Ever since my birth he had been there.
I looked up to him, wanted to be like him.
He was everything I knew, after all.
"Guten Morgen!" Prussia grinned when I shuffled into the kitchen. It was half past six in the morning and it wasn't good at all. I rubbed my eyes and yawned simultaneously. He always woke up earlier than me and often taunted me with that. It didn't bother me, though. I was just a child therefore I needed a good amount of sleep. The first sunrays fell through the window and blinded me for a moment. I wrinkled my nose and sneezed.
"What do you want for breakfast?" He smiled down at me. He was standing in front of the oven and wiped some flour off his cheek. He was in a surprisingly good mood today. My brother wasn't in high spirits very often; it either meant he had won an important battle or just had made other people suffer. He enjoyed annoying others very much and I was happy that for once I hadn't been his target. I was convinced, though, that Schadenfreude was invented in Prussia.
"Whatever you are eating." I answered and climbed on my chair. Prussia nodded and turned his attention to the oven again. After a few minutes of mutual silence my eyelids grew heavy again. That was when my brother started humming. I flinched a little, taken by surprise. The tune was rather unmusical because –let's face it –Prussia couldn't sing. Or better: He shouldn't sing. His voice was pretty unnerving. He was still busy in the kitchen area and left me to my thoughts a few meters away. I was bored but didn't want to fall asleep either. Prussia would scold me if I did. So I tried to focus on his melody and wondered if it was a song I knew. Now he added a few whispered words, giving me something to work with. I did know the song. It was The Prussian Song. He used to sing it to me when I couldn't fall asleep at night. I had been very young back then and even then I thought of his voice as uncomfortable. I had enjoyed it, though. Almost involuntarily I started rocking back and forth to the beat. When he reached the end of the second stanza my brother remained silent for a few seconds. He squatted down and with quick moves rescued two loafs from the hot oven's flames. He made some funny noises and hurried to the table, holding the fresh bread in his hands. He almost threw them on my plate and then rubbed his hands while wincing lowly. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! Hot! Aua!" he barked and touched his earlobes with the fingertips that were burnt the worst. That didn't seem to help, though. I suppressed a chuckle and reached for the knife. "Are you alright, brother?" I asked innocently while making myself a sandwich. He continued to curse under his breath and nodded slightly. He sat down next to me then and grabbed the jug waiting for him. I held out my own to him wordlessly. I was too busy with chewing to voice my request.
"I'm not your maid, kid." He muttered but did as he was told. Obviously his good mood had disappeared. Too bad…
He filled the two wooden cups, with beer for him and with milk for me. My throat was parched from the dry bread and the long night, so I immediately took a big mouthful from my mug. I blinked while I tried to understand the weird taste on my tongue. Then realization hit me. I spat the fluid all over the floor and table. I heard Prussia's angered order to stop but I had better things to do, like choking. I practically threw myself at him and lunged for the jug in his hands. I emptied it with five draughts. Gasping and hiccupping I sat on his lap and made a mess out of our clothes. "Hey, have you lost it?" Brother growled and tore my lips away from the brim of the cup.
"You stupid brother!" I yelled back at him. "You gave me your disgusting beer to drink!" The milk wasn't enough to wash the bitter flavor out of my mouth and now my shirt was covered in that stinking stuff as well. I stuck out my tongue at him accusingly and tried to clean it with my bare hands. Prussia grabbed my waist and sat me on the floor with a groan. He rose to his feet and towered over me with blazing red eyes.
"Beer is never disgusting." He said with a voice as cold as ice.
"Then what did I drink right now? Because that tasted like crap!" I shot back, still utterly shocked at the thought that I just had drunken alcohol. Children weren't allowed to drink alcohol. My comment somehow seemed to amuse him, against all odds. He chuckled and tousled my hair playfully. Then Prussia winked and gave me a rather mysterious look, "You will learn to love it."