Reading Nation's Diaries

France's Regret

When England woke he was rather comfortable. His eyes remained shuttered behind his eyelids and there was a something warm pressed against his back, front and the side of his body that was not in contact  with the mattress. It wasn't an uncomfortable or unpleasant warm; it was oddly comforting instead. England's still-sleepy brain hadn't recalled the previous day's events but all of those hidden memories were returned to him when he at last opened his eyes.

England had jumped when he discovered that he was trapped between Scotland and Wales with Sealand on top of him. None of them were awake.

Due to being unable to move for the nations surrounding him, England was left with no choice but to resign himself to staying in bed until his brothers woke up and moved to let him out. It was surprisingly pleasant.

A sudden tight squeeze from one of his brothers alerted England to Scotland rejoining the ranks of those awake. The two brothers chatted idly until both Sealand and Wales woke up and crawled out of bed.

England chose to dress similarly to the day before (the other nations had already seen him at his worst; he didn't think that other nations would care too much about his appearance), Scotland and Wales decided to join their brother in wearing something comfortable, whereas Sealand insisted on still wearing his sailor uniform. Before he could leave the room, England's jumper was tugged on as Sealand dragged him to the dresser in order to put his piercings in. It didn't take long for a series of hoops and studs to be inserted into their respective holes, however, it did take several minutes before Sealand deemed the piercings to be 'acceptable'.

In the kitchen, France was preparing breakfast. He was highly concerned about England- the green-eyed man was too good at keeping secrets (not that he himself had much room to talk). If England, America and Russia were hiding such big things from other nations, was it possible that other nations were hiding things equally as bad.

France saw England creep into the kitchen and over to the kettle. He always seemed so nervous about entering the kitchen, probably because people made fun of his cooking so often. Scotland was lurking in the doorway, presumably to make sure that no one would harm England. Upon meeting France's eyes, Scotland nodded before he left the room.

After several minutes of tense silence while Enlgand waited for the kettle to boil, France finally decided that now was as good a time as any to speak. "Angleterre, I'm sorry about yesterday," offered France; upon receiving no response, he continued, "If you ever want to talk about anything, I'll be ready and waiting to listen. We are brothers, non? And I... I'm sorry, for everything."

A period of silence.

"Don't let Scotland hear you say that," chuckled the green eyed nation, "And thank you for the offer, but I'm fine."

France sighed to himself as England left the room with his drink. England was clearly not fine. He was not good. He was not happy. He needed help and he needed to talk, however, he was unlikely to talk and even more unlikely to accept the help that he so desperately needed. A small part of France was hopeful that the diary would not hurt England even more, an equally small part was hoping that the diary would push over the edge to the point that he was forced to accept help, and a far smaller part of him was thinking that England might at least become easier to read after this torment.

France was pondering what he could do to help his brother in all but blood when Northern Italy bounced into the room, apologetically dragging his grumpy brother along with him.

The two Italian brothers began helping France to prepare breakfast for everybody. Northern Italy had an amazing ability to talk about everything and nothing, while Southern Italy was much less social and, somehow, between the two of them, they managed to considerably improve France's mood.