Title: After Valentines

Rating: For the whole story: M. For this chapter: K+

Characters: Germany-centric, with a lot of Italy, Austria, Prussia and some others.

Pairings: One sided-Germany/Italy, Others pairings (you will see, haha!)

Warning: This is really something different. GerIta fans will probably hate this.

Italy not being his kind and innocent self all the time. Emo Germany. Voluntary omission of some historical facts. Probably some mature events in next chapters.

Grammar/Spelling mistakes due to English not being my first language. Corrections are welcome.

Chapter 4

It was now late evening. One hour later, the old clock would ring midnight and the big house was quiet except for the whistle of the wind in the cold chimney. Germany was still locked in his office , it seemed like he would not come out. Roderick Edelstein started to feel lonely and bored in the cold, empty living room. He decided that his bedroom and the warmth of his bed would be a more comfortable setting to read his new acquired manual.

He knocked one last time at Ludwig's office.

-" Germany, I'm going to bed." He got no reply and decided not to insist. Maybe the tall German man would get out of that little depression of his and find his tongue back the next day.

Roderick climbed the stairs up to his room, let the door unlocked in case Ludwig would want to talk at least, and changed into his night clothes before sliding in his fluffy winter sheets.

He turned on the light, leaving only his bed post oil lamp as an only source of light, and opened the book titled 'How to comfort a German man who has failed in love, for beginner'

The book was written by a certain 'Lord Awe Some' , peculiar name to which Roderick didn't pay much attention. He skipped the author's biography, detailed over the first seventy pages of the book, and got directly to the preface.

By definition, all Germans are awesome and thus, Germans never fail at anything.

Was the first sentence of the preface. Austria sighed and read on further.

A German don't fall in love, A German lust after peoples but doesn't embarrass himself with stupid, un-awesome feelings such as love.

If a German cannot have the individual(s) he lust after by using the stupid but necessary usual courting methods, he will have to use force AND CONQUER THEIR VITALS REGIONS!

-" Mein gott!" Austria wiped his face with his hand, wondering what the hell he was reading.

If, even after he had conquered their vitals, the German is not satisfied, and still need to be comforted ( Tough German are not sissies and should not need to be comforted) you can use the followings advices to make him happy:

Beer, in large quantities

A generous amount of wursts and kartoffels

Give them your vitals regions

If, even after these awesome and effective advices, your German is still upset, it probably means that he is not German or that he is a stupid stuck up Austrian.

The rest of the book was a long list of the best German beers, a few recipes of how to accommodate wursts and kartoffels, and a few prayers addressed to Frederic II, the great.

-" Useless book!"

Roderick threw the book away, only to get out of bed, pick it up and stow it to preserve the tidiness and order of his room, and got back in bed, quite furious.

Though the book has been of no real help, Austria decided that, the next day, he would bought some beer and prepare a meal of wursts for his German...Friend?

Austria did not really know how to define his relation with Germany. He had been annexed to him, under Germany's insane boss' orders, but they could not be considered as married. Austria would certainly not think of them as such. They shared the same language and same roots, but they were culturally different, very different.

Both were descendants of Germania, could they be considered as related? Certainly. Cousins maybe? Roderick wasn't sure, but It wasn't really important.

Being forced to live in the same house, he couldn't ignore Germany's torments. For the sake of this house's tranquillity and also because Roderick felt concerned about his younger...relative?

Germany was a young nation, not even a century old (since he was Germany. But it was as if his life has started then. Holy Roman Empire was truly dead, Germany was someone else entirely ), and he had still so much to learn!

Austria was almost a millennia old and he had been through a lot in his long life. If there was someone who could teach young Germany something, it was him.

And Prussia, said the little voice at the back of his mind. But Austria shut it off: Prussia was old in age but he had never grown up in mentality, he would always be an irresponsible trouble-maker! The albino nation would never be a good mentor for his younger brother.

-------------------------------------------------------oOo--------------------------------------------------

In Italy...Or more exactly, on the Italian border.

-" It's unusual for you to come this late"

-" Romano was having troubles to sleep!"

Veneziano had waited for his older brother to fall asleep, but Romano had been turning in his bed over and over, unable to find rest. Annoyed, though he did not show it, Veneziano had to sing him a calm lullaby to help him fall asleep. To be certain he would sleep deeply enough, he had even given his older brother a glass of water spiked with a strong sedative.

Italy had waited a moment for the medicine to effectively knock Romano out, then he had jumped out of bed, remembered to put clothes on, and left the house, hoping his midnight rendez-vous had been patient enough to wait for him.

And there he was, on the border, with him.

-" Something you wanted to talk about?" The man asked, with that low voice of his.

-" Germany."

His mysterious date chuckled. " It's always about him, of course! Is that something important? Something that would matters?"

-" Hmm" Italy sneaked closer to him. " Apparently, he wants me to become one with him. Be it an order of his boss or a foolish idea of his...I wanted to have your input on this"

The man was honestly surprised and not a little amused.

"And? You said yes?" He laughed.

Italy hit him on the shoulder, playfully. " Idioto! Don't laugh of me! He made me look like a fool in that restaurant- the food was good, but everybody looked at me strangely after Ludwig literally jumped on me!"

-"Jumped on you?"

-" Yeah! Didn't even let me the time to answer him! Then he lost it. For a few minutes, it was as if his brain has died!"

-" Hoho! Maybe it did!"

Italy shock his head. "Hmhm! Austria and Hungary came out of nowhere and took Ludwig away."

-" I wish I had been there to see this!"

-" Me too, at least, I wouldn't have had to eat alone with that chick I met in the restaurant!" Italy moved even closer, until he was intruding in the man's personal space.

-" A chick, now! You're too attractive for your own good, sweet sweet Féli!"

Italy blushed at that.

-" Anyway, Benito (Mussolini) never mentioned this. This could either be a one sided decision from Hitler, in which case our alliance would be broken- because my boss will never agree to that- or it is simply a personal decision from Ludwig himself. Either way, I can't accept it! I feel betrayed!"

-" No nation would ever do something that foolish! Beware! If this is Hitler's wish, Germany could have to annex you by force! You have to take measures quickly."

-" I guess I have no choice. But I will need your help! I cannot fight him alone."

-" You'll come with me tomorrow, we'll talk to the others. Don't worry, I'll protect you and I'm sure they will too. All you need to do is convince them, and I'm pretty sure that you know what you have to do!"

Italy nodded. "Thank you. I'll do anything to protect my peoples!"

-" Of course, that's what we all want!" the man said. Italy smiled weakly, put his hand up around the man's large shoulders, pulled down until the other's head was close enough, then, kissed him on the lips.

A/N: Anyone can guess who is Veneziano's midnight date?

R&R Please! Comments encourage me to continue the story!