A/N: So I suppose you could call this a self insert, but I promise no pairings. This is actually written for a prompt that was something about meeting your favorite fictional character... so I met Prussia, apparently. I've never written about myself, so this makes me really nervous...

Quickly, I will say that, though Prussian history is my favorite to study and I have developed a deep interest with the nation, I will be the first to admit that it was not perfect and had as many faults as any other given nation that has ever existed.

Historical notes, etc. will be at the end.

He had run into the girl quite by accident, not paying attention to his position in relation to the rest of the world. Similarly, she had been busily reading a remarkably thick book – black, paperbacked, and dog-eared – and had failed to catch sight of the oncoming albino until it was much too late to stop. As a result, the two had collided head on in a flurry of curses and flailing limbs.

"Ach… Damn." Pressing a palm to his brow where the corner of the ridiculously large book's cover had struck him, Gilbert Beilschmidt glanced at the stunned individual before him. She was of Eastern Asian decent, and her short-cropped, black hair stuck up at strange angles, lending her a mature sort of tomboyish look. He reasoned that she could have been no older than twenty, but certainly no younger than fifteen, though it was always difficult to tell with this particularly nationality.

"Fuck." The word was spat under her breath, the "f" sound strongly emphasized as the stranger pulled herself to her feet. Almond eyes wide, she addressed the other with clear embarrassment. "Aw god, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

He took the offered hand and hauled himself upright, brushing the loose gravel from the seat of his pants as he did. "Nah, don't worry about it, I'm cool. How about you?"

"I'm alright, thanks." She hesitated, clearly debating adding something else. Gilbert waited patiently until she finally blurted, "Are you German?"

"How…? The accent. Right." He nodded grudgingly. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Where are you from?"

"Germany, I just said so-"

She shook her head, one hand raised as though to wave away potential confusion. "No, no, I mean where in Germany. You know, the state?"

Now the ex-nation was surprised: the average American youth knew very little of his brother's sixteen federal states. After a moment of hesitation, he answered, "Brandenburg, but I live in Berlin."

"Really?" Stooping to retrieve her fallen book, the Asian girl grinned almost bashfully, twin dimples revealing themselves on either cheek. "Huh. What a coincidence."

The book's cover answered the unasked question of the coincidence as the moment Gilbert's crimson eyes fell upon it, he felt his heart skip a beat. It was about him, about his people and land as was obvious from the title and cover image. "You study my- eh, Prussian history?"

Not quite missing his verbal slip, she nodded eagerly. "Yeah. I know it's really nerdy and all, but, God, I could read this stuff all day."

"Oh really?" Feeling that a good ego stroking was in order, the former Prussian kingdom flashed her (what he believed to be) a charming smile. "You wanna grab a coffee with me? I think I'd like to hear what you've got to say Prussia for myself."

"Um… Sure." She consulted her watch swiftly. "Yeah, that's fine. My mom's not expecting me for another forty minutes."

"I'm Gilbert, by the way," he said suddenly, realizing he'd failed to introduce himself before inviting his unfamiliar person out for coffee. "Gilbert Beilschmidt."

"Keisha," she answered, seizing his hand in an impressive grip for once of her stature (she couldn't have been much taller than a certain frying pan-wielding madwoman). "It's nice to meet you."

"Same." He started to say something else when he caught sight of the object hanging around her neck on a sturdy, silver chain.

Following his eyes, the girl glanced down and immediately hid what appeared to be a stylized Iron Cross in her shirt. "Aw, shit, I'm sorry."

"For what?" He played dumb.

"For this." Keisha tapped her chest where the pendant was tucked against her flesh. "I know it's not exactly politically correct and all, but I just wear it to…" She steeled herself for her response. "Let's just say I wear it for Prussia, not for Germany."

The albino nodded wordlessly, pondering just what sort of person he'd managed to meet. "Oh, okay. Hey, where's the closest coffee shop?"

"Just follow me." Storing her book into the bag slung over her shoulder, she began to lead the way.

As they walked, Gilbert took the time to observe the young woman beside him. She was athletically built, and held an almost militaristic air in her straight back and upon her squared shoulders, her long legs swinging in an energetic stride. With each step, the buckles of her black leather riding boots clinked, marking time and keeping rhythm with the muted thud of her rubber heels on the cement.

"So," he spoke up suddenly. "How'd you get into Prussian history, anyway? I mean, it's not like that it comes up a lot in causal conversation."

"Dunno. I just heard about it one day, and I wasn't exactly sure what it was, so I Googled it. I've been studying it ever since."

"But it doesn't exist." The former nation kicked himself for the statement, hating the sting as it came off his tongue. "What's it matter to you?"

To his surprise, a shadow flickered across her features. Then she seemed to catch herself and adopted what could almost be described as a shy look. "I guess it was really just that I sorta felt like I could relate…" She trailed off, as though expecting him to laugh. "It's pretty impressive how Prussia came outta this crappy little territory without many resources, and ended up becoming strong enough to take on some of the greatest military powers of the time. I mean, even after that asshole Napoleon came through and tore it to shreds, it rebuilt and managed to form the German Empire. I just think that's really admirable, I guess."

"Admirable, huh?" The albino fairly blushed with pride. "The way you say it, it sounds like you're talking about a person, not a country."

"Ha, really?" she laughed. "If Prussia were a person… huh. I think I'd definitely want to meet him. There's so much history we could discuss… Aw, God, that'd be awesome."

The situation was so absurd that Gilbert very nearly died right then. This girl was either very open-minded or very sharp, and he could only hope it was the former.

"What about you?" asked Keisha as she pushed open the door to the local coffee shop. "What d'you know about Prussia?"

Everything, he wanted to say, but he reigned himself in and lied quickly. "I studied it a bit in the university. It was some pretty neat stuff."

"What's your favorite period?" Her tone was not all too different from the one a person might employ to inquire about another's favorite book or movie. "I'm always torn between the mid-1700s and the later 1800s. Some of the military accomplishments during those times were freaking insane."

"Frederick the Great and Otto Von Bismarck? Those were some good times." Nodding, he got a faraway look in his eyes. "I think I've gotta agree with you there."

"Are those your favorite rulers, too?"

"They were pretty damn effective even if they weren't." With a quick cackle, the Prussian rubbed his hands together briskly. "The only other one I'd add for my top three would be Queen Luise."

"The one Napoleon called 'the only real man in Prussia'?"

"She was a real special lady."

The girl grinned, the right corner of her mouth tugging up just a tad further than the left to give her dimpled smile a mischievous air. "I've heard of girls admiring historical figures, but I've never heard of a man with a history crush."

"It's not a crush," he corrected a tad too suddenly, cheeks turning quick rosy. "She was just a very… respectable woman, is all I'm saying. Best queen a Prussian could ask for."

"She did do a lot for Prussia," conceded his companion.

"She did."

Making their way to the counter, the two Prussia enthusiasts scanned the menu where it was fastened to the wall and placed their orders.

As soon as they seated themselves in a small booth, they removed the thin plastic drink lids in favor of letting the hot drinks cool lest they scorch their tongues from their mouths.

"No coffee?" Gilbert teased, nodding at Keisha's cup of chai. "I thought it was, like, the lifeblood of the American teenager."

"I could say the same to the man whose country is the second largest consumer of coffee in the world." Brow cocked in amusement, she shrugged. "If people ask, I just say that I don't have a colony to import it, so it costs too much to drink."

The Prussian smirked. "I see what you did there. Does anyone even get a joke like that?"

"Not usually."

"I just say it's 'cuz Old Fritz would rip me a new one if I did."

Now Keisha laughed. "And the lingering guilt from revolting his law makes it hard to enjoy, right?"

If only you knew, he snorted inwardly. "Something like that."

"So, um…"

"Gilbert. Call me Gilbert."

"Okay, cool." Crossing her arms and leaning back on the synthetic leather seat, the Asian girl asked, "What's up with you, Gilbert? What's brought you to America?"

"Uh… Work, I guess." His phone rang suddenly from an inner pocket of his worn, drab olive jacket. He withdrew it slowly, glancing at the caller ID.

"The glory march?" Deep brown eyes gleaming fondly, his companion nodded towards the device. "I would've gotten it on mine, too, but it's such a cheap piece of crap it didn't work. God, I hate technology."

Gilbert tapped out a quick reply to his brother, pale, calloused fingers flying over the tiny keyboard. "Aren't you kids supposed to be all over this shit?"

"Every electronic device I own either breaks or meets some other horrific death – I'm not even kidding. Two iPods ago, my first one flew out into the lake."

"I dropped ice cream on my laptop last year," he shot back, not one to be outdone. "My brother barely ever lets me touch anything anymore, the little shit."

"You've got a bossy younger sibling, too?"

"Ugh, the worst. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he thinks he's the older one." Snorting, he jerked his head at his phone. "I'm texting him right now."

"What's he say?"

"'Make sure to be back to the hotel before dark. You're not familiar with the area and could get lost.'"

"I'd text him back, 'Yes, Mom.'"

The two of them shared a snicker, each imagining the look of chagrin on the face of his and her respective sibling.

"What's your brother like, then? Other than a hard-ass apparently."

"That's pretty much West in a nutshell – an ungrateful little hard-ass with no sense of humor."

"His name's West?"

The albino flinched, then reasoned that humans used all sorts of crazy nicknames, and this one was probably not more suspicious than any other. "No, it's Ludwig, but I've been calling him West since… well, fuck, since forever."

"Hah. I've always wanted a nickname." Fingers positioned carefully on the cardboard sleeve, Keisha lifted her chai and sipped cautiously to test the temperature. "Lately, my friends have just been calling me Prussia. You got a nickname?"

Donning a lopsided sneer, he had to bite back the obvious answer (Who was this girl? She was beginning to border on a national security threat!) and, instead, replied, "I dunno… Gilbo, I guess. Sometimes Gil. Most people just call me, 'hey you'. Personally I prefer, 'your majesty'."

"Gilbert!"

The Prussian and the Asian jumped in their seats at the intensity of the shout, both whirling around to find a large, blond man storming towards them with an obviously displeased frown curling his lips and furrowing his brow.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! What the hell gave you the idea that you could just wander off in the middle of-" His razor-sharp gaze swept over the speechless girl sitting opposite of his brother, and he paused.

"Hello to you, too, West," Gilbert drawled, lounging in the booth in a perfect display of carefree idling. "How's it going?"

"Excuse me." The newcomer's voice was profoundly deep and stern as he addressed his brother's female companion. "But who are you?"

"I… I'm Keisha, nice to meet you."

When she stood to offer her hand, the still-seated nation was given a clear view of her right ear that had begun burning crimson. A tendril of irritation worked its way into his chest and set itself ablaze as he realized the way Keisha was staring up at the nation as he towered over her. It wasn't that Gilbert found this girl to be attractive, nor that he wanted to forge an intimate relationship with her in any way, rather it was the clear favoritism his brother was shown by all who had the fortune to make the acquaintance of the handsome set of Germans. He was well aware of the fact that Ludwig was practically the poster child of masculinity, but with a face that was quite a bit more than just easy on the eyes. Somehow the blonde had managed to harvest superior physical traits, leaving his Prussian counterpart with the flawed, mutated genes and a build that seemed closer to scrawny than brawny.

"Ludwig. It's a pleasure." His broad soldier's hand dwarfed hers as they shook. "I hope my brother hasn't been too much of a hassle."

"No way! I'm having a blast talking to him." Turning to the albino, Keisha wrinkled her nose in amusement which he took to mean, "Holy shit, he does think he's your mother!"

"Oh? What was he saying?"

"Just some stuff about Prussian history."

The look on Ludwig's face was worth every scrap of anger his brother had felt only moments prior.

"Well, I actually study European history as a broader subject, but I tend to focus in on the German area – stuff like the Holy Roman Empire and that sort of thing. Overall, Prussian history's my favorite."

It was becoming uncomfortable to hold back the raucous guffaws caged in Gilbert's chest for the interesting contortion of the blond nation's features. To put it delicately, he looked as though he were suffering the initial stages of what would become spontaneous human combustion. Well, either that, or he was severely constipated.

"I see. Gilbert," the name was spoken with a mixture of urgency and desperation. "We have to get back for the conference."

"What's it matter if I'm there or not? It's not like I'm still-"

The death glare he was given was utterly hilarious.

"-part of the company."

"We still need you as an advisor."

"When was the last time you actually took any of the advice I gave you?"

"Probably around the last time was actually good advice."

Shooting Keisha a long-suffering eye-roll that sighed, "See what I have to put up with?" Gilbert stood. "It's been cool, Keisha, but I've gotta go to some boring ass meeting and listen to a bunch of old farts get into arguments."

"Sounds like loads of fun." She grabbed up his hand in hers and shook it one last time. "It's been nice talking to you, Gilbert."

"You know what?" He swiftly produced a pen from somewhere on his person and scribbled on a napkin. "Here, it's my email. Just drop me a line next time you wanna talk about the good old days, okay?"

"Awesome." Snatching up the writing utensil, she wrote down her own and pressed the soft paper square into his palm. "And here's mine."

Ludwig cleared his throat awkwardly. "Gilbert, we really do have to get going."

"Lead the way, West." Waving and winking once more to the girl in the coffee shop, he followed his brother out into the street.

"What was that about?" the blonde asked the moment they'd exited the small business, switching effortlessly into his native German. "Who was that?"

"A friend." He shrugged, hands tucked into his pockets. "Just someone who knows me."

"She's not… She wasn't one of yours, was she?"

"Reincarnated as a teenaged Asian girl? I doubt it."

Snorting, Ludwig dropped his chin slightly to ask, "Have you even looked at the email address she gave you?"

As a matter of fact, Gilbert hadn't. However, his pride was too great for him to admit it, so he snuck the napkin from his pocket just far enough the glimpse the black-inked scrawl. "She's… loyal2prussia. So?"

"It's not unheard of… the rebirthing, that is."

Finding that he had nothing to say in return, the former nation took a small swig of his hot chocolate as he mulled over the idea. Maybe it made sense: the way she fell so easily into measured strides, the cross she wore for him, the warmth that had entered her eyes when she'd heard his march…

"I just felt as though she recognized you," finished the blonde as he fished a buzzing smartphone from somewhere inside his suit coat. Gilbert nodded in wordless agreement, suddenly pondering having just met what might have been the first true Prussian for the first time in many, many years.

-Brandenburg: Though "Prussia" was really initially a Baltic territory, it was also merged with Brandenburg for a long time (since the early 1600s). Therefore, I have him state that he is "from" Brandenburg.

-My going with Prussia (a stranger): My town's small and I know it well. The starting point of the story is at the library which is only a few blocks from the coffee shop - I figured that I was pretty safe. If not, I do martial arts. ^^

-Iron Cross: First awarded by Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1813, it was later used by Adolf Hilter as a German war medal. Due to is connection to WWII, etc. it is still outlawed in some countries, though it is commonly associated with motorcyles and badassery in America.

-Mid-1700s, late 1800s: The former would include wars such as the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. The latter includes the Second Schleswig War (Danish Succession), the Austro-Prussian War (Seven Weeks' War... like the song), and the Franco-Prussian War.

-Frederick the Great (Friedrich der Grosser) and Otto Von Bismarck: two influential and successful rulers of Prussia whose reigns lasted during the previously mentioned spans of years.

-Queen Luise/Luise Von Mecklenburg-Strelitz: A much beloved queen of Prussia who opposed Napoleon and appealed to him on behalf of her kingdom. She was notoriously kind, brave, and has been described as "Prussian nationalism personified" (taken from her page in King's College history department's site).

-Coffee: Prussia didn't have a colony that could grow coffee, so it cost a lot to import. Frederick the Great then tried to ban it for this reason and for the reason that he didn't want it to replace beer as the national drink. A public outcry concerning the ban later helped to repeal it.

-My friends call me Prussia: it's true. I've been called Gilbert, too...

-Email address: Prussia's is lonelyempire (through gmail). Drop him a line. ^^

-Reincarnated: Sort of a joke with my friends. They always say that I'm probably the reincarnation of a Prussian officer, so I decided to tie that in. Every detail about me given in this story has been accurate (Prussian's honor), so you can make your own judgments. ^^

... Has anyone else ever studied history and fallen so in love with it that they wanted to inhale it all and hold it in their chest, the good and the bad alike? I have.