Chapter Twenty-Five: Butterfly

It was time to return to work after a rather nice two weeks away. So much had happened. Matthew and Alfred were happily together, as well as Kiku and Ludwig. And especially himself and Arthur, Francis thought, smiling to himself as he exited his room to descend the stairs. He saw Sesel dart down the hall in front of him and whistled at her, "How are your girls down at the Good Slash Forever Fangirl Alliance, Sesel my dear?" he asked her in French.

She grinned sheepishly, wondering how Francis knew about these things. "All couples are accounted for, sir. Except for young masters Romano and Vargas…"

Francis thought about it for a minute. He knew about the little Alliance and its ways. Sesel had even told him about the wish for Arthur and him getting together. He had thought nothing of it for a while now, but it was pertinent, now that Francis was happy, that the other couples were happy as well. All seemed well the night of the New Year's Party, which was the last venue Francis had seen everyone in.

"Pity." Mister Bonnefoy replied. "Any more work on getting Master Zwingli with Master Edelstein?" he asked.

"I believe… our North American girls are working on that," Sesel replied.

The Frenchman nodded and made his way down to the door. Sesel followed him like a puppy out in the snow until he turned to her again, "It really is a shame about Feliciano and Lovino. Such good boys, too… You do well to work on their relationship, all right?"

"Yes, Master Bonnefoy…" Sesel replied, quite surprised they were having the conversation at all.

"Also… don't wait with your budding relationship with little Miss Zwingli," Francis told his maidservant, tucking a stray piece of her thick black hair behind her ear. She blushed lightly at the mention of Heidi, but curtsied and then darted off to her room.

Francis left his house to walk down the road to work, whistling a happy tune. He knew that he should feel pensive about his friends, but right now, it was a bright day, and the sun looked so pretty bouncing light off the white snow. He walked into the café, and smiled cheerily as the bell tinkled. It was open, so Ludwig must be around, resolute as usual about being to work earlier than his co-workers.

"Luddy?" Francis called, looking for his cousin.

Ludwig popped his head through the cook's window and gave Francis a look of mourning. "Who died, mon cousin?" Francis asked, pouting his lips playfully.

"My pride," Ludwig replied, coming out of the cook's door to better chat with his French cousin, "and it was double funeral, because my sex life went with it…"

"Did you and Kiku break-up already?" Francis asked, about to pull the 'break-ups are tough, but there are other fish in the sea' speech out of his ass again.

"No."

"Then why are both your pride and sex life dead?" Francis asked.

"Because Kiku is a virgin, and he wishes to stay that way until he's sure I'm 'the One,'" the tall blond replied.

"Ah, mon ami," Francis began, about to cluck his tongue when he thought better of it, as Ludwig was stronger and taller and many other things than the Frenchman was. "Your pride and sex life are merely on life-support then… and, though that might be the case now, Dr. Bonnefoy says that it will get better of you stay positive about it…" Francis replied, pulling himself up on the counter. He swung his legs over the counter and took the more fun way behind it.

Ludwig glanced at him with manly blue eyes and stared at his cousin for a good 30 seconds before shaking his head. Francis laughed, "I don't mean to laugh at you, mon ami, but I can tell your pessimistic mindset doesn't believe me."

"How can I, when I have had this 'pessimistic mindset?'" Ludwig asked.

Francis smiled softly at his relative and sighed, closing his eyes as he thought about it. "A little African birdie who happens to work in my house told me that you and Kiku are the two most adorable things in the world when you are together. And you make each other happy, from what I gathered from Matthew and Feliciano's fangirling."

Ludwig digested this for a good minute, and in the meantime, Francis busied himself with finding his apron and tying it around his rather girlish waist.

"Just because a bunch of girls want me together with Kiku doesn't mean I should let their thoughts win over my better judgment," Ludwig finally said.

Francis stared at him, "Just because Kiku is not ready to be intimate with you, you're thinking of breaking up with him?"

Ludwig blanched, "No! No no no no! I just… it's…"

"Sex isn't everything," Francis replied.

"Seems to have helped you," Ludwig replied, looking his cousin up and down with a hint of a smile on his face.

Francis blushed lightly and shook his head, "Only the once. Otherwise we've had fun in other ways…" he replied.

"Like what?" Ludwig asked.

"Well… we go on dates. We've only been on a few, but they've all been really fun," Francis replied, almost gushing.

Ludwig thought for a minute, "Dates?"

Francis stared at the German man for a minute, "Have you never been on a date before?"

"I have, but they all… ended kind of kinky…" Ludwig confessed, "So I didn't want to go on any with Kiku lest… the relationship end because I do something stupid.

"Mon Dieu…" Francis replied, "If I lived your life, I don't think I could live with myself…"

"Francis, you were the biggest perv at our reunions… what happened?"

"I grew up," was the Frenchman's answer, "I was just covering up for how insecure I was about Arthur…"

Ludwig was silent, "I'm sorry for taking him away from you for a while there…"

"He's with me now," Francis replied, "That's all that matters."

There was a tight silence for a brief moment before Ludwig began to hum something under his breath. Francis listened for a brief moment before he hit his cousin on the upper arm, "Are you humming the opening to Golden Girls?"

"Yes! Remember when we were the Golden Girls in high school? You were Blanche, the slut, of course; Bella was Rose, the dumbass; and I was Dorothy, the smartass. And then Seychelles, of course… she was Sophia…" Ludwig said, getting a faraway look in his sky blue eyes.

"Gilmore Girls is definitely better… and I only pretended to be a slut back then… for reasons I have just confided in you," Francis replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… is this because Arthur watches Gilmore Girls?" Ludwig asked.

"No. Mattie, Feli, and your Kiku are part of Monde's Gilmore Boys, remember?"

"Oh, right. He's Lane, right?"

"So you do watch the show!" Francis said, pointing at Ludwig with an 'aha!' look.

Ludwig put up his hands in defeat, but smiled at his cousin playfully, "So what would that make me?" he asked, "If Alfred is Luke… or Christopher?"

"Alfred is Luke. Since I ship Luke/Lorelei… and so do they," Francis piped.

"All right… and… Lovino? Is Feliciano's… Jesse? Dean? Tristin?" Ludwig asked, raising his eyebrow at Francis.

"I'm still a big fan of Rory and Jesse, actually…" Francis replied, "And Feli will agree with me on that one…" he added, glancing at Ludwig as he sat on a stool in front of where he was supposed to be working.

"What does that make you and Arthur?" Ludwig suddenly asked.

Francis chuckled, "I'm Richard Gilmore, Lorelei-Matthew's father, and Arthur is Emily Gilmore, Lorelei-Matthew's overbearing mother and my adoring wife," he replied. There was another silence. "Don't you wonder which boy you are to your Lane, Luddy?"

Ludwig closed his eyes for a brief moment before he sighed and opened them again, "I guess I have no choice. Curiosity may kill this cat, though…"

"No, Luddy… Curiosity will only make you bloat a little and give you those little maiden cramps that only make you feel like it's killing you," Francis replied. "You, my dear cousin, can either be the man who impregnates Lane, and so her mother pulls you together to take care of the baby, but, do you really love the mother of your child? Or, you can be the perfect boyfriend from Season 2. You might not have stayed together, but at least you two were really in love. And if some outside allies of yours had their way… you would stay together and not mess up the one happiness in your life…"

Ludwig seemed to chew and swallow this speech, tasting ever aspect of it until he looked his cousin in the eye and said, "All right. I'll be the perfect boyfriend and… and wait until he is ready…"

"And you'll stop despairing over you ego and sex life? You can stroke your ego in other ways. As for your sex life… well, you can stroke yourself, if it helps…" Francis replied, winking slightly at the taller man.

Ludwig glared at Francis and flicked him behind the ear, making the Frenchman laugh. He calmed down some, smiling at his cousin before the bell tinkled again, and Feliciano came in the door, followed by his 'mother,' 'mom's boyfriend,' and 'Her Majesty a.k.a grandma.'

Oh my god... It's 2:30 in the morning and I have a need to finish this thing. There must be something wrong with me.

Oh look... Francis and 'Luddy' having a heart-to-heart. And I recently got into the sitcom Golden Girls so I'm sorry if that reference is off... I added more Gilmore Girls references, if that helps. Can;t you just see Francis as Blanche though? If you don't know what I'm talking about, go get your friends to throw buckets at your head. And if you don't know that reference, go live in a freezer.

Please review. I get so lonely writing my candlelight when there is no letters to warm my heart.