Prussia was standing in a formal hall, surrounded by the other German states. He looked at the baby, the Second German Empire, that was being handed to him. He was quiet, too quiet. But at least he was smiling.

Prussia took the baby into his arms, cradling him as if he were the most important thing in the world, because he was. At least in that moment.

"What do you guys think of Noah?" he asked the group and got many "Mh-hms" back.

"Good, cause I'm not changing his name," Prussia said, smiling down at the baby. He could tell this little kid would grow to be strong. Or at least he'd hoped it would be the case.

---

Noah was finally two years old, finally. Prussia didn't know why he was developing so seemingly slowly, but then again, his point of reference were colonies and those usually developed faster anyway. Regardless, he was finally old enough to learn how to use a map.

After setting everything up, he went to wake Noah from his nap.

"Morning," Prussia said, as Noah groggily turned around and put his hands above his eyes.

"Come on, we're gonna go play a game," Prussia said and Noah shot up into a sitting position.

"Game?" Noah asked, smiling at Prussia who grabbed the toddler and placed him on the floor.

"Hell yeah kid, now come on!" Prussia said, taking Noah by the hand and guiding him into the dining room.

Noah looked at the table in confusion, before he was sat down on the map.

"We're learning map reading today!" Prussia declared before going on and on about the different parts of the empire, and explaining where each of Noah's uncles were. He grabbed a pen and circled some spots of interest.

Noah listened intently, until Prussia finally stopped talking.

"Now, your turn," Prussia said and waited for Noah to do something. After a few seconds of silence, Noah turned to look at the map, before tears a whole in it.

"I knew it, you're a rebel!" Prussia said, smiling at his little brother, who grinned back.

Prussia leaned down and kissed his brother on the forehead and hugged him. "You did such a good job!"

---

By the time Noah turned four, he had started copying Prussia. He began to march more than walk, and started to play dress up with Prussia's uniforms.

Currently, he was making a castle out of wooden blocks, and fortified it with a woollen mote.

"Hey bud, you up for dinner?" Prussia said, petting Noah on the head.

"Can I help?" Noah asked.

"Well, we're having bread tonight, so you can decorate your own bread today. What do you think?" Prussia said and Noah lit up, smiling widely.

"Really?" he asked, already up and running to the dining room.

"Of course!" Prussia said running after him.

---

When Noah was 6, Prussia had to ask for Austria's help. He and all the states were summoned for a meeting, so she was the only option he had to babysit his baby brother.

She agreed, though reluctantly. But when she saw Noah, her face lit up.

"Thanks for this," Prussia said, not looking at Austria.

"No problem," Austria said, looking away as well.

"Noah, this is Austria, she'll babysit you for today," Prussia explained, before looking at his watch and bidding the two goodbye, as he was already running late.

"Well little guy, what do you want to do?" Austria asked.

"Play!" Noah said, running upstairs.

Austria ran after him, but was barely able to keep up.

"Damn I feel old," Austria said as she finally caught up to Noah, who had stopped by his brother's closet and pulled out a military uniform already.

Austria groaned and explained calmly that he couldn't just take his brother's clothes. But instead of getting upset or obeying, the kid grabbed the helmet and ran downstairs again.

When Austria finally found him, he was on the kitchen counters, putting the helmet on.

"Please get down from there," Austria said and luckily Noah obeyed, but unfortunately, he ran into a different room right after, still holding the helmet.

And the entire day basically went like this, Austria said something, Noah ran and "hid".

Eventually though, it was 6 pm and time for Prussia to return home. But the whole house was a mess at this point, and Austria was barely holding it together as she breathed heavily, trying to catch up to the kid, who was still running around.

"Wow," Prussia said as he entered the house.

He found Austria heaving upstairs, and Noah running around with his helmet in his hands.

"Noah, give me the helmet," Prussia said, and the kid obliged.

"Okay, Austria, you did an amazing job, Noah already looks quite tired, so bedtime should be easy tonight," Prussia said looking at Austria who looked disappointed with him.

"Great-" she said sarcastically, before taking a few more deep breaths. Her legs shook as she walked to the door.

After a few minutes passed, Austria had finally recovered enough to stop shaking and heaving.

"Oh yeah, Franz told me he's going out tomorrow, something about appeasing the people with his presence, but he chose an open top car. I really hope nothing will happen," Austria said as if the implications weren't that her country would start a war soon.

"Okay, just... Stay safe," Prussia said before Noah approached.

"Thanks miss Austria, I had a lot of fun!" he said, before running upstairs again.

"How do you do it?" Austria then asked.

"No idea, but I've never been in better shape than now," Prussia joked, before bidding Austria goodbye who began her long walk to the train station.