A fluff-like story between little Italy (Feliciano) and Austria (Roderich). :-)
Guilt Trip
Roderich sat on the bench of his piano chair and turned to the last page he was practicing on, until he heard someone enter the room. Austria sighed in annoyance. He immediately knew it was Italy, because his wife, Hungary, knew how to knock.
"Hey papa! I want to show you something-"
"Can't you see I'm busy?" The Austrian man snapped. This happened every day, yet it was still something Austria haven't gotten used to. And probably never will. "I have a recital coming up and-"
"But look, it is a picture I drew! Of a kitty!" He said, thrusting the drawing into the man's face. Austria snatched the paper from him and crumpled it. "I don't care about some stupid picture! Do you think what you draw is more important than my music?" Instead of waiting for the small nation to reply, Austria snapped, "Go to your room. And don't come out until I'm done practicing. You do this every single day, but you just don't learn!" Austria threw the crumpled paper in the trash.
For a second, Italy just stood there. Then tears began to appear in his eyes.
"But I have worked so hard on it, Mister Austria..." Tears were flowing down his cheeks, them he ran to his room. Good riddance...
"Mister Austria!" A voice cried. He flinched.
"Hungary, I tell you to knock-" She took a few steps closer.
"You should be ashamed of yourself," His wife hissed.
"Why is that?" The words came out before he could stop himself.
"Are you serious? Italy is only a little boy. Why must you be so harsh with him?"
"He always does this, Eli."
"He always does this, my ass." Hungary yelled. Austria felt nervous. He especially did when she started cursing. That's when she is really mad. "You rip up a picture that he worked all day on, then you ask whether he thinks his drawings are more important than your music?" The man gulped. Come to think of it, was really harsh... "You're so selfish. I can't believe you would say that to Italy! Or even any child, for that matter! Now, I want you to go apologize to him." Austria sighed.
"Fine. I swear, he isn't even our child..." He muttered under his breath.
Back in Italy's room, the boy was drawing pictures of cats when Austria entered the room. Italy looked up and smiled.
"Oh, hi there! Do you want to draw pictures of cats, too? Ve~" Austria frowned at the boy's tick in the word 'Ve'. Another thing about Italy that annoyed him.
"Hungary says I have to apologize to you. And I'm... sorry." Italy shrugged.
"That's fine. I just won't draw pictures for you anymore, since it makes you so angry. And I promise I won't come in the music room at all, since you love your music," Italy assured. Austria felt his heart tug painfully at his words. He didn't have to do that.
"Oh, Italy, It's alright-"
"Why should I so something to make people angry? People should be happy, Ve~" Austria frowned.
"I- uh, okay." He noticed that the boy had already stopped talking and was drawing again. "I guess I should be going now." Silence. Austria headed out the door, feeling worse than he had earlier.
Years past, and Italy had grown up, then moved out. The once-filled halls of laughter were soon silent, and Hungary had divorced him. Of course, It wasn't her fault...
Then for the first time in decades, Austria became lonely. Without the two other countries living in his house, Austria was bored. With the exception of music.
Then came the Christmas party. Despite himself being grumpy, he actually enjoyed the holidays. That is when he sees Hungary and Italy the most.
So the night before Christmas, the trio and Germany and Prussia ( due to the coaxing of the Italian ) spent the evening at Austria's house. The scene was lovely. Italy was decorating the tree with pasta, Prussia and Hungary were having a decent conversation for once ( it was really rare ), and Germany was setting up the table while Austria was playing Christmas tunes on his piano. Things were going great.
Until Italy disappeared.
At first, Austria brushed it off and figured that he had went to the bathroom, but had been gone for twenty minutes. Something wasn't right here. The Austrian man politely dismissed himself from the group and went to go find Italy. He hoped that he hadn't left the house and somehow ended up in Switzerland. Or even worse, France...
Uh, oh.
Austria checked in all of the rooms in the huge house, until he finally checked Italy's former room when he was a child. Italy was giggling and going through the drawing he had made in his youth. It all had brung him back to good memories. Then he got to the cats. Italy swallowed, remembering the day Austria had been the most harsh with him when he was little. Tears started to well up in his eyes. Austria noticed the lack of noise coming from the Italian man.
"A-are you alright, Italy?" He turned to the man in response, his hands clutching the cat pictures.
"Oh, I was just looking at these drawings, is all. I-I" Italy suddenly ripping them up in anger, letting the scraps to fall to the floor. Austria was dumbfounded. Then he remembered.
"Ve~Ve~Ve~! Odio queste foto! Perché ho nemmeno a tenere questi?! Oh Dio ... Questo appena rovinato la mia notte !" The crazed mumbling of the Italian scared Austria. He didn't know what to say; he was terrible in emotional situantions like this.
"Feliciano... " Italy stopped, stunned by the use of his real name. Austria rarely used his real name.
"Y-yes?"
"I-I am so sorry... I truly am. I didn't know if you wanted to keep those."
"Why would I keep something that gives me bad feelings and memories?" Feliciano questioned, his voice dangerously low. Austria shrugged.
"How should I know? Look, I know I wasn't much growing up, but... I..." Austria was at a lost for words. So he hugged him.
Feliciano was taken back by the random act of affection, but he relished it for as long as he could.
"It's okay. I forgive you. Roderich."
*Looks down at laptop keyboard* Wow, what have I written...
Well I hope you like it. This pairing is rare ( or at least I'm not looking hard enough). I feel so bad for Italy... and how he's so passive-aggressive in this, or at all. :-(
Until next time,
~SockmonkeyJr
