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Darf ich diesen Tanz bitten?
Gilbert –Prussia
Larisa – Romania
Antonio – Spain
Francis – France
Erzsébet –Hungary
The first time she had even heard of this event had been when her boss had called her to his office. As she sat alone at her table now, she recalled how the man had motioned for her to take a seat as soon as she entered his room and he had told her about a formal event he, her people even, needed her to attend.
Her boss had told her about the kind of event it would be. Everyone all dressed up, the women in their most beautiful dresses and the men wearing either suits or military uniforms. She was to socialise and either strengthen alliances with other nations or even form new bonds. Also, there would be dancing.
Now, she was sitting at her table. Looking longingly at the all the dancing, all of it looked so beautiful and graceful. She almost felt jealous of the women that got to be twirled around. Like Hungary. She hated to admit it but the other woman looked stunning, laughing and enjoying herself. Most of the night had passed already and she was still to fulfill her task. The only socialising she had done was quick conversation with some of the nations she was more familiar with and a mere hello with the other nations that passed by the table she was sitting at.
She was pulled from her daydreaming when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a white gloved hand. Looking up, she saw a man. Prussia, she had heard about the Germanic nation, wearing a deep blue uniform. “Darf ich um diesen tanz bitten?” he spoke. She didn’t understand what he had said, but before she could say anything in return the soldier repeated himself. “May I have this dance?” As the music of a waltz started.
She hesitated, she had spend most of the evening imagining what it would be like to be dancing herself, but the reality was that no one had ever taught her how to. The man was still holding out his hand while he waited for her answer. “I’m not.. I’m not very good. You should find someone else to dance with.” She had seen him dance with a few other nations and he made it look so easy that he just had to be a good dancer.
He stared at her for just a moment before taking her hand and tugging her out of her seat. “If that is you’re best excuse to not dance with the awesome me it is not an excuse good enough.” As he lead her towards the dance floor, and Larisa didn’t understand why she even let him do so, she stopped moving along just as he wanted to step onto the floor. “I never learned any of it.” She whispered sharply to him.
This time Prussia hesitated before composing himself and looking just as confident as he always seemed to be. “I told you I’m awesome and I will show you how awesome I am by teaching you to waltz right here, right now.” Following him onto the floor, he must have noticed the unsure look on her face as she stared at her feet. “First rule, look up.” Prussia moved them into position before he leaned in. “I’ll stick to the basics and tell you what to do.” After telling her the first couple of steps she had to make, he began to count loud enough for her to hear. When they started moving she followed his lead and made the steps he told her to. Throughout the entire dance he, the other nation continued to alternate between counting the steps out loud for her and telling her what she had to do next.
The woman rationally knew that her dancing couldn’t possibly look as smooth as that of others in the room, but she felt like she was dancing on air despite putting so much focus on getting the steps right. Then, sooner than she liked, the music ended and the dancing stopped.
“You danced well for the first time dancing.” She heard him say, but Larisa was sure it would have gone far worse if anyone else would have danced with her. As soon as they had made the first few steps of the dance, she had noticed the way he moved. Self-assured and smooth, in a way that suited an officer like himself.
He kept her from moving away and asked her to let him have a second dance. This time they also spoke to each other, between Prussia leading them around the floor while he counted and instructed her what to do. During the conversation, she learned that she just might like the sound of her partner’s laughter. He asked for her name, then told her he would like it if she called him Gilbert instead of Prussia.
He walked her back to her table where he expressed his hope to dance with her again in the near future before leaving her to herself to rejoin the men she had noticed him talking to earlier that evening. Watching him walk away she smiled to herself and rested her head in her hands.
Gilbert was relaxing. Talking and making jokes with his best friends, with a few dances in between. He had even managed to pester Erzsébet into a dance. Hungary thought he was awesome, he knew it, even if she tried to deny it.
Then it happened. He noticed a stunning woman wearing a striking red dress staring at the people dancing. All throughout the evening he had seen her, but not really noticed her. Now that he had, he didn’t recall seeing her on the dance floor. Indeed, every time he had seen her she had been sitting at that same table.
Judging by Antonio’s slightly worried look, Francis’ smirk and the way they were calling his name, he figured he had been lost in thought for a moment too long. He told them he felt like dancing this waltz and made his way to the table of the lady in red.
She never even noticed him walking up to her table and that just was not any good, how could the awesome that was him go unnoticed? Standing beside her, he held out his hand as an invitation to dance with him during the next waltz. “Darf ich diesen Tanz bitten?” he asked as soon as she made eye contact with him. Only after seeing the confusing on her delicate face did he realise that she might not understand his native language. Hoping to have more success with English he repeated himself. “May I have this dance?”
She made him wait before giving her answer, few people did that and Gilbert didn’t know if he liked that kind of challenge or not. However, her answer told him that she hadn’t been challenging him, but been insecure. Not that an answer like hers, that she couldn’t dance, would stop him from getting what he wanted. He was too awesome for that.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her seat, towards him. Leading her towards the dance floor she followed, but suddenly stopped them from moving any further. Just as he was about to step onto the floor she informed him that she was not a good dancer, because she didn’t know how to dance at all. That had been unexpected, but he was the awesome Prussia and not even this would stop him from dancing would this lovely nation.
Gilbert gave another light tug on her hand as he continued his way. He noted that the woman at his side was looking down at her feet and would likely continue doing so while dancing. Maneuvering them into the proper position to start, he told her to look up. There was no need for her to worry, he would stick to the basic steps and inform her about what steps she had to take. She just needed to follow him, after all, it was his job in this dance to lead her. He started counting the steps out loud for her and they began to move.
It felt nice, dancing like this. The military man had danced with plenty of well trained ladies, but there was something about dancing like this that felt uncomplicated and pure. He found he enjoyed it. When the song ended he felt a need to compliment her. Despite anything Francis said, he actually did have manners and knew how or when to use them. The female nation didn’t exactly look like she believed him when he said she had danced well for someone who didn’t know how to dance and even proceeded to pull away from him, ever so lightly. He wasn’t having any of that, not when he was hoping for a second dance.
The next song was starting and she agreed to another dance. Other than just counting and instructing her on how to dance, he started a conversation. There was one important question that needed to be asked. “What would your name be, miss…?” he inquired. She blinked up at him. “I am Romania.” She answered. He couldn’t help but laugh. “And I am Prussia, but I would like it if you called me Gilbert.” Seeing realization dawn on her as she nodded with a smile. “Larisa.”
After the dance ended he walked her back to her table and thanked her for the dance. “Maybe we can dance again another time.” He added to that before he walked away, returning to his friends.
Antonio was the first one to notice him, Francis being occupied the sight of a few lovely women. “Mi amigo, did you enjoy yourself.” And laughed kindly. Francis, hearing his Spanish friend speak up, turned around and smirked at his other friend. “Hm, oui, do tell us.” Inspecting the wine in his glass before taking a sip. “Two dances in a row.”
Gilbert told them to shut up as he sat down on the chair he had claimed at the beginning of the evening. Then, while ordering another beer, proceeded to inform them that he wouldn’t mind to dance with the nation of Romania again someday. They easily slipped back into talking and joking they had been doing before Gilbert had gone to introduce himself to Larisa.
“It’s good to see you so at ease, Gil.” Antonio suddenly observed. Giving them a confused look until Francis explained. “That new little brother of yours has made you rather stressed.”
“Kesese.” They had been worried about him. It was good to know that he had friends that wanted to look out for him. “It’s not that bad, having a little brother.” They happily agreed with him. Well, they would know, wouldn’t they? He felt a surge of pride thinking about the little boy at his home. “He is going to be a great nation one day. I’ll make sure of it.”
The rest of the night was spend talking, laughing and drinking.
And also thinking about little brothers and women in red dresses.