Midnight Paintings and Midnight Pairings


"Why are you taking Italy out with you in the middle of the night?" Germany asked tensely. "Because I had inspiration for my painting and now is the only time I won't be too busy working or sleeping." Leopoldo answered, holding Luciano's wrist tightly. "But why is the middle of the night?" Germany asked. "Luciano wouldn't be able to bear standing around waiting for me to finish it any other time of day." Which was true. Luciano was already starting to sway and stare into space. "And he is very vital to my creativity process!" Leopoldo said enthusiastically, dragging Luciano out the door before Germany could even reply.

After they got to the bell tower, Luciano started staring into space again and Leopoldo started painting on the building. Leopoldo quickly got a ladder hanging over the side and started painting the side of the building. Luciano stared at Leopoldo's hand as he painted the architecture. He held a lantern in front of him so that Leopoldo could see. He didn't even actually see what he was painting until he had finished painting the portrait. At the top of the tower was a painting of a young Italian wearing a blood-red dress next to a young boy dressed in white with gold patterns spotting the lining of his clothing and underneath it faded into a lonely Italian whose dress was flowing with the wind. It looked like the child was struggling to keep from blowing away with the wind. And below it where Leopoldo had been painting, was a grown Italian man and a German man standing together, wind blowing through their clothes and hair.

"What the fuck is that?" Luciano asked, suddenly brought out of his trance.

"It's my edition to my ancestors' painting."

"Why the fuck did you draw Germany and me?"

"Because you two are what inspired me."

"What do you mean?"

Leopoldo sighed. "Do you not see it?"

"Um, no?"

Leopoldo continued shoving his supplies into his bag and finally stood straight in front of Luciano.

"It doesn't matter. It's just my interpretation of the art." Leopoldo answered walking ahead of him. "What the fuck kind of interpretation is that?" Luciano asked. "It's my interpretation, so get over it." Leonardo yawned. When they finally got back to the small wooden house that Lilika and Leopoldo shared at twenty past two, they found a smiling Lilika blabbering on to Luther about a specific Italian that had just come in with Leopoldo and a semi-worried-looking German hanging onto every word she said. "Oh, hallo Italy!" Lilika said cheerily, standing up and coming over to give Luciano a hug. He didn't protest, mostly because he felt like he was going to faint at any given time and partly because he kind of needed a bit of support. His limbs felt like they were falling apart. "What happened?" Lutz asked curiously.

"Nothing. Leo just needed a light so he could paint that damn building in the center of the town." Luciano said, swaying a little. He hadn't gotten any sleep in the past few days and he was feeling like he might collapse at any given moment. "But why not ask Lilika or me?" He asked.

"Because Luciano doesn't sleep. He would actually be able to hold up a light all night without falling asleep on me if need be." Leopoldo answered. Germany knew this, of course. Luciano's brother had already told him this, but he didn't think that anybody would be able to use his restlessness to their advantage. "My ancestors used to paint on the bell tower at night with Luciano when he was younger. That's why they say 'follow the light in the dark to find immortality' a lot here. Finding the light wouldn't lead to immortality. It would lead to an immortal being." Leopoldo explained. "They wouldn't do it during the day because there were other things to do during the day and the only time the immortal child would come out was at night."

"Technically, we aren't immortal. We can still die, but it takes a great deal of effort and chaos in order to kill one of us." Luciano commented. "Potatoe, potato. But anyways, my grandfather told me about how Johann, one of my ancient ancestors, used to see the immortal child during the day accompanied by another immortal child. They would play with some of the other children, but most of the time, they kept to themselves and they seemed more mature than any of the other children their age. But one day both of them disappeared." Leonardo paused for effect. "Years later, the Italian child came back during the night without his friend to accompany him. He said that the fury and rage was evident on his face as he killed all the children in the town." Leonardo had started acting very dramatic at this point, but Luciano just rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Luci didn't kill all the children. He just killed a few." Luciano sighed annoyingly. "So the Italian came through the town every night, where Johann would paint the innocence that had been lost, all the while watching the townsfolk die."

"First of all, most of the parts about the killing and shit is not true whatsoever. And second of all, Johann would never just sit back and watch everyone else die." Luciano said. "Then you tell us what exactly happened." Leopoldo answered with a tiny smirk forming. "I only ever knew him after he had started aging. He was an old man, liked to paint and tell stories. And that's all you just told. A story. True, I did go into the town with another kid and true, I came back during the night a few months later but only because I couldn't go out during the day. Not because I wanted to, just because I couldn't. And the boy that I came to the town with died because of his own stupidity." Luciano answered. "You mean his stupidity that told him not to run from the killer?" Leopoldo answered jokingly. "No, his stupidity that told him to leave me behind. If he hadn't left and gotten in a fight, he never would have died. I didn't kill the bastard and I sure as hell didn't kill anyone who has ever lived in this town." Luciano answered.

"Relax, Luci. It's just a story anyways. It isn't meant to be fully truthful. And Leo's just being an idiot, as per usual." Lilika glared at Leopoldo. "It's not just a story though. It was my life at a point and Leopoldo is telling it all wrong. That's what everyone seems to do. Tell stories. They aren't meant to be true, but it's still an effect of my life." Italy looked down at his hands, placed on the table. Lilika put a hand on his back and leaned down to look him in the eye. "Then tell us the truth behind it. No lies. You're the only one holding yourself back." Lilika said softly.

"W-well, I started coming to this town a long time before I met Johann. The little boy everyone talks about was a friend of mine. Yes, a friend. I don't know what else I would call him. He wasn't exactly my brother, but we lived together with a man and woman who weren't our family either. Hungary and Austria. Miss Hungary was always very nice to us whenever she was around, but she was always taking trips to someplace, she never mentioned where though." He paused and looked around at all the faces. Everyone was once again seated except him. "But one day he asked me if I wanted to leave. He knew I wasn't happy being there, but he never knew why until I showed him that day. He told me he would protect me from harm like as if I was some damsel in distress." His voice sounded a bit sour at this. "I reluctantly agreed with him after a few more encouraging words and we left. We went to the town. We went to the bell tower (he told me that you could see the whole world from there but I didn't believe him). I had always been afraid of almost everything when I was younger. I realized this when we went into town that day. It was pretty ridiculous how many things I was afraid of, but after I had fallen through one of the floor boards in the tower, he asked me what I wanted to do."

His face was a bit shadowed. "Damn bastard was always able to make me happy, even when I was afraid or sad. I hated him for being able to see right through me. He said that he would never leave me, he said he would protect me. But when it came down to it, the bastard couldn't. After years of making a routine of coming to town near sunset after I had finished all the work around the house, he left. He told me he had no choice, that he couldn't protect me otherwise." He wiped his face with his sleeve. "It's not like I needed his damn protection anyways though. That was the point that I stopped coming to town. It wasn't the same if there wasn't someone to go with. And he had left me in pretty bad shape anyways. I couldn't find the ability to eat or sleep or do anything for that matter. I was beat as soon as he had left. There was no one to stop that damn drunk from hurting me, so he did. He beat me day in and day out for not doing everything perfectly. And after a year or so, France suddenly appeared at the household. He had news of the boy's death. I couldn't handle it. The kid I had spent years with, the one who had protected me from the drunk bastard, the one who saved me from myself ended up destroying me. I locked myself for a long time and as soon as I had felt I was fine again and allowed myself to leave, I was beat again. At that point, I realized that I could no longer sleep normally and I started leaving during the night to go to town if only to remember what it was like to feel safe again." Luciano finished.

Lilika actually had tears running down her face, Luciano noticed when he looked at her. Lutz looked serious as ever, staring deep into Italy. He almost felt intimidated by that stare. Leopoldo looked at him with a mix of regret and happiness. Now why the fuck could he feel happy after that awfully depressing story? "Luciano," Lilika spoke up first. And she used his full first name. Wow. That was new. "I think I have a newfound respect for you."

"What? Why would you respect me after what I just told you? I was a complete mess. I was beat and broken. How could you care for someone who can fall down so easily just like that and give them respect for that? I'm weak." Lilika sighed. "Not everything is about failure and success. A true man is someone who could fall so far and still be able to pick themselves up. A true man can admit that they are weak. You may not be able to hold your self, but you can hold pain. You can not only hold all this pain, you can crush it. You made it into something else. You transformed your pain into love and moved forward from it. You pushed through, hoping beyond hope that there was a light and a way. And that is why you are still here, living and thriving today. The only reason you are still weak today is because you refuse to let anyone help you carry the weight of your miseries. A man can carry a few bags of flour around town, but he will only become more tired and weak as he walks, however a man who confides in friends to help him bring the flour is still strong and not nearly as weak and tired as the man who carried it on his own." Lilika said.

Leopoldo chuckled at her metaphor. "That is true, but wouldn't the man who carried them on his own become much stronger?" Leopoldo asked. "I wasn't talking to you, pig swiver." She answered to her brother. "Strong words for such a weak woman." Leopoldo answered with a smirk. "That's not what you said last night." Lilika answered with an even snarkier tone, which evolved into a bout of bickering. While they were busy arguing, Germany and Italy decided to leave go to the guest room that Lutz would be sleeping in (Luciano never slept when he was visiting the twins, so they never prepared a room for him).

"Did Lilika just make a sexual reference to her brother?" Germany asked, confused. "Sí. If you haven't figured it out yet, she's dating her brother." Luciano said bluntly while picking up some clothes and folding them. "You mean she's dating her own blood?" He asked. "Sí. They wanted to get married, but it's not legal here. So they just have to deal with insults and such from people who dislike incest. It's a pity really. They should be allowed to marry whoever they like no matter who it is." Luciano sighed and placed the folded clothes on a dresser. "You think they should be allowed to do whatever makes them happy?" Lutz asked. "Sí. They should at least be able to make themselves happy for feelings that may cause them disrest after death." Luciano answered. "I am a Christian and I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and all that crap, but unlike a lot of other Christians, I don't really follow those rules. They're more like guidelines anyways. But at least I know full well what I'm getting myself into. People should be allowed to sin as long as they know the consequences of their actions." Luther sat on the bed next to Italy.

"What rules have you broken?" Lutz asked curiously. "W-well, there's a lot of rules I have broken. I haven't broken all of them, of course. I haven't committed adultery o-or disrespected my parents since I don't have any parents." Luciano answered vaguely. "Half the things I do on a daily basis could get me a spot in hell for eternity."

"Earlier, Lilika spoke of a Leonardo person. Who was he?" Germany suddenly asked without warning. "I met the guy four hundred fifty years ago. Some painter. He stuck around for some idiotic reason and things happened. Not like that, you pervert!" Luciano hit Germany on the arm when he started making a weird face. "I just kissed him a few times, nothing more. He left, went to France with some other guy, and died like every other human being." Luciano crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So does that mean-" Lutz started before Luciano cut him off. "Sí, sí, sí. It means I'm fucking homosexual. Happy now?" Luciano glared in his direction. "I kind of suspected after I saw the dress in your room though." Lutz answered. Luciano growled at him. "I told you before, I wasn't actually planning to use it." Lutz smirked. "You weren't planning on it, but you still had it for if the need arose."

"Kinky little bitch." Luciano mumbled. "I'm not the one that has a dress on hand and enjoys anal sex." Germany ducked as Luciano lunged at him. "I do fucking not."

Luther laughed to himself a little bit. "Personally, I swing both ways and I am a very kinky bitch. And don't you forget it."

"S-so you don't care that I like men?" Luciano asked. "Not at all. I don't care who you choose to love. It just surprised me about the whole incest thing. Lilika seemed innocent enough." He glanced toward the closed door. "It's not really a matter of innocence. They have pretty much the same amount of innocence as any other married man or woman. They just chose to be with someone that has been close to them all their lives. They know each other like the backs of their own hands so they know they can trust each other." Luciano said quickly.

"Romano is also your twin, right? He looks identical to you with the exception of his hair color." Luciano cringed at that. "Yes, we are twins. Identical, but that idiot put some weird shit in his hair and now it's blonde." Veneziano explained. "That makes sense. You two don't seem very similar personality wise though." Lutz commented. "Sí. He's very over emotional about everything and is just as gay as he looks. I don't really get very emotional easily though and I don't wear clothes that make me look overly gay." Lutz laughed a little at this. "Only on special occasions though, right?" Lutz smirked again.

Luciano gave an annoyed little laugh. "You mention the dress one more time and I will cut you." He smiled innocently.

"Was that Leonardo guy the only guy you kissed or have you had many loves over the centuries?" Luther asked, changing the topic quickly. "I've only ever kissed one other guy before when I was a kid and it wasn't even a real kiss. But otherwise no. It's better to stay away from that kind of love, especially when you can lose that love so easily." Luciano stared at a spot on the wall, reminiscing before Germany startled him out of his thoughts again. "Losing a love can be hard sometimes, but it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."

"But If you never love, you never feel the pain of being rejected or watching those people die." Luciano answered. "But then you would never feel the happiness and relief of knowing you are loved by someone and being able to love them back." Lutz answered. "But that makes the pain even worse when they have to leave you." Luciano answered. Germany paused for a moment and just stared at Luciano. "You know, you are a very depressing little man." He commented before ducking when Luciano swung at him again. "I'm not that little. And I'm not depressing. I'm just pessimistic. I see the little specks in the bottom of the glass that people like you prefer to overlook. I see the good in things, but I also see the bad." Luciano pointed out. "It's not that I'm trying to point out everything that is bad in this world, I'm just pointing out that not everything has a happy ending."

"But anything can have a happy ending. It's a choice to take risks in order to find something better." Lutz answered. "I do take risks. I've tried many times to find happiness, but happiness eludes me." Luciano replied. "Well, just take this moment here. We are just sitting here talking. There's someone here with you. You could be alone in the forest still, but instead you are here. With me, with Lilika and Leopoldo. There are people all around you who want to support you and be there for you when you could have chosen to stay away from me. Stayed alone in that forest. Things could be better, no doubt, but things also could have been worse." Lutz suddenly looked at the wooden clock on the wall and yawned. "It's really late. I should probably get some sleep." He announced. "Are you going to just stay up all night?" He asked.

"Actually, I'm pretty tired. I haven't slept in a few days and I think I've hit the limit." Luciano answered, getting up and stretching. "But seeing as there's really nowhere to sleep, I'm probably just going to have to stay up the rest of the night." Lutz pulled Italy by the waist back onto the bed. "You can sleep here if you want. You seem like you need it more than I do." Luciano looked Lutz in the eye. "N-no, I don't." He tried to stand up again only to be pulled down again by the buff German man. "I can handle myself." Luciano struggled from Luther's grip. "So can I. You need to get as much sleep as you can since you can't get it very often. And besides, I can sleep on anything. You probably can't. So I'm perfectly fine with sleeping on the floor or the couch or something."

Luciano looked up tentatively. "Fine. Just... get the fuck off of me." Lutz let go of Luciano and let him pace around the room for a few minutes before he came back to stand in front of the bed. "N-no. You get to sleep on the damn bed. I've stayed up countless nights. Another one wouldn't matter." He argued. "How about we just share it then if you're so worried about me sleeping elsewhere?" Germany answered. Luciano stared at Germany for a few seconds before nodding in approval and sitting on the bad next to Germany. They both laid down and pulled the covers over themselves, facing away from each other as they slowly drifted to sleep. 

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top