Written for Austria and Hungary's anniversary June 8th, 2013
Austria stood outside his front door and watched the morning arrive in his home country. He clutched a cup of hot coffee tightly, warming his chilly hands. The air felt quite cool and crisp for a day in June, though it was still early; the sun was coming up, but had yet to fully rise over the mountains.
While brewing his usual dose of caffeine, he had double-checked the date on his calendar. It told him only what he already knew, but somehow he still couldn't believe it, no matter how many times he looked at it. It had snuck up on him so quickly. Not that it mattered much anyway; he and Hungary hadn't done anything special for their anniversary in nearly twenty years, and it didn't look like this year would be any different—especially not after their argument the day before.
He couldn't even remember what the dispute had been about, though it didn't matter much anymore. Whatever it was, it had started as something small and probably silly, and eventually escalated to a shouting match, tears included. Both had waited for the other to threaten a divorce, though the threat never came.
When a nation marries, it can be under their "country" name, for political purposes, or under their "human" name, for personal reasons. Austria and Hungary had chosen to marry under both. The early years of their marriage had been rocky, but the two stuck together even after their divorce as nations. After 146 years of being together, he never thought he'd again have to face the possibility of losing her under her human name.
He hoped she wasn't still angry with him; the two hadn't spoken to each other at all after the incident. She could certainly hold a grudge, and the truth was, he admitted to himself, so could he.
He heard the door open behind him, then click shut. Not knowing what sort of mood she would be in, he didn't even turn around to look at her; he instead remained still and let her approach him on her own. Within moments, though, she pulled him into a warm embrace from behind. All at once, he felt her arms around his waist, her chest against his back, and her face against his neck (on which she placed a single, delicate kiss.)
"Good morning," she murmured.
"Good morning to you as well," he replied.
"You don't really need this, do you?" she asked, gently removing the coffee cup from his hands.
"Of course I do; it wakes me up in the morning so I can get started on the things that need to be done."
"It's early; why not leave those things for a little later? Just for today?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come back to bed, darling," she said, giving him a gentle squeeze around the middle with her free arm. "At least until it warms up outside. I don't think anyone is going to mind if you have a few extra hours of rest on your anniversary."
"That does sound like a good idea…"
"I'll be waiting," she informed him, and returned to the house with his coffee. She truly was amazing, he thought. As feisty as she could be, she always seemed to surprise him with moments of sweetness.
He followed her into the house about a minute later, and found her already between the sheets when he walked into their bedroom. She smiled up at him upon his arrival. He removed his glasses, setting them on his bedside table, and crawled in beside her. She immediately snuggled up to him, and held him close to her body. She ran a hand through his dark hair, twirling a few strands of it between her fingers, and whispered only a single sentence before the two began drifting off to sleep once again.
"I love you."
It was all that needed to be said to reassure both nations they had many more years of a happy marriage to come.