Work Text:
─ 65 AD ─
Green.
Everything around him was green. The trees, the bushes dotted in between the trunks. The grass, nearly as tall as him. And her eyes.
The child sat on Rome’s shoulders. Her little legs barely reaching past his chest. His hands wrapped securely around her chubby ankles.
“Salve Britannia!” Rome greeted, his teeth flashing in the sunlight. “I came to see your mama,” he said as he stopped right in front of Britannia, the child on his shoulders giggling at a butterfly that was flying around her head. “Do you know where she is?”
Britannia belatedly nodded, eyeing the child warily. “Mama is with Alba.”
“Caledonia, you mean? Excellent,” Rome said and kneeled.
He reached above him to lift the child over his head by her sides and gently sat her down in the grass next to Britannia. She blinked up at Rome owlishly with those big green eyes before settling her attention onto himself, curiosity written all over her chubby face.
“I brought you someone to play with! This is Belgica,” Rome ruffled the child’s hair which made her giggle once more. “You’re just a bit older than her, Britannia,” he declared. “Which means you are in charge and have to keep her safe. Can you do that?”
Britannia puffed up his tiny chest. “Of course I can!” he bristled.
“That’s my boy!” Rome laughed, giving Britannia the same ruffling-of-the-hair treatment but he whined and tried to push the older nation’s hands away. “I’ll be back in a bit. Play nice you two!”
With that, Rome strode along towards the north and Britannia was left with Belgica who was still eyeing him intently.
It had been a long time since Britannia had played with someone else then himself. Occasionally his older brothers came to visit and mama would be there, but she had to work and had no time to play with him. There was also that one annoying child across the sea that Rome had brought along with him a few times, but those instances were far and few between.
He was so used to playing by himself by now that he had a hard time figuring out what to do with the child sitting next to him. He didn’t even know what she liked to do.
“I like your tunic.”
Belgica’s voice startled Britannia out of his thoughts. “Huh?”
“Your tunic,” she repeated. “I really like it. Is that wool?”
Britannia looked at her quizzically. “Uhm, yeah, I have a lot of sheep so almost all of my clothes are wool.”
Belgica smiled widely. “Oh, can we go look at them?”
“What? The sheep?”
“Yes!” Belgica jumped onto her feet, which were covered by small untanned leather shoes. Britannia was barefoot. “They’re cute and soft and I would like to see them!”
Britannia cocked his head to the side. “Okay. Come on then.”
They made their way towards the fields were the farmers let their sheep graze. Britannia had to walk slowly since Belgica had shorter legs than him and had some difficulty trudging through the tall grass, but she never stumbled. From the corner of his eye, Britannia could see she had her tongue in between her teeth and her eyes fixed on the ground right in front of her feet, concentration evident in her gaze.
“Here we are,” Britannia said.
The field stretched out in front of them, a few wooden cottages visible every few yards. The grass was significantly shorter in many places and the air was filled with the soft bleating of the many, many sheep peacefully munching away or lazing about in the watery afternoon sun.
“Oh!” Belgica’s mouth was a perfect circle. “There are so many!”
Britannia quirked a thick eyebrow. “Don’t they have sheep were you’re from?”
Belgica swivelled her head sideways and up to look at him. “Oh, yes we have sheep, but not as many as you. My people are more fond of cows and my big brother has a lot of pigs!”
She smiled widely at him and it made Britannia’s palms feel sweaty. “You have a brother?” he asked, curiosity overtaking him.
“Uhu!” Belgica’s smile grew even wider. “He’s the nicest big brother ever! He always plays with me and helps me with my work and tells me bedtime stories and─”
Belgica prattled on but Britannia wasn’t listening anymore. Instead he was distracted by the way her hair was moving along with the wind that suddenly picked up. The colour made him think of wheat at harvest time. It was pretty.
“─ any brothers?”
Britannia didn’t quite register Belgica’s last words, but he noticed that she had stopped talking and looked at him expectantly.
“Uhm─ Oh, I─ What?” he mumbled, not quite meeting her eyes.
A tiny frown touched Belgica’s face but her smile stayed put. “I said: ‘Do you have any brothers?’”
Britannia grimaced slightly. “Yes, I have brothers. And a sister,” his brow furrowed when he couldn’t really picture Éire’s face anymore. It had been a while since she last came to visit.
Belgica seemed to interpret his frown as something else. “Do you not like them?”
Britannia shook his head. “No, no, I like them. Sometimes. But I don’t see them very often anymore.”
That made Belgica incline her head, her smile dropping from her face. “Oh… That’s not nice… Do you have any friends?”
Britannia didn’t like her pitying tone. “Pft! No,” he scoffed, sticking his nose in the air. “I don’t need friends.”
“Oh,” Belgica murmured, casting her eyes down. “But I want to be your friend.”
That took Britannia by surprise and his head shot back towards her. “You… want to be my friend?”
Belgica nodded, her eyes still locked on her toes as if she was nervous about his answer. “Uhu.”
Britannia blinked and shuffled his feet, a wave of shyness washing over him. “Well,” he chewed his lip. “I guess… You know… If you really want to.”
Belgica’s smile almost split her face in two and she hopped closer to him. “Yes, I really want to!” she grabbed his hand and Britannia’s stomach seemed to do a summersault. “We could trade with each other. That way we would get to see each other often!”
“Erm, yeah… S─ sure.”
Belgica spun around and started skipping towards the nearest sheep. Seeing as she still had a hold of his hand, Britannia could do not much else but to follow along.
“You could sell me wool,” Belgica said as she carefully patted the sheep’s head.
Britannia raised a brow. “Wool?” Belgica nodded enthusiastically and it made him grin. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
The sheep bleated loudly in agreement and both of them descended in a fit of giggles.
When Rome inevitably came back, Britannia and Belgica had been playing the entire afternoon and well into the evening. Dusk had settled in and neither of the little nations had seemed to notice.
Britannia was sad to see Rome strolling towards them. He had thoroughly enjoyed the last few hours and even though he didn’t mind being on his own again, he still felt a twist in his stomach as Rome called to his newly acquired friend, “Come on Belgica, time to go home!”
“Bye Britannia,” she said and stood on her tippy toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek before running towards Rome who picked her up and sat her on his arm.
Britannia’s cheek tingled strangely and he raised his hand to touch the spot with his fingers.
He was pulled out of his stupor as Rome called out a goodbye to him. When Britannia returned his goodbye, the older nation walked away from him and Britannia could see Belgica’s head popping over his shoulder, waving at him with gusto.
Britannia waved back until they had disappeared from view. His mind already working on the mechanics that a trade union between him and Belgica would entail. A smile covered his face and the tingling sensation he had felt on his cheek settled, rather pleasantly, into his stomach.