"You were careless." The tone was neutral, mild even, but to Prussia, it seemed like he was barely holding back an enraged shout. "Why were you there in the first place?"
He waited for a couple of seconds before realizing that he was supposed to say something. "I-I was hungry."
"I see." The irritation was palpable. "And you couldn't wait?"
It came faster this time. "It didn't occur to me that he was seeing someone."
"How did Latvia react?"
"He was startled." He let out a faux-relaxed chuckle. "You should've seen it. He dropped this really expensive cup and he couldn't stop apologizing! Man, that kid's got some lungpower, though. He talked for like an hour straight before –"
"I meant after that." Seeing his brother's confused expression, he elucidated. "I know you've been in contact. How has he reacted?"
"Oh. Well, he was more freaked out about how you'd react than anything else. Why? You think he should be worried about something else?"
"I think he should be… something else."
"What?" His brother crossed his arms, fingers tapping on an elbow. "Oh! You think he should be angry, don't you? At me. What, because I interrupted his precious session? He doesn't even like them."
"That's irrelevant. He was supposed to have the hour alone with Austria. You violated his privacy." Ordinarily, such a loaded word as "violated" would've carried some emphasis. The absence… concerned him.
"Oh. Well, I said sorry. Sort of." He absently began to fiddle with some tacks strewn on the table. He started trying to organize them, quickly realizing that the presence of four tan, three red, three blue, and a whopping seven yellow (plus a stray green) would make a normal quadrilateral design difficult. He settled for a green in the center, surrounded by a ring of six alternating red and blue, another of eight alternating yellow and tan. The three remaining yellow would have to be balanced. The pattern was already growing too large.
Germany was still staring. "What? I did. It was more of a drink on me than a straightforward apology, per se, but I'm sure he got what I was getting at." They wouldn't balance, even when he nudged the reds and blues out of the way enough to stab the points into the table. (He was certain Austria would throw a fit when he got home, but it wasn't like the table was that old.)
"Knock it off. That table was probably expensive."
"No, it wasn't. He got it secondhand. We helped him bring it home, remember?"
"He still won't want it damaged."
"Who's damaging it? Look, it's already got plenty of scratches. People have carved their initials in it. Why –"
"Just stop!" He wasn't any louder, but his tone had grown more forceful.
"Jeez, fine. If I'd known you were going to make such a big deal of it…" He knew needling his brother was a mistake, but the temptation was impossible to resist.
"It's not the table. You shouldn't interfere with Latvia's life." (Really, his self-control was abnormally complete. Taunting him almost felt like taking advantage of his status as "fragile.")
"It's not a big deal. We've just been sort of hanging out. He hasn't been spending time with the others lately. He needed someone to do stuff with, and since I wasn't busy making any other part of the world more awesome, I figured it'd be nice to cheer him up."
Much to his surprise, Germany didn't explode. If anything, he looked… calmer. More thoughtful. He murmured what might have been assent and took a seat. After dazedly looking around the room, stroking his ('weirdly clean-shaven') chin, he settled on the tacks.
"I think if you get them closer together, you can use the colored edges to balance the yellow ones." He carefully arranged a red, blue, and yellow set to demonstrate. Prussia nodded and silently copied him.
'Whew. I can't believe that worked. It looks like my talent of deception is as awesome as ever.'
There were some silver tacks he hadn't noticed before hiding behind a stack of books. Germany handed them to him and he balanced them on the outer ring. There were some left over, with which he tried to build a third layer. Five seconds later, the whole tiny structure toppled to the tabletop.
"I think a couple rolled onto the floor," muttered Germany. Both brothers ducked down to get them. (How the green one had slipped out of the center was anyone's guess.)
"I'll apologize to Latvia properly." 'Where the hell did that come from?' "I mean, if you want me to."
"I'd appreciate that." 'Wait, is he smiling? He's not smug about this, is he?' He wasn't smiling, but there was a glint of what could've been amusement in his eye as he straightened and carefully placed his tacks back on the table.
He looked around for a box to put them in. "Where did these come from, anyway?"
"I think Lithuania brought them over for his last session. Poland's been fitting him for a dress or something." Germany's expression was disapproving again. "I swear I wasn't eavesdropping! I just happened to hear, is all. Anyway, it's not like it's a big secret."
Mercifully, Germany let the matter drop. "I thought they used long pins for that. Not tacks."
"Oh, maybe. Then I have no idea."
"Hmm…" Both men searched the walls for signs of occupation. "Austria's room, perhaps."
"Wouldn't that be prying?" His tone was more mocking than genuinely censorious, and Germany's quick glare acknowledged his point. A moment later, both had reached Austria's door and opened it.
"He must've taken down some sort of poster or – wow."
Newspaper clippings. There weren't many of them, but to the two brothers, they seemed to line the walls. The headlines followed a clear pattern: "Russland Gliedert Litauen Ein." "Lettland ist Gegangen." "Estland Ist Weg von Der Karte." They stared around in shock. All were hung with small silver thumbtacks and large colored ones.
"He must've taken it out of the room and removed the tacks there…" Prussia trailed off. They exchanged a quick look before racing to check the kitchen trash.
"Here!" exclaimed Germany triumphantly. Then he got a look at his prize, staring at it closely. "Why do you think he'd want to remove this one?" he muttered.
"Um, can't see, here." Prussia grabbed it from his hands. He sat down heavily at the kitchen table. "Oh. I see."
"Deutschland ist Geteilt Worden."
I confess that I had to use my computer's translator, and I added the passive voice components myself. I'd really appreciate corrections from anyone who speaks German.