In Orbit

Rosalía had known he liked her right from the first time they had met. Johan might have tried to act like he didn’t care, but she had seen the soft blush on his cheeks and knew he found her attractive.

But it was really when she saw him looking at the sea the same way she looked at it. She taught him some of the things she knew about it and he took in all of that information like he couldn’t get  enough of it. Had noticed the younger truelly falling in love with her during the time they spend together.

What Rosalía failed to notice was that she fell for the tall man as well. Yes, now, she could say she loved him. Now that it was too late.

Because he had not only looked at the sea as something to discover, he had also looked at is as freedom. And then he had fought for his freedom and independence.

The brunette had not been able to leave her brother and they had fallen out over that.

And now he was gone, she loved him and never told him and now she never would get to tell him.

So why was she here now? The home he had made for himself wasn’t big, but it was nice and everything screamed his name. Everything in here suited him, it was like he haunted this place. As she walks around in his home she feels him everywhere, making her wish she had gone with him and shared this together.

What she finds eventually are the things he couldn’t share with her. The letters. There are so many of them, she recognises his handwriting straight away. Johan had never been the type to talk about his feelings easily, but he could write about them. Very deeply even and he had done just that, she learned now that she was reading all these letters he had written to her but never sent.

How she had wishes he had, to have known just how much he loved her. But they were only old letters now and she was stuck being haunted by the ghost of his memory.

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Johan = The Netherlands

Rosalía = Portugal

But this one simple memory, a truly simple moment, a small piece of peace stolen between all the fights and battles they had had. The one thing they had always, always agreed on was their love and fascination for the sea. No matter their leaders or the way either of them chose to go, the sea was something both siblings had always loved.

So really it should be of no surprise that this one special memory was one of a day at the beach when they had still been so young and had yet to experience many of the hardships and disagreements that were still to come. This young Antonio had ran up to a young Portugal with something hidden away in his tiny hands. All the way running up to him, little Spain had kept telling his brother  that he had found something amazing.

Finally reaching his older brother Antonio all but shoved his discovery into Armando’s face. Taking a step back before inspecting his little brother’s newly discovered treasure, he found himself looking at a small animal and saw a tiny turtle.

Antonio had looked up at him in earnest and solemnly promised him that it would be his favourite animal forever.

Her brother kept his childhood promise. That turtle had eventually passed away, but Antonio still kept turtles and they were still his favourite pet.

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His words often failed him where music never did. Like the way he played Chopin when he was angry or how he always played Beethoven's Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor when he wanted to apologise to her.

Sounds that made Erzsébet think of those days of old, when they were so happy and she would hear that music when she entered their shared home. Back when she lived in his house, of the time she fell in love with this piano man and of course during their marriage.

And if she was honest with herself she could remember times when they had been far younger, and she had been to determined to do the same things boys like Gilbert did, that she had enjoyed the music but had never dared to say that out loud.

Standing before the front door, she took her key out of her pocket and let herself in. The second the door opened, she could already hear the soft sounds of the grand wing reach her and as the Hungarian woman made her way through the manor towards the room where her former husband was.

As Erszébet entered the room, Roderich looked up at her but never paused his fingers  from sliding across the keys. He didn’t stop playing when she crossed the room or when she sat down beside him. Nor did he stop playing when she took his face in her hands and kissed him.

Because she still loved him, she loved him even after their divorce and the Austrian had continued to be in love with her so long after their marriage had ended.

The truth was that their music had never died.

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So of course Gilbert was going to teach Ludwig how to handle weapons given how he grew up himself, but he also teached him how to build things and be good to animals.

She had calmly refused to do so and had even told him she would remain were she was only to annoy him and the blond haired man had somehow accepted that fact and continued on with his embroidery without giving her refusal to leave his home, which Mari had broken into, any further thought.

Until now that is, as the smell of a nice meal dragged Arthur from his thoughts and only now he noticed it was already time for dinner. He didn’t even need to look around the room to know his adversary was at the source of this smell.

Really, there was only one woman that could cook the way she did and so he put aside his needle work and made his way to the kitchen.

There she was, putting the last finishing touches to the food and without looking up she told him to sit down. “Take a seat, mon lapin.” She told him and he had heard that one often enough to do as he was told.

Marianne toke a seat at the other side of his kitchen table.

It felt normal. It always did ever since they somehow ended up with this routine.

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The man had not only been grateful to him, Great Britain, England or simply to Arthur. Holland had taken notice of the often unnoticed Madeline and had promised to send Canada flowers as a sign of his gratitude.

And he kept that promise. Sending her 100.000 tulip bulbs and after that he kept sending 10.000 more every year and he never failed to see his little girl or to tell her and her sister apart like most other nations did.

Arthur knew Maddie would fall for the other nation, if only for the attention he gave her, so of course he was protective of her. What he hadn’t anticipated was how hard Johan would in fall for the younger nation in return.

Still, the way the two kept dancing around each other for years after the war might have been normal for the shy Canadian but out of character for the usually straightforward Netherlands and that strange dance somehow became a way of life.

And in that comfortable way of life he, and almost everyone else, had missed the dancing around each other turning into dancing with each other.

Until now, when he had his arms full of a grown up woman sobbing in joy that she was getting married to the man she loved. Only on a personal level, not a nation one, but they loved each other so much and Arthur was the first person she was telling this to.

He could already imagine her in a wedding dress, holding a bouquet of tulips and with a maple leaf her hair.

His Madeline would make a beautiful bride.

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Day 3 prompt Dear Diary for @lietpruweek.