Alright so I am now officially updating every Tuesday and Friday so please continue to review and enjoy. And I know the chapters are short right now, but very soon they will start getting much longer. Like thousands of words per chapter. So please just be patient.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia Axis Powers
Age Eight
Silent Apathy
"Hey, Yao, what are your words?" A female classmate called to the Chinese boy, rushing over to him and staring at his arm as he pulled up his sleeve to show the Russian writing. 'I'm Russian, I know everything about the snow'.
"Awww, so it can't be me!" The girl whined, exposing her own wrist that had some sappy poetic words engraved onto it.
Catching the from the German boy, the two moved over to him, smiles on their faces. "Ludwig, was it?" Yao asked, pulling his sleeve back down, "what are your words, aru?"
"Oh yeah, tell us!" The chipper girl said eagerly, bouncing up and down on the the soles of her feet, beaming.
Ludwig stayed silent, clutching his wrist tightly. "Come on, don't be a scaredy cat. Tell us!" The girl pried, tugging on his sleeve.
Maybe it wasn't that weird. Maybe the words would be there if he lifted up his sleeve one more time. Maybe –just maybe– the words would appear. Maybe Gott would pity him just this once, and give him words to show the other kids. Pulling his sleeve up, he exposed a bare wrist.
Ludwig tried to dispel the sinking feeling when he saw that his pale wrist was still unmarked.
"Huh?" Yao and the girl said in unison, tilting their heads to the side, thoroughly confused.
Yao blinked in realization, being the smart boy he was. "You... don't have words?" He asked, curiously and cautiously. This wasn't a known condition, after all.
"Gross!" The girl shrieked. "You're gonna be alone forever! Don't take my words!"
Ludwig of course, had no idea what she meant. Take her words? Did she think he was a thief? Her cry of 'gross' echoed in his head as he pulled down his sleeve in shame, his shoulders slumping. It was gross, wasn't it?
While she ran away to her friends to gossip about the wordless boy, Yao stood there silently, cocking his head to the side as he stared at Ludwig, as if trying to evaluate him.
"Where are your words, aru?" The Chinese boy asked, trying to figure out the new mystery that was Ludwig Beilschmidt.
"I don't have any." Ludwig answered with a sigh, thinking that if he explained his 'situation' then maybe someone would tell him it wasn't weird.
He wanted someone to say that it was okay to not have words. Someone to say that it was okay that he didn't have words, that he didn't need them. That the words didn't evaluate his self-worth or the lifestyle he would lead. That he didn't need words to be a good human being. Or maybe he just wanted someone to lie to him and say not having words wasn't that weird.
Of course, no one said anything.
To be continued
Coming next: Age 9