Where Thou Art, That Is Home (Hetalia Fanfic, Part 2)

Chapter 102~!

La la la... Dream land, dozing, everything is so ni--

"Carlyyy! Get uuup!"

"N--! Noooo..." I groaned, yanking the blankets up over my head and curling into a little ball.

"Come on, Carly, you said you wanted to get back into your old routine!" Gil reminded me in a chipper voice. I felt him grab the blankets and pull them down a bit to expose part of my face. "That means get up and go for a run before too many people are awake."

"D'n wannaaaa..." I mumbled, squeezing my eyes shut and burying my face into the pillows that smelled like my fiancé.

"Nu-uh-uh. Come on," he said, rubbing my shoulder with one hand as he tried to lift part of me out of bed. "I'll go with you, it'll be fun!"

"Uuuuugh," I moaned, going limp as he got his arms around me and lifted. "Leggooooo..."

"You're never gonna stay in shape if you lie in bed all day, babe," Gilbert pointed out as he braced himself with his legs against the edge of the mattress so he could pull me up more.

"I don't wanna get up, Gil," I stated (finally coherently) as I tried to pry his arms from around my middle. "I like the bed..."

"Uh-huh, so do I," he agreed with a chuckle, "but you've gotta get up now."

~

"Brrr," I shuddered, hugging myself to retain at least some warmth. I could see my breath in the dim light of the early, early morning. The city was already becoming lightly active as cars and trucks drove around and the crazy early morning pedestrians emerged from their homes.

Still, in the pure evil of such an hour, Central Park was still pretty cool. And the stars were nice to look at, too.

"Okay, you ready to run?" Gilbert asked me, his silvery-white hair shining prettily under the light of a streetlamp. "You'll get warm if you keep moving."

"Agh, okay," I gave in, starting at a slow jog. Gil kept pace easily with me, once or twice bumping shoulders with me to get me to smile.

"How long are we going to run?" I asked.

"Today, twenty minutes," he replied, shooting me a cheeky grin before taking off. "Race you!"

"What? Hey!" I yelped, chasing after him.

He tagged a lamppost and grinned as I touched the pole a second and a half after he did. I was breathing harder than he was, which wasn't much.

"Well then..." I said with a well-placed eye roll.

"Haha~ See? You're gonna get back to your old self in no time," he assured me.

"Sure, I'm sure I'll get back to normal in no time," I concurred, accepting the brief hug he gave me.

Okay, so I did like being around Gilbert. He was really nice, kind of cheeky, and very fun. I didn't see Ludwig much the night before, but when I did see him I was struck with an odd sense of nostalgia. I couldn't quite place the memory, but it was like a quiet nagging in the back of my mind.

'What is it...?'

It didn't feel like an everyday memory. It wasn't just a "Hey, I know you" sort of thing, either. Like... I actually couldn't even place the vague notion in my head. Huh...

 How strange...

Honestly, the same went for Gilbert. It was like I met him and knew him before... Of course, that was easily explained. I had dated him, fallen in love with him, and been proposed to by him. And I knew Ludwig because I knew Gilbert, duh.