You Get It Wrong Sometimes, But You Always Make It Right
A/N: A fifty sentence challenge with the wonderful BTT!
Ring
Antonio and Francis argued as children once, and Gilbert found them groaning in the grass with identical shiners.
Hero
Gilbert remembered being a little frightened of Spain in the 15th century – Antonio kept talking about an empire blessed by God, but boy, was he bloodthirsty!
Memory
There are so many things they don't dare remember; their history is a bloody one, and if they get too emotional about it, they end up arguing again.
Box
Antonio always sends them boxes full of tomatoes every harvest season, for free.
Run
Cries of "Vive la France!", "Viva el imperio español!" and, "I am awesome!" fill the air as their getaway car races down the road, with a paint-stained, furiously cussing Arthur running after them.
Hurricane
Antonio hates the 20th century, he hates what it did to his two best friends, hates that no matter what, Prussia is abolished and France is scarred and things will never go back to how they used to be.
Wings
It's not like he's in a relationship with them, but Francis still gets so excited when he boards a plane headed for their countries.
Cold
It was way below freezing in Berlin one winter, and when they fell asleep on Gilbert's bed, snuggled up and clinging to each other – they'll deny it ever happening, though, because it isn't awesome.
Red
While cleaning Antonio's attic, they find his red coat from the empire days, stained red with dried blood; Francis tactfully puts it out of sight and Gilbert makes a stupid fart joke to wipe that miserable expression off Antonio's face.
Drink
Francis and Antonio played a drinking game where every time Gilbert said the word 'awesome', they took a shot; they nearly died of alcohol poisoning.
Midnight
hey franny and toni, u guys awake? i keep thinking bad thoughts and i don't know how to make them go away – reply asap but dont panic okay? :)
Temptation
"Don't leer!" Francis orders sternly every time he sees them hanging by the kitchen entrance, looking longingly at the elaborate lunch he's making for them.
View
They have all known that view from the top – Spain in the 15th and 16th century, France in the 1800s and Gilbert during the Nazi Regime; all of them admit it was the darkest their minds have ever been.
Music
When Gilbert has nightmares, he lets Francis sing him to sleep through the phone.
Silk
Francis gave Antonio silk underwear as a joke; the joke is on Francis though, because Antonio wears it often.
Cover
Antonio always hides sadness because it's too complicated and he'd rather not deal with it; his best friends, of course, see right through him.
Promise
"Promise me you won't fight with Gilbert ever again," Antonio whispered, grabbing Francis by the wrist evening, his eyes glowing in the low light, "because Prussia is gone now, do you understand?"
Dream
"I totally think we can chop off a lock of Elizabeta's hair and outrun her!" Gilbert argued as his best friends just shook their heads in disagreement.
Candle
Spain looks every bit like the bloodthirsty conqueror he is as the candle illuminates the frown on his face: "listen to me, France," he hisses, "you will not have South Italy."
Talent
So what if Francis is a skilled painter, chef, fashion expert and general renaissance man, and so what if Antonio has sunny beaches and a fun personality – Gilbert can differentiate the subtleties between 5000 kinds of beer, and hell, that takes real gift.
Silence
1947: Prussia is abolished, Spain is shut behind a dictatorship, and France wants to kill himself; it's quiet tonight.
Journey
Long road trips are always fun: Gilbert gets carsick, Francis drives like a maniac, and Antonio falls asleep.
Fire
In a book burning in the 1940s, Gilbert destroyed a few letters Francis had written to him: Francis was the enemy.
Strength
It had taken more grit than any of them had ever thought they had to mend a friendship so seriously broken.
Mask
"Who wants to go to a boring world meeting anyway?" Gilbert taunts, because he can't let his best friends know how much he wants to join them.
Ice
Francis accidentally made a Nazi joke, and Gilbert's hands became cold.
Fall – (Part I)
If Antonio dreams about the civil war, he can't get out of bed, not even when his friends break into his house.
Forgotten – (Part II)
"Let's pretend it never happened," he replies when Francis tries to get him to talk about it, "1936 to 1975 – never happened."
Dance
All three of them are fabulous ballroom dancers and it's cool, thank you very much, now please leave.
Body
"I've been working out," Francis brags at the same time Gilbert groans, "is he going to flash us again?"
Sacred
A sleepover with drinks and internet gaming is the most important of the squad's rules, and nobody is allowed to back out for anything.
Farewells
Gilbert leaves, but only to return with pizza.
World
It is a generally accepted fact that the Bad Touch Trio have pranked about 94 countries, including, at some point, each other.
Formal
"You cannot ask Elizabeta out on a date looking like that, Gilbert," Francis declares, "you're going to need a tux with a rose in the breast pocket."
Fever – (Part I)
Fevers are inconvenient: the three of them bundle up and step out anyway, and passers-by have to dial for an ambulance when three sick men collapse on the street simultaneously.
Laugh – (Part II)
But after the initial drama ebbs, the three of them lie in their respective bedrooms texting LOL and lmfao and omfg because, hey, it's pretty funny.
Lies
They tell him over and over that he's important and they love him, but Gilbert doesn't believe them.
Forever
All they know for sure is that this is a friendship worth the effort.
Overwhelmed
Francis cries because he's the reason they dissolved Prussia, Gilbert cries because he deserves it, and Antonio cries because there is nothing he can fucking do to help.
Whisper – (Part I)
The news talks and talks about the fall of the Berlin wall, but Antonio and Francis sit next to each other and whisper prayers.
Wait – (Part II)
There is no joyous reunion; they stare at each other silently for several minutes.
Talk – (Part III)
"It's water under the bridge," Gilbert says finally, and although they still have a lot to talk about, for now, this is enough.
Search
They've all agreed that they're too old to care about birthday presents, but all of them still put so much effort into finding something their friend would just adore.
Hope
FIFA: it's the only time in the modern age when they hate each other, while still hoping the other doesn't lose too badly.
Eclipse
"I got you these sunglasses," Francis admits to Gilbert, "because I worry about your eyes – I know they're a bit more sensitive to bright light."
Gravity
They know Antonio hates it when they fight; they know just how badly they hurt him when they took sides in his civil war – they nearly killed him.
Highway
There's been no calm cruising for their friendship: it has always been up and down, blood and gore, but hey, they still keep going.
Unknown
Nobody knows where the name 'Bad Touch Trio' came from – but nobody really understands their friendship, anyway.
Lock
Nations never really forget, so it takes tremendous strength to lock away their resentments.
Breathe
...But somehow, when they're with each other, it's really easy to relax.
A/N: The three of them have the most fucked up friendship ever and nobody can convince me otherwise. I love that they're these adorable (hot) dorks/party freaks/pranksters, and it's a side I'm sure exists, but I also believe there is something a lot darker here we don't see. Because Spain and France were historic enemies for the longest time, and so were France and Prussia. The Franco-Prussian war happens, and the Germans get hold of Alsace-Lorraine (French territory). It's such humiliation for France that it creates resentments for years afterwards.
World War I, and the German Empire (led by Prussia) and France are the harshest of enemies. Paris is seriously damaged, so is a large part of Germany. The Treaty of Versailles happens, which leads to the rise of Hitler, which leads to the Nazi takeover of France. France and Germany have been at loggerheads for the longest time, really. While I'm prepared to believe that (at least initially), Francis and Gilbert would have been friends despite the politics of the time, once the Franco-Prussian war ended, they started resenting each other a lot.
It was France that was the most vehement supporter of the dissolution of Prussia.
Spain, meanwhile, is another matter. I've talked a lot about the Spanish Civil War here. Hitler (and by extension, then, Gilbert) gave full support to the Fascist Francisco Franco, and while not officially supporting it, many French volunteer troops joined the civil war on the Left side – the Communists. So you could say that Francis and Gilbert took sides in the civil war, making it a whole lot worse than it already was.
To build themselves back to being "best friends" must have been a tremendously difficult task. That's why I love the BTT. They're so, so much more complex than they seem.
Also, "eclipse". I didn't really know what I wanted to write, I just kept thinking of artificial blocking of the sun and that lead me to the headcanon that Gilbert has heightened sensitivity to light, because (in my opinion) he's albino, and sometimes albinism leads to problems with vision.