Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or any other recognizable content.

"And remember, every report to the DMCC is a report of good health! Thank you."

Nicolae sighed, and let his head flop back against the chair as the class clapped. Once a year, every year an officer from the DMCC (which stood for something way too long and complicated for him to remember) came to lecture them, and every year they said exactly the same thing. He was pretty sure eight year olds didn't need to be reminded anymore; they weren't babies. He would be glad when he was done with school and could stop hearing about things like 'mutated strands' and 'cognitive alteration' and other boring things he didn't understand. It was The Scientists jobs to know about that stuff, not his!

With his head flopped back, Nicolae could see the back of the classroom, and his best friend Adrian. Adrian was clapping too but didn't really seem to be paying attention. He was too busy looking out the window with that expression that meant he was daydreaming. He was probably wishing he could get out of this silly lesson and go outside. Nicolae didn't blame him. By rolling his head to the side he could see the window too, and all of the glorious sunshine streaming in. He could hardly remember the last time it had been this sunny! Mama said The Scientists had figured out a way to make the clouds go away, a little bit. Of course, Mama said it was for boring reasons, like increasing crop production. More things he didn't understand or care about. But he could already imagine being out there; it would be so warm he might not even need his coat. They could play ball at break- he and Adrian made the best team ever and would win for sure…

"...colae! Nicolae!" with a start, Nicolae jerked his head back up. The other kids had all gotten out their books, and were giggling at him. The teacher stood over him, looking very angry. Oops.

The sun was nearly touching the mountains by the time the class was let out. The children were eager to be in what was left of the sunshine and hurried outdoors, whispering and giggling quietly. Nicolae quickly gathered his books and threw his coat on, stepping impatiently from foot to foot as he waited for Adrian to catch up. Adrian stepped up to him with a smile, and the two of them walked out the door.

As soon as they were far enough away that the teacher couldn't hear them, Adrian started talking.

"What were you doing that made the teacher so mad? I couldn't really see, and I was afraid to ask."

"Nothing," Nicolae said. "It doesn't matter." Getting caught daydreaming wasn't a very cool way to get in trouble, especially since Adrian did it all the time.

"Well anyway, I'm sad you had to stay in at break. It wasn't as fun without you." Adrian said, which made Nicolae smile.

They walked towards their homes slowly, splashing through every fresh-melted puddle and kicking bits of garbage around. But all too soon they were climbing the metal staircase to the third floor of the apartment building. Nicolae's door came first and he stopped in front of it. Inside he could hear Mama shouting at someone again, and his new baby brother Dorin crying, which made him feel like crying. Something inside the house smashed, and the yelling got louder.

"It everything okay?" Adrian must have heard it too. Nicolae nodded, poking the baggy bits in the carpet with his foot and trying not to look at him. But Adrian was good at knowing when people were lying, and grabbed Nicolae's hand. "Why don't you come to my house for a while?"

Nicolae let himself be dragged down the hall. This far away from the staircase the air got darkish, and started smelling funny, but at least there was no yelling. Adrian let go of his hand to dig a key out of his coat pocket and unlock the door before pulling Nicolae inside.

The inside of Adrian's apartment was just like a backwards version of Nicolae's except not at all. All of the furniture was old, but no one had written things in dust on top. There were no clothes or baby bottles on the floor, and no dishes in the sink. The funny smell from the hallway was still there, but the house also smelled like something nice that Nicolae thought he might have had to eat once. He knew from experience that the two bedrooms were just as clean, and the bathroom was even better. At his house the bathroom was always the worst.

Adrian pulled him to the bedroom that he shared with his older brother and sat on the big bed that took up most of the room and patted for Nicolae to sit next to him. Adrian didn't say anything, which usually meant he was waiting for Nicolae to talk first. Nicolae sighed, and started to pull his feet onto the bed before he saw he had left his wet shoes on. He had probably gotten mucky water all over the house. Oops again.

"Thanks." he finally said, hoping that Adrian would know what he meant. And since Adrian was the best best-friend ever, he did.

The two boys had been sitting in silence for several minutes when the front door to the apartment opened and a voice called out;

"Who has been walking around with wet shoes?" Adrian laughed at the guilty look on Nicolae's face.

"I'm very sorry Mrs. Botev." he said, walking back into the main room and feeling very silly to still be wearing his shoes.

Mrs. Botev, Adrian's mama, gave him a stern look, but her eyes were laughing. She was a very nice lady who looked a lot like Adrian, with dark hair and the greenish sort of eyes Nicolae wished he had. While Adrian was at school she worked as a seamstress. Nicolae wasn't sure what that meant, but she must have been the best at it, because she worked for a very, very rich woman in the fancy part of the city. She cooked really good, and never yelled, not for real. Nicolae liked her a lot.

She looked stern for just a little longer before she smiled. "Alright. Why don't you have Adrian help and you boys clean it up." She leaned over and kissed Adrian's forehead, asking how his day had been while Nicolae removed his wet shoes and placed them by the door.

Mrs. Botev announced that she needed to go down the hall to 'reassure someone's mama that he got home safely' and left the boys dabbing at the floor with old rags. Adrian seemed a little annoyed to have to clean up, which made Nicolae feel bad, but he didn't mind helping to keep the nice apartment clean.

Mrs. Botev was gone for a long time for a trip down the hall; she leaned against the door sighing when she returned. Nicolae thought she looked a little annoyed. But once again her smile returned as soon as she saw him and Adrian and she announced that Nicolae would be staying for dinner. And if she made a face at Nicolae that meant she was a little sorry for him, well, staying for dinner was just exciting enough that he could pretend not to notice.

Mrs. Botev got both boys to help her with dinner, but after a few accidents (he really hadn't meant for the lid on the salt to come off!) they were told to set the table. Nicolae happily began sorting through the forks and spoons for the pretty ones that matched while Adrian climbed up the counter to get the plates.

"How many Mama?" Adrian asked as he stood on tiptoe to reach. Mrs. Botev made a face at his dirty socks on the counter and ordered him back down, reaching for the plates herself.

"Just four tonight. Your papa is... he's working." She sounded like she did when she heard about Adrian getting in trouble in class; sort of worried and sad.

"Papa's always working." Adrian grumbled, climbing back down.

"Adi, you know he's trying very hard to make sure you can stay in school and he-" she stopped when the front door opened again and went to say hello to Adrian's big brother.

Nicolae was pretty sure that Mrs. Botev was the best cook in the entire world. He hardly stopped to talk during dinner, and let Adrian tell about how he had to stay in from break. Mrs. Botev and Adrian's brother talked about the sunshine, which was all gone by now, and The Scientists and other things that Nicolae didn't really care about for a while, but everything else was perfect.

Soon the food was all eaten and Adrian was assigned to do the dishes, which meant that Nicolae either had to help or feel really guilty all night. It wasn't too bad really, when he had bubbles all the way up to his elbows and was laughing while he tried to keep Adrian from putting foam in his hair.

"Hey Nick?" Adrian had stopped.

"Yeah?" Nicolae asked, not really paying attention as he tried to get the bubbles to make a tower.

"I've been thinking about the DDMCC man who came to our school today, and the stuff he said. What do you think they would do if you actually had one of the mutations they talk about?"

Nicolae hadn't expected this at all. "What?"

"What would they do?" Adrian looked very serious now. "They wouldn't take us away like they did to the man downstairs, would they?"

Nicolae shuddered. He would never forget when the DDMCC found out that the man staying in room 14 was mutated. They had come taken him away, and all of his kids. His wife had been screaming and crying as her family was put into a van. After a few days all of the kids came back, but the man never did. The family had moved away not long after, but Nick had nightmares where his family was taken away while his mama screamed for weeks.

"I-I don't know. I guess I never thought about it." he finally said. He didn't want to talk about it. Thinking of things like this was scary.

Adrian looked at him carefully. Nicolae knew that Adrian had heard about his nightmares; he probably knew that thinking of getting taken away scared Nicolae.

"Don't worry." Adrian said "Even if they took you I would come too. No matter what."

For the second time that day Nicolae felt like he was going to cry, but not because he was sad. He threw his arms around Adrian, not caring that they were both getting wet and soapy, and hugged him as hard as he could. Adrian really was the best best-friend ever.

"Me too, okay? No matter what."

There was no way this could be happening. Nicolae felt frozen to his chair, too stunned to speak or move; too shocked to try and stop the proceedings. A fat, pompous man stood at the front of the room, reading self-importantly from an old document in his hands. It was his voice that held Nicolae, and presumably the others, in their seats, horrified and riveted.

"In accordance with the paragraph four of by-law eight of the Department of Mutation Containment and Control-"

Nicolae knew he had been under their scrutiny for years for his unusual appearance. Red eyes and strange teeth were more than enough to warrant an investigation from the DMCC in their increasingly desperate attempts to root out any dangerous mutations. They had fought so hard, his family pulling together for once in their lives to deter The Scientists and keep him safe. And now, after all that...

"-in order to ensure the health of future generations-"

No

"-hereby order the immediate deportment-"

Please, no

"-and banishment for life-"

Please!

"-of Adrian Botev."