Disclaimer: I own nothing you may recognize. Cool, I've got another PruCan fic! This time instead of Canada being genderbent, it's Prussia! Female Prussia . . . what a scary thought . . . Oh, and I apologize in advance for any and all OOCness. Anyway, thanks and enjoy Miss Independent.
Miss Independent
Julchen, known to a select few as the awesome nation of Prussia, was what some might call too independent. She didn't like to depend on anyone, not even family. Ludwig couldn't remember the last time his sister asked him for anything serious. She even made her own way to the meetings, and today was no different.
It was boring, it was stupid, and it was totally unawesome, but she suffered through it. When it was over, Julchen started to head out before she noticed an adorable little polar bear, though it wasn't as awesome as Gilbird. The bird was named so since Jul-bird didn't sound as awesome for a guy birdie. Without a second thought, the platinum haired woman scooped up the bear and started walking out of the room.
"Hey! Give me back Kumachiki," a small voice demanded from behind her. Julchen turned around and came face to face with a blonde man, his furious violet eyes glaring at her.
"Who?" Julchen asked.
"Kumagigi," he said, though Julchen was sure that was a different name than the one he said before.
"Kumajiro," the bear protested. "Who are you?"
"I'm Canada," the man protested.
"Canada?" Julchen repeated. "I've never heard of you."
His attention was turned back to the girl in front of him. "You see me?" he asked.
"Vell of course I do," she stated. "I am awesome Prussia; I see all!"
"Prussia? Wasn't your country dissolved a couple hundred years ago?" Canada asked.
"So vat? Ze awesome me is still here," Julchen argued.
"Okay," Canada agreed, if only to pacify the angry woman. "Um, can I please have my polar bear back?"
In response, Julchen sadly handed him the little fluff ball. "So, vat is your name?"
"Mathew Williams," he answered. "What's yours?"
"Julchen Beilschmidt. And zis is mien awesome friend, Gilbird," she added when the tiny yellow bird flew over and nestled into her hair.
"He's cute," Mathew commented. Alright, cue awkward pause.
"Vell, I'd better be going," Julchen decided suddenly. "Mien annoying bruder is probably vaiting for me."
Mathew frowned in confusion, but he didn't say anything as the albino girl walked away. Julchen shook her head, dislodging the yellow animal from her hair. She knew that if she stayed any longer, Mathew would offer to walk her back to the hotel or to her car, and there was no way she was going to let that happen.
At the end of the next meeting, it was raining. Julchen swore quietly to herself. She hadn't thought to bring her umbrella.
As the woman started walking out into the rain, she heard someone walking behind her. Julchen figured that it was just someone else from the meeting hurrying to their car or hotel. She kept walking, crossing her arms to try to keep in the warmth. But suddenly, the rain stopped.
When Julchen glanced skyward, she realized the rain hadn't actually stopped. Someone was holding a huge red and white umbrella over her head. She glanced to her left and saw the guy from the last meeting, Mathew.
"Vat are you doing, Mattie?" Julchen demanded.
"You remembered my name?" he questioned. "That's new."
"You're strange," she stated.
". . . Thanks?"
"It vasn't a compliment, Mattie. Now go away. I don't need your unawesome umbrella."
But Mattie didn't listen. Instead, he just kept walking beside her. Julchen snarled under her breath. What part of 'go away' didn't he understand? When she got back to her hotel, she refused to even look at Mattie. Why couldn't he leave her alone?
Julchen headed out to the park one sunny afternoon with Gilbird in tow. Since it was such a nice day, she figured that it would be good to get out. When she got to the grassy area of the park, she sat down and watched her awesome little bird flitter around in front of her. But then Gilbird started to wander off.
"Come back, Gilbird!" Julchen insisted, trailing after the animal.
As she hurried after the bird, someone else had just lost their pet too. And it just so happened that the two owners were running toward each other. Before Julchen knew what was happening, she collided head-first with the other pet owner.
"Fucking hell!" she cursed, falling backwards.
"I'm so sorry!" the other person apologized. "It was my fault."
"You bet it vas," Julchen hissed, trying to get to her feet. The other person tried to help her up, but the Prussian girl just waved them away. She didn't need any help, dammit. When she got to her feet, she brushed herself off and looked around for Gilbird.
"Wait, Julchen?" the other person asked in shock. Julchen whipped her head around, training her scarlet gaze on the person.
"Mattie?!" she growled. "Vat ze hell vere you thinking?"
"I was trying to catch Kumachiki," he explained.
"I thought his name vas Kumajiro," Julchen recalled.
Mattie frowned. "Oh, right."
"And you vonder why he never remembers your name," she muttered.
"I heard that," Mattie complained. "And I'm a bit offended."
"Vell, you should be," Julchen allowed. "It's ze truth, after all."
"Why are you so mean to me?"
"Because you grate mien awesome nerves," Julchen explained. "Now for ze last time, leave me alone."
Before Mattie could say anything else, Julchen scooped up Gilbird and walked away.
Two days had passed since Julchen literally ran into Mattie, and she couldn't get him out of her head. What the heck was her problem? Why couldn't she stop thinking about the violet eyed man? She wracked her mind, trying to think of anything but him, but it was no use. Maybe –maybe she needed West's help.
"Vest?" she called. Her bruder turned around to face her, curiosity in his gaze.
"Yes?" he questioned.
"I've got a question for you," she began.
Ludwig motioned for her to continue, so Julchen took a deep breath before blurting out her problem.
"ImetzisguyzeotherdayatzemeetingandI'vebeenrunningintohimforzelastveekandnowIcan'tstopthinkingabouthimsovat'shappeningtome?!" she said in a rush.
"Calm down," Ludwig ordered. "Repeat vat you just said, but slower zis time, okay?"
"Okay," Julchen breathed. "I met zis guy ze other day at ze meeting and I've been running into him for the last veek and now I can't stop thinking about him. Vat's happening to me?"
Ludwig frowned. She couldn't stop thinking about a guy that she met? There were only a few things that he thought that it could mean. One was that she hated the man, but the other . . . Nien, that couldn't be it, could it? His sister couldn't be . . . in love? She had never been the sort of person someone would think would fall in love.
"Vest? Are you okay?" Julchen asked when her bruder froze at her question.
". . . Vhy do you think you feel like zat?" he eventually asked.
"I don't know!" Julchen admitted. "That's vhy I'm asking you!"
"Vell, zere are two possibilities," Ludwig admitted. "Either you hate him or–"
"Or?" she interrupted. "Or vat?"
"Or you like him," he explained. "Do you like zis man?"
"NIEN!" Julchen protested. "I do not like him! He's annoying and sort of rude and completely unawesome! I could never like him!"
"Who is it?" Ludwig questioned. Maybe he could talk to this guy.
"Mattie," Julchen explained. "Mathew Williams. He's Canada, I think."
"I vill talk vith this Canada fellow," Ludwig decided. "See vat his intentions are."
"I can handle mien self," she protested. "You don't have to talk to him."
But she could tell her bruder had already made up his mind. Well crap, this sucked.
At the end of the next meeting, Ludwig asked Mathew to stay after for a bit. The Canadian was surprised that the German nation remembered who he was, but to be honest Ludwig had Julchen remind him who he was searching for before the meeting ended.
"So, Mathew," Ludwig began. "I hear you have been following Julchen?"
"What?" Mathew yelped. "I haven't been following her! If anything, she's been following me!"
"Nien," he protested. "Julchen vouldn't follow someone like you."
"What do you mean, someone like me?" Mathew felt offended, a fact that was unnoticed by the German.
"I mean someone as unseen as you," he explained. "And I think zat you should leave her alone."
"But I haven't done anything," Mathew protested weakly.
"I vill varn you only once. Stay away from Julchen. She is vorse zan me."
Ludwig turned around and walked out, leaving Mathew confused as to his meaning.
Julchen decided to skip the next meeting. She didn't really need to be there, after all, so no one would really miss her. Or at least, that was her excuse. Julchen just didn't want to see Mattie again. So instead of going to the meeting, she headed to the nearest coffee shop.
It was . . . nice. It had a quiet tone about it, like it was a spot for an early Sunday breakfast, even though it was midday on Friday. She ordered a coffee and a sandwich before sitting by the window. Julchen had to admit it was a pleasant day, one of the best she'd had in a while. She wasn't even thinking about –nope, not even going to think his name, she thought cheerily.
As Julchen sipped her coffee, she pulled a pencil out of her pocket and started scribbling on a napkin. Granted, she wasn't the most artistic person ever, but she was bored. People do a lot of random things when they're bored, she'd found.
It wasn't until her sandwich was gone and her coffee was cold that Julchen happened to glance at the doodle she had sketched on the napkin. Well damn, it was Mattie. It wasn't too identifiable, but he had the same glasses and the strange curl in his hair. Why did she draw him?
Was West right? Did Julchen really like Mattie? No, there was no way she liked him. He was rude and annoying and cute and sweet and . . . wait! What was happening to her? She didn't like him. He was offensive to her awesomeness.
Julchen got up to leave when she heard a very familiar voice ordering coffee. What was he doing here? The meeting was still in session! No, she amended, glancing at the clock. It was time for the lunch break.
"Julchen?" she heard Mattie call out. Sighing, she turned around to face the annoying Canadian.
"Hello, Mattie," she greeted blandly. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?
"Would you like to have coffee with me?" Mattie asked with a puppy dog look on his face.
Julchen should have refused. She should have walked away without a word. She should have done anything other than what she did do, which was accept Mattie's offer. The albino went and bought another coffee, ignoring Mattie's offer to buy it for her; she didn't need his help with anything.
When the duo sat back down at a table, Julchen all but refused to look at Mattie. The Canadian was a bit upset at her rejection. Couldn't she tell that he was trying to be nice to her? As far as he knew Julchen wasn't as oblivious as his brother, so it wasn't like she didn't know. Maybe she just didn't care.
"So, vat are you doing here?" Julchen eventually asked.
"I'm drinking coffee," he replied honestly.
"Don't be a smartass," the Prussian ordered. "I vas asking vhy you came here of all places."
"Oh. Well, this is the only coffee place within a few miles of the meeting that has maple syrup as a coffee flavoring," he explained.
"Maple syrup? Vhy would you vant zat as a coffee?" Julchen wondered aloud. "Zat just sounds unawesome."
"You really like that word. Awesome, I mean," Mattie clarified.
"Vell, I am awesome, so I prefer to use ze vord zat expresses me best," Julchen told him.
An uncomfortable silence descended over the two. Julchen finished her second coffee quickly before getting up and nodding in thanks to Mattie. Before she left, she just happened to drop the napkin she had drawn on near his table. And it just so happened that she had signed her name to the bottom.
Needless to say, when Mattie picked it up, his grin could have melted ice.
After two weeks of randomly running into Mattie, Julchen realized that she didn't mind he kept showing up. Eventually she found herself looking for him. That started after the last meeting of the month.
"Mattie!" she called out with a smile on her face. The albino Prussian rushed over to the mild-mannered Canadian, laughing at his startled expression.
"Hey Jules," he said once he recovered from shock. "How've you been?"
"Ve talked ten minutes ago, Mattie," she laughed. "I haven't changed."
"How was I supposed to know?" Mattie grinned. "You might've gotten hurt or something and I didn't know."
"How would I get hurt from ze meeting to here?" Jules questioned. "I'm too awesome to get hurt in such a short amount of time."
Mattie just rolled his eyes, silently walking out with her. The entire time, Jules was ranting and complaining about random things, things that wouldn't make any sense to normal people but made almost perfect sense to Mattie. Then somehow Jules got onto the topic of breakfast.
"I'm just saying zat I don't think everything should be covered in syrup," she insisted. "It's just gross on certain things."
"Gross?" Mattie echoed incredulously. "It's the best topping for pancakes!"
"I know," she agreed. "I'm saying zat it doesn't taste too good on eggs or gravy. It's disgustingly unawesome!"
"Who've you seen eating eggs or gravy with syrup?" he questioned curiously.
"Strange people in your country," she explained. "I'll never understand your obsession vith maple syrup."
"Have you seen my flag?" Mattie asked. Jules shook her head. No, she hadn't. Mattie sighed. "It's got a huge red maple leaf in the center."
"You've got a strange obsession, Mathew Williams."
Mattie just smiled at her. Yeah, he did have a strange obsession, but it wasn't maple syrup. He was obsessed with a certain albino Prussian. Not that he'd ever tell her, though. She would run in the other direction.
Even though the meetings for that month were over, Jules made an excuse to stay in the country. Mattie did the same, but he didn't tell Jules. She'd go home if she found out it was because of her. The two 'just happened' to find each other when they were out on the town. Mattie, being the kind person he was, offered to take Jules to dinner. She agreed on the stipulation that she was paying for her own.
"Okay," Mattie agreed. In the back of his mind he was planning to find a way to pay for her half anyway.
The two eventually decided to try a local place, but seeing as they were in America, the only places they found were a burger joint or a coffee shop. Since it was for dinner, they decided to try their luck with the burger place.
"I vill never understand your brother's unawesome obsession vith hamburgers," Jules muttered after they placed their order.
"I don't understand it either," Mattie admitted. "It's weird. I just wish I could tell him that he's weird."
"He might hurt you if you do," Jules warned.
"He won't hurt me. Maybe."
"Be careful, Mattie. It wouldn't be awesome if mien friend got hurt ven I couldn't help."
Mattie was taken aback. Jules actually admitted she thought of him as a friend? He thought that she believed them to be just acquaintances, nothing more. Her casual remark was surprising, to say the least. Now if he could just figure out how to tell her he thought of her as more than friends . . .
"Mattie? Are you alright?" Jules asked when the Canadian went silent for more than a few seconds.
Her questioned snapped him out of his stupor. "Sorry," he apologized in embarrassment. "Lost in thought, I guess."
"It's alright," Jules assured him. "Now, vhy did you invite me to dinner?"
"I just wanted to hang out," he explained. "Should I not have asked you?"
"Nien, its fine. I vas just curious."
And she was. She was curious why he was being so nice to her. She was curious why she felt her heart skip a beat whenever he smiled at her. She was curious why she found herself wanting to spend more and more time with him.
But Jules wouldn't tell Mattie any of those things. If it were up to her, she would never let him know how she felt when he was around. She had a reputation to protect, after all.
The longer Jules hung out with Mattie, the more she realized that she liked him. She actually, really, truly liked him. And that was a bit terrifying. But it was also a bit intriguing. How was it that she had been around for who knows how long and was just now feeling this way about someone?
She decided there was only one thing left to do: tell Mattie how she felt. That was easier said than done, though. How do you tell your friend that you might like them as more than friends? What if Mattie didn't feel that way about her? What if he just wanted to be her friend?
Jules sighed, resting her head in her hands. This was too confusing. How was she supposed to tell him anyway? Was she just supposed to say 'Hey Birdie, guess what? I like you!'? No, that was dorky. But so was beating around the metaphorical bush. What should she do?
"Hey Jules," Mattie greeted cheerfully when they met up in the park. It had become one of their favorite places to hang out at.
"Hey Birdie," Jules said a bit distractedly. Seriously, what was she supposed to say?
"Are you alright? You sound weird," Mattie stated with concern plain in his voice.
Jules put on the cheesiest, fakest smile she had ever displayed. "I'm awesomely fine, Birdie. Hey, let's take a walk, 'kay?"
"Okay."
They ended up walking toward the forest boarding the park, away from the joggers with their dogs and the mothers with their strollers. Mattie almost reached out and took her hand, but he stopped himself before doing so. What if she didn't like him back?
They walked and admired the spring afternoon, keeping silent as they were absorbed in their very similar thoughts. Jules was debating on how to tell Mattie, and Mattie was debating on whether or not to even tell her at all.
When they came to a stop by a very large maple tree –Jules wondered if Mattie had something to do with that –she made a split second decision to do something about how she felt.
"Birdie?"
Mattie turned toward her. "Yes?"
"Don't get mad at me," she warned.
Mattie frowned. "Why would I get mad a–"
But he didn't get a chance to finish his question as Jules grabbed the front of his hoodie and pulled him into an abrupt kiss.
Mattie was shocked for less than a second before he began kissing her back. Jules hummed in pleasure, tasting maple syrup as she kissed the Canadian. Maybe the pancake topping had some value after all. When the two breathlessly broke apart, scarlet eyes met violet ones, and the owner of the scarlet pair was more than a bit nervous.
"So, are you mad at me?" Jules asked sheepishly.
Mattie shook his head at the Prussian woman. "No, I'm not. I was actually trying to figure out how to tell you that I like you."
Jules' smile grew at his words. "Really? Zat is awesome! We can be a couple or something! Ze awesome Julchen and her awesome Birdie, dating!"
"D-dating?" Mattie stuttered out, shocked by Jules' casual usage of the word.
Jules frowned at him. "Do you not vant to date me, Birdie?" She had been sure he wouldn't have a problem with it after he kissed her back and admitted he liked her.
Mattie quickly shook his head in protest of her assumption. "No, that's not what I meant! I was just surprised, that's all. Of course I'd like to date you!"
Jules grinned, taking Mattie's hand in hers. "Vell zen, it's awesomely official. Come on Birdie, we've got people to tell."
And as Jules led Mattie down the walkway, the Canadian was left to wonder where they were going. Then again, it was always best to leave it up to Jules. She knew what she wanted, and damn it if she didn't get it. It just so happened that the one thing she wanted was Mattie, and his heart now and forever belonged to her.
Tada! I absolutely love PruCan! That and Fem!Prussia was so much fun to write. Thanks for reading!
~C