Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia: Axis Powers or Black Mirror. All rights go to their creators.

Chapter 9: Screen

Lovino was on public transport yet again, making his way to Antonio's vinyl-sided townhouse. He knew that if Antonio was home, Francis would be there too. The modulated voice of a woman called his stop; he was relieved not to be squished in between two burley men anymore. It was the afternoon rush, workers were getting off of their lunch break to go back to the office.

Lovino walked up to Antonio's doorstep, ringing the doorbell. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and was relieved to be standing under an awning. It was a rather sunny day, and he didn't like the sun in his eyes.

The door opened, and he met cobalt eyes. Francis's eyebrows raised upon seeing him.

"Bonjour Lovi, what a surprise. I didn't know Antonio was expecting company."

Francis opened the door fully, and Lovino pushed past him to step inside.

Further back in the kitchen Antonio had sour cream on his nose, and was wearing an apron.

"Lovi! I'm so glad to see you. It was on such short notice, but you know I always make time for you!" Antonio turned to the sink quickly to wash his hands.

Lovino made his way past the couch to the counter top that was connected to a type of window into the kitchen. It was like the kind you would see in a restaurant.

"Antonio, you could have mentioned to me that you would be having company over." Francis said, having closed the door and walking over to them.

Antonio had made his way to Lovino and was wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug, "I'm making tortilla de patatas. ¡Tu favorito!" Lovino did notice the bowl of freshly peeled potatoes sitting in the sink.

"You didn't have to make a special dish for me, idiota." Lovino muttered, as Antonio let go of him. He felt a little bad because he was only here to ask Francis for something. Lovino swiped the sour cream off of Antonio's nose.

"Of course I did Lovi! You've been having money troubles, no? You look thin." To which Antonio patted his stomach, Lovino swatted away his hands. Antonio giggled.

Lovino felt eyes on him, Francis.

Fuck him, now he's jealous? Antonio probably told him about his crush.

He shifted his gaze to the blond. And he did look a bit pissed off because Antonio was ignoring him.

"Hey, go make the food, huh? I've gotta ask Frenchie something, ok?" Lovino pushed Antonio back into the kitchen.

"Ok Lovi! You two be nice!" Antonio gave Lovino a sunny grin.

Francis had an eyebrow raised and a hand on his hip.

"I need your help ok?"

Francis turned from him swiftly and sat down on the couch. He regarded him with a cheshire cat grin. He patted the space next to him and Lovino reluctantly sat on the farthest edge he could.

"What could you possibly need from moi?"

"I just need you to pretend you're doing a story. I want to ask this woman some questions–"

Francis's smirk was even wider, his eyes took on a lustful shine to them.

"Is this some kind of pickup practice I've never heard of before? Truly you don't have to lie this much to talk to this girl, non?"

Lovino groaned, "It's not like that, damnit! She was in this study that I'm curious about."

Francis looked into Lovino's eyes, studying him. He held up his fingers to do quotations.

"I know you're not in that 'True Crime' rabbit hole, nor are you writing a paper. So what's the real reason you're how you say, 'jumping through hoops'?"

"I can't be curious! Damn why do you think it's anything more than that?" Lovino crossed his arms and averted his gaze as Francis picked up a glass of wine to sip from.

Antonio had just placed one down for Lovino with a wink before going back into the kitchen.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with this friend of yours, you're traveling across the pond to meet, non?"

Lovino took a sip from his own glass, as Francis's gaze burned the side of his face.

"Are you going to help me or not? You're a photographer, or journalist or whatever. Don't you have a passion for finding out the truth?"

"I am more curious as to what you are trying to find out, mon ami. So, oui, I will help you." Francis gave him a nod.

"All I need is your list of questions and of course the information of the woman we are interviewing. You can pretend to work the camera, leave the rest to moi."

Lovino gave Francis the woman's number. He told him the study was about the origins of the Iggy Two app. Francis said that it was convenient it was in his area of experience.

They were now sitting around Antonio's round wooden table, himself and Francis on either side of Antonio. Antonio finished cooking, and Lovino stayed to eat. He kind of missed eating Antonio's food, the man was a good cook, and it beat making his own dinner sometimes.

"Mi hermano, Jaõ, lives in London. Do you want me to ask him if he could take you sightseeing?" Antonio spoke up.

"You have a brother?"

Antonio nodded vigorously, "Sí he went over there for University before we met. He's been living there ever since."

"How come you never mentioned him before?"

Antonio shrugged, although there was something in his gaze that told him that there was some estranged history between them.

Lovino didn't press because he wasn't a nosy asshole.

"Sure, go ahead. I don't want to be in stupid business meetings all the time with nothing to do. I don't have to pay him, do I?"

"I don't think so." Antonio said before he muttered, "But I wouldn't put it past Jaõ to ask for it."

The atmosphere was a bit grim as they settled into uncomfortable silence while they ate. Lovino even thought his swallowing was too loud.

"So Lovino, what is this business trip about?" Francis asked, breaking the silence, Antonio perked up again at the question.

"I don't know, that Honda guy wants to show off a few androids he made. He thinks it'll be the next step from the Iggy Two app, but it's like not what they asked for." Lovino shrugged, "Feli designed some clothes or whatever. I heard they're bankrupt so they have to try anything."

Lovino spooned some food into his mouth then.

"So sex bots, that's what they're going for." Francis said, giving a nod.

Lovino coughed a bit, scrambling to grab wine to wash it down. Antonio patted Lovino's back and soon he wasn't choking anymore.

"No! What? How is that what you took from that?"

"Why else would they be trying to make robots? I've also heard they were too slow to make paywall roleplay. As it is now, they're very behind."

"What about servants? Like you know, a house butler?" Antonio spoke up, pointing his fork at Francis.

"But can't you argue that's part of role play too, maids, servants, masters."

Antonio let out a hum, "Or I just really want to come home to a cooked meal and clean sheets."

"I'll do your laundry, mon amour." Francis let out a chuckle.

"Are you going to dress up while you do it?"

There was a look shared between them then and Lovino felt like he wanted to throw up.

He hastily stood up, "I think I'll get going."

"Really? Already? Stay please! I was going to put on a movie!" Antonio looked up at him with puppy dog eyes and a pout on his lips.

"If Lovino wants to go, don't force him, Toni."

Francis laid a hand on the other man's arm, gaze heavy with lust. Antonio stood up and took Lovino's plate.

"Please." Antonio with his big green eyes, kind of made him feel like a jerk. He'd really been kind of terrible to him, and he seemed to be trying to make amends for something he had no control over. It wasn't Antonio's fault that he didn't reciprocate his feelings.

So he sighed and reluctantly gave in. "Fine. Let's watch a dumb movie. Then I'm going home, alright?"

Antonio nodded, a sunny grin back on his face.

There was something different between Francis and Antonio, something less carnal than he was used to. He'd assumed that they would be sucking face the entire movie, but they were both watching just as he was. Lovino thought the movie was for children, a remake of an old classic fairy tale he's sure his mother read to him and Feli when they were bambinos, but it had some pretty dark moments. And Lovino felt a sense of warmth he hadn't felt in a while. A sense of familiarity.

Antonio sent him on his way with some leftover churros, because he knew how much Lovino liked them, when the movie was over.

When Antonio pulled him into another hug as he was leaving, Lovino muttered quietly, "Grazie."

Antonio furrowed his eyebrows, "¿Por que?"

"For u-uh everything…tonight."

"Of course Lovi! You're welcome to come back whenever you want! And if you need anything, call me, ok?" Antonio said, patting him on the back.

Francis hugged him too, "A little forewarning is nice. But it was good as always to see you, Lovi."

"You better stay with him this time." Lovino muttered through grit teeth. Francis let out a laugh, and let him go.

After leaving, Lovino breathed out a huge sigh when he got back into the subway, waiting for the next train home.

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Lovino found himself right outside of Vladimir's apartment complex. The man said he lived in apartment number 102. Lovino pressed the button on the intercom. He asked for 102 and told Vladimir he was outside.

"Ok, I'll be down shortly." Came Vladimir's cheery reply.

Soon enough the man was hopping down the steps and to the black gate to open it for him.

"I hope the train ride over wasn't too bad for you."

Lovino rolled his eyes, "It is how it is." There was a bounce in Vladimir's step and Lovino wondered if he was always this…enthusiastic.

"Well I made some sweets for us to share, if that's ok."

"That's fine by me." Lovino said, and Vladimir led him inside, they walked down a hallway to his apartment door.

Vladimir's apartment was dark and gothic in decoration. It fit him, red throw pillows, black leather couch, red sheer curtains for his canopy bed. Vladimir lived in a Studio apartment, so he could see everything except the bathroom. The man was clean, so it wasn't like he needed to be embarrassed or anything. But it did mean he probably couldn't move in with him.

"Go, take a seat on the couch. I made tea if that's ok."

"You drink tea?"

"I thought it would go well with the cookies."

Lovino flopped down onto Vladimir's couch, bouncing a bit on the seat. Vladimir had a platter of butter cookies that had a dip in the middle for some jam. He set them on the coffee table in front of Lovino.

"What kind of cookies are these?"

"Thumbprints." Vladimir grinned, "I used my thumb to make the hole for the jam."

Lovino picked up one as Vladimir went to get their cups of tea. It was pretty good, he let out a hum after taking a bite.

When Vladimir returned, he got on his knees opposite him at the table. Vladimir slid a box that Lovino didn't notice before to the center.

Lovino grabbed his tea cup and held out his pinky. Good practice for when he met Real Arthur and he could show the bastard he had good manners. He'd be so impressed by Lovino that he wouldn't shut the door in his face immediately upon seeing him.

Vladimir started shuffling a deck of black cards with some strange symbols on them. Lovino sipped his tea as he watched the man's slender fingers work. He noticed Vladimir was wearing black nail polish as well. Then he set them down; his ruby red eyes flickered up to meet Lovino's own.

"So, what would you like to know?"

Fuck. This was really only a lie to talk to Vladimir in private.

Lovino blew a breath out of his nose. He set his cup down with a quiet clink.

"I kind of lied. I really just asked about your superstitious shit because I wanted to ask if I could stay with you…" Lovino avoided the man's gaze, "But I know it's a longshot cause you live in a studio."

"You need a place to stay? I wouldn't mind housing you for a few days if that's what you need. Is there something going on with your brother?"Lovino saw the little crinkle in Vladimir's brow, he looked concerned.

"N-no it's nothing bad. Feli's moving out and I don't think I can afford my apartment by myself. So, I'm trying to find another place to stay."

Vladimir frowned, "Kind of a terrible move to spring this on you so suddenly. Your lease is up in a few months isn't it?"

"He didn't just tell me…" Lovino felt blush burn his ears as Vladimir gaped at him.

"Lovino! Why didn't you tell me? I would have moved in with you if you asked me earlier."

"What?"

Vladimir's gaze dropped down as he wrung his hands together, "I know we don't talk much, but we've been coworkers for almost a decade now. I-I've always said if you needed anything you could ask me."

"I thought you meant like work stuff. Or you were just being fake, like you know when Alfred says we're a family or some shit." Lovino furrowed his eyebrows.

Vladimir looked back at him, a hurt expression on his face.

Lovino turned his gaze away from him toward Vladimir's kitchen, "Cause, why would you do that for me?"

"You look like you're always having a tough time. I just wanted to make it easier for you."

Lovino furrowed his eyebrows, "Well I'm not Feliciano so Iife doesn't give me fucking handouts. I'm not no damn charity case." He met the other man's gaze.

Vladimir shook his head, "No, no. I just want to help because I like you, and you're a good person."

"Where'd you pull that from, your ass?" To which Vladimir chuckled.

"Berwald liked you the best. You did a lot of talking for him, and we both know how off-putting he can be sometimes."

"I wouldn't say that. I mean his accent was thick and people were being fucking annoying about it, anyone could have done that."

When Lovino first started working he tried to be pleasant to the customers, but as time went on, it was hard to fake pleasantries. But he wasn't going to let people be dicks to his boss.

"Very true, but they didn't. I was in the bakery a lot so I didn't hear much of the commotion, but I've always admired your loyalty to those you respect." Vladimir grinned at him again.

Lovino felt his entire face warm with blush. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He blinked, taking a moment to breathe.

"So, it's too late?"

Vladimir rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm afraid so." He gave Lovino a grimace. "But I think Berwald might be willing to rent out a room in his house for you if you ask."

"I don't know…" Lovino said.

"Come on! Ask him! It won't hurt to ask him!" Vladimir reached across the table to squeeze Lovino's fingers.

"Fine! Fine. Don't get all excited." He hastily pulled his hands away.

Lovino stayed a bit longer, eating cookies and sipping tea as Vladimir told him about his favorite Transylvanian supernatural folklore. And an anecdote from one time when Vladimir tried to drink blood from a blood drive in secondary school.

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A week or so later Lovino had texted Francis his questions, having thought them up like ten minutes before Francis said he needed them. Francis told him the day and time and sent over the woman's address.

Lovino was shaking, jittery in a way he'd never been before, as he was standing behind the camera, pretending to record video as Francis hooked some kind of "lav mic" speaker thing to the woman's clothes. They were all in her living room, she had some indoor plants pushed by the window, to get a bit of sun.

He'd introduced himself as Francis's working partner, typically a cameraman. The Vietnamese woman looked to be a strict no nonsense type, and Lovino wondered if she could see through their bullshit or if it was just Lovino's nerves.

Francis sat across from her in a chair before he turned back to give Lovino a wink. Lovino pressed the button to start the camera.

"Miss Nguyen, could you start by introducing yourself?" Francis asked her.

The woman glanced at the camera briefly before turning her gaze to Francis.

She let out a breath, lightly picking at the worm fabric of her arm chair. "My name is Liên Kim Nguyễn. I go around and clean houses, and I immigrated to this country twenty years ago."

"Merci. Would you mind telling us about the study you were a part of?"

"Yes, I was in that study for that app people won't shut up about. I don't see why it's so special now."

"The name, if you would kindly give it to us, please."

"U-uh…" she paused for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows, "Igloo something. U-uh you know it's Japanese…Igirisu?"

Francis looked to Lovino who raised an eyebrow, "Iggy Two?"

"Yes! That's it! I'm not so good with names anymore."

"Do you know how many other people participated in the study with you?"

"About 40 I think. A mix of ages, mostly young people, but I wasn't the only one who was older."

"Did you talk to any of the people in the study, do you know any by name?"

The woman shook her head, "Besides that Kiku Honda guy, the one giving it, no. I don't remember the names, but there was talk of him being involved with one of the participants. Highly unprofessional, but Honda was young then, and you know young people can't control themselves…" She glanced at Lovino and muttered, "No offense."

Lovino pressed his lips into a hard line, Arthur would have mentioned that if it were true right? But when did he ever tell Lovino his business anyway. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

Francis chuckled, "Well that's interesting."

"It was hearsay between some of the other younger women. I had no time for such childish things. I wanted my paycheck, $75 was on the higher end."

Lovino stalked over and showed her the picture he had of Arthur. "Does he look familiar to you?"

The woman looked, squinting her eyes, before a grimace found its way on her face, "He does." She looked up at Lovino, "It's not any of my business and it's not yours either. But I'd rather keep it off the record if you want more details."

Francis got up and turned off the audio recorder, unclipping the microphone.

He gave Lovino a hard look and Lovino swallowed a lump in his throat. He motioned to the camera, and Lovino rushed over to turn it off.

"This stays between us. I don't want any trouble for myself or my family." Liên said.

Francis nodded and Lovino grabbed a chair that had been pushed aside to sit upon.

"I heard that once the study was over, they had that kid coming back. It was really hush, hush. And I think it had to do with his affair with Honda."

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About 10 years ago

Liên Kim Nguyễn had been in this shit hole of a country for almost a decade at this point. "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" was what they kept telling her, but here she was scrubbing an elderly woman's toilet, while her oldest was watching her two other children at home.

But she realized that if it wasn't going to be instantly better for her, it would be better for her children. Her oldest daughter Hien was in college, commuting there and back home. Hien said college campuses hold a lot of studies and it earns a bit of extra money. But it was quite limited as most studies featured only young college age students.

Liên decided to apply for one she saw in a newspaper, something that would occupy her time but not interrupt her home care duties.

A tech company wanted to test their AI robots they made for compatibility. It was the only study that was happening late enough that she won't miss cleaning her regulars.

And so she stood in a room with about 40 other people, having walked to what was said to be the Lionessolutions Headquarters. She had to go up an elevator to the 3rd floor to get to this waiting area.

She could have counted on a single hand the number of East Asians in the room, even less being of any ethnicity other than white. They had been evenly split, 20 males, 20 females. Her daughter was right, 5 of them looked to be older than 30, not including herself.

A few minutes later they were shuffled into a room and given numbers to hang around their necks. She was number 32 and found herself next to a young blonde woman who was squawking and squealing with whoever was number 33. And she found herself next to number 31, a young man, whose hair was green, and had piercings, and eyeliner, and generally who she hoped her younger children wouldn't grow up to be.

They were called one by one, and things were quiet between herself and Number 31, until he decided to speak. Numbers 1-30 had been called. "I assure you, you've never seen me before."

Liên had been confused, of course not, she didn't even know his name.

"You were staring, maybe you thought we crossed paths before?"

Was he being polite or a haughty little bastard?

"You obviously want attention with all of that you are wearing. Isn't it out of style anyway?"

The young man had then frowned, an ugly look on his face, casting dark shadows under his eyes. But then he let out a breath, his features evening out.

"It is mostly an image. I am indeed a singer."

Liên had felt a small twitch in her lips at the absurdity, a singer?

The young man had narrowed his eyes at her, "I know what you're thinking, and I am going through a bit of a rough patch…but the greats always start out at the bottom, do they not?"

"Let me know when you come back down to Earth with the rest of us." She had said and then he was called in.

When it was her turn, Liên had squinted at the bright lights and sterile white walls of the room. Over an intercom she was instructed to sign a few forms that were available on a desk. She had skimmed through them, some kind of liability forms companies like to give in case something goes wrong. Liên had signed her name, and an Asian man who introduced himself as Kiku Honda, gathered her forms. He had presented her with a set of headphones with a microphone attached and then brought her into a separate room where the other participants sat at computers. He motioned for her to sit down in front of a desktop computer.

Honda had instructed her to turn on the computer and put on the headphones, which had a little microphone attachment as well. Then he had left the room.

She was then fed instructions, she was to interact with these 5 chatbots with romantic or platonic intent. After chatting with them all she would answer a short survey about her experience.

Liên had been skeptical, only giving out short answers, typing into the little chat box. She was given 10 minutes with each bot. But she couldn't find anything different about any of them, they were all bots.

At the end they were told they would come back every day except for weekends, for a month.

Two weeks in and it became clear something was off. There were whispers between Honda and a large man with platinum blond hair. Some people were noticeably missing from their group, and it wasn't Liên's business but she had noticed there were some heated glances between Honda and the young man she'd been placed next to: Number 31, their numbers being the same each time probably for efficient data collection.

And although that wasn't enough to really say anything, there was talk while they were waiting to be called,something about bathroom breaks that were too long. They were forced to go before so as to not "contaminate" the data in week 3. But it wasn't Liên's business if that was the real reason or not, it was easier to ignore gossip. More people had been taken from the study.

And at the end, Liên held her crisp white envelope. She hoped that she'd helped, given an older input through her answers, maybe skewed them down a little if they would add that to the bot. The bots were noticeably blank, bland and unenthused, what were they supposed to gain from their interactions? It tried to pry into Liên's life but she only gave it a little information.

She met Number 31's gaze, oddly silent and noticeably envelope-less, as they stood in the elevator on their way down to the first floor. He had what looked like an instrument case slung over his shoulder.

"They said I'd be called back. I could earn even more." He had said, having looked away from her.

"Because you're his favorite?"

His cheeks were noticeably pink, and Liên had probably shown visible disdain in her expression. He hadn't said anything else. They had been the last two to leave at that particular time.

"Can't be a singer without a scandal." Liên had muttered.

The elevator door dinged, and opened. They had stepped out. She had heard a small sound, maybe a chuckle, leave his lips and with that they went their separate ways.

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Francis thanked Liên for the information, and he took her picture. They would be using the first part of the interview, and Francis would call her if he needed more information, all bullshit of course. They got into Francis's car, and he offered to drive Lovino home.

Lovino felt like throwing up and strangling Arthur at the same time, but kept his expression neutral by digging his nails into his palms.

But that was 10 years ago. How old does that make Real Arthur, 33? It was possible the little bot only has memories from up until that specific time in his life, and Kiku could have taken this little detail out, but it didn't make him any less pissed.

They had history and baggage. Lovino wasn't sure if he wanted to get in the middle of that, that would be such an awkward conversation. But now it made sense why they wanted to silence any mention of the blond.

Francis grinned a Cheshire cat grin at him, as he pulled in front of Lovino's apartment. "Well I hope you found what you were looking for mon ami."

"Bye Francis." Lovino threw open the car door. Francis blew kisses at Lovino before telling him goodbye as well and driving off, leaving Lovino alone with more to stress over before this stupid business trip.

A/N: I'm not well versed in writing Vietnam as a character, I hope that I did ok.

Thank you for reading! Constructive criticism welcome.