His ability to watch had always exceeded his ability to participate, but he notices it especially on one particular morning. Nothing is special about this morning, nothing stands out as he picks at the chipped porcelain of his teacup. Scotland and England careen insults at each other, and really Wales should be used to it by now, but their voices grate upon his ears and he grinds his teeth.
He knows the routine. At this point, Scotland holds a snarling England beneath hin, their faces flushed a bright scarlet as England wheezes and Scotland lets out a drained sigh.
"You win," England says, pressing his hands against Scotland's chest and pushing him off. Scotland smiles and stands, as if nothing ever happened, and leaves the room with a bounce in his step. England sits up and glares after their older brother in defiance, and Wales sighs.
"What was it this time?" he asks.
"The bloody wanker thought that he could take a shower before me," his brother grumbles as he rises to his feet, brushing the dust off his trousers and crossing his arms over his chest, a stubborn frown in place.
"This is my house," Wales tells him, "why do I not get to take a shower first?"
"Because you never asked," replies England, who appears to be irritated and vaguely irate. Wales doesn't say anything, and the room is quiet until Wales purposefully chips a corner off of his teacup with a loud crack. England bristles, but says nothing.
"So... Scotland just went to take a shower, yes?"
"Yes, but I don't see what you're planning to do. He's not going to get out - "
"Oh, we'll see about that," Wales interrupts in a forced, cheerful voice, and England looks at him rather warily. Wales continues to smile for a few more moments and then his expression nuetralizes.
"What are you planning on doing?" England asks finally, and Wales smiles and taps a finger to his lips before he rises to his feet, his socked feet creating padding sounds as he heads up the creaking stairs.
There were two bathrooms with a shower in them - one of them, the one that Scotland is currently using, is at the end of the hall near the guest rooms. The other one is the bathroom in Wales' room because this is his house and he can do whatever he likes.
Wales enters his room and opens his wardrobe, taking out the clothes inside. He proceeds to dump them under his bed. He takes his desk and pushes it in front of his closed bedroom door, turns off the lights, then heads into the bathroom.
He waits a few moments.
The knob is easy to turn all the way to the left, and he places his hand under the scalding hot water. By redirecting the water flow, he has all of the hot water...
Scotland screams.
...so that Scotland has none.
Wales hides in his wardrobe as a safety precaution because he knows that cold showers make Scotland want to kill the world. Or more like the person who he thinks did it -
"England!" Scotland bellows, and he can hear England screaming at him to put on clothes. Northern Ireland stomps down the hall screams down the stairs at both of them because they had woken him up.
Wales smiles at his plan's success.
Then he steps out of his wardrobe and heads into his bathroom to take his well-deserved shower.