Her New School.

Her new school.

Maddie was standing in front of the gate of her new school and she was absolutely frightened. She had her arms wrapped around herself in an attempt to keep herself a little bit warmer during this autumn weather.

She mainly shivering because of she was nervous. What people would think of her? If they would even think about her.

Most people only ever noticed her when she was with her younger twin sister. The sister who had promised they would walk into their new school together. No one ever forgot her or walked right by her without noticing.

A promise soon forgotten as some students called out to her, asking if she was new. When Amelia answered them, with a bright smile on her face, that she was indeed a new student and proudly told them that she was on her way to try out for cheerleader.

Some had offered to show her to walk with her to the auditions, Amelia had run and left her twin behind.

Someone bumped into her. She heard what sounded like swearing but didn’t understand the language and turned around. She saw a guy a bit older than her trying to gather some books of the ground while holding onto and balancing the.. bulbs?

Picking up the books he dropped for him she tries to apologize, but he stops her. “My fault, I should have noticed you” he says with a rather heavy accent, though his English is perfectly understandable.

“No one ever does.” She answered with a small smile as she stands up.

The brown haired boy stares at her and for a moment she’s uncomfortable, but then he says “They should. Are you related to the new girl trying out for cheerleading?”

“My twin.”

“Figures. You look alike.”

“People always say we look the same.” Which Maddie had always hated. They were twins, not clones.

“Nee.” The other replied, shaking his head. “You look alike. Not the same. It’s easy to tell you apart. What’s your name?”

“Madeline. Maddie.”

“Johan.” He introduced himself.

Maddie might have never blushed as much as she did at that moment.

“Are those bulbs?” she tried to change the subject.

“Are you not trying out for cheerleading?” He asked, instead of answering her question.

The Canadian shook her head.

Silence.

“Tulip bulbs.” The new girl looked up. “What?”

“The bulbs. They’re tulip bulbs. Its they right time to put them into the ground and I promised I would help out with the school garden.”

The blonde smiled at that. “I’ll help you carry your stuff to the garden.” She said before she could stop herself. Looking around, she had no idea which direction to go.

“This way.”

They stayed silent for a while before the boy mentioned having to go to the football training.

“Try outs as well?” Maddie asked.

He shook his head. “Yes, but I’ve been part of the team for a few years now. I’m helping with judging the people who are trying out.” Just as he said that, someone nearly walked into her so fast that the petite woman would have been knocked over. Only the tall football player had stepped in front of her and the other student had fallen to the ground.

He didn’t even seem to care about the other boy and let Maddie know with a motion of his head  to leave that student alone.

“Shouldn’t we ask if he’s alright.” She asked softly.

“He’s just fine, I know him. We had worse collisions on the field.”

While  they dropped of the bulbs at the school garden and Johan put books, he asked her to come with him to the try outs of his team. She agreed.

Things went a little wrong when they reached the soccer field and they stopped.

“Why are we stopping here?” she wondered out loud. Maybe his friends played soccer?

“You wanted come to my team’s try outs?” He asked. Brushing his hand against the scar above his eyebrow.

Maddie stared at him. Blinked and then blinked again.

“You said you’re on the football team.”

“This is football.” He argued.

Maybe she could have guessed from his name and accent that he was a foreign student.

Maddie just smiled up at Johan.

In response, the jock stood a little closer to her before he began to introduce her to some of his friends and teammates.

With someone like Johan walking besides her, no one was going to run into her and they might even remember her.

Maddie didn’t mind that idea at all.

---

late submission for the NedCan week by @nedcan

The young woman looked out of the window at the white haired devil, who had once again chosen to walk past the house owned by her family. Chiara could normally be found near the window at the time he walked down the street and then again when he was known to walk past the Vargas home back to wherever he had came from around the usual time. It seemed to keep to a strict time table.

Due to this fact, Chiara had known well in advance that this particular demon was coming their way soon and she had hurried to find her younger siblings in order to get them into the relative safety of their house, where she would have closed all the windows and doors that could grant access to the building.

What she couldn’t have known was that on this day, she could have only hoped to get them all home as she always did. For all her efforts, the she had not been able to find the last one of her siblings. Her younger sister Feliciana. She needed to find her. Who knew if Grandfather would ever be able to forgive his eldest grandchild for losing track of his most favoured and most loved granddaughter.

Trying to find Feliciana, neighbours had seen the older sister running through the street calling for Feli and some had eventually taken hold of her and pulled her into one of their homes. Hiding inside while the young man with hair as white as that of an old man walked passed. Hair like that had to be a mark of the devil.

Once the immediate threat was gone, the oldest of the siblings went back to her home and pulled her younger brothers from the spot she has hidden them. After giving them some food, she had pushed them back in. Telling the boys a few scary stories teaching them to stay together and to make sure they stayed inside the hidden space of the basement until she came back for them. They had soon fallen asleep.

---

Knowing that her little brothers where safe and that they would remain safe, the brunette began searching for her little sister again. After a while she came across an old neighbour, who told her that he had seen Feliciana at the market.

Thanking the former neighbor for his help, the oldest sibling began to make her way to that market as fast as she could.

There Chiara found her baby sister. She was speaking to and smiling at the man her big sister had come to fear. Frozen upon the sight of her darling sister so close to evil, Feliciana had seen her and waved at her.

At the same time she spoke to the devil beside her. Whatever she had said made him laugh. Laugh so much that the man was still doubled over as he tried to wave at her too. As he moved into an upright position the young woman’s heart skipped a beat.

What she witnessed next could not be of human nature. While the man moved and made eye contact with her at the same time, she was certain she saw his eyes turn a deep, bloody red. It might have been a moment or a trick of the light but she was certain that she had seen red eyes. Inhuman eyes.

Feli kept waving at her, so with knees that nearly buckled under her weight, she somehow managed to make her way over to her sister and that man so feared by anyone but Feliciana. Once she reached them, she quickly pulled her Feliciana behind her. Telling this demon to stay away from her little sister. Her poor, naïve little sister. What would the townspeople say when word spread of this meeting with someone so clearly marked by evil.

The stranger looked sad for a fleeting moment before his expression turned blank. Feliciana was quick to turn on her sister and tell her Gilbert was no demon, devil or any threat to her honour and swore to her sister he had done nothing to her in any way.

---

Feliciana then began telling Chiara the story about how see got to know Gilbert. One day she had gone to the market and met a stranger there. After running into each other, which had caused Feli to dropped some things she had bought. The man had tried to apologize and help her gather her belongings, but had been rather awkward about it and they kept bumping into one another trying to collect the items.

This had ended up making Feliciana laugh and the man shyly introduced himself as Ludwig. He was passing through on his way home, which was in the neighbouring town, when suddenly his name was called.

Feli hadn’t noticed how many of the villagers had started whispering or even tried to hide away, but when she looked up she had tried to run away as well. Only Ludwig had grabbed her wrist and told her not to be afraid. As the white haired man approached slowly, Ludwig told her they were used to people reacting this way, but that his older brother was certainly not cursed. Even if many of the people in their hometown believed him to be marked. One of the reasons they bought many of their supplies and often worked in towns other than the one they lived in.

It turned out that Ludwig had come to visit her again after that first meeting and Gilbert had been acting as a chaperon for her younger sister and his little brother. Which is how the town had ended up getting a lot more visits of the white haired man. It had been Gilbert who told them that meeting at the same time and in the same place would be the easiest for Feliciana and it had been. For a while.

People in town, like Chiara, had taken notice of Gilbert’s appearance and which times he would walk through their streets. That had kept the two from being together for the last few times they had tried to meet up. Feliciana had grown tired of not being able to talk to Ludwig and had avoided her sister on purpose.

Only Ludwig had been sick this time and, though well taken care of, been unable to travel that far. So Gilbert and Feliciana had ended up in the position in which Chiara had found them.

---

It was when her little sister began telling her more stories about Ludwig. The kind of stories that, if she had gotten a good impression of his personality, Chiara figured the younger man would have been embarrassed by.

It felt like her sister continued talking about the boy for many hours. In reality it had been half an hour at most, but the brother had managed to make his way into their conversation and save this, to chiara unknown man, sibling of his by asking for stories about a little Feli.

Chiara couldn’t resist telling him some stories about her baby sister, that had the other girl flustered and begging her sister to stop. Gilbert promised the older to tell the stories to ‘Lutz’ when his fever had passed and he would surely be able to remember them. This ‘devil’ was charming. Despite his nature to show off, Chiara could see the charming, kind, generous and welcoming side of him that existed  beside the organized, nearly militaristic man.

She wasn’t ready to admit it to anyone,, but she loved how this man could have that many sides to him.

---

She put all the bad omens together.

Pale blond hair.

Which seemed white from a distance.

Brown eyes.

Seemingly red in when the light hit them in the right, or wrong, angle.

He was intelligent and schooled, he could read and write.

He wrote with his left hand.

One time he rolled up his sleeved higher than usual.

She had not meant to notice the dark brown spot above his elbow. A birthmark.

---

Feliciana had not been present the first time Chiara met Ludwig. The blond man was tall, strong and far too serious for her sister. He was also acting as a chaperon for Chiara and his brother.

---

A demon.

Except he was not.

Just a man.

Simply a man, but one that loved her for who she was.

---

She was not going to give him up. No matter what any of the town people said about him or her. Or them.

After talking to her siblings, it became clear it didn’t even matter what anyone said about any of them. They were one family. They, Feliciana and Ludwig. Then Chiara and Gilbert had the blessing of both families.

---

And that is the story of how Chiara met Gilbert.

They didn’t live happily ever after, they went through live with all of its up and downs.

However, they did live happily.

Until.

The End.

_______________________________________________________

really late submission for @prumano-week‘s day 7 Medieval Fantasy AU // Omens

Proposal 5+1

1. Champagne

A bit of nervousness, the wish for this night to be absolutely perfect, had been present. An completely  normal feeling as tonight was a very important evening. Even so, Canada had not been quite ready for the almost overwhelming feeling that closely bordered a panic attack.

This dinner had been planned to the tiniest detail. All of the staff had been informed on how to behave and when to act.

There would be pleasant conversation, they never seemed to run out of things to tell each other, shared over several courses of fine food. Then the desserts would be served and the waiter would bring them the glasses of champagne.

And Laurens would get a glass of champagne that would contain the ring Canada picked out with the greatest care. Only the best would do for him.

If only the Dutchman across the table hadn’t been able to see the slight panic attack coming from miles away. The other had always been able to notice these things when most other nations weren’t even able to tell Canada was present among them.

Which must have been the reason he ignored all the staff calling after them as he tugged his blonde lover after him out of the restaurant towards what he probably imagined to be a safe zone.

Inside the restaurant, a waiter was holding two glasses of champagne.

One of those contained an engagement ring.

2. Winter weather

After retrieving the ring from the restaurant, it had taken Canada some time to work up the courage to try again. Then an even better idea than the champagne had occurred.

Snow

The Dutchman loved snow, ice and ice skating.

Due to the changes in climate the world was experiencing, the winters didn’t get as could as they once used to at his place. The man would always talk about the layers upon layers of snow he once had to deal with too.

He always managed to make it sound like he missed it. This year also marked the longest period of time between two editions of his ‘Elfstedentocht’, making him clearly  upset for a change.

Which gave Canada the best idea of any for a successful proposal.

They would go for a walk through to great amounts of snow Canada had up in the north.

Where one nation would propose to another.

Canada and Netherlands went on that walk as planned.

Which was not part of the plan was Canada going down on one knee in order to propose and almost disappearing in the snow. Really, that happening in a country’s own land was nearly unforgivable.

Laurens pulled the other nation out of the snow and into their cabin.

Maybe Canada should have proposed in front of that fireplace.

A missed opportunity that papa might never forgive if he would hear of it.

3. Hot air balloon

This time Canada was sure of having thought of the most romantic way to propose. The ring was hidden in a pocket of the blonde’s coat who was holding the hand of the Dutch nation, guiding them towards the hot air balloon that was waiting for the two and into the basket.

Proposal hadn’t worked on the ground, which meant it was going to work high up in the air.

Grinning at the European nation as the hot air balloon was slowly starting to leave the ground bellow the behind, the younger country hugged the older man.

Out of sight and hidden behind the other’s back,  Canada took out the box containing the ring from the coat’s pocket and stared at the deep red velvet colour of the small box.

In the attempt to break that same hug, which had been returned, in order to kneel down inside the basket they were standing in, the blonde actually managed to drop that little box.

And of course it wouldn’t fall on the floor of the hot air balloon basket. No, Canada saw it tumble over the edge and all the way down.

Really, it all happened in slow motion. Everything except the feeling of horror.

They were never, ever getting in a hot air balloon ever again.

Damn it.

4. London

The first thing on the to do list after the hot air balloon ride had been getting a new ring. Finding the first one would have been an impossible task. Or at the very least a task that would have taken years.

As nations, they actually did have those years to wait and it wouldn’t  even really matter at all. Except that, in this case,  it would. Just because they could wait didn’t mean the northern nation had any intentions to wait any longer making the greatest personal connection to the European nation.

Having run out of ideas, Canada had turned to Arthur.

The man had listened patiently and intently to the stories of failed proposals.

Closing his eyes and setting his needle work aside, the old island nation had only smiled and assured his former colony that he would make sure the two of them would be alone on the London Eye.

And they had been on their own in a carriage of the London Eye. It hadn’t been that hard to convince the taller nation to go to one of the most touristic attractions of the city, but he became suspicious  of everything that was happening around them as soon as they stepped inside and no one else joined them.

“What’s going on?” Laurens had asked his lover directly.  “Is this some kind of joke Arthur bullied you into?”

“No, of course not..” the younger had managed to say.

“No, of course not.” The other had repeated. “It’s your brother and Arthur lets him get away with anything.”

Canada held onto the hidden inside the pocket, but didn’t dare to pull it out in fear of the proposal being interpreted  as a practical joke.

5. Paris

It was a cliché. A cliché as badly as they can possible come.

Of course the first thing Canada’s papa had done when he heard the story of the last attempt at proposal was laughing. Laughing until the Frenchman had nearly choked on his wine.

After that he had complained for a while about the fact that the other blonde had gone to Arthur for help first.

Eventually, Francis had agreed to help the young nation. As soon as it was asked, the older man was on his phone making all the arrangements necessary.

Naturally, as soon as the last call for the special night had ended, the man had called England to tell him how he had failed the former colony and how the French nation would fix any damage that might have been done.

Not that any damage had been done between the two lovers, except some hurt pride on one side.

Which is how the two of them had ended up on the highest level of the Eiffel tower looking out over the city and all its lights. It was a lovely sight and Canada had already been in the process of pulling out the box containing the ring when out of the blue, Laurens pulled the love of his life close for a passionate kiss.

Prompting Canada to drop the box.

Over the edge.

The northern nation simply sucked at proposals, especially when done at great heights.

Or maybe they weren’t meant to be spouses.

6. The proposal

There had been knocking on the front door.

The volume level of the knocking was usually only heard when Alfred decided on an unannounced visit to his sibling’s house, yet the rhythm was telling to be someone else.

Opening the door, Canada was face to face with a huge bouquet of red and white tulips.

“I don’t think it’s that time of the year yet.”

“It’s not, but these flowers are a different kind of gift.” And the European nation got down on one knee. “My sister told me I am the biggest idiot in the world for not noticing a proposal if it hit me in the face. Which you wouldn’t do, the hitting I mean, because you’re the kindest person I have ever known.”

Canada took the flowers from him as he took out a box with inside it what just might be the most beautiful ring ever known.

“You did propose, didn’t you, and I was the moron who didn’t notice.”

Canada nodded slowly.

And then the actual question was asked.

“Will you marry me?”

--

--

“Yes!”

Are you craving AmeChu? Maybe some PruLiech? Or maybe you just wish there were a few more CanEng fics out there…

Your wishes have been granted! This year the sixth annual APH Rarepair Exchange will be taking place, aimed at satisfying your overlooked-pairing needs this holiday season!

How does it work?

You will be filling out a wishlist form with the pairings you’d like to receive. When partners have been assigned, you will receive someone else’s wishlist. You will then write or draw your partner a gift based on their wishlist. Your partner will receive your gift from you and you will receive a gift from the person who had your wishlist.

What can I request?

You can request anything and everything from het ships to crack ships. This event is aimed at helping increase the number of fanworks for uncommon ships. All ships will be accepted except for the most popular ones. Please make sure to check this before signing up.

When can I sign up?

Click here to sign up. Sign-ups run from now until November 28th at 11:59pm EST. You will receive your partner’s wishlist on December 1st, and will have until the 25th to make their present.

How can I track this event?

To keep up with this event, follow the blog aphsecretsanta or track the tag #aph rarepair exchange.

Happy shipping!

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Day 1 - Domestic for @neddenweek

Late secret santa gift for @piu-fairy-tales.