Germany sat at the head of a long table, aligning the piles of paper in front of him. The other countries in the meeting were being awfully quiet, sitting in their respective seats and reading through various prepared speeches, but Germany wasn't going to complain. It was a nice change to be able to hear his own thoughts, and he was sure that this would be a productive meeting.
'Maybe,' Germany thought, 'we will be able to get through the entire schedule without an incident.'
This was optimistic thinking, he knew, but no one had spoken louder than a whisper in the forty-five minutes that Germany had been sitting there. He was pretty sure that if no one had exploded in that amount of time, they would have a nice, problem-free meeting.
"Veh, sorry I'm-a late!" Italy pranced into the room happily, holding a bowl of what looked suspiciously like pasta. When no one spoke, he stopped mid-skip and looked around the table. Germany saw Italy's eyebrows draw together in confusion as the room stayed quiet.
"Hallo Italy, nice of you to join us. Please take a seat." Germany gestured towards the empty chair next to him and Italy made his way over. As he sat down (placing the bowl of spaghetti on the table in front of him), Italy cautiously looked round at the other countries. The small frown on his face only deepened when no one, not even his brother, said anything to him. Or insulted him. They just sat there quietly and fiddled with the pieces of paper/objects in front of them.
Germany noticed Italy's confusion. "Italy, what's wrong?"
"Germany, why is-a no one speaking to-a me? Did I do some-a-thing wrong? Oh, Germany, I'm-a so sorry!"
Italy practically threw himself at Germany, tears in his eyes and a down-turned mouth showing how upset he was. Germany sighed and let the small Italian cling to him, offering an awkward hug as consolation.
"Italy, stop crying. You haven't done anything wrong, everyone is just very quiet today."
"But Germany, why is-a everyone so quiet? It's-a weird!" Italy sniffled, though his sobs were slowing down.
Germany looked around at the countries assembled at the table, all of which were looking at him with a mixture of pity and humour. Some of them (America and Prussia) were quietly laughing at his discomfort. Germany ignored them.
"Do you not know what today is?"
Italy shook his head.
"Today is the UN International Day of Peace."
Some of the countries around the table nodded, and a few murmured their affirmation. They were acting pretty creepy, Germany realised. No wonder Italy was so freaked out.
"Ve, what's-a that?"
"You don't know?"
Italy just gave Germany a blank look.
"Okay, right. Well, every year the UN- United Nations- organise a day where all the countries that are part of the UN make peace with each other. Other countries are welcome to take part as well, und the UN hold festivals und other events to celebrate the day. As the countries, we have to act peacefully towards each other."
Italy had now completely stopped crying and was just sitting on Germany's knee. Germany knew that he wouldn't budge, so just let him sit there.
"But Germany, if-a we're meant to be nice-a to each other, why is no-a one talking?"
"Because, Italy, no one wants to say nice things to each other; they'd much rather shout and yell insults instead. So, to keep the peace, they don't say anything."
Italy nodded and looked satisfied, though made no move to go back to his own chair. Germany, however, had grown used to this sort of behaviour and (again) let Italy stay where he was.
The meeting had been going well. After explaining the situation to Italy, Germany had talked through several of the items on the meeting agenda and, by some miracle, had managed to arrive at a satisfying conclusion for all of them.
Then, he brought up the issue of food-poisoning.
"So, the next subject of discussion is the unsettling rise of food poisoning in some of our countries. I have taken the time to put the statistics down on your programs, and I hope you can all see that there has been a distinct-"
"Germany, I think you've got this wrong." France cut in, holding up his program and pointing to the line graph showing the rise in food related illness in the last year.
"Oh, okay. What part are you referring to?"
France held the paper higher and grinned, "The statistics are wrong. I mean, clearly England should have the highest illness rate. Everyone knows that his cooking is the worst in the world!"
Germany knew it had been too good to be true.
"I do not cook badly. Take that back, you bloody wanker!"
"Why should he, it's the truth!" And now Prussia had joined in.
"Hey, don't hurt England's feelings! Don't worry England, I'll protect you from these meanies. After all, I am the Hero!" America jumped up in front of England, planting his hands on his sides in a heroic pose.
"I can defend myself, you idiot!" England's face turned dark pink at the thought of being protected. That seemed to be the cue everyone else had been waiting for, because they all suddenly burst to life, shouting, fighting and threatening each other.
Germany groaned and put his head in his hands, collapsing onto the table. He listened to the yelling countries and slumped down further, debating whether there was a pair of noise cancelling headphones on earth good enough to block out all the countries of the world. He sincerely doubted it.
Italy sat next to him and surveyed the chaos playing out in front of them, watching as everyone let lose all their pent-up insults and annoyance.
'Well,' Germany sighed, 'at least they lasted longer than last year.'
Hope you guys liked this little fic-let. Yes, this was uploaded on 21st September (by GMT time, and I live in England, so it's still the 21st now), the UN International Day of Peace this year.
Oh, this is my first Hetalia fic. I hope it's okay. :/
Please review (or favourite, or both). It makes my pet dragon and I happy! :)