This is it.

Waking up in a warm bed, someone next to you, had never appealed to Arthur; He hadn't considered himself to be a romantic kind of person, or had denied it, and had thought of it as one of the overrated things newly-weds babble about and think so highly of even if it means nothing. It seemed tacky to him.

But having to wake up next to Francis, body warm and close, felt good. It felt great. It felt safe.

Safe things were important.

Sheets tangled around them, fingers laced together, Francis' hair uncharacteristically messy, his T-shirt that was revealing his stomach, the sweet silence that didn't break; After a long time, Arthur felt safe and happy.

"I'm sorry."

It was the first thing Arthur said after coming back home and seeing Lydia, tired after a long night. She stared him, completely flat yet eyes storming the same time, and Arthur sighed.

"I was really stupid. I got angry when I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have taken a joint in the first place. I'm sorry."

She didn't answer, she just looked at him. Arthur felt his stomach twist; Had he gone too far? He fidgeted, wondering if he should say something else. But finally, Lydia closed her eyes, exhaling softly, and walked to Arthur, wrapping her arms around him.

"You are stupid", she said, a faint laugh in her voice, "and I'm sorry too."

Arthur hugged her back, feeling how the dark feeling in his chest was being eaten away.

Arthur's mother might not have been a angel, but for sure she hadn't been the devil either.

Their family had been in situations Arthur would rather forget; too many times had they been broke, too many times had she stolen to feed her children, too many times had she crossed the lines of law, too many times has she disappeared, too many times had they been homeless.

But she had never let them go to the darkest of oblivion.

When they didn't have money, she stole food, and they had never been close to starvation. When she had to choose between her family and the law, she chose family. When she disappeared, she always came back to them. And when they were homeless, she never, ever let them live on the street; She always remembered someone who was short on a favour and made sure they found a roof on top of them.

She hadn't been the best of mothers, but she hadn't let her children down completely either.

For children, the name of the God is Mother; But when that is the only thing you can rely on, the safety that comes from standard stability feels like paradise.

Arthur wished she could've shared the paradise with them.

The children were asleep already. Arthur and Lydia were watching some old detective show episode from Germany, savouring the silence. Arthur had a hard time keeping his eyes open, but he knew that right after the show would end he'd not feel tired at all, so he decided to keep on watching, even if he couldn't even remember the plot.

"Arthur?" Lydia's voice broke the silence, and Arthur turned to face her.

"Yeah?"

She bit her lip.

"Are you happy?"

He looked at her, thinking for a while. Last time Lydia had asked, he had said he was running away from happiness. But were things like that anymore?

He sighed. "I'm getting there."

She smiled. "Have you talked with Francis?"

He laughed, shrugging. "I guess so."

"You guess so?"

"Yeah, we've talked", Arthur rushed, a slight blush creeping on his cheeks. Lydia smiled even more widely, and Arthur tossed a pillow at her.

"You're a perv!" he laughed. She hummed, revealing her white teeth.

"I didn't say anything", she pointed out, and Arthur stuck out his tongue. Lydia didn't tease him anymore, but smiled like a fucking annoying bastard.

Eventually episode ended, and Lydia went off to bed. Arthur, however, headed outside, to the usual place, and sat on the cool stone floor of the patio, eyes fixated on the window next door. There was a faint light of the night stand lamp, but it was enough to reveal the shadow that moved in the room, and when the light suddenly flicked off, Arthur couldn't help but smile a little bit.

A few minutes later Francis climbed over the fence, smiling smugly.

"Can't go one day without me?"

"How you know I'm not here just for a smoke?"

"Because you don't have a cigarette with you."

"Maybe I smoked it already, and now I'm enjoying the smell."

"There's no smell here. You're here for me", Francis smiled, and sat down next to Arthur. The other blonde shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, maybe the smell is gone, so I can leave now, you know."

"Shut it. You're being an arse again."

"One knows another-"

Arthur was cut off by a soft kiss that was placed to the corner of his lips, making him blush.

"Oi, no surprise kisses!"

"Why not?"

"They're annoying."

Francis rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'm going to kiss you now", he said, and before Arthur could say anything Francis was kissing him again, lips soft against Arthur's. He made a small noise of protest, but didn't do a thing to stop Francis; Instead he returned the kiss, a slight smile rising on his face. Eventually Francis broke the kiss, a smug smirk on his face. Arthur frowned.

"What?" he spat. Francis chuckled.

"Nothing, I just kissed you."

"That makes you smirk like that? A boring life you must have lived."

"Not at all, but I kissed you. There's a special spice in that", Francis said. Arthur blushed and turned his gaze away. "Special spice up your arse, I say", he muttered.

"Would you like to find out?"

Arthur hit the Frenchman on shoulder.

"So Rodbert didn't last", Mathias sighed, looking at Gilbert and Roderich, the quarreling ex-couple. Ever since their break-up they had been arguing about everything.

"Rodbert sounds stupid anyway", Arthur muttered, not really interested in the conversation but contributed anyway.

"Better than GilRod", Mathias stated and lied down on the grass. Francis exhaled heavily.

"Love is a quirky thing", he mused, a dreamy look on his face. Arthur scoffed.

"At least with those. I bet Elisaveta had something to do with their break up", Mathias said. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"For fucks sake, how could she have contributed to this? She was euphoric when they got together!"

"Ah, but those three are always having some drama! I mean, Gilbert had a crush on Liz, but then she began to date Roddy. During LizRod Gil was really jealous, and when they broke up everyone was convinced Gil would make a move on Liz. But instead, he went to Roderich!" Mathias explained, excitement in his eyes. Francis facepalmed.

"Mathias, stop it-"

"Don't interrupt me! Now, if there is any logic in this, next thing will be Lizbert, and after that they realise they are meant to be together, all three of them, and we'll have LizRodbert!" Mathias exlaimed, smiling widely. Arthur sighed.

"You're an idiot", he hissed. Mathias pouted.

"Hey, I finally accepted the coupling thing in the group. And if there's any logic in it, there should always be three couples! That's the rule!"

Arthur glanced Francis, meeting his blue eyes. A slight blush rose on their cheeks. Mathias noticed this, and even if he isn't the sharpest pen in the pencil case, he was smart enough to understand.

"Hey", he said, "you two are shagging!"

Arthur is a very quick person.

And it's a hilarious sight when Mathias rolls on the ground in pain holding his lower regions, uttering Danish nonsense.

Even if "LizGil" was to happen, it would take a while, because Elisaveta was far too happy to notice anyone besides Francis and Arthur; Her dreams had been fulfilled, and she had found paradise.

Arthur was a gentleman, and he did not hit girls, even if his fist would've been thrilled to meet Elisaveta's head.

"So you never smoked the joint", Willem said, voice low. Arthur shook his head.

"Had to dispose it. Sorry. Would've returned it if I could've."

Willem shrugged.

"I have plenty in stock. Don't worry about it. You owe me one, though."

"I know."

"Did it help?" Willem asked, glancing Arthur. He laughed, not bothering to answer the question. Something that resembles a smile flashed on Willem's face, and he leaned back, taking a joint from his pocket and placing it between his lips.

"Told you it would", he said, and Arthur swore he could hear a hint of smugness in that voice.

Trust is something Arthur has always been looking for, but never quite found it. He had to trust in his mother, he didn't have a choice, and eventually even that little trust he had wilted and died. He trusted in Lydia to a certain point, knowing it to be better that she didn't know everything, and that she was just a beginner, not really knowing what to do when five children are suddenly shoved at her and she's told to take care of them. He trusted in his siblings, but they were just children, and they could not bring him the safety he had always desired.

The only person he could trust in had been himself; It had been always like that, and then, with no warning, some blonde poofbag Frenchie appears and flips his world, making him loose the one thing he has always relied on, himself.

Something lost, something gained; Now Arthur trusted in himself on a whole new level, and trusted in another person, with no hard feelings. He could rely on Francis.

There was no rush, there was nothing else behind their actions; It wasn't like the times in the school bathroom when Arthur had been comforting a sort-of-friend, it wasn't like the time when he had been drunk and that one person had been nice enough. It was genuine, something beautiful and pleasuring, something they both wanted because of the connection, because it was them, and not because they had to be cheered up or something.

Francis' lips brushed his collarbone, placing soft, fragile kisses here and there. His naked form seemed to glow in the dim room, the trained muscles being drawn by shadows. Arthur traced his spine, memorizing the curves. Francis adjusted himself better in Arthur's lap, brushing himself against Arthur's, eliciting a breathy moan from both of them.

The blue eyes found Arthur's green, strong and determined.

"Ready?" Francis asked, voice low and husky. Arthur grinned.

"No need to ask."

Alfred makes a shitty tree.

Not that Arthur would tell that to him, of course.

Matthew's and Alfred's school play, Red Riding Hood, was quite ridiculous, at least for their family. The twins were assigned to play trees, and while Matthew managed to complete his task rather well, standing still and quiet, Alfred was less successful, constantly whispering to his twin, fidgeting and wawing to Arthur the others. Sydney and Jett were quite proud of their big brothers, though it bothered Sydney that Matthew didn't pay any attention to them.

"It's just because his in characted", Arthur explained, and Sydney nodded, though it looked like she didn't understand what it meant. Nevertheless, she accepted the explanation, and followed the course of the play, or Alfred, whichever was more interesting.

Probably Alfred. Trees that make funny faces are rather interesting.

There's still that one cigarette Arthur has incase of a bad day.

The TV was on again, another one of those German detective shows going on, and Lydia and Arthur were following it lazily, debating whether they should take a nap or just go sleep. They hadn't said much during the show, either because it was so mesmerising or they were simply too tired.

Arthur bit his lip, a slight hint of a smile on his face.

"Hey Lydia", he said, arousing her attention.

"Yeah?"

"I'm happy."

It's done. That was the end. All I can say is, wow. I've never written anything this long and this fast; Whopping 36000 words in eight months! It was fun to write this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. I can't thank you enough for following, favouriting and reviewing (and bearing with the shiptease).

My intention was to make a fic that should be read twice to understand it fully. The things that happened in this AU but never made into the actual fic are important (or not, some are just silly), and I'll list the things here so you can go like "OH...OH."

-Lovino has a crush on Emilie (Monaco), who is Francis' younger sister. Francis and Lovino don't get along that well, so Lovino never had the guts to tell Emilie how he felt. That's why he became ladies man.

-Tino is slightly homophobic, because another guy who he thought of as a friend was crushing on him (You can guess who) and he didn't return his feelings. Tino's games made the other guy think Tino might have a thing for him, too. They're no longer friends.

-Willem is very protective of his sister, and Manon knows this. It irritates her, and she does everything she can to piss him off. Dating Antonio annoys Willem very much, because the Spaniard is too touchy-feely and oblivious.

-Gilbert and Mathias once got drunk together and ended up jacking each other off. This case was bound to be forgotten, but it ended up with Gilbert exploring his sexuality and Mathias becoming a pervert.

-Arthur's mother died in the shooting, but it wasn't accidental. She felt bad because of what she had done, and decided it would be better for all of them if she was dead. Before this she wrote a letter to her children, but it was never found out.

Also, here's a list of the songs that inspired the titles:

Claws in my brain - The Vibrators

Come as you are - Nirvana

When the evening comes - The Undead

Ignorance is bliss - The Ramones

A different kind of tension - Buzzcocks

Secrets - The Runaways

Punishment fits the crime - The Ramones

Have you ever seen the rain - The Ramones

Every day I die a little - The Vibrators

No one is innocent - Die Toten Hosen feat. Ronnie Biggs

GoodBye Garageland - Die Toten Hosen

I guess that's it. Thank you for reading!