Her tea had a very strong smell- sort of fruity and sweet, and rather heavy, and she drank it in large gulps. "Japan and America tell me—"
"Yes, Veneziano is setting me up on these."
"—and so did Belgium and Seychelles and Spain." Another gulp. Germany sipped at his coffee.
"Uh."
"And China." Taiwan rolled her eyes for the briefest of moments and continued. "Japan seemed pretty upset about it."
"Really?" He hadn't told Germany if that was the case, but then, it was Japan.
"Oh, yes. He thought you and Veneziano were… well, together. So did I." Taiwan pursed her lips reflectively. "So did most of us, actually."
What?
Wait.
What?
Why?
Why had people assumed that Germany and Veneziano were a- a- a couple? Just because they worked together and ate together and Veneziano slept in Germany's bed and Germany occasionally baked him cake and they'd been practically inseparable for who knew how many decades and Veneziano knew when Germany was happy or sad and hugged and kissed him and said he loved Germany and oh God that was it.
Because Veneziano would say "I love you, Germany!" and over the years in the back of Germany's head there had grown a response to that, and the hope that Veneziano meant it, and.
And Germany realized that Taiwan was still talking and he was staring wide-eyed into his coffee cup, and he jerked his head up, trying to clear it of those thoughts before he suffered a repeat of Valentine's Day.
"—but that's China for you— uh?" Taiwan gave Germany a concerned look and reached out to pat him on the arm. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," croaked Germany. A lie- he wasn't, not at all, he loved his best friend who most likely didn't return the feelings- Veneziano had much better targets for his affection than Germany, and he acted the way he acted with Germany with everyone, and-
"You don't look all right. Drink," and Taiwan leaned across the table and pressed her mug to his mouth. Reflex took over and Germany took a few sips of the hot, sweet tea before he pushed it away with a weak "Thanks, Taiwan."
"You're welcome." And then she took over the conversation again with her quiet voice, which was completely fine with Germany because he really didn't feel up to talking and it was nice to hear about what Asia was up to anyway.
That evening, Germany didn't talk to Veneziano beyond niceties, and when Veneziano snuck into his bed, Germany didn't sleep, just tossed and turned.
