This story was originally started back in October 2012, which means that a lot of the 'topical' issues are no longer topical. I ended up losing the first couple of chapters for over a year before finding them again and continuing on writing. At the time, this was my first real attempt at humour. There's also a lot of characters in this. The rating at the moment's more for Chapter 2 than it is for this chapter.
The sun beat lazily down on the autumnal trees. Leaves swept up into the air, locked in a mesmerising dance. Two figures strolled through this tranquil landscape, paying no attention to the beauty, too absorbed with each other. Discreet about their behaviour, the couple shared only friendly talk about the day behind them, until they were safely out of the view of the school building of the campus they lived in. Only then did the taller, bolder of the two move to take the other's hand, walking peacefully with the smaller to the dorm block at the end of the grassy plaza, moving into the lift and dragging his companion with him. A chaste kiss was planted on the other's cheek, as the doors closed and the lift moved up to floor number 3, where their flat was situated. Such was the manner of the school of nations; the classes were held by continent and 'families' roomed together.
The taller man, Sadik, opened the door and walked in before flopping onto the sofa, too tired and lazy to do much else. Gupta, the other of their twosome, rolled his eyes, walking over to the kettle to boil some water for coffee. Greece, or Herakles as he was known to his friends, was absent at present; probably out on another date. Sadik preferred it when the cat lover was gone anyway. Still his trail could be seen around the flat; the cat bowls on the floor, the litter tray overflowing, the Persian, one of many cats, glaring at him from the other end of the room. The Turk wished he would just clean up after himself already. At least he wasn't getting in the way.
"So… Are we goin' out tonight?" He asked, his voice a little flirtatious. Surprisingly though, Gupta seemed reluctant.
"Loukas told me today that Poland is getting suspicious. It wouldn't be wise to let him work out about us…" He explained, and Sadik could almost understand. It wasn't always nice being the subject of the gossip of the school, but he personally didn't care what people thought of him, and wondered why Gupta could be so sensitive sometimes.
"Come on, Guppie, does it really matter?" he tried, but soon stopped when he saw the other's face was set fast. "Okay then… So I guess we're stayin' home?" he started again, hopeful.
"Well, I doubt Herakles will be around to disturb us," Gupta replied, now making up the hot drinks. Sadik took his vague answer as a 'yes', and grinned wolfishly.
"Come 'ere…" He cooed, opening his arms for Gupta. The Egyptian put down the coffee before walking into the embrace of the Turk.
"Maybe we can watch a movie or somethin'?" Sadik asked.
Gupta nodded, leaning further into the hug.
It wasn't until almost 10PM when Herakles returned, looking a little downbeat and dishevelled. Sadik had already fallen asleep on the sofa, but Gupta was still awake, and looked over at the Greek, his eyes inquiring.
"How did it go?" He asked, already half expecting the answer.
"She got bored of me constantly talking about the cats and not thinking of her," Herakles explained. "So she broke up with me."
Gupta rolled his eyes. Belarus. She seemed to have strange, impossible standards sometimes. The girl was completely unpredictable in the Egyptian's opinion.
"Never mind Herakles. There are more fish in the sea, right?" He consoled.
"Perhaps… But I think I'll just sleep for now…" He mused, practically sleepwalking the few steps to his bedroom. Gupta looked after him momentarily before hoisting Sadik over his shoulders and putting the Turk to bed. Afterwards he finally reached his own room and tucked up for the night.
The posters that met the dorm-mates as they entered the school the next morning were terrifying in their eyes.
Christmas dance, 21st December, 7pm.
All three stared at the notice for a long time. A dance. Oh great. Yet another chance for the popular to take the limelight, while those who didn't fit the norm were ostracised. Herakles turned to the others to ask something, but before he could get words out of his mouth, the bell rung for the start of morning classes.
Later in the Europe class…
"Turkey!" Byzantium yelled, slamming her book down on the table. "You haven't listened to a word I've said all day!"
Sadik jumped up, grimacing before muttering 'angry bitch…' under his breath, which in turn earned him a glare from Herakles, who had been in earshot.
"Ve~ Ms Greece is angry today…" Italy shivered from under the desk, where he was hiding.
"Yes… But then, Turkey has been winding her up quite a bit as of late." Germany sighed.
As they were talking, a note went around the class, somehow unnoticed by the teacher.
['Kesesesese… I assume everyone's seen the posters? Don't fret! The awesome me has a plan to make this dance more interesting! Everyone meet me in the canteen at lunch; I'll explain all!']
By the time that lunch had rolled around, the note had somehow reached everyone in the school, and as such the canteen was packed. Prussia stood on one of the tables near the window, and smiled at the crowd before beginning his speech.
"Kesesesese! Well, I think we all know why we're here, so let's just get down to it!" He started, looking over the assembled mass. "I was thinking how to make this dance more interesting, and the awesome me has a solution!" He raised the tension, staring out at everyone. "And that is… Everyone needs to bring a date! Anyone who doesn't will face a forfeit the awesome me has yet to come up with! So, better start pairing up!" He laughed, before running off, France and Spain on his heels.
The resulting argument led to China beating several nations with his wok after they started pursuing his 'precious little sisters', a food fight largely started by Belarus to keep everyone away from Russia, and a particularly nasty fight that ended with England, America and Canada (since nobody could tell the two apart) all being bundled off to deputy headmaster Germania's office.
"Oh great… Just what we need. Even more time for Italy to show off Germany to the world, Sweden to declare Finland his 'wife', and America to hopelessly pursue England. As if we haven't seen that enough already," Herakles remarked, as soon as the group got in through the door that evening. Gupta silently nodded, while Sadik had more to say on the subject.
"Hate to agree with the brat, but… Yeah." He huffed, wrapping his arm around Gupta. "Still, at least I have a date fer sure," he smirked, and Gupta looked over at him curiously.
"But… Then we'll just end up being gossiped about," he declared.
"Nah… Everyone'll be too busy watching the more popular pairings," Sadik dismissed. "'Sides, if it annoys ya that much to have people know about us, ya can claim it was just fer the dance."
Herakles sighed at their exchange.
"At this rate, I won't even have anyone just for the dance…"
On the floor downstairs, China scurried about, organising his many siblings in the gargantuan task of feeding so many mouths.
"Aiyahh!" He ranted. "How can Prussia do this aru? I won't let my precious brothers or my sisters be taken advantage of to get out of some forfeit, aru!" He declared.
"What if we like… All go together?" Hong Kong suggested.
"Yeah! Then we can claim we're dating each other or something da ze!" Korea piped in. "More importantly, I get to spend time with you and Kiku-hyung!" He threw an arm over Japan as he spoke.
"Ah, Yong Soo, show some respect!" Kiku interjected.
"Well, I won't be seen dead with China…" Vietnam argued.
"You could go with me…?" Thailand suggested, trying to stop a fight.
"Aiyahhh!"
On the ground floor, the atmosphere was even more tense. Germany paced the living room of the flat he shared with his brother, Italy and Romano, for reasons he could never understand. The former was smiling brightly; the latter giving him a deathglare.
"Yay, I get to go with Ludwig!" Italy smiled.
"You'll do no such thing!" His brother seethed.
"Aww, but don't you want to go with Antonio?"
"No!"
Prussia watched this all, smirking.
"Kesesese… Much more fun…" Then he blinked. "Wait, I don't have a date for this thing yet!"
Up on the 4th floor, the three Baltic States shivered under the kitchen sink, while Russia stood before them, pipe in hand.
"I will have a date by the end of the month… kolkolkolkolkol…"
Belarus looked on and smiled wickedly, and Ukraine watched with tears in her eyes.
"Hey, Artie! Artie! Wanna come to the football with me this weekend?" America grinned, hanging off England's arm.
"Firstly, it's rugby, you git! And secondly, why would I go with you to a sporting event?" England argued back.
"Because we haven't gone out together in aaaages!" America whined.
"Then why don't you take me on actual dates like normal people would?!"
"Aiyahh!" China interrupted. "Can't we ever have a council meeting without everything going off the rails?"
France looked at the unfolding scene with amusement, while Russia's eyes were completely focused on China, watching him with adoration.
Sadik sat on the grass outside, watching as Herakles tried to chat up yet another girl. He sighed sharply; why could feta-breath not give it a rest? He glanced over the girl, trying to remember who she was… Wait, Vietnam? The Turk was surprised Herakles hadn't been turned down already. He continued to watch the scene, but found himself interrupted when Gupta sat next to him, smiling a little before leaning over to whisper in his ear.
"It seems to me like you don't hate Herakles after all… Looks like you actually care about how he's doing."
Sadik scoffed, looking the Egyptian over. "I wouldn't go that far Guppie…"
Gupta smirked a little.
"Yeah, sure…"
Herakles walked with the girl, away from the plain to somewhere more… Private. Sadik couldn't help but feel it would all end in tears.
Gupta lay that night in Sadik's embrace, half-asleep on the sofa and waiting for Herakles to come home. He had no idea why they were waiting; Herakles hardly ever came home on time these days. Downstairs, another couple were in the middle of a domestic.
"But… You promised we would go together to the next big dance~," Italy whined.
"Feliciano, I do love you, it's just that your brother seems so angry, and I don't want to cause a rift…" Germany argued.
"But Lovino doesn't matter~. Once he gets a date, he'll stop, I swear~." Feliciano almost begged, throwing himself into Ludwig's arms and sobbing a little. Ludwig looked down at the little Italian and his heart softened a little, causing him to wrap his arms around the smaller man, rubbing soothing circles into his back until the latter calmed down.
Up on the 4th floor, Lithuania was making dinner for the group of Soviets, wanting to impress Belarus at last, while still avoiding Russia's wrath. He also knew the girl needed cheering up, after the events of the last few days… She might never have said it, but he knew she got frustrated whenever a relationship didn't work out, and he wanted to help relieve the tension it caused within the household. Latvia looked on nervously, while Ukraine did sewing in the corner, and hoped for his plan to work… For everyone's sakes.
Canada sat in a quiet part of the school, getting on with his schoolwork quietly. The events of the last few days failed to impact him at all, and he carried on with his life, not really caring whether or not anyone asked him out. It's not as if Prussia would ever notice his absence from the party anyway.
France looked over at Spain, patting the other's back as he held his head in his hands.
"Why does my Lovi never notice me?" Spain whined, and France grimaced a little.
"Antonie… it is not your fault… You just need to wait, everything will sort itself out," he assured.
'And meanwhile, I need to find my own date…' He added in his head. Antonio though, stayed sulking, thinking of more ways to bring Romano over to his side while looking out over the roofs of the school gloomily.
Even by the time Gupta was ready for bed, Herakles hadn't returned. He didn't think it a good sign, but was about to go to sleep regardless, when Sadik walked through the door, shirtless and smirking.
"Hey Guppie… I was thinkin' we could carry on with the cuddlin'…" He explained, moving towards the bed. Smiling just a little, even as his eyes rolled, said nation moved over to give the Turk room to crawl into the bed and wrap his arms around the Egyptian with that near-permanent smile still stuck on his face.
"Love ya… Hope ya know that…" He declared, nuzzling his hair softly.
"I know. You know I know." Gupta replied, settling down with the other for sleep.