Disclaimer: I don't own hetalia.
OoOoOo
He sat in his chair at the World Meeting, kicking his legs and smiling like the childish man they thought he was. In their eyes, he was stupid and annoying and naïve and a coward. To them, he was only able to make pasta and run away. He had an annoying, high-pitched voice; had a verbal tic 've'; shouted 'pasta~' a lot. He ran to Germany when he was scared, and when Germany wasn't available, he went to Romano.
Oh, how very silly they all were.
They greatly underestimated him. Very, very much, so that it would cost them their lives. He was the picture of innocence to them. He almost laughed. Almost. But unlike an annoying laugh like they all recognized, they would hear a dark, mocking laughter, and they would become suspicious of him. And he couldn't have that, now, could he?
He was actually quite intelligent. And manipulative. And ready to conquer all of these other nations. But he had to be sneaky about it, bide his time, for everyone saw how the Cold War and the World Wars had turned out. He had to be careful and make every little detail and decision precise. Slow and steady wins the race, and oh, how he was ready to win the race.
He played the fool and so that's all they expected of him. They expected him to run to Germany at the mention of something scary. They expected him to cry when Germany wouldn't let him make pasta. They expected him to be oblivious to how people thought about him.
Only Romano knew the truth. Those nights when he was 'scared to sleep alone' and 'Germany wouldn't let him' be near? He nearly laughed. Nearly. Whenever he went to Romano's house, he would … persuade his brother to help him when the time came. At first, poor, little, weak Romano had refused, had been terrified of him. But eventually, he'd given in.
How, you ask? Why, it was quite simple, really. First, there was the fact that he threatened Romano's boy toy – oh, rather, Spain. Romano had tried his best to make like he didn't care what happened to the 'tomato bastard', but he could tell that his brother was very worried indeed. Second, he threw his brother around a bit: a kick of the stomach here, a punch to the chest there. Romano hadn't stood a chance. He was the real coward of the two.
The third and fourth things went hand-in-hand. These were the two things that he enjoyed doing. In fact, Romano always went crawling back to him. Yes, he sometimes threw a punch to Romano's jaw, but steps three and four – the most common means of persuasion he used – always made up for it. He'd use his Italian charm, which even his brother couldn't resist, and eventually, they ended up on a bed, on a couch, on a table, rubbing and mewling and panting. At the same time, he always murmured soothing, persuading words into his brother's ears. He had lost track of how many times he'd told Romano just how special he was, how talented he was, how handsome and adorable he was, how the two of them could show the world how perfect he was, how perfect they were. And Romano, in the heat of passion, would agree and come up with his own ideas, ideas that the younger would always say no to, for they had to go by his plan.
Romano would remain persuaded for two weeks tops, and then the whole process would repeat.
He eyed the nations in the room, keeping his smirk hidden. How dumb were they to believe that he was naïve and stupid? Have they forgotten the mafia? – He shook his head at the drop of his façade, most especially right before World War I broke out. And what about his grandfather, who once ruled all over the Mediterranean? – He nearly curled his lip; his grandfather had been too straightforward and had done too little to plan. And there's also the fact that his grandfather actually was an idiot. But these nations, they believed that he truly acted like a child. In reality, he was old, older than Canada and America and Mexico and so many others. He was older and so he was wiser and smarter. Yet they seemed to have forgotten this very important detail.
He couldn't wait to kill all of the nations before him. He wasn't sure about Romano yet. At the moment, he just needed his brother to ensure that a civil war wouldn't break out when he started collecting his new land. But the other nations – oh, how surprised they will be. They will be so shocked and will plead for mercy when he tortured them, but he will give them none and ensure their death is long and painful. He wanted to remind them just whose grandfather had once been powerful. He wanted to show them that he was a nation to be feared.
But he would wait patiently until the time came.
Grandpa Rome hadn't been built in a day, you know.