Dutch little secret [Spain]

[[x] Netherlands]

The tall blond nation made his way through the Warehouse, sneaky as a seven feet tall muscled blond man could be while smoking a pipe. His destination, the roof. Or rather, the greenhouse the nations kept in it.

With quick steps, he made his way outside in the grounds, closing the door behind him and looking around for any threats, searching for the long metal ladder outside leading all the way up to the roof. Not a conventional way, but the best when trying to avoid people.

Stepping on his destination, Netherlands once more looked around for any signs of living - or dead - creature around before skipping to the place where to tall fences joined on a corner, kneeling on the muddy ground and moving some wooden planks that were leaning against the wall to reveal his little dutch secret: a small tulips garden.

Bulbs from various colors on pots, a little piece to remember of what he's left back on his place, with his people, safe from the hell unleashed in North America.

Kneeling on the ground, he rolled his sleeves to work on the bulbs, shutting himself from the world for some moments.

[[x] Spain]

Little did the Dutch nation know, Spain had already been inside the greenhouse.

He was kneeling in the dirt, almost laying down, to try and remove some of the dying stalks of some plant he wasn't too familiar with (but it's underside was almost black; a very bad sign) and he was trying to trim it back. The other rows of plants shielded him, giving him shade and cover.

Which was only useful from hiding from his (supposed) friend.

Well... they weren't enemies, but Netherlands clearly didn't like him very much.

Maybe he isn't so bad... He wondered, brushing off his hands and standing up. Silently, he snuck up behind the spiky-haired nation and peered over his shoulder.

Ah, so that's who brought the tulips in here.

"You take good care of them." He commented, handing Netherlands a small watering can with a smile. "I was wondering who was."

[[x] Netherlands]

For once, Netherlands didn't notice anyone approaching him, so eager he was to see his tulips. It was just a surprise, then, when he felt someone breathing on his back; for a moment Lars thought it was a zombie and he was done for.

Not without a fight though, and he was ready to strike whoever was behind him with the shovel and put up a fight.

But then he remembered: zombies didn't breath.

Neither they had Spanish accent.

"You knew about them?" he asked, with a small frown, and gripped the shovel harder. Maybe he'd need it after all.

[[x] Spain]

Spain sat down next to him, setting the watering can aside.

"Of course. I know everything in the greenhouse." Noticing the other's growing angry aura, he waved his hands in a sort of "I surrender" motion. "But I never touched them, I swear. I knew someone was taking care of them and figured that they were doing a good enough job so I left the tulips alone."

A soft smile glowed on Spain's face as he looked at the flowers, somewhat in awe. "They're very beautiful. I don't think I have many of them in my home, if any at all. You're lucky to have such a pretty flower as yours."

[[x] Netherlands]

Oh, well. At least he didn't touch them. He could live for now.

But Spain called his flowers beautiful. And if there was one thing that could be considered Netherlands' weakness, it was showing appreciation for his work. Or his bunny. Or smoking. Or sex.

Okay, he had many weaknesses.

But right now, Antonio found a really soft spot, that got Lars smiling slightly at him, despite his initial unfriendly manners towards the Iberian nation. It was like praising a mother for her kids.

"They're special flowers, no other specie has such vibrant coloration" Lars said proudly, making space for Spain to see the flowers by his side.

"You like them?"

[[x] Spain]

Spain nodded, hugging his knees to his chest. "I love everything in this greenhouse. But flowers have a special place in my heart."

Although fake flowers had no place in his large heart. He hated them. Mostly because that's how he got a lot of money and he HATES making them. They're not at all real and don't take as much effort to keep beautiful.

"Especially how delicate they are." Gently, he traced the soft petals and smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. It was one of his rare sad smiles. "They remind me..." of me. that part was unsaid. It surprised himself how delicate he really was. But he couldn't really admit it, after all, people were relying on him and he had to stay strong.

[[x] Netherlands]

Somehow, Netherlands understood what Spain meant with the analogy between his precious tulips and him. He went silent, but he knew it was true. Antonio somehow reminded him of his tulips: vibrant, beautiful, so dear.

"They just need to be taken good care" Lars said before he could stop himself though, and cursed himself mentally.

Toni was not a harmless tulip, and he could not care for him the same way. There had way too much between them, they had fought, hurt, subdued each other too much, and the scar on his forehead was there for Lars to remind himself how dangerous it could be to allow the Spanish man to get too closer for their relationship to be even called friendship, even if he wanted to - which wasn't even the case, or so he told himself.

"How about your carnations?" The Dutchman quickly changed the subject.

[[x] Spain]

Spain surprised himself with his response: "Well, doesn't everything?"

With a bright smile, he turned to Lars, excited to be changing subjects. "They're pretty, but don't come in nearly as many colors as tulips. There's only around five different colors of carnations. But your tulips come in really every color of the rainbow and then some. I'm almost jealous." He looked back at the flowers and watered them just enough to dampen the soil (and just enough to NOT get on the Netherland's bad side).

[[x] Netherlands]

"Some flowers can grow on their own, better without any interference" The dutchman said quietly, staring at the flower pot as he allowed him to wet the soil.

"But they are not as beautiful as tulips. I wish I could show you the ones with mixed colors. But it seems they only grow here on the normal ones"

Not that he hadn't tried to make the multicolored ones again, hybrids of other colors, but it seemed the compost there wasn't as good fertilizer as the ones back on his place.

"But I'm hopeful to create the Black Tulip here".

[[x] Spain]

Spain laughed a bit under his breath. "That is true."

He listened intently as the Dutchman described his tulips, feeling a little bit proud of himself that he found what some might describe as a "soft spot" but he knew well enough that the man next to him didn't have one.

Well... maybe he did. But it was buried deep, deep down.

Now the words "black tulip" caught his attention. He had heard of them before, but never seen them. "I didn't know you could actually create that... and isn't that kind of morbid?" The first image he thought of when he heard of ANY black flower was that of sickness or death. Why on earth would someone want to create something like that?

[[x] Netherlands]

"Love makes things prettier, don't you think?" Lars smiled a bit, caressing a petal fondly. He had put so much love on each one of those bulbs, he wasn't afraid of being a sap while talking about them. Each one of them were beautiful, even the black one.

Specially the black one.

"The Queen of the Night? She's a royal flower" Netherlands explained with his nose stuck in the air

"Each tulip has a meaning. And the black one is Power. Fits, no?" he said with a small smirk, showing him a small pot with a single black flower.

[[x] Spain]

Spain nodded a bit, enjoying this rare side of the usually stoic and anti-social Netherlands. It was very refreshing to see that he indeed still had a human aspect to him.

"Hmmmm... I guess I never saw it as that." He put a hand to his chin (not noticing that they still had dirt on them) and tilted his head at the sight of the sole black flower. It wasn't black per say, it was more of a deep purple-maroon which was still a rare shade in any living thing. Dying things yes, those plants would go black, but seeing something living and black... it sent shivers down his spine.

Instinctively, he drew closer to this plant, mesmerized with it's unique beauty and just the sheer shade of it's petals. His green eyes sparkled with childish curiosity and he almost timidly reached out to touch the petals, as if confirming that they were indeed still alive, of which they were.

The inky petals were soft as they should be and cool to the touch. Just like any other tulip.

And yet somehow they captured his attention, like he was put under a spell.

"They're... incredible." That's all he could say. No other word was coming to him. "Simply... breathtaking."

[[x] Netherlands]

Netherlands was aware that the flower wasn't pitch black. It was still something he had yet to reach (and he would keep on trying, as that was his sole source of sanity on that hell), but that flower alone was darker than any other hybrid he's ever dreamed to get.

Deep inside he knew that maybe had something to do with the fact that he was using manure from that dead wasteland. Black was the color of Death, after all.

But any further thoughts about his flower was abruptly interrupted when Spain, with his dirty hand, smeared dirty on his chin. Dirty.

Now, that shouldn't bother him so much as it did, but it was manure, on Toni's chin, and even if he wasn't a neat freak, that would have bothered him to no end. Any dirty spots bothered him. He just had to keep everything impossibly impeccable, to clean it.

Slowly, he gripped Spain's face, staring at him intently as he reached for his napkin. He had to clean it!

[[x] Spain]

Spain's train of thought (or maybe lack thereof) was halted by his face being forcibly gripped and turned up towards the Netherland's.

"Uuuuuuuh... What are you doing...?" He cocked one eyebrow as the other was half-searching for something. "Is something wrong?" The way that Ned's piercing green eyes kind of bored holes into his own made him somewhat uncomfortable. It's like being in the hands of the enemy; it terrified him, yet somehow gave him a bit of a thrill.

((Sorry about the short post. ;A; I wasn't sure what else to do. And I don't even know about that last part. XD))

[[x] Netherlands]

"Your face" Lars said, still staring at him and rubbing his chin forcibly, frowning and wrinkling his nose. Really, how could he not have at least smelled the thing on his face? It was stinky!

"There's manure on it. All over it." He explained to the Spaniard, still rubbing his chin clean, making his skin go raw red.

[Don't worry about length, I just put a lot of thoughts when I don't know what to do too xD]