L

"Yep and I promise I don't have any pranks waiting at home this time," Iremacht laughed as he took the steps two at a time down to the lobby.

Germany and Bundeswehr weren't there and Iremacht didn't wait to say goodbye to them either. He beelined straight for the door. Wehrmacht trusted Iremacht to take care of himself - the kid knew the neighborhood like the back of his hand - so he stuck with Mandara and MA.

M

Mandara smiled as he watched Iremacht run off, "You are so lucky to have him Wehrmacht, even though he is clearly a hand full, he's a good kid."

He let out a small sigh, which caused MA to raise a brow at his brother, "Trigger, are you jealous of Wehrmacht?"

That question made Mandara involuntarily squeak, "W-what, n-no, no I'm not jealous.  Why would you say that?  That's a stupid assumption."

Mandara started blushing from embarrassment, which prompted MA to start giggling.

"Stop laughing Derogan." Mandara grumbled.

L

Wehrmacht chuckled along with MA.

"That's right, I'll be looking out for a wedding soon," he said. "And children thereafter, hm?"

They had reached the house, and Wehrmacht opened the door for them. He froze when he saw Iremacht already inside, holding his paintball sniper.

"Machty," Wehrmacht said sternly.

But Iremacht wasn't here to shoot the sniper. He held it out to MA. "Don't forget your souvenir," Iremacht said.

M

Mandara pouted when Wehr joined in to tease him, but didn't say anything.  When Wehr opened the door, Mandara immediately ducked behind MA when he spotted the rifle, but relaxed he saw how colorful it was, clearly indicating that it wasn't real.

"Souvenir?" he repeated.

"Yep" MA said as he took the gun, "After Iremacht shot me with it, he decided to make amends by gifting it to me.  Well, that, or it Wehrmacht was going to break it."

Mandara nodded in understanding, then joked, "Does that mean I get the bucket that you used to pour water on me?"

L

"That's a great idea!" Iremacht exclaimed.

He scampered off to the kitchen, opened one of the cupboards, and found the desired bucket. Then he rushed over to the sink and started scrubbing the sides of the bucket with sponge and soap. He cleaned until the bucket was shiny enough to see reflections before he handed it to Mandara.

"Please accept this gift as part of my humble apology, Sir Mandara," he mimicked a solemn knightly voice.

M

Mandara and MA couldn't help but chuckle, they didn't really know if he was being serious or not, but Mandara played along.

"Young Iremacht, I am honored to accept your gift and the apology that accompanies it." He held the crown in one hand and took the bucket with the other.  Once he took the bucket, Mandara decided to go a bit further, he stood in a authoritative manner and spoke in his royal voice. "With your apology, you have earned the respect of your king and his good word, if you ever find yourself in need of assistance, I will be there to guide you."

MA was snickering in the background and it also took Mandara a lot of effort not to crack up.

L

Iremacht hung on to every word Mandara spoke like it was the most blessed speech he'd ever heard. Wehrmacht had to cover his mouth at the look on his son's face.

"Enough gawking, Machty," he finally said. "Why don't you show them the spare bedroom and I'll go find my wallet."

The spare bedroom was the same room where Mandara had previously changed out of his wet clothes. Those same clothes were now dry and neatly folded on the mattress, likely done by a housemaid.

Iremacht scratched the back of his head and said, "Darn, I didn't think this through. We only have one spare room. One of you can take my room if you want and I can camp on the couch."

M

"No need, you'd be surprised how often we've had to share a bed."  Mandara said, placing the crown and his new bucket on a nearby desk.

MA hummed in agreement, "Yeah, Trigger tends to have nightmares a lot and will have difficulty going back to sleep without someone else in the room, right Trigger."

Mandara nodded "That's true, but I don't want to talk about it, how about we go back out, I'm sure Wehrmacht is probably already waiting for us."

L

Wehrmacht had his wallet ready and waited for everyone to regroup in the living room before they set off for another one of Wehrmacht's favorite restaurants. It was a different place from the last restaurant that they went to on the first day of the Mandarians' visit. This one was less fancy but had a homey atmosphere, with perfect square tables set for four dotting the smooth wood-colored space. It also had a second story, with tables on the balcony that overlooked the neighborhood. Wehrmacht chose one of those balcony spots since it was outdoor and had more room for their wings.

A waitress approached to take their order. Wehrmacht and Iremacht both aimed for beef stew.

"You know, you could order a Mandarian-styled dish," Wehrmacht said to MA and Mandara. "The reason why I love this restaurant is because it gives customizable orders for an additional fee. Since this is your last meal here for this visit, just list out the dish and ingredients and the cooks can probably make it for you."

M

"Sounds good" Mandara said, "though I doubt they have any Dragon's Breath sauce."

MA chuckled, he then ordered two of the Mandarian pork roast dishes, minus the sauce of course.

"So, what should we talk about this time?" Mandara asked when the waitress left.

MA flashed him a smug smile, "Well, we could go back to talking about you and Pol-"

"No" Mandara interrupted, "We are not doing that again, that was way too embarrassing."

L

"What, what, what is it?" Iremacht immediately pounced on the topic, not wanting to miss any of the grown-up gossip. "Is Mandara in a relationship? Who is it with? Do I know them? How long has it been going on? When will you get married? Are you going to have kids? Oh oh oh can I visit if you have kids? I'll teach them to shoot paintballs and we can totally play pranks together, that would be so awesome. Can I, Dad? Pleaseeeeeee?"

Wehrmacht looked absolutely overwhelmed and stared helplessly at the brothers.

M

MA and Mandara were equally as stunned, if not more.  MA got over it quickly though and playfully nudged Mandara, "Now you have to talk about it Trigger."

Mandara shot him a death glare for getting him into this mess again.  He sighed before answering as best he could, "Yes, I am in a relationship, my boyfriend is Poland and we have been dating for about three-ish years, though I will admit, I have been thinking of proposing to him for a while now, but I've just been too scared to try."

Mandara then glared at MA again, "You happy now?" MA nodded.

L

Iremacht hummed at Mandara's response and smirked when Mandara glared at MA. Something was missing though...

"You didn't answer the last important questions," Iremacht said in a singsong voice. "Are you going to have kids? Am I going to get a new best friend soon?"

"Iremacht, that's rude!" Wehrmacht hissed. "Don't intrude on other people's private life choices."

Iremacht just pouted. Two waiters came with their orders, setting two bowls of beef stew in front of the Germans and two plates of pork roast in front of the Mandarians.

M

Mandara blushed slightly when Iremacht mentioned having kids, "U-um, w-well ... I mean- I um-,"  Mandara was practically falling apart, he really didn't know how to answer, or if he should to begin with.

Unfortunately for him, MA decided to answer for him, "Trigger has mentioned wanting kids on several occasions, so I'm betting yes."

Mandara's eyes widened at being sold out and did the one thing he could think of, he covered his face with his wings to hide from this embarrassing situation.

L

"Awwwwww," Iremacht cooed. "Dad, Mandara's doing the thing you did when I found you and Papa in the bedroom - "

"AH AH AH WHAT DO YOU KNOW, the food's getting cold!" Wehrmacht practically shouted. "Let's dig in, eh? And while we're at it, change the subject, ja?"

"Okay," Iremacht chirped. "MA, when are you going to get into a serious relationship?"

Wehrmacht facepalmed.

M

MA also facepalmed, but Mandara cracked open his feathers a bit to watch his brother try to explain his relationship issues.

MA grumbled in his hand before talking, "I have never been good at talking to girls, I have been told that I come off as intimidating, which explains why most of the women I've tried to flirt with are fast to leave.  I had a crush on Japan once since she was the only girl to not run away, however I mating flared in front of her once and unfortunately for me she knew what I was doing, needless to say I ended up with a slap mark on my face for three days."  He grunted at having to tell that story again, but then added, "and what do you mean by 'serious relationship'?"

L

Wehrmacht wanted his son to just stop prying and bringing up these awkward conversations but Iremacht had a mind of his own.

"As in, is there going to be more than one wedding soon, along with more than one set of kids?" Iremacht teased. "Then we can arrange a huge playdate. I can be the big grown-up for once since I'd obviously be the oldest. Well, actually, Bundeswehr's older. He can crash the party if he wants. We can all be partners-in-crime together and plant water bombs all over the house and arm ourselves with paintball snipers so we can ambush people. We'll be just like the White Death from Finland who wrecked those Soviets - "

"Machty!" Wehrmacht interrupted, but the word had already been said.

M

Mandara's wings immediately dropped from covering his face, revealing a expression of both fear and pain as that trigger word brought back terrible memories, Mandara actually turned away from Iremacht. MA placed a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder, "Hey, he didn't mean that Trigger, he doesn't know."

"I-I know." Mandara muttered still looking away from everyone, "I-I need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back."

Then he got up and left without another word.  MA sighed once Mandara was out of sight, "He's not going to be coming back for a while."

L

"I'm sorry about that," Wehrmacht apologized, then glared at Iremacht. "What did I say about prying into other people's personal life? Why can't you follow orders for once? Soviet did very bad things to Mandara and you had to bring him up!"

"I didn't know!" Iremacht protested, realizing what he had done. Yet another mistake on his list of ill deeds against the Mandarian brothers. "I need to go say sorry."

Without waiting for his father's response, Iremacht darted into the restaurant after Mandara.

M

Mandara did not go to the bathroom, he actually walked completely out of the restaurant, being careful about walking too close to the balcony overhead.  He sat down on a nearby bench and buried his head in his hands, he was breathing quickly as the memories were flooding back.

"Jesus Christ Mandara, pull yourself together" he told himself, he hated that after all these years, he was still sensitive to hearing that word, it made him feel weak.

L

Iremacht ran through the restaurant, dodging tables and getting indignant shouts from the waiters and waitresses that he nearly crashed into. He checked the bathroom first and yelled Mandara's name but only got a bunch of shocked human stares. Then he whirled around and scanned the restaurant for any sign of colorful feathers. Iremacht wished he had wings so he could sense where Mandara was.

He wandered around the restaurant for a while and concluded Mandara was no longer in here. So he went outside and finally spotted him on a nearby bench. Iremacht winced at how dejected Mandara looked because he had said that cursed word. He tentatively approached the bench.

M

Mandara didn't notice Iremacht there at first, he was too busy trying to calm himself down from his painful trip down memory lane.  He only realized someone was there when he heard soft footsteps behind him, he turned around thinking it was Wehr or MA, but flinched when he saw it was Iremacht.  He quickly turned away from the kid and partially hid himself with his wings, he didn't really want to talk to Iremacht, he knew that the kid didn't mean or know what he said, but it still hurt.

L

"Mandara..." Iremacht trailed away when he saw the Mandarian flinch and hide himself in his wings. He clearly didn't want anything to do with Iremacht right now, which made the kid feel even more guilty. Iremacht realized he always felt guilty whenever he was around Mandara - probably because of all the harm he'd caused during their visit.

The teen sat down on one end of the bench, keeping a respectful distance. He scratched his head awkwardly and tried to think of some way to start a conversation.

"Cousin Germany used to have a crush on Poland, did you know that?" he said. Well, that wasn't a very good beginning.

M

Mandara didn't move his wings when Iremacht spoke, he just wanted to be left alone, but he figured if he at least acknowledged him, then he would go away.

"I did, Poland also had a small crush on Germany, but he didn't say anything because he was afraid that Germany would end up being like Third Reich or German Empire, which I think is a reasonable fear." he then sighed and lowered his wings just enough to peek over them, "Are you here just to talk about my personal live again, because I can assure you you've already done enough damage for one night."

Mandara mentally cursed himself for saying that last part, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

L

Iremacht winced and stared back at the ground. He should just get to the point.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Again. I don't know when to shut up sometimes. I always figured if I talked enough and made it seem like I knew what I was saying, I'd be able to fit in. But I don't know what I'm saying, and that hurts people." Iremacht glanced at Mandara. "I didn't know what happened between you and...him...and I shouldn't have brought it up. Honestly, I should be the one to tell you that you have every right to be mad at me and not want to speak to me and not want to even look at me anymore. I'll accept it."

For Iremacht, it wouldn't be the first time someone did that anyway.

M

Mandara lowered his wings a bit more as Iremacht apologized, he couldn't bring himself to stay mad at him, after all, he was just a kid.

"Don't be silly Iremacht, I'm not going to stop talking to you just because of a small slip-up, this isn't the first time this has happened, and definitely won't be the last."  Mandara scooted closer to Iremacht and put his wing over his shoulders, "What's important is that you know about it and know to be careful next time."

Mandara then thought of a way to lighten the mood a bit, "and besides, if that didn't happen, I would have never gotten this cool scar."

Mandara slipped off his eye patch to show Iremacht his scar, along with his silver eye.

L

"Whoa! I want a battle scar..." Iremacht breathed out in wonder. It really was a cool scar and it even turned Mandara's eye a different color, which was horrifying in an intriguing way. The teen snuggled into the soft embrace of Mandara's feathers, happy that he was given another chance after all the mistakes he'd made.

"Do you want to go back?" Iremacht said. "The food's gonna get cold. And Dad and MA might get worried."

M

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Mandara said, putting back on his eyepatch before standing up, "and in a way, you kind of do have a battle scar, the bite mark you got from Thunder, though I doubt it will actually scar." he chuckled before adding, "also, I telling you right now that you really don't want a battle scar, because I can assure you it was a lot more painful than it looks, I am actually blind in this eye, that's why it is silver."

L

Iremacht made a face; he sure didn't want any pain, but it still looked pretty fierce.

When they went back into the restaurant, Iremacht told the front desk that they already had a table on the second story. The receptionist let them go. Iremacht was more careful this time as he walked through the tables since he wasn't running anymore.

Wehrmacht stood up as soon as he spotted Iremacht and Mandara coming back on the balcony. "I was starting to get worried," he said. "Everything okay?"

M

"Yes, everything's good now," Mandara said, "the little trouble maker made amends and now knows to be careful in the future."

Mandara rubbed Iremacht's head as he said that, then sat back down next to MA, "Though I'd keep a close eye on him Wehrmacht, he said he wanted a battle scar after I showed him mine."

MA hummed with interest and turned to Iremacht, "Oh I'd be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."

L

"Did he now?" Wehrmacht murmured, sitting down and drinking his stew. "Machty, getting a scar is very painful."

"I know, Mandara told me," Iremacht said. Then he turned to MA, "But where do you think I should get one?"

Wehrmacht rolled his eyes. While Iremacht chatted with MA, Wehrmacht turned to Mandara.

"So, about the Crown," he said. "I'm willing to speed up the important parts of the process tonight to allow you to take the Crown out of Germany by tomorrow morning. All the other loose ends can be tied remotely so you won't have to worry about it."

M

"Thank you Wehrmacht, I'm so glad I can trust you." Mandara said, also starting to eat his dinner.

MA on the other hand was explaining scars and pointing out a few of his own, "-and this one I got from an Austria-Hungarian sniper in WWI." he said, pointing to one of the stars on his right wing, "You can't see it because of the feathers obviously, but it is one of my favorites because I was still flying for a good 30 minutes afterwards." MA then looked over Iremacht, "but when it comes to you, I think a sword slash on the cheek would look pretty cool."

Mandara shot him a look, "Thunder, you know people don't use swords anymore."

"Not true, some countries in Asia still use them." MA corrected him.

L

Iremacht traced one finger down his cheek, as if imagining a scar in an invisible mirror. He was slightly disappointed that he'd be less likely to get a clean slash - most wounds nowadays were either from bullets or the entire limb got blown off by a bomb. He'd watched enough movies and overheard enough gruesome tales from Wehrmacht to know that.

"If I have a higher chance of being hit by a bullet, then I don't want to be hit in the face," Iremacht mused. "A shoulder scar would be nice. I can finally have an excuse to wear sleeveless vests and show off my arms."

"You don't have enough muscle to show off anything," Wehrmacht commented, earning a scowl from his son.

"I'm working on it," Iremacht muttered.

M

MA and Mandara both snorted at Wehr's comment, Mandara was actually drinking water and almost spit it out.

"That is true about the bullet wounds," MA said "but those are more active battle injuries, there is a lot of other things that can hurt you off the battle, like accidents during training, improper use of military equipment, or being capt-"

MA quickly clasped his hand over his mouth before he could finish that statement and nervously glanced at Mandara.

Mandara knew what he was going to say but shrugged, "It's ok Thunder, you can talk about it if you want. "

MA raised a brow and removed his hand from his mouth, "Are you sure Trigger?"

Mandara nodded, so MA reluctantly continued, "-or being captured by the enemy, because you never know just how demented your captors are, as Trigger has found out the hard way."

Mandara nodded again but didn't say anything, just focusing on his food.

L

"Yeah, the world is messed up," Iremacht agreed. "I don't want Germany or Ireland to make any serious enemies. I'll go for an 'accident' instead and pretend to trip and fall and scrape my cheek on a - "

"Okay, stop," Wehrmacht said. "Eat your food."

Iremacht grumbled and started slurping his stew. Wehrmacht shook his head and glanced at Mandara.

"I don't know why you're jealous of me - wait until you actually have kids. You'll be jealous of the singles then." Wehrmacht nodded at MA. "You're a lucky man."

M

"Thanks" MA said, "I also tell him the same thing, you'd think that after our encounters with UK's kids he would develop some brains about kids."

Mandara rolled his eyes, "Well, America and his siblings are one thing, my kids would have a better upbringing, and I wouldn't tax the shit out of them."

MA chuckled "On that note Wehrmacht, I'm sure you have some advice for Casanova about parenting, right?"

L

Wehrmacht barked out a laugh at the reference. He was about to go into a lecture about first-year nightmares when the clock on the wall caught his eye. It was getting late and if he wanted to finish all the Crown procedures over the night, they would have to return home soon.

"Maybe another day when you and Poland decide to take the next step," Wehrmacht said with a wink. He called on a waitress to bring the bill and paid for the dinner, leaving a hefty tip.

M

Mandara started to blush at that thought but immediately beat it down, though his face remained ever so slightly red.

"Well, I truly appreciate that image." He said sarcastically as he stood up, MA just chuckled again but didn't say anything as they left.

When everyone got on the street and started walking back to Wehr's house, Mandara found himself falling to the back of the group and spread out his wings to let the wing blow through his feathers, just like he did the first night he and MA were in Germany.