Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Hetalia. They belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

It was after midnight, and Germany had just finished his paperwork. He had spent all day focusing on it, only stopping once for a quick meal. Italy had insisted that he take a break for awhile, but he refused. This paperwork was extremely important, and nothing would distract him.

Italy had tried for about an hour to convince him to stop. He poked his face repeatedly, he whined, he even "accidentally" spilled water on the floor to get Germany's attention, but nothing worked. Germany was determined to get his work done. After awhile, Italy gave up and walked off sadly, not bothering him for the rest of the day.

Now that Germany had completed his work, he was exhausted. He could barely keep his eyes open, and although he had barely eaten and his stomach was growling, he was too tired to eat. So he quickly got ready for bed and walked into his room.

He yawned and climbed into bed, too tired to notice the sleeping Italian next to him. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost instantly, facing away from Italy.

About an hour later, Italy started tossing around in his sleep. He whimpered and started mumbling things in his sleep like "No!" and "Please, don't-a hurt me!" A few moments later, he suddenly screamed and woke up, breathing heavily as he looked around in a panic.

Germany was immediately awakened by the screaming and he sat up quickly, looking over at Italy in surprise and anger.

"Italy, vhat zhe hell are jou doing in my bed?! Und vhy did jou just scream like zhat?!" Honestly, he wasn't that surprised to find Italy in his bed, as that was the case almost every night. What did surprise him was the fact that he hadn't even noticed him when he first laid down, and the screaming nearly startled him to death.

Italy looked up at Germany with watery eyes. "I-I'm-a sorry! I d-didn't mean to wake you up."

"How long have jou been here?" The angry German asked.

"E-ever since 9:00. You didn't-a see me when you came in?" Italy inquired, his voice low and fearful.

"I sure as hell didn't! Und I don't appreciate being avoken at 1:30 in zhe morning by screaming!"

Italy flinched at Germany's harsh tone and looked down. "I-I'm-a really sorry Germany." He started crying, tears rolling down his face as his body trembled.

Germany instantly felt guilty and his expression softened as he put a hand on Italy's back. "Please don't cry. I'm sorry I yelled at jou."

Italy looked up at him, his big amber eyes filled with tears. It broke Germany's heart.

He sighed and spoke in a calm voice. "Vhy are jou crying? Vas it because I yelled at jou?" Italy shook his head. "Zhen vhy?"

"I-I just had a nightmare."

"Do jou vant to talk about it?" Germany didn't really know how to deal with situations like this, but he didn't want Italy to be upset, so he would try his best to calm him down, and talking about his nightmare might help him.

Italy remained quiet for a few moments before finally nodding and speaking. "It was-a dark outside, and I was-a walking home. After a few minutes, I heard-a footsteps behind me." He swallowed hard before continuing. "I saw a strange man. H-he held a gun up and-a pointed it at me. I started running, but eventually I-a came to a dead end in an alleyway." He trembled more and his voice broke as he went on. "I-I begged him not to hurt me, but he just-a laughed, and-a then he shot me. T-that's-a when I woke up."

Tears were streaming down his face now and he was shaking violently. Germany acted upon instinct and wrapped his arms around the smaller nation, hugging him. "It vill be alright Italy. It vas only a dream."

Italy buried his face in Germany's chest and kept crying. Germany held him close and started to rub his back gently. "Sh, don't cry. Jou're safe." Italy began to calm down after awhile and his sobs were reduced to sniffling every now and then. Germany stroked his hair and was relieved when Italy finally calmed down completely.

The brunette looked up at him and smiled. "Grazie Germany. You're my best-a friend. I don't know what I'd-a do without you." He quickly gave Germany a kiss on the cheek and then laid back down, pulling the cover over himself as he closed his eyes. "Buonanotte Germany."

Germany's eyes widened in shock and his face turned bright red. After a few moments though, he looked over at Italy and smiled. "Gute Nacht Italy." Then he laid down as well, and the two of them fell asleep shortly after. Italy didn't have any more nightmares that night.

A/N: I came up with this one-shot today and started writing it on my phone during class. :D

R&R!