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Hugs

Natalia had found herself a nice little corner to sit down, out of sight of most of the people at the usual after meeting party. Her bosses had told her to attend and interact more with others at these parties, even though they were well aware of her dislike of those unplanned events. She preferred to get the next plane or train back home and leave the others to waste their time.

Lost in thought about how she could have been reading through the documents she was holding in her hands instead of actually reading the contents of said papers, the blonde woman almost failed to notice the sudden presence next to her. Almost, and she was ready to make threats of any kind to chase away whomever disturbed her from her work.

She didn’t get any real chance to strike before her wrist was caught in a strong, firm grip that could have actually hurt her. Belarus knew that the moment she looked up and saw that the hand holding her arm belonged to her older brother.

“Natasha,” he started “I know you’re supposed to be talking to the others.” She stared up at him. “They wanted me to be here, so here I am.” Ivan shook his head and tried again to convince her. “You’re cannot hide here in this corner. Our sister is worried about you.”

Looking back at the crowd she simply admitted the truth to her beloved big brother. “I don’t want the be here and talk to them.”

Russia pulled her close against him into a nearly crushing hug. “I know, little sister.” Before letting her out of his tight grip while wrapping an arm gently around her shoulders and dragged her along to all the conversations he had with other nations that evening.

@hetafamilyweek for 2021

Rivalry

Lukas couldn’t stop himself from sighing again as he listened to more shouting and new promises of a brutal and painful death coming from the living room while he continued making breakfast. Didn’t Magnus and Berwald have better, or at least other, things to worry about this early in the morning.

The days of throwing axes at each other when they disagreed or tried to prove who was the better warrior were so far in the past, why did they insist to bring that up again.

“Breakfast is ready.” He simply called out, loud enough for all people present to hear.

The first response he got was louder swearing and a new set of death threats. As if life was going to be as easy as announcing the arrival of food.

At least Timo and Emil took a seat at the table without making a noise.

“Breakfast. Food. Now!” He shouted this time.

Nothing changed at that and Lukas lost his patience with the last two nations to join the table and stomped into the leaving room where the yelling and swearing continued before he walked over to the far wall and pulled out the plug, which very effectively ended the game the two tallest men of the group had been playing.

Spluttering, disagreeing noises where made behind him, Denmark and Sweden both insisting they had been winning the fight. Lukas didn’t care and ignored it as he walked back to the kitchen to eat his breakfast.

Stupid video game.

===================================

Lukas = Norway

Timo = Finland

Erik = Iceland

Magnus = Denmark

Berwald = Sweden

@hetafamilyweek for 2021

Embarrassment

“You’re really doing this to me. I can’t believe you’re actually doing this.” Henri grumbled at his big brother before taking a more accusing tone of voice to add “I trusted you.”

Said older brother seemed to pay no more attention to him than he did to any of Henri’s bosses as he continued to drag the younger man out of his office and away from his work. There was so much work that needed attention!

Not that he dared to look at his own bosses for help, he was so embarrassed that they saw him like this. Pulled out of his office and soon out of the building entirely while clutching a single file of paperwork to his chest. He was completely certain they had been able to listen to the brothers argue in his private office before Ned had slammed that door open and forced the smaller nation out.

“Johan,” he tried again, “I told you how much work I have left to do. I’m sorry I don’t have time to come to the party, you know I’ll really try to be there next time.” The only thing that earned him was Johan quickening his pace.

As soon as they were out of sight, the taller man turned around. “You should thank me, Lux. Emma wanted to drag you out of here herself.”

A brief silence followed. “Think about that.”

He did.

He knew what that would have meant. Childhood stories.

“Thank you.” Still clutching that one file.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Johan = Netherlands

Emma = Belgium

Henri = Luxembourg

@hetafamilyweek for 2021

Unification

“Come on, West! What’s taking you so long!?” He could hear his brother yelling while he slowly and unnecessarily tidied the desk of his home office. Unneeded, as his desk was always tidy.

For the last few months he had been doing a lot of thinking about this day. Something about the upcoming celebrations had made him feel uneasy and nervous yet he hadn’t been able to explain what it was.

Until he did figure it out.

During another boring meeting that had been more chaotic than useful, the blonds thoughts had been wandering. Someone had shouted something at another person and Ludwig couldn’t even remember who it was or what had been said, but he had been frozen in his seat as everything finally made sense.

“What are you waiting for West, do you not want to go to the party?” Gilbert had appeared in the doorway, looking at him impatiently and ready to go out for the night.

How could he explain, that no, he didn’t want to go to some party tonight?

That he knew he should be nothing but happy to celebrate the unification of the country and felt guilty that he wasn’t.

He hesitated a moment to long with giving a reply and that was all the reason the elder brother needed to walk into the room. “Stop cleaning,” Gilbert ordered after a quick inspection of the desk. “It’s already clean.”

Ludwig did as he was told.

“Tell me what this is all about. You’ve been acting odd lately.”

How to explain?

“I don’t feel like going out tonight, bruder. I want to stay home.”

It earned him a weird look and more questions.

“Are you not feeling well? What happened? What’s the problem? Did you stop drinking beer again? I told you never to scare me like that again.”

And something in him snapped. “It feels like we’re celebrating that you came back, and we are, but it just makes me think of the time you weren’t here!” And he pulled his brother into a tight hug.

Just as he thought he was going to be pushed away, his big brother hugged him back shortly before stepping away.

“Go grab some beers and turn on the television. We’ll have a party of our own, West.”

Just let me help you

Walking past his brother’s office and taking notice of the way he looked, hunched over his desk and the dark circles under his eyes, Gilbert knew he had to do something.

Something turned out easier said than done, but after a bit of a struggle he had managed to drag Ludwig away from his desk. Now he only needed to get him out of this room, then up the stairs and finally into his bedroom so that he could go to bed.

All while his little brother was going on and on about that meeting he needed to be prepared for and the work he still had to do on his presentation.

“You need sleep, that’s what you need. I’ll do that presentation for you and it’ll be awesome, like me.”

“You can’t.” Ludwig resisted. “I’m the one that goes to the meetings, not you.” It was true, but he wasn’t able to fully hide grimace that came over his face as he grumbled his answer to that. “No need to remind me of that.”

Silence followed between them and during the silence it suddenly became much easier to maneuver his younger brother.

The silence bothered him. While Ludwig had never been a man or even a child of many words, this silence was clearly born from a sense of guilt and that hadn’t been his intention. He had never and would never blame the loss of his status as a nation on Ludwig.

So he broke the silence as they walked up the stairs. “West, I only meant that I’ll write your speech for you. I still know how to write an awesome speech. It will be waiting for you on your desk when you wake up. You’ll only need to read it through before your meeting.”

His little brother looked at him silently for a moment.

“Danke, Bruder.” Before he walked into his bedroom.

“You don’t forget how to do the work of a nation.” He murmured to himself as he went downstairs to work on that awesome speech he had spoken of. And awesome it would be.

The scene she saw the moment she pushed the door open was one from a horror movie. The room had been torn apart and her lover was covered in blood, most of his clothes torn to shreds. Just as she began to run towards him, Gilbert held up his hands and she froze in her steps as he started screaming at her to stay away from him.

At that same moment Victoria wanted to question Gilbert about the blood and shred clothes yet instead of voicing her questions, she noticed the deformation to his hand. Or really the claw where his hand should be.

“Go away. Lock me up and go away!”He screamed at her. There was a desperation she had never heard from him before. “You have no idea what kind of monster I’ve become.” The sound of as he was yelling began to change and at that point she noticed how first his jaw and than his face began to change its shape, just like his hand, and his cried started to sound more like howls.

She realised what was happening to him and ran up to him as the howls became more agonised by the second. As she reached him and threw her arms around the cursed man, the blonde could feel the rough fur against the skin of her face and hands.

Softly chanting, the wolf in her arms ceased his attack. Instead of tearing her apart, the creature sank to his knees. More of the soft, archaic tones ensured the cursed man lost consciousness.

Moving to lie down beside her man, no matter his form, she waited for the night to pass while he stayed asleep by her spells.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morning came and Gilbert woke. His body sore and his eyes looking into deep green eyes he knew all too well.

Fear rushed through him as he forced himself upright. “Why are you here, Viv! Are you hurt?!”

The English woman gently, yet firmly pushed him back down. “You did not hurt me, but you do need more rest.”

He thought her calmness was strange. She had seen what he became during the full moon, yet here she was and she did seem unharmed. Safe from suffering his fate.

“I’m a monster.” The worse pilled from Gilbert’s lips.

Viv took his face between her hands. “You are no monster, my wolf.” And kissed him.

“How?”

The lady sighed.

“I have secrets of my own, my love, and those secrets kept both of us safe last night. I have spells and potions powerful enough to control you when you cannot control yourself. It will not undo the effects of the bite, but I will not allow anyone else to be cursed by it.”

Feeling the magic around them, he pulled her tightly against him. She wasn’t able to heal him, but in her presence he wasn’t going hurt other people with his curse.

“Ich liebe dich, zaubermaus.”

_____________________________________________________

Day 21 (+ day 8) from @pruktober

Painted woman

It all started at his last birthday party when his boss had given him a birthday present. It had been huge and heavy, but nothing he couldn’t carry. Ripping of the wrapping, he looked upon a magnificent painting, old and beautiful. The frame on was carved with love and skill and the woman in the painting was at least as lovely to see as she must have been in life.

Such a gift had to be given a place where any and all visitors could see it. And such it was given in the home he resided in most often.

He had been wrong about the lady being lovely. The haunted feeling Alfred had felt while walking down the hall to this bedroom hadn’t left him for months now. Every time he walked to or left his bedroom, he walked past the newly acquired painting faster. He felt bad about it, and not in the sense of not liking a gift. Something was wrong with this painting.

Then it got worse, it had gotten to the point he ran past the painting when he had to go past it. Alfred nearly ran past the painting he looked at it and saw the woman’s eyes following him. He immediately stopped in his tracks and ran back into his bedroom, slapping the door shut. Unable to believe it himself, but to afraid to take another look for himself he called Arthur ignoring the differences in time between their respective homes to ask for help.

“The painting is cursed, Arthie. Please help me, I really think it’s haunted.” The American pleaded.

All that earned him were some swear words and snoring sounds. No help there, but he couldn’t stay here alone. He’d have to run past it.

Alfred steadied himself at his bedroom door, visualizing the way down the stairs and out of the front door. Counting to three, he almost threw the door of the room open and flew down the hall towards the stairs. Just as he took the first few steps he felt the need to take one last look at the painting. It was a need he couldn’t explain and one he didn’t want to feel. He stood still in front of the painting and saw it was empty except for the background. The woman had disappeared.

He froze in fear until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Swirling around, he only took good notice of the figure’s eyes before he knew no more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing Alfred noticed when he regained consciences, was his inability to move. He found he wasn’t even able blink his eyes, but he could look around. What he could see was the hallway to his own bedroomand then he saw himself walking past. Or someone looking like him, the man held himself differently than Alfred did and he made sure to avoid eye contact with one specific painting. The painting that Alfred had been so afraid of.

The only thing left for Alfred F. Jones to do was look at anyone that might walk across his view or shed tears. The painting allowed him that much, if only to a small limit.

He had never been this hopeless or afraid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later there was a frantic knocking on the front door. Someone went to open it and Alfred could hear the sound of a grumpy Englishman.

“Took you long enough to open the door, you git.”

The blond stepped aside to let to older man in.

“Why are you here?”

“You called me, in the middle of the night, about some painting! That’s why I’m here.”

The younger man’s eyes narrowed before they drifted upwards towards the painting.

Arthur followed his gaze and froze upon it’s sight. England had only ever seen eyes that bright blue.

There seemed to be tears the painting hadn’t included earlier.

“Milk?!” He heard behind him, making him turn around and face his former colony. His boy’s eyes should have been the brightest blue like in the painting. Not this dull shade of green, much unlike Arthur’s own emerald colour.

What kind of being was this creature?

“Excuse me?” Arthur asked distracted.

“Do you want milk in your tea?”

“No milk but a little sugar, please.”

He needed to get out of this house and away from this being to get Alfred out of that cursed painting.

If only he could have let his little brother know that he would come back for him soon.

To help Alfred, he needed to get out of that place without letting anyone know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alfred was stuck inside the frame of his new home and saw the man he once looked up to, and really still did, leave without even noticing he was gone. Maybe if he had never said he wasn’t his little brother anymore, England would have cared enough to notice the difference.

As it was, Alfred could only shed more tears. The painting did not allow for enough tears for Al’s sorrows to feel any lighter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were many noises inside the house, mostly outside his line of sight. Suddenly there was one cloaked figure moving towards his painting. That figure was a dragging another one towards his painting, a figure that was screaming and kicking. Then everything happened almost too quick to remember.

He was told to take hold of the man pressed against the painting. He didn’t know how to communicate that he was unable to move, but the cloaked man seemed to know this already and told him he could do it if he just believed in it.

And he did, he had to, it was his only chance to get out of the painting. He felt the woman from the painting being drawn into the frame and with his body free, he focused on that alone.

As he rolled into the hallway he knew so well, he looked up and saw Arthur pressed up against the painting. Getting up to help in any way he could, his former mentor yelled at him to get away. The painting wanted him and drew strength from Alfred. So he stayed away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door rang and when Arthur opened the door, he was greeted by the young American holding a bunch of roses. “For you.” And the roses where pushed into his hands and the younger man evaded eye contact.

“Why the roses?” he repeated.

“I want to be siblings again.”

Arthur sighed. “Look me in the eye then.”

Alfred seemed afraid to do so.

“I didn’t want to be my little brother anymore, but you’re still my little brother.”

That made the younger looking nation look up, straight into…

…

…his big brother’s bright green eyes framed by those huge eyebrows.

Another day filled with paperwork had gone by and the young woman was relived to finally be able to go outside and get some fresh air into her lungs. On her way out she had expected to find Ludwig hidden behind the stacks of documents that covered his desk these days.

So not catching sight of the blond man was a normal occurrence, but for her to be walking around the desk and finding the chair empty was not. Amelia usually needed to pull the other young nation away from the work that was given to him.

After a quick round of questioning the staff, she came to the conclusion Ludwig had left without informing anyone like he was supposed to. Which meant she needed to find him first, before any of the others found out and then things might get out of hand.

Unable to find the other nation, America headed home to her apartment and while driving she couldn’t imagine where he might have run of to.

While she was driving around  a corner the cars’ front lights illuminated a person. Male, blond, muscled and she guessed he was going to be tall when he stood up. She had found her missing German.

Amelia quickly parked the car and nearly jumped out of the vehicle.

“Germany!” she shouted “What are you thinking?!”

He turned around at the sound of her voice, but didn’t get up from the spot he was sitting.

“Well?”

“I needed some time alone with my thoughts.”

The young superpower sight softly. “Can’t you think about that at home?”

At that he looked like she was insane.

“I can’t go home.”

She felt for the other nation in some way, but he needed to be punished for all the things his people had done.

She simply shook her head and after some time she raised her gaze.

“You gave my home, my heart to the Soviet Union. We would have fought beside you to stop him, but you gave Gilbert to Ivan instead. Now it’s just the USA and the Sovjet Union, the last two superpowers.”

After a moment Ludwig simple added one sentence to his statement. “I miss my big brother.”

In some way she could relate to that.

Amelia sat down besides the defeated nation without saying anything.

"I wish every day was like this."

He looked at her as she walked besides him with their arms linked together while they made their way up the mountain. Hungary was true beauty. She seemed happy, cheerfully talking about anything and everything she saw. Erzsébet had been asking him to take her out here and show her his lands.

When she had first asked for them to get some time away from his capital city, get away from both of their duties for a little while, he had told her he would rearrange his schedule which he was ashamed to admit he never intended to do. There were so many things that needed attention.

Later she asked him again if they could go somewhere together and he simple told her he wasn’t able to get away from his work. His empire and bosses demanding so much of his time. Roderich  remembers not being able to read the emotion on her face as she quietly left his office. Maybe his beloved Ungarn hadn’t shown any emotion for him to read the papers on his desk.

Austria had seen little of her after that. It wasn’t necessarily that his wife seemed to avoid him, but she didn't take part in any social event if she could manage it and between their daily plans, it became very difficult to find time to see the one another.

Again Erzsébet saved him. This time not in combat, but in his troubles  about how to get closer to her. His wife walked into his office and told him she wanted to get away from the palace and spend some time as a married couple. One difference was that she told him she wanted to explore the land, she didn’t ask him. The big difference was that while again he couldn’t read any emotion on her face, now he didn’t see any in her eyes and her eyes had always held so much feelings.

“Alright.” He had quickly agreed. And this time he had cleared his schedule, and hers, despite the humans complaining about all kinds of things. The Austrian nation simply let them talk while he was going to ignore them for some days.

If he did all the things they were telling him to do, he wouldn’t get away and he was sure he would lose his wife. Roderich would surely lose the love of Erzsebet.

Here they were, walking up the path of one of his mountains and she smiled at him. Truly smiled and he could see the utter joy in his wife’s eyes.

“I wish every day was like this.” He softly told her. He really wanted to see her happy, she was the most beautiful and simply herself when she was allowed to just be happy.

When Hungary looked at him with her eyes wide in surprise he felt sick.

She looked at him like he promised her there would be more days, many more, like this.

He actually just confessed to her this day was unlikely to have a repeat and she didn’t understand it just yet.

_____________________________________

For @aushunweek2022.

Gilbert sighed as he stared at Chiara from across the table. She had already been in this awful mood when he arrived at her house and while she opened the door for him with a quick, sharp ‘ciao’, she had not spoken a word since. The only reaction he’d gotten to anything he said or asked was a shrug or the woman simply looked away, but mostly she had ignored him.

Ignoring the awesome that was Gilbert Beilschmidt! He loved the woman, but he really couldn’t stand being ignored. Yet when he said he would take leave since his little brother could really use his help with all the work he had, the small Italian woman had attached herself to his arm and dragged him to the table.

Which brought them to this current state of being absolutely bored, and a little worried he had done something wrong, and looking angry.

The former knight sighed once again. “If you’re not going to talk to me I’m going home.”  Chiara looked at him again but remained silent. Gilbert stood up and continued. “I’m going home and if you hold on to me again I’ll just drag you along.”

She pouted. At least that was another reaction then the ones he had gotten from her today.

Walking past her, she finally spoke up. “There’s a hole in my jacket.”

The man turned around in confusion. “That’s it? The whole silence thing is about a hole in a piece of clothing?”

His girlfriend crossed her arms and refused to look him in the eye. “I really like it.”

“So fix it.”

“I can’t.”

“Have it fixed then.”

“I don’t want people to know I can’t.”

“Really?”

“Of course!”

“You can do that?”

He nodded and as he was handed both the coat and a needle and thread, he set to work.

“You were a knight, why would you know anything about sowing and repairing clothes? “

“Limited resources and clothes had to last. I never forgot the skill, turned out useful during plenty of wars.” After putting in the last stitches, he returned the coat to its owner.

The brunette still didn’t seem happy as she accepted the coat. “Well done.” In fact she looked close to tears.

“What is wrong now?” He didn’t understand what he did wrong.

“I can’t do this!” She looked close to tears as she admitted. “I can’t even get the thread through the eye of the needle. It’s one of those things Feliciana is great at and I’m useless at.”

Ah, so that was what is was all about.

The man wrapped his arms around his woman and hugged her tight.

“You’re the most beautiful and skilled woman I know.” His face turned red, he was still getting used to saying these things to a woman, but she needed this. He knew what it was like the be the second, overlooked representation of an whole country.

The hug was returned and the couple smiled at each other.

“Sure you’re going back already?”

“No. West can deal with the paperwork.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

@prumano-week prompt needle & thread.

Forgotten but not alone

He was walking besides his little brother. The one that had at some point managed to grow taller than him.

At some point their bosses cared for wanted Ludwig’s attention more than his and he had been pushed away from his brother’s side and he walked besides other people with a position within the government.

Then the other nations were more interested in Germany’s company than in Prussia’s. Which was good, in a way. He had fought wars so his baby brother would be able to grow strong and important. He had known what he was giving, he just didn’t fully realise what it would take from him.

After the war, no one wanted to know of him. His people, his brother’s people, hated him. The west was glad to forget about him, so much for his best friends. And Russia… Well, Gilbert thought the eastern nation wanted to hurt someone as much as he had been hurt.

He and Ludwig had hurt the other man badly.

For his massive union, Ivan was alone. Gilbert, on the wrong side of the wall, was mainly forgotten.

Alone and forgotten seemed nearly the same thing.

Maybe Russia and Prussia had something in common.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Prussia had walked in the shadow of Gemany.

Gilbert had come to terms of being forgotten in favour of Ludwig.

It was okay, he was glad to be home at last and to see his little brother thrive.

He would forever recognize the look of someone who was forgotten. Someone who was alone.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Everyone loved her little sister. Perfect little Feliciana.

Loved the woman so much they forgot the true heir of Rome. His oldest grandchild.

So of course they would forget about Chiara as easily.

As the people gathered around the representation of Italy, the older sister was left in the rain.

Chiara tried to take cover near a small, closed store and watched as the crowed moved away from her without noticing her absence while the rain continued to pour down on her.

Until it suddenly didn’t and she looked up. The brother of the potato eater her sister liked. The older potato eater. She was about to tell him to mind his own business when he spoke up.

“Want to follow that crowed or do something that is actually fun.”

“The fun is where that crowed is.” She answered sharply.

“Only if they remember you.” He looked at her. “I’m alone here and they seem to have forgotten about you.”

“Alone and forgotten are nearly the same thing.” She answered.

The right thing to say, since the man smirked and lead them in the opposite direction.

Chiara had never felt this happy to walk besides someone, the way she was happy to walk by this other forgotten nation’s side.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Maybe there was something to the way her little sister talked about her potato eater.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

@prumano-week prompt forgotten.

He was not about to run to his older siblings, he refused to. Henri was his own independent person. A few strange noises in some foreign hotel would not scare him. So what if the building was old. At his age, not that many buildings were older than him.

There had been that odd feeling about this recently renovated hotel that had him feeling off since the moment stepped inside of it and that feeling had only grown stronger the longer he remained there. Almost succeeding in falling asleep, the small nation was quickly awakened by a sharp and loud noise.

Sitting upright nearly immediately, the blond turned on the light but saw nothing in his room. Hearing the sound again yet seeing nothing, he threw the blanket off of himself. The only things he grabbed on his way out were his phone and his key card.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Making his way down the hall quickly, mainly to put distance between himself and his room, he found himself in front of his sister’s door. He didn’t want to knock and wake up Emma up in the middle of the night because he heard some noises in his room, but he couldn’t wander the hall all night in his pyjamas and he certainly wasn’t going back to that room alone.

So he knocked on the door. There was no reaction and he knocked again, harder this time. Believing the sound had gone unnoticed by his sleeping sister, he was about to knock on the door again just as Emma opened the door. “What’s wrong? Why are you still awake?” she asked him, not sounding like she had been sleeping at all.

Against his better judgment, still standing out in the hall, he blurted out “I can’t stand the sounds in my room.” His sister nodded in understanding and stepped aside to let him into her room.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Once inside he noticed some Halloween movie was playing on the television and how loud the volume was. No wonder his sister hadn’t opened the door sooner. Emma was already settled on the couch the room offered, where she had obviously been sitting before. She was eating some popcorn and held out the bowl to him, while staring straight at the screen and clearly doing her best to ignore all the small sounds that could be heard in the room.

Not knowing what else to do, he took some of the popcorn and turned the sound up just a little more.

Neither mentioned it, until they heard an unearthly noise. Emma grabbed hold of her little brother and they ran out of her room and towards their big brother’s room, a floor above theirs and on the other side of the hotel.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The rapid and urgent sounding knocking on his door roused him from his well earned sleep. He tried to ignore it but the noise wouldn’t allow him to fall asleep again. Throwing the covers of him he walked to the door of his hotel room and threw it wide open.

Ready to throw insults at however was disturbing his sleep, he saw his brother and sister huddled together. Seeing the fear on their faces he quickly ushered them inside. “What happened?” He asked as he shut the door.

“You’re not going to like this answer.” Emma said silently while Henri looked at him with those begging, hopeful eyes.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

She was right and he didn’t like their answer. They had awoken him because they were scared of the noises. They were grown, independent nations. Their fear of some noises should have annoyed him, instead the look on their faces had worried him. There simply were a lot of noises in this building. It might have been renovated recently, but it seemed it hadn’t been the greatest renovating.

That is how the Benelux siblings had somehow ended up trying to sleep in one bed. It was a large bed, but it wasn’t easy to fit all of them on it.

So he held both of his siblings close and waited for them to fall asleep, before going back to sleep himself.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A sudden and loud knocking that seemed to come from the room’s ceiling startled all of them awake. Their frightened looks angered him and he stormed to his door and threw it open.

No one.

Stepping out of his room he looked around the hallway but still didn’t see anyone and with the layout of this place they couldn’t have been fast enough to be out of sight already. Alright, so no one had been knocking on his door. Going back inside, he picked up the phone to make the hotel staff get whoever had the room above him stay quiet.

He would have walked up there himself, but he didn’t want to leave Emma and Henri alone. Also, the woman minding the phone had told him he would have been standing in front of the door to an empty room.

Empty room. No one staying there. Okay. He wasn’t going to share that information.

He went back to bed and waited for them to fall asleep again.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Loud noises coming from the wall nearest to the bed woke them all up. He was about to stalk off to the room next door before remembering the was a closet next to his room. How could he forget, he had a friendly conversation with the lady from room cleaning while she had collected some things from that exact closet.

Silencing the hushed whispers of his siblings, he got out of bed and walked over to the desk and wrote down something on a piece of paper.

Opening his door, he stuck the note on the other side and shut the door again.

Once back in the bed he gathered his family in his arms and told them to go back to sleep, leaving no room for arguments.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Next morning found Henri smiling at his brother after he showed him the sign.

Next morning found Emma sighing at him after she read what he had written down.

“Really Johan, you told whatever was making that noise it had to pay toll before getting inside your room?”

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Prompt "I thought I heard something." for @hetaween-event-2022 with the Benelux siblings.

Once upon a time in a far, far away world, there was a large country and in that country there were many cities and many towns. Some big and many small ones. This story will be about one of those towns and in particular about one boy that lived in that town and about .

The town this boy lived in was a small town and all the people and children knew each other. So everyone knew the boy lived on the farm at the far edge of the town, were every year the snow would always linger the longest after winter turned to spring and the rest of their small town had already turned green. It made the boy’s family farm feel like it was from another realm altogether and its proximity to the large lake of which no one knew what was on the other side of.

The unknown was what made the local people afraid of the lake and that’s how the stories about it had started. How beings from lands of the other side would come to visit and stories about those visitors not being human. Those stories led to the people of the town telling stories about how the farm and even the family who inhabited it attracted these strangers towards their little community.

The condition of the only son of the family, the young boy was called Ivan, didn’t help with the gossip the people whispered when they thought no member of that little, isolated family wouldn’t be able to hear them. The boy, Ivan, had the strangest condition to his heart. It had started when he had been really young and it had worried one of his sisters. His other sister still very little at the time.

As for his parents, his father rarely showed any emotion and had so much work to do on the farm Ivan rarely saw the man even though they lived in the same house. Ivan didn’t have any recollection of his mother, but he liked to imagine that he remembered her voice and that the tune he would often hear hummed just before he fell asleep at night was what she sounded like.

Despite the all the stories and the harsh thumbing of his heart that was sometimes so strong the Ivan felt like his heart would break out of his chest and one a few accessions even the other boys of the town could hear it, they still played with him. They thought was strange, but they did not fear him.

Until the day it happened for the first time. Some of the children had been saying mean things about his family and Ivan loved his family. His heart had started beating harder and harder, louder and louder like he was used to it acting like that sometimes and suddenly the beating stopped. It felt odd that the beating stopped so suddenly, but he thought nothing of it until the other boys started screaming and pointed at him.

As Ivan looked down at the ground he saw a heart and while that scared him, it was the hollow feeling in his chest and as he raised his hands, the hole he could feel there that truly frightened him. As the children ran towards their homes, the boy scrambled to grab the beating heart on the ground and ran in the opposite direction towards the farm.

As he arrived there, he scared his sisters and his father, emotionless as always simple took the heart in his only son’s hands and shoved it back into his boy’s chest. After that, the man wrapped bandages around his son’s chest. Then he had to go finish the day’s work.

At least he has his sisters, who hugged him and accepted him even though his heart could fall out and be put back in like it was nothing.

Ivan didn’t leave the farm anymore and simply played with sofia and Natalya or helped their father while he worked the land around their farm or took care of their animals.

Eventually the boy who played on the farm grew into the teenager who worked on the farm. Even if he had less time now to spend with his sisters as their father grew older and couldn’t do as much work as he had been able to when his children were younger, he was grateful for any time they could spend together. Together they were happy.

The teenager who worked on the farm grew into the man who owned the farm. Ivan grew up to be a tall, strong man despite his heart suddenly falling out of his body sometimes and the his father came to pass. Or was it the other way around? The story is not clear on that one, but in either version the only son inherited the farm from his father. On his deathbed the man still seemed to lack emotion, but he told him to take care of his sisters and to protect his own heart. For the first time he spoke of his wife and how his son had always reminded him of her. How it was not as bad to meet someone from outside of their little town as the people said it was.

He wondered how he had reminded his father of the mother he didn’t know. Did he look like her or was it that he acted like she did, maybe both? Sofia told him he was gentle like she used to be. She always cared about him and he loved her for it.

Like his father before him, Ivan worked very hard and earned little for his effort on the farm but at the end of the day he was proud of the work he and his sisters had managed to do and was happy to simply have a meal with them and talk about anything they could think about. The work they had done that day, the work waiting for them the next day, how nice it would be to spend a day playing on the farm instead of working like they used to do as children or together they would imagine stories about the people on the other side of the lake. Unlike the scary stories the townspeople told, their stories were happy and hopeful.

Yet hope can only do so much. When difficult times came to the town, so did they come to their farm and no matter his hard work he could not make enough money to take care of the farm. He send sofia to the town to find work and when she came back saying there was no work, Ivan send her away from their family home to find work in another town.

She was angry at him and left without saying goodbye while Ivan and Natalya stood side by side and watched her until she was so far away the wasn’t visible to them any longer. Life continued, for two of the siblings it did so at the farm and for the other one it did in her new home. She managed to find work and send home money for the farm, but she would not send home letters.

It hurt him to do this and it hurt even more when it proved useless as the money his sister send still wasn’t enough. Ivan asked Natalya to go to the town and find work. The youngest sibling went on her way and Ivan stood by the farm as she left. When she returned, Ivan stood by their home awaiting her return and as she came closer he could see the fear in her eyes.

He hang his head low, knowing what he would have to ask her and she hang her head low, knowing what her brother was going to ask her. Ivan asked her to leave and Natalya begged him to let her stay with him. The brother denied the sister. As she told him she didn’t want to leave him all alone, he hugged her and begged her to write home. The sister promises to the brother.

Natalya found her way to another town than there sister, she wrote him. She had asked around and the people there didn’t know sofia. In her letter, she also let him know she found work and would send money to him soon. That she wished he didn’t feel too alone back at home, that she missed him and hope to go back to their farm soon.

Ivan loved the letters Natalya wrote him and she did write him often, but he was alone as she had feared. The children from town he ones played with had grown up like Ivan had, but they still feared him and the way his heart would escape him. The new children had all heard their stories and would not go near the old farm.

As the days went on without company, Ivan would walk by the lake more and more often. Staring at the land on the other side of it, so far away it couldn’t be seen except on the clearest of days. Imagining his own stories about what the people from there would be like in the same way he used to do with his sisters before he turned them away from their home. How emotionless he must seem to them and how he wished for warmed that even the fire in the fireplace couldn’t provide him in the absence of his siblings.

A moment of movement, a bright flare like a bonfire caught in the corner of his eye brought him out of the thoughts that made his heart beat so loud he had pressed his hands against his chest the push his heart back in the moment it left him. The man turned to see what had caused that light, but saw nothing no matter what direction he looked. With a sigh he went back to his home and forgot about the light.

The next day, he went to the lake and again that bright flare occurred while he was deep in thought and wishing to have his sisters by his side to alleviate his loneliness. Again, he saw it from the corner of his eye. Only this time it was much closer, still at a distance yet on his side of the shore. The light had moved across the lake. Frightened, the man ran home.

On the third day, Ivan refused to leave his house. No work was done on the farm that day. There was no flare on any shore that day, but a small flicker did occur.

The fourth day work on the farm was resumed, but the flare or flicker was left alone on the shore to wait as Ivan wanted to stay away from the lake.

Yet on the day after that, when his fear has subsided and his curiosity had grown, that Ivan had returned to the shore and this time he did see something after seeing the flare in the corner of his eye. When he turned, he noticed a young man.

“You left.” He accused.

Ivan ignored the accusation and looked at the other man. Somehow he looked bright like the flares he had seen. Hair the colour of the wheat on his land and the sunflowers he tried to grow and eyes as blue as the sky was on the days the shores on the other side of the lake could be seen.

He looked normal at first glance, but as Ivan looked long enough he noticed sparks and small flames forming around the body. This man so bright was made of fire. Somehow Ivan knew this and nods.

“I left.” He agrees. “Where are you from and why did you here?”

The blond simply points across the lake. “I want to see more than just the place I come from.”

Silence falls between them for while, but it’s comfortable. At least to Ivan, because the man of fire starts speaking again. “Don’t you want to see other places? If you leave you might find a friend, I know you long for company.”

It startles him and he almost runs away again, but his heart start beating loud and harsh again so he focuses on pushing his heart back before it can even get out.

“No, I send my sisters away from home and they wanted to stay and I can’t have friends, I only scare them away.”

It’s was the man of fire’s turn to be surprised.

“How can that be? You’re so tall it’s a little scary, but you seem nice enough.”

“I’m cursed. My hearts falls out of my chest when I feel too strongly. It scares people away.”

“That scares away people, it doesn’t scare away friends.”

“Then what would friends do?”

“They would catch your heart and return it to you, of course.” The man of fire smiles like the sun as he explains this to someone who never had a friend before. And as he looks at the taller man besides him he realizes he did just that. “Show me your home?”

Ivan takes the man of fire from across the lake to his farm and while they talk the sparks get bigger and brighter and warmer. His friend feels like the sun.

“Call me Alfred.” The sun says.

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They work together on the farm and things get better. So much better that the sunflowers have started to grow and Ivan writes his sisters to come home.

Natalya writes a long letter home immediately and will return soon as she can. Hoping to meet this friend that kept her brother company in her absence and that didn’t fear to hold his heart after it broke free from his body.

Sofia takes her time to send a note back and keeps it short. She met someone in her new hometown and will not return to his farm. She will continue to send money.

Ivan tells her there is no longer any need for that.

Even the people in town are kinder to Ivan, because they have taken a liking to Alfred who is charming and bright. He just needs to remember to keep his sparks and flames down because these townspeople are easily scared of things they do not understand.

Alfred adores Natalya and the quiet girl, young woman really, seems fond of this bright fire that walks around their home. Only the sun turns restless and wants shine his light on other things, places, people. He asks Ivan to travel the towns on this side of the lake, maybe come with him across the water.

Ivan hesitates.

Natalya tells him to go. She’ll take care of their farm that she missed so much while she was away. She’s happy she got to see other places and she wants that for her brother as well.

Ivan just has to promise her to return home.

Ivan and Alfred promise to come home to the farm.

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For huggiebird5017 for the rusame exchange @spaceracedates

Using the prompt Fantasy AU that kind of turned out like a fairytail with human!Ivan and fire being!Alfred.

Gilbert stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw her. She was as beautiful as she always was, but that didn’t stop him from staring at her in horror. Or the infant in her arms. The way Daina was rocking the child in her arms to sleep while softly cooing at it looked right on her, but he was nowhere ready to deal with a baby.

He only just got ready to give this relationship a go and he was still very new to it, yet Gilbert had grown to trust Lithuania who knew how to survive in this household and had taught him how to after the war ended.

There hadn’t been a small child for him to take care of since Ludwig had been little. Which made him think about how much he missed his little brother, being separated from him by that damned wall. How quickly he had grown up, much faster than Gilbert himself, but the younger nations seemed to grow so fast these days.

Only now did she notice him. “Hello Gilbert.” Getting no greeting in response, the Lithuanian woman took a closer look at her partner. “What’s wrong?” she asked, seeing the fear on his face.

“Please tell me that isn’t yours.” As he pointed at the small, noisy bundle in her arms. Daina looked at him like he lost his mind. “It’s not mine, right?!” She simply signed as she shook her head.

“No, of course not. This is the little girl of one of the woman working in the kitchen.”

The Prussian supported himself against the wall before leaving the room.

“I’m getting a beer!” He yelled out in relief. Lithuania smiled softly and continued to rock the human child while she looked as her love fled from the room.

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Prompt: accidental baby acquisition for @lietpruweek.

Oops, forgot about this event. So here is a small little thing for the prompt magic for @royalredbrosweek.

"I'm sorry dad. I know they're around us, but even if the world would listen to me... Look at how they treat you when you speak of magic."

They looked at each other and then back down at the fairy dancing on Matthew's hand.

"It's alright son, whenever you are ready." And Arthur smiled at his boy, happy they shared the gift of being able to see them.

Canada had known the Netherlands for a long time now.

From the days Madeline was still overprotected by either France or Britain and both had told her Holland was this scary monster figure lurking in the shadows.

Their bedtime stories had frightened her then but the only thing she truly remembered about the other European nation was the scar that had caught her attention at some fancy party, even though both Francis and Arthur had taught her not to stare.

She only really got to know him long after that time, during his time of need. The actual man, not the shadow monster. His royal family fled to the relative safety of Arthur’s island and then some of them found their temporary home in her country.

Their stories about their nation painted a whole other picture about the man and he seemed nothing like the boogeyman she was afraid of as a child.

It made her want to learn more about the man, his people and the lands within the borders of that small piece of Europe.

Maddie got to do that when her own people were send to liberate his country. She had seen plenty of fighting by then, but she finally got to meet him for real. Not as just some childish colony that was introduced during a formal event and ignored afterwards.

The man didn’t look like a monster. He been so pale and thin when they met and her gaze had been drawn to that scar above his eye. Back then he had been a man losing his believe in a good ending and had it showed.

The Canadian had known right away that she couldn’t stand that look on his face. For some reason she felt like the man before her should always be happy, there had been something about the way he looked at her and didn’t once mistake her for her sister that made her feel special.

After the war, they became close friends quickly. Johan send her tulips bulbs and continued to send them to her, actually he never stopped. At some point he started to send her letters as well and maybe because she answered all of them, he started writing her more often.

They had fallen in love long before they even noticed their feelings were far more than friendship and had loved each other ever since.

By now Madeline knew all of Johan’s scars. The ones he got during the war and the ones that are much older, even older then she was. The scars more recent.

Johan knew all of Madeline’s scars. From her fight to liberate him, the scars from the war before that one and scars with all kinds of origin stories.

The only scar of they hadn’t spoken about, explained or gently touched was that one scar above his eye.

He took her hand and pulled her close against him. He leaned in and whispered his story to her, and only for her to hear.

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Prompts Historical & Scars (day2) for @nedcanweek.

"I give up! I give up, you win!"

Erzsébet found him sitting behind the grand wing while he was playing a gentle tune, although the music seemed to lack its usual grace. Like he wasn’t focused on it and that worried her, he was always focused on his music.

So she hurried over to him as fast as she could without running. Roderich disliked it when she did that, besides she wasn’t that tomboy anymore. She was a woman now and she would behave like it.

Sensing her besides him, his fingers slowly came to a stop above the keys and the room grew quiet. Just as Erzsébet was about to ask him why he had asked to see her when he spoke. “I give up!”

While she had no idea what he meant, Roderich rose from the piano bench. Standing before her, her beloved finally looked at her and told her “I give up, you win.”

The man took her hand into his own and began speaking. “Your people have been creating a lot of problems within my empire, Elisabeth.” The brunette was well aware of this herself, but she still loved this man.

“They’re angry with me and want you to have a better position within my home. My bosses have at last agreed to this.” And with his other hand, he gently placed a ring on her finger. An engagement ring.

“After our wedding, we’ll form the dual monarchy of the Austrian-Hungarian empire.”

For a moment, she was in shock. “How do I not know this? Why haven’t my people told me this!?”

“That is because I requested that I’d tell you myself, since I will soon be your husband.”

With that said, Roderich returned to his music and Erzsébet was a soon to be bride.

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Prompt "I give up! I give up, you win!" (and a bit of the prompt "I wish I had a say in this.") for @hetalia-aushun-week

Fairytales

“’Mando, ‘mando!” He could hear his little brother calling out to him, but young Armando just wanted to play outside with his friends. Not spend his time with Antonio, who had started to follow him around everywhere since the kid had learned to walk on his own. Sort of.

Then their mother had read that fairytale to them and Armando had assisted her. Since that one time ‘Tonio wanted him to tell him the story all the time, because only Armando did the voices just right.

And as soon as the story ended, his baby brother would demand that the story would be told again from the very beginning.

He couldn’t wait for the kid to learn how to read himself and leave him be, but for now he had to find a hiding place where Antonio wouldn’t be able to find him or he would have to read him the same book for the fifth time today.

Day 3 prompt fairytales for @hetaberia-week

Made this prompt a human!au.

“Wait, do you have everything?”

Feliciana had visited him for a few days and now that it was time for her to go back home, it had taken her several times to get all her belongings packed.

On the first try, she was about to walk out the door when he noticed the book she had been reading was being left behind on his couch. The blond quickly retrieved it and gave it to the brunette.

Then on the second try, as they walked through the front yard, he noticed her sketch book. He knew she couldn’t live without that and was quick to grab it for her.

Third attempt, Ludwig had been ready to wave her of when he noticed one of her dresses had been left to dry on the clothesline. He took it off and handed it to her while she was already in the car.

The Italian woman took the dress and placed it on the seat beside her, this time really ready to take off.

“Wait!” The German said quickly, before she could say goodbye and close the door. “Do you have everything?”

She just signed, so he added “This time.”

The woman placed her hand on the side of his face. “If I forgot anything, I’ll just have to come back to get it.”

“Or I can mail it to you.” He offered. “No,” she disagreed “I’ll come back for it.” And then she drove away.

Later that evening, the blond man walked into his bathroom to get ready for the night and noticed the extra toothbrush. Feli could be so disorganized, even leaving her toothbrush at his place…

Oh…

Ohh…

He finally got it. His Feli would be back soon.

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Day 1 prompt "Wait. Do you have everything? for @geritaweek 2023.

"You don't do work on a day off!"

He only needed one moment for her to be distracted while they were preparing the pasta. From scratch, not out of a package, like Feliciana always insisted.

It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy cooking with her, of course he did. He liked cooking and he loved those small domestic moments the two of them were able to share when their busy schedules would allow them to be together.

This time Ludwig’s schedule was going to be very hectic for a few weeks and he had wanted to get ahead of some simple paperwork. It was the kind of paperwork that actually needed his signature more than it would need his attention, but then the Italian woman had shown up at his house a little earlier than expected.

Then he caught his lucky break, just as they started boiling the pasta the sound of Feli’s phone could be heard from his living room. As she went to answer Chiara’s call, the man quickly sprinted to his home office and started signing papers from the pile waiting for him on his desk.

As he started signing off on papers, he quickly lost himself in the mindless task. Also, Feliciana’s conversation with her sister didn’t last as long as he had hoped it would.

So now he knew he was going to face her wrath and this woman could get angry. The other nations just never saw this side of Feli.

The door to his office flew open and slammed into the wall. “You don’t do work on a day off!”

For a moment Ludwig was frozen in his seat.

“It’s only a small pile of documents…” he started before the brunette’s glare cut him off and then she dragged him back to the kitchen. At least the pasta turned out great.

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Prompt 5 "You don't work on day off!" for @geritaweek