The Trail and Error Process of Life and Love

Chapter 1: Trial Number One: Almost But Not Quite

Started – Jan. 15, 13

Finished – March 13, 13

Warnings: Thoughts of Suicide, Heartbreak, teenagers

Characterizations: Fem!Iceland Fem!Egypt Fem!Canada Fem!Romano, Fem!England Fem!America Fem!Japan Fem!Italy, Fem!Norway Fem!Finland Fem!Switzerland Fem!Poland Fem!Bulgaria

Rating: T

Summary: Life is a series of trial and errors, there's no manual and no way to know what to do when it hits you in the face. But people fight, fall in love, and find happiness through a long series of trial of errors that is life and love. HongIce, Turgypt, Prucan, Spamano, FRUK, RusAme, GiriPan, GerIta, DenNor, SuFin, AusSwiss, LietPol, implied RomBul

Trial Number One: Almost But Not Quite

Leon's House 10:30 PM

Leon and Mira sat on the floor of Leon's living room quietly playing a video game. To an outsider they appeared completely absorbed in the game, to each other however, it was blatantly obvious that something was on the other's mind, not the video game.

To most people, they didn't appear to be a couple. They never acted like it at either school or at home; no one was really sure of what they were, not even they themselves were sure. Exactly four weeks ago in a scene much like this one Leon had leaned over and kissed Mira square on the mouth before pulling back and returning to the game. Mira had stared at him in shock for a few moments before she too returned her attention to the video game. Neither spoke about it but it weighed heavily on both their minds.

Ever since Leon had defended Mira –who had just moved to the neighborhood from Iceland with her father after her mother had died- from some older kids who were picking on her accent the two had been inseparable. Leon had harbored deep feelings for the small girl ever since he first saw her; she was without a doubt the most beautiful girl he had ever set eyes on. He had acted on impulse that night, desperately trying to tell her his feelings before it was too late –as he'd known that someone was planning on asking her out the next day. Since then, he'd made no move to confirm or deny their relationship to the rest of the school, preferring to simply scare of any potential dates; the fear of her writing off the kiss as a mistake kept him quiet. Mira's character running his off the road snapped his thoughts back to reality.

"No fair, Mira," He said monotonously but his fingers pressing all the more furiously on the controller revealed his frustration to his opponent who simply smirked.

"Pay attention," She responded simply. They continued to play in silence for the next few minutes before Leon broke it once again.

"Is Svanna going to Prom?" Mira glanced at him.

"No."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?"

"I've got a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Do you…want to go get something to eat tomorrow?"

"Sure. Where do you want to go?" She asked distractedly.

"Italian, maybe." Leon wanted to smack himself for losing courage like that. The original question had been 'Do you want to go to the Prom with me?' but he had changed it at the last minute in a moment of panic.

"Fine. Noon?" Mira asked and Leon nodded and they stayed silent for the rest of the game.

Hetalia Academy 2nd Period

"-morrow would be good. I mean, it's not like she can say no, right? Hey Shula are you listening to me?" Shula glanced up at Sadik who was staring at her intently, waiting for her thoughts on his plan to ask her best friend Mira to Prom.

"Of course I am," she replied, though truthfully listening to her the person she loved go on about his affection for her best friend had been too painful to listen too so she had tuned out all but the end. Sadik rolled his eyes and smirked, easily seeing through her lie.

"Sure you were. Anyway-" as Sadik started another tirade Shula placed her chin in her palm and gazed out the window. It was a beautiful day. She caught bits and pieces of what Sadik was talking about but for the most part ignored him. She caught sight of Mira and Svanna with Berwald and his girlfriend Tina. Shula sighed. Half the school wasn't sure whether Mira and Leon were going out or not, but Mira had often confided in Shula about her feelings for the boy from Hong Kong and honestly Shula approved. Leon was a good guy, his only real fault was that he kept Mira in limbo for so long about their relationship but the Egyptian girl had a feeling that would all be resolved soon. Sadik, however, was certain that Mira liked him. Shula sighed again.

She and Sadik had known each other for years and the two of them along with Herakles Karpusi, a Greek student Sadik shared a love hate relationship with, had gotten into all sorts of mischief when they were younger, much to the chagrin of their mothers who were also close friends.

The three had been inseparable for most of their early years, until both boys discovered girls. For several years the two boys had avoided Shula like the plague, as it was 'un-cool' to be friends with a girl. And because Shula was the glue that had kept the two of them together the two boys drifted apart as well. When Herakles' mother had died during their first year of middle school Sadik and Shula had shown up to comfort their friend. After that the three were as thick as thieves again- even if neither of the boys would admit it. It wasn't till their second year of middle school that Shula had realized she was in love with Sadik.

That year Shula's mother had been struck by a sudden heart attack and was pronounced dead on the scene. Shula had been numb for weeks after the funeral nothing could bring her out of her shell and even the ever-persistent Herakles had given up on her, but Sadik never did. One night during a thunderstorm he had come to her room and enveloped her in a tight hug. The embrace combined with the fear induced by the thunder and lightening outside caused Shula to break down in Sadik's arms. He held her and let her sob until it felt as though her tears had run out. As he held her and whispered comforting endearments in both Turkish and Arabic she then realized she could not envision her life without Sadik in it.

"-La. Shula~ Hey Shula!" Sadik's voice returned her to the present, "Bell's just rung. You're gonna be late!"

"Oh, thank you," She replied and began to gather her things. As she made to leave Sadik called out

"Put in a good words for me with Mira would ya!" Shula turned around and gave a Sadik a rare smile. As she turned around and began to leave she wondered if she was imagining Sadik's eyes following her out of the room.

Hetalia Academy Science Wing

"Of course Canada's going to the finals!" Madeline insisted as she and Gilbert walked toward their third period class, "How could you think anything else?!" Gilbert laughed and held up his hand in a gesture of surrender.

"All I said was that Sweden might give them a challenge this year. Geez, you know for such a quiet girl you sure get riled up about hockey." Maddie blushed and turned her head away from Gilbert's laughter.

"Sh-Shut up!" She said and punched him lightly on the arm. He laughed again and swung an arm around her shoulders making Maddie blush even harder. It really didn't help the massive crush she had on Gilbert that he was a very tactile person; hugs, arms around the shoulder, hair ruffling were all things he did with his brother and his best friends Antonio and Francis and he treated her exactly the same way he treated them. Gilbert hadn't had any interest in a relationship for years according to Francis, who was her cousin, and once Gilbert made up his mind there was no changing it. "Even if he did," thought Maddie, "It'd be for some beautiful, talented, smart, out-going girl, not a shy, meek little wallflower like me."

Madeline had always had self-esteem issues, mostly stemming from the fact few people aside from her family could her and when they did they often mistook her for Emily, her older more out-going sister who had a talent for rubbing people the wrong way with her brutal honesty. Gilbert was the first person who could see her, to see Madeline Williams not a ghost or a replica of her sister.

On the first day of classes teachers and students alike had ignored her. She had been on the verge of tears after she had accidentally been shoved into a wall for what seemed like the hundredth time when a hand had landed on her shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" a deep gravelly voice had asked.

Gilbert had seen the petite blonde girl with glasses several times through out the day being pushed into walls, lockers, and just generally being completely over looked. Near the end of the day he noticed her being shoved rather roughly into the corner and her eyes well up. He headed over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Maddie had looked up to see Gilbert looking right at her with concern in his deep red eyes. The shock from someone actually seeing her combined with stress from the last few hours hit her hard and she passed out right there in the hall. Gilbert, of course, had panicked and taken her to the nurse. When she woke up a half hour later she'd explained her plight to a frantic Gilbert and that no, she had not passed out because she was scared of him.

Even though the Nurse forgot about ending to her neither teenager noticed as they talked for hours and hours about everything from Hockey to fluffy animals and soon it seemed as if they'd known each other their whole lives. A loud shout from the end of the hall startled Maddie out of her revere.

"Maddie!" Emily cried as she bounded up to her sister; completely ignoring Gilbert much to his chagrin, the self-proclaimed 'Most Awesome Student in School' didn't take well to people ignoring his awesomeness, "There you are! Ali and I have been looking everywhere for you! Come one let's go or we'll be late! Did I mention we looked for everywhere! Ali said you would be in the last place we look I a guess she was right! She right a lot." Alice Kirkland, the Williams-Jones Sisters' neighbor and Emily's best friend, was very strict about being punctual and was probably the reason Emily didn't skip out on school entirely.

"I was coming Em. No need to shout," Maddie said in a useless attempt to quiet her sister's over the top ranting.

"Well then let's gooooo!" Grabbing her sister's arm Emily began to race down the hall toward their next class. As Madeline was dragged away she caught sight of Gilbert making a 'call me' motion causing the Canadian girl to laugh. Before Emily dragged her around the corner she caught sight of Gilbert's own smile as he watched her leave.

Hetalia Academy 3rd Period

It was a well-known fact in Hetalia Academy that should the Antonio/Lovina couple ever break up the world would implode. Having been through about every disaster known to couples save for cheating since the beginning of their relationship freshman year it seemed nothing could tear these two apart. When Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, the most oblivious person in school, had crashed head long into feisty, ambitious Lovina Vargas the whole school knew sparks would fly. And though their beginning wasn't particularly smooth with Lovina cursing and hitting Antonio every time he got too close –which was anything less than across the room- and Antonio utterly oblivious to his and Lovina's feelings they had eventually admitted their feelings and had been the school's eternal and favorite couple ever since.

"Hey, hey Lovi~" Antonio whispered as he poked his girlfriend in the arm in an attempt to get her to look at him even though they were supposed to be in class, "Lovi~, Lovi~"

"Shut up, Tomato Bastard!" Lovi whispered loudly and turned her attention back to the teacher. Antonio crossed his arms and pouted but left her alone. Antonio gazed at his girlfriend, not particularly paying attention to the teacher; which turned out to be a poor decision as the teacher picked that moment to call on the poor Spanish boy to answer her question.

"Mr. Carriedo?" The teacher called, amusement lacing her voice, "Mr. Carriedo!" Antonio snapped his head forward and stared at her with wide, confused eyes.

"Huh?" The teacher sighed and shook her head.

"Please pay attention Mr. Carriedo." Antonio had the decency to look sheepish,

"Sorry Ma'am."

"Let's see if Miss. Vargas can answer my question. Miss Vargas?" Lovina stood and answered the question quickly before sitting down and continuing to daydream.

Antonio sighed –completely forgetting about the teacher's advice to pay attention. Lovi was smart, beautiful, and talented, even if she didn't always see it. She had a wealthy family and excellent prospects for her future. What did he have? A low paying job that barely managed to pay the bills, a tiny apartment in the worse part of town, and a few meager skills that weren't really marketable. He wanted to be someone Lovi could be proud of, someone she could depend on even after school. He had no money and no prospects, no way to provide for, hell, he could barely provide for himself! Antonio sighed. Was he really the best guy for Lovi?

Hetalia Academy Lunch Hour

Francis laughed as Gilbert attempted to pour his soda onto Antonio's head –most likely for insinuating Gilbert and his lovely cousin Madeline Williams were in a relationship- as the Spanish boy narrowly dodged the beverage and managed to fall of his seat in the process.

"Keep laughing Francis! You're next!" Antonio declared, "Gilbert has his sweet Canadian so it's only a matter of time before Alice confesses her undying- Ack!" Antonio was cut short as a Gilbert finally managed to douse him with soda and pulled him into a headlock, effectively cutting off all further speech.

"Hahaha!" Cackled Gilbert as he continued to torment their Spanish friend. Francis smiled at his best friends antics but his thoughts quickly turned introspective when he remember Antonio's comment about Alice Kirkland, his childhood enemy, who coincidentally had been his crush almost as long. Unfortunately, Alice's hatred of him has never been a secret and even though he had attempted to bury his feelings for many years they were still as strong as ever, much to his chagrin.

When they'd first met they hadn't exactly…hit off. He had seen a pretty-ish girl sitting in a corner, nose buried in a book and out of the goodness of his heart had gone over and invited her over to play with Antonio, Gilbert, and himself. He might not have used the best language but he was inexperience back then! How was he supposed to know that she would get offended if he called her a loner with ugly hair, granted it now seemed like common sense but to a seven year old boy who believed girls had cooties it seemed a perfectly logical thing to say. Alice, of course, had smacked him across the face before proceeding to jump on top of him and beat him to a bloody pulp with the book she'd been reading; needless to say not a great start. They constantly butted heads for the next few years on everything from their nationality to what type of flower was the best to whose cooking was better (not much of an argument in his opinion). However, end of fourth grade Alice had come dressed up in a dress, face clean, and hair brushed and to this day Francis swears she looked like an angel. Of course to his 10 year old brain he did immediately recognize he was attracted to fiery Alice Kirkland however it hit full force in middle school when he learned what dating was and realized the only girl he really wanted to date was Alice. Knowing she loathed him with her entire being he never spoke to her of these feelings and dated dozens of other girls in an attempt to bury what he assumed was a silly unrequited crush. He glanced up and watched Alice assault her food as she tried to Emily's prattling. Alice glanced up, caught his gaze, and glared. Francis sighed and turned back to his lunch, attempting to ignore eyes that were trying to burn holes into the back of his head.

Hetalia Academy Lunch Hour

Emily caught the exchange between Alice and Francis and shook her head. Those two would never learn. One of them would have to give eventually but until then…

"Hey Ali! Are you listening to me?!" Alice glanced up and her and sighed.

"Of course, Emily. And will you stop calling me Ali already?" Emily grinned.

"Nope." Alice rolled her eyes and continued to eat. Emily chuckled but stopped when she felt a familiar gaze on her back. She counted to three and whirled around.

Ivan quickly looked away before Emily could catch him watching her, though from the way she was glaring at him over the tops of her glasses she probably already knew. Ivan gave her a sweet (or at least what he hoped was sweet) smile to which she huffed and returned to her food.

It had been like this since the beginning of freshman year. He had literally crashed into Emily as she'd barreled down the stairs and square into the large Russian boy. At first he'd been impressed, not many people had the force to be able to knock him over like that, but he'd been less than pleased when the girl –who had run into him! – had the gall to tell him to watch where he was going. He'd smiled at her, purposefully being creepy, but to his surprise she hadn't back down, only flinched before returning to telling him off. He'd been so shocked he'd dumbly held out a hand and introduced himself as Ivan Braginski, pronounced Eevan. She'd stared warily at his hand for a second before doing a 180-degree turn with her personality and splitting into a large grin, grabbing his hand and shaking with a firm grip he did not believe a woman could possess, and introducing herself as Emily F. Jones, heroine extraordinaire.

They'd formed a friendly acquaintanceship, helping each other find classes, saying hello in the halls for the first semester of freshmen year. Second semester, however, had found the two partnered for a project, to which they had butted head on just about everything, from what they would present to the color of the design, nothing was above being argued over. They were stubborn, hotheaded, fiercely protective, and had much more in common then they were willing to admit. They would argue almost everyday, usually ending in Emily stalking off and Ivan taking out his unresolved anger on the terrified Toris, Eduard, and Ravis.

This had been the pattern until the middle of last year. Emily and Madeline's (whom Ivan got allow with quite well to her sister's chagrin) family had finally split up, their mother moving back to Canada and would've taken the girls with her had they not been allowed to choose which parent they would live with. Emily had run-away, gotten lost, and somehow ended up in Ivan's neighborhood. He'd found her bawling on the side of the street and had taken her back to his house. After a cup of tea and soothing words from Yekaterina, she'd calmed down enough to explain what had happened to him (Kat had left the room to call Maddie to let her know where her sister was). He'd rather awkwardly pulled her into a hug and she'd burst into tears all over again.

The next day she'd gone home but not before thanking the Braginski siblings for helping her, not acknowledging what had transpired between her and Ivan, leaving him very confused. Since then they'd not argued besides the occasional petty squabble, which had given him plenty of time to notice she wasn't completely insufferable.

The first thing he'd noticed was that she was pretty; with sky blue eyes, sunny blonde hair, and a figure most girls would kill it hadn't particularly difficult to notice Emily. Her personality had been harder. Having always looked for flaws he could torment her on it had at first appeared she no redeeming qualities. Until she'd stuck up for her nearly invisible sister from being bullied by upperclassmen. He'd seen a side of her she'd kept hidden from him, a calm, caring, loving older sister.

Not unlike himself Kat had pointed out to which he'd scoffed. But despite his objections he'd slowly began to see the good things about Emily F. Jones and before he'd known what had happened he'd fallen hard for the loud American girl. Unfortunately, Emily still hated his guts, leaving his options with what to do with his feelings rather limited so he'd chosen to keep them to himself, his older sister being the only exception. The bell rang, startling him out his thoughts. He glanced at his half eaten lunch and stood to throw the remains in the trash. Unfortunately, Emily had the same idea. They ended up at the trashcan at the same time, shared a heated glared before turning away and walking off in opposite direction. Yes indeed, Ivan was an excellent actor.

Hetalia Academy Rooftop

If someone wished to find Heracles Karpusi then one would inevitably end up on the roof, which was infamous for being the Greek student's favorite haunts when ditching class. He was currently fast asleep near one of the walls, with a few scattered cats curled up around him. This was exactly how Sakura Honda found him a few minutes later. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

"Heracles-kun, please wake up. It is almost time for class." Heracles didn't stir. The tiny Japanese girl sighed again and sat down next the Greek boy.

Sakura may be close friends with Feliciana and Ludwig but Heracles was undeniably her best friend. She had been hopelessly lost after transferring to Hetalia Academy from Tokyo, speaking only barely passable English and no one was taking pity on the poor new girl.

Heracles had noticed her from across the hall and, recognizing a few of the words he'd heard her saying, decided to go over and help the tiny, dark haired, dark eyed girl out. To say they had bonded instantly would be an understatement. Being one of the few in school who also spoke Japanese Heracles took it upon himself to ensure the girl knew her way around, and much to Sakura's embarrassment had no problem with physical contact, something that caused the extremely modest and traditional Japanese girl no small amount of embarrassment early on in their friendship. Their shared love of cats, quiet personalities and interest in each other's culture allowed the two to become very close very quickly.

Sakura glanced at Heracles who was still fast asleep and she knew from experience it was near impossible to wake Heracles when he didn't want to be woken. Sakura sighed again before standing.

"I'm going to class. I'll be back afterwards." She disappeared down the stairs.

As soon as the sound of her steps disappeared Heracles cracked open an eye and after confirming the Japanese girl was gone opened both eyes and sighed before shaking his unruly brown hair out of his eyes.

Heracles sighed and closed his eyes once again, hoping he could actually get some sleep before Sakura showed up again.

Hetalia Academy 4th Period

"Ludwig please pass the flour, Ve~!" Ludwig nodded and silently handed the flour to his bubbly girlfriend, who was deeply immersed in measuring out the dry ingredient for the cake in Home Ect.

If the German boy were to ever tell anyone that Feliciana Vargas, the school's resident ditz, could sit still and be quiet for more than a few minutes they would've called him a liar, up until the year before last he would've agreed with them.

When Ludwig Beilschmidt first transferred from Germany to go to go to school with his older brother he never would've thought he would make friends with two girls on completely opposite ends of the personality spectrum, let alone fall in love with the most bubbly, disorganized, laziest, sweetest, most wonderful girl he'd ever met.

Feliciana had practically assaulted him as soon as they got out of classes the first day and offered to show him around and while initially awkward around her he'd eventually warmed up to the Italian girl –despite her sister's vehement protests. Eventually, after a rather humiliating conversation about his feelings with his brother that mostly consisted of Gilbert laughing at him, he'd realized that he'd developed quiet a crush on Feli. That crush had soon developed into full-blown love and before he knew what had happened his brother had been shoving him out the door and refusing to let him back until he'd asked Feliciana out. He'd stayed with Sakura for almost a week.

That would've been the trend had Gilbert's best friend Francis not taken an interest in Feli two days before Valentine's Day. When Ludwig had seen Francis leering over Feli with the small girl almost in tears he'd beaten the Frenchman half to death before dragging Feliciana off and proceeded to kiss her senseless. Once he'd realized what he done the German boy had pulled back and stuttered out an apology, red faced and ashamed. Feliciana had then grab his tie and pull him into another kiss, equally red faced. After officially asking her out two days later –and after going through a very, very painful and embarrassing interrogation with Lovina who had finally deemed him almost worthy to take her sister on one date– they had become an item and had remained that way for the better part of two and a half years.

However, recently Ludwig had been feeling oddly…inadequate when he was around Feliciana. While they did have quite a bit in common their approaches to the same topic were completely different, not to mention they were about as different as two people could get. Where as Feli was bubbly, bright, happy, and permanently optimistic, he was cold, serious, straight-laced, and slightly pessimistic. He felt one day someone would come along who was much better suited for Feli than he was.

"Ve~ Ludwig? Are you okay?" Feli asked curiously as her boyfriend's face twisted into a frown. The frown was immediately removed from Ludwig's face, replaced with a small smile as he shook his head.

"Nien. Nothing is wrong, Liebling. We should focus on the cake, Ja?" Feliciana almost frowned; she hated it when Ludwig kept secrets from her.

"Si. It'll be so yummy, Ve~!" She replied, attempting to keep on her happy face; this was one of the few classes she shared with Ludwig after all and she needed to make the most of it.

Hetalia Academy End of 4th Period

"Svanna!" Mathias cried as he tackled the small girl. Surprisingly, Svanna did not topple over, but simply shoved the much larger teen off her and onto the floor.

"Stupid Dane," she muttered and started walking toward her next class. Mathias scrabbled up and followed her; ignoring the fact his class was the opposite direction. Svanna noticed but didn't comment, knowing from experience that the Danish boy would simply ignore her. Mathias had always been stupid and stubborn, especially when it came his childhood friend. Svanna, for her part, often threatened (and carried out) acts of violence on the Dane's person that almost certainly resulted in the loss of brain cells, however, she never outright told him to leave her alone.

When Svanna and her mother had moved in with her new stepfather Abram Mikkelson (though she had kept her dead father's last name, Bondevik) and his daughter Mira from Norway, the Kohler's had immediately come over and greeted them. Mathias had been excited at the prospect of a new playmate. Mira was too young to play with in his opinion, and even though Svanna had been both a girl and had unresponsive to his attempts to befriend her the Danish boy had refused to give up.

However, during elementary school Svanna's mother was struck by a car and killed. Svanna fell into a deep depression, refusing to talk to anyone and never smiling or showing any emotion. After three months of this Mathias barged into her room and enveloped her a hug. And while initially Svanna attempted to shove him away the Dane held firm and she eventually relented and allowed Mathias to hold her close.

"It's okay to cry Svanna," Mathias had said, "It hurts me to see you like this." Almost instantly the Norwegian girl had broken down and begun sobbing into the boy's chest. In that moment Mathias realized he would do anything for Svanna, he would always protect her. Eventually Berwald, Tina, and Mira were added to their group and the five of them soon became a small family –with the exception of Mathias and Berwald who seemed to hate each other on principle. And after several years, sometime during their first two years in middle school Mathias realized he'd fallen head over heels for the petite Norwegian girl, he loved her with all his heart.

Despite how close they were Mathias had never acted on his feelings for the smaller girl; Svanna had always been rather indifferent to the opposite sex and Mathias in particular had always apparently been held in a rather…unfavorable light. At least that was what everyone had thought until…

Mathias quickly shook his head. He refused to think about that. That incident had utterly crushed him, because for a brief time Svanna had been completely out of reach and then her heart had been shattered, shattering his in the process. No! He wouldn't think about it!

"Hey…Idiot, you're going to-" Smack!

"Ouch!" Mathias yelped and fell backwards after running into Svanna's classroom's door. Svanna raised an eyebrow as the other observers snickered or out right laughed. The Dane sheepishly rubbed the growing welt on his forehead and glanced up at Svanna, who was now had a small I-told-you-so smirk.

"I warned you, you idiot." Mathias frowned for a moment before hopping to his feet and grinning.

"Were you worried, Sv? That's so sweet." The smirk disappeared.

"Don't flatter yourself. I just don't need you failing another class because of lost brain cells," she paused then added, "Not that there were many to begin with."

"Hey-!"

"You're going to be late," She said, cutting off what would doubtlessly be an attempt to defend his intelligence (though he admittedly did fairly poor in academics. He just wasn't very good at focusing, damn it!) Mathias sighed and glanced behind the pale haired girl to see Berwald and Tina sitting together near the window, an empty spot next to them that was no doubt reserved for Svanna. The Dane frowned briefly before returning his gaze to the girl before him and grinning.

"Right! Better get going then! See you later, Sv!"

"Farvel." Svanna turned around and walked into the classroom and after a moment Mathias did an about face and began to walk toward his class, but not before sending a fearsome glare Berwald's direction.

Hetalia Academy 5th Period

"Hej Svanna!" Tina chirped as the Norwegian girl entered the classroom.

"Hej Tina, Berwald," Svanna replied as she sat down. Berwald nodded his acknowledgement and noticed the fierce glare Mathias sent him out of the corner of his eye. Really, that idiot needed to admit his feelings to Svanna and not just seethe jealously when ever she hung out with someone who wasn't him, particularly himself and Tina (mostly him though, Mathias was actually quite fond of Tina). It wasn't like Svanna would reject Mathias anyways.

"Hey Ber! Do you wanna do something after school?" Tina's sunny voice brought him out of his revere.

"S'r," his answer slightly diluted by his extremely thick Swedish accent. Tina grinned and turned toward their companion.

"Great! Svanna do you want to come to?" Svanna shot a quick look at Berwald before shaking her head. Tina's face fell but she soon returned to her former good humor.

"Oh well… it'll still be fun with the just the two of us, right Ber? We can go see a movie and then go to that one place off Main Street that sells the really authentic Swedish food!" Tina chattered, her Finnish accent thickening as her excitement increased.

"Ja," he responded. As Tina continued to talk about what they could do later Berwald allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts.

He and Tina had been friends for as long as he could remember. Tina was the only one who had dared to looked past his permanent scowl and stern glare and really try to get to know him. He was also the first person who stuck up for Tina and could silently sit and listen to her chattering. After a few years their friendship slowly evolved into something more, though both hadn't really noticed until Svanna and Mira got fed up with their obliviousness and forced them together through a series of embarrassing conversations and awkward dates in third year of middle school. Eventually Berwald had hesitantly confessed his feelings to an equally nervous Tina, who, blushing brightly had admitted to feeling the same way. The next day they were officially a couple. The whole school had practically sighed in relief and Svanna had rather bluntly explained to a confused Tina and Berwald that the whole school knew about their feelings except for those two. Needless to say the two had been sufficiently embarrassed.

Things had been going very well for the past few years but unfortunately there was a very important event coming up that Berwald was both dreading and excited for, Prom.

Now, Prom in itself wasn't that big of a deal, in fact it barely made a terribly big blip on the radar of life but Berwald knew that Tina wanted to go and he wanted to go with her but… Call him a coward (Mathias did that a lot upon discovering his predicament) but he was scared of asking Tina to Prom. It was silly really; that he was scared of asking his girlfriend and life long friend to a dance and its not so much the fear that she would say no but… Berwald frowned and resisted the urge to bury his head in his hands. Weren't girl supposed to the one's who stressed about this kind of thing?!

"Ber? You okay?" Tina asked, her voice startling the Swede out of his musings, "You've been awfully quiet." The Finnish girl placed a hand on his shoulder but before he could answer the teacher walked in.

"All right class! Please get out your books and turn to page 57. Miss Bondevik, will you please read-" And class begun, keeping Berwald from dwelling anymore on his dilemma and as he pushed his glasses further up on his face; he couldn't help but be grateful for small miracles.

Hetalia Academy 6th Period

Sierra Zwingli wasn't what you would call a girly girl though not quite a tomboy either. The Swiss girl was a crack shot with anything from a pistol to an assault rifle but still managed to be one of the best looking girls in school, not that she really cared about that sort of thing. She was more concerned with her guns, her little sister Lilli, and saving money; looks just didn't rank very high on her list of priorities. As she changed into her gym clothes she oblivious to the jealous looks the other girls shot at her and when she walked out of the changing room she was oblivious to the looks the hungry looks boys gave her. But even though she was ignorant of these looks did not mean everyone else was.

Roderich glared from the other side of the gym at the other boys as they watched Sierra. The Austrian born musician and his childhood friend, a Hungarian girl by the name of Elizaveta Hendervary, watched as Sierra made her way out of the changing room. The Hungarian girl couldn't help but smirk at Roderich's obvious jealousy.

"Jealous Roddy?" She teased. Roderich glared at her from above his glasses (a real feat considering she was a good deal shorter than he was).

"You're crazy, Lizzy," He responded curtly and returned to glaring at Sierra's admirers.

Roderich remembered when the three of them had been neighbors when they were children. She had been quite the tomboy, but still helped him home when he would get beaten up by older and stronger boys, i.e. Gilbert and Sadik, even Toris and Janina on occasion. He also remembered when Elizaveta's parents had died and she had come to live with Roderich and his parents and had become much closer to Sierra and himself. The three had become thick as thieves for most of elementary school, until the first year of middle school when a nasty falling out between Sierra and Roderich had split the trio in half, with Elizaveta and Roderich remaining close while Sierra went of on her own, becoming quite the loner for most of middle school.

This had continued for two years before Lilli and Elizaveta had –in and attempt to defuse the tension between the two- locked them in a broom closet and refused to let them out until they "talked about their feelings". The two had stayed in that closed for almost 48 hours before he had finally cracked and apologized. They were now friends once again, though not nearly as close they once were.

"Sierra!" Elizaveta called, catching the blonde's attention and waving her over, obviously noticing a perfect opportunity to make him uncomfortable since their school's gym clothes were not designed with modesty as the foremost concern. Roderich sent her a glare; Elizaveta just giggled.

Sierra was not pleased, not pleased at all. They were together again, Elizaveta and Roderich. She liked Elizaveta just fine but it really wasn't fair how she and Roderick were together all the damn time. She was Roderich's friend too! Friend…it seemed that was all she would ever be. Her hopelessly unrequited crush on Roderich was made no easier by the fact her obviously had lingering feelings for Elizaveta. She sighed and walked over to the pair.

"Bonjour," she said as she reached the two, "Am I late?" Elizaveta shook her head.

"No you're good. The teacher hasn't arrived yet," The Hungarian smirked, "I think I saw out back with Miss Abelia." Roderich and Elizaveta rolled their eyes.

"Elizaveta…" Svanna began.

"It's been obvious those two are together since the beginning of the year," Roderich finished. Elizaveta's eyes widened.

"What!"

Hetalia Academy Rooftop

Janina Łukasiewicz and Toris Lorinaitis were undoubtedly the strangest couple at Hetalia Academy. Having been together since they were four years old when Janina stood on top of the playground and declared Toris her boyfriend for the entire world to hear. Toris had turned bright red but never done anything to deny her claims. According to many they were soul mates. Even though fate apparently had an odd sense of humor, pairing the loud, obnoxious, and rather shameless Janina with the timid, quiet, and perpetually terrified Toris they had remained strong and faithful. Despite a brief split when Toris had been under his brother, Ivan's, thumb they had always been together, as close as two polar opposites could be.

"Janina! Will you please listen to me?" Toris said frustrated with his girlfriend's inattention to what was supposed to be a study session during their final period.

"Like, sorry Liet," Janina said completely insincerely. Toris rolled his eyes at the childish nickname, coming from his Lithuanian heritage. The Lithuania word for their country was Lietuva and upon realizing that Toris was Lithuanian Janina, a polish born immigrant when she was barely three years old, had immediately seized upon the name and shortened it to Liet, the name had stuck with him ever since.

They had always been considered 'together' but even though Janina asserted her claim on the Lithuanian they never really seemed like a couple. They held hands and spent a lot of time together but it seemed they were best friends rather than a couple. However, the pair's second year of middle school something had changed. Toris found his assumed feelings, which had always leaned more towards platonic than romantic, changing toward his childhood friend. After much inner debate and advice from Eduard and Ravis (who really just called him a coward and asked, "You aren't dating her already?" respectively) he finally plucked up his courage and asked Janina on a proper date. She accepted gleefully and they had been official ever since. Though admittedly few people noticed a difference, even the couple themselves barely noticed a change –minus the fact Janina would now lean over and kiss him, making him blush and stutter (often succeeding in her goal of making him lose focus on whatever he'd been doing and switch his attentions to her).

However, Toris knew Prom was coming up. Not that Toris didn't necessarily not want to go, rather Janina wanted to go and he wanted to make Janina happy. Toris liked Janina, a lot. There wasn't much he wouldn't do to make her happy, including going to Prom. But that in itself was far from an easy task. Janina had high expectations, for anything and being asked to Prom was definitely something she'd expected to be…memorable. And in all honesty, Toris was a bit cowardly. Listening to Ivan his entire life and being utterly terrified of his younger brother hadn't exactly done wonders for his self-esteem so asking his high-expecting-loud-and-slightly-scary girlfriend to Prom was a challenge to say the least.

Toris sighed and dropped his chin into his palm.

"Janina, Prašom! We need to study for this test," he pleaded. The blonde girl just grinned and pecked her boyfriend on the mouth. Toris blushed and returned to his studying, his face still burning. No matter how often Janina kissed him it still had the same mortifying affect. He shook his head and attempted to focus, finally abandoning his attempts to get Janina to do the same.

Hetalia Academy Late Evening

A figure stood on top of the Academy roof balanced perilously on the ledge. "It would be so easy they thought to just step off and end it all, just one step," they thought. The figure looked over the edge; they stepped up and raised their arms as if they were balanced on the edge of a ship. The figure found it mournfully ironic that in the scene from Titanic, Rose felt alive and hopeful while doing this, where as they felt only despair and fear. The figure closed their eyes and imagined falling; it would be so easy to just lean a little to far. They remained there for a few more moments before slowly opening their eyes, stepping down, and walking back inside.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: A new story idea that i've been working for...about three months. A friend of mine read it and she loved it so that motivated me to finish it. I hope you enjoyed it! Enough to leave a review maybe? Constructive Criticism and support please!

EDIT: I removed selected parts of the following characters POVs: Mira, Alice, Herakles, specifics of Roderich's, and Janina's. If you've read the story before this just know that some character's feels are no longer explicitly stated and if you haven't read it yet it won't effect you at all.