Author's Note: Since I saw Prussia's groping moment, I've been wondering where Hungary heard that men get a penis when they become adults, sooo... yeah, that's what this is. I feel sorry for her bosses until after 1525. All twenty-two of them.

Warning: This fic is a little more forward in wording than people might be comfortable with as far as physical anatomy is concerned. Also features some of my headcanon regarding Hungary's (and Romania's) ancestry and Prussia's names.

Disclaimer: Not particularly historical, but I'm dabbling in this because I agree with Prussia in wondering who told her that and so I'm writing this idea of mine.

Hungary Grows Up

1179 A.D.

Hungary was feeling great about today! He had just finished beating the crap out of weak, little Austria and still had enough energy left to go hunting! But it wasn't as exciting to go by himself. Perhaps he'd take Knights Templar along with him. If he could find him; that knight was always going off on some new crusade. He really didn't want to take Poland with him. He didn't have the same spirit about hunting and would likely forget what they were doing out of boredom. But before he could pursue such a relaxing activity, he first had to report to his boss, King Béla III and bring the good news. It had been a cinch! Really, it was so easy that Hungary nearly felt sorry for Austria. Nearly. Not quite enough to not feel good about having done so. Austria would pick himself up again just fine, he always did. Hungary thought for a moment, trying to figure out where his boss would be. Probably in his room changing out of his war attire and getting bandaged as soon as possible. He hadn't been critically-injured – Hungary himself had seen to that, just a slight grazing to his arm – but it would still need to be cleaned so that it could heal properly without getting bad stuff in it.

Hungary put on a sprint and dashed toward the king's quarters as fast as his legs would carry him. He would be very happy when he had the height of a full-grown man at last. Maybe he'd even be as tall as King Béla III himself! It was a pleasing idea for sure! He nearly ran over Croatia helping his aging mother, Dalmatia, in his haste, but didn't pause in stride even when the other boy yelled after him and started cursing him out. What did he care what that weak, little boy thought? Hungary let out a hearty guffaw and arrived promptly at his king's quarters. He wasn't even breathing hard and that filled him with smug pleasure. He must be getting stronger! He could see the improvement even after just a few months!

He burst in with all the rancor of his youth and snapped to attention with fervor, "Your Apostolic Highness King Béla III, I bring my congratulations and my final report to be heard at your leisure! How is your injury, sir?"

It did not bother him at all that the man was completely naked.

It was only slightly-disconcerting for the king to be completely unclothed before the boy, even though he had to remind himself that this was no normal boy and he had known him and his ancestors since they were born.

"Very well. If you'll allow me the luxury, I would like to fit myself into clean clothes before receiving your report. Would you wait beyond the door in the interim?" he added as a last minute thought. He knew he shouldn't be so embarrassed, but there was... something about the way that Hungary kept staring at him, his eyes drifting down to his crotch region specifically, that unsettled him more than it should.

"At once, your Apostolic Highness!" Hungary said smartly and immediately strode out of the room.

No longer having those bright green eyes boring into him, Béla III took another examination of the wound he had received on the battlefield and then dressed himself appropriately, taking great care around his arm to not agitate it. It was a little sensitive, but he would heal and the scar would teach him to dodge and parry better next time.

"Hungary!"

The door opened just as the name had left his mouth and there the boy stood, grinning and excited as any normal child with his apparent age, "Sir! We have successfully-defeated Austria, but of course, it was no big deal. If nothing else, that'll teach him to try and protect our political enemies! Your arm, sir?"

Béla III gave a dry smile. Hungary was never gonna let up about his arm until it healed. "It'll heal and it'll make me stronger for it. Austria should learn to take a page from that book," he half-growled and the impudent whelp nodded vigorously; pleased with the statement as if he had expected nothing else. "Anything else to report, young man? If not, then be on your way."

Hungary's enthusiasm instantly dampened, "Not officially nor anything in regards to the report either, but... I personally have a question, your Apostolic Highness."

This was new. Hungary rarely ever came to him with a question. It seemed he had always known everything. "Then speak, lad."

Hungary seemed considerably heartened by the positive response. Apparently asking a question was just as difficult for him as it was for him to be asked a question by Hungary. "What was that long... flesh thing surrounded by hair on your crotch?"

Béla III blinked twice in rapid succession. That was... unexpected to say the least. But even though Hungary was many tens of years older than him, he did still have the body of a boy. His body wouldn't start to change into a man's until he was around a country's equivalent to a normal twelve-year-old boy and he surely wouldn't live long enough to see those changes.

"A penis," he said matter-of-factly.

"Oh..." Hungary stated, and though it was slight, his expression seemed to say that he was not quite satisfied with that answer. The male nation turned his head sideways slightly and asked, "What's it do?"

Instantly the entire world around them seemed to shatter into a million pieces at the same time a million new ones filled the slots. In seconds, he realized the full nature of what he had been asked and had uncovered a mind-boggling truth in turn. Hungary had asked... because he'd never seen one... because he didn't have one... because Hungary...

was a girl!

It was completely illogical and nonsensical that he-she had never seen a naked male before in hi-her already-long life. Even he-she believed that she was a boy! And yet here he stood, desperately trying to figure out how to answer... her question. He could tell him-her the truth and that h-she was really a girl so... she wouldn't have to worry about it, but that would still leave the question unanswered and though he was struggling with the very concept of Hungary being a girl, he still knew Hungary and Hungary-the-lad would persist until he had a real answer. But what could he say? It had two functions, one of which would be proven false for him-her in an instant and she wasn't old enough to learn about the second function! Beyond just answering his-no, her question, how would the la... lass react to learning that 'he' was really a female? Ah, no, those bright green eyes were boring into him so... trustingly. This was going to be difficult, he could just tell.

"It's... It..." he started haltingly, and then finished in a voice barely above a grumble, "proves that I'm a man."

He couldn't say it. He just couldn't say it.

"- like you?"

"Hm?" Béla III asked as he refocused his attention on the young country. He had been – no, Hungary was a she – talking and he had missed most of it.

"So I'll grow one when I've proved myself and become a full-grown man like you?" Hungary repeated in earnest.

Béla III's eyebrow twitched in disbelief. What? Had he heard that right? He'd better correct hi-her right now. Lord Almighty, he was never going to get over the gender change. "Ah-" but then he paused.

Why should he get over it? What was wrong with allowing Hungary to continue to think of himself as a boy? Even though Hungary was a girl, she was still a very strong country for her age. What would happen to hi-her if he learned that he was a girl? Well, he wouldn't be weak, not even the women of his kingdom were weak, but Hungary certainly wouldn't be as strong as a man. Hungary would learn the truth eventually anyway, but why did it have to be now, at this impressionable age of childhood?

"Yes... something like that..." Béla III agreed with only slight reluctance, silently thanking Hungary for accidentally providing him with an escape to answering that question. It seemed to please Hungary at any rate because his expression lit up tremendously and he made a swift bow to his king. "Just one more thing, Hungary. Don't barge into closed rooms without knocking and asking permission from now on," Béla III suggested, "I was quite startled when you entered and it was fortunate I wasn't carrying anything sharp or I may have cut myself."

Translation: He didn't want a little girl to see him naked again.

Hungary gave a slight groan, "Ahh, I'm back to that old rule again? Anya (1) had me do the same thing before she was... killed..."

So it was Hungary's mother who had kept the kid's true gender a secret even from herself. Well if her father had been anything like his brother, Magyar, he could understand wanting to keep Hungary's gender a secret. Having a daughter would have been absolutely mortifying for a Héderváry man. "Hungary..." he said sternly, reminding... him – he would just stick with calling Hungary a male from now on, regardless – of his place.

Hungary gave a resigned sigh and bowed, "Yes, your Apostolic Highness. I obey."

()()()()()()()()

And so from that day on, the Great Secret of Hungary was passed down from one Hungarian king to the next so that not a single one would endure the same embarrassment that the Great King Béla III had experienced early on in his reign. Of course, Hungary remained blissfully unaware of this generational secret, but even he, completely secure in his masculinity, couldn't help but notice the changes happening in him and the other countries around him as they grew older.

Hungary was very pleased when he suddenly realized that he was taller than all the other boys his age, including Knights Templar – that arrogant ass – who started being called Teutonic Knights in 1190, and he was starting to grow hair in interesting places, namely his armpits and around his crotch. Still didn't seem to be growing any facial hair though. Maybe that too would come later when he became a man. But as the decades dragged on, Hungary slowly watched as every single one of the other boys steadily outgrew him, even cross-dressing Poland and soft-voiced, but clever, Lithuania. All their shoulders grew much broader and no matter how long or hard he trained, only the sheer force of his will (and the fact that his kingdom was extremely powerful) saw his victory in battles to overcome their new, greater natural strength. He could still take on Austria, but even he, who he had foolishly and wrongly thought a weakling as a young child just because he couldn't beat him, would have been able to overcome him if he weren't such an active country, because Austria was getting stronger!

That was another thing that had changed. Hungary spent less time beating him up for the sheer hell of it whenever he saw him and more time talking to him. Once Austria had gotten over his initial (and completely understandable) distrust that he was just going to get beat-up again by Hungary, he turned out to be a very good companion to talk to! Much better than his older brother, Teutonic Knights! Were they seriously related? ! They were both stubborn as hell if that counted for anything. Austria also had a very good ear! He could always tell which birds were chirping in the trees (if they were talking) while all Hungary could hear were birds making noise.

"I had plenty of time on my own to just sit and listen," Austria had told him with a dry smile right up until his voice had dropped an octave on the second syllable of 'listen'.

Hungary had laughed then and Austria had taken it in good humor – seriously, he was so nice and sweet! No arrogance at all and it eased a little of the guilt he felt about beating him up so much if this was the result – but it left another oddity in Hungary's mind. Austria's voice wasn't the only one that cracked on occasion, but not his. Never his. And there was... one other thing that Hungary felt... strangely uncomfortable about letting anyone see. While the chests of all the other boys grew wider, the upper part of his grew outward into two bouncy lumps of flesh. They were weird. If they had muscles in them, they weren't the same kind as the ones in his legs and arms and they cut down on his speed efficiency, so he wore tight shirts and leather jerkins to squeeze them as close to his body as possible (at least they were malleable). This often made his chest appear flatter than it actually was which saved him some embarrassing questions from the others boys because he didn't know what they were – he was too prideful to ask – and also, for some reason that even he couldn't explain, Hungary didn't want the other boys to see them.

Even though Hungary didn't ask any of his people about what was happening to him, of which any of the adults would have understood immediately, he wasn't stupid. As a kid, nobody would have known the difference for they all look the same, like many grains of sand. But he was now the approximate height of most of his women and some of the shortest men. He didn't need to look hard to be able to compare the two to himself. He already knew that his body looked more like a Hungarian woman's than it did a man's. And in search of answers, he paid more attention – more observation skills that he had learned from Austria to be honest (he was really liking the idea of Austria living with him more and more every year) – to his young people, the ones in-between children and adults. None of them grew at the same rate, but many of them shared the same signs and changes; the girls experiencing what he had (well, except for one thing, he had never had blood coming from his crotch) and the boys experiencing what he had witnessed in the other male nations growing up, including his much younger neighbor, Wallachia.

He wasn't... really a man... was he?

Uncertain about whether he really wanted confirmation of this or not, Hungary carried on with life like nothing had changed. Indeed, nothing had. The fact that all the other nations still treated him the same, regardless of his own supposition that he might really be a woman, cheered him up greatly and he allowed himself to forget all about his concerns regarding his gender. He could still best all the male countries, even if he did have to work a little harder at it, but he had something to prove and (unless it was Ottoman Empire, because he was just difficult like that) it always carried him through. Gender didn't really matter all that much anyway. It was reassuring to know that.

The question of his gender would not enter his head again until April of the year 1525. Teutoic Knights had been facing something like a civil war among the Order because of the spread of Protestantism and the only way to salvage it was to convert to Protestant, thus acquring his mother's name by becoming the Duchy of Prussia (and a Polish fief in the interim, ha!) and he had recently been beaten-up by Ottoman Empire again when he received his confirmation. After his battle with Turkey, Hungary hadn't realized that his shirt had come undone and his... fleshy lumps (he really needed to know what those things were called) were only half-covered and when Prussia noticed them, he went pale and speechless. Hungary had never seen Prussia look so uncomfortable and embarrassed- no... he had... just once when his chest was hurting and really sensitive (knowing what had grown there, he could see why) and he'd confessed to thinking he was sick (oh, how wrong he was). So this was his final proof and there was no denying it. Prussia would never be so obvious about expressing such emotions unless he were being honest. Being embarrassed and uncomfortable was nowhere in the book of how to be 'awesome'. So it seemed that he had reached the moment of truth. She wasn't a man anymore than Poland was a woman.

After Prussia had thrown his robe/jacket-thing/whatever at her and told her to keep it (in a low, strained voice that gave her the impression that he was going to dunk himself in the nearest ice-water he could find), the first thing she did was search out her boss after she had torn the sleeves off Prussia's clothes and made make-shift bandages for herself. The crown had changed hands twenty-one times since Béla III had been in power, and now her boss was King Louis II. She knew exactly where he would be. Like so many kings before him, she had known him since he was born so she knew him about as well as his parents did and she was very familiar with his duties as king. She found him with ease.

"Louis II?"

The Hungarian king turned about-face and his face relaxed when he saw that it was just her, "Hungary...! Yes, I- Are you alright! ?" he paused suddenly as he caught sight of the temporary bandages around her waist.

"Yes, sire, I bandaged up properly from material I confiscated from the newly-named Duchy of Prussia," she informed him with a slight smirk. She didn't have to tell him that the confiscation had been voluntary on Prussia's part.

Louis II gave a slight twitch of a smile in response, "Yes, I suppose you would have. You're not like any of the young men in the armies. You've got a true wo- warrior's sense of importance in quickly attending to wounds."

She might not have caught the catch in his voice yesterday, but that was not today. She'd heard his pause mid-sentence. He'd been about to say 'woman's'. So he knew the truth too. She couldn't say she was surprised. She had looked like this, a full-grown adult, for longer than he had been alive. She also realized that King Béla III had known the truth ever since that fateful day in 1179. The secret had probably been passed down through the generations until she finally realized it on her own. Hungary couldn't really blame Béla III for keeping her true gender a secret from her. She'd had uncertainties of her own when she'd been suspicious of the differences between her and the other male countries. Who knew how the truth would have affected her at a much younger age? No, she was grateful and content to have learned it all on her own though it had taken her over three hundred years to finally accept the facts.

"It's alright, Louis," she said soothingly, "You don't need to keep pretending for my sake any longer." He looked slightly puzzled and her smile widened, "I'm a woman and I'm okay with that. I'm still the same country you've always known."

Louis II's mouth dropped into an open 'O' of comprehension and he chuckled nervously. "We had always wondered how long it would be before you reached that conclusion though I thought it was obvious from the beginning. When did you find out?"

"I've suspected it for many tens of years when I saw how the other male countries were growing, even little Wallachia, and I wasn't following the same pattern, but I put it out of my mind until today. Prussia just about confirmed it when he saw these," Hungary said with a smack of emphasis to the center of her chest.

"Yes, that would do it, wouldn't it?" Louis II said in an embarrassed mutter, very much reminding her of Prussia. These things sure had some strange power over men.

"What are they called anyway?" she asked suddenly.

Louis II's cheeks reddened slightly, "Breasts."

"'Breasts'?" Hungary repeated in a dry, humorless tone, "Like a chicken breast?"

"Same sorta thing, yes."

That was really... lame. Hungary felt kinda ripped off.

"Thank you, Louis," she said calmly and her smile was grateful, "I hope this has eased your mind somewhat."

"Yes. Slightly, but it's enough," Louis II said with a slight sigh. "Does this mean that I can call you Hölgy (2) Hungary now?" he asked with a roguish grin.

"Oh, you impudent rascal!" Hungary exclaimed in mock-outrage, but her smile took the edge out of her words and she left him alone to return to his work.

I guess this is as good a place as any to end it. I decided to be blunt because... well, mostly, I hate beating around the bush and using made-up words (that sound stupid) when there is nothing wrong with the official word for an object.

(1) Anya – Mom

(2) Hölgy – Lady (like a noble title)

Now for some frame of reference. Hungary called for the Teutonic Knights to help them deal with the Cuman-Kipchaks converging on their land in 1211 and the king granted them Burzenland out of gratitude and payment for their services. They were dismissed by 1225 because King Andrew feared they were getting too powerful because the Teutonic Knights wanted some Bishop to first answer directly to the Holy See and not to the King of Hungary. This bit is actually in Hetalia: World Series! See Episode 1, the first part of 'The Great Prussia's Diary'.

According to Hetalia, Prussia-the-Awesome became the Duchy of Prussia in 1525 (it's accurate), but the territory was only allowed to do so thanks to Poland's generosity, so the Duchy of Prussia was pretty much a vassal of Poland (WOOT! Prussia as a servant in Poland's house and wearing a maid dress! I wanna see that! ! ! XDD). Hungary's king at the time was Louis II who died the next year in the Battle of the Mohács against the Turks and thus, half of Hungary went to the Habsburgs and half of it went to the Ottoman Empire as a result of succession contention because Austria claimed Hungary through Ferdinand I's marriage to Louis II's sister AND through Ferdinand I's now-widowed sister.

I have no idea what the time frame was when Prussia found out that Hungary was a girl when they were kids, so I decided to play it safe and have her learn the story of how the penis grows in later when they're adults before 1211 when Prussia was definitely around and I figure it had to be her bosses who told her (and were keeping the secret) or else, I think she would have been told a lot sooner than 1525.

I chose Béla III's reign mostly because it was a long one before 1211. Only upon reading up on him did I learn that he was quite a historical figure in Hungarian history (and he really was a giant for his time! Two meters was huge back then!) and they did fight the Duke of Austria shortly after he ascended the throne. His opponent in contention for it (I think he was one of the Gézas) had tried to escape to the Holy Roman Empire.

I love me some AusHu; they have sooo much history together, seriously. I also feel kinda bad with the degrading way that I wrote Hungary with respect to her thoughts on Austria, but kids (especially uber-strong, badass little girls that think they're boys :P) don't understand the different types of strength that exist apart from the physical.

Now for my headcanon. If the Hetalia wikia page is to be believed, then under the Minor Characters section, it says that Hungary has a relative called Magyar who taught Hungary how to fight (and also where she picked up her masculine speech from), but based upon some very careful research on my part, I decided that he would not be her dad, but her uncle from her dad's side. It is my headcanon that her parents were killed (yes, killed) when she was young, and so she was practically raised by Magyar, who was none the wiser as to her true gender.

Also say hello to Wallachia, the country who is, in my personal headcanon, Romania's eventual daddy! That's right people! The actual country known as Romania is actually REALLY young and was created through the union of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1862. So for me, THAT means that Wallachia and Moldavia are Romania's parents! And Wallachia was actually IN one of the episodes in WS (though we only saw the back of his head and he was wearing a cloak) when Hungary was informing Lithuania of all the nearby powerful countries, right after Prussia said "Pagans must convert or be tortured!" in a sing-song voice and before Prussia came and shot Lithuania in the head with an arrow.

It is also my headcanon that female nations do not have a menstrual cycle because not only would that be awful to have, but it would be impossible when you have a near-immortal lifespan. (Now for some technical jargon) Women are born with a LOT of eggs in their ovaries, but because of the way that human eggs mature, a lot of the potential eggs don't even make it to maturity to attempt to leave the ovary and get fertilized. Not all eggs are strong, A female fetus has her maximum number of potential eggs around 7 million and that number is already dropped down to 1 or 2 million within the few months it takes to be born and then that number has dropped down to around 300,000 by the time (normal) girls start puberty around 10 – 11, so within that time, a female has already lost 700,000 potential eggs. Only about 300 or 400 eggs ever reach maturity and if a woman has her period every month, that's only enough eggs for about 25 – 30 years. Even if a woman can post-natally produce more eggs (and recent – this year – research has reported that human women have similar germline stem cells to those of mice which can produce eggs post-natally though whether humans can has not been verified), it still wouldn't make a significant impact on a woman of immortal age.