[Fanfiction] Civil Union (Prussia/Brandenburg)
Outing with a kink meme fill. Thought about posting it to hetalia, but it prominently features an Original Character, so I thought it'd fit better here.
The prompt was Prussia's teen marriage to Brandenburg.
Title: Civil Union
Author: saya_aensland
Character(s): Prussia, Brandenburg (OC)
Rating: PG-13/T
Warnings: HISTORY. And implied warfare. And boys kissing. And Prussia cursing. But mostly history.
The Duchy of Prussia (he hates that name, 'duchy' makes it sound like he's someone's lackey) follows his new boss down the hallway.
Unlike his few previous bosses, this guy actually has prior experience about running a nation. Prussia can only hope he'll do a better job in not being a pussy fuckwad.
Prussia's boss stops in front of a set of double doors. "He should be in here, he usually is..." Prussia's not looking forward to meeting the other nation his boss is the boss of, but the guy's been dead set on introducing the two ever since Prussia was handed over to him.
The man knocks on the door. "Brandenburg, I want you to meet someone!"
The only answer that comes from behind the door is an inarticulate grunt. Apparently, that is an admission to enter, as Prussia's boss opens the door and leads Prussia inside.
The room is a small library. The only other person inside is a boy about Prussia's age, who's currently ignoring them in favor of the book he's reading.
"Prussia, this is the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Brandenburg, this is the Duchy of Prussia. He'll be living with you from now on."
The teenager looks up from his book and eyes Prussia.
Brandenburg's purple eyes are droopy, as if he were stuck in a permanent state of boredom and disinterest. His shoulder-length blond hair is pulled back into a ponytail that looks more like a bristly animal attached to the nape of his neck than a tail of any sort.
"How did that happen?" Brandenburg drawls. "We haven't had any military campaigns lately."
Prussia's-- Brandenburg's-- THEIR boss laughs and scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's a funny story. My father-in-law was the previous Duke of Prussia, but he died without any male heirs. Prussia didn't want to take a Pole as a Duke, so they handed him over to me."
Brandenburg snaps his book shut and addresses Prussia. "So my boss inherited you? That's the lamest way of territory acquisition I've ever heard of."
Prussia snorts. "At least we agree on something."
Their boss ignores their conversation. "Well then, I'll just leave you two alone. You'll need to get to know each other now that you're married."
Brandenburg's deadpan "Don't call it a marriage" is drowned under Prussia's indignant screech of "IT'S NOT A MARRIAGE!"
Their boss ignores that, too.
Brandenburg abandons his book and stands up as the man leaves the room. The two teenagers face each other.
Brandenburg looks at Prussia like he's the most boring thing he's ever laid his eyes on.
Prussia looks at Brandenburg like he's trying to set him on fire with his mind.
Brandenburg finally breaks the silence. "So, you got a name?"
Prussia narrows his unnaturally red eyes, as if he's trying to make Brandenburg fall over from the sheer force of his glare. "Gilbert," he finally mutters.
Brandenburg nods in acknowledgment. "I'm Hartwin Beilschmidt." He tilts his head in consideration. "I guess that makes you Gilbert Beilschmidt."
Gilbert punches Hartwin. "Who're you calling the wife?!"
--
"Of all the people I could get stuck with, it had to be a lame-ass stick-in-the-mud like you!"
Brandenburg doesn't answer him, concentrating on his book.
"What the hell are you reading, anyway?"
"It's a scientific thesis on the best ways to eviscerate a person alive," Brandenburg answers boredly and turns the page.
With Hartwin's droopy-eyed poker face never flinching, it's very hard for Gilbert to tell whether he's joking or not.
--
"I'm boooored!" Prussia whines.
Brandenburg raises an eyebrow at him. "You don't say."
"Seriously, don't you ever do anything around here?" Prussia lies upside down on the library couch, head almost falling to the floor.
Brandenburg shrugs noncommittally. "We're the backwoods, boredom comes with the job."
"See, your problem is that you don't have any ambition." Prussia straightens himself back upright, but not before he falls to the floor first. "If you're the backwoods, make yourself the frontwoods!"
Brandenburg leans his cheek on his palm. "Big words coming from the Polish duchy."
"First of all, if you call me Polish ever again, I'm gonna make you swallow your own teeth. Second of all, this is a temporary slump! I'm not going to stay like this forever!"
Brandenburg gives him a long look. It stretches long enough that Prussia gets the urge to tell him to stop staring like a creepy git. But that would be admitting defeat, so he settles for staring back.
Brandenburg blinks first. (Hah! Victory!) "So, what're you gonna do after your slump's over?"
Prussia's eyes grow fierce. "I'm gonna be awesome!" Not that he isn't already awesome enough, mind you.
Brandenburg scoffs. "We have a lot to do before you can become anything remotely resembling awesome."
"Fuck you, bastard!"
--
"Brandenburg!" A small boy in a black cloak and a funny hat stomps up to the two.
Hartwin rolls his eyes; he and Gilbert have more interesting things to do.
"Who's the squirt?" Prussia questions.
The boy bristles at the slight. "Squirt?! I'm the Holy Roman Empire!"
Gilbert raises a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Isn't Rome in Italy or something?"
Brandenburg snickers as the little boy turns scarlet with embarrassment. "Sh-shut up! Italy's going to eventually live in my house anyway, and then we'll be the Roman Empire together!"
Prussia turns to Brandenburg. "Okay, seriously, who the hell is this kid?"
"His boss is my boss' boss, but only on paper."
Prussia stares at Brandenburg blankly.
Brandenburg sighs. "Everybody has their own boss around here," he elaborates. "The kid's boss says he's the boss of all the bosses, but nobody actually listens to him. It's all needlessly complicated and stupid."
The little boy utterly fails to assert his authority by stomping his foot. "I'm the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation!"
"That's too long!" Prussia complains.
"Yeah, I just call him West," Brandenburg waves his hand flippantly.
"Good! I'll call him West, too!" Prussia cackles and cuts off the boy's protests by snatching his hat away and forcefully ruffling his hair.
--
It took Hartwin more than an hour to explain the rules of chess; the way certain pieces could and could not move, what the objectives were, what were key points to defend.
It took him less than three minutes to beat Gilbert.
"This game is stupid!" Gilbert declares loudly and sends the chess pieces flying to the floor.
"Yes," Hartwin agrees. "Humans are stupid, too. The trick is to be aware of their stupidity, and of the way it makes them act."
Prussia makes crazy eyes at him.
"Once you notice the patterns they follow, it's easy to predict and manipulate them."
Gilbert wonders if Hartwin likes to sound stupid and cryptic, or if he's trying to tell him something.
--
Gilbert glares at the horizon a lot. He looks like he wants to jump up and start running forward into a random direction.
The only reason he doesn't is because he has no destination to run towards. Hartwin informs him of this.
"I want to fight!" Gilbert explodes at him.
Hartwin thinks about that for a second. "Anyone in particular you want to fight?" he finally asks.
Gilbert deflates at that, seemingly embarrassed. "I... I just want to fight. I was born to fight. It's what I do best."
"Hmm," Hartwin answers eloquently. Unlike Gilbert, Hartwin is staring at a fixed point in the horizon.
"Y'know, the thing about fighting is that one needs a reason for it."
Gilbert looks at him. Fighting had been so much easier before he was pressed down by borders and laws. Things had been simple: Anyone who wasn't a Catholic was his enemy, anyone who was his enemy could be attacked.
"What would be a good reason to fight?" he asks Hartwin.
Brandenburg makes a vague hand gesture. "Territory, mostly. The bigger lands you want for yourself, the more excuses you have for fighting."
Prussia looks back to the horizon and decides he wants to expand his borders.
--
Hartwin is a daily constant in Gilbert's life.
Gilbert is not used to constants. The battlefield is a fluid and unstable environment, where your closest friends might not live to the end of the day.
Even Hungary came and went according to the whims of war, and while Poland was a stable presence, he was a distant and abstract thing in Prussia's daily life.
Brandenburg is an ever-present constant.
He's in Prussia's bed when he wakes up. He's at Prussia's side when he walks the streets of Königsberg. He's at Prussia's side when he inspects his troops. He's in Prussia's bed when he falls asleep.
When Hartwin kisses him for the first time, it already feels like a familiar thing.
--
Prussia doesn't think much and fights a lot. Brandenburg thinks a lot and doesn't fight much.
It works surprisingly well. If Prussia asks, Brandenburg provides him with anything ranging from general ideas to elaborate plans.
Brandenburg tells him when and where is the best place to attack, Prussia takes care of the rest.
Hartwin looks up as Gilbert kicks in the door of the library and stomps towards Hartwin, blood on his clothes and a mad grin on his face.
Hartwin puts his book away and raises an eyebrow. "Had fun?"
Gilbert laughs and pulls him in for a sloppy kiss.
--
Their boss and Poland's boss are done signing the paper.
From now on, the only person Prussia answers to is his own boss. He just happens to share his boss with Brandenburg.
Poland looms at Brandenburg and Prussia in what he probably thinks is an imperious stance. "And remember, when the Hohenzollerns, like, die out, you totally have to give Prussia back!"
"You will find that that will not be necessary, Poland," Hartwin smiles. By now, Gilbert is familiar enough with that smile that he knows it doesn't refer to the Hohenzollern line being immortal.
Prussia smirks. He thinks he could get used to this 'sneaky cryptic bastard' business.
--
"I'm a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. Nobody within the Holy Roman Empire is allowed to call themselves 'king' or 'emperor' except the Holy Roman Emperor himself. You with me so far?"
Prussia nods.
"You, however, are NOT part of the Holy Roman Empire. And now that my boss is your absolute ruler..."
"He can declare himself king."
"Precisely."
"I like it when you get sneaky."
Brandenburg smiles.
--
They burst from the conference room into the hallway. Gilbert grabs Hartwin and spins him around, and even Hartwin is feeling festive enough to take something resembling dance steps.
They're not thinking of Poland, Lithuania, Russia or anyone right now.
Gilbert is cackling and whooping, Hartwin is grinning widely.
Kissing Brandenburg feels different now that their houses actually touch.
--
"It's not-- you're not gonna--" Prussia flips the paper text-side down, as if making the words disappear will also undo the things they represent. "Poland and Lithuania did the same thing, but Lithuania never--"
"It's different," Brandenburg interrupts him. "The difference between Lithuania and Poland and you and me is that Lithuania's people were always Lithuanians and Poland's people were always Poles."
"What are you--"
"Your people are Prussians. They always were, always will be. But my people are just Germans, like everyone else in West's lands."
Hartwin absently raises a hand to Gilbert's hair. "I think they'll find it very easy to start calling themselves Prussians."
"...aren't you angry?" Gilbert would be, if it were him.
Hartwin toys with Gilbert's hair and stares into space. Sometimes, when he does that, Gilbert feels like he wants to shake the stupid fucker until he tells him what he's seeing.
"You're going to be a great nation. You have the ambition and skills for it."
Hartwin smiles at him, and Gilbert wants to laugh and cry, because it's his 'my ridiculously circuitous plan is a complete success' smile.
"If I become one with you, it'll be like I'm becoming great as well."
--
When Gilbert wakes up one morning, Hartwin's not there.
As he gets up, he realizes that his clothes don't fit him anymore. He stumbles with his suddenly too-long limbs as he finds a mirror.
His hair has turned from snow white into a light platinum blond.
His eyes are no longer the color of freshly spilled blood. They're a strange shade of reddish purple, as if somebody had poured grape juice into a puddle of red wine.
Gilbert Beilschmidt is rather shocked to notice that he doesn't feel any sadness at the realization.
Vistula now follows the curve of his collarbone, where it previously barely lapped at his toes. Elbe and Oder are two flowing lines going down his calves.
Havelberg on his knee, Lychen on his hip, Frankfurt on the small of his back. Tannenberg has migrated from his wrist to his shoulder.
And Berlin... Gilbert traces his ribs, right below his heart. Berlin, which Hartwin had been so proud of. Berlin, which Hartwin had compared to Königsberg and incited a fistfight between them.
He can feel Brandenburg as a warmth in his bones and a thrumming of thoughts and plans in his head, and it's just enough to drive away the sudden loneliness.
The Kingdom of Prussia doesn't feel sad.
He feels awesome.
-----
END
-----
A thing about the title: Prussia's official profile actually says that "he managed to avoid marriage". It amuses me to imagine somebody bringing up Brandenburg, and Prussia insisting that it wasn't a marriage, it was a domestic partnership/civil union/registered partnership....
IT'S A FLYING BRICK WALL OF HISTORICAL NOTES OSHI--
- The Margraviate of Brandenburg: A fief of the Holy Roman Empire, it was an unremarkable region prior to it's union with Prussia. It was often referred to as "the sandbox of the empire", because of it's sandy soil, which was unfit for agriculture. Brandenburg didn't really get its ball rolling until the reign of the House of Hohenzollern, starting from 1411.
- The Duchy of Prussia: The Duchy of Prussia was formed in 1525, when Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, the 37th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, became Lutheran and decided that he didn't want to fight against his uncle the king of Poland anymore. The King said "Great, you can has fief!" The Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights became the Duchy of Prussia, a fief of Poland (located roughly where modern Kaliningrad is now). Albert became the first Duke of Prussia.
- The marriage: Then Albert's son, Albert Frederick, went and died without male heirs. Oops. One of his daughters, however, had married John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. The title of the Duke of Prussia was passed to him and his family, and so the personal union of Prussia and Brandenburg began in 1618. It was a strange situation: Brandenburg was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia was a fief of Poland. Because of this, they could not legally have a real union like Austria-Hungary or the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but de facto, the two were ruled as one.
- The Holy Roman Empire: While the Margraviate of Brandenburg was mostly self-governing, it was still theoretically subservient to the Holy Roman Emperor, like the rest of the tiny fiefs within the HRE. The HRE was... very confusing, and the region would remain a splintered mess until the formation of the German Empire in 1871.
- Thirty Years' War: While they did manage to acquire the territory of Farther Pomerania and other areas in 1648 (Peace of Westphalia), the Thirty Years' War was actually pretty darn shitty for Brandenburg. But, uh... I needed a scene of Prussia indulging in his fighting fetish. RETCONNED! This scene now takes place during the Deluge. See below.
- The Deluge: Took place between 1655 and 1667. Basically, Sweden and Russia ganging up on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Brandenburg-Prussia briefly allied itself with Sweden against Poland (mostly to keep Sweden from invading Ducal Prussia along with the rest of the Polish coast). The Deluge left Poland-Lithuania on shaky legs, and they were desperate for allies. Brandenburg took advantage of this, and promised to re-ally itself with Poland. For a price, of course. See below.
- The Treaty of Wehlau: Signed in 1657 between Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg/Duke of Prussia and Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, this treaty gave the Duke of Prussia full sovereign rule over the Duchy. A condition of the treaty was that if the Hohenzollern dynasty would die out, control of the Duchy would transfer back to Poland. The Hohenzollerns proceeded to rule Prussia until the dissolution of the kingdom, but the point's moot, as the treaty was allowed to expire when the Kingdom of Prussia was formed.
- King in Prussia: Using the loophole of Prussia being outside the HRE, Frederick III of Brandenburg declared himself Frederick I of Prussia in 1701. Being afraid of stepping on Poland's toes (the rest of the region of Prussia outside of the Duchy was still Polish territory), the Holy Roman Emperor allowed him to call himself King IN Prussia, as opposed to King OF Prussia. Nevertheless, this was the start of the Kingdom of Prussia.
- Silesian Wars: Fought on and off between 1740 and 1763. Not appearing in this fic, as Prussia's canonically shown to be an adult by this time, and it completely destroys my pacing (which was already shoddy to begin with).
- First Partition of Poland: Prior to 1772, there had been a strip of Polish territory between the two. The Kingdom of Prussia gained the territory of Royal Prussia (separate entity from Ducal Prussia) and other territories that bridged the geographical gap between Brandenburg and Prussia. Handy graph here.
- Kingdom of Prussia: In 1773, the Duchy of Prussia was reorganized into the province of East Prussia (Royal Prussia becoming West Prussia). In 1816, 10 years after the official disestablishment of the HRE, the Margraviate of Brandenburg was reorganized into the Prussian province of Brandenburg.
- Vistula, Oder, Elbe: The Vistula River was located on the western border of the Duchy of Prussia. River Elbe and River Oder (of Oder-Neisse Line fame) went through Brandenburg.
- Frankfurt: Not to be confused with the Frankfurt most people know ("Frankfurt am Main"), this Frankfurt ("Frankfurt an der Oder") is situated on the eastern border of modern Germany.
- Berlin: The Duchy and the Margraviate had had separate centers of state, in Königsberg and Berlin, respectively. By the time of Frederick II, Berlin and the Brandenburg area had become the seat of power of the Kingdom of Prussia, even though Brandenburg itself was still technically and legally part of the HRE.
- Fun fact: The area of the historical Brandenburg made up the majority of the land area of East Germany.
- Prussia's eye/hair color: Fanart and fics often depict Prussia with white/gray hair and red eyes, but Himaruya's official color chart indicates that his eyes are a reddish purple, and that his hair is no lighter than Finland's. I compromised with the in-story color change.
My personal theory about the birth and death of nations is that they're not connected to borders and governments, but to how their people personally identify themselves as. For example, Finland the country has only been around for the last 90 years, but the area's been inhabited by Finnish-speaking people for at least the last 1000 years, therefore Finland the nation is at least as old as that.
* Nations "die" when their people stop identifying themselves as part of that nation. The Roman Empire disappeared because his people became Frenchmen and Italians and Spaniards, until there were no "Romans" left.
* However, if all of the nation's people become uniformly the people of a single other nation, the dying nation doesn't die, but merges with the other nation. Therefore, the Germany we know is actually an amalgam of the Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Bavaria and the 5 bazillion other tiny German states.
* On the other hand, if the people of the nation start identifying themselves with a novel, previously unexisting nationality, the old nation simply changes its name. This conveniently lets me believe that Prussia became East Germany.
* An important part of this theory is that "identifying as [nationality]" is not the same as "identifying as a citizen of [nation]" or "being loyal to the government of [nation]". For example, the people of Kosovo think of themselves as citizens of Kosovo, but they identify as Albanians or Serbs. Therefore Kosovo the nation doesn't exist yet, and won't exist until the people start identifying themselves as "Kosovar". This conveniently lets me believe that GDR!Prussia is still alive.
The prompt was Prussia's teen marriage to Brandenburg.
Title: Civil Union
Author: saya_aensland
Character(s): Prussia, Brandenburg (OC)
Rating: PG-13/T
Warnings: HISTORY. And implied warfare. And boys kissing. And Prussia cursing. But mostly history.
The Duchy of Prussia (he hates that name, 'duchy' makes it sound like he's someone's lackey) follows his new boss down the hallway.
Unlike his few previous bosses, this guy actually has prior experience about running a nation. Prussia can only hope he'll do a better job in not being a pussy fuckwad.
Prussia's boss stops in front of a set of double doors. "He should be in here, he usually is..." Prussia's not looking forward to meeting the other nation his boss is the boss of, but the guy's been dead set on introducing the two ever since Prussia was handed over to him.
The man knocks on the door. "Brandenburg, I want you to meet someone!"
The only answer that comes from behind the door is an inarticulate grunt. Apparently, that is an admission to enter, as Prussia's boss opens the door and leads Prussia inside.
The room is a small library. The only other person inside is a boy about Prussia's age, who's currently ignoring them in favor of the book he's reading.
"Prussia, this is the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Brandenburg, this is the Duchy of Prussia. He'll be living with you from now on."
The teenager looks up from his book and eyes Prussia.
Brandenburg's purple eyes are droopy, as if he were stuck in a permanent state of boredom and disinterest. His shoulder-length blond hair is pulled back into a ponytail that looks more like a bristly animal attached to the nape of his neck than a tail of any sort.
"How did that happen?" Brandenburg drawls. "We haven't had any military campaigns lately."
Prussia's-- Brandenburg's-- THEIR boss laughs and scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's a funny story. My father-in-law was the previous Duke of Prussia, but he died without any male heirs. Prussia didn't want to take a Pole as a Duke, so they handed him over to me."
Brandenburg snaps his book shut and addresses Prussia. "So my boss inherited you? That's the lamest way of territory acquisition I've ever heard of."
Prussia snorts. "At least we agree on something."
Their boss ignores their conversation. "Well then, I'll just leave you two alone. You'll need to get to know each other now that you're married."
Brandenburg's deadpan "Don't call it a marriage" is drowned under Prussia's indignant screech of "IT'S NOT A MARRIAGE!"
Their boss ignores that, too.
Brandenburg abandons his book and stands up as the man leaves the room. The two teenagers face each other.
Brandenburg looks at Prussia like he's the most boring thing he's ever laid his eyes on.
Prussia looks at Brandenburg like he's trying to set him on fire with his mind.
Brandenburg finally breaks the silence. "So, you got a name?"
Prussia narrows his unnaturally red eyes, as if he's trying to make Brandenburg fall over from the sheer force of his glare. "Gilbert," he finally mutters.
Brandenburg nods in acknowledgment. "I'm Hartwin Beilschmidt." He tilts his head in consideration. "I guess that makes you Gilbert Beilschmidt."
Gilbert punches Hartwin. "Who're you calling the wife?!"
--
"Of all the people I could get stuck with, it had to be a lame-ass stick-in-the-mud like you!"
Brandenburg doesn't answer him, concentrating on his book.
"What the hell are you reading, anyway?"
"It's a scientific thesis on the best ways to eviscerate a person alive," Brandenburg answers boredly and turns the page.
With Hartwin's droopy-eyed poker face never flinching, it's very hard for Gilbert to tell whether he's joking or not.
--
"I'm boooored!" Prussia whines.
Brandenburg raises an eyebrow at him. "You don't say."
"Seriously, don't you ever do anything around here?" Prussia lies upside down on the library couch, head almost falling to the floor.
Brandenburg shrugs noncommittally. "We're the backwoods, boredom comes with the job."
"See, your problem is that you don't have any ambition." Prussia straightens himself back upright, but not before he falls to the floor first. "If you're the backwoods, make yourself the frontwoods!"
Brandenburg leans his cheek on his palm. "Big words coming from the Polish duchy."
"First of all, if you call me Polish ever again, I'm gonna make you swallow your own teeth. Second of all, this is a temporary slump! I'm not going to stay like this forever!"
Brandenburg gives him a long look. It stretches long enough that Prussia gets the urge to tell him to stop staring like a creepy git. But that would be admitting defeat, so he settles for staring back.
Brandenburg blinks first. (Hah! Victory!) "So, what're you gonna do after your slump's over?"
Prussia's eyes grow fierce. "I'm gonna be awesome!" Not that he isn't already awesome enough, mind you.
Brandenburg scoffs. "We have a lot to do before you can become anything remotely resembling awesome."
"Fuck you, bastard!"
--
"Brandenburg!" A small boy in a black cloak and a funny hat stomps up to the two.
Hartwin rolls his eyes; he and Gilbert have more interesting things to do.
"Who's the squirt?" Prussia questions.
The boy bristles at the slight. "Squirt?! I'm the Holy Roman Empire!"
Gilbert raises a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Isn't Rome in Italy or something?"
Brandenburg snickers as the little boy turns scarlet with embarrassment. "Sh-shut up! Italy's going to eventually live in my house anyway, and then we'll be the Roman Empire together!"
Prussia turns to Brandenburg. "Okay, seriously, who the hell is this kid?"
"His boss is my boss' boss, but only on paper."
Prussia stares at Brandenburg blankly.
Brandenburg sighs. "Everybody has their own boss around here," he elaborates. "The kid's boss says he's the boss of all the bosses, but nobody actually listens to him. It's all needlessly complicated and stupid."
The little boy utterly fails to assert his authority by stomping his foot. "I'm the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation!"
"That's too long!" Prussia complains.
"Yeah, I just call him West," Brandenburg waves his hand flippantly.
"Good! I'll call him West, too!" Prussia cackles and cuts off the boy's protests by snatching his hat away and forcefully ruffling his hair.
--
It took Hartwin more than an hour to explain the rules of chess; the way certain pieces could and could not move, what the objectives were, what were key points to defend.
It took him less than three minutes to beat Gilbert.
"This game is stupid!" Gilbert declares loudly and sends the chess pieces flying to the floor.
"Yes," Hartwin agrees. "Humans are stupid, too. The trick is to be aware of their stupidity, and of the way it makes them act."
Prussia makes crazy eyes at him.
"Once you notice the patterns they follow, it's easy to predict and manipulate them."
Gilbert wonders if Hartwin likes to sound stupid and cryptic, or if he's trying to tell him something.
--
Gilbert glares at the horizon a lot. He looks like he wants to jump up and start running forward into a random direction.
The only reason he doesn't is because he has no destination to run towards. Hartwin informs him of this.
"I want to fight!" Gilbert explodes at him.
Hartwin thinks about that for a second. "Anyone in particular you want to fight?" he finally asks.
Gilbert deflates at that, seemingly embarrassed. "I... I just want to fight. I was born to fight. It's what I do best."
"Hmm," Hartwin answers eloquently. Unlike Gilbert, Hartwin is staring at a fixed point in the horizon.
"Y'know, the thing about fighting is that one needs a reason for it."
Gilbert looks at him. Fighting had been so much easier before he was pressed down by borders and laws. Things had been simple: Anyone who wasn't a Catholic was his enemy, anyone who was his enemy could be attacked.
"What would be a good reason to fight?" he asks Hartwin.
Brandenburg makes a vague hand gesture. "Territory, mostly. The bigger lands you want for yourself, the more excuses you have for fighting."
Prussia looks back to the horizon and decides he wants to expand his borders.
--
Hartwin is a daily constant in Gilbert's life.
Gilbert is not used to constants. The battlefield is a fluid and unstable environment, where your closest friends might not live to the end of the day.
Even Hungary came and went according to the whims of war, and while Poland was a stable presence, he was a distant and abstract thing in Prussia's daily life.
Brandenburg is an ever-present constant.
He's in Prussia's bed when he wakes up. He's at Prussia's side when he walks the streets of Königsberg. He's at Prussia's side when he inspects his troops. He's in Prussia's bed when he falls asleep.
When Hartwin kisses him for the first time, it already feels like a familiar thing.
--
Prussia doesn't think much and fights a lot. Brandenburg thinks a lot and doesn't fight much.
It works surprisingly well. If Prussia asks, Brandenburg provides him with anything ranging from general ideas to elaborate plans.
Brandenburg tells him when and where is the best place to attack, Prussia takes care of the rest.
Hartwin looks up as Gilbert kicks in the door of the library and stomps towards Hartwin, blood on his clothes and a mad grin on his face.
Hartwin puts his book away and raises an eyebrow. "Had fun?"
Gilbert laughs and pulls him in for a sloppy kiss.
--
Their boss and Poland's boss are done signing the paper.
From now on, the only person Prussia answers to is his own boss. He just happens to share his boss with Brandenburg.
Poland looms at Brandenburg and Prussia in what he probably thinks is an imperious stance. "And remember, when the Hohenzollerns, like, die out, you totally have to give Prussia back!"
"You will find that that will not be necessary, Poland," Hartwin smiles. By now, Gilbert is familiar enough with that smile that he knows it doesn't refer to the Hohenzollern line being immortal.
Prussia smirks. He thinks he could get used to this 'sneaky cryptic bastard' business.
--
"I'm a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. Nobody within the Holy Roman Empire is allowed to call themselves 'king' or 'emperor' except the Holy Roman Emperor himself. You with me so far?"
Prussia nods.
"You, however, are NOT part of the Holy Roman Empire. And now that my boss is your absolute ruler..."
"He can declare himself king."
"Precisely."
"I like it when you get sneaky."
Brandenburg smiles.
--
They burst from the conference room into the hallway. Gilbert grabs Hartwin and spins him around, and even Hartwin is feeling festive enough to take something resembling dance steps.
They're not thinking of Poland, Lithuania, Russia or anyone right now.
Gilbert is cackling and whooping, Hartwin is grinning widely.
Kissing Brandenburg feels different now that their houses actually touch.
--
"It's not-- you're not gonna--" Prussia flips the paper text-side down, as if making the words disappear will also undo the things they represent. "Poland and Lithuania did the same thing, but Lithuania never--"
"It's different," Brandenburg interrupts him. "The difference between Lithuania and Poland and you and me is that Lithuania's people were always Lithuanians and Poland's people were always Poles."
"What are you--"
"Your people are Prussians. They always were, always will be. But my people are just Germans, like everyone else in West's lands."
Hartwin absently raises a hand to Gilbert's hair. "I think they'll find it very easy to start calling themselves Prussians."
"...aren't you angry?" Gilbert would be, if it were him.
Hartwin toys with Gilbert's hair and stares into space. Sometimes, when he does that, Gilbert feels like he wants to shake the stupid fucker until he tells him what he's seeing.
"You're going to be a great nation. You have the ambition and skills for it."
Hartwin smiles at him, and Gilbert wants to laugh and cry, because it's his 'my ridiculously circuitous plan is a complete success' smile.
"If I become one with you, it'll be like I'm becoming great as well."
--
When Gilbert wakes up one morning, Hartwin's not there.
As he gets up, he realizes that his clothes don't fit him anymore. He stumbles with his suddenly too-long limbs as he finds a mirror.
His hair has turned from snow white into a light platinum blond.
His eyes are no longer the color of freshly spilled blood. They're a strange shade of reddish purple, as if somebody had poured grape juice into a puddle of red wine.
Gilbert Beilschmidt is rather shocked to notice that he doesn't feel any sadness at the realization.
Vistula now follows the curve of his collarbone, where it previously barely lapped at his toes. Elbe and Oder are two flowing lines going down his calves.
Havelberg on his knee, Lychen on his hip, Frankfurt on the small of his back. Tannenberg has migrated from his wrist to his shoulder.
And Berlin... Gilbert traces his ribs, right below his heart. Berlin, which Hartwin had been so proud of. Berlin, which Hartwin had compared to Königsberg and incited a fistfight between them.
He can feel Brandenburg as a warmth in his bones and a thrumming of thoughts and plans in his head, and it's just enough to drive away the sudden loneliness.
The Kingdom of Prussia doesn't feel sad.
He feels awesome.
-----
END
-----
A thing about the title: Prussia's official profile actually says that "he managed to avoid marriage". It amuses me to imagine somebody bringing up Brandenburg, and Prussia insisting that it wasn't a marriage, it was a domestic partnership/civil union/registered partnership....
IT'S A FLYING BRICK WALL OF HISTORICAL NOTES OSHI--
- The Margraviate of Brandenburg: A fief of the Holy Roman Empire, it was an unremarkable region prior to it's union with Prussia. It was often referred to as "the sandbox of the empire", because of it's sandy soil, which was unfit for agriculture. Brandenburg didn't really get its ball rolling until the reign of the House of Hohenzollern, starting from 1411.
- The Duchy of Prussia: The Duchy of Prussia was formed in 1525, when Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, the 37th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, became Lutheran and decided that he didn't want to fight against his uncle the king of Poland anymore. The King said "Great, you can has fief!" The Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights became the Duchy of Prussia, a fief of Poland (located roughly where modern Kaliningrad is now). Albert became the first Duke of Prussia.
- The marriage: Then Albert's son, Albert Frederick, went and died without male heirs. Oops. One of his daughters, however, had married John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. The title of the Duke of Prussia was passed to him and his family, and so the personal union of Prussia and Brandenburg began in 1618. It was a strange situation: Brandenburg was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia was a fief of Poland. Because of this, they could not legally have a real union like Austria-Hungary or the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but de facto, the two were ruled as one.
- The Holy Roman Empire: While the Margraviate of Brandenburg was mostly self-governing, it was still theoretically subservient to the Holy Roman Emperor, like the rest of the tiny fiefs within the HRE. The HRE was... very confusing, and the region would remain a splintered mess until the formation of the German Empire in 1871.
- Thirty Years' War: While they did manage to acquire the territory of Farther Pomerania and other areas in 1648 (Peace of Westphalia), the Thirty Years' War was actually pretty darn shitty for Brandenburg. But, uh... I needed a scene of Prussia indulging in his fighting fetish. RETCONNED! This scene now takes place during the Deluge. See below.
- The Deluge: Took place between 1655 and 1667. Basically, Sweden and Russia ganging up on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Brandenburg-Prussia briefly allied itself with Sweden against Poland (mostly to keep Sweden from invading Ducal Prussia along with the rest of the Polish coast). The Deluge left Poland-Lithuania on shaky legs, and they were desperate for allies. Brandenburg took advantage of this, and promised to re-ally itself with Poland. For a price, of course. See below.
- The Treaty of Wehlau: Signed in 1657 between Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg/Duke of Prussia and Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, this treaty gave the Duke of Prussia full sovereign rule over the Duchy. A condition of the treaty was that if the Hohenzollern dynasty would die out, control of the Duchy would transfer back to Poland. The Hohenzollerns proceeded to rule Prussia until the dissolution of the kingdom, but the point's moot, as the treaty was allowed to expire when the Kingdom of Prussia was formed.
- King in Prussia: Using the loophole of Prussia being outside the HRE, Frederick III of Brandenburg declared himself Frederick I of Prussia in 1701. Being afraid of stepping on Poland's toes (the rest of the region of Prussia outside of the Duchy was still Polish territory), the Holy Roman Emperor allowed him to call himself King IN Prussia, as opposed to King OF Prussia. Nevertheless, this was the start of the Kingdom of Prussia.
- Silesian Wars: Fought on and off between 1740 and 1763. Not appearing in this fic, as Prussia's canonically shown to be an adult by this time, and it completely destroys my pacing (which was already shoddy to begin with).
- First Partition of Poland: Prior to 1772, there had been a strip of Polish territory between the two. The Kingdom of Prussia gained the territory of Royal Prussia (separate entity from Ducal Prussia) and other territories that bridged the geographical gap between Brandenburg and Prussia. Handy graph here.
- Kingdom of Prussia: In 1773, the Duchy of Prussia was reorganized into the province of East Prussia (Royal Prussia becoming West Prussia). In 1816, 10 years after the official disestablishment of the HRE, the Margraviate of Brandenburg was reorganized into the Prussian province of Brandenburg.
- Vistula, Oder, Elbe: The Vistula River was located on the western border of the Duchy of Prussia. River Elbe and River Oder (of Oder-Neisse Line fame) went through Brandenburg.
- Frankfurt: Not to be confused with the Frankfurt most people know ("Frankfurt am Main"), this Frankfurt ("Frankfurt an der Oder") is situated on the eastern border of modern Germany.
- Berlin: The Duchy and the Margraviate had had separate centers of state, in Königsberg and Berlin, respectively. By the time of Frederick II, Berlin and the Brandenburg area had become the seat of power of the Kingdom of Prussia, even though Brandenburg itself was still technically and legally part of the HRE.
- Fun fact: The area of the historical Brandenburg made up the majority of the land area of East Germany.
- Prussia's eye/hair color: Fanart and fics often depict Prussia with white/gray hair and red eyes, but Himaruya's official color chart indicates that his eyes are a reddish purple, and that his hair is no lighter than Finland's. I compromised with the in-story color change.
My personal theory about the birth and death of nations is that they're not connected to borders and governments, but to how their people personally identify themselves as. For example, Finland the country has only been around for the last 90 years, but the area's been inhabited by Finnish-speaking people for at least the last 1000 years, therefore Finland the nation is at least as old as that.
* Nations "die" when their people stop identifying themselves as part of that nation. The Roman Empire disappeared because his people became Frenchmen and Italians and Spaniards, until there were no "Romans" left.
* However, if all of the nation's people become uniformly the people of a single other nation, the dying nation doesn't die, but merges with the other nation. Therefore, the Germany we know is actually an amalgam of the Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Bavaria and the 5 bazillion other tiny German states.
* On the other hand, if the people of the nation start identifying themselves with a novel, previously unexisting nationality, the old nation simply changes its name. This conveniently lets me believe that Prussia became East Germany.
* An important part of this theory is that "identifying as [nationality]" is not the same as "identifying as a citizen of [nation]" or "being loyal to the government of [nation]". For example, the people of Kosovo think of themselves as citizens of Kosovo, but they identify as Albanians or Serbs. Therefore Kosovo the nation doesn't exist yet, and won't exist until the people start identifying themselves as "Kosovar". This conveniently lets me believe that GDR!Prussia is still alive.