hetalia_kink | Hetalia Kink meme part 15

"That's complete bollocks," Arthur replied, "but I suppose I can't leave you to suffer alone. I'm honourable like that. Also, I'll buy breakfast today so make sure that you dress quickly."

Ludwig, already buttoning up his shirt, glanced over at Arthur, who was still wearing his pyjamas, and laughed.

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In the end, their breakfast came from a street stall, something greasy and salty and delicious. It wasn't the kind of place that he'd ever expected Arthur to want to eat at, thinking that he would find it too indelicate, but he ate the food with relish, seeming to enjoy it as much as he would a meal from the finest restaurant. It left Arthur's hands grease slick and reminded Ludwig that he was all of his people, not just the rakish gentleman that he presented himself as.

Arthur caught him looking and gave him a questioning look, in response to which, Ludwig just shook his head, focusing on his own meal.

They spent much of that day as they had the previous one; holed up in the records room, sifting through papers and pictures for some spark of recognition, some fact that was out of place.

They did that the next day too. And the next. Until Arthur was ready to scream with frustration (and Ludwig knew that there hadn't been bits of flaking plasted and paint in the bathroom of their hotel), and even Ludwig was starting to lose hope.

It was the day after that though, when it happened.

The first photograph was old and sepia tones, crinkled around the edges. It was marked on the back as 'Java - 1876'. It was nothing remarkable. A group of smartly dressed men in front of a grand colonial house. Ludwig would not have given it a second glance if not for something that he'd seen earlier.

He flicked quickly through the stack of other images that he'd set to one side, forcing himself not to rush because then he'd have to go through them all again.

He found it near the bottom of the stack with the more modern photographs and pulled it out, setting the two pictures side by side. This second one was obviously better quality, and marked with 'Rotterdam - 1913' in a different hand to the first.

He held his breath, hardly daring to hope, but when he looked, there it was. Although the first photograph was grainy, it was easy to make out the man in both of them; he was tall with high cheekbones, a pipe clutched between his teeth, and wild hair which stuck up in distinctive spikes.

"Oh," he breathed, looking between them, drinking in the sight.

Arthur looked over at him in concern. "Ludwig, what is it?"

Ludwig swallowed, licking suddenly dry lips and taking one last good look at the photographs before he held them out, offering them to the other Nation.

Arthur looked them over, and Ludwig could see the moment when he realised; it flushed over his face, made his eyes go wide. He looked breathless.

"This is... are you sure?" he asked, giving Ludwig a look that bordered on desperate, wild-eyed and pained.

How long had Arthur been dreaming of this moment?

"I think so," Ludwig replied. "There are names on the backs of the pictures. William De Vries, I think is his name. It's on both of them, and it's the same man. It has to be. And the photographs were taken nearly forty years apart. I can't see how it could be anything else."

Arthur couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the photographs. He reached out to touch one of them, smoothing his thumb over the face of the man, a face which hadn't aged a day between the photographs.

Finally, he looked up and gave Ludwig a watery smile, a strained expression. Ludwig didn't comment on it. "I told you they were all called William."

Man, I think this chapter was longer than some of my completed one-shots XD

Thanks very much for all of the comments you guys have left me ^^ I really appreciate them. I hope I continue to deliver a story that you'll enjoy.

On that matter, I should say that not every instance of them finding a Nation is going to have detailed descriptions of their time poring over old documents ^^; Don't worry, I'm not that cruel, I just wanted to give a feel to this, that they're not just magically stumbling across people, but having to put serious effort into it. Also, it gave me a few good conversation between Arthur and Ludwig, and let me flesh them out a little.

I love writing dialogue, can you tell?

On William. William is a popular name in the Netherlands, especially if you look at how many of his Kings have been called that *grins* So it seemed a natural choice for his human name. De Vries means 'The Frisian', and Friesland is, at this point in time in the story, a Province of the Netherlands, as well as a historical kingdom in the area which can be considered a sort-of forerunner to the Netherlands in some ways. Frisian is also a language spoken alongside Dutch in Friesland.

The comment about Ludwig's old boss is a reference to the fact that at the end of WW1, the Kaizer fled to the Netherlands and was granted asylum. He lived there until his death.

But yes! I hope you enjoyed it and I will try to get another chapter out soon.

reads the update happily!

Thanks author!anon for the long update, I always enjoy long updates, and when they are about Ludwig and Arthur, it is even better, XD.

I think I like it that you go over the details of how they try to start searching in the first case, and you can certainly only briefly mention the process in the subsequent cases, but I love it that you give some details for the first one, ;)

I am very eager to see how their meeting with various nation goes, the first one would be the Netherlands, I guess (unless someone butts in before they manage to find Holland? :D).

The time setting of it makes me worried about Ludwig and Arthur though, how are they gonna survived WWII? And how are their friendship ~~relationship~~ going to survive WWII? I am so dreading the future.

Really looking forward to the next chapter!

Thankyou ^^ I'm glad that you enjoyed this chapter!

There's going to be a little more detail on their search in the next chapter, but not too much. I thought it would work better if there was some kind of method, especially with Ludwig involved XD

WWII is going to be a big part, yes. And I have a few other historical events for them to witness. But there's oooh, nearly 20 years to kill before then.

Thanks for commenting!

I've never read a Germany/England fic before and to tell you the truth I didn't think they would work as a couple. However you manage to do just that. In some way you manage to make them mesh well together in a weird way. I really do love the way you build up Arthur's and Ludwig's relationship with one another. The things they say to each other and the things they purposely don't are in a way comfortable and familiar.

Ever since I read that this part of the their story took place after WWI I've been dreading what would happen to Arthur and Ludwig's relationship once time moves onto WWII. I have to wonder if their new friendship with each other and the other nations they will find will in a way change their roles in the war.

On a side note I've got more questions I need to keep track of now:
I wonder what Ludwig's dream is really about? Where's Gilbert? Is Arthur going to go across the pond and meet Alfred and Matthew?

Hi! I'm glad that you're enjoying it so far and took the time to review ^^

It's really good to hear that you think they work out. They are going to become a couple eventually, but it's going to take a while for them to become close enough. They have a few years of travel ahead of them.

WWII is going to be a big part of the story later on, and I won't lie and say it will be in any way easy for them ^^;

I can't comment on the first two because that would be spoilery, but they're definitely going to take a ship across to meet America and Canada.

Thanks for commenting!

They are going to become a couple eventually, but it's going to take a while for them to become close enough.

Which fits them perfectly, because both of them, when it comes down to it, doesn't open up easily. Stereotypically, they do tend to keep people at arms length, well, I mean the Brits and the Germans, so I think it is natural that Arthur and Ludwig would be, too! :D

I love a slow relationship, seeing how they gradually change is nice, so I will definitely look forward to more.

Oh definitely. They have quite a few years to work through, and they're Nations so they have the luxury of taking their time. Not to mention I think they both want to be certain that they aren't just becoming an item because they've been alone for too long and they're the firts person they've found who won't just die.

I think that was true, yeah. The British certainly had the fewest restrictions fraternising with German women at least. Let's face it, the British Royal family is German (House Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until they changed it to Windsor in 1917 because of WW1), and there is an awful lot of history between the two countries (and Britain and Prussia too).

FFFFFFF... This fill anon! How did I mjanage to miss it for so long?
This, THIS is so well written~
I applaud you Authnon! And stalk this for the next update X3
\It'll be interesting if the pair ever find Prussia, I think~

Thankyou! I'm really glad that you enjoyed it and hope that you continue to do so!

Wow. ♥ Thank you so, so much for this fic, authoranon. England/Germany is such a rarepair in this fandom, but this fic just proves again that quantity can't measure up to quality.

It has my guiltypleasure!pair, great characterisation (especially Germany's wide-eyed-little-kid behaviour in some aspects) and on top of it puts a whole new spin on Hetalia's whole 'personification' idea. I like how the historical setting of course plays a role in how they react to each other first, but that the happiness at having found another 'nation' far outweighs the animosity between their countries.

That's why I second the other anons - and this must be a first for me to say: I'm looking forward to the story reaching WW2 and your take on how it will influence their relationship.

Thankyou! I'm so glad that you're enjoying it ^^

England/Germany is one of those pairings where I'm a bit baffled that it isn't more popular. They have a lot of history together (England and Prussia too), and had a lot of close ties before WW1 as well.

Germany always seems to have his moments of wide-eyed behaviour when I read the strips and watch the anime, and sometimes I like to remind myself that in Nation terms, he's kind of a baby ^^; It might become more evident later on, that Arthur is definitely much more jaded and probably ruthless, just because he's so old.

And yeah, historical events are really going to shape them, especially as we head to the 1930s and WW2, their relationship to each other, and their relationships with other Nations, and other Nations aren't always going to take as easily to things. But for now, Arthur and Ludwig are just considering themselves 2 friends road-tripping XD

Thanks for commenting!

Hetalia Kink meme part 15

Night Like This (2e/?)

Authors Notes

OP

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OP butting in

Author Anon

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Author Anon

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