Characters in this chapter: France, Austria, Prussia
Gilbert plays strip Mau Mau with Francis and Roderich but is miraculously losing almost every game until he's down to his underwear.
Gilbert stared at the cards in his hands. He sweated a bit. This didn't look good. He wiped his forehead. He shuffled them again. He had two options here. Whichever card he played next would most likely determine whether he would win or lose this game. Loosing this one would be bad. He was already down to his underwear and could only take of either his shorts or his singlet.
He looked up at the other two. Roderich smiled one of his little sly smiles at him which drove him almost mad every time he had to see it. He had only two cards left, three less than Gilbert himself. Gilbert had no idea how he did it all the time. Roderich was way too good at this game. If Gilbert would have known he would never have agreed to it. Worst thing was that Roderich was still almost completely dressed.
Francis had at least already taken off his shirt and shoes. But even so, Gilbert was doing too bad to be simply bad at this game. He had lost almost every match until now. There was something fishy here. Gilbert felt like these two had decided to ally against him. He couldn't quite make out how but they had. He was sure.
Gilbert finally picked his card. He just hoped an eight would be enough. That would make Francis miss out on his turn. He sighed. And regretted the decision the next moment. He looked into Roderich's still smiling face as the other took one of the cards in his hand and slowly placed it on the pile.
"Thanks for giving me the opportunity to play this card," he said. "Mau."
Another eight. That little sneak! Gilbert was so done with this game. Never ever again would he agree to play with those two. Never! He really had to restrain himself from slamming his cards down. He hadn't lost yet. Well, not quite. But he couldn't do a thing because that bastard aristocrat had made him skip his turn.
Gilbert was torn between hoping the Frenchmen would do something, anything to stop that priss from winning and worrying about how they would look at him when he had to take down his singlet. The grins when they had watched him take off his jeans had been bad enough, but showing those dirty old men his nipples freaked him out more than it should considering they had seen each other naked plenty of times.
As Francis put down a seven, Gilbert let out a relieved sigh. He hadn't hoped for that. Maybe he could still win this match. Or at least not come out last. Gilbert shuffled his cards again. He hadn't even thought about the next round.
It turned out, he didn't have to. "Mau Mau," Roderich gloated. Gilbert was sure he really gloated. "Four more cards for you, Gilbert."
Gilbert huffed. There was no way he would continue playing. "I give up," he grumbled. "So save your breath." He was sick of it already and just wanted to get over with it.
Gilbert got off his chair. He gulped. Both Roderich and Francis watched him closely. He had no idea what they were thinking. He wasn't even sure he wanted to. The looks in their eyes spoke volumes to him.
He turned around so he wouldn't have to watch them. One of them whistled approvingly as he grabbed the rim of singlet. Slowly, he pulled it up. It was so cold without it. He knew he had to. And the longer he took the more the two of them would enjoy it. He quickly pulled the singlet over his head and threw it on the ground. His arms crossed in front of his chest to hide his nipples, he turned around.
"Are you happy now?" he gnarled.
"Almost. Let's play one more time."
Notes: Mau Mau is a card game similar to Uno and the likes. Which makes it a rather childish thing to play.
