Sun Tam…

The voice was haunting her dreams. Every night, it would be the same voice saying the same thing over and over again.

Sun Tam…

Was it that bad that she had to believe that such a man was beautiful? Even if half of the people she knew found him as the most annoying thing in the world? If she had learned anything from what Francis had taught her, it was that if people judged others on looks alone, they were only fooling themselves. That's what he got when she declared and won her independence from him.

Nevermind that she went Communist. Brother China did the same thing, and after that she had to handle America all on her own…and she won that too. Her people felt such a wave of pride, but she alone couldn't help but find that oddly shocking. Here was the nation that had almost singlehandedly taken down Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers with it (at least, that's what Alfred told her), and she BEAT him with (BARELY) some help.

That was the day that she gained so much confidence that her lacking self-loathing became that of the past.

That was also the day that she met someone.

"So you actually beat a newly formed superpower all on your own? That is extremely AWESOME!"

/=+=/

Her eyes flickered open to reveal the sunlight above her eyes and the suite room shining with light. Sun Tam found it a little too bright for her benefit, but then again she wasn't expecting much concerning the fact that the meeting for today was in the brightest FREAKING place ever. She sat up and saw Elizabeta arranging the clothes on her bed over and over again, muttering some broken Hungarian to herself as if she was in some form of trance.

"Are you all right?"

Elizabeta jumped, her trance broken, and saw Sun Tam staring back at her. It was then that she could see something very familiar: internal scars, shaping themselves and burrowing themselves deeper into her mind. What could she be thinking about…?

"Yes, I'm fine." She answered. Her voice sounded deep…sad?

"You looked worried about something, that's all." Sun Tam decided to stand up from her bed. Elizabeta made no remark about that. "Seriously, if you need to talk…"

"No, I'm fine, really."

Her eyes said something else. It almost seemed to be screaming something else: Help me…PLEASE…

"Don't we have a meeting to go today?"

Sun Tam looked as her changing subject lightened up her face a little, almost as if she had placed a mask on her emotions without even trying. That was how she found herself respecting this woman, even if their leaders had not talked that much. She was a woman, but knew when to hold herself together in order to work in the world where half of your business partners were men. Most female nations still haven't gotten that…Sun Tam admitted to herself that she still hasn't reached that level as well as of late. Maybe it was because Hungary was the only strong female nation during World War II that had to save her people…?

"…we do, actually. You're still in your PJs, and you're usually in your business uniform, so…"

/=+=/

Sun Tam had basically entered the meeting hall just as Charice threw someone out the window. Judging by what she was guessing, and since Antonio was still in the room, that had to be Francis. She quietly sat down in her seat and turned her head to see Heracles sleeping in his chair yet again, a random cat above his head. Seriously, where do these cats come from…?

"Heracles…"

"zzzzzz…"

"Heracles."

"…*snore*…"

"Geez…and here I was supposed to talk about you about trade relations again…"

Then again, with the European Union on him, she wasn't surprised that he was sleeping. Knowing him, he was probably faking it right now just to avoid being burned. She gave up and decided that she was going to try talking to Alfred about some immigration issues that she had…

And found him making fun of Arthur as Ivan threatened him with a shaving razor.

Well, so much for talking to England and Russia too…

She decided to try one more time and go to a country her leader hasn't really talked to yet in order to see if she could open the negotiation table with him. But instead, she was greeted with the image of Ludwig being dragged out the door with Charice and Feliciano.

Great…now I can't get anything done today.

After a few minutes of watching everyone else mess up their lives, she gave up and headed out of the meeting hall. There was really no way that she was going to get anything done today, not with the pace that they're going. As she rounded the corner into the lobby, she noticed a strange sight.

There he was, staring out the window with the most serious expression she had ever seen on his face. Quietly, she stepped inside and looked out the window a few feet from him, seeing that he was watching the German be dragged out with his little group of people. She looked back up and saw that he wasn't moving at all, just…staring, as if that was the only thing that he could do. Sun Tam figured that if it hadn't been for the blinking, she would've mistaken him for a statue.

That was something she never really understood about people. They could be complete morons and have no type of brain cell in their heads, and yet whenever they look so serious, they're…what's the word…likable? She knew that Kiku talked about this a lot in his animation techniques; hell, he perfected it. But in real life, she didn't know why she found herself attracted to this serious expression. It was almost as if-

"GAH! How long were you there? That's totally unawesome!"

-he was a complete moron.

"A few minutes." She responded plainly. "What are you doing here anyway? I'm sure that you don't have much to talk about in a world meeting."

"Eh, mein bruder didn't want to leave me alone in the house for some reason, so he dragged me along. Not like I care; all I really came here for is to annoy specs and his brooding monster of an ex-wife."

"You mean Roderich and Elizabeta."

"…eh? How'd you know their names?"

"I'm not an idiot, Gilbert. She talks about you and him all the time when we hang out."

"Girls hang out? I always figured that you'd be clinging unawesomely at some guy or something."

"That's only Charice and Natalya, and yes we do hang out. With the amount of men we have to work with, Erika figured that we might as well have some small personal alliance as well. Friendship, in human terms."

"Huh…haven't had something like that in a long time."

"Maybe you should start going out more."

"Hey, it doesn't mean that I need it! It's awesome being alone! You don't have to waste money on them, you have all the time in the world to yourself, you can personally focus on yourself, you know?"

If it hadn't been for the fact that she had seen him just minutes before he placed his mask on, she would've pegged him for telling the truth. But even then, she would have her doubts. There was just…something in his voice that seemed to say otherwise. It was faint, almost nonexistent, and it seemed to be saying another story.

What am I to the world…?

"Hey, don't you have a meeting to be going to?"

"…yes, actually." She lied. The place was a hell hole, to say the least. "Why?"

"You need to go there, you know. I need my awesome time alone!"

"…I might as well see if the place cleared up and some treaties can be made." With the place as it is now, that would be impossible.

"Fine. Go ahead. Not stopping you."

He turned around and looked at the wall opposite the door, talking to himself about what he was planning to do once his brother had been freed of the crazies. Sun Tam decided to try something out…something that she believed would work on an idiot like him. She headed to the door, watching if he was turning around or not, and opened it. He didn't move a muscle to see if she was going to leave, so she closed it again, hearing the click at the other side. Light as a feather, Sun Tam turned her head to see what would happen.

Gilbert didn't move at the door to see if she had left (wow, what an idiot), instead staring at himself in the mirror in the room and holding the sides of the frame as if he was thinking about something (fortunately, she didn't see herself in the reflection). He took a deep breath, wavering as of losing this internal battle, and then she saw it.

One lone tear.

She had no idea what happened. Five seconds later she had zoomed forward and grabbed his waist, hearing him scream like a girl and turn his head to see the Vietnamese girl squeezing the life out of him.

"Don't do that! You almost gave the awesome me an unawesome heart attack!"

"…sorry." She looked up, the tears hiding back into his eyes. "I was just aware that giving hugs made people better."

"What makes you think someone as awesome as I am needs one?"

"I'm pretty sure someone as awesome as you can still cry."

That's when she saw another lone tear on his cheek, one she had to wipe away to reveal to him that she was paying attention. Before she knew it, he had pushed her away and ran out of the room, leaving a poor yellow bird behind. It rose to her level, bowing as if trying to be generous or something, and then flew after his master…almost as if it was blushing as well.

/= [10 DAYS LATER] =/

She wandered around the city, wearing the outfit that Elizabeta had bought her for Christmas. Sun Tam had to admit that it looked nice on her, almost as if she knew what her figure was...that's creepy.

After a few minutes, she turned a corner and saw that Gilbert was coming out of the nearby store. They made eye contact, and yet he didn't run away…maybe he was trying to hold his ground and try to keep his manly pride together.

"…you alright?"

"What? What about it? I'm perfectly fine!" Gilbert pointed out.

"You're blushing, you know."

"S-shut up…"

She shook her head for a few minutes before his phone went off. They blinked as Gilbert took his phone (pretty looking, odd enough) and answered it. She folded her arms and watched as Gilbert froze at something that the other person was telling him.

"Wait…who got into an accident?"

/=+=/

Told you that there was crack pairings in this story XD