"Mr. Williams, why must we know the exact date of Prussia's dissolving?"

"It's 'dissolution', and because you need to know random little tidbits like that in case you're ever on Jeopardy."

The class laughed, causing their blond teacher to grin happily. Wanting to end the lesson on a good note, he didn't assign homework for the night, and the teenagers chattered like birds as they left when the bell rang.

Matthew Williams straightened his glasses and smoothed down his tie. He had a tendency to move a lot when he was teaching, and today was no exception. Back at the beginning of the year, the juniors and seniors had mocked him for his stuttering and his quiet speaking, but once he got used to them he opened up and showed them world history with such exuberance that he quickly became a favorite teacher. In fifteen years at this school, Matthew hadn't had a single teen fail the Regents test at the end of the year. And in at least 100 years teaching, less than thirty students had failed.

Naturally, none of the students knew about his secret: being the country of Canada when he wasn't at school. The alumni suspected something was weird, especially when their kids had him for history and he didn't look a day over twenty-five, and that would be the year he had to move on to another school. Whenever he left, his good friend and fellow country Gilbert Beilschmidt, aka Prussia, followed him.

Every year there were a few teens in both Gilbert's music class and Matthew's history class, and those teens would try everything to get the pair to 'get together'. The countries found this amusing, and actually encouraged it. For example, they would both say their favorite food was pancakes drowned in maple syrup, and the students had a field day dropping hints that one was a perfect match for the other.

As Matthew attempted to get his hair into some semblance of normalcy, Gilbert strolled into his classroom with his usual greeting of "Hey birdie!"

"Hi Gil!" Matthew exclaimed happily. "Just wait 'til you hear what Tyler said to me before second block!"

"Let me guess, he wants us to chaperone the prom together?"

Laughing, Matthew nodded. "How did you know?"

"He said the same thing to me! How many years have we gone now?"

Matthew took a second to do the math, and said "Almost every year since you w-were…" His voice trailed off before he finished.

"Oh birdie, how many times must I tell you the awesome me is ok with talking about mein dissolvment!" Gilbert giggled while Matthew hissed "It's dissolution you dolt! Dissolvment isn't even a word."

Waving his hand as though to brush away the lack of real words, Gilbert said "Anyway, shall we pull out our World War Two uniforms and start coordinating outfits?"

"The students will love that!"

"Ksesesese! Exactly!"

After a few minutes of laughing, Matthew picked up his books from third block and started setting up for fourth block's lesson on Canadian Involvement in the Second World War. While he shuffled papers around, he asked "Hey Gil, why're you up here? Don't you have a class this period?"

"I wanted to see mein awesome birdie, so I got Alfred to sub for me!"

Matthew stared at him, then shook his head. "Really now?"

Gilbert rubbed the back of his neck nervously and blushed. "Actually, one of mein kids wanted me to ask you to dinner at the awesome restaurant she waits tables at, and in order to get me to ask they placed bets on whether or not I would…"

There was a pause in the conversation, during which Matthew raised one eyebrow and closely regarded the albino in front of him. "Is ze awesome Prussia too scared to ask his liebe to dinner?" he taunted, faking a german accent.

Gilbert's blush deepened, and he mumbled "Is that necessary, birdie?"

"Oui! You know you love me, Gil!"

Before Gilbert could respond with a witty remark, two students tumbled into the room. The boys had obviously had their ears pressed to closed door, and accidently opened it in the process of listening in. Matthew jumped behind Gilbert, who was laughing uproariously.

"Why are you two… ksesesese… up here and not at class?!"

"We didn't think you'd actually do it!" the taller of the pair exclaimed. His friend, who was too embarrassed to speak, nodded in agreement.

"The awesome me is asking Herr Williams to dinner at Sarah's restaurant. Run along and tell her that." Gilbert's face was red from laughing, and Matthew's nerves finally settled enough so that he could see who had interrupted their flirting.

"But we don't know what Mr. Williams is gonna say!"

Matthew realized all the attention was on him. "Uh… o-oui I w-will go to dinner avec v-vous," he stuttered, and the teens shared a look of amusment. Gilbert knew they would be telling the class that Matthew had talked to him in french, which every single one of the kids would find romantic.

"There, you have your answer, kinder! Now, get back to mein awesome class." When Matthew muttered "sil vous plait" behind him, Gilbert added "bitte?" to his command.

Giggling, the taller of the pair called back "You gotta come too, Mr. B!" as they left, causing Gilbert to blush again. Matthew hugged him quickly, and gently pushed him to the door.

"Pick me up after school?" the blond asked softly.

"Ja. Birdie, I am sorry they-"

Matthew cut him off by placing a finger to his mouth. "Non, get back to your class. If you stay much longer, they'll think we're making out or something."

Gilbert laughed at that, and kissed the end of Matthew's nose lightly. "See you after school, birdie!" He waved and walked into the hallway, heading back for his own classroom.