+Prussia POV+

Canada wakes up with lines imprinted on his cheeks where his glasses had dug into his face all night. He took them off almost as soon as he realized he had forgotten to the night before. He sat up, seeming to forget that he had been laying on top of me. I groaned from his weight suddenly fully distributed onto my knees, and he looked around, startled.

"Oh! Prussia! Oh maple, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot- didn't realize-"

"It's alright." I sat up and winced, because he still hadn't gotten off of my knees. "Would you mind moving?"

He jumped up. "I'm s-so sorry!" he stuttered, bending down to help me off the sofa.

"I already said s'alright." I mumbled, holding back a yawn. "Did you sleep well?"

He smiled. "The first night for a while that I didn't have any nightmares."

I smiled. Good for him. Coincidentally, I hadn't had any nightmares either. I stretched my arms and walked into the kitchen. "Can I stay over for breakfast? I always have to explain to West where I was when I'm gone overnight, like last time when I took France's car. He was so angry at me for taking another country's car. Anyway, I wanna delay the inevitable."

"Of course." came the reply, but it seemed a bit distracted.

"Birdie? You sound off." I popped my head back into the living room. He was staring off into space, a point right above the back of the sofa.

"So… Last night…" he started. Oh, here it comes. He would say it was a mistake, that he hadn't meant it, that I needed to go home right away. "Did we… confess to each other? That wasn't a dream, right?"

I could feel the tension in my shoulders. He regretted it. "Yeah… I think so…"

He let out a breath. "Thank goodness. I was suddenly so afraid that I was lying to myself about you… You know, loving me." he said the last part quietly, blushing from the tips of his ears. I stood stunned for a minute, then grinned and walked over to him.

"I'd always love you." I said, more confidently than I had felt for years, leaning down to kiss his forehead before walking back into the kitchen.

"Maple, Prussia, that's not fair!" he whined, walking in behind me. "I'm weak to your romantic charms!" He tugged on the back of my shirt, and when I turned, immediately he pressed a kiss to my collarbone. "Gotcha."

Mein Gott, I was so in love. What had I done to deserve this? Was it okay to be selfish just this once, just with him? I sighed and smiled at him, grabbing his hand for a swift two seconds, then letting go to start the stove up. "Do you have any bacon, Birdie?"

"Yeah, just in the freezer. Hold on, let me get the frying pan from the cupboard."

I could get used to this. This was the simple life of a man who just woke up with the one he loves. I could most definitely get used to it. I wasn't as unlovable as I once thought, huh? Unless Canada was taking pity on me and pretending.

I shook my head and tried not to think like that the rest of the morning.

An hour later and I was heading back to Germany's place. I hoped he wouldn't be too angry.

As I walked through the door, I heard some concerned whispering, then a snarl, then an angry Italy pushing past me and out the door. I really did hope he was okay. I reminded myself to check up on him later.

"West, I'm home~!" I proclaimed loudly, expecting a barrage of 'where have you been's and probably insults.

"Bruder," he said, poking his head out from the other room. "Do you know how worried I was? Where were you? France and Spain came looking for you last night, but I had no idea where you were! First you felt ill at the World Meeting yesterday, then you were acting strangely and even cooked some pancakes, and then you disappeared! I would have come to look for you myself, but Italy… Anyway, come into my office and explain where you were." he said it all in one militaristic breath, then went right back into the room, probably to do paperwork.

I was pleasantly surprised. He really did care. Nice surprises seemed to love popping up today.

-ONE MONTH LATER-

I didn't think it would be this early. We had technically only been together a month, but I felt like now was the right time. It had to be. I knew I was rushing, but what choice did I have? I wanted to be happy for the last stretch of my life, and Canada was the one who I could be happy with.

Oh, of course I'm still sad a lot. Stuff like that doesn't just suddenly go away because you found someone who loves you. But because I did, it's a little better than when I was alone.

I felt like I had to reassure myself. I drove past Italy's place five times before I stumbled out of the car and knocked on his door. He answered begrudgingly, his blue overcoat thrown over his shoulders and his curl askew. He changed his expression quickly when he saw it was me, and smiled softly.

"Ve?"

I flinched on the inside, knowing now that he still wasn't better, but convincing myself that there was nothing I could do for him until either he or West asked for my help. "Hm, the Awesome Me seems to have the wrong house. I was thinking that this was Birdie's place… Well, see you, Happy Italian!"

And off I went, probably leaving him confused as he closed the door and I got back into my car to drive to where I knew Birdie's place was. I was so nervous. This couldn't possibly go well.

With shaking hands and an oddly sweaty neck, I rang the doorbell and waited. It took only a few seconds for the beautiful blonde to open the door and smile his warming smile. "Gil! Come in, why the surprise visit? What's with the dress shirt? I haven't seen you wearing one since since the Queen of England's coronation!" he laughed, but stopped when I didn't join. "Gil, what's wrong?"

We were alone. In his living room. It was fine. He wouldn't make fun of me. We were in love. It would be fine. I kneeled in front of him and saw his indigo eyes widen.

"B- Birdie- Canada- Mat- Mathew, uh, Birdie… Will you maybe let me be your husband!" I blurted out, then sputtered and tried desperately to correct myself. "I mean will you marry me!" I was beet red, I just knew it.

Canada covered his beaming face with his hands. "Gil, maple, I would love to! Of course I'll let you be my husband, you dork."

I nearly fainted. Too good to be true. Being selfish sometimes did pay off in the end, huh? "Thank you so much, Birdie. Here, let me-" I stuttered as I tried to place the ring on his slim finger. I almost dropped it twice, and by the time I finally got it on, we were both laughing and couldn't stop, even when Canada bent down to kiss me, his hands on my cheeks and my arms around his waist.

Happy endings really did happen to broken people like me.

((A/N: i ended this one much earlier than broken smiles just so the quality wouldnt continue to lessen drastically. Thank you for reading!))