Chapter 2: Regina needs to keep her goddamn mouth shut

Regina stared at herself in the mirror. She was clad in a sparkly, mermaid style, deep blue gown that was fit for a president. In less than 15 minutes, Alfred would arrive to escort her down to a private party so she could meet all the other personifications. "Good thing there won't be any cameras" Regina thought with a smirk,"that means I don't have to be pleasant. Surely these nations have a sense of humor, right?" a sharp knock on her door interrupted her thoughts, and she flung it open and gasped in surprise.

"Well at least you didn't scream this time." Alfred said, laughing a bit at her reaction. She just stared at him, not even bothering to hide her shock. Alfred was dressed in a lovely tailored suit with a black bow tie and finely polished shoes. His eyes gleamed behind his glasses, and his golden hair was shining under the lights. He extended his arm, and she took it, walking down the stairs together like a pair down to the hidden ballroom. He stooped down a bit and whispered in her ear "As traditional, the newly elected president of the host country will dance with said host country. Then the other countries will introduce themselves. You do know how to dance, right?" before she could snap that yes she could dance, they had arrived at the doors of the ballroom, and they swung open with a flourish.

Beautiful piano music started, courtesy of the dark haired, violet eyed man that sat at the piano, playing like god himself had composed the song. The crowd obscuring the path to the middle of the dance floor parted, and many eyes of all different colors looked at her with interest.

Alfred led her to the dance floor and as was with tradition, bowed down. Regina stood there, flustered and not knowing what to do. After the pause had become a bit awkward, he looked up and motioned with his head toward the floor, indicating that she should also bow. Regina's face went beet red, and she gave a quick curtsey. Alfred straightened up and clasped one of her hands in his own while putting the other on her waist despite her glaring at began to dance, and much to her embarrassment, Alfred was a wonderful dancer, far better than she, who was stumbling every other step. As they danced Alfred leaned in and started telling her what to do. "Left foot forward, let go of my hand, now once I let you go... step back, step three times to the side, you will have to stand at the side… twirl to the left, while the host country dances with his or her date… ouch that was my foot… this is usually the time where one or two other nations will introduce themselves so be careful, three steps forward and two to the side, aaaaaand done." The agonizing dance finished, and he promptly dropped her hand and went to seek his date. Regina retreated off to the side, and leaned against a wall, flushed with embarrassment. She scanned the crowd, looking for Alfred's mystery date and details about her. "How dare he not have me as his date! The nerve of him!" she thought angrily "At least his date won't look better than me. I mean, seriously look at this dress! I look like a million bucks damnit"

Alfred finally led his date onto the dance floor and her jaw dropped from a mix off anger and jealousy. A beaming Alfred was leading a blushing Arthur onto the middle of the dance floor. Both men looked stunning, with finely tailored suits, although Arthur's had coattails and he was wearing a tie. Their eyes gleamed emerald and sapphire, with joy radiating in both. Alfred bowed low and in a voice that could barely contain his glee asked, "May I have this dance?"

"You may" Arthur replied with a deep curtsey, a light pink tinging his cheeks. The piano music started again, even more beautiful than before, and the men spun around the ballroom, each dancing with grace.

She tore her eyes away, lip curling in disgust. "I thought I made my thoughts on their relationship clear after that vile display in the front of the building yesterday but I guess not! He is going to be in trouble later. I don't care about him getting a bit offended, i'm the freaking president of the united states! He HAS to obey me!"

She snapped out of her thoughts just in time for a young man, appearing about 26, to approach her. "Bonjour mademoiselle, Je M'appelle Francis Bonnefoy and I am ze nation of France." he greeted a mix of french and heavily accented english. He was about the same height as Alfred, with shoulder length, slightly wavy blonde hair partially tied back with a ribbon and beautiful blue eyes, framed by long eyelashes, and a bit of well groomed stubble on his chin. He was dressed in a thin lapel, tight suit, with a thin tie and his shirt opened one button past normal.

Regina was in no mood to be polite and in reply snapped back "Oh great why is it no surprise that the weakest and most perverted nation greets the beautiful woman who is standing alone first. Aren't all you nations supposed to talk to each other? Why don't you introduce me to a more interesting country instead of wasting my time." Francis stepped back, a bit deterred by her obvious hostility, but still smiled at her and replied.

"If ze mademoiselle would like to meet ze other nations I 'ave one zat you can meet. Matthieu!" he called out. A young man appeared out of the crowd to stand at Francis's side. This one had medium length dark blond hair and glasses in front of violet eyes. He was slightly taller than Francis, and bore a slight resemblance to Alfred. He placed one hand on Francis's shoulder and began to introduce himself, but before he could even get one word out Regina interrupted him by shrieking,

"Eww are you guys dating?! That's disgusting you should be ashamed of yourselves! I refuse to interact with either of you if there is any public display of affection! You shall be punished when you die for this."

The men stared at her in shock. There was a long silence broken by Francis making some suppressed noise and his shoulders shaking. Regina was about to snap at him to man up and stop crying, but before she could, Francis burst out in laughter.

"Hon hon hon" he chuckled, wiping tears of amusement from his eyes, "Oh mon dieu. My dear président, Matthieu is my precious son, not my love interest."

"Francis is my papa." "Matthieu" stated with a small shrug and chuckle of his own. "Enchanté President Smith my name is Matthew Williams and I am the personification of Canada, as well as Alfred's twin brother. And before you ask no Francis is not his father only mine. I look forward to working with you in the future."

Regina meanwhile, had gone scarlet from shame and anger, and of course her solution for that was to lash out. "Oh great so a perverted loser and a wannabe American loser. Why don't you just leave me alone, freaks."

Francis glared at her, his patience finally run out. "I am not a perverted loser and Matthieu is not a wannabe Américian. If you would stick your arrogant nose in ze books, you will find zat France is 'istoricaly ze most successful european military power. You flatter yourself, for I am not interested in you in ze least. If you would like to survive ze night, I would advise you to zink very carefully about who you are addressing, for others would have been off with your 'ead at ze first insult. I bid you adieu, you 'orrible woman." he snapped, striding away.

Shocked speechless at Francis's outburst, Regina looked to Matthew for support, but instead was met with a glare as cold as Canada's famous winters.

"Look Matthew I-"

But he had already begun to walk away. Before he got too far however, he stopped and faced her. Regina tried to apologize, which was very out of character for her, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"Francis was right."

"Excuse me?"

"You are either a truly horrible person, or you have a death wish. Know that if you were not his president, Alfred would have already either ruined your life… or ended it."

Regina watched him leave, the fires of shame burning in her mind, but suddenly bursting into anger. "How dare he say that to me! I am a wonderful person! They just need to learn how to not be such sensitive little pansies."

The music ending with a flourish drew her attention back to the dance floor, where she watched Alfred dip Arthur down low to the ground, and brought him up for a quick kiss. She turned away, feeling nauseous.