Chapter 2: Watching You Stand Alone

"So when is Prussia getting here?" Italy asked as Japan began clearing the plates from their lunch.

"Probably in a few hours. I'm going to go prepare his room." Germany stood and pushed in his chair.

"You're leaving already? But we've barely seen you all day!" Italy protested. But he rose and stood by his friend's side, ready to hug him goodbye.

"I know, I'm sorry. It's been a busy morning. But it will only take an hour or so and then when my brother gets here we can all spend some time catching up." Ludwig smiled reassuringly, and Feliciano felt the knot of unease in his stomach start to disperse at the rare sight. He stood on his tiptoes to embrace him and felt a tremor in his chest as Ludwig reciprocated. They lingered for an uncertain moment and then Feliciano broke away with a laugh and threw his arm around Kiku's shoulders, making the poor reserved man start in surprise.

"Come on, Japan! We can go paint in the garden while we wait for Prussia to arrive, you can bring your watercolors and show me how you do that cool thing with the cherry trees!" Kiku reluctantly smiled and nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he turned instead to Ludwig, who was already leaving the veranda. He hesitated for an almost imperceptible moment, then spoke clearly and without a trace of unease.

"Sayonara, Germany-kun."

"Hey, West!" Prussia exclaimed as he caught sight of his brother, before immediately tackling him with a hug and catching him in a headlock. "You're looking as relaxed as ever, kleiner Bruder. This is why you need me around, to keep you from having a heart attack!"

"That's far more likely to happen when you're here." Germany said with a laugh as he deftly freed himself. "It's been a long time since someone greeted me like that."

"Yeah, well, you get what's coming to you."

Germany laughed again. "What's that supposed to mean?" Prussia shrugged it off and grinned.

"So how has mein kleiner Bruder been doing? I hear you have some pretty big plans lately."

"Not bad, actually. I see you've met my friends, Italy and Japan."

"Did you say Italy?" Prussia turned to look at the other Axis members. The boy with the bluntly cut black hair must be Japan, whom he had heard about, which meant the other one was… Italy? "Wow, I haven't seen you in centuries! You got so big! But, wait a minute, I thought Italy was a…" Wasn't Italy a girl?

"What?" Italy asked.

"Nothing." He's a man! The last time I saw him he was three feet tall and wearing Elizaveta's hand-me-down dress! Prussia shook his head and smirked. "You look different, that's all." Seriously? Italy was a boy the whole time?

"Gilbert, you must be tired after traveling here, why don't you come inside and have a drink?" Ludwig offered, picking up Gilbert's two suitcases.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I totally want to tell you about this drama that was happening earlier with Liz and Roderich, it was hilarious!" Gilbert draped his arm over his brother's shoulder and they started walking up through the front garden to the house. "And also get to know these guys a little better, too! Who better to judge the level of their awesomeness than me, right?"

Italy and Japan picked up their drawing supplies and followed Prussia and Germany into the house. Germany set down his suitcases in the vestibule and then immediately took Prussia's coat and hung it up on a coat rack. "Hey, Italy, could you please take Prussia's bag to his room? It's the last one on the right down the hall."

"No problem, Germany!" Italy heaved the suitcases up off the floor and hurried with trembling legs down the hall. "Ugh, these are a bit heavy…"

"I'll help." Japan took one of the suitcases, and with his help Italy managed to carry the luggage down the hall without dropping it.

"So… Wow…" Gilbert murmured as soon as he left the room. "He's changed a lot, hasn't he?"

"Well, I don't know." Ludwig looked confused. "I only met him a while ago. I didn't realize he was so old."
"Yeah, old enough to have met the awesome me before is what you mean."

"Anyone older than you is too old to take naps." Ludwig huffed. "Actually, if they're your age they're probably old enough."

"Please, I'm awesome. Awesome countries only get more awesome with age."

"Hey, how old am I anyway?" Ludwig asked as Gilbert made himself comfortable the common room, sprawling casually on an armchair by a softly crackling fire. Gilbert paused and scratched his head thoughtfully. He didn't really know, but he tried to think back—back to when he first found him, wounded from a war so long ago. Germany had been nothing, just a remnant of an empire left for dead after a bitter war. Prussia had taken him in and cared for him, adopting him as his own family. Germany had no memory of anything that had happened before then, and Prussia didn't know anything about the person he'd been before either. But in time, he became a new person; his brother.

"I dunno, West. You grew up fast, but I have no idea how old you really are." Gilbert shrugged and dragged his mind away from his ancient-feeling memories. "Hey, you got any beer?"

"Do you realize who you're talking to right now?" Ludwig smirked and started down the hall toward the kitchen. "I'm sure you're tired after your trip here, and I know I could use a pint after the day I've had. I'll get us both some." He disappeared and Gilbert sighed and stretched on the chair, thinking how nice it would be to spend some time with his brother for a change. They used to be so close, but now they were both always so busy. Especially Ludwig. His poor kleiner bruder had a tendency to let his self-induced stress control his life, and it tore Gilbert's heart to watch his brother self-destruct this way. But if he could stay here for a while, he could make sure he wasn't going back down a dark path.

"Here we go." Ludwig returned with two pints of beer and handed one to Gilbert. They clinked mugs and Ludwig sat down in the chair directly across from him. "You wouldn't believe the nonsense I've had to deal with this morning."

"Oh, what's up?"

"I was already dealing with our own obstacles and now the Allies call me up–" He broke off as Italy and Japan reentered the room. "Oh, thanks for doing that. You can have a seat if you want." Prussia noticed Germany didn't offer them any beer; he figured not all people liked it as much as they did. Italy pulled a stool up to Germany's chair and perched on it, leaning against the much larger blond and apparently nuzzling his arm. Wait a moment… Nuzzling? Is this just how he behaves? A surge of confusion and underlying brotherly protectiveness rushed through Gilbert's mind as he realized Ludwig wasn't bothered by the contact. Ludwig wasn't usually so open to physical affection…

"West, you didn't tell me you were dating somebody!" Prussia exclaimed indignantly. "Mein Gott, I'm your awesome older brother, how could you keep this from me?!"

"What?!" Germany's face flushed and he looked utterly bemused. "No, I'm not! What gave you that idea?"

"Oh, come on! You don't have to be embarrassed, I'm happy for you!"

"I don't understand." Germany flusteredly ran a hand through his hair. "Why would you think I was in a relationship?"

"Are you serious?" Prussia gestured at Germany and Italy, demanding an explanation.

"What?" Wait, is he serious? Did I just totally misinterpret everything that's going on right now? "What are you talking about?"

"You know… You… And you…" Prussia faltered. Germany and Italy looked thoroughly confused, and Prussia glanced over at the only other person in the room to see if he saw what was happening, but Japan just glanced back quizzically and nobody else spoke. "I just… I thought…" Oh no, what else have I been misinterpreting? "Never mind…" He said weakly. WHAT IS GOING ON?

"Um… So… You said the Allies called you earlier?" Gilbert asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Talk about that in a minute, what were you saying about Ludwig dating somebody? You never told me!" Feliciano grinned and grabbed Ludwig's arm excitedly.

"I-I-I'm not! Gilbert!" Ludwig was blushing bright red, and Gilbert was sure he was too, if

for a slightly different reason.

"Uh, nope, nope, that was wrong, I made a mistake, just now, saying that. Right?" CAN WE PLEASE CHANGE THE SUBJECT?

"Feli, I don't know what he's talking about, I'm not-" Wait, why so quick to contradict? He does protest defensively! Maybe I wasn't totally wrong about them after all! Gilbert grinned in spite of his embarrassment and almost pursued the subject, then suddenly thought better of it. Better not say anything for now, I've only been with them for about five minutes, and maybe it would be better to just shut up about it until I've got some more evidence. Also, maybe I should call Liz later, she'll know what's going on if I tell her what I saw, and she'll totally freak about this-

"Wait, Germany told you he was speaking with the Allies? What else did he say?" Japan cut into his thoughts and Prussia gratefully leaped into the new subject.

"Yeah, he was telling me a moment ago." Prussia looked over at Germany expectantly, and to his ever-worsening confusion, Germany looked even more uncomfortable with this topic than the last one. How is a conversation with the Allies worse than who he's dating?

"Er… Yes. That is true, I had a conversation with Britain this morning, it was mostly business as usual and nothing to worry about."

"That's not the impression I got from what you said…" The two brothers made eye contact and Prussia again got the feeling that maybe it would be better to just stop talking. But he'd already listened to that part of his brain once today. "Well, I guess it's not that important, or you'd still be thinking about it, right? You'd only need to tell your awesome big brother about it if it was important."

"Yes." Germany said, with hesitation that to anyone but Prussia would seem nonexistent.

"Okay then." Maybe he's hiding this from them, but there's a lot more going on right now than a call from the Allies. And there's definitely something else going on. My poor brother; I'm sure if he'd just trust my awesomeness because I know how to handle any situation and tell me everything immediately this wouldn't be a problem… Prussia shrugged disinterestedly and inwardly resolved to get to the bottom of this later. For now though, it would be better to change the subject again, hopefully this time to something that didn't make everyone uncomfortable. Make him think I've forgotten… There is definitely some weird stuff going on around here. Definitely. I can't be making all of it up…

"There is absolutely nothing to be concerned about." Germany said affirmatively. There was a five second deafeningly awkward silence. What is up with us today? This doesn't usually happen… I have totally got to talk to West in private later on. WOULD SOMEBODY OTHER THAN ME PLEASE CHANGE THE SUBJECT RIGHT NOW? HONESTLY, I WOULD DO IT BUT I'M TOO AFRAID TO MAKE IT WORSE. The silence persisted before an apparently oblivious Italy broke it. Then it was drowned in a sea of words long enough for Prussia to recompose his thoughts as the awkward mood dissipated.

"How's Miss Hungary? She was always so nice to me. How are she and Mister Austria? I remember he would always play the piano whenever I was in his house. I did a lot of cleaning then, too. I didn't like it there at first, but I made friends. I have friends here too. But now we have better food." His blithe chatter finally seemed to rebalance the conversation. Prussia sighed internally in relief.

"She's okay, I hope. I don't really know, I was with her and Rod the other day and things were getting pretty intense. They had a bit of an argument, it's kind of a funny story how it started…" Gilbert scratched his head and chuckled in embarrassment at the memory. Ludwig raised his eyebrows, probably close to guessing exactly what and whom the argument had been concerning.

"Funny, as in you planted fake love letters under his piano and she found them? And then she vowed to have her revenge and it ended up with all of you at war with one another?"

"Oh, come on! When would that ever happen?" Gilbert rolled his eyes, then started giggling. Actually, planting love letters isn't a bad idea. Mental note: Plant love letters for Liz and Roderich from different people. Leave them anonymous. Wait for them to discover them and watch them think they both wrote them to each other, then when they discover they didn't, watch them obsess over it for weeks without ever knowing it was me.

"Didn't you do that one time?" Ludwig asked, looking perplexed.

"No… I should, though!" Gilbert grinned.

"Uh-oh, now I've gone and given you an idea. I should probably tell them." He chuckled.

"Leave that to me, bruder." Gilbert reclined and propped one ankle up on his knee.

"So, what happened? What did you do to them this time?" Ludwig asked with a sigh.

"Nothing!" Gilbert said defensively. "At least, nothing at first."

"Come on. What was it? I know you're just dying to tell us anyway."

"Okay, well, they sort of found my… totally awesome Diary… And it sort of made them mad at me. And each other." Prussia tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help a little snicker. Germany sighed deeply and pressed the heel of his hand into his forehead.

"Which one?" He asked, sounding exasperated.

"He has more than one?" Italy giggled.

"He's been keeping them for centuries. He sneaks around people's houses and records all the gossip he comes across and uses it years later to make people uncomfortable. All of them are pretty explicit." Italy giggled and Prussia was struck again with how different he had become, although he did still sound a little effeminate when he laughed… Not that he would mention that.

"It was from a few years ago and I had sort of recorded this argument they were having and I guess this also sort of coincided with one time where Liz and I were sort of dating and also I was sort of in a bunch of wars…"

"You were dating Miss Hungary?" Italy asked in awe.

"Well, for a while, I guess. A little. Sometimes. It's complicated. Anyway, I don't totally remember this but I guess I recorded this conversation Roderich was having with me and then I guess what happened is Liz found the diary and was reading it and apparently when you're dating somebody it's not okay to receive a love confession from somebody else and not tell the person you're dating about it, and also she's kinda pissed that that happened in the first place. I awesomely had both of them like me at the same time, I don't get why that's such a crime but anyway now Liz is mad at Roderich because of that and Roderich is mad at me for recording it and Liz is mad at me for not telling her and even though it happened FOREVER ago and I had forgotten it until she showed me the entry from my private diary which she shouldn't even have been looking through but whatever because she's great and anyway that's why they're mad at me this time." Gilbert had to stop and take several deep breaths to recover from that last sentence.

There was a short pause and then Germany made a strange noise of exasperation, Italy started giggling again and even the blank-faced Japan cracked a smile. "Gilbert, why…" Germany shook his head in awe bordering on dismay. "Why do you do these things? Why can't you just spread gossip and then let it die after a few days like a normal person? Why do you save it all up for centuries?"

"Then I can use it when I need it." He grinned wickedly as he thought of his huge storage room lined with shelves and shelves of his diaries.

"So can other people." Ludwig pointed out.

"Wait, I am confused." Japan interjected mildly. "What is the relationship between Miss Hungary and Mister Austria? How are you involved?"

"Ah… That's kind of a complicated question." Prussia smirked. "They married at one point,"

"They're still married." Germany cut in pointedly.

"Right, yes. They're married, and we're sort of friends... But it's complicated. and we've all sort of dated one another at least once… Sometimes at the same time."

"Wait, all of you? Weird!" Italy giggled. Yeah, you know what else is weird? Wearing dresses. We all do weird stuff!

"I see…" Japan said, frowning slightly. "Does one of you ever feel left out of the relationship?" He glanced surreptitiously at the other people in the room.

"Uh, I guess sometimes? I don't know, they've gone days without speaking to me or each other before so…" Prussia shrugged. "I guess love is always going to be difficult, right?" Kesese, I found a sneaky way to tease West.

"Well, much more so if you make a load of drama for yourself!" Germany expostulated.

"At least we're interesting." Prussia rolled his eyes. "We have stuff to laugh about later." He paused, smiling at a flash of fond memories, then added, "I'm sure you can relate, to it being difficult that is."

"I suppose I can't say." Japan shrugged. "I've never really been in love before…"

"I have!" Italy said brightly. "A long time ago. I was actually in Austria's house at the time."

"Who was it?" Germany asked curiously.

"I think I've told you this before." Italy giggled lightheartedly. "It was this really sweet boy who liked to paint with me and gave me food and we played together and one day he told me he had liked me for a long time and he kissed me, and then he had to go to war… It was really sad, but I gave him a push-broom to remember me by. He promised he would come home soon, but he never did…" Italy sighed. "I wonder if he remembered me."

"I'm sure he did." Germany smiled. "You're very memorable." They're both totally blushing right now! This is so cute!

"Thanks." There was a pause. "Have you ever been in love, Germany?" He hasn't. This is his first time! Prussia thought in glee. Then suddenly he realized that Germany wasn't saying no, like he'd expected. Wait, does that mean he has? WITHOUT TELLING ME?

"I think I was. Once…" His expression became faraway. "I don't really remember. But there was this beautiful girl I guess I used to know. Before Prussia even found me. She wore this pretty green dress and she was always smiling, and I remember she cleaned a lot, and I think she liked painting… I don't remember much else about her. Just her face. I don't even know her name anymore."

"Wait, you were in love before?!" Prussia almost shrieked. "You never told me about this!"

"You never asked." Germany shrugged.

"I did too! I always ask you if you're interested in anyone, if you're dating anyone, all that stuff!" Prussia said indignantly.

"You never asked me if I had been in love before, specifically." Germany shrugged.

"You little technicality-exploiter…" Prussia shook his head in indignation. How could he keep this from me all this time? He must have known I would want to know everything he remembered… Wait a second. There was a murmur of other chatter going on around him, but Prussia was completely frozen. Something had just clicked in his mind. Wait, what? I don't even know what I'm thinking, I just know it's ridiculous! It makes no sense, the timing might not even be close and the odds of whatever I'm thinking being true are… Ridiculous! Impossible! Just what am I even suggesting? …

Couldn't hurt to check with Liz.