Surprise Chick-a-dees! This was a total spur-of-the-moment thing. I wrote this in like 3 days (thank God for my awesome beta Maya Gordelia) because I really didn't want Prussia's first 'I love you' to be on Valentine's Day. That's too clichéd even for me. So here's another bonus chapter for you guys where Prussia may or may not drop the L bomb, you'll have to read to find out. Special thanks to my reviewers: Guest, Bluejay Blaze, halfdragonbooknerd,
QueenOfOlympus (Please don't die, there's still more to read), and
killerkitty15 (Your review made my jaw hurt from smiling so widely)
As well as everyone who favorite and followed. Now without further ado (because you know I love to ramble), enjoy~
Warning: Man on Man kissing (would you want anything less?), fluffy fluff, and I don't want to give anything away but also Hurt/Comfort.
Disclaimer: Ce ne est pas le mien, Dies ist nicht mein, 这不是我的. No matter which language I say it in, it's clear that this is not mine
Omake (2)
I had everything planned out; how I would tell him how much I loved him.
It was close to the time I would have to return to Berlin and my last two days in Ottawa were going to be spent camping. I learned about a place called Lusk Cave, it was said to be the most beautiful winter scene down there.
I had planned out its execution.
I was going to bring him down at dusk when the sunset was reflected off the icicles and it would be like we were encased in a winter wonderland. That would be when I would take him in my arms, bring him close and proceed to kiss the living daylights out of him.
I had even planned out his response.
He would ask what the awesome kiss was for to which I would reply...because of I love you. Then his violet eyes would widen (they might even be brimming with tears), with a smile that rivaled the sun in its brightness, and of course kissing. Can't forget kissing.
However, I failed to factor in just how much the universe hates me, and how nothing could ever go the way I wanted it to.
So that's how our couple's camping trip turned into a fight for survival.
.
12 hours ago...
.
"Got everything, Gil?" Canada asked for the third time. We were packing up the things we would need for our impromptu camping trip, and while my boyfriend was in charge of the equipment and tools, I was tasked with the food and toiletries.
"Yes," I answered for the third time. I had already packed up the gas cooker and a pot, as well as utensils, canned food, snacks (mainly a lot of beef jerky), hot beverages and bottled water. Now I was packing up the cleaning wipes, towels, Ziploc bags, and anything else I thought would be useful.
"I'm just making sure," he said, but even still his eyes raked over the stuff I still had laid out on his red and white bed. "What's the electric heating blanket for?"
"To keep warm at night. Not all of us can bear ridiculously cold temperatures, Jack," I teased. I was recently introduced to the animated movie Rise of the Guardians and one of the things I couldn't get over was the fact that Jack Frost played in the snow barefoot and with nothing but thin pants and a hoodie to keep him warm. Guardian or not, that's just crazy and it reminded me of a certain Western country I knew.
"Oh har har. If you can't take the cold stay out of the freezer," he shrugged while packing away the air mattress we would be using.
"Are you calling me craven?" I asked, and yes, that was a Game Of Thrones reference which I knew the other would recognize.
"Well…" the blonde trailed off, zipping up the duffle bag and then starting walking away, but not before sending a teasing look at me over his shoulder.
"Oh no you don't," I said grabbing his waist and pulling him to me. Unfortunately, I underestimated my strength and the action sent him barreling towards me and caused both of us to be knocked to the ground beside the bed. I turned my body so that I took most of the fall, and when we landed my breath left me in an audible huff.
"Ow," I uttered once I got air back into my lungs again.
"Are you hurt?" Concerned eyes looked into my own while his arms were braced on my chest. They immediately moved to the side of my shoulders to take some of his weight off of me.
I sniffed dramatically and looked up at him through my eyelashes. "Yeah," I said, my tone playful.
He caught on and his own tone turned slightly babyish. "Ooh, you poor thing. Do you have a boo boo?"
I pursed my lips into a pout and nodded.
"Do you want me to kiss it to make it better?" he asked, getting into the spur-of-the-moment role I had bestowed upon him.
I nodded again, this time more enthusiastically. My eyes hungrily took in the sight of his face coming closer to mine and I watched with anticipation for the wunderbar moment that our lips would meet. As fate would have it, when we were only centimeters apart he stopped and I groaned.
"What?" Canada said a little too innocently.
"Vögelchen," I said. No, it most definitely was not a whine.
"Oh, did you want something?"
"Yes," I said pointedly looking at his mouth.
"Did you want that kiss?" he whispered against my lips and I could feel the warmth of his breath on my mouth. The sensation sent a jolt down my spine, and I groaned again when I felt my lower body parts awaken.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" Blonde hair framed my face giving me an unobstructed view of the lust swirling in amethyst orbs that were magnified by the glasses he wore.
"Yes," I breathed and it was more a sound than a word. That sound turned into a low groan when those petal soft lips finally met mine.
I couldn't get enough of that maple taste. The kiss may have started out sweet and chaste, but it didn't stay that way for long. My hands found purchase on his body, one splayed across his shoulder blades and the other in the same fashion on his lower back. My boyfriend's hands were tangled in my hair and his elbows digging into my shoulders, but I didn't mind. I was too preoccupied trying to explore every inch of his mouth. When Canada broke away to catch his breath, I continued kissing along the column of his neck, biting in some places and then soothing the pain with a few licks of my tongue.
"Ah... Mon dieu, Gilbert." His moans reached my ears and I squeezed his body closer to mine so that our hips were pushed against each other, so that he could feel exactly what he did to me.
Our lips reattached and the kiss began anew, the sound of its intensity filling the room. I felt him re-position himself and wondered what he was doing before it was made clear as he rocked his hips against mine, causing delicious friction against my neglected nether regions. This time it was me who broke the kiss, my head falling back on the ground as a curse fell unbidden from my mouth.
"Scheiße, Matthew. E-einfach so..." I voiced my pleasure, making sure he knew I liked what he did. Another thrust caused an actual whine to escape my mouth, I bit my bottom lip to keep in any other unawesome sounds that was produced from his sensual movements. When that indubitably failed, in a different attempt to silence myself I went to pull him back down for a kiss, but he drew away from me.
"Gil, we should get up," the nation said, but his hips were still undulating on top of mine. Hypocrite.
"Don't wanna," I said a little breathless from his ministrations.
"Gil..." he punctuated the nickname he gave me with a short thrust of his hips. "We have to get up."
"Vögelchen," I countered moving both of my hands to his hips, digging my fingers in. I reviled in the look of the flushed face above my own. Why would I want to stop now?
"Gilbert." Came his warning tone. Verdammt.
"Urgh... Fine," I may or may not have pouted that time. I let go of my angel's hips and he raised himself off of me, but not before giving me a quick kiss. Once he was on his feet he held out a hand for me. I took it and also rose to my feet.
"That wasn't fair," I told the blonde country while I adjusted my pants around my still half hard erection.
"I know, I'm sorry, but we really have to get going if we want to have everything set up and explore before sun down."
I sighed because he was right, but tell that to my raging libido. "What else do we need to bring?" I tried to distract myself by packing the rest of the items I had laid out on the bed. I must have still had a disappointed expression on my face because he dropped the bag he was carrying and walked over to where I was standing, cupped my face between his small hands and kissed me deeply.
"We can pick up where we left off tonight, okay?" His voice a sultry whisper while one of his hands withdrew from my face and made its way to my chest, drawing random patterns through my shirt.
I grinned, loving it when my innocent angel transformed into a not-so-innocent minx. Talk about a turn on. "Okay."
"Now that that's settled. Make sure you have the emergency radios and that should be all. Then we can pack everything in the car."
"Your wish is my command," I told the blonde, giving him a peck on the lips, and then laughed at the 'nerd' that was muttered under his breath.
(^w^)
Lusk Cave was located next to Gatineau Park, and that's where we would be spending the night. Yeah, there were cabins and yurts to rent and even an inn to stay at if we desired to do so, but as much as I would love running water and electricity, there was just something about roughing it together with someone you love that made it more appealing. So we rented an individual site and I was content with it having an outhouse as its only feature.
"So what made you want to go camping, Gil? Not to judge or anything, but I didn't take you for the type," Canada said as we pitched up the tent. Okay, so he was the main one doing the pitching while I drove the spikes into the ground (I was helping at least).
I didn't take offense to his statement, it was true after all. "Is it wrong that I wanted to spend time with my boyfriend in a secluded space in the woods?"
"Well, now when you put it that way it sounds creepy."
I snorted at the fake suspicious tone in his voice. "You know what I meant."
"I know, but why couldn't we just spend your last days at my cabin? More specifically in my bed," he added sending a saucy wink my way while he straightened the tarp that was suspended over our nylon two person tent.
I smiled back at him, also liking that idea, but I was on a mission. "While it's true that usually the only time the words 'I' and 'camping' are in a sentence is if 'never go' is in between them, I wanted to try something new, and besides," I said, smiling sheepishly at the words that were about to come out of my mouth, "it doesn't matter where I am as long as I'm with you."
He blinked a few times before looking away with a bright blush on his face and a soft smile on his lips. Gott, he was so adorable.
"I-I," he cleared his throat, "I... You...oh, Maple," he broke off with a frustrated huff and stomped over to me, wrapping his arms around my torso and pressing his face into my chest, hugging me tightly. "You always know exactly what to say and I...don't," he finished lamely.
I returned the gesture and placed my cheek against his hair, mindful of his curl. "That's not true," I told him, and it wasn't a lie, but the truth was that his strength lied mostly in his actions and not his words. If only he knew how every glance, every smile, every freaking giggle turned my insides to mush.
"You're just saying that," he muttered sullenly.
"No, I'm not. Just hearing your voice is enough to make me want to kiss you silly."
He groaned and the sound vibrated against my chest. "Gil, you're doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"Making me feel special," my boyfriend said in a voice so low I thought I almost imagined the words, but no, they were said and they gave me a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, I was ecstatic that I made him feel that way, but on the other hand...just what had happened in this man's past to make him have such a negative view about his position in a relationship?
"I don't need to do that, you're special on your own. Mein awesome Vögelchen," I nuzzled my nose in his blonde hair affectionately.
"You're the awesome one, Gilbert."
"And you said that you didn't know exactly what to say," I teased to break the morose atmosphere that had befallen us. My ploy worked and he laughed, unwrapping his arms from around me and then taking a deep breath to calm his fraying nerves.
"Let's put everything in the tent," he said at last, stepping away from me and grabbing the first of our three bags. I grabbed the other two and followed him, ducking under the tent flap as well.
"There aren't any bears around here, right?" I said while we separated the things we needed inside the enclosed space. "No need to string our food up in a tree or anything, right?"
"One, you watch too many movies," Canada told me as he checked the flashlights we had packed to make sure the batteries still had juice. "And two, no, it's much too wet here, not to mention it's hibernating season."
"Right... I knew that."
"Uh-huh."
I threw a bag of beef jerky at him and he laughed. We unpacked the rest of the equipment in relative silence, and once the air mattress was blown to fullness and the blankets were piled on, Canada broke the silence.
"So since you were so keen on coming here, did you plan out what you wanted to do?"
"Well, this is called Lusk Cave, is it not?" I told him.
"You want to go spelunking?"
"Spe...what? No, I want to explore the caves." What was he talking about? What kind of word was that anyway?!
"That's what I said. Spelunking- the action of exploring caves." the blonde rattled off as if he were teaching a class, and my mind decided to supply me with a hot image of him as a grade school teacher, his hair pulled back into a ponytail and a meter stick clasped between two dainty hands. Hello, kink.
"What?" he said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Oops, did I say that out loud? "Nothing, sooo... Spelunking?" I changed the subject, relieved when he took the bait.
"Yeah, that's the word for it."
"Awesome, I like. Yeah, I want to go spelunking. Have you spelunked around here yet?" I with a waggle of my eyebrows, my tone low like we were talking about something taboo. I could see he was trying to hold in his laughter, I didn't blame him, the past tense of the word sounded kind of dirty and naturally I took advantage of that fact.
"No," he said once he calmed himself. "I don't think I've explored them yet."
"Well then it'll be an adventure for both of us!" I said excitedly. I was glad that he hadn't seen the magical winter sight that I heard so much about, that way it would be a pleasant surprise. Then while the shock of the scene would still be fresh, I would do it.
I would tell him I loved him.
Mein gott, just the thought of finally saying those 3 words were enough to send that warmth spreading throughout every fiber of my being and make my lips stretch into a goofy smile. I was head over heels in love with the personification of the country Canada...no, I was in love with Matthew, my boyfriend.
"What's that smile for, Gil?" My boyfriend's question brought me out of my mushy thoughts.
"Nothing," I shrugged. "I'm just happy we can share this first experience together." Which was part of the reason.
He blushed, but returned my smile with a shy one of his own. "I'm happy too."
I couldn't help myself, I leaned in for a kiss, humming in satisfaction when he met me halfway. How was it possible to be so in sync with another person? The kiss was chaste, our lips meeting briefly over and over again playfully until we had our fill of one another.
"I'm going to go to the visitor center and get a map of the caves, okay?" I told him once we broke apart. He nodded and passed me the car keys. We passed the Gatineau Park Visitor Center on our way to our camping sight and I remembered the way pretty well. It was only about an 8 minute drive away, plus there were signs (in English gott sei dank), so I wouldn't have a problem finding it again.
"Be careful," he said as I was lifting the tent flap. They were his usual parting words, a blessing from my angel whenever I would leave his side for more than a moment.
"Always." Was my ingrained response.
I pulled my jacket tighter around my body when a sudden gust of wind decided it wanted to see if I could fly, and carefully made my way to Parent Beach on Philippe Lake where the parking area resided. As soon as I got into the car, I turned on the heat and sighed when a blast of hot air hit my face. After waiting a few minutes for the car to heat up until the gauge read normal, I was traveling along the roads of Gatineau Park. Turns out my memory was awesome (not that that's a surprise) and I got there in no time at all, pulling into a nearly full parking lot.
The maps were conveniently placed up front and when I asked about the amazing spot I had heard about, the concierge was kind enough to circle it on the map and tell me the best route to take. I thanked her and with a promise that, yes, I would be careful and, no, I wasn't planning on doing anything indecent down there, I was off. Within minutes I was back at the parking area and leaving the warm and cozy car.
When I got back to the tent, Canada was in the process of switching his hiking boots for plastic knee high rubber boots. I myself had my own pair that I had to put on as well. Most of the caves were filled with water, in some places it was even as high as 1 meter. Hopefully, we could avoid those parts.
"Got it," I announced plopping on the air mattress and unintentionally causing my boyfriend to be suspended in the air momentarily. He landed with an 'eep' and I had laughed through my apology. I didn't think he bought it.
"Sorry," I tried again once I got a hold of myself.
"Whatever." Was the blonde's pouty reply. Too cute. "You ready to go?"
"Not yet, " I said, going over to my bag and pulling out my pair of boots to put on. I also added another upper layer to fight against the devil winds outside. "Okay, all set," I said after also pulling on a pair of gloves. "You good to go, Vögelchen?"
Canada pulled his hair into a low ponytail (yep, definitely a kink now) and grabbed the pre-packed backpack of ours that included one day's worth of rations (there's no such thing as being over prepared), an emergency radio, basic first aid, two flashlights with extra batteries, two bottles of water and extra socks. I made to take it from him so I could carry the bulk of the weight, but he gave me that 'Don't you dare treat me like I'm made of glass' look and I backed off.
"Okay, let's go spelunking!" I proclaimed dramatically, dashing out of the tent with as much enthusiasm as a 6 year-old child, and grinning when I heard his sweet laughter behind me.
(^w^)
"Do you know where we're going?"
"Of course, I do!"
I was following the map to a 'T' not making any unnecessary detours, except to take a few pictures of the marvelous marble cave features we had come across and then returning to the route that was planned for me. We saw a few other spelunkers (ha, that sounded even weirder) along the way, but for the most part we were alone. We walked together silently, the only sound between us was the sloshing of our boots in the various puddles and the occasional 'Look at that' as our flashlights bounced off a few frogs and insects that loitered in the caves.
There were some tunnels that were really low, causing our backs to be nearly parallel to the ground. Others were so wide that a total of 30 or more people could occupy the space. It was interesting to see the eroded rock up close and personal, feeling the jagged history with my own hands. From my understanding, Lusk Cave is the product of the melted glaciers from the last glaciation of the Ice Age. Since then the Lusk Stream has continued to shape the cave, forming more tunnels to explore.
"Is there a particular place you want to go, or are we just wandering around?"
"Yes, there's a place, an awesome place. It should be just up ahead after a few turns."
I was positive that we were on the right track, the trail was just as the map depicted. We were walking hand in hand, helping each other up and down some of the stones. We never let go, however, even after we got our footing. The action had the warmth returning ten-fold. We had explored (or spelunked if you want to be technical) for about two hours already, and it was well into the afternoon. There was just enough sunlight filtering in to know that dusk was still at least an hour away. Plenty of time, I thought.
"Almost there," I reassured my boyfriend, turning my head to the side to see him. When he nodded in acknowledgment, I turned back around.
It was in that moment that 3 things happened all at once: there was the sound of a hard squeak of stone against stone and a yelp, then Canada's hand was ripped from my grasp, and my visibility decreased by half.
I turned around immediately and caught sight of him toppling backwards, the weight of the backpack dragging him down faster.
"Matthew!" I lunged forward, but not in time to catch the other's outstretched hand.
"Gilbe-" the shrill call was cut off by a sound that had my heart leaping into my throat. It was a splash...combined with the crack of something hard striking against stone.
"Matthew?" I called not wanting to think about that terrifying sound I had heard. "Matthew?!"
There was no answer.
Panicked, my flashlight shakily flittering back and forth over the cave walls, trying to find familiar blonde mop of hair or the red coat he was wearing, anything!
"Matthew?!" Fear was steadily clawing its way up my throat as well. I walked forward on trembling legs to the place I last saw him, carefully stepping around large rocks jutting out of the walls and over slippery stones on the cave floor as I continued my search, calling out his name every few seconds.
Then I saw it.
A red smear on the cave wall.
Blood.
I didn't think, I just ran over. "Matthew?" I called out again. I listened but there was no sound other than my heavy breathing. I pointed the flashlight at the area around the stain. A few seconds later I saw it, it was a depression in the cave floor. A hole big enough for a person to fall through.
"I'm coming, Vögelchen. I'm coming," I whispered, mostly to myself. I had to keep talking, I couldn't stand the deafening silence.
I made my way down, more of a tumble than climb, but I didn't care. I reached the bottom with a splash, landing in about 3 inches of water. Once again I swept the flashlight around me, and there, off to my left, mere inches away, a familiar backpack faced my direction.
"Mein gott, Matthew," I whispered, dropping to my knees, ignoring the murky water sloshing around me.
Under the light of the flashlight I could make out a gash on his temple, staining a few strands of blonde hair red. My hands hovered over the wound shakily as dread filled my core. "Matthew." I touched his shoulder lightly. "Matthew?" I shook him softly and then harder when I didn't receive a response. "Matthew? Come on, please w-wake up. Aufwachen, b-bitte. Vögelchen. Bitte... Bitte," I prayed, tears filling my eyes.
He didn't wake up.
.
Present...
.
Time eluded me. I didn't know how long it had been, it could have only been minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. The sun had gone down fully I knew for sure as the cave darkened further. Once the panic settled slightly and I could think rationally, I checked for a pulse and to see if the other was breathing.
He was.
With a thankful prayer to whoever was listening, I carefully dug into the backpack mindful of the prone body it was attached to, and used our emergency radio to call the park rangers and tell them of our situation. Reception was horrible and I was still a blubbering mess of nerves, but after repeating myself a few times, they got the story. They said that there was someone on their way to our location and they should be there soon.
In the meantime, I did what I could for the head wound, using a bottle of water to clean the wound along with gauze from the first aid kit we had packed to wrap it. An inspection revealed another wound, a cut on his hand probably from grabbing the jagged cave wall to catch his fall, it also explained the stain I had found. After I had determined there to be no more wounds, I removed the backpack and maneuvered them both away from the shallow water and up onto a higher ledge.
The whole while I spoke to my angel, reverting to my native tongue in my time of distress. I told him that he had to wake up because I had something important to tell him. I told him that he couldn't leave me, that I wouldn't know what to do if he did. Personifications of countries couldn't die (I was living proof of that), but in the past I have seen others put in comas for actions their citizens had taken. Somewhere along the line I went from pleading for him to wake up to threatening him with ridiculous things if he didn't. I was in the middle of saying that I would start singing a Justin Bieber song when I heard a groan.
"Vögelchen?" I whispered as the man beside me stirred.
"G-Gilbert?" Violet eyes opened halfway and the tears that I tried so hard to hold back finally rolled over and down my cheeks.
"Oh gott sei dank. Ja, ich bin hier, Vögelchen. I'm here, Matthew," I sniffed, moving closer to him and wiping the tears away as I watched him take in his surroundings. Realizing the reason for confusion, I placed the glasses that I had grabbed from the shallow water before moving the other into his hand. It was completely by chance that I had happened upon them, but I was grateful all the same.
"What happened?" He croaked and I rushed to grab the half empty bottle of water from nearby. After unscrewing the cap, I used one hand to hold up his head and the other to bring the bottle to his lips.
"You slipped and fell down a hole," I told him as he drank shakily from the bottle. "You have a gash on your head and a cut on your hand that I bandaged. I'm so sorry, Matthew."
After taking a few swallows, he tried to sit up and I helped him lean up against the cave wall. "I'm a bit dizzy, but it's not bad," he told me but I shook my head silently, my heart was torn between relief and guilt. I could have lost him, I almost lost him. "It's alright, Gil. I'm fine." He placed a weary hand on my bicep and that broke through my self-loathing inner monologue.
"You are most certainly NOT fine!" I finally spoke, though it was more of a hiss, my breath coming out in short huffs as I refrained from pulling out my hair in frustration. He was hurt; my boyfriend was hurt because of me. "It's all my fault," I muttered, my gaze locked on the stained gauze on his head.
"Gilbert, you had no idea this would happen. If anything it's my fault for not watching where I was stepping."
"But I planned this! If I hadn't, if we had just stayed at your cabin, then you-"
"We can't keep thinking about the 'if's', Gilbert. The important part," he said, turning so he could face me, "is that I'm still here."
"I'm sorry," I whispered, guilt still wracking my body, my tears had dried, but I couldn't even look the other in the eye.
"You don't have to apologize," he told me softly.
"B-but I wanted everything to be perfect," I said around the lump that was lodged in my throat. I felt like a whining child. The analogy was firmly cemented when I felt a pair of arms encircle me, one resting on the back of my head and the other between my shoulder blades. I let my head drop onto Canada's shoulder.
"Hey, it's alright," he comforted me.
"No, it's not," I said, frustrated tears coming unbidden to my eyes. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go. I wanted to show you..." I trailed off into his shoulder, not knowing how I could continue. There was no way I could ever profess my love now when everything was such a mess. When my plans nearly killed the beautiful man in front of me.
"It's okay."
"No, it's not," I repeated stubbornly, feeling every bit a child.
"Yes, it is. You want to know why?" He didn't give me a chance to answer. Instead he cupped my face between his cold hands and lifted my head, amethyst eyes staring imploringly into my own. "Because you're with me. It's okay...because I'm here with the man I love."
I tensed when I heard the words, my eyes flitting from each of his, wondering if I heard that right. The slightly apprehensive look on his face told me all I needed to know.
"No!" I whined.
"N-no?" Canada flinched as if struck and dropped his hands from my face.
"No, not no," I rushed to say to drive that hurt look out of the other's eyes. "But..." I trailed off, feeling a bit foolish and all the more childish for what I was about to say.
"But...?" the blonde prompted.
"I wanted to say it first," I said, and I am man enough to admit that there was a sullen pout on my face.
"Oh, Gil," the other let out a watery laugh. "I thought you... I th-thought-"
I stopped his incorrect ramblings with a kiss, deepening it to wipe away any doubt that I didn't love him back. How could I not, when in the matter of weeks the nation had become my light in the darkness, a necessity for living, the cause for my happiness? Obviously, I couldn't help but fall in love with the kind man I had met among a hall of abstract paintings. So I showed him through the kiss, and when that was over I finally told him as well.
"I love you too. Of course, I love you. This whole trip was because I love you."
A wry smile stretched across his face. "Spelunking was your way of saying that?"
"No, well, yes." I sighed. "I heard about a spot down in these caves said to be a winter wonderland when the water on the cave walls crystallized."
"Really? Well let's go see it then," he said climbing unsteadily to his feet, and I reached out to steady him from my position on the floor. I tried to drag him back down to the ledge we were on, but he was surprisingly resistant.
"Matthew, you just got injured by exploring and now you want to do it again?"
"Yes."
"No," I replied, not even giving it a second thought. No way in hell would I let him explore these caves again. We were going to stay put until the park rangers came to rescue us. It seemed my lover had other plans as he gave me that look again, the same look when I tried to take the backpack from him in the tent. No, I wasn't falling for that again.
The Western country seemed to realize this as well because he changed tactics, adopting a kicked puppy look. "I really want to see it, Gil."
I wouldn't give it, I couldn't. "What if you get hurt again?" I tried to counter that look with reason. Of course it didn't work.
"You'll protect me, won't you?" he pouted.
"Of course I will!" I rushed to say, unknowingly falling right into his trap.
"Good," he smiled victorious. "Let's go."
I cursed under my breath as I grabbed the backpack and rushed after the other who was already making his way over to the inclined slope of rocks. I trained the remaining flashlight on the path in front of him, staying behind him at all times. It took no time at all to climb back to the top, and then since we were still on the right path, the spot that was circled on the map was still only a few feet ahead. I wrapped my arm around Canada's waist and together we walked forward.
The pathway we were treading narrowed and after having to duck under a low hanging rock formation, we stepped into what I could only describe as a frozen paradise.
"Oh Maple, Gil. I-it's incredible."
I nodded, wordlessly agreeing. The rumors didn't do the scene before us justice. A winter wonderland, yes, but so much more. I felt like I was encased in an icy chrysalis. The water along the rocky walls had frozen into unique formations, and dangerously huge icicles hung from the ceiling and fell only a few feet from the cave floor. And even though it wasn't the sunset that reflected off from the icicles, the moonlight did the trick just as good if not better.
The look on my angel's face was just as I imagined, amethyst eyes wide with wonder and a smile so bright it could rival the moon that peeked in through the open spot at the top of the cave. The crudely wrapped bandage around his head was a sore sight, but it did nothing to deter from his natural beauty. The wispy dirty blonde hair with that one strange curl on the side, rounded cheeks that were flushed from the cold air in the cave and violet eyes that were magnified by his glasses, the frame slightly dented from the fall.
"I love you," I had to say, had to let out the emotion that threatened to burn me from the inside with its intensity. He turned so that we were facing each other, my hands still around his waist, and brought his own arms up my chest and around my neck.
"I love you, too," his sweet voice reached my ears and I melted.
"I love you," I repeated.
"You already said that, Gil."
"I'll keep saying it," I fired back at him. "Ich liebe dich, Vögelchen."
Musical laughter bounced off the frozen walls, echoing around us both and filling me with hope that what we had between us would never end.
"Ich liebe dich auch, Gilbert."
We exchanged words of love back and forth until it was decided that our mouths could do so much more, kissing until our lips were sore and chapped, and even after that we just held onto each other, sharing the warmth of our bodies and content just being together.
When we finally left the majestic sight behind and made our way back into the tunnels we were met halfway by two park rangers and an EMT. After they insisted on checking over the blonde and deeming him okay, we were escorted out of the tunnels and on our way back to our tent where we peeled the damp clothes from our bodies, and I showed the nation just how much I loved him again and again...and again just in case he still doubted me.
I ended up staying in Ottawa for a little longer before returning home to Berlin. One of the reasons was the fact that when Kuma saw the bandages on his owner, he tripled in size and tried to rip my head from my shoulders, but luckily only succeeded in fracturing my collarbone by the time Canada managed to calm him down. The country was understandably shocked when his cute small polar bear grew in size before his eyes, but managed to recover in time to save me, giving the temperamental mammal a few scratches under his chin while he explained the situation.
As for the other reason...well, do I even have to say it? I didn't want to leave my lover's side, but after a while mein bruder got anxious and would call me every day to see when I would go back. I really needed to do something about that. I couldn't have the two most important people in my life uncomfortable around one another. Yeah, I would have to figure something out, after all I'm willing to do just about anything for the blonde nation.
Why?
Because, well, that's what love does to people.
I promise a Valentine's Day one is coming as well. 2 parts, one on the 13th and one on the 14th. I'm going to be at KatsuCon that weekend so I'll probably update early in the morning.
*I apologize if any information about Lusk Cave in incorrect, there's only so much Google can tell me. I really wanted to write about them exploring the Gervais Caves but not only would they need diving equipment, it would have been even more dangerous with all the sink holes, zero visibility, and aggressive fish I read about.
Oh well, thanks for reading this story and don't be shy to tell me what you think about it. Reviews are food for my muse
P.S- I have another fanfic for any SwissAus Lovers (shameless self promotion)