Belgium flopped down in the long grass with a heavy sigh. Spain was at it again. How many centuries had they been together, and he was still prone to those annoying fits of being the womanizing ass he'd been for so long. She knew it wasn't intentional; it was just what he knew.

"If he had to be a woman, he'd get just how insulting he can be." She muttered, plucking a blade of grass, and twirling it absent-mindedly in her fingers.

Despite how times had changed, he always got so condescending when Belle wore pants, he didn't see a problem in staring at other women when they were out in public, and to top it all off, it was like he made a point of mocking her agony once a month.

"He wouldn't laugh if I punched him in the kidneys and made him piss blood for a week." Belle stopped herself with a mental slap. She'd been spending too much time with Elizaveta. The Hungarian was really rubbing off on her.

Still frowning, Belle sat up, brushed her hair out of her eyes, and stood up to return to the house. A few hours of the cold shoulder, and Spain would cave; going back to being the loving man she'd fallen in love with. He'd promised to take her out to dinner that night anyway.

But that just wasn't how she wanted to deal with problems like that for the rest of their lives. There just had to be a better way.

As if on cue, a loud cheeping sound caught her attention, and Belle turned to look for the source. "That sounded like Gilbird… I swear, if that Prussian idiot is coming over to cause trouble again…"

The yellow ball of fluff came hurtling towards her, smacking straight into her temple, and fell to the ground with an indignant cheep.

"Come on little guy, you'll get hurt doing that." She cooed, scooping Gilbird up in her hands. "So where's your albino?"

"He's sleeping off a hangover." Belle blinked in shock, thinking for half a second that Gilbird had actually spoken. Then she realized that it was absolutely ridiculous, and started looking around for the person who'd actually spoken.

Answer came in the form of England clamouring over the hill, panting slightly. "Good morning Arthur."

"Morning. Mind handing the little blighter over? Gilbert will have a heart attack if he wakes up without the bird."

"Sure." Belle held Gilbird out in both hands for the Brit to take. "So how did you get stuck bird-sitting?"

"Well, to make a long story short, never agree to be Gilbert's designated driver. Years of drinking with him and the others, you'd think that I would've learnt that by now."

This was followed by a long silence, which quickly became awkward. It was just one of those statements that there really was no answer for.

"Um, you know, I couldn't help but hear you talking to yourself earlier. Is everything alright with Antonio?"

"I suppose. It's no big deal, really. He's just a bit insensitive sometimes. But it's not like anyone can do anything about it, it's just part of who he is."

"Of course. I know I can name a few traits of a few people, I'm not going to name names, that we could all do without… actually, I've been working on some spells that could fix that. If you'd be willing to let me give it a go…"

Belgium wasn't stupid. She knew perfectly well that when Arthur was going to 'give something a go'; it usually didn't end very well.

The hesitation must've shown quite clearly on her face, as the Brit quickly back-pedalled. "Well it's not just me of course! That bloke Norway's been giving me a hand ironing out the details, and we've tested it out a few times on myself, and nothing's gone terribly wrong!"

"Wait. If this is some sort of 'personality changer' then why are you just as irritable as always?"

"Ah, well, you see –snide comment aside– it's not quite a personality changer. It's more something that would put our dear Spain into a situation that will hopefully… oh how to I put it? Force his outlook on your situations to change for the better?"

"What exactly does it do, Arthur? I'm not exactly going to sign up someone I care about for one of your experimental spells!"

"I'm not exactly at liberty to tell you. I find that when you know exactly what will happen, it doesn't have the same effect as when it's a surprise."

"So you first figured this out by accident, didn't you?"

"I'll have you know that some of the greatest discoveries this world has known were accidents!"

"Thank you for your concern. Now you'd better get back before Gilbert wakes up without his precious bird."

"You don't trust me at all, do you?"

"It's not you, Arthur. It's your abilities, or lack thereof. Now I'll see you at the next conference. Have a nice day." And without another word, Belle turned around to begin the walk back home.

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Belle hummed quietly as she laid out the dress she'd picked out for dinner. It was the dark red backless one with the slit along the left leg that Antonio always complimented when she wore, without fail. It was a gift from Hungary, if she remembered correctly.

For once, her hair was cooperating, and lay just so, and now all that was left was for her date to get home. He'd been at a meeting with his boss for most of the day, but he would be back by five, and their reservation was at six-thirty. Just enough time for him to have a few minutes to rest before he had to get changed so they could go.

Minutes turned into hours, and the sun started to slip a little lower into the sky, changing the light from a cheery yellow to a sombre gold. And Spain was nowhere in sight. Belgium continued sitting expectantly on the couch, fiddling with the black bracelet around her wrist.

"Maybe he's running late. I should give him a call." She reached over to the side table, and grabbed the cordless phone. With inexplicably shaky fingers, Belle dialled the ever-familiar number, and held it to one ear, letting it ring.

"Belle! I was just about to call you!"

"Where are you? It's almost six! If you don't hurry up we'll lose the table."

"Mi corazon, the meeting ended later than expected." Belle felt her heart sink a bit. She knew exactly where this was going. "I won't make it home until late. But listen! I've got tomorrow off, and I thought we'd go visit Lovi and Feli for the day. Sounds fun, right?"

"Right." Her fingers clenched around the phone, and her voice felt tight. "Sounds great. I'll see you in the morning then."

"Thanks for understanding. I gotta go now, bye!" And he hung up, just like that.

Belle continued holding the phone to her ear, even after the other end went dead. "I love you too." She murmured, letting her arm drop to the cushion beside her.

It only took her a few minutes to decide exactly what to do next. Green eyes fierce, she dialled the phone again, and waited.

"Hullo?"

"Arthur. It's me… I was wondering if your offer still stands."

"Sure."

"Alright then. Do whatever it takes."

"Right away!"

Maybe she was just being paranoid, but the Brit had sounded just a bit too happy. It made her worry.

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Thanks for reading~!

And a one, and a two… Happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday AllAmericanSpirit! Happy Birthday to you~! And many moooooore! Hope you have a good one! And the rest of this will be posted...later. Way later. After the other ones are done. I just wanted to get chapter one out for ya! :)

On a more story-related topic, next up, the results of Artie's spell will be revealed to the general public.