Author Notes:

-If you don't hate me by now, you will in the sequel. Oh my god, you will hate me so MUCH in the sequel. Anyway, moving on. Time for Italy and Germany to knock some sense into Prussia ;D

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One Month

Chapter 26

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It was raining when they went to pick Prussia up from the airport. Italy didn't mind it, really. He loved the rain. Even if it was really cold and should have been snowing. He had been quiet on the drive, letting Germany have his concentration to navigate the busy roads. With rain, driving was dangerous enough. With the weather cold enough to make the rain turn to ice, it was even more so. Italy knew when to shut his mouth.

The strange thing was, now that they had Prussia in the car, it was still quiet. He had expected the albino to be just as rowdy and obnoxious as usual, or at least be complaining about how Italy got the passenger seat and Prussia had to sit in the back like some child. But it was quiet. Too quiet.

In fact, it was beginning to set Feliciano on edge. He didn't like it when there were these awkward silences. Turning around in his seat, completely ignoring the fact that he hadn't put on his seat beat, he stared at the albino who was busy staring out the window, as if the rain falling on the glass was the most interesting thing in the world right now.

"Prussia, you've been really quiet. Is something wrong?"

He continued to stare as the usually hyperactive albino slumped back in his seat, eyes still staring out at the rainy world. "I'm fine."

"Italy, put your seat belt on," Germany said, interrupting everything.

With a pout, Feliciano turned to the German who was still focused on driving through the Berlin streets. "But I don't want to," he said, turning back to Prussia. "But you don't look fine. Ve, did something happen between you and Canada? Is that why you're not over there right now?"

He watched as Prussia's eyes closed, as the jaw clenched, eyebrow twitching. It was strange. He had thought Prussia and Canada would stay together forever. He had expected Gilbert to tell him not to worry about picking him up today. Something must have happened. Something.

"I said I'm fine!" Prussia snapped.

Germany was quick to respond, still focused on the road but glancing into the rear-view mirror. "Bruder, don't yell in the car." When Prussia simply turned his gaze back to the window, Ludwig glanced over to Feliciano. "Italy. Seat belt. It's not safe."

"But it's no fun, Germany~" Italy pouted.

Ludwig sighed. "Safe is not always fun."

And then Gilbert spoke up from the back seat. "Oh come on, West. Lighten up. No one wears their seat belt anymore."

Italy grinned at first and then blinked, realizing something was off. "Wait...Prussia, what did you just say?"

"What? Did I say something strange?"

"Si," Feliciano nodded. "You never agree with me." He blinked and then gulped, taking the seat belt and buckling up right away. It must be some kind of omen if Gilbert was standing up for him against his brother.

Seeing him buckle up, Germany smiled. "Thank you, Feli." Prussia scoffed, lying down in the back seat, clearly not buckled up either. "Bruder..." Of course, Ludwig didn't press it. Convincing Prussia to do something was hard enough in normal circumstances.

Now turning awkwardly with the seat belt rubbing against his neck, Italy stared at the albino who was lying in the back seat, looking at something on his phone. "Aren't you worried about him at all?" he muttered, glancing to Germany with a frown.

Ludwig winced. "Yeah, but I can't help if he doesn't want to talk about it."

Sighing, Italy turned his attention back to Prussia. There was no way he would give up so easily. "Hey, Prussia, what happened between you two?"

When Gilbert refused to talk to him, Germany sighed. "See? He won't talk about it."

With a pout, he faced his German lover again. "But I want to help! And something obviously happened between them!" He blinked, an idea coming to him, and his eyes widened as he looked back to Prussia. "Did you guys do it?"

Seeing the albino blush was his first clue. When Prussia dropped his phone, it was his second clue. And then the scowl and glare and snappy retort. "Why do you care?" That was his third clue.

He grinned. "Ve ~ You did~" Then he blinked again, frowning as he realized it still didn't explain anything. "But...why are you leaving him?"

"He kicked me out," Gilbert responded, looking away and growling as usual.

The car stopped moving. Ludwig took his seat belt off. The doors stay locked, and the German stayed quiet, glancing between Italy and Prussia as if confused that Gilbert was even talking to Feliciano.

"Why would he do that?" Italy tilted his head. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing!" Prussia exclaimed, shifting around until he could pull the hood of his jacket over his head. A jacket Italy had never seen him wear before. Blue with yellow chicks. Something he must have gotten while in Canada. "Everyone likes to fucking accuse me of things I didn't do!"

A little silence stalked through the car as Italy tried to think of what to respond with, trying to figure out what had happened with the clues he had been given. Ludwig got his attention and whispered, "...why is he talking to you?"

With a shrug, Feliciano focused back on Prussia, not willing to let this chance go, even if he didn't understand why Gilbert was suddenly fine with talking to him when one month ago he would have cursed at him and called him useless. "Did he accuse you of something?"

It took a while for Gilbert to respond, like he was thinking, like Feliciano was finally getting through to him. But then a mumbled voice came from the hoodie, "It's none of your business."

And Italy sighed. That was not what he had been hoping for. "You know, you could always call him. Or text him. I'm sure that after what you've been through, he'll listen to whatever you have to say."

He was miffed when Prussia merely scoffed at his advice. "I doubt he'll listen to me."

"Why? What did you do?" Italy blinked at the idea that his brain. It didn't make sense and there was no way it was true, but if he said it, maybe he could get a reaction. "Did you rape him or something?"

It got him a reaction. Instantly. Prussia sat up, the hood falling back, revealing tear tracks on the albino's face. "What the hell? Why does everyone think I'd do that to him? Gott, even he -" The man cut off, turning his head, reaching for the door handle, trying to force it open. "Gottverdammt, open the door, West!"

As Italy stared, unable to believe he had just seen tear tracks on the face of Prussia of all people, Germany gripped hard on the steering wheel and gave his own ultimatum. "No. Not until you call him."

Feliciano watched as Gilbert pulled away from the door, sitting back against the seat and crossing his arms. "No."

"You need to explain things, bruder."

"He won't listen to me!" Prussia snapped. "Everyone has their own assumptions and no one...really...understands..." Hanging his head, Gilbert soon covered his face with his hand.

Germany sighed, unlocked the doors, and stepped outside. Italy followed him, frowning. There had to be someway to fix this. Why did Prussia have to be so stubborn? Why make it this difficult? What kind of misunderstanding had happened? Biting his lower lip, he walked over to his lover, grabbing his hand to get his attention as another thought hit his mind.

"Germany...didn't you clean his room out?"

With a sigh, Ludwig nodded. "This is a problem. He's going to be even more of a mess if he goes inside."

Seeing Ludwig glance to the car, Italy followed the gaze. He smiled when he saw Prussia with his cell phone at his ear. Squeezing Germany's hand, he stood there in the rain and waited for the albino to get out of the car and tell them that everything had been solved. "At least he's trying now. I'm sure this'll fix everything."

"I hope so, Italy."

They didn't wait long. Prussia opened the door and threw his phone at Italy, not looking at either of them when he spoke. "See, I told you he wouldn't answer."

Barely catching the phone in his hands before it could fall in the street, Feliciano felt his eyes widen as he stared at the Prussian. "What? What do you mean he didn't answer? Why wouldn't he answer?"

"I don't know," Gilbert said, shrugging. "Maybe you should try calling him. Like I said, he doesn't want to have anything to do with me."

"Ve...but that's not right...You two love each other. You're supposed to call him, he answers, and the problem is solved. Ve..."

"Heh," Gilbert scoffed. "Things don't always work out in happy endings."

"But-but-but – something isn't adding up!" Italy turned to Germany and started poking at his arm. "Right? Right? Something's wrong!" Since Ludwig wasn't being very helpful, Feliciano turned back to Prussia, holding the RAZR phone out for him. "I can't fix it! You have to fix it! Nothing I say will fix it!"

"So? What am I supposed to do? He won't even talk to me now. He thinks I fucking used him or some shit. Nothing I say is gonna fix that!"

Blinking, still trying to fix this problem, wishing Prussia wasn't so stubborn, Italy began toying with the phone. "..ve...? Why would he think that?" Then he blinked again. "Wait, when did you do it with him?"

"Uh...last night?" Prussia said, glaring. "What's it matter?"

With a groan, Italy brought his hand up to his face, slapping himself. "Don't you get it? You just had sex with him and left! No wonder he thinks you used him!"

"Hm? I don't get it. I mean, the month was over today. He should have known that all along. So why didn't he ask me to stay?"

"Probably because he assumed you were going to stay."

Prussia glanced away, scowling into the rain, his usually wild hair causing rain to gather strangely in his hair, dripping down from heavy spikes. "I'm going to the bar. I give up."

Italy felt his eyes widen. "N-no! That's not right! You can't give up! You love him, don't you?"

"Ja, but there's nothing I can do now, is there?" Prussia's hands went into his jacket pocket after throwing the hood back over his head, hiding his downcast eyes. "I left apparently when I should have stayed and now he won't answer his phone because he thinks all I want is a fuck-buddy. I mean, seriously? I already have those! Doesn't he know about the Bad Friend's Trio?"

Italy watched as the albino turned around and began to walk away, muttering to himself as he went. He stared after him for a while, unsure of what to do, unsure of what he could do. He knew he had to fix this. Somehow. He had to make Prussia do something. Right?

"I'm going after him, Ludwig," he said.

Germany nodded. "I think that's a good idea. He's listening to you. I don't know why, but -" Ludwig paused, then hugged him. "I'll put something on the stove. Don't stay out here too long. It isn't good weather for standing around."

"Ve~ I know," Feliciano responded, hugging back before breaking away and chasing after Gilbert, still amazed that Prussia was now listening to him.

~!~

He didn't want to deal with this right now. The rain. The cold. The chill in the air. The absolute sick feeling in his stomach. He just wanted to drown himself in alcohol and forget about it all. He was still surprised it had all gone so wrong. How could it all go so wrong? What was he supposed to do? How come Birdie kicked him out like that, refused to let him explain?

He cursed, because he knew the answer. He should have asked. Gilbird and the voice of Fritz...both of them were right. He should have asked to stay. He should have said how he wanted to stay. Why couldn't he just voice what he actually wanted? Why couldn't he simply say how much he wanted to live with Canada?

It pissed him off. It wasn't everyday that something he did pissed him off. So he wanted to find a bar and get as drunk as possible. He wanted to drown himself in the memories. He wanted to pretend he was back in Canada instead of here in Berlin with his brother and -

"Gilbert~" Arms wrapped around him, holding him back, keeping him from walking.

"Ah – what the hell?" he growled, but he couldn't put up much of a fight, even if it was the annoying Italian behind him now. "Get off of me!"

"No~! You need to go back!"

Scowling, he took a step forward, getting even more annoyed by the fact that Italy was able to hold him back. "Go away!" He snapped. "Leave me alone!"

"No, you need to go home. You need to go back to Matthew!" Italy said, refusing to let go, refusing to let him leave, refusing to give up.

Prussia froze. Having Italy say he needed to go home...as if home were back with Birdie... He groaned and brought his hand up to his head, tugging at his hair even underneath the hood. "Why must you torment me?"

"Ve, aren't you doing that to yourself? Think about it. If you were with him right now, you wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Stop saying that!" Gilbert snapped, even as he felt like his heart was going to dive into his stomach. The idea of being back with Matthew. He wanted it so bad. "What part of 'he kicked me out' don't you understand?"

"Are you sure he kicked you out, or did you just not want to tell him something important?"

He felt his body tense; it was eerie how close to the truth the little Italian was with that statement. "I -" Cutting himself off, he glared over his shoulder. "Let go of me."

"Are you going home now?"

"Gottverdammt, he doesn't want me there! Can't you just leave me alone?"

"That can't be true, though," Italy said. "You're obviously not telling me something."

You might as well explain it to him.

"Fine," he mumbled, hanging his head. "He didn't stop me from leaving. I never asked to stay, but everyone else always hates having me around for too long so, I figured he'd say something if he was different. But he didn't, and when he saw I was leaving he – he stopped listening to me." Clenching his hands and then putting his palms up to his eyes, trying to push the tears back into their proper place, he forced his voice to stay steady. "Gott, why am I such an idiot?"

That was when Italy's hands let him go. "You're not a complete idiot," the Italian said, stepping around to stand in front of him. "You just did something stupid is all. Besides, it's never too late to try to fix something."

Pulling his hands back, Prussia sighed and looked up at the sky, letting the rain hit his face, closing his eyes. "How can I fix it?" he mumbled. "He thinks I used him. Like it was all a way to get to him just for -" he shook his head. It still hurt to know that people actually believed he was that kind of person.

"You leaving didn't help," Italy said after a moment. "If you go back and apologize, then he'll know you went through all the trouble just to apologize. If you used him, you wouldn't do that."

Blinking, Prussia finally looked down at the smiling Italian. "Go back?"

Italy nodded. "Si. You want to be with him again, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, but -" he stopped there, staring at the happy-go-lucky Italian. "Why the hell am I talking to you?"

At this, Feliciano simply chuckled and then shrugged. "Luddy and I have been wondering the same thing." He smiled again and for some reason, it wasn't near as annoying as he remembered it being. "So, you're going back?"

Admitting defeat to an Italian was hard, but he sighed and nodded. "Yeah." Glancing to the side, he muttered. "You were right. I shouldn't give up so easily."

He was glad he didn't get to see Feliciano's shocked face, because he was sure the stupid little Italian was just as surprised as he was at the chance of attitude. Maybe it was because Feli reminded him of someone. Maybe it was because he was too focused on Birdie. Whatever the reason, though, he didn't feel too much like yelling and cursing and getting mad at the annoying brunette for always being around his brother. After all, he didn't want West's attention so much anymore. He wanted Birdie.

He wanted to go home.

"Ve ~ Good, so let's go back to the house! It's cold out here!" Italy called out as he started to race back to West's place.

Prussia could only follow, realizing something else had changed. He nearly laughed out loud when he noticed it, too. "Heh...it's not that cold."

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A/N: Yay for Ita-chan! Right? And look Prussia and Italy are on good terms now! And...and...Prussia doesn't hate the cold anymore! Hey~ Look at how much has changed since the first chapter, right? Character development! Score! One more chapter and an epilogue left.