Italy had been a bit anxious as December approached. He tried to make plans with Romano, but his brother had already planned a vacation with Spain to somewhere in the Caribbean. The traitor. He knew. He had probably bought the tickets since last December. Probably after being forced to measure the height of the Christmas lights hanging from the roof to milimetrical precision.

Next he tried big brother France, who sounded upbeat and encouraging until Italy mentioned that he planned to stay with him for a few days at the beginning of December. Then he also knew.

"Mon cher, just take it like a man. Be strong in your love, and it will get you through these difficult times."

Italy's face fell. "Aah, I'll try to think about that big brother. Bye!" and he hung up just in time for a low pitched whine to escape his mouth. "What do I do? What do I do?" he wondered, and then thought about his grandpa. He was dialing the number immediately.

"Hallo? This is the Roman Empire," said his grandfather's voice, and Italy smiled.

"Grandpa! I'm so happy! Do you-?"

"Currently I'm travelling to Germany to stay with my grandson and his friends so please leave a message-"

Italy hung up. "Noooo…" he whispered. So then Germany had told his grandpa that Italy was going to stay over like last year? Italy fidgeted and poured himself another glass of wine. Well, Germany had been insinuating that he would like for Italy to stay over like last year, but Italy had been hopeful to avoid the worst of it.

Maybe if he offered to bake something good for Austria, (and pay for it all, of course), he would let him stay over and even pretend like they'd made plans with anticipation. He had to know, so he would probably be more inclined to help him.

The phone rang, and Italy checked the number before picking up. It was Japan, thankfully. Italy breathed again and answered. "Hi Japan! How are you?"

"Oh, hi Italy. I was just wondering if I could drop by-"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Please drop by Japan! I'd love to see you, you are so welcome, I can't even being to tell you how happy I am that you called to ask."

"Wow. Thank you for your generosity. I mean, it seems much more practical if I spend the night at your house and then Prussia-san can come pick up both of us."

"Eh?"

"I'll be there tonight, and I'll tell Prussia that he can come by tomorrow morning. See you later!"

"Uhm…"

The beeping sound that announced that Japan had hung up felt like a personal mockery to Italy. So much that he sunk down to the floor, receiver still in his hand, and laid there in stunned horror for a while.