Ah! I updated! Holy cheese balls. You can thank my awesomely awesome beta Odisdera-kun, for she is the reason that I finally got the inspiration, and will, to work on this. And she really helped me out of my writers block, her ideas are amazing.

Oh, and, as much as I would like it, I do not own the amazing anime/manga/amazingnessss that is Hetalia

Or Barney...

yeah.

Ludwig Beilschmidt seemed to be going through a crisis of sorts in his life. Well, it wasn't exactly his own crisis, another person was shoving his own problems upon him, but his patience was quickly growing thin.

Rearranging the brown shopping bags in his hands he precariously unlocked the front door of his apartment, careful not to drop any of the groceries as he entered. He opted to close the door with his foot so he could hurry and put the bags that were quickly growing heavy on the table -top in the kitchen. Trash and dirty dishes littered the counters and table, making It difficult to maneuver the bags there, several empty bags of chips and other junk food containers falling to the floor as he tried to make room.

Slowly the rage he had been holding in the past few days began to boil up, and the more he thought about it, the more irritated he got.

"I love you~

You love me~

We're a happy fa-mi-ly~"

The familiar song rang throughout the small apartment, the words slightly off tune from the deeper voice that echoed it. Confused, Ludwig walked into the living room to find his brother slouched on the couch, a mostly empty beer bottle in his hand as he loudly sang along to the children's show tune. His hand was swinging in time to the beat as an ugly purple creature danced across the screen. "Gilbert."

"With a great big hug

And a kiss from me to you

Wont you say you love me too~?"

Gilbert took a swig from the bottle after the last line, bringing it up to his eye to look in it when there was none left. "Aw…"

"Gilbert, I swear to god if you do not shut that T.V. off RIGHT NOW-"

The man in question turned at his brothers voice, seemingly unsurprised at his sudden appearance. "-But Luddy! There's a maratho-"

"I will throw it OUT THE WINDOW."

Gilbert hugged the remote defensively, as if that would keep his dear television safe from harm. "NoOoOo! Don't throw Barney away! He can't fly like Miss Etta Kette can!"

Ludwig just stared at his brother for a moment, the last sentence flying over his head. "…I don't even want to know how long you have been watching this junk."

Gilbert opened his mouth to protest, "It's not jun-"

"No, stop. Just, stop. I could stand it for a day or so, but this is absolutely ridiculous." Ludwig gestured to the trash that had collected around the spot where Gilbert was sitting; empty beer bottles and pizza boxes to name a few. "You are going to tell me just what the hell is wrong with you, we are going to sort this out, and then you are going to clean up this mess."

"Then-"

"No," Ludwig pointed at him, glaring, "no Barney. You can watch that back home to your hearts content, but if you even think about pressing that button I will throw you out on your arsch. Got it?"

Gilbert slumped his shoulders and pursed his lips, his arms crossed over his chest. "Fine," he grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Uhg! I got it!" he threw his arms up in defeat, reluctantly surrendering the remote to Ludwig's waiting hand before giving a glare of his own, sticking his tongue out when the blonde turned his back, walking into the kitchen.

"Good, now come here while I put away the groceries. I want you to explain to me just what it is that has you crashing at my place for three days." Ludwig stated as he opened the refrigerator to put up the milk.

Gilbert lazily pulled out a chair, plopping down in it backwards so that he could rest his chin on the back, pausing for a moment as he thought about where to start. "Well, you see, there's this…person…"

"Gilbert, we aren't going to make any progress if you beat around the bush like that."

"…why do you suck?" Gilbert glared at his brothers back before throwing his head back with an exasperated huff, mussing his hair before continuing. "Well…do you remember that one guy? The one I was with at the club the other night? About a week ago?"

"Hmmmm, the young blonde boy?"

"Yeah, him."

"What about him?"

"I, uh, well, I met him at that one liquor store, Booze Palace, the one by my place? Well he works there, and uh, I... kindofgavehimmynumber." Gilbert braced himself for whatever his brother might say.

Ludwig turned, pausing in the grabbing of a bag of pasta, "Hold on, you gave him your number? Wait, were you drunk?"

"…no"

"So are you telling me…?"

"…"

Gilbert lowered his gaze, not wanting to see what kind of expression his brother had at the confession. "You're gay?"

Burying his face in his hands he slouched further into the chair, "Oh, I don't know West! What the fuck is wrong with me? I've never looked at a guy like that, I've never thought about a guy like that, but I just can't get Mattie off my mind! I used to be married for fucks sake, but ever since I met him I have hardly thought about that god damn woman!" Gilbert lightly banged his head against the back of the chair before Ludwig placed a light hand on his shoulder, crouching down to be more at eye level with his brother. He wasn't used to being so…comforting, especially towards his brother. But then again, Gilbert has never acted this way over any person, girl or guy, so he felt the need to help him.

"That can't be the only thing that's been bothering you. Is there something else?"

Gilbert was quiet a moment before answering. "Well, ever since I took him to that club and he stayed the nigh-"

"Wait wait, don't tell me you slept with him already."

"NO. No, god no. I wouldn't do that. He got drunk and passed out at the club, so I took him back to my place, cause I didn't know whether he lived alone or not, but I didn't want to just dump him back at his place. That and I wasn't really sure which apartment was his. I mean, I dropped him off the next day, and everything seemed fine to me. Like seriously, I don't know why he hasn't called me yet or anything."

"Honestly Gilbert, did you not ever stop to think that maybe he isn't the very forward type? Maybe he is just unsure of your feelings towards him. I mean, I know I'm not a real expert in this whole area, Feli was very forward with his feelings from the start, but I also knew him for awhile before we started a relationship. How long have you two been talking?"

"Um…a week and a half maybe?"

Ludwig resisted the urge to face palm. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah? What is that a bad thing?" Gilbert leaned closer to his brother, panic seeping into his voice.

"No, but I mean, what do you even know about him? What does he like, how old is he, what does he do for a living? I know you've already covered some of those bases, but what do you really know? And vise versa. How is he supposed to know that you have feelings for him if you haven't outright said anything? Beating around the bush doesn't work well when you are interested in someone, cause its likely that someone else will sweep in and get him before you do."

"Hey! How would you know if I've hit on him or not?"

"Because if you had hit on him, you would have been over here because of a bruised ego rather than relationship uncertainty."

"…I really loath you sometimes, you know that?"

"Oh I know."

Gilbert got out of his chair with a huff, walking over to the fridge to grab another beer, popping the cap off against the counter when he couldn't see any bottle opener within range. He took a long swig from it before continuing. "Well how the fuck am I supposed to know how it works with guys? All the girls I ever dated were all over me, I never had to make the first move cause they were ten steps ahead in that respect."

Ludwig stood up from his crouch, opting to lean against the table now that Gilbert was moving. "Well, have you ever thought about telling him first? I know you've probably never been one to do something like that, but you know, you've never dated a guy either. Why not tell him how you feel? At least then you will know where you both stand in all of this. Its good to establish that kind of stuff early on, to avoid being put in the friend zone you know?" With that he turned and continued putting away the groceries from earlier, grateful he had thought to put away the cold things already, whilst Gilbert sat in thoughtful silence before walking back out of the kitchen. "Hey, clean up your mess in the living room now!" Ludwig tossed over his shoulder after seeing the trash around him.

The closing of the front door was the only answer to his demand.

-o-o-o-o-

"Far away~

This ship is taking me fa~r away

Far away from my me~mories~

Of the people who care if I live or die"

Mathew Williams elegantly glided across the linoleum flooring of the small kitchen in his apartment, Muse not quite blaring from the small stereo he had seated on the counter so as to not disturb his neighbors, but it was loud enough to have him moving and singing along.

"The sta~rlight

I will be chasing your sta~rlight"

He reached up into the kitchen cabinet, toes pointed before spinning back to the bowl on the opposite counter, bag of flour in hand.

"Until the end of my li~ife

I don't know if its worth it anymore~"

A flourish with his hands and he was off again after measuring and pouring in the flour, grabbing the canister of sugar and pouring the desired amount.

"Ho~ld you In my a~rms"

A dash of cinnamon.

"I just wanted to hold you in my arms"

Cracked the eggs into the forming batter.

"My life

You electrify my li-"

The ringing of his phone startled him, the sound intensified by the stereo it was hooked up to, almost making the milk he had started to pour spill all over. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he hurriedly walked over to it, checking the caller ID before unplugging it from the cord.

Gilbert

His fingers fumbled with the phone, the words his dear friend told him echoing in his mind when his finger hovered over the answer button. 'You gotta play hard to get.' What the hell was Feliks thinking by hard to get? Its not like he hated the albino, and in all honesty he wanted to hear his voice again. But he didn't want to come off as... easy. After a moment he realized the phone was still ringing in his hands, him being off in his thoughts for who knows how long. In a snap decision he decided to answer it, figuring he could just go with the flow; at least he didn't pick up on the first ring.

With hesitant fingers he pressed answer, bringing up the phone to his ear with an unfortunately shaky voice, "H-hey, Gilbert!" Oh god, he sounded so lame. He blamed the still rattled nerves from earlier for the stutter.

"Oh my little birdie, didn't I tell you to call me Gil, King of Awesome? Kesesese~"

Well that was…unexpected. But it is Gilbert we're talking about here, so it seemed pretty normal for his egoistical self. Mathew was quiet a moment before trying to think of a quick, and hopefully clever, comeback for the statement, so he willed his gaping mouth to speak. "O-oh really? I don't think you did." Close enough.

"Oh I didn't? Well, uh, you can call me that now!"

…well at least Mathew wasn't being the only lame one here. He mentally slapped himself before continuing. "So Gilbert- I mean, Gil, King of Awesome," That earned him a snicker from the other line, "why do I deserve this most generous phone call?" He was trying to be bold with his humor, and it seemed to be working because he could hear Gilbert chuckling into the receiver. Maybe he was getting better at this hard to get thing.

"I…I guess I could say that I just wanted to hear your voice, isn't that enough reason to call?

Now that was unexpected…Mathew could feel himself blush from the confession. Oh, is he- is he flirting with me? Not believing what he was thinking he thought some more. What if he is flirting? Then what should I do? Flirt back? But he was the worse at that! Plus, he was supposed to be playing hard to get! What should he do?! What should he do?!

"Hey Birdie, why didn't you call me?" Mathew suddenly stopped mentally freaking out as he processed what Gilbert just said.

Feeling guilty, he replied, "…well you see…I…I guess I was just nervous…" admittedly. Wait, he was supposed to be playing hard to get! Why did I say that? Stupid, stupid! "H-hey Gil! Uh, you were saying something before, what was it?" He said, quickly changing the subject.

He heard Gilberts quiet chuckle before replying, "I just wanted to hear your beautiful voice?"

Mathew blushed furiously. Now he had a beautiful voice? He spoke before thinking, "Well, I guess I couldn't say the same about your voice, it's all gruff." He immediately wanted to eat his words back up, how could he fail so badly at this hard to get thing?

"Haha, well I guess that's true." His reply sounded less enthusiastic than a moment ago. It was weird, like Gilbert had lost some of his ego, he just sounded tired now. Oh no. Gilbert wasn't growing tired of him was he? He certainly hoped not.

Stumbling over words of apology as Mathew tried to make up for his lame comeback, Gilbert started laughing. When Mathew finished his unsuccessfully cool apology, the two fell into a comfortable silence. He began to wonder what Gilbert was doing right then, he didn't really know why Gilbert wasn't being his usual loud self. It was a strange change of mood.

"SO ANYWAYS," scratch that last thought, "WHAT'S MY FAVORITE BIRDIE DOING?" Mathew blushed again, laughing at the energetic change in Gilberts voice.

"Nothing much, just cooking something to eat." The conversation had developed a lighter mood and Mathew found himself smiling as he returned to whisking his forgotten bowl of batter.

"Really?! I'm just walking through a park, it's kind of cold actually. Wouldn't be cold if you were here though." There he went again with the flirting.

Mathew laughed awkwardly, trying to get the heat on his cheeks to go away. "O-oh really?" you think he would be used to the things Gilbert said by now.

"Yeah really, I just told you. Jeeze Mattie do you even listen? Kesesese!"

Mathew rolled his eyes, feeling like he was in high school again; they were acting like such kids.

"So anyways Birdie, Imma just pass out on this bench here, kay?" Mathew was about to laugh again when he suddenly processed the words.

"Wait, WHAT?! Gil?"

"What? It's okay, I'm jus gunna," his speech was punctuated by a yawn, "jus gunna take a little nap. By Birdie~"

"Gil, wait! No-" His protests were met by a dial tone, leaving him gaping at the phone in the middle of his kitchen.

"…he can't be serious can he…?" he stood there for a moment longer, trying to reason that he wouldn't just go and pass out on a bench somewhere, no sane person would.

But then again, this is Gilbert we are talking about.

Quickly he turned, hastily shoving the bowl into the refrigerator before dashing to his front door, grabbing his keys off the small table along with his coat, slipping on a pair of shoes and running out the door into the chilly air outside.

Ah, Booze Palace, my friend is a genius with names I swear. I wonder what she will name her children?

the song is Starlight by Muse

Don't know why I have these here, or whether you care, but some of these made me laugh

Pick up lines that make me think of Gilbert:

Are you going to kiss me or do I have to lie to my diary?

You know how they say skin is the largest organ on the human body? Not in my case

Hey baby, you've got something on your butt: my eyes.

I'm not drunk, I'm just intoxicated by you

When I'm around you I can't think straight

Thanks for tolerating me .-. Love you all