1) GerIta One-Shot

"Italy?! Italy's the one I have to look out for?!" the female laughed, causing her male companions to recoil. "Yes, funny, isn't it?" A faint smile flitted across one of their faces and the woman lifted her head to the air again only to laugh. "All of Germany knows that that little boy can't handle that much responsibility! He'll need the help of his grandfather again!" This time her companions laughed as well and the sound traveled from the fountain where they stood to the park bench that lay quietly on the other end of the park. On this bench sat a little boy who now looked as if he were going to cry.

"Why do they have to be so mean?" he whimpered, sniffling several times. "A-a-a-are all Germans like this?" he said, turning his teary brown eyes up towards his partner. The man that sat next to him, a rather tall blonde-haired man, stopped staring down the chessboard in front of him and met the boy's gaze. "Well…" he began. His voice was very deep. "They can't believe it, so they'll joke about it for a while until they find something else that's funny, Feliciano." The little boy clenched his fists and closed his amber eyes. "But it's not even funny! I finally did something good for the world and they're laughing at me!" he whimpered; a steady stream of tears began to fall out of his eyes and his partner sighed heavily. "I'm not laughing at you. I'm actually very proud of you." Feliciano's eyes immediately opened and he leaned in close to his partner. "You really mean that, Ludwig?!" he squealed. Ludwig closed his eyes and sighed. "Y-yes." He opened his eyes and reached over to ruffle the Italian's hair, taking great care to miss the long curl that stuck out of his auburn hair.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" the Italian boy cried happily; all traces of tears seemed to vanish from his sun-kissed skin and Ludwig sighed heavily as he leaned up and placed small kisses on both his pale cheeks. "F-Feliciano…Don't do that…" he muttered as he caught the eye of a passing man. Ludwig closed his eyes and nodded as Feliciano muttered an apologetic "sorry" under his breath.

"…Ludwig?"

"Hm."

"Why is everyone so depressed here in Germany?" Feliciano asked, reaching up to tug on the blonde's sleeve. Ludwig raised an eyebrow and folded his burly arms. "You tell me. There's a possibility another war will start up – World War III – and already they're blaming it on American irrationality and German violence." Ludwig sighed heavily and reached out to move a pawn across the chessboard. "America I can understand…Alfred has always been full of himself, the bastard…but why Germany? We've been so damn busy with trying to patch up the last war's wounds that we have no time to even think about messing with the rest of the countries!" Ludwig muttered; his voice rose with each syllable and Feliciano covered his ears, tears building up in his eyes again. He hated seeing Ludwig so mad and it broke his heart to see him so lonely, so he reached up and hugged him tightly around the arm (honestly, it was the only part he could wrap his arms around other than his waist). Ludwig went silent for a while until Feliciano began to speak.

"Please don't get mad…I hate it when you get mad…" Feliciano looked up at Ludwig to see a pair of distant blue eyes meet his amber ones. Ludwig nodded. "A-alright…" His cheeks began to burn a little with – a blush?! Could he really feel such warmth towards the little boy that had done nothing but pester him all his life?

"But…Ludwig?"

"Hm?"

"Why don't they think I can do anything like this?" Feliciano looked up into the German's blue eyes and pouted; for a while Ludwig remained quiet, seeming to refuse to speak or even look at him. "…w-well…"

"Well what?! What is it?" Feliciano cried suddenly, clinging much tighter onto Ludwig's sleeve. His eyes were optimistic, always wanting the best answer without the depressing explanation. It made Ludwig swallow nervously when he realized that he'd have to break his spirit anyway. Feliciano climbed closer to him, pressing his smooth stomach against his arm and resting his chin on Ludwig's forearm. Ludwig merely shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in deep thought. "It's just…well…"

"…Ludwig." Ludwig opened his eyes and noticed that Feliciano was smiling broadly. "Ja?"

"It doesn't matter what you say. I'm not going to get offended…because I know you won't make fun of me." Ludwig felt the corners of his mouth twitch roughly and he cleared his throat to keep from smiling. "F-Feliciano…"

"Hm?"

"…they're in shock. As is the rest of the world and Italy themselves."

"Eh?! Now the world is laughing at me?!" the Italian boy cried suddenly, feeling his eyes – yet again – fill with tears. Ludwig felt his heart race in his chest and he tried to think of a way out. "W-well, not that they're making fun of you…th-th-they're actually p-praising you!" he said hesitantly. "By laughing?!" Ludwig sighed when he realized that he'd failed and turned his head back to the chessboard. "I suppose so…" He felt Feliciano whine and shake his head rapidly, causing his curl to bounce up and down. "No! That's not praising, that's being a bully!" Ludwig felt his cheeks burn more at the sound of the childishness in Feliciano's voice but he shook it away. "Well you can't expect everyone to walk up to you and say 'Job well done', now, can you? No one did it for me when I single-handedly bombed England…granted, they didn't deserve it…but they hurt my capital. Monika is still in pain because of it even though the war ended about twenty years ago…she has a limp now." Feliciano ignored Ludwig's random mumbling and sighed. He reached up and wiped away his tears. "Well…I guess I can stop being strong…" Ludwig bit back a rude comment and leaned back. "Strong?"

"Yep…they think I'm strong…so they're going to make fun of me till I take offense to it and back down. They're scared, Ludwig. Terrified." Ludwig raised a blonde eyebrow. "Scared?" he asked. Feliciano smiled innocently and nodded. "They didn't think I could do this. And I did! And it's all thanks to Germany and Austria!" Ludwig nodded. "Ja…well…"

"Hm?"

"…never mind." Ludwig knew he had to tell Feliciano one day that it wasn't help…he'd actually gone out of his way to get the other countries to act afraid of him just to boost his mood. Ludwig's cheeks burned with another random blush and he sighed when he pictured the poor Italian's crying face in his mind. Why? Why, Ludwig, why? Ludwig closed his eyes.

I'm sorry…I tried…I'm sorry…please don't be mad…I did it for you…I love you.