From the diary of Griselda Vargas-Beilschmidt

54

The next time I wake up, it's actually morning. The noises are long gone, and Gabriel is still peacefully sleeping next to me, still clutching Fred's shirt, but without the person.

"Guten Morgen, Gris!" I hear behind me.

"Guten Morgen, Freddy!" I say back. Fred smiles, and continues with what he was doing. He's rummaging through a bag.

"What are you *yawn* doing?" I ask as I stretch.

"Looking for a new shirt. The old one is sacrificed to Gabriel," he points at him.

"Oh, I get it," I nod. What I've learned from my life with him is that he has a grip when he wants to. Even while asleep. He'll just hold the thing tight and you have to tickle him or something to make him let it go.

"Wait, wait, I'll help." I tickle Gabi's side, so he flinches, rolls over and lets the shirt go.

"Wow, Vielen Dank!" he grins.

"Nichts zu danken," I smile. "Where are Ash and-"

"George? Oh, no idea. I just woke up. Probably belowdeck, having breakfast." Riiight. They were having something else yesterday night.

Do I tell Fred what happened? Or do I let him figure out?

"Ew, Gabriel drooled all over it," Fred says, playing disgusted, showing a wet spot at the front of the shirt. "I'm never letting him live this down," he grins.

The Spaniard, apparently sensing the drama (he can do that just as well as Uncle Romano), snores, blinks a few times and sits up in the bed, rubbing his eyes and cursing under his breath at the sun. Classic morning routine.

"Guten Morgen, Gabi!"

"It's too early to speak Kartoffelsalad." That's literally the only word in german he knows. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he knows something, but potato salad? Really?

Wow. "Rude," I retort as I punch his arm and twist it.

"Fred, be a good friend and help me," he whines, because I've got his arm twisted.

"Nah, bro, you drooled all over my shirt," he declines amusedly. "I'm not raising a finger for you anymore."

Gabriel frowns, but makes a comeback.

"Yeah, right, isn't that what George said when you spilled beer all over his vest?"

"But I didn't drool on it." Now Gabe's mad.

"Sh-Shut the hell up, you maple bastard!"

"Damn right I am."

"Too early for this shit," Gabriel huffs and stands. "I've had wild dreams all night and now this..." As you can see, when Gabe's grumpy he swears more than usual.

"Really? What were they about?" I ask. He hesitates for a second, then shrugs, but turns his face away. "Nothing much. Crazy stuff." Right. Gabi, I've known you all my life. I can tell pretty well when you're lying. But I didn't pry. He wouldn't have told me anyway. He'll tell me later, if he feels like it to. Maybe he never will. And that's okay.

After we changed we headed down for breakfast. And there, against a wall, are the two other personifications, sleeping, Ashleigh's head is on George's shoulder, his arm around her. But that's not the weirdest thing.

Both of them wearing the other's shirt is.

And while Ashleigh has the black shirt which is too big for her and falls off her shoulder and it looks cute, George in her top is plain hilarious. Si, it's the pink top with the pineapple. It's too small for him and stretches over his chest. He seems content, though.

The three of us stare at the scene, all with different expressions. I'm not surprised after yesterday, Gabi looks confused and sheepish, and Fred looks lost, dumbfounded.

Well, if your cousin and your best friend got together, you'd look like Fred too. Wait...

Gabriel finally breaks the silence and snaps a picture with a grin.

"This goes right in the chat. And to America, England and France. Especially America," he reveales his plans. "Well, whenever I get connection."

The two of us smile while poor Fred still gapes at the pair.

"Should I-" I'm about to ask, but Fred beats me to it.

"WACH AUF!" he screams into George's ear. The couple wakes up, startled. Ash is rubbing her eyes, George holds a hand at his chest.

"Could you not give me a heart attack, please?! Why did you even do that?!"

Fred shrugs. "Maybe because you have my cousin's shirt?" George looks down. His eyes widen and his mouth opens to protest, but he knows he can't. He's been caught. Ashleigh, meanwhile, realizes the same and laughs.

"Aw, Georgie, you look really handsome like this! And your shirt is comfortable!"

Gabriel gags. I think it's cute. (The way Ashleigh spoke, not the way he gagged.)

Papa and Vati also did this shirt exchange once. Only once, because Vati's clothes were way too big for Papa and Papa's were too tight for Vati's muscles. Then I tried both, and both were too big for me, Papa's shirt looked like a dress on me. Uncle Japan's kimono fitted me a bit better, but it was also big, I dragged half of it on the floor.

Me and Gabe actually have several photos in which we're wearing clothes of the other. It's all from when we were toddlers, and our dads thought it was cute. I did rock Gabi's striped shirt. He, however, doesen't look too happy to be wearing a dress. He's looking adorable, though. The ribbons in his hair make it a million percent better. Uncle Spain always laughs at how good of an idea this was. Gabe doesen't think so.

"Explanation?" Fred demands in a hard voice not to be argued with.

"Umm, we-" George begins.

"We're together!" Ashleigh chimes in happily. Fred raises an eyebrow above his hard crimson (a new word George taught me!) glare.

"I can see that."

"No, like, together together. Like dating!" she explains, blushing. George is equally blushing as she says that. Fred is not amused.

"Are you... actually serious?"

"Duh," his cousin that's not me replies. Fred sits down, no longer intimidating the couple. He stares at the floor. I sit beside him, taking his hand. He's not looking at anyone, his eyes softened and he just looks like he needs a moment.

When he doesen't make a sound for about a minute, Ashleigh frowns.

"Shit," she turns to her boyfriend "I think we broke him." George chuckles.

"He'll be fine, he's just processing," he says and gets up, holding a hand for his girlfriend to take. "So, what about breakfast?" he smiles. Ash blushes, then looks over to me and Gabe.

"And you? What are you going to say about this?"

Gabi shrugs and turns away, but I can clearly see the evil grin on his face.

"Gris?"

"I'm happy for you. But please don't kiss so loud next time, you woke me up."

"Eeeeeeeew," Fred says. 

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Fred thinking he'll never find love... honey, you're wrong