Thanks to Gemini Artemis for being my beta and to everyone who reviewed!

SEEING IS BELIEVING

Chapter 10

Romano groaned as he slowly became aware of his surroundings. His back hurt. His head felt stuffy, and his thoughts were slow and jumbled. He could feel his heartbeat deep inside his skull. And God, what was that terrible taste in his mouth? Had he been eating out of a garbage can or something?

He sat up and rubbed his face. As he moved his legs to the floor to stand up, he felt them brush against something that made a clinking sound. He slowly opened his eyes.

Beer bottles. A whole ocean of them. Just what the hell had –

And then he remembered everything that happened. He had let Prussia see him cry like a complete loser. And... and he had said so many stupid things to him!

Feeling like he wanted to die, Romano grabbed a pillow and buried his face into it. Holy hell, what had he been thinking? What had happened to common sense and self-preservation? Why had he shared something so intimate and painful with a complete asshole?

Romano quickly scanned the living room, but he couldn't see the other nation anywhere. Good, maybe he had passed out elsewhere or had dragged himself to the basement. That gave Romano the perfect chance to get the hell out of here without having to face him.

He made quick plans. He'd just leave. He'd buy a toothbrush and something to eat on the way to the airport and try to make himself presentable in the public bathroom. Then he'd get on a plane and never again in his life come to this house. Veneziano could pick up his things the next time he visited the bastard.

He stood up in determination, swaying only a little and trying to ignore the wave of nausea that hit him as started tiptoeing towards the front door. He almost made it when there was a sudden crash from the kitchen that made him freeze.

"Shit! Fuck!"

Curious, Romano couldn't help but turn around and go take a look. He reached the entrance to the kitchen and saw Prussia sitting on the floor, surrounded by broken glass and holding his foot in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Romano asked.

"Oh, good morning! I'm making coffee."

"Sure as hell doesn't look like it."

"I got a little distracted when these cups fell down on me," Prussia explained. "West must have been a little careless the last time he emptied the dishwasher."

"More like you've got such a hangover that your hands are shaking like you're having a seizure."

"Why do you think I was making coffee in the first place?"

Romano didn't answer as he kept glaring at the still sitting nation. To be honest, coffee would do him some good right now. Maybe it would wash away that terrible taste in his mouth and make him feel a little more relaxed. Then he could go home.

"Get out of my way. I'm making the coffee," he announced.

"Be my guest. I'm a little busy. Damn, I think I've got glass in my foot!"

Romano went about making the coffee and ignored Prussia's curses and hisses as he tended to his foot. He was somewhat amused to notice that Prussia used enough band aids to make it look like he had stuck his foot into a meat grinder. He was barely bleeding, so the whole thing had to be just another show for attention's sake.

"So, what are you planning to do today?" Prussia asked when they had settled down at the table and were both holding cups of steaming coffee.

"I'm going home as soon as I'm done drinking this," Romano said.

Prussia's face fell, but he was quick to hide it under confusion. "What? Why?"

Romano couldn't believe that Prussia had to ask. In fact, he couldn't believe that he hadn't already picked the best pieces of Romano's catastrophic sobbing from the previous night and used them to insult him. Or maybe he was just waiting for an even better opening.

He took a sip of his coffee so that he wouldn't have to answer. Even though he was glaring at the table, he was sure that Prussia's eyes were on him.

"Wait, is it because of yesterday? Or earlier today, whatever."

"I thought you said you'd drink enough to forget," Romano growled.

"Sorry. I guess there just wasn't enough beer to get someone as tough as me to completely black out," Prussia said with a cackle. "But hey, you don't have to leave because of that. As long you don't make a habit out of it, I don't mind you occasionally bawling your eyes out and telling me your most intimate secrets!"

Romano pushed his coffee away. He could buy more at the airport. "I'm leaving."

"No, wait! That came out wrong. What I was trying to say was that you don't have to feel embarrassed or anything. I won't mention it again if you don't want to, and I won't tell anyone," Prussia said.

"And why should I trust you?" Romano asked with a snort.

"For one thing, what you told me isn't humiliating or funny. If you'd said that you secretly like to dress up in a tutu and think about Russia when you – okay, okay, I won't finish that. It's pretty sick. But the point is that there would be nothing funny about teasing you right now, so I won't," Prussia said.

Romano supposed that made some twisted kind of sense. He realised that he actually wanted to believe that and not just so that Prussia wouldn't be poking him where it hurt the most. His heart felt light. Maybe it had done him some good to say all that, even if it was Prussia he had confided in.

Or maybe that was exactly it. Veneziano or Spain would be fussing all over him and treating him like he was made of glass. The way Prussia talked to him made him feel almost normal. Like he was strong and could stand on his own feet.

"You promise?" he asked.

Prussia's grin widened. "Cross my heart and hope to die. If I want to make fun of you, I have enough ammunition already. I don't need the stuff from yesterday," he said.

"Good. Because if you break that promise, I'll –"

"Kill me?"

"Make you eat England's cooking!"

Prussia made a disgusted face. "Hey, now that's cruel!"

"That's the point, moron."

"But now that I promised to be good, does that mean you'll still hang around for a bit?" Prussia asked.

"I guess," Romano replied. He was suddenly all too aware of how warm his face felt, and he didn't even know why he was feeling so awkward. He knew it made no sense to be happy about being invited to stay for longer when it was Prussia doing the inviting, but he couldn't help it. It was nice that someone wanted him around.

"Good!" Prussia exclaimed. "I was afraid I'd have to clean up our mess all on my own!"

"The fuck? That's why you want me to stay?" Romano asked.

"Well, I also need someone to help me carry all the beer when I go to the grocery store," Prussia said.

"You still want more beer after last night?"

"Of course. Besides, West is coming back this evening, and he'll get pissy if there's no beer," Prussia said.

"Would he actually care?" Romano asked. He had a hard time imagining even Germany getting upset over a little detail like that.

"Oh, you have no idea. He gets upset by the stupidest things," Prussia said with a laugh. "In fact, if you're going to stick around, I'll show you."

Prussia got up and walked to the cupboard that he had restocked after his little accident. When he opened it, Romano saw that the cups and glasses were organized perfectly so that the everything with a handle was on the left and everything without on the right. Prussia took a few of them and switched their places so that no order was left.

"There," he said, sounding pleased with himself. "When West comes home, you'll see how much this will piss him off."

Romano couldn't understand how Prussia could be in such an energetic mood after they had spent almost the entire night drinking and getting very little sleep. His whole body felt stiff, and he would have loved to curl into a soft bed where he could forget about his headache.

"You want some breakfast?" Prussia asked. "Though I guess we should actually call it lunch."

Romano's stomach clenched at the mere thought. "I'm never eating anything again," he said.

"If you change your mind, let me know," Prussia said. He went to take a look into another cupboard and took out a bag of peanut curls. He opened it, and the stench that spread into the kitchen nearly made Romano gag.

"How can you eat those? They're disgusting!"

"They're the perfect hangover breakfast," Prussia said and flipped a few snacks into his mouth.

For a while, Romano just watched Prussia munch on his terrible excuse of a breakfast. As he glanced at the clock, he saw that it was already past midday. He didn't feel like doing anything productive. Even going to the grocery store felt like it took too much energy.

"So, what do you usually do on Sundays?" he asked.

"All kinds of cool stuff! If you want, I'll show you how to play WoW," Prussia said. When he saw Romano's unimpressed expression, he swiftly continued, "Or we can go get the dogs from the neighbours and take them out for a walk."

"At least that would be normal," Romano said. He had to wonder if there was room for anything that wasn't pathetic in Prussia's life. From what he had seen so far, he did nothing but drink beer, play with his computer and bug everyone in his life.

Romano suddenly felt a little better about his own problems.

They did end up taking the dogs out once they felt secure enough to walk without swaying. Romano very much enjoyed how Prussia had to grovel at the feet of the elderly couple who had looked after the three dogs while they were chasing their brothers and drowning themselves in beer.

"Prissy assholes," Prussia muttered as they were leaving. "They're always complaining about everything, and my brother is too much of a wuss to tell them where they can stick their ancient family line and mansion they haven't owned in two generations. They're just a bunch of bitter losers who can't let go of past glory."

"Sounds like someone I know," Romano said. He was clutching Blackie's leash in his hands so hard that his knuckles were turning white. The dog was actually behaving marvellously, probably due to Germany's training, but he wasn't used to dogs and couldn't help but be a little nervous.

"I'm nothing like them!" Prussia snapped. "Unlike them, I have something going on in my life! I'm important! If I wasn't here, all of you would be so sorry."

Romano was about to point out that winning a war in some crappy online game didn't count as an accomplishment as a nation, but he thought better of it when he saw the frown on Prussia's face. He could deny it all he wanted, but it was clear he was all too aware of the truth.

They stopped to sit on a bench under a large tree. Prussia let all three dogs free so that they could play. Romano was pretty sure it wasn't allowed to do that, but he wasn't going to start nagging about rules to someone who seemed determined to break as many of them as possible.

"Someone has to take out the dogs when West is in some boring meeting," Prussia said. "And look after the house, take out the garbage cans, pick up the mail and make sure there's always beer in the fridge. Oh, and I go out to drink with Spain, France, Denmark and many others, so I'm actually taking care of casual diplomatics with other countries. West would never do that. That's a lot more awesome than some boring paperwork, so out of the two of us, I'm the lucky one! West wouldn't survive a day without me."

"That's total crap," Romano said.

"Oh, yeah?" Prussia challenged. "Isn't that exactly what you do? It's always Italy taking care of your country. That's why everyone calls him Italy and not you!"

"I let Veneziano do that! I have much better things to do!"

"Like what?"

It occurred to Romano that Prussia would probably laugh at the things he did for fun. Tending to a small tomato farm, spending a whole day drinking coffee and talking to strangers at a café and marvelling at gorgeous architecture weren't things he could imagine Prussia appreciating.

"Seems like you can't answer," Prussia said with a triumphant grin.

"It's none of your business what I do! It's still better than locking yourself in the basement and playing video games the whole day," Romano said.

Prussia simply snorted in a way that told Romano he thought he had won the argument. That infuriated him more than wanted to admit, and he couldn't even say why. It was just like Prussia had said the previous night; his opinion of Romano shouldn't be of any importance whatsoever.

They called the dogs back and returned to the house. Their next destination was the grocery store at Friedrichstraße. This time Romano didn't let Prussia get distracted because it was hard enough to carry all the beer they bought, and the last thing they needed was a pile of junk food to add to their problems.

"That should be enough for a while," Prussia said when they were done stocking the fridge. There was now more beer than food inside.

Romano glanced at the clock. It was getting close to five, and now that he didn't feel so sick anymore, he was beginning to get hungry. However, he felt too lazy to cook.

The half finished bag of peanut curls was still on the kitchen counter. Making a face, he picked it up and peered inside. They didn't smell that bad after all. He figured he might just as well give them a chance.

"Good, aren't they?" Prussia asked when Romano started munching on his second handful.

"I'm so hungry that I can eat even crap like this," Romano said. The bag was quickly finished. "And you had better have some more for me."

"You have to say please."

"No fucking way. You're the host, so you have to feed me. Plus, I cooked yesterday."

"Fair enough. I just really wanted to hear you say that. If I got you to cook for me yesterday, I'll get that out of you one day, too," Prussia said and tossed him another bag of snacks.

Romano very much doubted that. However, he was too busy eating to bother engaging in another exchange of insults. He didn't even protest when Prussia shoved his hand into the bag to grab a handful.

"I guess I should check if Gilbird has food, too," Prussia remarked. He wiped his hands on his trousers and proceeded to descend to the basement. Romano followed, half out of curiosity and half out of boredom.

The last time he had been in Prussia's room, he hadn't noticed the bird cage that stood on the shelf. The yellow chick that was usually sitting somewhere on Prussia was snoozing inside but immediately started tweeting and hopping around when they arrived.

"Yeah, I know you missed me," Prussia cooed. He poked his finger into the cage and gave the bird a little nudge. Then he opened the door and let the chick hop on his palm where it nuzzled against his thumb before flying to rest on top of his head.

"Man, you're just so cute."

It was a little unsettling to see Prussia so happy, so Romano turned his attention elsewhere in the room. He squinted his eyes as he tried to read the titles of some of the DVDs on the shelf, but it was a little too dark.

"Turn on the lights if you want to have a better look," Prussia suggested.

"I don't really –"

Click, and suddenly there was light. The room was very much like when Romano had last seen it, spotless from top to bottom and with a few extra clothes neatly folded on the bed. The mere sight made his skin crawl.

"This is just sick," he said. "Why can't you Germans be a little more natural? I feel like I'm in your brother's room!"

"I'm a soldier. Deal with it."

"Yeah, right." Really, a soldier who hadn't been to war since...? Romano couldn't even be bothered to count.

He couldn't stand to look at such perfect order, so he kicked at a cardboard box by the bed to make it slide off to the side. A few slips of something fell to the floor.

"Hey, don't break my things!" Prussia exclaimed. He knelt down, put the items back inside before Romano could see what they were and shoved the box under his desk where Romano could no longer see it well.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Nothing important. Hey, now that we're here, how about I show you how to play something after all? Come on, it'll be fun."

"No, thanks," Romano said. He glanced at the box that was peeking from under the desk. If Prussia didn't want to show it off it probably contained something that would actually interest him. Maybe it had dirty secrets inside.

After he had shown his vulnerable side to Prussia the previous night, he might need some ammunition of his own in case Prussia ever broke his promise and told someone about it. Even if he didn't do it intentionally, he could do it when he was drunk.

"On second thought, we have nothing better to do," he said. If he wanted to see what was inside the box, he needed to stay in the basement, as much as that disgusted him.

The game Prussia proceeded to show him didn't make much sense to Romano. In the beginning, he had to create a character, and then there was... something that involved fighting and collecting points. He couldn't really say he was paying attention after a while, so he just let Prussia play and talk.

"Would you like to try?" Prussia asked.

"No, no. I think it's more fun to watch other people play," Romano said.

After what felt like an eternity to him, Prussia announced that he was going to the bathroom and that Romano had better make sure their character didn't die.

"Just do like I showed you," he said.

"Yeah, sure," Romano said, but as soon as Prussia had gone up the stairs, he abandoned their dark elf ranger or whatever the hell he was to his fate and took out the box under the desk.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he felt a little victorious thrill go down his spine when he realised that the box was full of photos. Surely they were all filled with evidence of... whatever Prussia was ashamed of. Maybe he'd pocket a photo or two and threaten to publish them if Prussia ever gave him any trouble.

The first photo he fished out was an old black and white picture. It featured a shirtless Prussia, but much to Romano's disappointment, he wasn't doing anything of interest. He was lying on the hood of a white Trabant and smiling at whoever had taken the picture.

The next photo showed Alexanderplatz, but Romano didn't recognise any of the people in it. The following photos were all black and white and portrayed various moments in East Germany. Prussia was alone in most of them, but there was one with Poland, many with Vietnam and several in which Prussia was drinking with Finland.

One picture that he spent a while looking at had Prussia dressed up in a suit and waving at the camera with a group of men. Romano was certain he should have known one of them; he was surely some important East German politican.

The next photo he picked up was even older and showed Prussia and Germany posing in uniforms. Once Romano realised what period the picture was from, he dropped it like it was on fire. It made him momentarily reconsider whether he wanted to continue his prying. Maybe he didn't want to see some of the things in the box.

Fuck it, they were just photos. He didn't have to be afraid of them. Nevertheless, Romano was very relieved when the next picture his hands reached was something else entirely. It was so old that it had been placed into a glass frame and was so faded and torn around the edges that the two people in it were almost unrecognisable.

Prussia was again wearing a military uniform, but this one was from a time when he had still been a real nation. He stood proud, and while his expression was deadly serious as was tradition for pictures from that time period, he somehow still managed to come off as cheeky. He was resting his hand on the shoulder of a little boy whose head barely reached his waist.

It was Germany, Romano realised with some surprise. At first glance, he had been sure it was... someone else, but that was stupid. Despite the picture's age, it was clear the boy had the same serious features as Germany.

Something about the photo gave Romano an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Looking at such old pictures was always a strange experience. As nations, their memories of their past, no matter how distant, never truly faded. They were able to push them to the back of their mind to preserve their sanity, but they could recall them crystal clear if necessary.

And now, as Romano looked at Prussia's old uniform, he found himself thinking back to the Italian unification. He hadn't liked Prussia very much even back then, but his help against Austria had been appreciated.

Prussia had been so full of life. Romano remembered how his eyes had shone before battle and how he had barked orders in the midst of the bloodshed and chaos. Prussia's laughter had sounded over the screaming and bangs of muskets. Even after so many years, it made Romano shiver. He didn't like war. Even when he felt the cause was justified, he could never draw that kind of pleasure from it.

"Hey, who the hell told you it's okay to look at my stuff?"

Romano dropped the photo in surprise and looked up. Crap, busted.

"I... I just wanted to make sure I didn't break anything when I kicked it!" he said, but he was sure that his rapidly colouring face betrayed him even before the last words left his mouth.

"Yeah, right," Prussia said, but his sour expression softened a little when he came over to see what Romano was looking at. He picked up the photo Romano had dropped and grinned at it. "Then again, who could resist something like this? Awe-struck, weren't you? Man, I'm hot in this one."

"I was only staring at it because it's so blurry that I could barely recognise you," Romano said.

"Well, it's an old photo."

"Why are you keeping it in that box anyway? Shouldn't you take better care of something like that?" Romano asked.

Prussia hummed and turned the photo over in his hands before tossing it back into the box. "It's just old junk. I've been meaning to throw all of this out anyway," he said.

"Why? Didn't you just say you liked that one?"

"This one, sure. I actually don't know why it's in this box at all. All the other pictures here are leftovers that I couldn't be bothered to put into my photo albums," Prussia replied. He started picking up the photos on the floor and put them back into the box. He took a brief glance at each one, his expression growing more and more solemn with every photo.

"Why didn't these make it to the albums?" Romano asked.

"The albums are only for pictures that show how awesome I am. The first five or six are actually just paintings and sketches I commissioned back when taking photos was still so troublesome. My uniforms were so cool that they just had to be in colour. All the other albums are full of photos about my victories," Prussia said.

Romano was about to ask what victories Prussia could possibly mean. He and his brother had lost both World Wars, and he didn't think there had ever been anything victorious about East Germany. He doubted Prussia could fill too many albums with pictures of the Wall coming down.

"I don't see what's wrong with this one," he said and picked up a photo with Prussia and Vietnam posing with smiles on their faces.

"It's boring," Prussia said and snatched the picture from him. "It's not the kind of stuff I want people to remember me by. I want everyone to look at my awesome photo albums volumes I-XXI and think that yeah, that Prussia sure was the best nation."

Romano thought he would choke on the awkwardness that suddenly invaded the room. He waited for Prussia to continue and crack a joke, but he simply finished putting the photos back into the box

and then sat staring at it in thought.

"Do you think you're going to die?" Romano asked when he couldn't take the silence any longer.

Prussia looked up, an alarmed expression in his eyes. Romano felt as if he had just caught Prussia doing something he wanted to keep a secret.

"Nah," Prussia said, flashing him a cocky smile. "I'm too awesome to die. If guys like Sealand who were never real countries in the first place can stick around, so can I. I'm going to be here forever, whether you guys like it or not."

Romano wasn't sure what to say. His stomach clenched as he looked at Prussia and the grin that was splitting his face. He looked so confident, so pleased with himself. And yet Romano was sure that if the most pleasure he got out of his existence was the knowledge that he could bug others, he couldn't really be all that happy.

"And that's enough?" he heard himself ask.

"What do you mean?"

"Just existing. Living in your brother's basement and never doing anything more ambitious than playing with your computer or maybe ruining Austria and Hungary's date. It's pathetic," Romano said.

He rummaged in the box and dug out the oldest photo. "You used to be so much prouder than that," he continued.

"Yeah, well, I'm taking a break from all that. Even I can't keep being awesome non-stop."

Romano said nothing as he looked at Prussia. The scratches he had been noticing in the other nation's gigantic ego were turning into cracks before his eyes. How come he hadn't seen it before? Prussia was pathetic, lonely and miserable. Everything he said was only meant to convince others, and maybe himself as well, of the opposite.

"That's complete bullshit," he said.

Prussia laughed. "Really? You think I'm awesome all the time? Well, then –"

"No way, asshole! I mean that you suck. History is history, and nobody cares about how awesome you used to be. All that matters is what you're right now, and it's crappy and unimpressive. The fact that you won't even admit that is the worst," Romano said.

"Hah," Prussia cackled. "You're just jealous like everybody else."

Romano rolled his eyes. "And people call me pathetic," he said. Sure, he didn't want to talk about his problems with anyone, but at least he knew he had some. Prussia seemed to be so deep in his self-delusions that Romano wasn't sure he could get through to him even with a bulldozer.

"What, so you're back to insulting me even though you're a guest at my home? Sheesh, not very social, are you?" Prussia asked.

"Hard to be when my host is such a loser!"

"Hey, here's an idea. Maybe you should work on the issues you talked about yesterday when you were bawling like a total wuss? Then you can come and tell me what to do!"

Romano clenched his teeth, seeing red. So much for the damn promise of never mentioning the previous night again!

"You suck! At least I talked to someone, even if it was just you. But whatever, it's not like I want to hear your sob story about how the world is moving on and forgetting you. I would otherwise recommend talking to your brother about it, but since you haven't done that, I guess you already know that he wouldn't really care, either," he said.

He regretted his words even before they had left his mouth, but he couldn't stop himself. The look that crossed Prussia's face was as if he had just stabbed him in the stomach, and this time he couldn't hide it under a confident smirk.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for the honesty, I guess," Prussia said. He pointed at the stairs. "The door is over there. Any time you want to leave is fine."

Romano wasn't used to anyone being hurt by his words. Sure, Veneziano cried sometimes, but he was fine again after half an hour and some good pasta. The rejected and resigned expression on Prussia's face was new to him, and he wasn't sure he liked it.

"Umm, listen, bastard. What I just said –" he started awkwardly, but Prussia waved his hand to cut him off.

"Stop. If you're going to start pitying me, don't bother. I don't want it. Actually, it's the last thing I could ever want, so just get out," he said. He wasn't looking at him as he spoke, and Romano suddenly felt like he had an idea what this was all about.

"I don't pity you. I just wanted to... to take back what I said because I always say stupid shit when I get pissed off. I thought you knew that already. Idiot."

Prussia snorted in what Romano assumed was amusement, but the feeling didn't reach his eyes. His smiles rarely did, he realised. But to be fair, his apology hadn't been the best, but he couldn't force anything else out of him.

"So, there's half a nation in the world that doesn't pity me. Awesome," Prussia muttered.

"Who the heck pities you? Spain sure doesn't, and I think Veneziano is cool with you, too. The others probably just think that you're an ass. The only one who pities you is you," Romano said.

"Hah! As if! How could anyone not pity me when they know what I used to be and see what I'm now? It's pretty obvious to anyone that I've sunk to the bottom and have no way back up. It's a surprise I'm still here," Prussia said.

Romano did his best to come up with something positive, but he realised he had no experience with comforting someone who was upset. He was all too used to someone else comforting him.

Thankfully, Prussia seemed content with a monologue.

"I really have no clue what I'm still doing here. I'm not of use to anyone. When the Wall came down, I asked West if there was anything I could do, and he said I should just concentrate on recovering and let him take care of everything. Imagine, treating me like a fucking baby!"

"He had a point, but you're fine now. Why don't you ask him again?"

Prussia laughed deep in his throat. "I'm not going to beg him for scraps. If he felt he needed me, he'd ask me."

Romano felt like he was gazing into a cracked mirror. Prussia's behaviour reminded him so much of his own, but it was a little different. Prussia didn't sulk and complain when he was unhappy. He laughed and smiled and did his best to convince everyone that he was fine. However, the core of their problems remained the same – they didn't want to address their issues and talk about them with the people who were important to them.

"And what I said earlier, that was a lie. About dying, I mean. Who knows? Maybe I'm still around because people haven't forgotten about me yet. But this is West's country. Maybe I'll croak when the last generation who remembers life in the East dies."

"Are you just going sit around and wait for it like a loser?" Romano asked. He couldn't help it, the self-pity in Prussia's voice made his skin crawl. This was the proud nation who had fought against Austria with them. Prussia was supposed to be above this.

"What else? You try living without land and people and see how much fun it is!"

"The Prussia I know wouldn't wait for history to keep going without him. He'd be making history whether he's a nation or not," Romano said harshly. On a whim, he added, "Besides, being alive when you're not a nation anymore is already pretty impressive. Why would anyone pity you?"

Prussia stared at him in surprise. "Yeah," he said, a grin slowly starting to split his face. "Yeah, you're right. I'm awesome. I'd like to see Austria fair this well if he lost everything! He'd probably pee his pants if he was told he was going to be dissolved for good."

Prussia's laughter was a little shaky as he shoved the box back under the desk, but he looked a lot better already. The mischief was back in his eyes.

"It's kind of strange arguing with you. I never meant to say any of that stuff, but I don't mind. It's not like a tough guy like me can't admit to having a few weak spots. Just don't tell West, okay?" he said.

"Wouldn't even dream of it," Romano replied. He didn't need to mention it, but he felt that the two of them had signed a silent agreement about how they'd keep quiet about this weekend's conversations forever.

"Good," Prussia said. He glanced at his computer's clock. "It's about two hours before West comes back home. I don't know about you, but I feel like getting wasted again."

"I don't," Romano said. It would be at least half a week before his stomach would feel ready for him to drink himself into oblivion again.

Romano ended up keeping company to Prussia as the latter poured beer down his throat. They were sitting in the living room and technically watching a movie, but neither of them was really paying attention to it. By the time they reached the middle point, Prussia was already so drunk that he could barely sit straight.

He's probably embarrassed by what he said, Romano thought as he watched Prussia in distaste.

"I'm going to throw up," Prussia announced and staggered up to his feet, but he fell back down on the couch right away.

"No way!" Romano said. Sure, it was Germany's carpet, but some things were just too disgusting to witness.

He grabbed Prussia's arm and started dragging him upstairs to the bathroom. He opened the door, pushed Prussia inside, followed him, banged the door shut after them and... realised that he had picked the wrong door and they had ended up in the closet instead.

"Fuck!" Romano swore and banged his fists against the door. Just like Germany had said, it was difficult to open from the inside. No matter how hard he yanked at the doorknob, the door wouldn't budge. There was nothing else to do but wait for Germany to get back home.

Romano switched on the light and turned around to take a look at Prussia who was lying on the floor in a snoring heap. His mouth was open, and a pool of drool was already gathering by his side. Shaking his head in disgust, Romano attempted to reposition him so that if he threw up after all, he wouldn't choke on it. Then he sat down as far away from him as he could in the small confined space.

God, this was pathetic. He should have remembered which door was the right one. He couldn't believe he was stuck in a closet and had to wait for the bastard to come and save him. Could it even get more embarrassing?

Romano glanced at Prussia. He knew that being stuck in the closet together was one of the biggest clichés ever, and he was sure that if Prussia had been sober enough, he would have already made some lewd comment about it. Such as – no, stop. Romano buried his face into his arms as he felt his cheeks grow hot. He shouldn't ever entertain such thoughts about Prussia. He was so annoying, rude, insufferable, pathetic... and yet much better company than he had ever expected.

Thankfully, Romano was saved from these thoughts when he heard someone enter the house. He immediately jumped to his feet and started banging on the door.

"Hey, bastard! Let us out!"

Not soon after, the door was opened, and Romano found himself standing before a very confused Germany. And not just Germany; Veneziano was there as well.

"Romano? What are you doing here?" his brother asked.

"Just chilling with Prussia."

"In the closet?"

"Hey, it's none of your business, okay? We didn't lock ourselves here on purpose, if that's what you're thinking. It's not my fault this bastard can't fix this fucking door," Romano said. He pushed his way outside past Germany and stomped downstairs. The others could look after Prussia for all he cared.

Germany carried Prussia back to the living room and placed him on the couch where it was a little more comfortable. Once he was done, he turned towards Romano with a puzzled frown.

"But what are you doing here in the first place? I thought you didn't like Prussia," he said.

"I don't, but we figured we'd hang out when we realised what a dirty trick you two pulled on us."

Germany's face fell. "Ah, that," he said in discomfort. "I'm really sor –"

"Save your breath, potato bastard! We don't care! It's not like we need you two losers to report your every move to us! We can have fun by ourselves," Romano cut him off.

"See, Germany? I told you it was fine. There's no reason to feel guilty next time we lie to them!" Veneziano said happily.

"I'd rather not lie at all," Germany said.

"That reminds me, let's give them our presents!" At that, Veneziano ran back to the hall and quickly came back holding two plastic bags. "We thought we'd bring you something nice because we thought you'd be sad that we lied to you. It's good that you aren't, but you can still have the presents! I picked one for Prussia and Germany picked one for you."

"Great, then it's going to suck."

"Well, we can return it to the store if you don't want it."

"Just give it to me already, okay?"

Veneziano handed him the bag. When Romano took out the box inside it, he saw that Germany had got him a CD. He turned it around in his hands, but he didn't recognise the title or the man on the cover.

"I asked Italy what you like, and then I got you this CD by a famous German opera singer. He sings in Italian, too," Germany explained.

"Well, I guess it's going to give me a laugh when he completely mangles the language, if nothing else," Romano grumbled. It was kind of a nice gift, he had to admit.

"Look what I got for Prussia!" Veneziano said. He pulled out a huge stuffed bunny and placed it on Prussia's stomach. "This is going to be the first thing he sees when he wakes up."

"Poor him," Romano said. "By the way, you two could have picked up your phones at least once. There might have been an emergency or something."

"Sorry. Our phones got lost," Germany said.

"Oh, look! They were right here in the pocket of my jacket all the time!" Veneziano announced and triumphantly held up two cell phones.

"But... how..." Germany stammered. "You wanted to borrow my phone because you lost yours! Then you lost mine! How could you lose them both in the same place?"

"Eek, don't yell at me, please! It's not like I did it on purpose – Okay, I kind of did, but I had no choice! You were always looking at your phone, so I had to get rid of it. Didn't we have much more fun after I did that?" Veneziano whined, nearly in tears.

"Well..." Germany muttered.

Veneziano brightened all of a sudden. "Hey, Germany! Someone has left you a voice mail!"

Romano's eyes widened.

"Don't listen to it!"

"Why not?"

"Because... Because Prussia sent it when he got drunk! And he said some really, really embarrassing things, so you should just delete it right now. And don't mention it to him tomorrow. He was so drunk that he can't remember it anyway," Romano said.

"Oh, okay," Veneziano said and deleted the message without any further questions. "Wow, you're so nice, Romano. I didn't think you'd care so much about Prussia's feelings."

"Don't fucking mention it," Romano grumbled. As long as nobody ever heard his terrible France imitation, all was well.

"I'm a little hungry. Let's have something quick to eat," Veneziano suggested.

They all went into the kitchen where Veneziano immediately started working on something. He was humming happily as he cooked and asked Romano to help him with the vegetables. Since he was in a relatively good mood, Romano agreed.

Some clinking sounds behind him caught his attention. When Romano turned around, he saw that Germany had opened the cupboard and was reorganizing the cups and glasses inside it with a displeased frown on his face.

It was exactly as Prussia had predicted. That damn bastard and his obsession with order were just unbelievable.

As he watched the contents of the cupboard be re-organized with military precision, Romano couldn't help but feel the corners of his mouth twitch. Maybe he was tired, maybe the weekend with just Prussia for company had rotted his brain, but this was suddenly absolutely hilarious.

"Romano, why are you laughing?" Veneziano asked when Romano had to stop cutting the vegetables for a moment.

"No reason."

"Okay," Veneziano agreed. "But you look kind of happy right now, so I hope that this nothing will happen again."