"... and then you tear the piece of paper off like so, and put it in the slot on top of the box."

Prussia sat back in his seat, bored out of his mind. I get invited to a world meeting for once, and we do something unawesome like this, he thought. Wunderbar.

"Any questions?"America asked cheerfully. He was the one hosting the world meeting this time, and most likely the one who had come up with this exercise. The activity was simple: each nation had a box with their name on it at their seat in the conference room. The nations were to write something complimentary about each other on paper and put the notes in the boxes... easy enough. But of course, it wasn't...

"What if we can't think of anything nice to say about someone?" Hungary asked, glaring at Romania... who smirked at her in return.

"Umm... then don't say anything at all, okay?" America told her. "The whole purpose of this is to build each other up, not tear each other down."

England muttered to himself, "I guess I won't be writing anything about the frog, then... bloody git..." Greece and Turkey were eyeing each other distastefully, and Romano was openly glaring at Germany. Austria and Switzerland were very pointedly ignoring each other... Japan and Korea too.

Well, this should be interesting, Prussia thought. I wonder what the others will say about me...

He had visions of an empty box, since in his mind no one really liked him or cared about him anymore. He almost never went to the world meetings now unless they were held in Germany (because one could say he was still technically a part of that country) or if the host nation invited him, which rarely happened. Maybe they were all beginning to forget him. Why America had invited him was beyond his comprehension...

To be honest, Prussia hadn't been feeling quite himself. If he wasn't so awesome, he might say he was feeling depressed... not to mention a little left out. Sure, Germany tried to include him in as much as possible regarding the country, but sometimes he was just too busy to even notice his older brother. So he spent most of his days alone in his basement, reading, watching television, writing in his diary or playing computer games. All in all, it wasn't much of an existence for the former Königreich Preußen.

Exhaling a heavy sigh, Prussia glanced around the room at the other nations. Some were scribbling furiously. Some appeared to be deep in thought, and yet others looked bored and annoyed with this exercise. Prussia began to write, finding something good to say about almost everybody... although he almost didn't write anything about Russia (he finally compromised and wrote "he loves his family").

Tearing the paper in strips, he walked around and stuffed his notes into the other nation's boxes. While he did so, he kept glancing back at his place to see if anyone was putting anything in his... every time he looked, the area was vacant. Oh well...

Prussia walked back to his seat when he was finished, as America had instructed them to do. While the other nations filtered back to their places, he picked up his box and tried to peer through the slot to see if it had anything in it.

"No, guys, don't open them yet," America called. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Why not?" Denmark whined. "I wanna see what everyone wrote to me."

"Because I want you to take the time to really read them," America replied. "Take them back to your hotel room and give them a good going over."

All the nations grumbled but set their boxes down... the suspense was killing Prussia. He picked the box up and shook it, listening for the rustle of papers inside. Who wrote about me? he thought. Gott... I can't stand it...

"Bruder?" Prussia jumped and spun around at the sound of the voice behind him. Germany was standing behind him, frowning. "You all right?"

"Ja, Westen," Prussia replied in an overly cheerful tone. "I'm awesome, as always."

Germany nodded and continued, "Feliciano, Kiku and I are going to go get something to eat. Do you want to come too?"

"Nein, danke," Prussia answered, shaking his head. "I think I'll just go back to our hotel room. I'm tired."

"You should eat something, Bruder," Germany replied, looking concerned. "You might have more energy if you did."

Prussia waved his hand. "I'll be all right, West," he said. "I'll order something from room service if I get really hungry." Germany still didn't look convinced, but he finally relented. "All right, then..." Prussia started to walk away, but then Germany said suddenly, "Gilbert?"

"Ja?" Prussia stopped and looked at his younger brother.

"Please call me if you need anything," Germany told him. "I won't be gone long... but if you do, call me... bitte..."

"Ja, Westen," Prussia replied, managing a small smile. "I will." And with that, he hurried back to his hotel room to open his box.

The elevator felt like it was moving in slow motion as it carried him up to the ninth floor. Dashing down the hallway, he dug in his coat pocket for the room key. "I have to know if... anyone still cares," he muttered as he unlocked the door and entered the room. He tossed his coat on a chair and flopped down on his bed, heart pounding furiously. His fingers trembled as he lifted the lid...

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

I will be posting the part two either this evening or tomorrow. And for all of those who are on author alert, I am sorry I've been inactive. I've just been way too busy with work to do anything else.

I promise I will update my other fics soon- probably to finish my Russia/fem!China first, then "Bros", then "Iggy Python". I will most likely discontinue "A Canada Story" because I just don't really love it anymore... (sowwy...) I also have a one-shot requested by an anonymous reviewer that is loosely related to "Iggy Python". I couldn't fit it into that story so it will stand on its own.