In A Month

Honestly, Hearth seemed much quieter without Lovino and Antonio.

Arthur was not certain whether he minded the change or not. There were too many other things going on to give the newly married couple more than an occasional thought every other day. Constantly telling Alfred, Maddox, and the ever more appearing Matthew that they must be mistaken, he has not seen Francis near the house was becoming such a hassle. It could easily be solved.

He just needed to stop letting Francis in to his bed.

Alfred was not to be fooled by Arthur's lies, but he figured it was no longer any of his business. Arthur and Francis were ignoring each other whenever they were not shagging each other and Alfred was left with a keen sense that maybe this was not right either. Other then that, however, Arthur seemed occupied and unwound, so there was that to be said for it.

Not that Alfred was not busy himself. People were getting their allergy medications (it went from really rainy to really sunny and suddenly there was pollen everywhere), he had to send for drugs, he and Gilbert and Ludwig were starting up on his house (after Ludwig had finished moving), he had introduced Matthew to Matthias (which was hilarious), he was spending more time with Ivan (not his idea), and the remaining time he had left was spent with Kiku.

He spent a lot of time with Kiku.

And Kiku had come to the realization that Alfred threw as much energy into dating as he did everything else. He was not certain whether he was overwhelmed or enjoying himself. At least, he was not until he realized this was almost the exact same thing they had been doing but with make out sessions seeded throughout.

While he was considering the amount of energy he really had, he said goodbye to Heracles when the man left Gupta's house and went back to the City. Heracles had kept his silence in his situation with Gupta, against Kiku's advice. Then again, it was not his place to advise. Heracles' position was different.

Sadiq was staying in Hearth for longer and Heracles could not afford the same abandon of responsibilities, let alone deal with being in the same vicinity with the man any longer.

It had been a valiant attempt.

Eduard found himself leasing more time to Sadiq as they came to another business agreement. Having to practically barter for it was exhilarating. Eduard might have been slightly out of practice, but in no way was he easy. It amazed him, however, how he could have forgotten how fun actually having to work for a victory was.

Not that he won much with Sadiq. They always had to come to a very easy balance. Which Toris mentioned at one point, noting how easily Eduard became stressed and relaxed. Truth be told, Eduard did not think his brother had any right to talk. Though Feliks appeared to be working the knots out of him. Not that he really wanted all the details on that.

Which was fine, because Toris was not going to give them to him. It was really too embarrassing to admit how easy Feliks was with him. Or how strange it was to be listened to. Not just once, but again and again. When Feliks closed his mouth, that was, which was not something that Toris was bothered by.

He was bothered by the advice Elizaveta was trying to give him on the situation. Not talking about it did not really dissuade her interest in helping out. As much as he tried to tell himself that it was because she was Feliks' friends, he could not shake the feeling that it was really creepy.

Distracting himself with the publication date of his book was not helping either.

"Uvos' new book will be out soon!"

"H-huh?" Toris questioned her. Elizaveta smiled at him weakly (recovering from some illness which kept the inn closed often) and patted at Erin's cheeks.

"He's a writer. Wonderful books, you should read them. Erin even reads them, gets sober for them and everything!"

Brian noted how Toris slunk out after that comment, but as Erin being sober was a 'once in a long while' thing, he ignored it. Ignored it in favour for saving his paycheck for himself for a little longer. He still did not believe there was a medical condition which required so much alcohol consumption to live (at least no one complained about his drinking anymore!), but as Erin seemed to live by it, there was not much he could say.

Still, if there was any time to get a bonus before Roy, it was now. Vash was in a better mood as of late anyway. He needed to get it before Vash lost it.

Vash was loosing it. Maddox was only so distracting. The time the Hong Kong citizen spent in his jail was becoming very interesting. There was no better banter than with someone who could draw similarities with very random things and just keep talking. That was fine.

But the rest of his mind that was not occupied with work was occupied with keeping tabs on Heidi. Natalia did appear to be treating her well and Heidi had not said anything about wanting to be more than friends with the girl. He believed his sister and wanted to believe in Natalia, but he could not shake his worries off.

He was just too suspicious about Natalia. Which her brother seemed to note.

And now that he and Natalia were getting along, Ivan did not want anything to mess this up. Natalia was making friends, Natalia was not stifling him, Natalia was being nice to him and Kat. Ivan wanted it to stay like that. So she was going to continue to be friends with Heidi, whether Vash liked it or not.

Matthew did not seem to understand the entire issue, not that Ivan wanted him to. Matthew did not have a sibling that was insane. He did appear to have Alfred, which he was stuck seeing more often because Matthew asked him to. It was not really how he wanted to spend his time. But Matthew wanted it, and Ivan wanted Matthew to have what he wanted, and Ivan wanted to make this work... whether Alfred was involved or not.

Working to make a relationship balanced was hard.

Plus, if it distracted the both of them from their single parent units, Ivan could only be relieved. Hearing Matthew make quiet and tired comments about Francis was getting very sad.

But Francis did not want to hear Matthew's advice while his son was pretending not to know what was going on. Francis did not want him to know what was going on.

...but hell, if he could only stop himself...

It is all physical. That's right, that's all.

All.

"It does not seem real."

"You're not allowed to complain about being forty, aru," Yao told Arthur. Arthur shook his head. Yao had stopped by to see Maddox and was told he was in jail again. Yao had finally ended all concern whenever he heard that sentence. It had taken a while, yes, but...

"Occasionally I feel like I should say I feel old," Arthur shrugged. "Maybe it is true. A lot has happened, but more often then not... more often then not I don't feel as old as I think I should be."

"That... is a strange thing to say," Yao lied, trying to think of another topic of conversation.

"Fifteen years of being back here and the biggest changes I think I can name are Maddox and Alfred are grown up," Arthur said. "Alfred is grown up. He is a doctor. Successful as one can be in a small town. Yet... I don't feel old. I still feel immature. Hearth does not change too much, does it?"

Yao was inclined to disagree, but he simply shrugged.

And Arthur kept talking.

"I remember when Ludovicus got those dogs! Surprise, surprise! I came back and they were suddenly Ludwig's. Ludovicus had left. They... wait."

"Wait, aru?" Yao questioned, as if he did not know exactly what Arthur was thinking.

"Those three dogs... God, he has had them for thirty years! Dogs don't live thirty years, do they?"

Yao swallowed. I am an idiot. I should have known. I should have driven them out like I did before. Why did I let them stay? Ludovicus should have taken those canines with him... "I don't know, aru."

"I never thought dogs lived so long."

"Dogs taste delicious," Yao decided to mention. Arthur looked at him strangely, then dropped the subject.

It had been enough time, Yao realized. People would know.

...

Liet Uvos' new book was sold out as soon as Yao and Muhammad brought them in. Berwald was in a good mood because of the business. Feliks was shocked that Toris had never read one of them and Toris told him he just was not fond of mysteries.

"Everyone reads this, you will have to, like, read my copy just to know what everyone is talking about!" Feliks waved it in his face.

"'Toni is going to be so upset he missed dis," Gilbert grinned.

"I think he is keeping himself pleasantly enough occupied," Francis shrugged, now being forced to read all of Gilbert's copies of Uvos' books (which were really Ludwig's copies, as Gilbert barely ever bought a book for himself or read a book more than once).

"You're a what?" Alfred was asking, from a spot further ahead in line.

"A genealogist," Matthew repeated, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Isn't zat... somezing vith family history, da?" Ivan asked.

"Yes, eh."

"You should find out how I am related to Yao," Maddox said suddenly, appearing from somewhere behind Alfred and making the three of them jump. "He says he is my brother. I do not believe him."

"Uh... no one believes that. You mean he's serious?" Alfred asked. Maddox cocked his head and thought about it.

"Does Yao... joke?"

The four of them went quiet, Matthew wondering what exactly he was about to be reigned into now.

Meanwhile, at the front of the line, Elizaveta's real purchase was simply being covered up with a book. Tino took it from her and she leaned forward immediately.

"I need a pregnancy test."

Tino froze, then continued to move as if nothing was said, nodding toward her. She fidgeted as she pulled the money out of her purse as Tino hid the tests in a bag with the book.

At the back of the store, at the back of the line, Yao flipped through the pages of the book, eyes scanning all of it, not caring whether he spoiled something for himself.

Which was when he read the word he hated seeing most. Immortality. Yao swallowed nervously.

"Why be bothered? People are fascinated by the myth," Muhammad said in (प्राकृत, a language he had not used in so long), flipping through the copy he took from Yong Soo, the Korean now keening for it. This was not the first book about immortality. It would not be the last either. Muhammad had read many things.

"Why wouldn't they?" Marcus said (in some bastardized version of lătīna)with a grin, glancing over Yao's shoulder at the book. (Funny, he had never thought about how limiting his first language would be now. It was laughable, considering how many other languages stemmed from it.) "It's something they will never have, they can't have."

Sadiq snorted, knowing that the other's were just being asses, but for some reason he easily joined in. "It does not exist, after all," he drawled (in what was now called Eski Anadolu Türkçesi and Sadiq realized that he had no idea what it used to be called anymore, for it had been so long).

"You still take things too personally, Yao," Ludovicus commented (it was in Gewöhnlich and Ludovicus did not know whether any of the others had ever been able to translate it). He doubted this would ever change, Yao had always been this way. He always would. That was all.

What do people really know about immortality? Yao thought, looking at the other four, none of them appearing at all perturbed. Muhammad placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze.

什麼人真的知道嗎?


Notes:

Hell, what did not happen in this story? Well, I suppose no one died.

Someone called it a while ago, but I do not remember. Whoever, whatever the case, there you have it. Now I can give you the ages, crimson-obsidian-rose, as you wanted. I will write them out now that I do not have to worry about writing this.

It appears that I am unable to keep something completely realistic. I apologize for those who wanted a real life portrayal. Then again, Hetalia. Hetalia. What do you expect with characters from HETALIA?

I have an epilogue for you all. It will be up tomorrow.