"Hey. Birdie, you wanna go outside and look at the stars?"

I smiled as I finished the last of the dishes. Gil and I had been vacationing at my cottage for a few days. But the night sky had been overcast, so we couldn't go out and stargaze. The fact that Gil had stars in his eyes as he asked me proved that the celestial bodies were out tonight. I got on my thin jacket, not bothering to put on bug spray. The mosquitoes didn't particularly bother me. I made sure to spray Gil, because the bugs seemed to love his blood. We walked out the back door to the wide expanse of green that lay behind the smallish log cabin we were residing in. I looked skyward and sighed in happiness.

"G-Gil... they're beautiful!"

"Ja... but I'm looking at something more beautiful"

I didn't need to look to know there was a wink hidden somewhere in there. As I continued to gaze upward, strong arms wrapped around my midsection and a warm, loving body pressed itself against my back. I threaded my fingers through Prussia's as we looked over the shimmering dots in the sky. All at once, Gil sat down. He pulled me with him. I guess he didn't know the ground was wet, because he made a small sound of displeasure after. I simply chuckled and curled up in his lap. His arms formed a blanket around me. I pressed my cheek against his collarbone and closed my eyes, letting my other senses take over for a little.

In the near distance, I heard waves gently lapping against the soft sand of a beach. I heard crickets singing their songs, owls asking their famous question and of course my albino's heartbeat. It wasn't beating fast; it was just a slow, rhythmic beat. Much different from when we were first dating. I often wondered if nations could get a heart attack because of how hard Gil's pulse beat through him sometimes.

I breathed in the scent of the dew-y grass, the faint whiff of salty sea-air, bug-spray and a faint whiff of a scent I can only describe as Gil. He had forgotten his cologne when we were packing for this trip, so the scent he had in the morning carried on throughout the day. Sometimes it was hard to detect, because everything in the cottage smelled like maple. Which was rather odd. We weren't anywhere near maple trees. Perhaps the cottage itself was made out of maple wood? That was probably it. Though it was built so long ago that I can't remember.

"Enjoying this, liebling?"

I blushed at that term of endearment. It was my favourite, simply because of its English translation. My darling. I don't know why, but letting my mind translate it from German makes my heart melt. Gil knows it too, I'm sure of it. He only uses it in these tender moments, when both of us have our guard completely down. I nodded and placed a small kiss on his neck. A soft chuckle escaped him as he pressed his lips to my forehead. I opened my violet eyes to look at his deep red orbs. The colour never failed to amaze me. At first glance, it was just red. But the longer you stared, the more shades and colours you could pick out in them. I have identified almost all the shades of red there is in Gil's eyes at some point. There's also been flecks of blue and violet. Those flecks are so easy to miss, though. But when you've been studying someone's eyes for more than three years, you tend to notice these things. A soft smile crossed Gil's lips. The look he gave me made me melt even more. It was a look of total adoration, one I figured was only for me. I didn't know of anyone else Gil was this comfortable with. Honestly, it make me blush to think that the albino I was currently sitting on, the great nation of Prussia, would choose little old me to pour all his love into.

"You know, Birdie... I've always liked the night"

"P-pourquoi?"

Gil fell silent as he let his gaze slide upward once more. His eyes immediately got distant, like he was watching something I couldn't see.

"Because it's so... peaceful out here, Birdie. All my life, I thought the night was relaxation and peace. Kind of weird for me to be talking about peace, huh?" He chuckled his signature laugh and I merely rolled my eyes. Taking his past into consideration, it was weird. but this is Gil we're talking about here. He has more quirks than anyone I've ever met. For instance, the only thing that will get him out of bed in the morning is the promise of pancakes or cinnamon buns. Preferably both. Gil sighed happily and his eyes followed a constellation. Orion, I believe.

"I always think of Fritz... and I wonder... if he'd be happy with how my life is now. I wonder if he'd be happy I found another nation that's like me..."

"I-I think he would be happy"

"Ja... I think so too. But I think he'd be more grateful to you for putting up with me... how do you put up with me, anyways?"

I smiled and snuggled closer, brushing my hair out of my eyes. I took my glasses off and set them in the wet grass. With that obstacle out of the way, I peppered kisses all along Gil's neck and jawline.

"I-I put up with you because it's... fun, most of the time. You t-tend to get in the weirdest situations... such as getting a lamp shade stuck o-on your head"

Gil laughed at that. Normally my comment would be met with a counter-comment about how the lamp shade was unawesome or something of the like. But that Gil had gone to bed. For now, it was the sweet, kind-hearted, gentle guardian Gil. My eyes lifted to the black sky.

"Gil?"

"Ja?"

"D-do you think... do you think Aama a-and your Grandfather know each other i-in heaven? A-and what about all the other Ancients? D-do you think they all know each other?"

Gil's face pulled into a thoughtful smile.

"Ja, I guess it's a possibility. I mean, they've probably met. You see that star right there?"

"Th-the Northern Star?"

"Ja. That's the one that represents both our grandparents. That star is always shining, even when you can't see it"

I smiled as I took in the meaning of Gil's words. He was right; that star was an accurate representation of Northern Native America and Germania. I kissed Gil's neck once more, thinking of my grandmother. I knew she was proud of me. Gil started to stand up. I immediately lifted my head to see why. I felt a hand cup my cheek and soft lips press against mine. My fingers threaded through his silvery-white hair as my eyes closed. Our lips moved in a gentle dance, one that we'd practiced many times before. When we finally pulled back, Gil's eyes held nothing but syrup-textured love. He held my hand as we got up.

Gil took off his flip-flops and started walking. I did the same and followed him. The albino soon found a trail that wound and twisted its way to the shoreline. I followed closely at Gil's heels as we walked along it. As we got closer to the water, I could hear the waves beating against the sand. This was the first time we'd been down to the beach this year. And it was such a Gil move to leave it for a romantic moment. Once we finally got to the beach, Gil took off his shirt. He left on his shorts, which I was certain were going to get wet. He smirked at me expectantly, making me roll my eyes. I took off my jacket, then my thin shirt.

"Up for some night-time swimming, vogel?"

"I-I guess"

"Gut"

Gil picked me up once my jacket and shirt were in the sand. He carried me to the water. Once it was at his hips, he threw me in it. It was cold, of course, but not the coldest I'd ever swam in. As revenge, I grabbed Gil's ankles and gave them a hard tug, sending him flailing and splashing into the water. I saw him grin underwater and start to swim for me. I immediately turned around and swam as fast as I could away from him. Once I thought he was getting close, I did a semi-circle and swam past him. He sped after me like a shark. The water soon got too shallow to swim in.

I was almost on my feet when a large and pale body crashed into me. Instead of hitting the sand, however, I hit the aforementioned pale body. Gil was grinning and holding me close, the waves lapping at his face. I gently splashed him, making him grin and kick up a ton of water. Most of it hit my back. But a few droplets hit him in the eye. I giggled and splashed him some more. It turned into an all out splashing war, with both of us sending large amounts of water each other's way.

We were laughing and being generally obnoxious, but who cared? There wasn't another cottage for at least two kilometers in every direction. We were essentially by ourselves, so we could be as loud as we wanted. We soon tired of splashing and opted for wrestling in the shallow parts of the water. Gil only won once, but that was because I slipped on a rock. I won all three times after that. The Prussian growled and pouted, saying something about my wins being flukes. I clasped his hand and kissed the back of it, wiping the pout off his face and replacing it with a sincere smile. His long arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me close to him. I sighed in happiness and rested my head against his toned chest.

My eyelids began to grow heavy. I didn't know how long we were out here for. It could have been hours. Time tended to fly out of my sight when I was with Gil. The albino tilted my chin up. I managed to open one eye. Gilbert smiled and rolled his eyes playfully. We walked out of the water, hand in hand, forgetting our clothes for the night. When we came to retrieve them in the morning, they would probably be dry. And still there... the seagulls loved anything they could get their beaks on. Maybe our clothes would be safe? I have never heard of a bird who liked to eat clothes.

As Gil and I walked along the trail, my eyes decided to close. I had to trust Gil to lead me and make sure I didn't trip. He did very well. I only stumbled once or twice. I struggled to lift my eyelids once I felt grass on my feet instead of dirt and the occasional rock. As we were walking back to the cottage, I picked up my glasses from the damp grass. They weren't as wet as I'd expected them to be. Still, I didn't put them on. Gil held open the sliding door for me when we made it back to the log cabin. I stepped into the place and sighed in happiness. There was the sound of water hitting the wooden floor. At first, I didn't know what it was. But I looked down and saw that my shorts were still soaked from our water activities. Gil's were probably still wet too. I sighed and walked to our room, then just stripped and climbed under the covers. The albino chuckled and did the same, though I knew he wasn't tired. He had a habit of being awake at these ungodly hours. I pulled the blankets over us and snuggled close to him. We were both cold, but the blanket helped warm us up. Mon amour's chest soon became my pillow. He ran his fingers through my still-wet hair.

"Good night, liebling"

"Oui... it has been a good night... j-just don't expect me to get up in the morning"

"Even if I cook?"

"... W-we'll see"

Gil laughed softly and wrapped his arms around me. I cuddled closer and smiled. Even though I was tired, if every night with Gil were like this I wouldn't mind sacrificing a few hours of sleep. And a couple pairs of shorts.

((Okay, this was written at four in the morning after a massive attack of thilbo feels... so if anything's a little weird in this, blame it on lingering feels and the time))