It was simple

He blacked out.

It wasn't something Ludwig prided himself on; blacking out occasionally and waking up in another place. Sometimes he would wake up in his apartment, his car, and even a foreign bedroom. Each time it happened however, he simply shook his head, rubbed his eyes and went on with life, or snuck out of someone's house if the situation required.

Yes, Ludwig had learned how to deal with these "accidents" very easily. And thankfully nothing horrible happened most of the time. He had never been arrested or beaten up. He didn't think he had ever killed someone.

But this particular incident worried him. Oh, how it worried him.

Ludwig-though he would never admit it- loved women. He loved their smell and their bodies. He loved how breasts felt in his hands, the softness that enveloped him at the most intimate times. Yes-beautiful women-blond, beautiful women. He loved blondes.

So why… Why was there a brunette next to him? Ludwig-lucid or not, never dated or slept with brunettes, let alone short haired girls. Women masculated themselves when they wore their hair short in his opinion. What had changed last night?

Work had been horrible, a man in their office had been caught sleeping with the boss' wife and had been fired. What made matters worse was that, the man she had been caught with was in fact Ludwig's brother. His older brother Gilbert.

Mother and Grandfather had always said "Ludwig, you must watch your brother. He is not smart like you. He does not learn like you. Make sure he eats and drinks water with his beer."

Ludwig essentially had been left with the task of taking care of Gilbert after Mother and Grandfather passed away. And Gilbert-true to their words- never learned, and was not smart. But Ludwig tried… He secured Gilbert a job in the mail room at his work, he paid for Gilbert's groceries and water bill, he even scheduled Gilbert's doctors' appointments.

But now... Now Gilbert was completely dependent on Ludwig; he had no job, and no sense in taking care of himself. After Gilbert's dramatic exit of Hetalia Corporation, Ludwig had been accosted by many a staff members asking what happened and why Gilbert was fired. Too nice to not answer the questions, but too embarrassed to answer truthfully, Ludwig explained that Gilbert had simply angered the boss one too many times.

"Such a shame. " Antonio from communications said.

"Lets protest for his job back!" exclaimed Arthur from contracts.

"Can we get ziti for lunch?" asked Feliciano from the mail room.

After a miserable and embarrassing day, Ludwig dragged himself home-only to find Gilbert on the couch, fingers orange with cheetos dust and using the pay-per-view to watch porn.

"I was evicted." He said simply, continuing to watch the TV with interest.

"What? How? Your last paycheck should have covered up to two months!"

"Oh that? I used that to buy some new awesome games. Can I borrow some money so I can buy you a power strip? There totally isn't enough outlets in here for the both of us. "

Ludwig left the house in a rage. If he stayed home he knew either Gilbert would be dead by the end of the night, or dying with Ludwig calling the ambulance and awaiting arrest. He needed out of there. Away from his idiotic brother, his job, his responsibilities… He was so tired.

Without realizing it, he had driven to a bar. A fairly new place, the neon lights outside shined with big blue letters "Vinci". Women and men dotted the parking lot, taking pictures, laughing, leaving. Insecurity crept up inside Ludwig. This looked like a happening place, not somewhere for a sad man to nurse himself on alcohol. But his fuming anger made him overlook any inhibitions. He wanted a damn drink.

Inside it was muted colors, a light shone over the bar to the left while a scarcely filled dance floor moved in the dark to some new dance song. Two or three people sat at the bar. Ludwig sat himself down at the end and ordered a beer. After a couple of sips he sighed. The strong smell of alcohol soothed his anger and he visibly relaxed. Carefully he created a list in his head, aptly named "How not to kill Gilbert". It was a fairly impressive list of ways not to kill his brother, but did little the solve the issue of a now jobless and utterly hopeless 28 year old Gilbert.

"Ve! Its Ludwig from work! Hi Ludwig from work!" a bouncing figure appeared next to him, inviting themselves to his right, and asking the bartender for some fanciful and womanly cocktail. Feliciano was peculiar, he worked side by side with Gilbert, usually being the one who delivered the mail on the cart. He was an immigrant, just like Ludwig and Gilbert, but his accent was much stronger. Often times his babbling did little to convey what he was actually trying to communicate, and he would simply carry on as if one had any idea what he was talking about.

"H-hello Feliciano." He did a small wave and took another sip of his beer, regarding Feliciano carefully. The Italian smiled warmly at him and swirled his own blue beverage.

"Ve! I didn't know you came to Vinci! When I first saw the name I thought it was an Italian place! But it is not! It's a bar! How strange!" Feliciano continued on like this for several more minutes, Ludwig nodding when needed. Feliciano continued happily, starting a new topic tangent after tangent.

"-Lovino said it wouldn't just fall off! I had to go to a doctor who was Indian! It was so interesting! He used this laser-Ludwig." Suddenly the italian's expression deepened. His brown eyes glistened before blinking. "Ludwig. What is making you sad?"

Ludwig jumped slightly at the question, then composed himself. "What? There is nothing wrong. "

The mysterious blue drink was set down, and his hands were being taken into significantly smaller ones. Feliciano was a petite man. He held them against his chest. "My grandfather always said never to hide your emotions! Crying is so much easier than hiding it! Cry to me Ludwig!"

The passion in Feliciano's eyes was almost laughable, and Ludwig carefully drew his hands away before politely declining the offer.

"After all," Ludwig continued, "We only know each other from work." With that, all the light left Feliciano's eyes. "I see." He said slowly, pushing the drink up to be taken away. "I see Ludwig".

With tears building and nose sniffling, the brunette tore away to the bathroom with one last "I won't forgive you!" before disappearing from sight. Ludwig could only watch mesmerized, What a child, he thought taking another sip."

His memory ended there.

So nothing had changed. Ludwig had gone to bars before, usually someone caught his eye and he waited until they noticed him. After that, it was only a game to see if she would be brazen enough to come over to him. They exchanged some information, either went to their place or a hotel, went with their business, and the other was gone the next morning.

Wherever he was… This was definitely not a hotel, or his apartment. The walls were painted a deep tan, ancient pictures of vineyards and landscapes dotted the walls. By the window on the left, there was a lightly varnished desk equipped with a computer and a portrait. Ludwig squinted at this, trying to make out the figures in the picture.

A woman with rolling curls and deep chocolate eyes, in her arms were too young boys-twins. One scowling, arms crossed, and the other laughing and looking astoundingly like-

Like.

What the hell had he done?

Practically rolling out of bed, he scouted the still slightly dark room for his clothes. Easily he found his underwear and pants, near the cracked door was his shirt, the only thing left was-

Where were his shoes?

The figure in the bed murmured and rolled over, causing him further distress as he raced out of the room and down a foreign hallway and into a grand kitchen. The house was eerily quiet, and Ludwig searched with his eyes for the pair of loafers he had tugged on while hastily escaping his own house. Nothing.

If only he could remember what had happened!

"Shoes, shoes." Was the mantra he chanted as he continued to scout for shoes. Finally lady luck was on his side, and perched near a stained glass doorway were his brown loafers. After putting them on, Ludwig padded his pocket and was relieved to hear the familiar jingle of keys. He was home free. Now just to get to his car-

Oh.

With much dismay, Ludwig pulled back the luxurious curtain from the front window, only to see a lilac Lamborghini sitting daintily in the long bricked driveway. After taking several minutes getting over the fact that there was a $100,000 Lamborghini in the damn driveway, he noticed that nowhere to be seen was his old as dirt blue Chevy Chevet.

"Ve… Ludwig…"

He was going to kill himself.

A/N: Fwah! There you have it! If you would like to see a continuation of this, let me know! If you have any questions about anything or comments you desperately want answered go to theenglishgable. tumblr. com, with no spaces! There you can ask me anything you'd like! :)

Hope to see you soon!