Hetalia & Other Reader Inserts

Romania x Claustrophobic!Reader

    Claustrophobia: The fear of small or confined places.

   "Claustrum" is Latin for "a closed-in place" and "phobos" is Greek for "fear."

    The point of this is to show what claustrophobia is like to those without the phobia while also holding their attention and entertaining them.
    
    Safe for claustrophobics to read. 👍

    "Seven Minutes in Heaven?" you asked. You had been invited to a party, which surprised you. You weren't popular, yet here you are: at a school's-out-no-parents-home-popular-kids party.
    You hadn't really wanted to come, but one of your friends from school had begged you to go. You gave in, not being a person able to say "no" easily to requests. He said that the most popular--and most handsome, as he reminded you--boys would be there. The party was thrown by one of them, after all.
    Your parents said you could go, saying they trusted you to make good decisions. It made you happy, knowing they put so much trust in you. But you were scared out of your wits at the current moment.
    "Yeah," said Alfred, the host of the party. "Have you never heard of it?"
    When you shook your head "no," some of the popular girls gave you sly, unkind looks and exchanged some whispers. Your shoulders hunched, worrying about what was being said. It was worse because your friend hadn't even been able to come ever after forcing you to.
    "Well," Alfred said, beginning to explain as he had everyone write their names down on a small slip of paper. "What you do is select two random people and put them in a closet for seven minutes. The door has to be locked and the lights out. Those two people can do whatever they want, but when the seven minutes have passed they're taken out and two new people are randomly selected and placed into the closet."
    You nodded, feeling sick. This game sounded terrifying. Locked in a closet; a dark, small space. That was practically your worst nightmare. And with not only a stranger, but one of the popular kids, whom most likely would be cruel towards you and make fun of your fear.
    I have a feeling this is not going to be a fun game at all, you thought.
    "Come on, what do ya say?" Alfred looked at you with his friendly, bright blue eyes from behind his glasses. He grinned at you confidently, as if his smile alone could convince you to play. You looked around, noticing everyone staring and smirking at you.
    "Okay," you said. "I'll play..." It's not like I'm gonna get chosen, anyway. Besides, I'm sure if I was chosen, they'd find a loophole to get out of going in with an unpopular kid like me.
    "Great!" Alfred shouted as you wrote your name down on a piece paper. You dropped the paper into the bag Alfred was holding, and he shook it to mix the contents.
    "Alright," said Gilbert. He stood up and walked to the center of the room. "Mein Awesome Self will go first, to show you how it is done, ja?"
    Alfred handed the bag to Gilbert, who dug his hand around inside. You could see every single girl lean forward, excited to see who would get to go with the albino Prussian.
    Slowly, building suspense, Gilbert pulled out a name. His eyes widened and his face went pale for a second. Gilbert attempted to shove the piece of paper back into the bag, but before he could, Alfred snatched the paper away.
    "Let's see~" sang the American. "Gilly gets to go with- HAHAHAHA! Ludwig!"
    Ludwig jerked his head, his entire face shocked.
    "Mein bruder?" Ludwig asked in disbelief. His older brother, Gilbert, groaned and asked to select another name.
    Alfred thought for a while before taking a vote that if the same gender was called, a redo could be done if both persons were not okay with being alone together in the closet. All agreed.
    I knew it. Loophole time. Next it's going to be "I don't want to go with this person, let me choose again."
    Gilbert dropped his brother's paper back into the bag and began to feel around again. He pulled another piece of paper and read it proudly.
    "Alexa," he said.
    A fake-blonde girl with brown eyes and way too much eyeliner jumped up squealing. All the other girls shot her glares of jealousy. You, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief at not being called. Sitting back in your chair, you watched as Alfred locked Gilbert and Alexa in a closet
    "Hey, Artie," Alfred said. "Start the timer!"
    "Would you quit calling me that? My name's Arthur," the Brit replied, annoyed. He started a timer for 7 minutes.
    Everyone else either got comfortable to chat, got up to get food and drink or to use the bathroom, or went to listen to the sounds from the closet door in the bedroom.
    "You don't seem to be enjoying this party much, love," came a voice. You looked up to see Arthur standing in front of you.
    So the rumors are true, you thought. His eyebrows really are giant....
    "Enjoying my nice brows?" he asked sarcastically, an amused smile on his face.
    "Oh no, I am so sorry! I didn't-"
    "Don't worry," he said, cutting off your panicked reply with a wave of his hand. "It's all right. But you seem to be really tense and uncomfortable?"
    "I-- Uh, well..." You looked down, unsure how to respond, or even if you could trust this popular person with your true thoughts. Arthur bent down in front of you, to get his face to your level.
    "Never been to a party before?" he asked gently. You nodded shyly, and he laughed softly. "Don't worry, love. We've all been to our first parties before. If anyone picks on you, you let me know, alright?"
    Just then, the timer on Arthur's phone started to beep, signaling seven minutes had gone by. He turned the alarm off and left your side. Everyone who left the room soon piled back in, and excitedly awaited Gilbert and Alexa's exiting of the closet. Alexa's clothing was a bit disheveled, and you rolled your eyes at the sight of a few red spots on her neck.
    Do popular kids not have anything better to do than give hickeys and make out?
    Soon after their taking their seats again, Alfred came up to you with the bag.
    "Ready to try?" he asked.
    "Actually, I was hoping I could watch one more round?" You could feel every pair of eyes on you, boring in to you. Some of the people began to whisper to each other, and you knew they were saying mean things, probably starting rumors. You saw Arthur go up behind them and wack them gently on the back of their heads.
    Alfred nodded, going over to Vladimir, the Romanian. Vlad bravely put a black-gloved hand into the bag and rummaged for a few seconds before pulling a slip of paper out. Quietly, he looked at it before clearing his throat and handing it to Alfred.
    "I have gotten," began Vladimir in his thick accent, "(Name)."
    You froze up, suddenly feeling like vomiting. Your heart began to pound, and all eyes were on you.
    "Alright!" shouted Alfred enthusiastically. "Looks like you get to be in this round after all!"
    "Hahaha, look how scared she is!" came the voice of some guy.
    "Of course she's scared! She got the vampire on her first game. I'd be scared too!" said a brunette, looking at you with a sorry expression.
    "But not if was me, right babe~?" a third guy piped up.
    "Wait, I--" Your quiet objection was unheard as Alfred led you and Vlad to the closet in his bedroom, lost in the sea of the surrounding teens laughing snf talking. No one followed you three; instead, they all began to gossip. You had a feeling it was about you.
    "Have fun!" Alfred said as he shut and locked you in the closet with Vladimir. "Artie, start the timer!"
    You backed away as far as you could from Vlad in the small space, shaking. Your breathing began to come in quick, shallow wheezes.
    "Dragă?" Vladimir asked. "Are you alright?"
    "No!" you whimpered between gasps. "Claustrophobic!"
    "Oh, nu e bine! Dragă, listen to me. Everything will be alright. Da bine?"
    "No, no, no! The walls--they're getting smaller!" You slowly sunk to the ground, feeling trapped and like you're suffocating. You felt that at any minute the walls would close in on you and the roof would collapse, crushing you, killing you. 
    There was no way to escape. You couldn't see anything. You didn't know what to do.
    "Give me your hands." Vladimir took your shaking hands in his strong, warm, gloved ones. Gently he stretched them out to your sides so you could feel the walls on the tips of your fingers. "Feel that? That is the wall. It is not coming closer, I promise you."
    "The roof! It'll collapse and crush us!"
    "The roof can't collapse, it's been built to stay put and is very sturdily reinforced. It would take a huge amount of effort and force to make it fall apart."
    "Vlad, please, help me! I... I-I can't do this!" You grabbed on to the stranger, shaking uncontrollably with fear, the feeling of being helplessly entrapped in a squeezing box that was getting smaller and smaller, ready to turn you into a small square of immovability and loneliness.
    Vlad's strong arms wrapped around your quivering body, holding you close. He cooed soft words of comfort in Romanian and hummed some tune you'd never heard. Every 10 seconds he would stretch your arms out so you could feel the sides of the walls, still in place, not getting any closer or smaller.
    Despite all his help, you still felt trapped, unable to escape, and like you were going to die. You wanted out of the closet. Out. You wanted away from the horrible space, the space that was too small.
    A gentle kiss on your forehead startled you enough to stop panicking momentarily. A soft chuckle accompanied a rub on your back.
    "Hey, we're still playing a game," Vlad said. "Perhaps engaging in the game will get your mind off of your fear?"
    "N-no!"
    "Why not?" Vlad sounded a bit hurt.
    "I... I don't want my first kiss to be because of a game... I mean, you don't even care about me, so..." 
    "What makes you think I don't care about you?" Vlad asked, definitely sounding hurt now.
    "Well, you've never talked to me before... And you're popular...."
    "Are you saying that because I am popular and was too afraid to talk to my crush that I don't care about her?"
    That comment caught you off guard.
    "Your... Crush...?"
    You felt a warm pair if lips land on you cheek, and your face heated up.
    "Da, dragă mea, my crush. So, would it be okay if I stole your first kiss after a few dates?"
    "Y-yeah," you said in a daze. Then you remembered the small place you were in. "If we make it out of here alive! Oh my gosh we're gonna--"
    Before you could finish, Vlad kissed your neck.
    "H-hey! What are you-!?"
    "Do you want to get bullied?" he interrupted. "Because I can promise you those kids will most likely do just that if you come out of here looking like when you walked in."
    "B-but--"
    "Just let me give you a small hickey, and mess your hair up. You can mess your own clothes up, arlight?"
    "Vlad?" You timidly began to mess your clothes up as Vlad ruffled your hair.
    "Da, dragostea mea?"
    "I'm so glad it was you who was put in here with me."
    Vlad smiled against your neck. Then you felt his lips vanish, and in their place you felt two pin pricks in your neck.
    "Wha--" you began, but were silenced as the lock on the closet door began to open. Vlad leaned over you to make the act more convincing.
    "Whoa, dudes, get a room. You're worse than Gilbert and Alexa!"
    Your face reddened at Alfred's comment, and Vlad led you out of the closet and into the room full of people. Everyone stared at you. Some gasped.
    "Her neck!"
    "Oh my gosh, Vlad bit her!"
    "Is she going to turn into a vampire too now?"
    As you sat down, Alfred went up to another person. You sighed in relief, finally being out of that tiny confined space. You felt free and like the sky was the limit.
    Looking across the circle of people, you spotted Vladimir staring at you. He smirked at winked, and you looked away blushing.
    Some people must have noticed, as a few ooh'd and one cat called.
    Perhaps this game wasn't all too bad, you thought. I have a possible boyfriend now who was able to get me out of being bullied as well as help me through my fear.

____________________________________

Translations:
Romanian:
Dragă - Dear
Nu e bine - Not good
Da bine - OK
Da - Yes
Dragă mea - My dear