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HWS Rarepair Week 2022: Day 1: Writer and Artist

@hwsrarepairweek2022

Oooh for this one I’m on time! (Well for the America’s at least). No worries I’ll still work on the prompts of the poly ship week throughout the day :D

Relationship: SwissBel (Switzerland x Belgium)

Slight hints of LuxLiech

Summary: Sebastian is a semi-famous writer and Emma is a devoted fan who sends him art of her favourite characters. The two are a match made in heaven, at least according to their siblings.

Word Count: 3370

Teen (but rather Gen if I’m honest)

DIsclaimer: not betaed I die like men without self preservation!

Sebastian Zwingli is Switzerland

Emma Maes is Belgium

Elise Vogel is Liechtenstein

Gilles Thill is Luxembourg

Vincent Van Dijk is The Netherlands.

Title: Write me like one of your Belgian girls!

Somewhere in Switzerland, 19th century

Sebastian would argue that while his stories weren’t the best, they were far from being unenjoyable.

Yet as he read the reviews he couldn’t help but sigh. They complained about the lack of humanity in his work, the lack of romance, and something that would indicate there is more to the main character’s life than just war and combat.

His sister brought him a cup of tea and the mail that had arrived that morning,. “What's wrong?” she asked, concerned seeing the look on his face.

“Nothing you should worry about, thank you for the tea dear.” He said, with a small smile she clearly saw didn’t meet his eyes.

Her shoulders sagged, but she forced a smile of her own “If you say so, but do open the letters one of them looks really pretty!”

He dropped the paper with the reviews in favour of the letters, curiosity getting the better of him. He put some of them away as bills, and boring conversations with other writers he honestly couldn’t care less about.

Sebastian paused at the last one, it was pastel pink and smelled of flowers. He looked for a name or address but there was nothing written on either side.

“Strange,” he muttered to himself, getting the letter opener.

His eyes widened as the contents were revealed to him, a number of small drawings and even some watercolour paintings.

“Wow,” his little sister whispered from over his shoulders, “they’re beautiful.”

“Indeed,” he nodded, unsure what he felt. A mix of flattered and curious.

The first few drawings were clearly of some of the characters from his latest story. He recognised the main antagonist as resembling his mental image quite accurately.

He took a closer look at the watercolour painting and his sister gasped, “It’s you!”

The Swiss man turned around to look at her, “while the main character is also blonde with green eyes I assure you he’s not me.”

“Oh it’s supposed to be the protagonist of your latest?” his sister asked, surprised.

“Well yes, all the other drawings are characters from the book.” He declared, unable to look away from how beautiful they all were. How dare people claim his characters lacked a human aspect when somewhere in the world he had inspired an artist to make such beautiful works?

“I still think it looks a lot like you.” Elise said, before walking away to do something important.

“Hmm,” Switzerland just hummed after her, knowing it is just a coincidence as he writes under a pseudonym and no picture of him has ever been attached to it.

“Perhaps it’s fate,” he hears her shout from the kitchen.

He huffed and rolled his eyes, “I neither write nor believe in fairytales, dear sister!”

“Well maybe you should.”

Well why not? What did he have to lose?

---

Belgium, about three months later

“Good morning sister, dear, have you read Vash’s latest?” Gilles asked as she entered the kitchen to grab breakfast with her siblings.

“Good Morning to you too. No I have not!” Emma said as she sat at the table, rubbing her eyes.

She was absolutely not a morning person.

“You may want to check it out,” Vincent said, flipping a page in the paper he was reading while smoking his pipe.

Emma frowned, “Wait, Vash? As in the writer? He published something new?”

“Yup” two voices replied at exactly the same time, before glaring at each other. Everything had to be a competition for those two. .

“Oh my god!” she immediately brightened up, jumping from her chair to go do something, what she was not sure, but she was ready for it!

“Wait, wait, I’ve got a copy right here, be sure not to skip the first few pages.” Gilles laughed, handing her his copy. “I got it this morning, and there was such a long line for them as well!”

“Good for him, finally having a best seller,” Vincent murmured.

“This is incredible, his last work was only published four month ago!” Emma said as she looked at the front cover and read the title of the new book.

“Who knows, maybe he felt inspired by something, or rather someone, or someone’s art.” Gilles grinned into his cup of coffee.

Emma raised an eyebrow at him, deciding to finally open the book to the first few pages before dropping it.

“Hey, hey, be careful there. I paid good money for that book!” The Luxembourgian man crossed his arms and tried to glare at his sister.

His words in vain however as Emma was staring wide eyed at the book laying in front of her, open on the first few pages.

“My drawings,” she whispered.

On the first few pages of the book were some drawings she had sent to Vash of the characters she liked, and here they were staring at her. He had liked them so much, he added them. She felt butterflies in her chest and tears coming up into her eyes.

She looked up to Gilles and Vincent, both of them smiling at her.

“Is this real?” she asked, unable to stop some tears from joy from falling from her cheeks.

Gilles laughed and Vincent snorted, putting his paper away for a bit. “Well, we both saw it as well, so you aren’t dreaming! Congratulations, dear sister.” Vincent said, with a small smile.

Gilles stood up to get closer to her and actually pick up the book, “but wait this isn’t all!”

He showed her, her own drawings and went to the last page of them which contained a small note:

“Dear anonymous artist,

Your art has made me feel a level of inspiration I had not felt in a while. Consider this book dedicated to you.

Kindest regards,

Vash”

“Oh I’m in love,” Emma whispered, moving her fingers over the note.

“You don’t even know what he looks like.” Vincent narrowed his eyes.

“I do not care!” she laughed, running up the stairs with the book to read it and then make some more drawings.

“My book!” Gilles shouted after her, but she ignored him.

“With how fast she’s going to read it, you’ll get it back by tomorrow.” Vincent mused, picking up his paper again.

“I know, but I had already started.” Gilles said, trying not to appear too upset.

“Well, haven’t you heard her? She’s in-” Vincent made some air quotes, “-looove.”

“Funny, you mention it, I found one of the new female characters he added reminded me a bit of her. I suspect he’s going to actually include a love interest for once.”

“Oh she’s going to love that,” Vincent rolled his eyes, amused.

“I’m sure she will,” Gilles smiled, unable to stay mad at his sister for long.

---

Switzerland, about a month later

Sebastian was having an incredible time.

Finally one of his books got the recognition it deserved!

Bestseller with an incredible amount of copies sold. In the last few days he had received so many requests for interviews for the newspaper, and meetings with other people who really wanted to meet the person behind the masterpiece.

He refused of course. He wasn’t the kind of person to want that much attention.

Yet, somehow, he still seemed to be waiting for something.

Sebastian wasn’t really sure what until his sister ran in one morning, bright faced shouting, “it’s a letter from your secret artist!”

He felt his heart beat faster in his chest.

Yes. This seemed to be what he had been waiting for.

Another pink letter smelling of flowers was handed to him by his sister who was all too eager for him to open it.

“Don’t you have anything more important to do?” he quirked an eyebrow at her and she crossed her arms. “No, I want to see what she drew this time.”

“How are you so certain it’s a woman?” he asked.

She didn’t answer just looking down at the pink envelope, with the flowers before shrugging.

“You’re right, it might also be a man of the homosexual persuasion.”

The Swiss man rolled his eyes once more but she continued.

“In any case, that doesn’t change the fact that you could finally find someone to put up with you and your strange habits, big brother!”

Sebastian huffed and glared, “who said anything about any of that kind of relationship with this person?”

“Come on brother, it is clear you are at least enamoured with this person’s art.”

“They are merely a muse of mine.”

“A muse that inspired a bestseller.”

Sebastian glared and his sister laughed, “come on open it!”

He did, but not because his sister told him to, mind you!

Sebastian’s mouth opened in shock at the drawings it contained, these where even more meticulously drawn. While the first few seemed like sketches, a lot of time and devotion went into these.

His sister gasped as she saw them, “wow, they must have liked the new book!”

Sebastian looked them over, once more they made sure to put a lot of work into the protagonist. The green eyes of the characters really popped out. His sister moved between looking between the art and him, clearly wanting to say something but knowing he wasn’t going to appreciate it.

There was only one work that came close and it was of the new female character he had felt inspired to add. She was a beautiful brunette with green eyes.

Then Elise noticed something else between the piles of sketches and paintings.

She made a move to grab one of the pieces of papers that differed from the others and Sebastian would have dived to catch it before her.

“It’s mine, Elise, please.” He simply stated.

His sister smiled and shrugged, “sorry sorry, I’m just happy for you and want to share your joy.”

Sebastian relaxed, “I know.”

He turned the paper and saw a message written in very elegant and fine handwriting.

Dear Vash,

If that is your real name…

I’m Emma Maes, a 26 year old artist from Belgium.

Your books have been an inspiration for me since the very first one! It was actually my little brother who convinced me I should attempt to get in touch with you to share my work.

You must understand how incredibly flattered I was when you put my art in your latest book!

I know you are kind of shy, or at least very mindful of your private life and do not like to talk to outsiders.

Yet, I would love to exchange letters with you in order to share more work of mine and discuss more aspects of your writing.

Especially the newest addition, she is lovely and I hope you would tell me more about her.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Kind regards,

Emma Maes

Below the message was her address and Sebastian was trying his very best not to jump from joy. He couldn’t stop the smile from forming on his lips.

“Oh, someone must have received some very good news.” his sister’s eyes twinkled.

“She’s called Emma, Elise! She’s 26 and from Belgium!”

“Lovely, she’ll make a great sister in law! I’ve always wanted one named Emma.” his sister joked.

“Now, don’t get your hopes up.” he glared, “this exchange will be completely professional!”

“Yes, sure, big brother, whatever you say!”

---

Belgium, three weeks later

Emma squealed as she saw the letter addressed to her, signed with the stamp of the publisher of her favourite books.

“He wrote back!” She shouted, and Gilles ran down the stairs to see what the commotion was about.

Vincent, who had been sitting in the armchair smoking his pipe, briefly removed it just to say, “wonderful news, dear sister!” before going back to his reading.

Emma paid him no mind, having gotten used to his aloof behaviour a long while ago.

She opened the letter with trembling hands. Beautiful, yet slightly hard to read handwriting was revealed to her and she gasped as she realised it was truly her favourite writer who had written her the letter.

Dear Emma,

You are right. Vash is not my real name.

You are also right in guessing the reason I do not reveal it.

Yet… I feel like I owe you for having put your art in my book without proper credit. You must know that many individuals have asked me after your art, and I had no way of contacting you but through my book.

My name is Sebastian, I am 28 years old and I was born and raised in Bern. I started writing some years ago to pass the time and it was my little sister that convinced me I should attempt to publish my manuscripts.

I believe we have encouraging little siblings in common!

Your art keeps me going and is a big inspiration. I already have a number of chapters ready for my next book. I do not wish to spoil you what is about to happen but I can already tell you that I have big plans for your beloved characters!

I would not be opposed to corresponding on a more regular basis, I feel like we have similar ideas and I would love to get to know you better.

Kind regards,

Sebastian

“Oh my god,” Emma sighed, pressing the letter to her chest and falling down to her knees.

“What did he say?” Gilles said, leaning over her, trying to get a look at the letter.

“With how she acts, it must have been at least a demand in marriage,” Vincent snorted from his armchair.

“He’s called Sebastian, he’s 28 and he’s from Bern in Switzerland.” Emma smiled.

“Well damn, getting herself a Swiss husband, well done sister!” Vincent snorted.

Emma blushed, “I don’t even know what he looks like!”

It was Gilles’ turn to snort, “wasn’t this going to be a purely mental exchange anyway? An exchange between artistic disciplines?”

“That’s when she still thought he was some 64 year old, married French speaking Swiss man from Geneva.”

“I mean, he might still be.” Gilles mused.

“I don’t care about that!” their sister shouted at them, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Sure you don’t.” both brothers said exactly at the same time, before glaring at each other again.

Emma ignored them in favour of going to her room to answer his letter and send him some more of her art.

---

Switzerland, three months later,

“Letter from my sister in law,” Elise said with a bright smile as she brought in the mail.

“Give it here,” Sebastian said, trying to look more calm than he really was.

“Where are your manners, brother?” Elise frowned, holding the letter just out of reach.

“Please.” He grimaced, holding out his hand.

His sister rolled her eyes, “here you go,”

Sebastian grabbed the letter and hurried opening it to read what Emma had answered. They had been sending some letters back and forth every couple of days and he had finally sent her some of the chapters of the next book, asking her if she perhaps wished to become an official illustrator.

My dear Sebastian,

I would love nothing more than to be the illustrator of your book!

However my older brother wants this to be carefully written down on paper so that you ‘do not take advantage of me.’ But I know you would never do such a thing as you seem like a perfect gentleman!

Anyway, this is just to say that we found some time free and are planning to take the train to Bern in two weeks, to see about signing that paperwork.

I hope you would be free to meet with us, or at least with me?

Further, I read the pages and I absolutely adored what you have planned for them. The tension is palpable but they seem so incredibly perfect for each other! I know they are still pining and doing everything else but face the feelings they have for each other but I hope they will “get their shit together soon!”

Attached is a picture of what I believe their first kiss would look like!

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Kisses,

Emma

Sebastian looked at the picture and felt his heart skip a beat, both characters, including the one he could now reluctantly admit looked like him, were kissing each other clearly madly in love.

“Wow,” Elise murmured from behind him and he turned around, face bright red.

“Can you not!” he raised his voice.

“I didn’t say anything,” she smiled, walking away.

Truthfully the reason he felt a little bad is because he had started writing her a little like how he felt Emma’s personality was.

He was now guilty of doing what many writers he used to criticise were doing, which was mirroring his life onto his characters.

His sister had assured him his writing did not come over like that, but for all he knew she was just humouring him.

And she was coming to visit! Oh god!

Sebastian was not ready, he was not ready at all!

Despite everything, he still wrote her a letter telling her she is more than welcome, and that he has the space to accommodate her brothers too.

---

Switzerland, Bern two weeks later,

He was waiting with his sister next to him.

The train from Brussels had just arrived, quite a number of people walked out.

But when a woman in a yellow sundress saw him, her eyes widening, he immediately knew she was the one.

He vaguely heard his sister gasp something about how pretty she was.

She waved at him, and he waved at her and she beamed with joy and she walked faster towards him.

“Elise, I might be in so much trouble.” he grinced out, heartbeat increasing rapidly.

His sister just hummed in agreement. She had however noticed the young blonde man that was half a head taller than his sister. He was laughing and talking to Emma, who was not paying attention to him, and then his eyes met hers before looking away, cheeks reddening.

Oh, Elise thought to herself, this was what the French meant when they said “coup de foudre” (love at first sight.)

Meanwhile Emma had arrived just before them and Elise had to elbow her brother in order for him to actually do a proper greeting.

She rolled her eyes and noticed Emma’s brother hadn’t missed her action. He raised his eyebrow and suddenly she understood that there was nothing his brother had to worry about as Emma was exactly as hopeless as him.

Sebastian invited her to take his arm to guide her toward his residence, while they talked about his book, and her art, and smaller things like how he was exactly the height she had pictured. Something that made Sebastian turn such a funny shade of red his sister found.

Meanwhile, she decided to stay back a little, pulling Gilles along, “I believe we both have similar goals.” she stated curtly.

He nodded in agreement and she smiled, “Good.”

“I must say, it is funny how closely they resemble the characters from his book,” she said to him, taking his arm and following their older siblings at a safe distance.

“I believe it might be fate,” Gilles grinned at her.

She remembered what she had shouted at her brother all those weeks ago from the kitchen.

“Yeah, maybe.” She whispered to herself.

“Only half though, I vaguely heard my sister say that since he hadn’t quite described the female love interest, it would not hurt to draw her a little like herself.”

Elise laughed, “I guess it is fair now to say that my older brother based some of her personality on the letters he received from your sister.”

Gilles laughed, “In the end the fact that they both did it might be a sign of fate after all!”

“I can’t wait to read big brother's next book.” she giggled.

“Likewise.” He smiled at her.

They noticed they were so busy talking that they completely missed where their older siblings went off to.

In the end they decided this doesn’t need to be a bad thing.

They were likely gaining some inspiration for future chapters.

---

FIN