Here is a sequel to this oneshot and this one
I present, Prussia and Austria bickering about who is more jealous, still at the Congress of Vienna:
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Austria was sketching the uniforms of the men who walked past as he waited. Prussia was not the first one who had turned up in the morning, which was enough to tell Austria that something was afoot. Prussia made a habit of being early to everything and always ready to judge others for their lack of discipline.
Just as Austria flipped the sketchbook to another page, Prussia appeared on his big warhorse. Austria raked him with his eyes. His uniform seemed in order, but Austria could not shake the feeling that he was coming directly from Russia’s bedchamber.
They had gotten suspiciously close during the last coalition, and Austria suspected that it was Russia recruiting an accomplice to support all of his ambitions, which were undoubtedly to dominate the continent. He wanted to replace France as a tyrant.
Prussia dismounted and handed his reigns to a groom. As he strode towards him, Austria took note of Prussia’s gait, which was marred by a limp. He knew that Prussia had suffered an injury to his leg at Jena, which had caused him a limp. Yet, Austria watched him carefully and wondered if the limp was not more pronounced and if it was because of a certain Russian.
He snapped his sketchbook closed and stood up. Prussia seemed to notice his presence, and Austria could see the way he sighed from the way that his shoulders moved.
When he got close enough, Prussia said, “Good morning, Roderich. Why do you look like you’ve been waiting for me?”
Austria had already thought through what he was going to say, since he had been considering it since he had first noticed how close Russia was getting. He replied, “Because I think it is time that you and I have a conversation.”
Prussia raised a pale eyebrow at him like he was puzzled, so Austria added, “We need to talk about alliances.”
He pulled Prussia into a quiet corner, which earned him another annoyed sigh from Prussia as he said, “What exactly are you being so conspiratorial about?”
Austria took a deep breath to brace himself for the conversation and answered, “I believe that Russia is using you to support his own ambitions.”
He didn’t know exactly how he expected Prussia to react. It was certainly not for Prussia to start chuckling. Prussia said, “Of course you do. How it must frustrate you that I have a friend. How it must frustrate you that someone is willing to give me my justice.”
Austria would not describe anything he had seen as friendly, and he could not tell if Prussia was being intentionally obtuse or if he was convincing himself. Austria parried, “A friend? Then what were you doing this morning that made you late?”
He knew the answer, but the way that Prussia unconsciously touched his high collar to make sure that his neck was covered confirmed it. He must have had love bites that he was worried would be visible.
Prussia responded without even denying the accusation, “What business of yours is it? Is it relevant to our alliance? I thought we were here to punish France.”
His defensiveness told Austria that he had been reading the situation correctly, and he suspected that Prussia may not have thought through the implications. It had been some time, as far as Austria knew, since Prussia had last allowed himself affection from anyone.
He tried to be gentle as he explained, “It is relevant because Ivan has his own agenda. I do not deny that he was invaluable in winning the war, but you must know that he will make demands and if you are in his bed, he’ll expect support in exchange.���
Prussia’s face flushed as it was wont to do when he was angry or upset. He snapped back, “Invaluable? You would still be kissing Francis’ ass to keep your empire together if it weren’t for him. I am not interested in hearing the fantasies you thought up while you were still trying to decide if you wanted to keep your alliance with that dwarf.”
Austria bristled at that. He may have chosen the moment he opposed Napoleon carefully, but Prussia seemed to be forgetting that it was a dangerous game. He replied, frankly laying out what he thought, “Believe me, I understand that we all made compromises. Why do you think he is cultivating this closeness with you?”
Prussia laughed, though there was very little mirth behind it, “Affection, dear Roderich. Affection for me, which seems to be a concept that you find difficult to understand.”
Austria sighed. He could tell that he underestimated how much Prussia was already emotionally invested with Russia. There had been much that he had apparently missed before joining the coalition. He could not help but feel that Prussia was being naïve. He clarified, “Gilbert, I am not suggesting that he doesn’t-“
Before he could continue and say that he didn’t find the man unlovable, Prussia cut him off, “And you are one to talk about bedroom politics. While we are sharing, why don’t you tell me what Antonio is asking for? Or Feliks?”
Austria was struck momentarily speechless. He had thought that those conversations were private, and he was shocked to hear that Prussia knew about his liaison with Spain. He asked, sharply, “Have you been spying on me?”
He added to himself Is that what Russia asked of you? To tell him what I am doing? However, he dared not go that far out loud.
Prussia chuckled again, “No, dear, I was spying on Feliks, because I know that he is slippery and would try to find someone sympathetic to him. It was no surprise that he went begging to you.”
Austria could feel anger rising in his chest. He had always found something deeply distasteful about Prussia’s particular grudge, the childishness of refusing to forgive old slights. Before he could voice the feeling, Prussia continued, “But, I was surprised to hear that you have been spending so much time with your ex-husband. I thought you'd lost your taste for anything Spanish.”
Austria balled his hand for a moment to calm himself before releasing the tension. It would be pointless to deny it if Prussia had really had someone watching. Nor was he ashamed about a little dalliance. He sighed and said, “Maybe so, but why do you care about Antonio?”
He saw the look of disgust and frustration that passed over Prussia’s face, and he found it oddly intriguing. Was that a shadow of jealousy? Prussia scoffed, “He’s more selfish and conniving than Vanya is. When you were married to him, it was unbearable to everyone.”
Austria took his opportunity to scoff back, “When did you start concerning yourself with my marital problems?” Then he paused for a moment, realizing what he had just heard, and said incredulously, “And since when is he ‘Vanya’ to you?”
Prussia rolled his eyes and ignored the question and answered, “I care that your zealot ex-husband makes you worse with his hypocrisy and his piousness. If you are going to make it your business who is in my bed, then I am going to demand that you get him out of yours. I am not going to deal with the person you are when he's filling your head with his messianic rubbish.”
Austria could have gone into detail about all the ways that the relationship had changed, about how Spain no longer had the power or the empire to be such a menace. But it felt like an explanation he did not owe to someone who was willing to defend Russia’s ambitions. Spain was a waning empire, while Russia was clearly ascendant.
He could tell from the smug look on Prussia’s face that he thought he had made a maneuver that could not be easily countered. Austria locked eyes with him, knowing that he wanted to gauge the reaction to what he was about to say.
He smiled as he said, sure he was about to catch Prussia, “Ah, concern, I see. That’s funny, because it almost sounded like you are jealous.”
Prussia’s face flushed red, and a distinct crease appeared between his eyebrows. But he was surprisingly composed when he said, “What is funny is that I was about to say the same to you.”
Austria shook his head. He was sure that he was not jealous, since he had been merely trying to warn Prussia about the dangers of falling too fast. It was clear to him from the diminutive and the defensiveness that he was not about to get through to Prussia. The most he could do was proffer a warning, and he had done that already.
He scoffed one more time and turned away, “Fine, but I did warn you. Come, we have work to do.”
Prussia took a few steps to get in front of Austria to seem like he was leading, and Austria heard him mutter under his breath, “I know you’re jealous.” Austria elected to ignore it, at least for the moment.
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