Disclaimer: I do not own Axis Powers Hetalia, or any of it's characters.
This may seem strange to say, as growing up is inevitable, but I always expected us to be young forever.
I suppose, physically we still are, but the emotional burdens we carry are numerous, the burdens of old men.
Remember? When we were children? Even as teenagers we were still children. We kept that innocence for decades. But everything comes to an end.
I remember when I saw you become an adult. It was before I did, even though I criticised your childish antics. An adult can still be childish.
You become an adult when you make the right decisions, when you are completely selfless. You did. You were. You still do, and still are.
When that man fell over the side of our ship, I made no move to help. I was told not to. So I obeyed. Just like a child.
You anchored the boat and jumped overboard. We weren't going to leave without you, and you knew that. We could lose a poor Viking, Vikings were expendable. A country was however, irreplaceable.
So we had no choice but to wait for you to come back. Sverige hauled you and the man onto the boat, and you yelled at me to get some linen to bandage a bleeding cut in the man's leg.
You grew up, became an adult the moment you decided to go back and save that man's life, while I stood back trying to be a good child.
I'm ever ashamed of myself for that. I'm ashamed that you, the one I always expected to stay a child forever, grew up before I did.
I'm still selfish. I'm still not fully an adult yet.
You're more grown up than I could ever be, Danmark.
Sverige is Sweden
Danmark is Denmark
A/N: This is not a historical story. The idea just came into my brain whilst listening to 'When we were Kids' by the Galvatrons.
