Rin: Okay, so—
England: You start a lot of stories off that way, Rin.
Rin: So what? Anyways, we had spaghetti for dinner two nights ago—
Italy: Ve~pastaaaaaaaaaaaaa~
Rin (louder voice over Veneziano): —and we were cleaning up afterwards. The thing that happened inspired this one-shot 'cause I don't want to be the only one to have what happened happen to me.
England: And what exactly happened?
Rin: Uh…you'll see. Anyway, Ita-chan, will you do the disclaimer?
Italy: Ve~Rin doesn't own anything.
Rin: Thanks, Italy. Now onto the one-shot, It's Human Nature! (The title will make sense…hehehe.)
"Ve~Germany?" Italy sounded nervous.
Germany sighed, setting down his newspaper. He was sitting in the living room; Italy had requested again to make him dinner, and he was trying to stay out of Feli's way, even though it was bothering him that the kitchen was probably getting dirty and he'd have to spend at least an hour later cleaning it. His distraction source was the newspaper. "What is it?"
"Um…Doitsu…I-I was making you pasta, right…?"
That wasn't a good beginning. "That was your plan," he said cautiously.
Even from a different room, Germany heard Italy gulp. "Ve~y-you won't be angry, will you?"
"What did you do, Italy?"
Italy squeaked a little. "U-uh…"
Germany stood up and went inside the kitchen. What he saw made him shout. Italy was on the floor with his legs sprawled out, staring helplessly at the pot in front of him. Pasta sauce was splattered all over the floor. "Italy, you dumpkoff!" he yelled, grabbing a wet cloth and crouching down to clean up the spill. "What happened?"
The bronzette scampered out of his way. "Ve~I-I tripped," he mumbled. "It's only a little thing, right, Doitsu?" Germany gave a small grunt and didn't say anything, stoically continuing to clean. Italy inched closer, putting his hand on Germany's shoulder. "Germany?"
"Italy…" Germany's voice was quiet. He looked up, looking Italy in the eye. "Why wouldn't you be more careful when making your beloved pasta?"
It was a second before Italy absorbed the words. Then he laughed. "I tried to be, Germany! But sometimes everybody slips up." He hugged Germany around the neck from behind. "No matter how important something is, people will mess up once in a while." He smiled. "It's human nature!"
"…Even the most important things, ja?" Germany finished cleaning and straightened, going to rinse the cloth.
"Ve~everything." Italy nodded.
"Interesting…" Germany set the cloth to dry. Then he put a hand on Italy's shoulder, looking him in the eye with a soft smile. "Be more careful so you don't hurt yourself next time, Italy, all right? Things would be a lot worse if you spilled boiling water or something."
Italy smiled. "Ve~I will!" he promised brightly.
"Good." Germany seemed to hesitate. Then he gave Italy a quick kiss on the forehead and left the room, going back to his newspaper.
"Ti amo, bello!" Italy smiled and starting humming to himself as he restarted making the sauce.
Rin: I warned ya it was short…
Italy: Ve~short and sweet, Rin!
England: So you spilled pasta sauce all over the floor?
Rin: *blushes* Shut up! Yes…I did…but it wasn't on purpose! I dropped the container we had put the leftover sauce in near the refrigerator, and it kind of exploded all over the place…
England: *rolls eyes*
Rin: (At least I can cook!) Please read and review!
Italian to English Translation: "Ti amo, bello" – I love you, beautiful ("bello" is the male form of "bella", which is Italian for "beautiful")
