It was 13:45, and surely enough, a sudden dash of reflective black form had now caught the attention of the white and red country.He had been waiting on the other side of the bridge for about 40 minutes now, as always, he would arrive at his destination much earlier than he was expected to. However the main reason as to why he was this early was because he knew that Germany himself was always punctual, so not wanting to sit around the music hall any longer he left the building hoping that the fresh air would help him collect his thoughts.
He was now looking at the car driving through the large, blue iron construction, that was the border bridge. Looks like Germany had the same idea when it came to arriving early, as it was still 15 minutes to their scheduled meeting. The black metallic car crossed onto the other side and pulled up in its designated parking spot. Poland watched as the tricoloured country got out of the car, slowly walking towards him. The man was about his height, maybe an inch or two taller. His outfit mainly consisted of various shades of brown, with golden accents.
"Guten Tag, Polen." Greeted Germany with a somewhat of an arrogantly smug half smile on his face, his voice monotone yet with a very small hint of... joy? This was something that made Poland feel a tad bit surprised about, slightly concerned even. What was he planing to do this time to make his life even more miserable than it already was? After all he knew very well that Germany would obviously be quite displeased with having to see him, he found Poland irritating and stupid anyway, and he would usually point it out whenever he got the chance to by talking about him behind his back sometimes he even had the audacity to confronting him about it face to face.
Poland brushed off the thought, Germany was not here just to ruin the event. He couldn't have been! Doing something like that could possibly not end well for him either, besides he was the one of the people that seemed to be all for Poland joining the EU. Sabotaging this event would be like sabotaging his EU career. Not only that, but the fact that his tone didn't seem to be mocking or condescending. Maybe just for the day they could be friends?
Germany extended his hand to Poland, and both of them shook hands. He slightly forced himself to smile at him softly in response to his greeting and answered back, " Guten Tag, Deutschland. Wie geht es dir?"
This didn't really come as a surprise to Germany, Poland spend years being Germanised and Russified, so it was a given that he would be at least semi fluent in those languages, however seeing how Poland felt completely comfortable with having a conversation with him in his own native language made him switch to using English almost instantly, much to Poland's confusion.
Not wanting to feel lesser or maybe trying to show off a tad that he in fact is able to speak foreign languages as well, he continued the conversation in English.
"It is nice to see you after all that time. It's been a while since our last NATO training, hasn't it?" He asked, trying his best to suppress any sarcastic or mocking remark that came to his head, which had proven itself to be a harder task than he expected.
There was something rather satisfying in seeing Poland loose his composure, he always looked so calm and collected- it was exciting to see him look away in frustration, or bite his lip in a protest to his comment when he wanted to respond with something that he was holding himself back from saying. There was nothing he loved more than to show Poland that he will never be even half a country Germany was. It was exciting because of how unusual it was to see. It was exciting because of how much he knew Poland was never the obedient type that didn't mind having others look down on him nor the type to lose his cool. It almost felt like he was doing something that was impossible to do, yet it felt so easy to execute.
"Yes, it's been about a month I believe." The bicoloured country answered in a monotone, almost bored yet friendly voice. "Shall we head to the main hall now? We can walk around the city and go sightseeing for a while If you would like." He inquired.
Germany without much hesitation, only nodded his head in agreement and followed the party host. They still had a couple of hours that they had to spend in each other's company as the other guests were going to join them later that afternoon, at the classical music festival. Germany could already imagine the amount of awkwardness and discomfort both sides would feel during those two long hours.
First fifteen minutes went by in complete uncomfortable silence. How was he supposed to talk to a country that he heard so many negative things from his father? It would've been hard to find a common language with such a low class, alcoholic with no money or common sense, at least what he used to believe back in the day. He had to admit to himself, as much as he demonised Poland in his mind, by blaming him for various things, such as the poor state of his economy or treaty of Versailles from back in the day, he didn't really feel spiteful towards Poland. Sure, the prejudice he developed towards Poland and his entire bloodline was still there, but it was really nothing like the purest form of hatred he felt towards him back in the 1939. Back then he was wishing the untimely demise upon the young country that just had managed to put himself back into the maps after 123 years of Russian, Autria-Hungarian, German occupation. He felt that Poland's existence was an insult to his father's death, he felt that Poland's lands belonged to the German Empire. However, it's been a couple of decades since WWII, and whenever he thought back to the crimes he committed against Poland during that time, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.. Poland did help him out with abolishing communism back in the eastern bloc after all, at times it even seemed like he felt empathy for him.
He felt guilty. As much as he was scared to admit it to himself and suppress the thought by thinking back to the stupid comments UK made as a joke about Poland and trying to convince himself not to feel bad about a "person of his sort" he couldn't. Seeing Poland face to face and speaking with him really made all of those negative stereotypes he's been harbouring in his mind as a means of soothing the feeling of regret, got slightly pushed away. He always knew what Poland was really like, he just didn't like to admit it. He was never the best when it comes to coping with feelings, and having a negative image of a person he knew he has done so much wrong was his occasional coping mechanism. A form of escapism you may say. To be honest with himself required him to face the facts and he didn't really want to remember that dark period in his life, and that's one thing that he did not want to do.
Everyone had forgiven him anyway.
He had to admit it to himself; he felt guilty, he didn't actually feel as if he had a valid reason to actually dislike Poland and keeping true to his emotions he really didn't dislike Poland, even though he often pretended to around his friends, but the feeling of regret was always discarded to the side, making new place for the feeling of a rush he felt in those moments where he could show his superiority over him.
Suddenly a low yet warm voice pulled him back into the reality.
" Where about would you wanna go? Do you have any particular spot that you would like to visit in mind?" Asked the two-coloured country. Both of them stood still in the city centre, not far from the spot that the music festival and the conference was going to take place.
Without batting an eye around his surroundings, Germany knew already just where he wanted to go, or rather what he needed the most in his current situation - Beer. He needed a bit of Alcohol in his system to make him less tense, in spite of him not showing it, he felt as if he was cracking under pressure, especially during those silent 15 minutes.
"Do you have any good drinking spots to recommend?" He asked, turning his gaze towards the other country.
Poland was a bit dumbfounded at the question. He wasn't really going to start drinking at such at such an early hour, was he? He scoffed mentally, as he recalled all those comments that Germany had made about him being the alcoholic one of the two here. After about 30 seconds of hesitation he answered with, " Well... I mean I'm not entirely convinced that it's a such a good idea to start drinking just now. After all there's still 1:40 hrs to go until the event officially starts, but if you really are adamant about it, we can just head straight to the main hall, there's a minibar already set up there."
14: 55
Germany and Poland were sitting at the minibar for quite a while now, talking about everything and nothing.First they talked about what events were going to take place today, then their conversation gradually became much more personal in nature. They talked about how they're living currently, their minor everyday problems, eventually recalling the times they both lived in the Eastern bloc, that they shared a mutual hate towards. Making silly jokes about how life looked like back then, reflecting on how much things have changed, until the heavy weight of regret once again filled Germany's chest. Apparently one glass of beer was enough to undermine his abilities to suppress his negative emotions as effectively as he did before. He thoroughly enjoyed Poland's company. He felt that they had a common language, and no he didn't mean English. He felt that he could connect to Poland on some level. They shared a lot of memories together, some better, some worse. Regardless of this, he felt that Poland was the only country right now that could truly understand just how miserable it was for him to be divided and forced to live under communism, Poland's been through all of it and much worse. Thinking about the hell he has put him through, he felt a wave of repentance washing over him.
He looked at the man, that was still chuckling at Germany's bad pun about the Soviet Union, his face seemed so genuine. He felt even worse looking back at the nasty jokes he's made about him. Poland seemed like such a great guy to have around. All this time he acted so friendly and sociable, which made him ponder why such a country would be this unpopular. Poland might have not been acting this sociable from the very beginning of their meeting, but the second he drank a glass of beer with him all of the tension that he felt seemed to have also left his equally as troubled mind too. Germany felt flattered by the fact that Poland appreciated his low tier jokes. Not many of his jokes were well received by others, in fact he was quite well known for having "no sense of humour" as his brothers described it. Unfortunately the only jokes that seemed to have gained the others approval were the jokes he made about other countries, mainly the one he was currently eyeing, the one on which his opinions have drastically changed during the last couple of seconds - Poland. Alcohol must've really clouded his judgment. It's Poland he was thinking about after all, he disliked him for a good reason, right?
"Polen?" The tricoloured country said, almost under his breath.
"Yes, Deutschland" the other replied.
"You know you can call me by my your version nickname right? There's no reason to be this formal." He said, the thought escaping his lips. Immediately scolding himself in his mind.
The white and red country looked at the other one's face, slightly surprised at first, but soon a visible half smile crept onto his lips.
"I'm sorry your highness, from now on I shall only refer to you as your proper name, Sir Niemcy the third." He retorted a little sarcastically. His comment although mocking in nature, was still said in such a friendly tone, that no one in the right state of could mistake it for a personal attack of any sort. Seeing Poland giggle with a large playful smile made Germany feel the small sense of happiness rubbing onto him, causing him to smile too. He instantly slapped himself for thinking that.
"Just Niemcy would be fine, you know." He retorted.
"You know, I've been wondering... about the past... and, uh.. I- I just wanted to tell you that I really do regret some of my poor life choices... I hope we can leave the bad memories behind us.."
I really do." With the final words the German lifted his gaze back to Poland who widened his silver-blue eyes a little in surprise, taken aback by his words.
After a few seconds of silence he lifted his half full glass of beer once again,
"Here.." He said holding his glass up closer to German with an expectant look, his silver glasses reflecting the warm yellow sunlight from the window to his side.
" To the better future." He declared, waiting for the sound of the two glasses clinging against each other in a toast.
"To the better future" Germany echoed with a wide grin on his face.