Harem

Chapter 16: A Desperate Attempt

"Of course, let me put it in your phone," Austria smiled warmly. America handed over his phone to Austria who typed a few numbers then handed it back, the contact name being 'Austria', as most might assume.

"Thank you," America smiled. Austria nodded and exited the elevator into the office. What a sweet guy. I'm ashamed I never noticed.

.

Russia woke up abruptly, his head spinning. He felt horrible today, and he had slept on the floor in front of his couch all night, his head tilted a little too far backwards. Uzbekistan had left just before Russia fell asleep last night, urging him to go to his bedroom to sleep, but he didn't. Russia didn't feel like walking up the stairs, he really didn't even feel like moving. He regretted that now.

He stood up and walked over to his kitchen, starting a pot of coffee. He rested his head on his hand, which was supported by his elbow that was on the counter. He groaned at the unexpected noise of a knocking on his door, but he managed to throw himself over to see who was on the other side.

"Good morning!" an excited voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, good morning..." Russia mumbled.

"What's wrong?" China asked, "you seem sad."

"Didn't sleep well last night... that's all."

"Oh..." China replied, not knowing what to say. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Russia said, stepping to the side.

"I never realized how dirty your house is! You really need to clean this place up," China said.

"I know, I'll do it... later," Russia mumbled.

"We all know that's a lie. 'Now or never' goes especially for you," China replied. "I'll help you if that's what it takes to fix this place up."

"Fine..." Russia sighed. He picked up a bag of trash from his trash can and threw it in a corner. "That's for stuff we'll take out."

.

"Oh, hello America," Germany sighed when his friend walked through his office door. "How can I help you?"

"I should be asking you that question. I came to see if you needed any help figuring anything out or something, or just like... want company..." America said.

"That's sweet of you, but I don't think I have anything for you..." Germany began. America sighed and sat down in the chair in front of Germany's desk. It was almost too small for him. "I suppose you could watch the door, Denmark is out sick today and we couldn't find a substitute so it's just Sweden and I at the moment."

"Great! You don't mind if I talk to you, do you?" America asked, figuring he'd get bored very quickly.

"Not at all. Sometimes Denmark will talk to me while I work but when he thinks he's talking a little too much he just shuts up," Germany sighed as he wrote on a paper in front of him. There were mountains of paperwork on his desk, America couldn't imagine how he'd get it all done. "Him talking to me makes my job a lot less boring, you know."

"Yeah, I can't imagine how boring this must be."

"Aren't you head of NATO? Don't you do this as well?"

"No. I have..." America blanked on the name. "...somebody else do it for me."

"And you trust them to do it how you would?"

"No, I figured he's probably better at that stuff than I am."

"You can say that again..." Germany mumbled.

"I'm not that bad."

"You are so that bad," Germany rolled his eyes and continued with his work. It was amazing to America how he could write something and say different words at the same time. Mesmerizing.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean write while you talk, clearly you aren't writing down the words I say or the words you say."

"It just comes naturally, I guess," he explained. "I've never really thought about it too hard. Suppose I've had to do it most of my life, I did start the EU when I was... well, in reality I was 42, but I don't remember anything past '89 so you could say I was... four? I can't remember the exact year but I'm pretty sure it was '92... So pretty much my whole life."

"That's a long time to be doing this all day everyday."

"Eh, it's only nine-to-five and we get Sundays off," Germany shrugged it off. "It's not that bad."

"Do you ever do anything else, like ever?" America asked. It was genuine, but Germany still chuckled.

"Yes, yes I do. I have marching band practices every week and, believe it or not, I hang out with my friends."

"You never go to parties or anything?"

"Only work parties."

"Damn, your life is boring!"

"In your eyes, I suppose it is. But not for me, not really." There was an awkward silence for a moment, and then Germany sighed. "I know you're here for something more than just to help me."

"What? No!" America exclaimed, putting his hands up to his chest defensively. "I just wanted to help my best buddy out."

"Don't lie to me. I might not be looking at you, but oh boy are you easy to see through."

"That's not very nice."

"Just tell me what you want from me," Germany demanded in a calm tone, but America felt it was meant to be louder.

"You know what I want, but you don't have to comply... if you don't want to," he sighed.

"You're desperate. Why not pick somebody else? I've already figured out what a shitty person you are and I don't plan on reciprocating your feelings 'till the day I die," Germany mumbled, just loud enough for America to hear him. The man sighed and looked away before he walked to the elevator.

"Alright then. Have a nice day."

"You too."

"What the fuck was that?" Sweden whispered to himself as soon as the elevator doors shut. Luckily, Germany didn't hear him. "Can I go on break?"

"Go ahead."

Sweden waited for the elevator and as soon as he stepped inside of it he called his best friend.

"Denmark I just saw the craziest shit."