Countryhumans One shots! (cause shipping is cute)

To resign or to oppose (France x UK Royal AU)

He walked from one side of the room to the other, anxiety eating his brain as the time approached and all that he could think about was a certain blue, white and red country.

He sighed, sitting in front of the mirror and pulling a small brooch from the interior of his jacket. The thing was barely the size of a grape and had a painting of the eye of his beloved France. He had used it for years, a secret way of having her close to his heart when he couldn't hold her hand in public.

They had met a long time ago, when they were children.

His older brother England had decided to try to make amends with France's father and call for a reunion. In the meantime, the both of them had been left with some servants to play in the gardens.

He had always been shy and quiet and maybe that was destiny's reason to put his and France's path together. She was everything he didn't have, she was brave, adventurous and good with the sword and, being like that, she had approached him and pestered him until they became friends.

Ever since that day they had grown used to visit each other, to play together, running around the gardens and hiding from the servants together to steal cookies and when the lecturing came, France was always in front of him to take the blame. She had always protected him.

Then his moment to return the favor had come.

The tricolored country had always been a difficult student when it came to the formalities of royalty. She couldn't stay still for a four hour lesson and the angry spats of the teachers often made her snap.

He could still remember when the girl's father had invited almost every neighbor Kingdom to a magnificent ball. His carriage had entered the gates with all the usual trumpets and presentation of the occasion, and he had been the last one to get down. France had walked to him and, completely ignoring the etiquette, had lend her hand like a gentleman for him, just to pull him into a hug soon after.

He laughed at the memory, holding the brooch close to his face and giving it a little kiss. How much he wished he had kissed her at least one time.

The memory came to him once again.

They had walked into the garden, two days in front of them until the ball started, giving everyone time to travel there and take a night of rest. The taller girl was holding his hand, guiding him to her favorite new spot in the palace, which ended up being a tree.

He had sighed, before finally following her and sitting on a branch with her. Time had passed and they had watched the sunset together, shoulders touching and eyes focused on the far away horizon.

'I hate this, everything will be boring. The only thing I'm really excited is about the food' she had said with a cute pout.

'Oh, come on France, the most fun thing to do in a ball is to dance. Of course the food is also high on the list, specially the desserts, but you could give other things a try' he had tried to reason with her.

'Easy for you to say' she had huffed, but he had pointed at the tree in a silent 'Well,-I'm-climbing-a-bloody-tree-with-one-of-my-favorite-shirts-for-you' look.

'ok, ok, I could try other stuff... But no dancing' she had said, covering her face with both of her hands.

And then he had understood, that France had never learnt how to dance.

He had make it his special mission to teach her, taking her to the gardens and making it fun for her.

Her father had been in awe when they had entered the circle of dancing couples, and she had done it pretty well. They had actually have fun, dancing together closer than what was allowed, stealing lots of food (they had learnt that a crinoline was actually a pretty good hiding spot), going outside and skipping the boring part of the ball.