A/N: First off, I'd like to thank takara . co . jp and squidney101 for the wondrously awesome reviews. Gilbert is pleased xD And for everyone who faved/alerted/read this fic, you're pretty awesome too ;) I'm glad I'm not the only Austria x Hungary nut out there.

Um, I do believe this chapter is a bit shorter v.v Ah, well...I'm working on chapter 4 now and it's adorable! So hopefully that'll make up for the shortness.

Don't own Hetalia, reviews are awesome, you know the drill...

Elizaveta had shoved Feliciano in her room – which was the only place the still grief-torn child could be without embarrassing everyone. She had set the last shiny dish down on the long table and was dreading a long night of watching a bunch of guys stare at each other.

She put her hands on her hips and surveyed her last-minute decorating job. Not too bad for a girl who hated anything slightly girly and only had thirty minutes and some random crap she found around the house.

It was a generic dining room, with a long table covered in sparkly things. Sadly, it had taken her and Feliciano half an hour to find all of the aforementioned sparkly things.

He had better like it. She wasn't even getting paid for this, and she still went out of her way to obey him. Only because he'd helped Feliciano, she told herself. Only because she respected him for not being a complete and utter idiot.

"Elizaveta?" And there he was, looking half-worried and half-awkward. The awkward half didn't surprise her in the least, but with his emotions so obvious, she couldn't help but be wary.

"Yeah?" She gave him her best irreverent stare, arms crossed.

"They're not coming."

"That sucks. Mainly for me. I just wasted all afternoon on-"

"I was still going to eat all the food."

"By yourself?" Elizaveta gaped as she studied him. He was a freaking stick! Ivan was the only nation who could've even come close to eating all that food.

"Well, um, you could help me out."

That certainly intensified her discomfort. "Um, sure."

He was grinning sheepishly as he sat down. Elizaveta slipped into the seat across from him, slouching just because she knew it would piss him off. She looked out across the sea of edible things, which had all been prepared for an unknown number of guests. It was peculiar the way things had worked out – just her and Austria and an inordinate amount of food.

He started to eat in his silent, unobtrusive manner. She reached for the closest food item so that she wouldn't have to stare at her plate all night. Well, the night was turning out almost the way she had been expecting, except she was eating in awkward silence and not a Random Man.

"So, Elizaveta…" It was a stretch at conversation, but at least he was speaking. It was more entertaining that way.

"What?"

"Do you…like working here?"

"Hell no."

"Language, Eliza-"

She laughed, cutting him off. "You're amusing, you know that."

"I'm glad," he muttered, staring at his plate instead of her. Wow, he used sarcasm! She was deeply shocked and impressed, her own sarcastic tendencies coming out in these feelings.

And suddenly, under the table, she felt something brush against her knee, bare because of the dress she was wearing. Almost as a reflex, Elizaveta looked up, her startled gaze meeting Austria's.

"Sorry," he said quickly.

"Um…all you did was touch me on accident. Do you really think I care?"

"Not anymore."

She smiled a little. "Funny stuff, Roderich, funny stuff…"

"I never knew you thought I was funny."

"Me neither. It's mainly my sadistic side that finds you so."

"I always thought my talents included only music…not comedy."

"Hell, you surprise yourself sometimes. I know I do."

He sighed in what Elizaveta assumed was false exasperation. "I'm not going to remind you about your language."

"Good," she smirked. "'Cause it won't do a damn thing."

"You said that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Hell yeah!" She grinned.

"Ugh!" He was trying to appear angry, but Elizaveta could tell that he was laughing. "Are you always like this?"

"You should know. I've lived here for how long?"

"A long time." Austria's smile faded. "It's a shame how we don't know much about each other and we've lived in the same house for so long…"

Elizaveta raised an eyebrow. "I don't find it that strange. All I ever did was bring you your food and cleaned your house. Not much time for bonding and shit."

"Elizaveta…"

"Roderich…" she mimicked, beaming.

He studied her face for a while, so much so that she looked away out of the awkwardness of it all. "You're impossible."

"You're…"

"I'm what?"

"You're pretty damn awesome."

She was pretty sure that the shy smile meant he wouldn't attempt to reprimand her again.

"You look adorably non-threatening when you do that," she remarked, picking at a glob of chocolate pudding with a fork.

Now he was starting to blush, Elizaveta noted. This was priceless. "W-why are you eating pudding with a fork?"

Nice try, directing the conversation away from yourself. "'Cause I don't want to get a spoon dirty, since I have to clean all this crap."

"I could help."
"That's sweet. But I can handle it. Always have, always will."

He wasn't blushing anymore, but the awkwardly shy smile was still there. "I admire you for that."

"Really?" Elizaveta tried not to appear as shocked as she was.

"Yes. You're…a fighter, I suppose that's how you put it, and I sit in a room and play my piano all day." His expression was obnoxiously serious.

Grinning, she poked him under the table with her bare foot. "Smile. You look like you're gonna kill me when you don't. I would prefer to remain alive, thank you very much."

He smiled tentatively, but it was a smile nonetheless. "That's better." She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, immensely proud of her handiwork.

"Glad I could be of assistance." He rolled his eyes.

"Your sarcasm amuses me."

"It seems like everything about me amuses you."

She laughed. "Then I guess you're just an amusing person."

"You should smile more, too. Even though you still look you're going to kill me." Elizaveta found this observation quite random, but it still made her smile in spite of herself.

"As you wish."

Their eyes met and stayed there for once. He had nice eyes…

She mentally slapped herself and got up quickly, mumbling an excuse about work. She refused to look back at his face.

And – oh God – Elizaveta was pretty sure her rapid heartbeat wasn't completely due to flustered nerves.