L: "Oh goodness, you're so adorable," Ireland smiled from the phone when he saw Poldara. "I'm glad Iremacht is making good friends."

"Poldara has been a great influence," Wehrmacht added. "Machty is a changed man." He also clapped Iremacht on the other shoulder.

Iremacht slipped out of the center of the throng to get a quick breath of air; he never liked it when a bunch of people swarmed him at once, even if it was people he knew - it felt too much like the press.

"The knighting wasn't so bad," he answered. "All this post-celebration on the other hand is enough to kill a man. I'd prefer a militant's death any day."

"You and your love of gore," Germany scoffed. "If smothering you with genuine care and affection can get you all antsy like this, then I'll have to tell Bundeswehr to switch tactics - "

Iremacht whipped out a hand and smacked it over Germany's mouth. "Not another word," he said simply. Then he changed subjects and said to Poldara, "Hey Polds, come here, I still need to knight you!"

M: MA laughed at how awkward Iremacht was, and even harder when Bundeswehr was mentioned.

"Well looks like the tables have turned Matchy," He smirked, "this is the karma for teasing me about Belarus coming to bite you in the butt now."

He started playfully circling Iremacht as he grabbed the opportunity to get his revenge, "so how has it been going with Bundie, has he swept you off your feet yet, or are you two still in that awkward first time faze where you can't make eye contact without turning into tomatoes."

Russia, Kaz, and Poldara burst out laughing and Poland and Belarus were quietly snickering so they wouldn't be rude.  Mandara had come back after finishing up the festivities and gave the group a confused look, "what's so funny?"

L: "Nothing," Iremacht snapped at Mandara. He was trying both to avoid and keep MA within his sight like nervous prey being cornered.

Wehrmacht negated him, however, and explained to Mandara, "MA is getting his revenge on Iremacht. It's about time Machty confessed something about Bundie."

Ireland hummed along. In his opinion, it was always too early for his child to start dating but he was also feeling pretty excited for Iremacht. Wehrmacht, on the other hand, trusted Bundeswehr and was just about ready to have them wedded as soon as Iremacht said the word. He did value his son's freedom, though - he didn't want to be like Prussia was - so he wouldn't force Iremacht to get serious with Bundeswehr if he didn't want to.

But, judging from the blush on Iremacht's face, the young militant DID want to. He just wouldn't admit it.

"I'm warning you, MA," Iremacht grumbled. "Another word from you and I'm going to lose it. There's got to be some authority with being a knight around here."

M: MA smirked again and stopped circling him to get right up in his face, "of course there is Iremacht, becoming a knight is just like becoming a soldier, and I know what I'm asking for by teasing you, but I'm going to enjoy it either way.  It's like you said before, I'm not going to stop bugging you to confess your love already."

"Thunder, your starting to take this a little far," Mandara said, walking up to grab his arm, "stop acting like a bully and leave him alone."

"Nope, I want him to confess just like he made me," MA said, "karma is a dish best served cold."

L: "Iremacht made MA confess his love?" Ireland asked Wehrmacht in confusion.

Wehrmacht nodded and pointed his phone in Belarus's direction. "Ja, to Bel. They're officially together now."

Ireland waved at Belarus. "Well, congratulations! I was going to tell MA to lay off just now but it seems he has a rightful bone to pick with Machty. I hope this brings good results."

Iremacht glared at his parents but he was panicking inside; it seemed everyone was inclined to watch MA's vengeance play out like a romcom.

"Polds," Iremacht said in a strained voice. "Help me out here. I'll knight you as a reward, I promise."

"Maybe I should call Bundeswehr," Wehrmacht mused. "Would it be easier to confess to his face?" Iremacht's eyes widened.

M: Belarus waved shyly to Ireland, "thanks, it was more sudden than I would have liked but you get what you get."

Poldara was still chuckling as Iremacht asked for help, "I don't know Iremacht, I kind of want to see where this is going."

MA smiled even bigger when Poldara said that, and when Wehrmacht suggested they call Bundeswehr, "I think that is a splendid idea," he declared, "and I can call him instead so Ireland can see this too."

"Why do you have Bundeswehr's phone number?" Poland asked.

"We get together every month with other active militants to hang out and let off steam, no big deal," MA answered, pulling out his phone to dial the German's number.

"I don't think this is a good idea, guys," Mandara said, "what if Bundie doesn't feel the same way about Matchy, that shouldn't be something to broadcast to the whole world."

MA didn't listen though and called Bundie, putting his phone on speaker so everyone can hear what was going to happen.

L: Iremacht was nodding furiously along to Mandara's line of reasoning but it didn't stop the dialing sound from MA's phone. His whole body jolted, goosebumps sprang along his arm, and his arm both spasmed towards the phone and shrank away from it.

The phone rang once and Bundeswehr was on the line.

"This is Bundeswehr." His voice was deeper and steadier than it had been when he was younger. "Is there something you need, MA?"

Iremacht's mind went blank as soon as Bundeswehr spoke. He couldn't help it. Wehrmacht and Germany both turned around and covered their mouths so they wouldn't laugh at the dumbfounded look on Iremacht's face.

France, who had been silent for the most part but noted that the Germans were too out of it to reply, nudged MA to say something back to Bundeswehr.

M: "Hello Bundie," MA said as straight-voiced as he could, though he had a difficult time not cracking up at Iremach's frozen stance, "sorry to bother you, it's just that a revelation has occurred over here."

He met Mandara's gaze for a moment and could see him silently pleading with him not to do this, but his pleas went ignored as MA smiled with an "it's too late" expression.

"To get straight to the point, Iremacht is here and he is absolutely dying to tell you something," he held the phone close to Iremacht, "aren't you Machty?"

L: "Iremacht?" Bundeswehr echoed in curiosity. His previously formal tone softened. "Guten tag, then, Iremacht. What did you want to tell me?"

"Absolutely nothing," Iremacht muttered. "MA is just being an idiot. Again." He gave MA wide-eyed signals but the older militant clearly wasn't having any of it.

"Don't bully MA," Bundeswehr chastised good-naturedly. "You must still be at the Mandarian independence day. Be a friendly militant, Iremacht."

"You're not my dad," Iremacht pouted angrily, though his face reddened with embarrassment. "I've got too many already." Wehrmacht and Ireland both laughed.

"Glad you're having fun," Bundeswehr chuckled. "So MA, is everything going alright or have I been prank-called?"

M: "Oh you have not been prank-called," MA laughed, "you know my humor doesn't go that low on the latter.  Natin, Iremacht does want to tell you something but is being a scardy cat about it."

"You better tell him Iremacht," Belarus teased along, then quoted what Germany said before, "don't want to keep him waiting like bad customer service."

"If you're too scared then I can tell him, Matchy," Poldara offered innocently.

L: "NO, DON'T."

Iremacht said it so suddenly, he nearly startled himself. He wanted to take it back but Bundeswehr definitely heard how anxious he'd sounded. The German militant made it worse when he asked in concern, "Machty? What's wrong?"

"N-No - I - it's just that - " Iremacht closed his eyes and took a deep, deep breath. MA wasn't wrong; he was actually scared. Wehrmacht and Ireland both held their breaths as well. Germany completely forgot he was still recording; he was focused entirely on Iremacht's next move.

Iremacht remained frozen with his eyes closed for a while. Still, Bundeswehr was patient and even said, "Take your time, Iremacht. You can tell me later if you want."

"Really?" Iremacht sighed in relief.

All eyes turned to MA to see what he would do.

M: MA frowned, he knew that Iremacht wouldn't tell him later, but he couldn't continue to push him to do it if Bundie was letting him off the hook.

With an irritated sigh, MA said, "looks like you win Iremacht."

"Aww come on," Russia whined loudly, "it was just getting good, I wanted to hear Bundeswehr's reaction to Iremacht saying the magic words."

"We all did," MA muttered back, "well, I again apologize for bothering you Bundie, you sure you don't want to hear it, it will surely sweep you off your feet."

L: "I'm sure it will," Bundeswehr agreed. "But I know Iremacht isn't comfortable with a large crowd of spectators. He holds most of his meetings privately and we all notice that he likes dipping WATCH meetings."

"That's because those are actually boring!" Iremacht protested.

"Poor United Nations," Germany said, shaking his head.

Iremacht grumbled and fiddled with the end of his short cape. Now that Bundeswehr was preparing to hang up, he didn't feel like letting him go just yet. It just wasn't a proper ending. He couldn't keep it inside himself forever anyway.

"Could I borrow this?" Iremacht asked MA, pointing to MA's phone. "I have some ... stuff ... to talk to Bundie in private about. And don't you dare eavesdrop."

M: MA raised a brow at what Iremacht said, but smiled and turned off the speaker.

"You'll feel better when you tell him," he said as he handed his phone to the German, "even if Bundie doesn't feel the same way, at least you'll know and won't have to worry about it."

Even though MA really wanted to see Iremacht confess to Bundeswehr, this was better than nothing, and maybe he was taking things a little too far by peer pressuring Iremacht like that.

"I'm glad you decided to lay off finally," Mandara said as Iremacht walked away.

"At least he's doing it," MA shrugged, then turned to Wehrmacht and Ireland, "sorry for being a bully to Iremacht, guess I got a little carried away."