Ludwig to a park around the neighbourhood only to see two other boys playing there. Finding it strange that they'd be there without supervision, he went up to them and asked,

"Hey you are you two brothers?"

The pair stopped, the blond with blue eyes immediately taking a protective position in front of the other. The boys looked at each other for a moment and shook their heads. But then the one with blue eyes grinned to the other, "Well we weren't, but since that guy said it, I wanna now, so let's be brothers! Is that okay, Mattie?"

'Mattie' blinked and nodded his head with a soft smile, "okay, Alf."

Gilbert, still holding onto Ludwig's hand, pursed his lips, "so...where are your parents?"

'Alf' shrugged, "they said they were gonna come back but then that was this morning...Mattie's been here longer."

He raised brow, "what happened to his parents?"

The boys exchanged looks. Holding the boy's hand, 'Mattie' whispered something into the more talkative boy's ear. 'Alf' frowned, "is it okay?" The other boy nodded timidly. The blond pursed his lips and turned to them, "alright, if you're sure...Mattie, his parents never came home and the lady next door told him they got arrested so she brought him out here to play, then, when I found him crying, I tried to help him out but we can't find that lady anymore and he doesn't know how to get home."

Gilbert stared at the two wordlessly. Then, there was a tug at his hand causing him to look down, "what is it, Lui?" But the expression on his brother's face told him everything he needed to know. Nodding, the brothers both held a hand out to the boys, "alright kiddies, hurry up and follow me, I'll take care of you. You've got to keep quiet though, alright?"

The pair exchanged glances before nodding. Quickly taking a hand each, the four made their way back to the apartment.

But that was just the first pair...about a week later, another pair of brunet brothers showed up, then, another blond with thick brows. And now, they were all at home, waiting to be fed.

Humming a light tune to himself, he took the shortcut home. Sometimes, he liked taking a detour and walking on the road right next to the wall just to see the western buildings and the checkpoints where outsiders came and went daily. At those times, he'd wondered just how much better life was on the other side. There wasn't any doubt that it was better than the east, that's all he knew for sure, and with Ludwig and the children nearing the age where they should start their education, he began growing anxious. He'd begun thinking about it for months now, quietly brainstorming different strategies and tactics on how to get them out. And soon, everything, all of the plans he`d thought of would be put to action. If there was one thing he was brilliant at, well that was actually everything since he was just that awesome, but if there was one thing he was super awesome at, it'd be strategizing and other tactical work.

Reaching his apartment and skipping up all those flights of stairs, he finally made it home. Most of the neighbours had fled one time or another, so he never really had to worry about the noise level. Knocking the secret knock they'd made up, the door opened and he stepped in. Almost immediately, the boys began crowding around him with excited chatters about their activities, food, and everything else imaginable. Laughing, he ruffled his brother's hair, "good work, Lui, I see you took care of them just fine." As the kids continued tugging at his clothes for attention, he stood up to fend them off for a moment, "whoa, hold it there, alright, alright! Let's just relax, we'll all take turns, okay? Everyone gets to tell me one thing at a time, Feli, you can start."

Although he tried to avoid it, he couldn't deny that Feliciano and Matthew were his favourites. Feliciano was not only his favourite, but Ludwig's as well, he was pretty sure his brother actually had a crush on the brunet. "Ve, we painted today! And I helped Ludwig with his bunny!"

"Is that so? That sounds pretty awesome," he grinned at his brother whose face visibly reddened, "next?"

Matthew perked up and began excitedly, "w-we-"

But before he could get a second word out, Alfred cut him off, "We had pancakes! And potatoes! And Lovino tried to pick on Mattie but I saved him since I'm a hero!"

Gilbert nodded in approval, "good job, Al."

Lovino immediately protested loudly, "I didn't, you bastard! Don't make stupid stories up, damn it!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Yea you are, stupid jerk!"

"Prove it!"

"You prove it!"

Alfred huffed, "Fine!"

The older brunet frowned, "go on-chigi! What was that for, jerk!"

"Ha, that means you lied!"

"That doesn't mean anything-chigi! Stop it!"

As the children began bickering, Ludwig immediately took the role of mediator and Matthew the peacekeeper, and the pair began separating the two while Gilbert moved over to the table and set everything down. "So what did you do today, stupid Gilbo?"

He raised a brow, "what are you talking about, Petey? I'm not stupid, I'm awesome. Did anything else happen today?" He looked over at the violet eyed boy, "oh yea, you never finished your story. So what happened today, Mattie?"

"W-we were playing," the quiet blond continued his story from earlier now that Lovino and Alfred had been calmed down, "and a guard walked by but we stayed quiet until he left."

Internally frowning, he let out a sigh a relief that they managed to get by again without getting detected. Ruffling the boy's hair and forced out a laugh, "excellent, you all did awesome! As expected of my kiddies!" Despite how not all the boys understood the severity of the situation, they knew enough to realize that they'd be taken away if they were ever discovered. "Anything else?"

"Bruder, a bird came in today," his brother informed him as he took the food out of the bag, he'd been in charge of cooking ever since the elder began his job. It wasn't easy feeding so many people but they managed most of the time.

"A bird? Kesesesese, awesome," quickly running into his room, he untied the letter from the bird's leg and eagerly read it. As of recently, he'd managed to contact a childhood friend through mail once, though with the threat of guards reading it, all he'd written was 'birds would be really awesome'. And luckily, somehow Francis understood and the two began communicating via birds. In most of their letters, they spent them coming up with strategies as to how to get the children out, they were in the final stages and everything was prepared except for the question of who'd go with whom.

Unrolling the letter, he read it over to himself a few times, making sure he read every single word on the little scroll.

"Gilbert,

Here's a list of people willing to work with us and when they'll be crossing the border, just give me the names of which child will go with whom and we'll get started. Here are the pictures of the people working with us, you should know all of them. I found as many diplomats as I could to help us, it'd make everything easier, you know? The first is Berwald, you remember him, non? Tall, Swedish, quiet, scary, a fine behind, and a very cute wife? Anyways, he'll be in East Berlin in June for a conference, I'll give him the details later, but he generally knows what he needs to do.

I've got all the names and information needed to make the documents to get them across, you have to make sure the children know what to do when the times comes. Also, I'll be staying in the French sector of Berlin to make sure everything goes as planned so I'm ready whenever you are.

Ah yes, make sure you save the best child pour moi! If I am to be a papa, I want the sweetest, cutest, and most precious one there is! And describe him to me in great detail so I can fall in love with him now!

Love,
Francis"

Looking over the list, he hesitated at the last two names but shook his head and quickly returned to the living room where the kids were playing. He could feel the adrenaline pumping at the thought of putting his plan into action. June. There were only two months left before they began, he had to get the kiddies ready by then. Clapping his hands together, he grinned, "Alright kiddies, since everyone was so awesome today, who feels like becoming even more awesome like me by learning a new language? I mean I already know quite a few myself so if you want to try to reach my level of awesome-ness, this would be a good way to start."

The children immediately gathered around him eagerly and curiously. He looked around, mentally pairing the kids up with the names from the list. First off was the large, quiet and scary Swedish man. Wordlessly, he studied the children, Matthew and Feliciano would be terrified of the man, Lovino would too actually. So it was down to Alfred and Peter. Unsure of the man's tolerance and patience, he decided that Peter, the less rebellious of the two would be the safer bet, not to mention he was still the youngest and, as much as he liked the kid, was the most likely to give away their secrets simply because of his age.

From beside Feliciano, Ludwig shot him a questioning look but remained quiet as he continued contemplating, double checking his decision.

Scratching his cheek, Gilbert looked around and wondered how he'd get around to teaching all the kiddies different language, "alright, since you're all so eager, let's see here...Lui, I've taught you English before so you're going to have to help me teach it to them, okay? You can teach uh...you can teach Al English, yea, Al," he'd send the boy to Arthur. The blond didn't have taste buds anyways; after all, he called paste and dirt delicious, not to mention Arthur was surprisingly patient when it came to children. He was sure the two would hit it off. "Okay, I guess I'll teach these guys the other ones. Let's start off with you, Petey, you can be my guinea pig! Be prepared to learn Swedish, or what little Swedish I know anyways-oh wait, I don't know any so I guess you'll just be learning English with Al and Lui. Alright, next, Lovi, let's teach you Spanish! Can you say español?"

The eldest boy crossed his arms, "No, why would I, you bastard?"

He blinked, this wasn't going to work as smoothly as he'd hoped, "yea well, I guess that's a good start. I'm sure you'll pick it up in no time anyways!" It made sense to send the boy off to Spain. Antonio's unwavering cheerfulness would definitely keep him oblivious to the boy's foul language and defiant attitude. He nodded to himself, there was no doubt about it, his immaculate logic was beyond awesome.

Ludwig pursed his lips, "Bruder, what about Feliciano and Matthew?"

Crouching down to their height, he grinned at the remaining two, "Feli, you'll probably be fine with just German, you too Lui, and as for you, Mattie, how would you like to learn French?"

The Frenchman would love the boy; he would absolutely love him to bits and pieces and lavish him with attention and great food and toys as well. After all, he did say that he wanted the sweetest boy that he could fall in love with in a fatherly way and Matthew fit that description perfectly. The most docile and peace-loving of all the boys, he was one of the boys he wanted least to part with but Francis would definitely take good care of him with his money and affection, not to mention he couldn't see Matthew turning into a pervert when he grew up, the boy was simply too docile for that.

The blond nodded excitedly, "O-okay!"

Alfred immediately pulled the other boy close in protest, "No, can't Mattie learn English with me?"

"Would you like to learn English as well, Mattie," he asked the boy. And when he received a nod, he shrugged, "that's fine, you can learn both languages if you'd like, you can be awesome like that. Then who knows, you can probably move to that place...Canada? Yea, Canada, they speak both English and French there, interesting, isn't it? Not to mention they have the awesome-est maple syrup there. You know the stuff Lui pours on the pancakes? Ja, that's maple syrup."

Matthew shot him an excited look, his love for the golden syrup clear as day. "Maple syrup comes from Canada?"

Gilbert laughed, "ja, Canada, remember that name, you can go and be awesome there someday." Getting up, he returned to his room, "Perfect, we'll get started in a minute. I'll be right back kiddies."

Once in his room, he sat down at his desk and began writing back.

"Fran,

Okay, I've figured it out. Here's the list. By the way, I'm assigning Mattie to you. You wanted a description? Well he's a good kid, kind of shy, has good taste in food and by that, I mean he likes maple syrup. He likes hugs, doesn't like fights, and he's pretty awesome for a kid. He's pretty excited about learning French too, so that's probably a good sign for you. But one thing, he's got an unrelated brother, Alfred, so you're going to have to set up play dates since those two are practically inseparable which also means you're going to have to face Brows. Anyways, here's the list:

Mr. Big and Tall: Peter

Brows: Alfred

Tonio: Lovino

You: Matthew

The Stupid Ar..."

He paused in his writing at the last two names again. Lightly slapping himself, he shook his head, "snap out of it, Gilbert! This isn't that big of a deal!" Quickly scribbling the last bit down, he rolled up the letter and tied it back to the bird's leg and let it fly away. After it disappeared into the distance, he sighed and returned to the living room.

Now all he could do was wait.

Nya~

Bula! Look, I managed to get internet! I miss having constant access to the internet! I don't really have time left so yea, please tell me if there's anything off and I'll edit it ASAP...or whenever I get internet again. Thank you for reading and reviewing! Love you all lots! And enjoy!