There was a do not disturb sign on Berlin's door. Never before had the boy been so secretive, so quiet about what he was doing. He had been this way for about a week now, rarely ever leaving his room; and when he did, he stayed outside for a few minutes and instantly disappeared back in. Rome was being spiteful again, talking about how Berlin was lazy, weak, hiding himself because he finally figured it out.

But Italy knew something was wrong. He was carrying a basket of laundry down the hall when he heard something coming from the boy's room. Raising an eyebrow, Italy walked over and knocked.

"Berlin, are you okay?" he asked.

"Erm...ja! Ja, alles gut!"

The boy probably didn't want to talk. Italy would just come back later, after he put the laundry away. He was walking back past the door, thinking about what to make for dinner. Should he make pizza or sandwiches? It was so hard for him to figure it out, and his train of thought was destroyed as he walked by his eldest son's door again.

"N-nein! Seiz dich! Seiz dich!"

The hell?

"Berlin?" Italy knocked again, wondering what the boy was screaming. "Berlin, please open the door!"

"Okay!"

The door swung open and there was a disheveled, tired Berlin brushing his floppy hair back with a hand.

"Ja?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you doing in there?" Italy asked, trying to push past Berlin. The younger boy tried to push his papa out of the room, closing and locking the door behind himself. Italy knocked on the door a few times, but was met with silence.

Okay, now he really wanted to know what the boy was doing. And in order to get to someone as stubborn as Berlin, he needed to go to someone stubborn; Germany.

Said man was in the backyard, reading a book and watching his dogs play in the grass.

"Hey, Germany~" Italy said, coming up to him. "Will you help me with something? Berlin is doing something really weird and when I went to see what it was he kicked me out of his room. Literally!"

"What was he doing?" Germany asked, looking up.

"Saying something like...Sei...Seiz-"

Instantly the dogs stopped playing and sat down in a straight line, staring silently. The two nations stared back.

"Something doesn't seem right," Germany said. "He was saying 'seiz dich'?"

"Yeah!" Italy exclaimed, frowning. The dogs barked.

"There's an animal in his room." Germany closed his book and stood up, waving his hands. The dogs howled and battered each others heads like a ram.

This time, the knocking on Berlin's door was loud- that's just how Germany was- and once again the door came open, revealing the face of Berlin. Germany shoved open the door and walked in, Italy right behind him. Italy felt bad now; he should have just dealt with this on his own. What parent couldn't get into his own child's room!

Both stopped dead in their tracks. Berlin was standing against a wall, biting his bottom lip, his hands at his sides and clasped.

"Is that...?" Italy's face suddenly lit up. "A POODLE!" He dropped to his knees in front of the animal, holding his hand out. The black spotted white dog tipped its head to the side and sniffed it, suddenly licking his hand once and then jumping on Italy. "My gosh, it's adorable! Berlin, why did you hide it?"

"I hid him because you would have told Vati...and Vati would have refused to let me keep him."

Germany scowled. "You could not have kept him in here forever."

"I...I know, Vati, I know..." Berlin looked away, his eyes watering. He thought he wouldn't be able to keep the dog.

The tall man knelt down and held his hand out like Italy did, surprised when the dog merely licked the tips of his fingers. "Where did you find him?"

"Ich weiss nicht, Vatiiii," Berlin complained. Italy knew that phrase all too well. "Berlitz and Aster brought him to me and I just couldn't say no. I think he was abandoned." He picked up the dog and held him, almost too small to hold it any longer. It looked to be at least three months old.

"How have you been taking care of him?" Italy asked.

Berlin moved a bowl out from behind a stack of books- dog food and water. "And I...er...jump through the window to take him on walks and stuff and..." He kicked over a basket full of balls that the puppy absolutely went crazy for. He leaped out of his owner's arms and chased one that Italy threw, barking loudly when it bounced back and hit his nose.

Italy smiled and cuddled the puppy to his chest. "He's so cute! Berlin, what did you name him?"

"Marti. But he doesn't respond to well. I guess he...doesn't need to now."

Germany shook his head. "No," he said. "Kommt heir, Marti."

Slowly the dog untangled itself from Italy's arms and trotted over, tipping his head to the side.

"You need to be gentle with them," Germany said, petting the dog's head. Italy grinned. "Does he have a bed?"

Berlin pointed with his thumb to the corner of the room where he had an old, never used blanket in a heap with a few pillows he apparently got from a cheap store.

"Carino!" Italy exclaimed, smiling. "Germany, can he keep him?"

There seemed to be a lot of thought going on. Berlin looked as if he knew the answer and had to hold back, staring blankly and blinking quite a bit to stop his tears.

Marti barked, sticking outs his tongue. Germany flicked one of his floppy ears.

"I guess," he said.

Berlin seemed to just light up. He nearly tackled Germany over in excitement, grinning more than he ever had his entire life.

"Danke sehr!" he exclaimed.

Shinzu: Face it. We've all tried to hide that one animal in our room. I tried to keep a spider.

It died ten minutes later.

ANYWAY, there's an abundance of German in here. -_-' Sorry, I don't speak Italian. I'm learning German. Translation? FINNNE.

"...ja! Ja, alles gut!" - Yes! Yes, all good!
"N-nein! Seiz dich! Seiz dich!" -No! Sit down! Sit down! (Not sure about that one, actually...I had to look it up)
"Ich weiss nicht, Vatiiii," -I don't know, daaaaadd,
"Kommt heir, Marti." -Come here, Marti.
(Italian) "Carino!" -Cute!
"Danke sehr!" -Thank you so much!

;3; I hate dogs, but I luv poodles. My grandma breeds poodles, and she told me that they came from Germany (never looked that up, though). Marti is a parti, based off of my uncle's poodle (by the same name). POODLES ARE HUGE GAIZ LIKE HUGE.

Kthnxbye.