First Encounters Pt. 2

Filipinas stared out into the ocean from the rail parting of the ship. From the position of the moon it probably would be around midnight in the area, way too late for the smaller country to be up. No one was on the deck at this time, other than the lookout sailor, but he was way up there and didn't notice the island nation even go onto the deck. When everyone had gone to sleep, she had snuck out onto the deck and had been out there for quite a few hours.

"Filipinas? Are you out here?" asked a frantic voice. She turned around and saw Spain with a rather worried look on his face, sweat dripping down his cheeks. She stared at him for a bit as he ran to her and knelt down, grabbing her shoulders. "What are you doing out here? It's really late. Come on back to bed," he requested to her with a soft voice.

"…" She looked back out to the ocean and didn't say a single word, turning away from the Spaniard and stood back on the railing's bottom gaps.

"Filipinas … ?" he asked with a tilt of his head. He looked back out at the ocean, trying to see if there was anything out there that she was staring out at specifically. Seeing nothing, he went back to her. "…What are you staring at, Filipinas? Is everything all right?"

"…I miss my brothers…I didn't want to leave, you know…" she said to the Spaniard, not taking a look at him. At this point, she did begin to cry. But her voice, though wavering, kept itself strong. It had been about two weeks since she had left her island and she was feeling sick to her stomach with homesickness. She missed her siblings and the islanders. She missed being close to them all. But she was doing this for them after, so she gritted her teeth and tried to hold her chin high. But for her it was really hard to do just that.

Spain stared her in silence. Although he was never good at reading the atmosphere, once it was blatantly told to him, he could always try and be able sympathetic of the person. He had to remember that this girl was someone who let herself be in closer sights of his boss. Although it was a rather big decision, she was still a child in body. She was still a very small country who hasn't grown that much and she was going into an area where she's never been before, but only heard of.

Picking up the small child and holding her tightly in his arms, he let her head lie on his shoulders. "A la nanita nana, nanita ella, nanita ella … Mi nina tiene sueno, bendito sea, bandito sea … A la nanita nana, nanita ella, nanita ella … Mi nina tiene sueno, bendito sea, bandito sea …," he sang softly into her small ears. She made a sleepy yawn as he sang to her, her arms reaching around his neck as she tucked her head closer, comfortably under his neck. As he held her, he rocked her back and forth walking around the deck as he continued to sing more to the small island. "Fuertecita que corre, clara y sonara … Fui senor que la selva … Cantando llora … Calla mientras la cuna, se balansea … A la nanita nana nanita ella …"

It was a very long trip and growing up seafaring, he learned to deal with it easily. She has never been off her island for a long period of time before, so of course she'd be nervous about it all. He looked down at Filipinas and saw she was now asleep in his arms. He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead gently before heading back into the cabins and lying on the hammock and falling fast asleep. They were almost there. In the next evening, they would reach Madrid.

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When they reached the port the next evening, he was told he needed to go back to the Netherlands to finish the fight. He nodded, taking up the smaller country and walking down the ramp. He had to drop her off in his house. He had to get back as soon as he could, which meant he comes straight back once Filipinas was in his home. When he got home, he expected a head-butt, but instead got a rather calm opening of the door. Romano, a lackey he was given by Austria, turned out to be extremely hard to deal with. He was lazy, clumsy and often annoying in a way that he sometimes demanded things to do something, but still never did. Still, because of this odd characteristic of the Southern Italian, he was able to walk into his room without hearing any complaints.

When he tucked in Filipinas, he heard her mumbled his name. "Kuya Spain? Where are you going?" she asked him, sitting back up slightly. She rubbed her eyes as she stared at him, a small worried look at him.

Spain smiled quietly at her. "I have to go back now. You'll be fine here, okay?" he assured her. "Now, go back to sleep," he requested of her, walking up to her and kissing the top of her head. Filipinas looked at him with even more worry. Didn't he just got out of a fight with the Netherlands at her place? Before she could protest, he shut the door and was out of her sight. She felt as if she had no choice now but to go back to sleep.

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She woke up early the next morning, at a time most people would still be asleep for a bit, and got hungry. It took a while to find the kitchen because she didn't really get a tour, as she went straight to bed when she arrived. When she found it, she took out a frying pan and looked outwards to the slowly rising sun. A voice called out to her from the doorway. The person she saw when she turned her head had short light brown hair with a ribbon tied to the side. She was rather tall to the shorter one, so she stared at her for a bit before nodding her head in acknowledgement. "You're Filipinas, right? My name is Belgium, I am the Netherlands little sister."

Filipinas flinched, her body beginning to inch away from her. Belgium made a whoops face, remembering the Netherlands was the reason why the small island was there in the first place. She stood where she was, kneeling down to Filipinas' eye level. "I'm sorry. He's the reason why they wanted to bring you here for closer watch. I mean no harm though. Really," she told her, a gentle smile on her face. After staring at her for a while, she nodded her head slowly, accepting her words with caution.

Belgium sighed relief as she watched the Filipino island take out the materials she needed to make food with. Just going for a simple breakfast at first, she ended up making pancit for her and Belgium and a boy she had mentioned as they began to speak. Once she was done eating, Belgium asked her to come with her to get dressed for work. Filipinas nodded her head and took the Belgium girl's hand. They went into a room and while Belgium looked for a maid's dress for the nation, Filipino took off her clothes. She wasn't exactly used to wearing a lot of clothing, her island nearby the equator and almost every season warm to hot. She only got dressed up when Spain came around and visited to check on her.

"Here you go." Belgium said, her hand pulling out a small light blue dress. Handed the dress, she started to put it on, first the panties, then the dress then the apron. Once she was done, she felt oddly loose. Sure it was slightly difficult to move around in, but she was rather comfortable in them. She was given a broom and was asked to go to work cleaning up some of the rooms, of course after she was shown them. The house was lovely if messy. Everything looked a bit damaged, which made the girl wonder if it was even safe to live here with the rooms looking as if there was recently a raid on the house.

"Oh dear, Romano's clumsiness strikes again," giggled Belgium lightly

"Eh? This was one person?!" Filipinas stared at her in disbelief. Was she being messed with? But the semi-serious look on her face said something else.

"Romano's a bit of a klutz so you gotta watch out for him as well." Belgium warned, taking the Filipino's hand once more and finishing leading her through the halls. The spoke often about Romano, though not as much as Spain spoke about him. Once she was done, one of Spain's officials found her and handed her a broom and told her to clean the offices down the hall, which was where she met Romano.

"Ciao, bella.~" he greeted, a charming smile on his face. "Don't think I've ever seen you around before.~ Name's Romano, pleasure to meet you." Philippines stared at him with a strong look of disbelief on her face. He was nothing like Spain glorified. Okay maybe a little, she didn't deny he was a little cute. But his personality sucked. Here she was working and here's a guy who was also supposed to be working as well flirting with her 'Is this guy a complete dumbass?' she thought to herself. Was he just naturally like this? Should she laugh? Should she punch him out? As she thought this, her mind snapped when he winked at her. Yeah, this guy's no good. She kept her eyes locked onto his, her free hand searching the desk for something, anything to get this guy to let go. She found something, and used it on him, the feather quill point sinking into his arm when she stabbed him. Using that, he let go and Filipinas ran off, her hand wiping her dress in anger and annoyance. The nerve of that guy, flirting on the job!

To be honest, she forgot about Romano as the hours passed. Nighttime came when she saw him again. As Belgium set the table for the other countries living in the household with them, Filipinas helped set up the table as some of the other countries came in. Not knowing Romano was in the area, he approached her with a rather apologetic look on his face, tapping the girl's shoulders gently. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so forward with someone who's new around here," he apologized. "Belgium told me that her brother attacked and invaded your home. Of course you'd be very cautious of wary here."

Seeing and hearing him say that, she looked at him with a surprised look on her face. After she ran away from him, partially because she didn't want to get involved with him and partly because she was already done with the area anyway, she did hear she was often picked on anyway, which made her feel a little bad about what she did. Filipinas was more worried about making sure her big and little brother's safety was ensured that she didn't even try and sympathize with the same aged country, who's been bullied most of his life, according to Belgium.

"…Okay then." Filipinas said to the boy. "I'm sorry, too. The Netherlands did similar movements to me, so I kind of over reacted." The Netherlands was rather kind to her at first. He and her traded often with each other, so when he suddenly wanted to take control over her, she freaked out a lot. But this one, this one seemed to be likeable enough. And that smile he just given her? The one that just lit up on his face when she indirectly forgave him? It made her blush a bit and she smiled back.

"Good. I hope that we'll be very close, someday?" he asked with a slight little chuckle. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, pulling back On instinct to any threat she feels, she grabbed his arm and overthrew him. "I take it back you friggin perv!!"

"It was just a kiss on the cheek!!" he yelled back at the Filipino girl as she ran off "And do you even know what a pervert is, bitch?! CHIGIII!!!!" he cried out in strong annoyance. Since that event, they had a hard time getting along with each other, breaking out into either violence by Filipinas or unnecessary insults instigated by Romano, which usually end in violence by Filipinas anyway. No one ever would've guessed what would grow between the two. At all.