The Heart Asks for Pleasure First

Chapter 1 – The Unlikely Genius

Elizabeth's breath crystallized before her as she trekked through the woods as quietly as possible. Taking deep, even breaths, she hopped past rocks and upturned tree roots. Her current path was not one mapped or plowed out for common folk; one she and one other friend knew the correct way to weave through the brush. Luckily, he wasn't there to scare game away.

The air was brisk, as it should be in early winter. The girl could even see a few snowflakes drift down into small patches on the ground. The sky, being as cloudy as it was, only foreshadowed a bad storm looming in the distance. It would come soon.

She didn't take too kindly to such an omen. Dead season was approaching, regardless to what little supplies her family had. Game was scarce enough as it was; she didn't need another thing to set her hunting back.

Soon, Elizabeth reached her destination point – a small clearing where she had set traps. But all she saw were empty snares carefully lining the ground. Not even a desperate raccoon would take her bait.

The girl groaned, setting her weight against a tree. "Damn it. What am I going to do now?" She was left in an eerie silence; not even the usual birdsong answered her.

Forcing back her drive, Elizabeth traveled deeper into the forest. Meager gruel was what a meal would be if she could not find meat, and she would not allow herself to give up so quickly.

With her mind puzzling the notion of defeat – something she did not take easily – the girl found a morale-booster. Deer tracks. She pressed her hand to the chilled ground, pleased to find they were fresh. She hadn't had venison in months. Her mouth watered at the thought.

Almost as if fate was making up for such an uneventful haul thus far, a few cracks resounded westward. From her viewpoint, she could see it – a fair-sized doe feeding on a patch of grass. Elizabeth smirked, silently withdrawing an arrow and steadied her bow. She was more than ready to take the animal down.

She exhaled deeply, before releasing her grip.

Suddenly, something plowed into her from behind with an almost animal-like sound. She let out a yelp as she and it tumbled to the ground. The arrow was released, but its trajectory was thrown off and planted right into a tree, just a few inches off from the animal's head. Elizabeth struggled to wrestle off the giggling mass on top of her.

The girl shot up, looking in the direction of her target. Sure enough, the deer was startled by the noise and fled.

She turned to her friend, Gilbert, and smacked him in the head. "You idiot! You just scared off the last game this forest had!"

"Ow! Hey, it's not my fault you hesitated. Ya should've shot him sooner."

"I was trying to get a clean shot, right through the eye! Do you know much a noble would pay for good meat like that?" She paused, before adding, "And it's so your fault, bear-boy!"

Gilbert seemed unfazed. "But it was funny! Admit it; you're just mad that you can't make awesome animal calls like the awesome me."

"That's not the point here!" the girl retorted, punctuating her sentence with another smack on the head. "We both could've used what that doe would've brought us."

The boy winced, scratching at the bump already forming beneath his silvery hair. "I had a reason for what I did, ya know…"

"Oh yeah, what was it? "She replied sarcastically. "Besides wanting to be an ass."

"So what if you killed the deer?"

"What do you mean 'so what'?"

He gave her a look absent of his normal smirk, and asked without his way of cockiness, "How were ya planning on carrying that back to the market?"

Elizabeth was a bit taken aback by this personality change, but she didn't let it show. "I would've managed! Damn it, Gil, I really could've used it now!"

"And if you actually got it back to town. You know how the market is. How would you handle yourself all alone?"

Grudgingly, "…Yeah, I suppose you're right…"

A wide grin spread on her friend's face. He shot up, declaring triumphantly, "You see? You're weak! So little of a man! That's why you need the awesome me! You're nothing without me, just a weakling!"

Gilbert ran about, giving the girl more playful taunts. Elizabeth, however, didn't want to play. She just knelt there with grit teeth, anger boiling in her veins like fire. It did successfully warm her, for she felt her cheeks heat up in humiliation.

"You idiot!"

She threw a stone for the boy's head, but he narrowly dodged it.

"See? You're aim's off!" He laughed, continuing to circle around her like an annoying bird.

Exasperated at such a display, Elizabeth buried her head in her hands. But then she realized something, looking back up with a dumbfounded look. Her friend was right. The weight of the animal would have exhausted her if she had to carry it through the woods on her back. Then she would be easy prey for hungry wolves.

Gilbert was an enigma. On a normal basis, he was idiotic, obnoxious, loud, troublesome, annoying, crass, and any other insult the girl could pile on. But here, in the forest, he was a totally different person. He calculated; he rationalized. When it came to hunting, there was only one word Elizabeth could describe the boy:

Genius.

This concludes the start of my first drabble series. In this one, it's the PruHunAus love triangle, but it will lean for PruHun. I love the whole concept of the triangle very much.

Yes, Gilbert does still think Liz is a girl. It just doesn't show for this drabble.

I realize my headcanon may diverge from their canon relationships, but I don't care. This is my fic; I can do what I want with it. As long as it makes sense in some way, of course.

This whole series was inspired by a CMV I saw, but it will only loosely follow it.

Disclaimed. I'm only going to put this once because I will never delude myself into believing I own anything of Hetalia besides the story itself.

Okay, so first fanfic. Hit me with your best shot for feedback. Constructive criticism makes my absolute day. It's always good to know my faults so I can better my style.