A/N: Well, I shall say this... I have never written a Hetalia fanfiction before, used any pairings or things like that, so this is all very, very new to me. Reviews for the beginner are much appreciated and constructive criticism is more than welcome.

I won't make this note very long, just a quick disclaimer and the warnings and I'll leave you be.

~I don't own Hetalia or the characters used no matter how much I wish I did~

WARNINGS: Multiple pairings, straight and otherwise, Gakuen AU-ish, children characters, some later on language and violence, and realistic endings.

The weather was anything but predictable here. Parents didn't listen to the weathermen- who praised rain one day and scorching heat the next- and sent their kids off to school with an umbrella, sunscreen, and a 'good luck' kiss. The small shoe boxes were jam packed of other climate change necessities- raincoats, scarves, mittens, boots, sunglasses, and ball caps for some sun-sensitive kids. And it wasn't just the boxes belonging to the unorganized children, no, everyone's cupboard was like that. You never knew what that sky was thinking. Take this past Thursday. The day before had been absolutely gorgeous, with a cloudless sky and a gentle breeze sweeping across the schoolyard all morning. The teachers elongated recess for ten minutes. Ten minutes! Granted, it felt more like two seconds to the energetic kindergartners, but time was still time.

And the next day?

The next day frankly sucked. Seven in the morning and black clouds already clumped together across the sky, drizzles of rain trickling here and there as it pleased. By the time coloring lessons had started, thunder was resounding through the room and flashes of lightning confused some students as camera flashes. The teacher had to cuddle some of the more sensitive students, like the little blonde girl with the ribbon in her hair, always crying for her brother. They had to drag the kid out of the first grade building just so she would stop crying. He would adjust her bow a little bit and give her a big hug, reassuring her that it wouldn't hurt her as long as he was there. The teachers were absolutely undertaken by this caring gesture, some near tears of how thoughtful this big brother could be.

To Gilbert Weilschmidt though, it was sickeningly sweet and totally uncool... and therefore unawesome.

"Gee! He leaves the room every day!" He grumbled, chubby fingers rubbing through short, white clumps of hair that could use a good scrubbing, no thanks to the puddles this morning. "Bet he does it to skip out..."

A slightly smaller boy seated behind him, head thick with rich, auburn curls cleared his throat and ceased the motion of picking his jacket's left cuff. "Don't be so mean. Vash is nice."

Gilbert was shocked, turning around to see who would say something like that to him. Him, of all people. Ah, the new kid this year. Of course. He didn't know any better to stop talking when the awesome started. "No he's not!" Gilbert sneered back, if not for the sake of argument, then just for the sake of being six years old. "He sits by himself and smells like cheap cheese!"

"No he doesn't!" This kid... Antonio, was it? He looked almost... sad and hurt, though he was sticking up for someone he barely knew. "He's nice. He helped me with my book."

"He did your homework?" Gilbert snickered at the growing horrified expression on his face. "You cheated?"

"I didn't say that!" Green eyes became wide with worry.

"I'm gonna tell the teacher on yoo~u!"

"Don't!" Those big eyes filled up with tears almost instantly, slightly catching Gilbert off guard. This wasn't good. He couldn't get in trouble again! His dad was super strict and, well, he already had been disciplined for gluing the young aristocrat's science book together. That hadn't ended pretty for any side of the argument. And now this? Gilbert might have been a bit rambunctious, but he wasn't an idiot. Something like this meant a swat on the rear and three weeks without television.

If it was possible for the albino to turn even paler than he was, he was doing it. "Hey! I'm just joking, gee!" That didn't help. Antonio looked down at his lap, trying to suppress the audible sobs, pink cheeks starting to puff up. "Uh... I really was! Wanna know why?" Gilbert got out of his seat and leaned into the boy's ear, whispering, "I copy off Lizzy all the time."

This seemed to work for whatever odd reason. "...You do?" He stopped crying and sniffed, thank goodness the snot bubbles hadn't started to form.

"Yeah! I was gonna say we can be friends and cheat off her together, but since you're a goody-two-shoes, I dunno..." Gilbert sat back down, but still leaned over the back of his desk, watching the unease settle with vibrant crimson eyes.

The boy shuffled around before clearing his throat again, some of the words coming out a bit raspy. "...We can still be friends..." Antonio muttered, shifting in his seat.

Huh? He just made the new kid cry and now he wanted to be friends? "You want to be friends? With me? Why?"

"Well, I'm new and I don't have any friends here..."

Gilbert mused over this thought. Well, at least his TV privileges were safe. "Okay, sure. I'm Gilbert."

"I know. I'm Tonio. Well, Antonio, but everyone just calls me by my nickname."

"I know." They shared an awkward, silent chuckle. "We're friends now?"

"Uh huh, I guess." Antonio smiled shyly, kicking his red rain boots together. "Do you have any other friends?"

Gilbert, like any other hyperactive first grader, was absolutely enthralled to have an excuse to stand in his seat- though the actual reasoning of his act was questionable. "I have Francy-pants! Back row, looks like a girl." He thrust out a pointed finger, completely pinning his statement on a student in the very back of the classroom. Antonio modestly turned his head, catching sight of the person mentioned. "He's okay, a little weird and likes girls too much, probably because he looks like one." Gilbert snickered, amused by his own joke. He plopped down on his knees, rocking back and forward.

Antonio mused over the face for a second. He knew that boy... Francis. He always acted nice. And he was also very pretty with his shoulder-length curly blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes, which Antonio wasn't sure was a good or bad thing. "He's your friend?"

"Yeah, kinda."

A huge clap of thunder slightly shook the windows. Francis jumped at the sound, looking up at the high windows and glaring at the gray sky. A snickering noise made him frown and glare at the front of the row. "Don't laugh at me!"

"Kesesesesese! You're funny, Francy-pants!" Gilbert cackled, holding his stomach for 'dramatic effect'. "The thunder's gonna get ya! Better run to mommy!"

"You know, it might! And don't call me that!"

"Francy-pants, Francy-pants!"

"Gilbert!"

"Oh, what?" Red eyes more playful than malicious, Gilbert stuck out his tongue at the boy. "Whatcha gonna do? Gonna cry? Huh? Cry like a baby?"

Francis huffed and folded his arms. Turning up his nose he looked away and drew out his voice. "I'm not going to do anything. Only babies would cry and only idiots would talk to you."

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah!"

"Nuh uh times a kajillion, million, quadrillion, billion-" Here Gilbert had to take in a deep breath to keep from sputtering. "-trillion, zillion!"

How were these two friends? "Guys, please stop." Antonio held out his hands between them. "Let's not fight, please." The two boys calmed down, but were still chanting silent insults at one another. Gilbert denying, Francis implying, and poor little Antonio just trying to keep the peace.

The friendly bickering between these three built up and up and up until it completely shut down along with the room's electricity. The initial reaction was to scream and cry 'mommy', which half of the class did. The other half went silent, dry-mouthed with surprise and perhaps a little fear. The teacher immediately came running into the classroom with a small bit of panic on her face. "Everyone, settle down, it's alright. Keep calm, okay? It'll be dark for a bit, but there's nothing to worry about. Feliks, stay in your seat! Natalia, hands off Eduard! Oh, Tino, stop crying..."

"Neat!" Gilbert grinned. "The dark is awesome!" He pulled the cap eraser from his pencil and chucked it at Roderich, laughing uncontrollably as the boy jumped, screaming like a girl. "Haha! Snooty boy's afraid of the dark!"

"Grow up for a minute, Gil!" Francis rolled his eyes. "Quit being so mean!" Antonio nervously glanced around the room. He didn't do storms well, and the darkness only made the boy more jittery. He put his head down on his desk and covered his ears from the resounding thunder.

"Wow, the sky's angry!" Gilbert exclaimed, craning his neck up to see out the high window. "There's a lot of flashy too!"

"...Flashy? You mean lightning?"

Gilbert shook his head. "I mean flashy."

Francis rolled his eyes and looked at the clock hooked above the chalkboard. He had to squint to see the numbers in the dark... The short hand between the ten and the eleven and the long one was almost reaching the eight... Whatever that meant. They hadn't had lunch yet though, so it must have been early. "Can you tell time, Gilbert?"

"Tch! Yeah!" He guffawed.

"Well, what time is it?"

Gilbert stared at the wall clock, squinting his eyes and rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Five nineteen."

It was about here when Antonio raised his head again.

"No it's not! It can't be that late!"

"You asked me!"

"Papa gets home at five! We can't still be at school!"

"We're stuck here forevaa~ar!" Gilbert exaggerated the form of his speech, nearly screaming the last word and shaking his head violently.

"Gilbert! Be quiet or your father's getting a call!" At this the albino boy shrank down and put his arms on the top of his head, muttering a soft 'gee!'

For some odd reason, Antonio laughed. Despite their situation the argument was rather funny.

"Tonio! You're supposed to be my friend! Don't laugh at me!" Gilbert whined and stuck out his bottom lip.

"I like him! Tonio, you're awesome." Francis smiled, leaning over his desk to sit on his bent leg and raise his view level. Gilbert stared up at them with awe-filled eyes.

"No he's not! I'm awesome! Me! Me me me-"

"Gilbert Weilschmidt, if I have to call your name one more time!"

The fighting stopped shortly after.

.-.-.-.-.-.

The power turned back on around an hour later- which was still earlier than the time Gilbert had declared. Class resumed normally after an inside lunch- with the occasional rumble of thunder -and that day, ironically enough, the teacher introduced the hands of the clock. Francis would constantly bend to his left to steal glances at Gilbert, who's ears turned a vibrant red once he realized he was wrong. Horrendously wrong. The blonde giggled, earning a short glare and later a stuck out tongue. Antonio only smiled, still kicking his boots together. Maybe they were friends after all. Sure, they teased each other and argued constantly over the smallest things, but when the teacher dismissed the class at three thirty both boys helped each other get their boots and jackets on. Gilbert even helped them both open their umbrellas- calling them 'unawsome' the whole time, of course.

Maybe it wasn't the best friendship, but it was still a friendship. And Antonio really wanted to be a part of it.

He shuffled out in the rain, kicking puddles here and there until he got to the corner of the block. He looked around and noticed his mama hadn't come to pick him up yet. Oh well. The rain smelled nice and it wasn't too cold. He could wait a little while. "Tonio!" The splashing was quite audible behind him. "Did your mom forget you?" Gilbert snickered, playing the I-ran-so-hard-to-get-to-you-now-I-am-out-of-breath part pretty well. He wiped his hand across his brow and let out an almost offensively loud 'PHEW!'

"No, she didn't!" Antonio frowned. "Mama's coming!"

"Don't make him cry again, Gilbert. You're being a meanie." Francis walked up from behind him, carrying his umbrella with unusual grace for someone of his short stature.

"I'm not a meanie!" Really? More arguing? Antonio frowned. Couldn't they just leave each other alone for one second?

"Well, you're an idiot. You'll get sick out in the rain. Get under here!" He lifted the umbrella slightly so it covered them both.

"Ha! I'm too awesome to get sick!" Gilbert puffed out his chest and ran off, splashing around in numerous puddles, kicking up water left and right, up and down, but thankfully not on the other two boys.

"My grandma told me that idiots can't catch colds." Antonio stated matter-of-factly. Gilbert stopped jumping and stomped his foot instead.

"I'm not an idiot!"

"What about today? You said it was five nineteen!" Francis shook the umbrella at him. "Get under!" Gilbert only danced around harder, the rain soaking his hair and jacket.

"Are you two really friends?" Antonio asked, receiving an incredulous look from Francis.

"Yeah. He's my neighbor." The blonde rested the umbrella on his shoulder. "We met because I had to call the firemen to get him out of our front yard tree."

"You called the firemen? By yourself?"

"Yep." A twinge of pride made Francis lift his head a bit higher. "Mama and Papa left me with a lazy babysitter, so I had to call them all by myself."

Antonio smiled toothily, revealing that he had lost a few. "How cool! Oh, and, um, byt the way... I was wondering if you would be my friend?" Francis returned the lip-stretching smile to show off his missing canine.

"Yeah!"

"Hey! Tonio's my friend, not yours, Francy-pants!"

"Sharing is caring!"

"Fine!" With that exasperated statement, Gilbert let out a rather violent sneeze.

"I told you you'd get sick!"

"Gilbert, you want my jacket?" Antonio offered up.

"Nah!" Sneeze after sneeze after sneeze after... yeah. "...Yes, please..." Antonio took off his jacket and Francis moved the umbrella over them both. "Is anyone's car here yet?"

"Nope..."

"Gee..." So the three of them stood at the corner, scattering whenever a car drove by and kicked up water at them, watching the big kids trying to decide on who would back their trucks out first, and snickering when teachers couldn't get their umbrellas open. They subconsciously huddled together to keep warm, drawing some 'aww's and 'how cute's from adults passing by. No matter how many offered rides were given by other parents, teachers, or older students, they shook their heads and smiled with a friendly 'no thanks'. And when Francis's mother and Gilbert's father arrived not much later, the boys refused to leave Antonio until his mama came.

And when they were asked how their day was, each could respond with "I made a new friend!"

And that was the start of that.

A/N: I hope no one's OOC, but... They're first graders!

The power out incident was actually something that happened to me in second grade (yes, I was the one who got hit by the eraser... I feel your pain, Roderich). And there really was a kid in our class that called the lightning 'flashy'. I live in tornado alley, so storms are really common. We used to have to do tornado drills all the time in elementary, and this past June a huge storm swept through my town, uprooted and split trees in half, bent light posts, all that good stuff. I'm usually really calm around storms, but not when my flimsy rent house is shaking from the wind!

...Yeah, I kinda freaked that time...

But seriously, power outs suck.

And Gilbert's character was SO fun to write about. I always pictured him as the obnoxious loud-mouth child...

...Oh wait.