Chapter 8
The next few days of my home stay were very tense, since I had pretty much threatened Ludwig. Ludwig and I hardly spoke, so the only noise made in the house came from Lulu speaking to one of us (mostly me).
On the thirteenth day of my stay, three days after my threat, Ludwig finally broke the ice I had frozen over us. I was sitting in the living room at the time, looking over some paperwork that had been mailed over to me.
"You can use my office if you'd like," Ludwig said suddenly from behind me, making me jump up out of my seat in surprise.
"Jesus!" I exclaimed, "How long were you standing there?" My hand had flown up to my chest in surprise as my lungs now tried to slow their breathing.
"Only a bit. Did I scare you?"
"You're damn right, you did!" My breathing had slowed, and I sat back down.
Ludwig cleared his throat. "As I was saying, you may use my office if you'd like."
I put down my paperwork to look at him. "Aren't you working in there?"
Ludwig shrugged. "We can both use it."
"I would just—." Then a thought dawned on me, and I felt a pink blush rise in my cheeks. "Wait… do you want me to work with you?"
He blushed at this and broke eye contact, instead turning his gaze to the floor as his hand rose to rub the back of his neck. "W-well, I just don't want you to be uncomfortable, ja? And I have space…"
I couldn't hold back the smile, so I turned my head to pick up my paperwork and let myself grin like the idiot I was. When I gathered my papers, I straightened out my face as much as possible and stood.
"Lead the way," I told him, a smile still faint on my lips. He then led me to the office and gave me a spot across from him at the desk. Half the desk had already been cleared, and I knew that he was hoping I'd come in and work beside him. This made me smile like an idiot again. Once I had settled down with my paperwork, I began reading through the materials.
The life of a state, or as a nation, is a curious thing. One would think it would entitle you with power, money, and utmost respect. The truth of the matter is it's a scary existence. If you are not strong yourself, you find yourself at the mercy of more powerful beings. As states, we were all nations once. And one by one, we were conquered. Texas himself was a nation for quite a long time, before turning to Alfred for annexation.
And even when people are given the privilege, the honor, of knowing of our existence, they use us. The only people allowed to know of us are top politicians and military. Politicians just dump their paperwork on us, even though our signature means nothing. My ruling can be easily overturned, as can Alfred's and even Ludwig's. Because, you see, government was not created for nations. It was created for people. And people rule it, in their own corrupt, selfish ways.
I turned this idea over in my head as I pretended to read the papers before me, and subconsciously heaved a sigh.
"Sarah?" I heard Ludwig say in a gentle voice. The fact that he could have a gentle voice surprised me.
"Hm?" I looked up.
"Is something bothering you?" he asked delicately.
I rested my chin in my hands. "Actually, yes." There was a pause in which he awaited my elaboration, so I continued, "I was just thinking… why do I have to do all this work when my opinion doesn't really matter?"
Ludwig sighed at this. "That's a tough question. Every nation asks it."
"And? The answer is?"
Ludwig gave me a half-hearted smile. "Because we have to."
I sighed again, slouching a bit in defeat. "That doesn't really help."
"No, it's not a fair life we live," Ludwig contemplated. "At the end of the day, the single most thing we represent is our people. The average, everyday person. And, if you haven't noticed, almost no government is actually run with the average, everyday person in mind."
"Right. It's all about the fat cats and keeping the rich rich and never really helping the poor." I felt myself getting a bit depressed over the thought.
After a long silence, Ludwig spoke. "Would you like to go out for a while? We could go see a movie."
I sat up, stretching my arms. "That would be… fantastic."
Ludwig actually smiled a bit at this. "Would you mind if I invited someone?"
"Of course not. Go ahead," I assured. "May I ask who?"
"Italy. He just got into town yesterday, and he said he wanted to do something with me soon."
"Ah, I see." I stood up. "I should get ready then shouldn't I?"
Ludwig looked me over. "Aren't you already?"
I looked myself over. "Not at all." He looked confused, but asked no further questions. So I left, going into my and Lulu's room where Lulu was sprawled out on the floor, reading a magazine from home.
"We're going out," I told her. She looked up at me with a small smile.
"Like, more than grocery shopping kind of 'going out'?" she asked hopefully.
I nodded. "We're going to the movies."
"Alright!" She stood up, smoothing out her dress. "Wait… I don't know German."
I ruffled her hair. "I'll translate. Now I have to get ready-."
"You're fine!" she cried suddenly, pushing me out of the room. "Let's just goooo!"
"Alright, alright! Jeez!" I straightened when I saw Ludwig in the hallway staring at us curiously. "We're ready," I explained, my cheeks turning red.
We met Italy at the movie theatre, and he bounded right over to Germany with a cry of "Doitsuuuuu~" and a tight hug that made Ludwig stiffen.
Italy began babbling to Ludwig about this and that before he realized we were standing there. He turned to me and Lulu. "Ve, Doitsu brought pretty girls!"
I laughed and said "thank you" quietly as Lulu just giggled at my side. Italy focused his attention on her.
"What's your name, my pretty lady?" he asked, and I knew it was more to amuse her than anything else.
She smiled brightly. "I'm Hawaii. But you can call me Lulu!"
The two seemed to feed off each other's energy, practically bouncing where they stood as Italy continued his mock flirtation. I backed up a bit, overwhelmed by the energy level, and almost into the street. Ludwig caught me by the arm before I could get myself killed, and pulled me gently back to our group. I blushed but said nothing as he let go of my arm. He turned to the other two and cleared his throat.
"Let's go in," he said sternly.
Italy straightened, never losing his grin, and saluted Ludwig with his left hand. "Yes, sir!" he cried happily, prompting a facepalm from Ludwig and giggles from Lulu as I just watched.
We walked in, purchased our tickets, and went into our respective theatre. Lulu then grabbed Italy's coat sleeve.
"I wanna sit next to Italy!" she exclaimed, prompting a grin from Italy.
"Ve~ I'm gonna sit next to Doitsu, too!" he told us.
I gave Lulu a face. "Aren't I supposed to translate for you?" I asked.
Italy waved a hand at me as if to tell me not to worry about it. "I can translate, ve!"
Germany looked at me, then back at the other two. "I don't really care how we sit, but we better do it quickly."
So Lulu sat at one end of our group, next to Italy. Germany sat between Italy and me. Lulu and Italy chatted quietly as Ludwig and I sat in silence. Then the movie began. It was a silly romance, which wouldn't have been a problem otherwise. On the contrary, I quite liked to lose myself in a good love story. But since I was sitting next to Ludwig, for whom I had begun to manifest strong feelings, it was just awkward. I once felt my nose itch, but I was uncomprehendingly afraid to move in Ludwig's presence. What if I was clumsy? What if my hand came up too quickly and startled him? And if I lifted my hand slowly, wouldn't that just be awkward.
I had many of these internal conflicts in my head until about halfway through the movie, when I decided that it was time for me to just enjoy the movie. After all, that's what we came here for. So I relaxed my shoulders and brought my left hand to rest on the armrest.
Only Ludwig's hand was already there. It was big, warm… comforting. I didn't ever want to let go.
But I did, out of instinct. His eyes shot up to meet mine as I averted my gaze and withdrew my hand quickly. "I'm sorry!" I whispered, thankful the lighting did not grant him the chance to see that my face had turned bright red.
Good going, me.
The event went unspoken of, though, and we soon found ourselves back at Ludwig's house with Italy making us warm, rich Italian food. We ate with hearty conversation, and I found that Ludwig and I surprisingly had a lot to talk about. We talked about family (drawing parallels between his reckless brother and my clueless father), friends (Italy mostly), and many other topics. Soon came the time for bed, and Lulu and Italy were the first to go. I helped Ludwig clean the kitchen.
As I washed dishes in the sink, I heard him say, "Your hands are soft."
I turned to look at him. "I'm sorry?" I asked, unsure I heard him correctly.
A pink blush tinted his cheeks slightly as he elaborated. "At the movies today… I noticed your hands are soft." After a short pause, he added, "They're nice."
"Th…thank you…" I turned back to the dishes before I let him see my blush. "Yours are…warm…"
Silence fell between us again, but it wasn't awkward at all. It was kind and comforting. Like the silence that reigns in a happy home.
A/N: Oh, how I love to make my characters feel wonderfully awkward~! A little fluffies for the next few chapters, methinks. But don't you worry, my readers. They will get together. Soon. xD
So thank you for putting up with my random hiatuses. And general procrastination. *hopes you don't all hunt me down and kill me*
