Thanks to Related to Moon, Cute Koneko Chan, MariaAntonia, C'Riverblade and SansTheLanguage218 for reviewing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 33: Into the Frying Pan
Hungary had been observing Canada the last few days. Normally, he wasn't someone high on her radar, mostly because he spent a lot of time around France, America and England, but ever since he's been spending time away from them, she began to see something she normally didn't see.
She usually had a good nose for romance, especially between two men, and Canada had become the centre of a lot of male attention.
She had seen him with Netherlands, and he was a bit more talkative than usual. And she didn't care what he said, Australia definitely had more than platonic feelings for Canada. And she could clearly see Lithuania's desire to be around him, while also being a little shy. Romano had actually treated Canada politely, and she saw his reaction when Korea groped Canada.
She also saw Romano's retaliation against England.
There were a lot of other interactions that Hungary had seen, most of which made her drool and wanting to see more.
Of course, she also saw other female nations wanting to get close to Canada, particularly Ukraine, Czech and Belgium, and Hungary could feel something she knew to be jealousy. Why would she feel jealous of the other women approaching Canada?
What she did know was that he was cute.
She wanted to get to know him a little more. What she didn't expect was for her chance to come so soon, though.
She had accompanied Austria to the music room and was watching him play. His music always had a way to soothe her spirit. He was one of the few male nations who she could never be hostile towards. She never felt any need to punish him with her frying pan.
Austria suddenly stopped, and Hungary was confused for a moment as he turned to the door.
"Don't just stand there," Austria scolded.
Hungary turned to the door as well and her eyes widened when she saw Canada, who stood there awkwardly.
"Sorry," Canada said. "I wanted to practice what you taught me and then I heard you play and I didn't mean to stare and…"
Austria held up his hand, a small smile on his face.
"It's alright," Austria said. "I'm glad you came to practice. If you want, I could give you the next lesson?"
Canada nodded and approached the piano. Austria stood to allow him to sit down at the stool.
"I was thinking about starting with sheet music," Austria said, flipping through his music book.
Hungary finally understood why he had brought it, seeing as he knew all of his pieces by heart and didn't need to look at the notes anymore. He brought it for Canada's sake.
She watched the two interact for a while, wishing she'd brought her camera. Austria seemed more at ease than she had ever seen him before, and his voice had also changed in tone. She rarely ever heard that tone, and one of the few times was when he had invited Italy to sit next to him as he played the piano. Another time was when he told her that he was alone.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star?" Canada asked, recognising the melody. "Why this one?"
"It was composed by Mozart, of course," Austria said. "And it wouldn't do to throw you in the deep end yet. A lullaby is a good place to start."
Canada nodded his head, and he shakily started to play the notes. Hungary was amazed by the amount of patience Austria seemed to have for Canada. And she really wished that she had her camera with her.
"Alright, you're doing well," Austria said after a few minutes. "Keep practicing. I'll be right back."
Canada nodded as his fingers continued to move across the keys, and Austria hastily left.
Now, Hungary was alone with Canada, and she wanted to solve a few mysteries. Such as why he was suddenly so popular, and why she felt jealous when she saw him with other women.
"I've never seen Austria so eager to teach someone," she said.
Canada jumped slightly, as though surprised of being addressed, and he turned to face her.
"O-oh?" he said.
"Yeah," she continued. "He doesn't mind so much to play in front of others. But he doesn't have a lot of patience when it comes to teaching them. You must be something special, huh?"
Canada blushed, and she almost squealed when she saw how adorable he looked. He turned back to the piano and started playing again.
She noticed that his playing seemed to be a little better, and she wondered if the compliment gave him that little boost. She decided to test something out.
"So, Canada," she said. "Is there anyone you're interested in?"
He paused, before he looked to her.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You know," she said. "Anyone you're interested in. Romantically."
He blinked in realisation before he shook his head, turning back to the piano.
"No, not really," Canada said. "I don't want to get my hopes up or anything."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, no one would be interested in me, would they?"
Her eyes widened, and when she didn't answer Canada started playing again. She could detect that the quality of his playing had improved, and she wondered if his sadness was the cause.
Well, he wasn't quite sad. He was resigned, but there was still that hint of sorrow.
And she finally learned why she was jealous whenever she saw him with one of the other women. Canada had the aura of someone that needed love. Someone that you just wanted to hug and make better. And Hungary realised that she wanted to be the one to make Canada better.
Of course, her love for yaoi meant that she didn't mind seeing him with other men, but she didn't want to see him with another woman.
She didn't even notice when Austria returned until he spoke after Canada finished the song.
"You're getting better," Austria said.
Canada smiled at the compliment.
"Thank you," he said.
Yes, Hungary would keep her eye on Canada, and she would look for an opportunity to make him feel better. She wanted to make him feel loved.
Oh, if he only knew how many other nations wanted to do that as well…
When I was younger, I played the electronic keyboard as well. The next town over had an arts festival with electronic keyboard as one of the items. One year, I think I was about eleven, there were nine of us performing, and all of us were from the same town. There were three music teachers, and all the other contestants had the same teacher except for me. And almost all of them played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Some of them were older than me, by the way. I won by a) playing something a little advanced for my age and level (Andrew Lloyd Weber's 'Any Dream Will Do') and b) playing something other than Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.