Ringgggg! The final bell rang, signalling the end of another tiring school day. Prof. EU smiled as he began packing up his books. "Well, that marks the end of our lesson for today. Remember to read pages 215–230. I'll be quizzing you kids on the content next class," he reminded us, "Have a good evening!" Ame stood up in his sea, stretching as the classroom filled with chatter.
"Wooo! Finally the classes are over!" he cheered.
"Sorry to burst your bubble but we have a ton of homework to do."
Ame stuck out his tongue childishly as he plugged his ears with his fingers, "La-la-la! I can't hear you! Therefore my homework doesn't exist!" "Oh shut up already Америка!" a shadow fell over me and when I looked up, I was horrified to see Russia towering above me. Ame smirked and coyly waved at the Slav. Russia recoiled, disgust apparent on his face. He muttered something under his breath before giving Ame one last glare and left. As soon as he had gone, Ame burst into laughter. "Oh man, did you see the look on his face when I waved at him? Oh my...hahahahahahahahahahaha," he howled, face red, "Hahahahahahahahaha, he's soooooo f**king scared I'll hit on him, hahahahahahahahahaha! As if I'm...hahahahahahahahahaha..." Everyone was now staring at the crazy prince. I grabbed his collar and hissed at him to shut up. Slowly, Ame stopped laughing although he was still giggling (like some teenage love-sick girl if I may add). Rolling my eyes, I began packing up my stuff while he waited for me. "Come on, let's go already," I muttered gruffly. Ame, still giggling, nodded, followed after me.
We entered the dining hall where we found Italy waving us over. I raised my hand, acknowledging him as we headed over to the meal area to grab our food. After we got it, Ame and I headed over to the table. SK, Japan and Canada were also there. I guess Ukraine was busy–she seemed to be really busy these days.
As soon as he sat down, Ame began re-telling his story to the group. When he was done, Canada slapped his brother on his head. "You dumb beau cave. I swear you just want to have another fight with Russia," he lamented, giving the rest of us the 'see what I have to deal with?' look. "Yea and it'll be so worth it!" Ame grinned. Japan rolled her eyes at his childishness while SK continued to eat his noodles quietly, as if he was watching a movie. Italy chuckled as he piped in, "I mean, I've got to agree with Ame. That ice-block can't take a joke at all!"
"HA! Take that 'Nada! One point to Eagles!" Ame shot finger guns at his brother. Canada slammed his head against the table in defeat. SK set down his chopsticks as he turned his attention to me. "How did the treatment go?" he asked. Everyone turned in unison to look at me, the same expectant look on their faces. I let out a nervous laugh, "Er...it...it went well. I don't remember much about it to be honest."
"Did the nightmares stop?" Canada asked.
"Well Nurse WHO said I slept uninterrupted and I don't recall having any nightmares last night so I guess that's a good indicator."
Everyone nodded in approval and Italy clapped me on the back. "Congrats Poland!" he smiled. I smiled back before quietly adding, "Well, the bulk was done by Germany." Ame's face shifted imperceptibly and I could tell he was holding himself back from voicing out his opinions. "Speaking of him, where is he?" Italy asked, "I haven't seen him the whole day. "Last I saw him, he was in my class, nodding off to sleep."
"Ah, I guess the treatment must have drained him of his energy," Italy muttered, "I guess I'll just catch him tomorrow then. Oh, Poland, maybe you could inform him that I'm looking for him?" I nodded, making a mental note. Japan looked a bit worried but didn't say anything. Is she worried about Germany? Well, the two were relatively good friends–at least in my eyes–so I supposed it made sense for her to worry about him.
"Why do you need to talk to Germany?" Canada asked curiously.
"I need to ask him about something. It's to do with Arts Appreciation Week," as soon as he said that, the whole table groaned loudly.
Italy shrugged, "Come on, it isn't that bad." We all shot him a dirty look and Italy raised his hands in mock surrender. "You don't find it bad because you find it enjoyable but for the majority, it sucks," Japan grumbled and I nodded in agreement. Arts Appreciation Week was the worst programme the school ever invented. During the week, we were often tasked to do analysis on different artworks–from the five different artforms (visual, literary, musical, theatrical and dance). It was extremely boring and most of the school hated it. Still, the programme had never been scrapped as UN had always felt that it was an integral part of the "Pangea Preparatory Academy experience" as he had dubbed it. Furthermore, the programme was heavily supported by most kingdoms so there wasn't much that we could do. Did I ever mention that Italy's kingdom, the Kingdom of Historia, even pumped a ton of money into the programme? No? Well now you know.
We continued to squabble over the issue, until Italy decided to admit defeat. "Fine, fine, fair enough. I suppose the programme can be a tad boring," he rolled his eyes good naturedly as we finished our dinner. I grinned and high-fived SK who sat next to me.
After dinner, I returned back to my dorm room. SK, Canada and America had gone to the library to do work while Japan and Italy decided to meet up with some other friends of theirs. When I got back to my dorm, I saw that Singapore's room was dark while Germany's one was brightened. His door was ajar, allowing me a sneak peek into his room. Jeez, it's so plain and boring. At least my room had some pizazz to it. Germany's one looked as if it was just a prison cell–abelit more comfortable. There was no personality to it, as if no one lived there. Then again, Germany's personality was really flat and boring so I guess it wasn't too far of a stretch to have a plain and boring room for him at least.
Germany emerged from his room dressed in a plain white shirt with a black jacket and grey sweatpants. "Hello Poland," he tried to smile but it looked awkward and he quickly stopped. "How come you're back early?" he asked.
"I need to finish up the math homework ASEAN gave. And then read up for history class."
"Ah I see. Well, good luck then. Some of the questions were very challenging."
I groaned internally while thanking him. Damn it. And here I was hoping I'd be able to get it done quickly. I dumped my satchel onto the bed, deciding to procrastinate a bit by showering first. When I was done, I took a deep breath, steadying my nerves for a night of pain and torture.
*
"UGH!" I slammed my head down on the table. "Why the hell is this so difficult?" I was on the verge of ripping up my book in anger. I had taken a "break" to study for history after realising I was not making any progress on my math homework for an hour. I started work at 7pm and it was now almost 9.30pm. Frustration gnawed at me and I glared at my math book.
Knock! Knock! I looked up, my door opening to reveal Germany. His hair was slightly messy, as if he just woke up. "I heard screams. Is everything okay?" he asked, his accent prominent. I shivered, recalling how TR's heavily-accented voice would grate my ears every time he spoke. He's already gone, Polska. He can't harm you, I reminded myself, not wanting to fall into the rabbit hole of traumatic memories–even if one figure from my past was currently standing in front of me. Germany is...nice anyways. He helped you overcome the bad nightmares.
"I...it's just the math homework is killing me. I don't get it at all," I admitted to him. Germany's eyes widened, "I thought you were good at math?"
"Well...I wasn't really paying attention in class today so...hehehe," I chuckled weakly, rubbing my neck sheepishly.
"I can help you if you want."
I looked at Germany, stunned, not sure if I heard right. "Aren't you tired? From the treatment–Oh, thank you so much by the way–damn it why do I always forget to thank people errr..." I was beginning to ramble.
"I fell asleep earlier so I still have enough energy to stay awake," Germany interjected, "So I can help you if you want."
I thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Thanks," I smiled softly as he came to my side. I got up and gestured for him to sit in the chair while I sat on my bed. Once we shifted, I plopped the book between us. Germany scanned through the question, tapping his finger against his thigh. After a minute, he broke into a smile. "Oh this one, it's pretty simple," he said. "It's not really a complex numbers question but more on algebra. So you substitute here," he pointed, directing me on what to do.
Germany's explanations were simple and concise allowing me to easily understand how to solve the questions. Before I knew it, I only had three left. "Ah Verdammt, these are the tricky ones," Germany grimaced, rubbing his eyes before returning to look back at the page.
"You should go to bed if you're tired."
Germany shook his head, stifling a yawn. "No, I'm fine, I can still help you. Unless you want to sleep already then we can stop," he looked at me in concern, "You probably should get some sleep though..." He trailed off, rubbing his eyes again. "Well, I'm fine right now. But maybe we can continue this tomorrow? That way you can get some sleep," I suggested and he shook his head, insisting he help me. I sighed internally knowing that there was no way to change his mind. It was probably the strongest trait that he shared with TR, both of them were insanely stubborn. Then again, that (could I even call him a man?) guy was insane so maybe not really. But Queen Prussia's also really stubborn too. Hmmm, I guess it runs in the family.
Germany snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention. Snapping out of my thoughts, I apologised for spacing out. He shook his hair out of his eyes, telling me it was fine. We continued to work on the questions even until the curfew bell rang (for the record, curfew is at 11pm). I noticed Germany sometimes dozing off before he'd snap himself to reality whenever he had to wait for me to finish writing the answers. After another half hour of work, I had finally finished my math homework. I grinned in triumph, silently celebrating.
"Thank you Niemcy for helping me out."
"It was my pleasure. Good," Germany stifled a yawn, "Good night." He was about to leave when I quickly grabbed his wrist. He turned around, looking a bit baffled. "I...I just wanted to thank you again for helping me out today and with my nightmares. You didn't have to after how I acted towards you but you still did. So thank you," I smiled gratefully at him as his posture relaxed.
"It was nothing. I...it's true in a way I owe you after what my," he swallowed, "After what Third Reich did to you." My skin crawled at the mention of his name but I decided to ignore it. "I...I...while treating you...I meant your...subconscious and," Germany continued slowly, piquing my interest and fear. What did he see? I knew from the mental checks Papa made me undergo annually, that my mind was a fragile place and that for most memories of my childhood, I had locked them away. Well, that was what the telepath Papa employed said anyway. "I...I...I'm so sorry Poland. I never knew what you went through and I...I cannot apologise enough for what my father did to you. I'm so sorry," Germany bursted out, shocking me, "I saw the memories. Not all of them of course but...it was bad...horrible and I can't believe my people did that to you. I'm sorry for not standing up earlier and I'm sorry for being such a horrible person and–"
I placed a hand on the shaking German's shoulder. He gasped, slowly trailing off. "I'm so sorry," he rasped, sinking onto the ground. I knelt down next to him and took his shoulders, twisting so that he faced me. "Look," I sighed, "What...Third did to me and my people was horrible and I swore to myself never forgive you or your kingdom." Germany nodded and was about to say something when I continued, "But. But I think it's time to let go some of my hate. I mean...I can't possibly hold onto the hate forever can I?" I smiled gently just like how my father did to some of our subjects.
Germany sniffled and murmured, "I was a coward...no I'm a coward. I...I didn't help you because I was scared but I should have–"
"Shhhh. That's in the past. Can we not let this affect our future relationship with one another please? Please?" I forced Germany to look at me, holding out my pinky finger, "Promise?" He sighed, looking away before nodding. I forced his face to face me and held my pinky to his face. "Pinky promise me on that."
"What are we? 5?" Germany retorted even as he hooked his finger around mine. Our thumbs briefly touched before we released our hands. "Hey, even my dad does that sometimes with our staff," I joked, "And he's old." I saw the barest of smiles flit across Germany's face but before I could confirm it, the smile had vanished. Helping me up, he thanked me once again before wishing me a good night.
"Good night Poland."
"Good night Germany."
Translations:
Америка--America
beau cave--total idiot (this is from Quebec French)
Verdammt--Damn it
Niemcy--Germany
A/N: AND THAT'S A WRAP! WE ARE OFFICIALLY DONE WITH ACT 1!
*dances like a happy duck* Hopefully this wasn't too rushed for y'all.
And what's this? Double update week? Limitedtimeofferonlyt&capply
I'm really excited to start on Act 2 and this is where most of the action happens. And look, Germany and Poland are friends now! XD (My baby boys [not literally] are growing up 🥹)
MOVING ON!!! QUESTION TIME AMIGOS!
1) When will Poland finally realise that Germany has been trying to help him all along?
2) Should I do a "break" chapter where we get back to Singa's view?
3) What are some childhood shows you remember watching as a kid?
I used to watch Ben and Holly, Peppa Pig (Goddamnit, now I make fun of the show), Jake and the Neverland pirates, Sofia the first and Paw Patrol. Oh! How could I forget my Korea animated shows? Robocar Poli, Tayo Tayo and Tobot! (Bro, Tobot is still one of the best shows I ever watched)
Okay, see you guys soon!