The Proposal

By Shezners

In the usual scheme of things, the man is the one to propose to the woman. He'll consider it, ask his friends, ask his family, pace about the room, buy the ring, ask some more, pace some more, then finally, gather his courage and get down on one knee. And also, in the usual scheme of things, the woman will shriek with joy, say yes, jump up and down, shower her new fiancé with kisses and proceed to plan the wedding immediately while the man just stands there with a dumb, happy look on his face. Then, weeks or months or even a few years later, the happy couple will stand at the altar and say their 'I do's', someone's mom will cry, cake will be eaten, and the newlyweds will take off to the Alps or the Bahamas or wherever they can be excessively romantic without irritating their family and friends.

Needless to say, in this particular scenario, the usual scheme of things did not apply in the slightest.

Elizabeth Héderváry, otherwise known as Hungary, proposed to Roderich Edelstein, more popularly know as Austria, no less that 37 times. And not in a single one of those 37 instances did Austria shriek, jump up and down, shower anyone with kisses or plan a wedding, and out of all 37 times, only once did he say yes.

To be quite honest, he didn't clearly remember all 37 proposals, since he was so busy and he had more important things like music and war to think about, although he did remember most of them had something to do with Hungary grabbing the front of his jacket and yelling at him.

However, three of those proposals stayed fresh and vivid in his mind, as if they had happened yesterday and not a hundred years ago. They were important to him, not because of whether they were accepted or not, but because of the things they let him know. It was the first proposal that let Austria know who Hungary was. It was the second that let him know who he was to Hungary. And it was the third that let him know what Hungary was to him.

Author's Note –You asked for Austria/Hungary and you got it! It was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but my plot bunny got mutated by radiation. D: Don't worry! This is only the intro. The next three chapters will be much longer I promise! Please leave a review and tell me what you think so far. See ya!

~Shez