Author's Note: As some of you may be aware, I'd mentioned before that I was going to make a fic that detailed my headcanons surrounding Liechtenstein's birth. Well, I actually managed to get around to it. I've been working on this off and on for the past several months before I'd even started working on Parents of a Micronation. Once again, this story was too long to leave as a oneshot, so it's broken up into a few chapters, only three this time.
Disclaimer: The idea for this is mine and it is fully a product of my imagination and research, though I am playing around with the concept and the characters that Himaruya-san created.
Baby Principality
late March to late-April, 1718
Hungary was never an emotionally-restrained woman. She knew how to be tactful and restrain herself when she absolutely had to, sure, but never out of habit or casual fashion, and certainly not to the extreme of appearing as emotional as a rock, like he could. However, in all the many centuries of having known Hungary, Austria had never known her emotional state to swing to such sharp, drastic extremes as he had seen the past few weeks and that was saying something. Last week for example, she had actually snapped at Romano, a rare occurrence in itself seeing as how she only ever really got vocally-angry with Bohemia, and sometimes Slovak and Croatia, and then instantly dissolved into tearful apologies seconds later. And then earlier this morning, she accidentally dropped some of the dishes and broke them (a common enough occurrence with both Italy and Romano living with them), but with the hysterical manner in which she was acting, one might have thought she'd accidentally killed a small child instead.
She was alright most of the time, but these violent mood swings were starting to really worry Austria. At first he'd thought that she might be showing strange symptoms for some illness, but when he'd checked up on her economy, he couldn't find anything particularly unusual to cause such behavior that wasn't normal for post-war times what with him having finished actually fighting the Ottoman Empire again since August of 1717 after capturing Belgrade (and to think that he'd originally intervened just to protect Italy). He prayed this wasn't some weird latent side effect she was experiencing; he'd fought too hard to have her living with him when she should have been entirely his from the beginning. If that Ottoman hadn't gotten in his way, she wouldhave been… But that wasn't the only thing unusual either as of late though. She'd been having strange cravings too; any combination of Italian, Swiss, and German food, she'd probably eaten it; especially a lot of cheese and even some French food. Hungary had never been an exclusive cheese eater before, and there were a few foods from his own home that she had practically begged him to have, even though he knew for a fact that she had never much cared for them before. And he was absolutely thunderstruck when the last time she made her famous goulash, the usually-spicy food was super mild in comparison.
Austria figured that something definitely had to be wrong with her, but he had no clue what or even how to bring up the conversation topic to his lover; not if he wanted to remain in one piece, that is. He'd just gotten back on her good side again after the Kuruc Rebellion seven years ago and he wasn't so keen to fight her again. In her unstable emotional state, she could easily rend him to pieces. He also knew that Hungary was not irrational and that she had reasons for everything, even if he didn't understand them. He reasoned that whatever was bothering her to cause this change would either make itself clear from within her land or that she would tell him about it in due time. She trusted him enough to do that, right?
An entire month after these strange behaviors started and nothing had changed. No, they hadn't gotten worse, but neither had they gotten better and Austria was worried about Hungary more than ever now. He couldn't be the only person who had noticed! No, he knew he wasn't; even Bohemia, who Hungary got along with about as well as Wallachia, moved out of Hungary's way when she was near. He had no choice now; he had to ask Hungary what was going on, regardless of how she might react.
"Liebling, (1) is everything okay?" he asked her softly one evening as he held her in his arms and absent-mindedly brushed one hand through her thick wavy locks.
"Hm? What do you mean, kedvesem? (2) You were wonderful as usual," she murmured sleepily as she cuddled up against his bare chest.
"You haven't been yourself lately," Austria continued as a treacherous blush spread through his cheeks, "Your diet changes with the day and you hardly seem to know who you are sometimes. The meeting I have planned with Ottoman Empire in July isn't a problem for you, is it?"
"Austria, love, you make no sense right now," she complained and stretched her limber body up against his, teasing him the devilish woman, "Of course you meeting that Ottoman hunk isn't a problem for me. Now sleep dear; you're too tired for your own good."
Somehow he'd managed to fall asleep that night (no thanks to Hungary), though not without the sinking feeling that even if he asked her tomorrow morning, he wouldn't get much more insight into her behavior than what he'd already gotten that night. He would have to ask somebody else, his humans, and hope that they had some sort of logical, simple insight as to why Hungary was behaving so oddly.
()()()()()()()
late-April, 1718
He figured the first person to ask would be his boss's wife, Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. It was better to ask a woman's opinion regarding another woman's behavior, was it not? They seemed to know things about each other that men like him simply couldn't comprehend.
"Uztryk! Uztryk!" (3)
Austria paused mid-stride and turned around to see Countess Marie Karoline von Fuchs-Mollard carrying the longest-surviving offspring of his current ruling bosses thus far, Maria Theresa, and it was she, a little over a year old, who was calling out to him as best she could with her limited speaking ability.
"Good morning Marie Karoline and how is my little archduchess today? Healthy and lively, I see," Austria said, unable to keep himself from smiling at the small girl as he lifted her with ease out of her governess's arms and she hugged his neck. He loved the little girl, he really did. It was only a pity that her older brother hadn't even lived to see his first year. Perhaps her new sibling on the way would be a brother and resolve the issue he would face if the direct line didn't have a male heir, despite Charles VI's obsession with his Pragmatic Sanction. He didn't want what happened to Spain earlier in the century to happen to him too.
"And a good morning to you as well, my Archduchy," Marie Karoline responded politely, "Maria Theresa has taken such a liking to you that as soon as she saw you, she just had to come and say hello."
"Well, it brings me great joy to see her smiling and happy. Now I have to go find your mother my young Fraülein. Be good for Frau von Fuchs-Mollard," Austria said as he handed his heiress presumptive back to her governess and set off to find the girl's mother after dismissing himself. It didn't take much more searching on his part before he finally found her.
"Elisabeth Christine, can you spare a moment?" he asked as he approached the very pregnant woman.
"I suppose so, Austria, though it'd probably be better if you sought out Charles rather than me for what you want to discuss."
"No, I don't need to speak with His Imperial Majesty this time; I truly do need your advice."
"Oh? How unusual for someone like you. Proceed then and I shall do my best to answer," Elisabeth Christine replied
"You're a woman, Christine. Do you understand why Hungary has been suffering from such violent mood swings and a serious change in diet?" Austria asked her bluntly and to the point, because really, there was simply no other way of putting it.
The Empress's brows furrowed slightly and then she raised her eyebrows, almost in amusement. "You haven't guessed yet?" she asked.
Austria frowned. The way she worded the question made it seem like the answer should be slapping him in the face, but no answers were coming to mind. He shook his head. "No, how could I have?"
"I'm shocked that at your age, you haven't ever noticed, and I'm a perfect example right now," the Queen Consort said with some concern as she rested her hand upon her swollen stomach. "Austria, Hungary is pregnant."
Austria completely blanked out. "… ?"
"As I stated just now, I don't know how you couldn't know, being so old and having had to deal with too many pregnancies to count, but I suppose you may not have ever noticed too much seeing as how it never affected you personally until now; but she's pregnant, I thought that was obvious. The unexplained mood swings and the cravings for different foods for no explainable reason; though it seems that particular aspect is more extreme for you nation-people. I take it she hasn't been suffering from morning sickness or you'd probably have figured it out real quick. Some women just don't get it, so that doesn't surprise me- Austria, what's wrong?"
Austria's brain had stopped working was what was wrong. Pregnant? As in a baby? A new nation?! But that-! That just... didn't happen! Okay, that was unreasonable to say; it did happen or he and the others like him wouldn't have been born, but that was ages ago! And he and Hungary had been together well… intimately for nearly twenty years since the evening of the Treaty of Karlowitz. Nations don't suddenly get pregnant out of the blue, so randomly! That wouldn't make any sense!
"But Hungary, she..." Austria stumbled over his words, not quite sure what he wanted to say, but needing to say something, "She never... never mentioned..."
"Austria...," Elisabeth Christine said softly, "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps Hungary doesn't know either?"
It hadn't occurred to him. "But how? ! !" he protested, "The woman always knows first, I know that much!"
Elisabeth Christine looked hard-pressed not to laugh at his distress, but she managed somehow. "We know, Austria, because we feel the baby moving about inside of us about three or four months in. Hungary's still very early on, so it's a real possibility that Hungary doesn't know she's pregnant. I must confess, I've never heard of a nation being born; this isn't a common thing I suppose."
"No... it's not... Not at all..." Austria admitted, feeling in dire need of a chair and a beer and fast, "It used to be more so a long time ago, but not anymore. She won't believe me."
"Well, I wish you luck, then," Elisabeth Christine said with a sympathetic smile.
()()()()()()()
8 June, 1718
Austria knew that this would not be an easy discussion to have with his lover simply for the very nature of the subject, but neither was it easy for him to figure out how to bring it up. How did one, especially a man, start up a conversation about a baby nation growing inside a clueless woman? At the rate he was going though, it'd be three months after conception because then her pregnancy would start showing and then Hungary would figure it out. Or would she? This was Hungary he was dealing with; Hungary who'd believed for centuries that she was a boy, even after finally reaching adulthood. No, of all people, she wouldn't be able to figure it out. He'd agonize over the woman's cluelessness, except that he was hardly one to talk. He'd failed to realize that Italy was a boy until Italy had finally grown-up and his voice had broke immediately following his own divorce with Spain and taking custody over Romano earlier this century.
It was fortunate for him that he never did have to figure out how to bring up the awkward matter from scratch. Hungary initiated it without even realizing it. It was early June, and it had been quite warm all week and aided by the long summer hours, it had prompted quite a tranquil, relaxing atmosphere for the residents. Austria and Hungary had even taken the month off just to spend some time in Hungary's countryside. Italy had wanted to come with them, but they'd told him to take his older brother and visit their homeland instead. They loved Italy; apart from some of their boss's children (certainly not all), Italy was the closest they'd ever had to a child (until now it seemed), but they really didn't want a clothing-is-optional Italian walking in on them in the middle of the night, which had a very real chance of happening if they didn't take precautions.
It was June 8 when the subject was brought up at long last.
The first thing Austria noticed upon entering their room was how beautiful she was. He knew this and there wasn't a single part of her body that he didn't intimately know, yet he was still stunned speechless at the breathtaking vision before him. Hungary was standing nude before the mirror, her clothes discarded upon the floor in an almost artistic manner, her hands splayed upon her skin as she rubbed them slowly over her stomach, hips, and thighs in a rather sensual fashion. When she turned slightly for a different angle, her wavy brown hair swayed with the movement like a long curtain against her back and even that subtle shift didn't give him a better view of the full breasts hidden by the several thick strands that cascaded tantalizingly down her shoulders. And the summer sunset light that entered into the room and cast its warm orange glow upon her naked form only made the scene even more picturesque. But this wasn't anything new or particularly enlightening to him. Admittedly, he had seen many beautiful women of the courts (both at his own and at those of other countries) that Hungary couldn't compete with, yet in her own way, she far surpassed them all. Kingdom though she was, she was not born for the structured, sometimes-stifling, and enclosed atmosphere of the royal courts that Austria had become accustomed to, despite his own lowly and rather rough, rural beginnings. She was a wild and free-spirited woman and neither expensive frills nor fancy lace could ever capture that natural, rugged beauty of hers that so enticed him.
"Like what you see, kedvesem?" Hungary said, startling him from his thoughts. She had noticed him from the reflection in the mirror and she was smirking at him through it.
"Yes, very much, indeed," Austria replied as he leaned against the door frame and smiled at her, feeling awfully-hot and considered whether he wanted to strip himself, since he wasn't going to be able to enjoy the pleasure of doing so to her, or let her strip him anyway because she liked it.
"Weeeeeell, then what are you doing way over there when what you want is over here?" she asked as she reached up to the base of her neck with both hands and slowly lifted her hair up into an informal ponytail to show off both her exposed back and neck; an invitation and he was not one to refuse.
It was her way of surrendering. Being the warrior that she had grown up to be, she'd learned to think of her back as an unprotected blind spot, so by her allowing him to come up from behind her at all, much less embrace her, she had to place her complete trust in him, and he'd known for a long time that she did. It was also one of the games they played, for just because she surrendered to him didn't mean that she was just going to roll over in submission, something he rather enjoyed. The first several times they'd made love, they'd been violently-passionate animals heavy in heat and driven by an all-consuming need, but over time, they'd gradually figured out their love game and how to draw out their pleasure for as long as possible.
Austria pushed himself off the wall and casually made his way over to her. When he was right behind her, he placed first his fingers on the base of her neck and then pressed his palms onto her shoulders, rubbing them back and forth and kneading the taught muscles. Hungary hummed in content and fell back against him, his own body holding her up, but he didn't mind because that was always when she started threading her fingers through his dark hair, and it never failed to send tingling sensations down his spine.
"What exactly were you doing before I walked in, anyway?" Austria asked out of interest.
"Hm? Oh. Nothing" Her reply was… a little too short compared to normal Hungary sentences, even when he wasn't in the process of seducing and arousing her.
"'Nothing'?" he said, slightly incredulously, but he was careful to keep his tone even, "It's not like you to look at yourself in the mirror like that for 'nothing'. You're not becoming vain like France, are you?"
"What?! Nem, nem, nem! (4) God forbid!" Hungary protested vehemently.
"So then what were you doing since it very clearly wasn't 'nothing'?" Austria repeated as he let his right hand slip away from her shoulders and press into the smooth skin beneath her arm, trailing a pattern just around her breasts and down her stomach when he suddenly felt her tense and heard her draw a sharp intake of breath, and they weren't the good kind either.
"Hungary, what is it?" he asked suddenly, full of nothing but intense concern and withdrawing away so that he could turn her around for a more critical, health-concerned look, but she was resistant.
"Austria, it's nothing!" Hungary protested, not willing to let him turn her around, "You just applied a little too much pressure is all."
"Hungary, you've known me long enough to know that that was hardly any pressure compared to what I've done to you before, now let me see you already."
His fear and stubbornness overpowered her own reluctance and stubbornness, and she relented, standing in solemn silence as he experimentally-pressed, much softer this time, against her stomach with his fingers and his light probing eventually outlined the very faint but solid protrusion of her pregnancy.
"Ohh, I see now…" he said softly.
"Oh you do, do you? I suppose you're going to tell me this is normal, right?" she asked and he was so enthralled with what was finally visible proof of his Empress Consort's declaration that he failed to hear the sharpness in her tone.
"Of course this is normal, Hungary!" Austria exclaimed as he stood up straight and beamed at her. "I just can't believe this actually happened to us," he said as he made to bring his fingers through her hair, but he was unexpectedly stopped short. Hungary, still not looking up and her bangs shadowing her eyes, had snapped her arm up from her side and grabbed his wrist in a tight vice grip. Austria frowned slightly. "Hungary?"
"So that's how it is then," she said in a low, rather surly, "After all this time, you finally, finally show your true colors, and really I should have expected it. You've been well-groomed into the position of an aristocrat and a powerful European nation, it must be difficult to not maintain the same standards as the humans since such behavior can be much more easily afforded by the upper class." Austria had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "So," she said with an air of finality and lifted her head; her expression was resolute, but he could feel her anger emanating out from the depths of those magnificent green eyes. What had he done to tick her off this time? "Since it seems that I can no longer satisfy you, who shall you bed in my stead? Southern Netherlands might be willing since she preferred your rule to Spain's because of your religious tolerance or maybe even Bohemia would do. I imagine it wouldn't be the first time either, since it doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out how you ended up with Silesia even though it's part of her Crownlands."
"What?!" Austria exclaimed, very confused and his face as red as could be. "Hungary, what are you even going on about?! And what do either Southern Netherlands or Bohemia have anything to do with our baby?"
Hungary's grip on his wrist didn't loosen, but the near-murderous aura that she was emitting ceased almost instantly and the hardness was gone from her eyes. She blinked once. Twice. Furrowed her brow in confusion and said, "Baby…? What baby?"
"Ours. The one growing here," Austria explained upon grasping her other hand with his own free one and leading it to her stomach.
"Mi?" (5) Hungary demanded and Austria was put on alert when she slipped into her native language as well as released his hand and jerked away from him. She looked not at all pleased, but rather confused and scared, and her tone had a touch of desperation, "Nem, ne tréfálj valami ilyesmi! Ez nem vicces!" (6)
"Hungary, you know I'm not one for jokes, especially about a serious topic like this," he responded calmly, though internally he was wondering why this was so shocking to her. She was three months in and the beginning of her pregnancy was finally visible; how could she still not know?
"De-! Nicsak Ausztria!" (7) she said, though seemingly more to herself like she was trying to get a grip on the situation. "Tudomásul veszem, hogy én vagyok a nő," she said slowly, "de én ne képes egy anya! Ez lehetetlen!" (8)
"Hungary, it's not impossible, it's true!" Austria countered and moved quickly to embrace her to both calm her down from her panic and give her something solid to reorient herself against, "And you'll be a great mother, Hungary. You've already proven that with Italy and… and Holy Rome too while he was with us. It'll be no different raising this one except that we'll be its true parents and not its adoptive ones."
"N-nem különbség," (9) she murmured quietly and gripped the fabric of his shirt in a tight fist.
"Right. No difference," he reassured her, closing his eyes in relief and kissing the top of her head.
"So, I'm not just suddenly starting to gain weight and become fat."
"Um… no, Hungary. Definitely not," Austria said and though it somehow didn't surprise him that Hungary had mistaken her pregnancy for irregular weight gain (because this was Hungary after all), he was at least relieved that she was back to speaking in German again. It was a sign of her return to mental and emotional stability. However… "But you should know that even if you were, I did not spend nearly 280 years of my life fighting to have you live with me just to ditch you twenty years later because of possibly-unattractive weight gain. Imádlak túl sokat, Magyarország." (10)
"Ich liebe dich auch, Österreich. Danke mein liebe. (11) I'm sorry that I killed the mood you were creating earlier," Hungary said with a sigh as her fingers fiddled around restlessly with the fabric of his shirt.
"Nonsense," Austria said firmly as he pulled back from her and caught her fingers within his. "I'm glad that it was ruined by our precious little one within you then by something far more trivial and ridiculous. For that, I think we can cheat just this once," he suggested, bringing her fingers to his lips for a light kiss and then edging them tantalizingly-close to the mole on his jaw. Hungary hardly needed any further prompting.
(1) liebling (German) – darling
(2) kedvesem (Hungarian) – my dear
(3) Uztryk – what I imagine would be a child's attempt to say 'Österreich'
(4) Nem (Hungarian) – No
(5) Mi? (Hungarian) – What?
(6) Nem, ne tréfálj valami ilyesmi! Ez nem vicces! (Hungarian) – No, don't joke about something like that! This is not funny!
(7) De-! Nicsak Ausztria! (Hungarian) – But-! See here Austria!
(8) Tudomásul veszem, hogy én vagyok a nő, de én ne képes egy anya! Ez lehetetlen! (Hungarian) – I understand that I'm a woman, but I can't be a mother! It's impossible!
(9) N-nem különbség (Hungarian) – N-no difference
(10) Imádlak túl sokat, Magyarország (Hungarian) – I love you too much, Hungary (where the 'I love you' bit has more of a connotation of loving someone from the bottom of your heart)
(11) Ich liebe dich auch, Österreich. Danke mein liebe (German) – I love you too, Austria. Thanks my love.
History time! (and other explanations):
Wallachia is either Romania or Romania's male relative (according to the canon material), but for the purposes of my headcanon material and what I have decided based on the history, he's Romania's father. Bohemia is the future Czech Republic and it should be pretty clear that Slovak is the future Slovakia. There was actually no centralized predominantly-Slovak state for much of European history, but they have a long history, so I maintain that Slovakia took on the name of the Slovak people that he represented instead of tying his name to any specific piece of land until 1918 when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken apart piecemeal. Speaking of Bohemia, I find it rather strange in the canon material that Silesia belonged to Austria's physical being when, as Hungary pointed out, it was part of the Bohemian Crownlands. Just a little something to think about (and it's something I'm still thinking about even after having written that months ago).
Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 saw the end of the Great Turkish War in which Austria finally won control over most of Hungary from the Ottoman Empire and the most recent fight between him and Ottoman that's referred to (that is finished with the Treaty of Passorwitz July 21, 1718) frees all of Hungary's remaining land from Ottoman control.
It would figure that Hungary would be completely clueless that she was pregnant. And it's true that not all women have morning sickness. My own mom didn't when she was pregnant with me. Also, since nations are usually bound to represent a specific piece of land, I figure that the food cravings would have a much more significant impact among pregnant nation women than normal human women.