The Masquerade

Chapter 17 - The Conversation

I blinked. "Uh- Father?"

"Yes? Hurry up now, it's too early for this." Britain said, taking another sip of his tea.

"What are you- I- I mean why are you up so early?" I stuttered, still a little hesitant to do any interaction with my father.

Even though it had been over a week since our argument, I still didn't want to risk doing something to upset him even more.

Although, he really hadn't done anything...

"I could ask you the same thing." My father said, looking straight at me, a faint look of amusement on his face.

I didn't say anything, I only looked down at the ground quietly.

I heard Britain chuckle to himself, and then I heard his voice again. "America..."

Glancing up to my father again, I saw him gesture towards one of the empty seats next to him. "America, come on. Sit next to me, and we can talk."

Hesitantly I stepped forward, half expecting him to push some insane punishment on me, but he didn't.

When I took my seat, Britain turned to me. "Do you want a snack? Maybe something to drink?"

Silently, I nodded.

"Alright, well I'm assuming you don't want tea, so..." he put a finger on his chin, thinking. "Would you like some hot chocolate?"

"I would." I mutter quietly.

Surprisingly my father didn't ask me to repeat myself, and instead he gave me a smile.

"Alright America, one hot chocolate coming right up!"

The room went quiet for a moment, before my father got up out of his chair, walking towards the kitchen.

"Hold on- give me a moment- this wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped for." He said in a joking tone, and for a brief moment as he left the room I was reminded of the father I once had, the one who always tried to cheer me and Canada up back when New Zealand and Australia were still little.

But then he came back into the room, and the fantasy was broken. At least he brought some hot chocolate.

Britain sat back down into his seat, slowly sliding the drink over to me.

"So, America. How did you enjoy the ball?" Britain began the conversation. "Was it at all to your liking?"

"Well... there were some parts I liked better than others." I said quietly, looking down at my hot chocolate.

Britain nodded. "That's to be expected. Now, I assume you followed my rule?"

I hesitated a little, but nodded, trying to explain to myself that I had just found a loophole to the rule, but still feeling like I had lied.

If my father had seen my hesitation, he didn't question it. "Good. I take it you found a young girl that's decently pretty?"

I began to nod, thinking of Japan, but then I stopped myself.

"I know what you're doing! You're going to find out something about her and then you're going to get me engaged to her!" I exclaimed loudly. "I told you last time, I don't like girls like that!"

Britain sipped his tea as if I hadn't just yelled at him. "I understand that you don't want to get married. You're only eighteen. Your mother thinks you're still too young. But I think you can get married now, and then the love for your wife will develop with time."

"That's not how it works-" I grumbled, but my father cut me off.

"Did you know that I didn't know your mother all that well before we got married?" Britain said, taking a beat to sip a little more of his tea. "And look at us now!"

I had to physically restrain myself from bringing up the occasional fights I would hear from my parent's room late at night when I couldn't sleep, because I knew it would only make Britain angry.

"I'm not going to marry someone I don't know!" I said, standing up suddenly.

"Alright then, we can arrange for you to get to know her first." Britain said, for some reason surprised by my reaction.

"That won't help!" I insisted.

"What will help, then?" My father huffed, tired of me refusing him.

"Nothing! Because I told you! I Don't. Like. Girls!" I clenched my fists together.

"And I told you that love is not a requirement for marriage." Britain rolled his eyes. "It seems like you're the one who's not listening."

My vision turned red with rage, and the next thing I knew I was yelling. "I don't know why you think that I'm just like you, because I'm not! I don't care about getting married, I don't care about girls, and I certainly don't care about ruling the kingdom!"

Britain's eyes widened in shock, and he opened his mouth to speak. "America-"

"No. I'm not finished. I know that I'm the oldest child, and I'm expected to take over the kingdom. But I don't want to, and I know I wouldn't be good at it. Hell, we both know Canada would be a better ruler than me, and he's already head over heels for Ukraine, and they'd both love to get married. So why don't you just let me leave, and let him take over." I snapped, before walking away.

I could hear my father calling my name, but I ignored him.

It was only after I was back in my room that I realized I hadn't even had any of the hot chocolate.