Epilogue

Berwald blearily opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling while attempting to remember just what happened last night.

He hesitantly sat up, sighing in relief upon realizing that he didn't have a massive hangover, just a minuscule one. That meant that he had only gotten a little tipsy.

The first thing he saw while looking around was Timo cuddling several bottles of vodka, a huge smile on his face. Wishing that he was surprised that the Finn was unconsciously doing that, he turned his eyes to the two brothers cuddling on the couch. The Swede's eyes widened as he saw an extremely rare sight.

Lukas was smiling as he hugged his younger brother. An actual, real, smile. And he thought he could see Eiríkur smiling too, but he couldn't be sure since the Icelander's face was mostly buried in the Norwegian's chest.

Tearing his eyes away from the adorable sight and wishing that he owned a camera because the other two wouldn't believe him, he finally noticed that a certain Dane was missing. He was concerned for a moment before remembering the dares Lukas had given him. Sighing at both Lukas for having a horrible sadistic streak and Mikkel for being stupid enough to sit next to him, he went into his brother's room and grabbed a random shirt and pair of pants before heading outside, making sure to open and close it as silently as possible because he really didn't want to deal with Lukas and Eiríkur's need for caffeine this morning.

As he suspected, there was a ladder propped up against the wall and loud moaning coming from the roof. Berwald sighed and climbed up the ladder to find the Dane still dressed in drag after Lukas' second-to-last dare. He took a moment to wonder why Mikkel hadn't ripped it off the moment he got outside then remembered that he'd just be in underwear if he did. Standing over his (for some reason known only to whatever higher being there was) older brother, Berwald looked down before nudging him with his foot, causing the Dane to groan before rolling up and blinking up at him.

"Oh... Hej, bror..." Mikkel slurred. "What's going on? Why is it so bright?"

"'Cause you were an idiot and sat next to Lukas," Berwald stated, throwing the clothes he had gotten at him. "Get out of that dress."

"Dude, didn't know you were into incest," Mikkel muttered as he stripped down to his boxers, ignoring the frosty glare the Swede gave him.

Just after he had pulled on the shirt, they heard something crash in the kitchen and someone yell some... interesting words in Icelandic, followed by some equally interesting Finnish and Norwegian.

"...I'm going to stay out here for now," Mikkel stated. Berwald nodded in agreement.

They sat on the edge of the roof in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say. While they had agreed to try and get along and act like siblings again, they both knew that it wouldn't be simple, no matter how much they wanted it to be.

Finally, Mikkel asked, "You doing anything in the next couple of months?"

"Why?"

"Well... before Gil was... you know... dragged away..."

Berwald winced a bit. He may never have been the closest to the eldest Germanic- that would be Mikkel and Ludwig- but he still hated that memory.

"...Well... he asked me to look after Ludwig. He wanted to make sure he was going to be okay, you know?"

"Is he okay?"

"Nope," the Dane said glumly. "I'm worried about him. Heck, Vash was visibly worried about him."

The Swede muttered something under his breath. If the ever neutral nation actually showed emotion... Things were far worse than he had thought. "Can I come with you next time you visit?"

Mikkel looked relieved. "I was hoping you'd agree," he said. "When do you want to?"

Berwald shrugged. "Anytime."

"How about we go when we get back to Bergen? We'll hopefully find a ship heading back to my place and we can pick up my car and go."

"'Kay."

"Great!" Mikkel yelled. "This'll be great! Well, not seeing Luddy all depressed and stuff. I mean, I want to punch all of the allies at times. Well, not America- he actually seems to want to help him, and maybe not China, 'cause I think he didn't have anything to do with him, but England and France..."

Berwald watched the Dane ramble and wondered what he had volunteered for. Going on a road trip with the excitable Dane? It would be a miracle if he was able to keep himself from killing his brother.

Then again... he would have to spend time with him if he wanted to fix their relationship. Might as well start now.

"To be honest, I was not expecting anything to come out of this," Lukas remarked as he and Eiríkur watched Mikkel, Berwald, and Timo drag their things out of their rooms, cups of coffee in their hands.

"I'm happy things did, though!" Mikkel said. "Though I'm not happy about those dares you gave me yesterday. Why are you so mean to me?"

Eiríkur rolled his eyes. "He's mean to everyone," he pointed out.

"He's nice to you!"

"That would be because he is my younger brother," Lukas said, sipping his coffee. "You do not have that excuse."

"But I'm the oldest!"

"Physically. Mentally you are younger than a fetus."

"What's a fetus?"

The Norwegian sighed and muttered, "Go look it up."

"Anyway, this was fun!" Timo cut in, beaming. "Let's do it again sometime! Wanna meet at my place for Christmas?"

Mikkel shook his head. "I have plans," he said glumly. He perked up a bit as another thought came to him. "I'll be back by New Years, though! Wanna meet at my- one of your guy's places then?"

"That'd be great! Ber, Lukas, one of you guys want to host? It'd be easier for him to get to your land than mine or Icy's."

Eiríkur groaned in aggravation. "Quit calling me that!"

"My house is getting renovated," Berwald muttered.

Lukas sighed. "Fine. But get arrested again and I am banning you from the Olympic Games."

"We'll be good!" Mikkel assured him. "Anyway... I guess this is goodbye."

Surprisingly, Lukas shook his head and quietly said, "For nå. Men... vi vil være sammen igjen snart. Jeg lover dere."

It took a moment for them to translate what he said, but they all smiled and tackled the Norwegian in a hug, causing protests from both the Norwegian and his younger brother that had been unfortunate enough to get dragged into it.

All of them were smiling, though, happy they were on the way to being a family again.

Translations:

For nå. Men... vi vil være sammen igjen snart. Jeg lover dere. (Norwegian) - For now. But... we will be together again soon. I promise you (guys).

I can't believe I managed to finish this... At times it felt like I wouldn't...

Anyway, for those of you that were wondering what Lukas dared Mikkel to do: It started with Mikkel (shockingly) playing it safe and picking it truth. Three rounds, several bottles of beer, and massive embarrassment later, he picked dare. Long story short, he ended up in drag and was dared to sleep outside and not freeze to death. You decide if Lukas was drunk or if he was just being sadistic when he did that.

Anyway, the sequel involving Mikkel, Berwald, and Ludwig's issues and an annoyed Switzerland will be titled Bewegung Auf, or Moving On. Please tell me if I got that translation wrong.

Anyway, Takk for leser! (Thank you for reading!)