It was a rather lovely afternoon, the Austrian enveloped in his piano room. Here, he was able to express himself; be it on the black white keys of the piano or the sheet where music was born. For this particular day he felt like creating, the quill in his hand scribbling a note down here, perhaps the chords moving in allegro or perhaps, if he dared, allegretto or perhaps the running fingertips would match up to the presto of-
Somewhere down the hallway, he heard the door open. Rather violently too, from the sound of the wood slammed against the wall. He desperately hoped that it wouldn't make a mark.
"Please tell me your boots are free of dirt."
The resounding sound of the door slamming, followed by defiant stomps (lined with something that sounded rather moist) was more than enough to prove the aristocrat's suspicions, his eyebrows lined with more frustration than he had ever felt since a certain Hungarian joined the household. Roderich was well aware that the other would eventually clean up the mess herself. Despite her dislike of this new lifestyle, she had her morals and obliged to the duties assigned to her, including cleaning mud tracks across wood panel floors. He never understood why she would make the mess in the first place if she would clean it up without him even mentioning. The Austrian was well aware that the young woman had only very recently entered the lifestyle of dresses and female mannerisms. Prior to that, she wore slacks and spent many a days in the woods, which in his own opinion isn't quite a lifestyle fit for such a woman. And a woman leading her nation, no less!
Despite all frustrations Roderich did feel a small pang of guilt on his part; it was the superiors who suggested that miss Hedervary should live with him (after all, a nation conquered is a nation meant to serve, or something like that). There were even talks of a union, and it was agreed that it would be best if the two were more familiar with one another. To say that Roderich agreed with wouldn't be entirely accurate; after all, those who represent the people had little say in the matter of what their superiors suggested. Not that he disliked her, though these small bouts of rebellion (could it be called one?) would annoy anyone-
Ah. He heard the sound of the bucket scraping across the floor. Sure enough, the nation of Hungary was mopping the muddied floor.
"Right. Thank you, Miss Hedervary."
Roderich knew better than the call her by her first name. They were nowhere close to that sort of familiarity. To consider what they had as conversation was almost laughable. Of course, the relationship between a master and servant should never be so familiar, but in the case of the Hungarian it was different. She was living with him because their superiors wanted them to get along. Except that wasn't happening at all. Roderich couldn't quite understand why she was acting so distant and dismissive, though she was never directly rude or condescending.
It was about a half hour later when the Hungarian knocked on his door, curtseying a little.
"I'll be out in the garden watering the flowers, Mr. Edelstein." He nodded, and she made her way to the back door.
The Austrian sighed. There wasn't anything that the Hungarian was doing that was wrong, nor did he mistreat her. They just never seemed to see eye to eye. Either way, it was apparent that he wouldn't be able to compose today with all these thoughts muddled in his mind. He got out of the room and made his way up to the second floor bedroom. Perhaps he would be able to get a moment's rest to clear his mind.
That is, a mind could be cleared if he didn't hear such a ruckus outside his window. There was a voice, and it was a rather annoying one. Once again, Roderich's eyebrows were lined with frustration as he peered out the window to locate the source of such a horrendous sound.
"Oi, Liz!"
Roderich frowned. There was nothing good coming from the source; a loud-mouthed Gilbert Beilschmidt, or Prussia. He didn't particularly care much. The casualty of his voice shocked the Austrian a little; had the two always been so familiar? Roderich could have sworn that he witnessed Hungary beating the other up on several occassions.
"Whatcha doin' in that sissy get up? C'mon, let's go hunting, hunting!"
Hungary? Hunt? Preposterous. Roderich was curious to know the other's answer.
"Sorry, but I'm not interested in that sort of thing anymore." He thought as much. After all, who could enjoy a blood sport? No, not her. This lifestyle was much more comfortable than one outdoors.
"Keh, fine. Guess that means more for me!" The Prussian grinned, before making his way out. How did he even get into the garden? Roderich groaned, though he noticed Elizabeta's face lighting up ever so slightly when hearing the mention of a hunt, a small sigh when he left. It wasn't long before she resumed her duties.
Now that puzzled him. He couldn't understand how such a thing could even be enjoyable; no, enjoyment would be like the notes of the piano trailing up and down. Enjoyment would be Chopin, Handel, Bach, even. Enjoyment was not sullying your clothes out in the wilderness. Either way, the notion perplexed him and as it would appear, a certain Prussian seemed to know more about his servant's interests much more than he did. Roderich hated to admit it, but perhaps he needed a little guidance in this area.
"So," Gilbert narrowed his eyes, crossing his legs and giving an icy stare at the Austrian sitting across from him, "what the hell do you want? Are you that desperate for me to invade your lands?"
It was rare for Roderich to visit the other. Extremely rare. And to go unannounced as well, the Prussian opening the door to see a slightly dishevelled Austrian. And of course Gilbert's superiors would have him treat guests with hospitality and as such was forced to offer him a cup of tea. If Roderich came on his own accord then it was safe to assume that this meeting was by no means a political one, a discussion that didn't deal with the events and affairs of nation duties. Though it wouldn't hurt to dream that maybe he came over to surrender his lands to him.
Roderich took a sip of the tea, setting it down on its fine china plate before resting it on the coffee table in front of him.
"I have no such intention. But I do have intentions of leaving this place with information."
"Tch. Where are you going with this, Edelstein?"
"I want to ask about Hungary."
The name caught Gilbert's attention, his eyes widening ever so slightly, before giving a small snort.
"She's your servant now, isn't she? What, can't even handle one person?"
"That's not what I'm asking. And I'll have you know that things are..." A pause. "...things are fine."
"Then you wouldn't be here, arschloch."
Roderich tensed a little, deciding to ignore the last bit. "Ever since she's been here, she's...she's not friendly. Cordial, yes. Does everything asked of her. But there's a wall somewhere and..." He hated to admit it, but... "...well, the other day, in the garden. She seemed a little different when talking to you. Just a little though."
There were many ways to go about this confession. Gilbert could tell him to give her up, to let Hungary be independent, but both knew that was impossible. Whatever Elizabeta wanted didn't matter in accordance to what would benefit Hungary. Besides, the woman had her morals and loyalties too damn high to pursue any personal wants. Gilbert could have also told Roderich to fuck off and be done with the matter, but that wouldn't help Elizabeta's case either. Not like he'd say it, but considering all the shit that Hungary had put up with through most of her life, it wouldn't hurt to help her out every now and then. Not that he was helping. Nope. Gilbert Beilschmidt, concerned? Ridiculous. So Gilbert said something else.
"How would you feel if someone thrusted a dress at you, hey you put this on kinda shit, right now?"
"Excuse me?" Of all the things that would come out of the Prussian's mouth, Roderich was most definitely not expecting that.
"Yeah, and no talking back and shit. Ain't allowed to fight."
"But a dress-"
"With corsets mind you to pull out that figure-"
"Beilschmidt if this is your idea of a joke I'm stopping you right now."
"I take it you wouldn't like it?"
"No!"
"Exactly." Gilbert snorted. "Put yourself in her position. Most of her life she considered herself as Eli than Elizabeta. Fuckin' had me fooled too." Gilbert was careful to omit the part where he went to confessional on more than one occasion during this whole gender-confusion business.
Roderich frowned. "She is a woman. This is what's best for her."
"Wrong." It would be a feat to keep his patience in check. "You don't know anything about her, do you? She may be a woman, she was born a fightin' nation, just like you and me. 'Course, just because you enjoy the aristocratic life doesn't mean she would. And those fucking womanly duties? To speak not unless spoken to, to be submissive, never fight, cook, clean, cater to the needs of whatever is needed? You really think that's the best for her?" With every breath the Prussian's voice got a little louder, a little angrier.
"I...I mean...I..." This shook Roderich a little. This was the truth he was brought up with, and he never saw it as a fault. Then again, Roderich wasn't a woman. He wouldn't know.
"...She misses it." Gilbert sighed, his voice lower now. "Riding on horses, fighting, hunting. Being able to do the things she loves. Damn that Hungarian, she'll never say it out loud but she yearns for those things. Not a life spent cooped up in a house assigned to do chores." He stood up to take Roderich's cup and plate, signalling the end of the conversation. Roderich gave a small nod, taking in the information as he made his way to the exit door.
"Oi, Edelstein." A voice rang out behind the Austrian.
"Yes?"
"She's living with you now so...make sure you get along with her."
((Haha, I started this off with a more aushun focus but somehow Gilbert just butted his head right in and resulted in a stronger fryingpangle position than I originally wanted to.
The thing with the characters Prussia, Austria, and Hungary is that I love them but it feels like their characteristics get miscasted so often which makes me a little sad. I started this fic off to hopefully expand and develop on their characteristics and avoiding that 'love triangle' debacle (though I'm pretty it can be interpreted as such, haha).
A headcanon of mine is that when Austria and Hungary started living together they didn't quite get off on the right foot, especially when you consider how vastly different their lifestyle and upbringing was. However, over time they did learn more about each other and hopefully I'll be able to convey that in the next chapter.
This fic'll be only two chapters long, so please be patient with me. Reviews and critiques are welcomed!))
