Canada knew something was wrong as soon as Prussia stepped off the plane. The former nation had been in Germany for the past couple weeks, spending some time with his brother around Oktoberfest. But normally Prussia came home from such trips smiling and telling tall tales. He was silent now. There was no brilliant grin, no "Hey Birdie, did you miss me?", no hug. Instead Prussia slouched in his over-sized black hoodie, a frown on his face.
He pushed Canada away with a soft grunt when the larger nation went to hug him. Canada blinked at that, confused. Prussia never refused hugs. Canada had even seen him try to hug Kumajiro (Kumajubjub?) when the little bear wanted nothing more than to bite Prussia's fingers off.
"Gil, what's wrong?" Canada asked as he helped Prussia pick up his luggage. The ex-nation just grunted. The drive home afterwards was unusually silent.
They got back to Canada's house and the North American immediately set about making dinner while Prussia unpacked. But when the smell of frying bacon, sizzling potatoes and baking butter tarts didn't bring the ex-nation running down to the kitchen, Canada's worry increased.
He waited until everything was done and the stove was off before he went to check it out. No point burning down the house. When Canada got upstairs he found the door to the master bedroom closed and locked; muffled sounds came from behind it. He knocked gently.
"Gil, it's time for dinner."
"I'm not hungry."
"Konigreich Preussen, you're 824 years old. If something's wrong you need to tell me, not hide in our room like a little colony. I can help."
"Go avay Birdie."
Canada sighed. Prussia could be difficult when he wanted to. The only way to deal with it was to be just as difficult. Luckily, when you're a world power raised by France and England with the United States for a brother, being difficult comes naturally.
Grabbing the door handle, Canada effortlessly crushed and twisted it, breaking the lock. The door popped open and he slipped inside. He saw Prussia curled up into a ball on their bed, his pale face blotchy with tear stains. The ex-nation hadn't even bothered to unpack. Canada sat down beside him and began to stroke his albino lover's white hair.
"You of all people should know better than to think a locked door can keep me out," Canada whispered. "After all, it was you who taught Alfie and I to control and use our strength when he had his revolution."
Prussia mumbled something incoherently in German and pulled a pillow over his head. Undeterred, Canada switched from stroking his hair to rubbing small circles on his back.
"Gil, did something happen in Germany? Do I need to go all 1812 on your brother's ass?" Normally mentioning 1812 made Prussia laugh, especially if America was near. Not today. "Come on Gil, you need to tell me what's wrong. I want to help you."
"Nein." Prussia squirmed away so he was on the other edge of the bed, trying to get out of Canada's reach. The North American sighed and scooped his lover into his arms.
"You have to go further than that to get away from me. I'm the second largest country, remember?" Canada held Prussia like a child, his shirt growing damp where the albino's tears fell on it. But the comment about his size did get a smile, strained though it might have been.
"Say zat viz a different tone and you'll start to sound like your Vati."
"You of all people know how much I can sound like Papa if I want." Canada patted Prussia's bottom, earning a yelp of protest. The younger nation frowned.
That's odd. Prussia's never said anything against me touching him before.
"Gilbert, I need you to tell me what's wrong. You're not acting like your awesome self and it's scaring me."
Prussia shook his head. Canada sighed in exasperation and put him down. "Fine, if you won't talk on your own, you leave me no choice. I will find out."
Canada started tickling his lover, earning another yelp of protest. Prussia tried to squirm away again, but Canada used his great size and strength to pin the ex-nation to the bed. But Prussia had experience resisting this form of torture and bit his lip, refusing to say anything. Canada retaliated by moving his cold hands under Prussia's hoodie and increasing the intensity of his tickling. He got some unexpected results.
Prussia batted Canada's hands away and glared. For a moment the strength he'd had when he was an empire returned, allowing him to roll out from underneath his lover. Unfortunately for him that put him with his back to the headboard with nowhere to run.
"Don't touch me!" Prussia snapped, grabbing a pillow and hugging it tightly. Canada was shocked. That was the last thing he'd ever expected to hear from his lover. Prussia wasn't as bad as some of the other countries liked to say he was, but he was still a member of the Bad Touch Trio for a reason.
Canada sat back on his heels, eyes wide with shock. "Gilbert, what happened?"
The ex-nation mumbled something into the pillow he was holding. Canada would have none of it, a frown steadily growing on his face. The young blond soon took on a scary resemblance to England in his pirate days. He snatched the pillow away and tossed it across the room.
"Sorry, couldn't hear you. Say that again, eh?"
"I said I don't vant you playing viz mein stomach, okay?" Prussia snapped. His face went from blotchy to proper, all out red. "I vent und got fat during Oktoberfest und it feels veird ven you poke it."
Canada's frown softened. Grabbing Prussia, he pulled the ex-nation into a hug. "What are you talking about? You look the same to me."
Prussia made a half-hearted attempt to push him away. When it failed, the ex-nation relaxed against Canada's chest. "Zat's because of mein clozing. Und viz your stupidly awesome strengz you can't tell ven you hold me."
Tears started to leak from Prussia's eyes faster and faster. He buried his face in Canada's chest. "Vest forgot about me Birdie. I- ven I got off ze plane he vasn't zere to get me, und ven I vent to his house he asked me who I vas. He remembered after a moment, but… I'm scared. If Vest forgets about me, vill everyone else? Vill I chust fade away und disappear?"
Ah, finally, the real reason he's upset. Canada rubbed Prussia's back and kissed the top of his head. "I'm sure he didn't really forget about you Gil. He was probably just distracted; he's had a lot of work to do recently with the way things are going in the EU. And don't worry; I won't let you fade away. I'll add German to my official languages, I'll paint black eagles everywhere, I'll even change the name of my country to the Canadian-Prussian Empire if I have to. I love you."
"Danke." Prussia looked up at Canada with shining eyes. Canada kissed him, long and deep, fingers fumbling for the zipper of the ex-nation's hoodie. But as soon as he found it, his hands were pushed away.
"I vasn't kidding ven I said I got fat vile I vas avay."
Canada frowned. This won't do. I'm trying to show him how much I love him and he just keeps pushing me away. Smirking, the North American reached under their bed and pulled out the box of his and Prussia's favourite toys. Prussia's eyes went wide and he tried to scramble away, but Canada was faster. Soon the ex-nation was held in place by a set of cuffs that had been rigorously and repeatedly tested against Canada's unnatural strength.
"It's rude to push someone away when they're trying to be nice," Canada admonished. He returned to his previous activities, kissing Prussia again and unzipping the over-sized black hoodie. Prussia squirmed and tried to hide, but couldn't move enough to do so.
Upon seeing his lover's body, Canada began to laugh. "Oh Gil, you're not even remotely fat." He poked the pale stomach. "These are called abs, not rolls."
"But I gained like ten kilograms!" ((Author's note: That's twenty two pounds if you're an American.))
"And I'd say it was all muscle. You and Germany got drunk and started playing poker for push ups, didn't you?"
"Ja… A few times." Prussia pouted. "Zis is so not awesome Birdie, talking about mein bruder ven you have me tied to ze bed."
"Hmm, sorry." Canada returned his attention to slowly stripping his lover. Once he had them both more or less naked though, he stopped. Canada had never topped before; he was worried that if he did he would hurt Prussia with his greater size and strength.
The ex-nation was having none of that tonight. He glared up at Canada, red eyes alight with a fire that once struck terror into the hearts of nations. "Birdie, you're ze vun as tied me up, you're ze vun as has to do somezing."
"But what if I hurt you?"
"Ze awesome me von't break, especially not if you're right und I've gotten awesomely stronger. As much as I love invading your vital regions, you need to learn to take charge more. Remember," Prussia smirked, "You're ze second largest country on zis planet Earz. Und if Russia keeps on shrinking, soon you vill be first."
Canada laughed. "As long as I keep Quebec." Oh, Prussia always knew just what to say, even if it was mostly quoting country and rock songs. It was good to have him acting like himself again.
"Ja, vell, at ze moment it's Ontario zat concerns me. Here is vat you vill do: first, you vill go in our toy box und get ze nice new lube I bought before I vent avay. You vill stretch mein awesome arse, und stretch it vell because I haven't bottomed in over five hundred years. Zen you vill get Ontario all nice und lubed und vet before you use it to invade mein awesomeness. Verstehst du?"
Canada giggled. "Even when you're on the bottom you've gotta boss me around, eh?" He reached into the toy box. But instead of the bottle of lube, he pulled out Prussia's awesome crop and tapped it against the albino's thigh. "That's not how this is supposed to work. Looks like someone needs to be punished."
Prussia's eyes went wide and he swallowed comically. Canada smirked and stroked the crop along his lover's side. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle."
Canada spent the rest of the night proving to Prussia how very much he still existed. By the following morning, the ex-nation's fears were completely gone. He had to agree: if he were fading away, there wouldn't have been enough of his arse left to hurt that much.