That cute moment…

When a compliment goes a long way.

A heavy sigh escaped her soft lips; her sparkling green eyes dimmed then closed from reality. Another sigh. Liechtenstein opened her eyes again and looked at her reflection on the mirror attached to her vanity desk. She had tried to ignore those thoughts: the vain thoughts about her looks. Character is more important! …Right? Liechtenstein shook her head. Right! Her inner voice sounded much weaker than the invading voice of doubt; however, she refused to give in.

Picking up her white hairbrush, Liechtenstein carefully brushed her soft, silky golden hair that nearly reached her shoulders. Each delicate stroke was accounted for. Finally, after a couple of minutes, she carefully set down the brush. How can I make myself look prettier? Emerald eyes widened. What? Will makeup do? Liechtenstein vigorously shook her head, undoing the efforts of her recent brushing. No! She cannot lose! I mean, I'm not as big-breasted as Katyusha nor do I have long, lush hair like Elizabeth and the others… How… How can she think like that?!

Liechtenstein's lips tightened in determination. She fought back her jealousy. Well, Big Brother says that character is the most important beauty in a person! Outside appearance doesn't matter! A minute of silence passed by in her head, so Liechtenstein smiled, thinking that she had won.

Well, what if Vash said that to make you feel better about your looks? The thought had shocked Liechtenstein, immediately backing her into a corner. What if he just said that to cover up the truth: the truth about you being unattractive? She did not know how to respond to that; her inner doubt took advantage of her silence. Yeah, remember how the male nations look at the other female nations. Remember how Vash stares at them. There was a stabbing bitterness in her heart – she did remember. She remembered the time at the recent world meeting how Hungary and Ukraine ganged up on Switzerland. With each woman interlocking arms at his side, the two were actually pissed at how the Swiss kept the "sibling" charade, not making a move on the cute Liechtenstein. Despite their motives, however, other nations misinterpreted the scene – of course that includes Liechtenstein. Tears welled up and stung her eyes from the memory, blurring her vision.

Liechtenstein's voice of reason was still silent, listening to her voice of doubt and deception. Through blurry eyes, Liechtenstein scanned her mahogany vanity table since the mirror was making her ill. She then noticed the black box of neatly organized makeup that she received as a birthday present – which she never really opened – from France. He gave you that for a reason, you know. You even heard him say that when he was outside at the balcony. The thoughts had an evil sneer. France is the country of love. He would know what is beautiful and what is not: you are the not beautiful.

Love doesn't dictate beauty by appearance. It dictates by heart. Yes! Her voice of reason was still fighting back!

Oh yeah, Oh no…, well look around your vanity desk. Liechtenstein did so, noticing all the things that didn't stand out as much 'til now: makeup kits, modern beauty magazines, hair accessories, etc. had decorated the surface. Open the drawer. She obeyed. Inside one of her drawers there was a stack of magazines that give tips on longer, more luscious hair, issues of busty women, and step-by-step instructions on how to dress like a "normal, beautiful" girl. In another drawer there were hair products and jewelry. These were all gifts from the other male nations. The begrudging thoughts were right; the only items Liechtenstein owned –well, except for a few of them (since one was given by Switzerland and the a few were presents from the females) – were the different colored ribbons.

Doubt had hit back full force, deception won over her reasonable senses, and envy was the spoil.

Like a dam breaking, her stinging eyes couldn't hold back the flowing salty water. Liechtenstein sobbed. Why? Why am I thinking like this? Could it be true? Can they all be true? Why didn't they just say so?

Because of her crying and dark thoughts (they just kept insulting her for some ill fun), Liechtenstein didn't hear the heavy footsteps that stopped right in front of her bedroom door and the soft knocking. "Lily," a deep voice said softly, "time for lunch." No response. Finding this odd but not a worrying issue (yet), Switzerland knocked again, a little harder this time. "Lily, it's time to for lunch!" Again, no response. Now starting to get worried, Switzerland put his ears on her door – out of military habit and over-protectiveness – to listen for any weird noise(s). A minute later, he heard something. Dear God! Please let it not be what I think it is!

Fortunately, his ears didn't pick up any other noise other than Liechtenstein's… Who sounded like she was …Crying! Banging on the door, Switzerland shouted, "Lily! Are you okay? Please open the door!" Becoming impatient, Switzerland decided to just break the door (for the fifth this week…). He walked back a good number of inches then ran, ramming the door with all his might.

"Lily!" He froze when he saw her petit back and shoulders shaking. A moment passed by and the blonde Swiss was still staring the crying reflection of his "little sister". Closing his entranced eyes, Switzerland gathered his resolved and swiftly walked up behind Liechtenstein. "Lily, what's wrong?" his tone was a gentler, kinder.

"V-Vash?" Liechtenstein stuttered. She turned around to look up at her "older brother" through bleary eyes.

"Yes, it's me, Lily. What happened?"

Once Switzerland knelt down to be on the same eye-level, Liechtenstein wrapped her arms around Switzerland's neck and lightly pulled him into a hug. Her eyes were in the crook of his neck, so the tears dampened his bare skin – which caused him to slightly shiver.

Caught off guard by the sudden hug, Switzerland awkwardly rubbed his "little sister's" back and hair. "There, there, I'm here now." He said soothingly. Feeling the tears increasing, Switzerland asked anxiously, "Lily, what's wrong? Please tell me." Switzerland never wanted his "little sister" to experience any kind of pain, but there were inevitable times.

Liechtenstein can never tell lie, or if she had, she wasn't very good at it. Especially if she lied to Switzerland. Taking her time, she sighed and let it all out. "Do-do y-you th-think," her muffled crying didn't help with the stuttering. Yet, Switzerland understood every word.

"Do I what, Lily?"

"Do-do y-you think tha-that I-I'm ug-ugly?" Switzerland froze again, utterly shocked by the question. How did she get that idea?!

"Wha-what?" His deep beryl green eyes widened; his mind raced to answer the question. The grip on his little sister tightened.

Pushing her face even deeper in Switzerland's face, Liechtenstein repeated the question, "D-do you think tha-that I-I'm ugly?"

"Of course not!" Switzerland said, looking down at the sobbing Liechtenstein. "Where did you get that idea from?!"

"L-Look at my vanity desk," Liechtenstein's muffled voice ordered.

"What about it?"

"All those makeup kits, all those beauty magazines, all those jewelry and hair accessories, almost all of them are presents from the male countries!" Switzerland now understood.

"And so what?!"

"They all think that I'm ugly!" The sobs became louder.

Switzerland's rage flared at the sight of the disgusting chemicals and immoral pictures of the magazines. Fortunately, he restrained himself, taking a deep breath. "Lily?" The only response was a slight movement of her head. "Lily, I want you to do something for me. I want you to look at yourself in the mirror."

She made a muffled sound, sounding like a whimper, but Switzerland felt a nod. Albeit the time it took to overcome the hesitation and pain, Liechtenstein looked directly at the mirror as ordered. Her face a mess: her eyes were red and puffy, her pale cheeks had streaks of dried tears, her nose kept sniffling to keep the snot from dripping, and her bangs interfered with her sight. The sight had backfired the first phase of the Swiss's phase.

"Bro-brother Va-Vash," she squirmed a bit, the thoughts seemed like unbearable shouts, "wh-why are you making me do this?"

"So that you know who you truly look like," he said, gripping her shoulders. Switzerland rested his head on Liechtenstein's neck. "Now, listen closely, Lily, or I'll repeat myself over and over again if you don't." Liechtenstein can hear her older brother's serious tone and feel his determination; she nodded. "Okay, Lily, look deep into that mirror. What do you see?"

The sister still didn't understand what the Swiss was trying to do. Didn't he already know that she sees an ugly, naïve tomboy who stupidly figured it all out now? Liechtenstein, sighing, answered the waiting question, "I see… I see an unattractive, flat-chested girl who cried her eyes out instead of acting like a mature lady." There was a moment of excruciating silence – Liechtenstein wasn't prepared for that. She needed her brother to reply back, or else she'll go insane with one more minute of silence, alone with her thoughts.

Finally, Switzerland carefully picked out his words and replied, "No, the girl I see isn't like that." Liechtenstein had a confused yet relieved expression. "I see a girl who is very gorgeous. She has soft golden-hair that shines like the sun; her eyes are as deep and sparkling like ten emeralds. The heart she owns is the sweetest, kindest, most caring, and the largest I've ever seen. The girl may be small and petit, but her mind and makes up for her physical strength. She may look fragile, but her resolve is stronger than a man who cares about muscle strength. The girl I see is my cute little sister, who I dearly love very much. And no one can tell you or me otherwise." Switzerland said the last sentence in a firm tone. He actually didn't mean to sound like a cliché poet, but he sincerely meant every word about her.

Liechtenstein, eyes wide with shock and confusion, her mouth in a tiny "O", couldn't believe what her brother said. No one has ever said that to her! "Vash… Do-do you really mean that?"

"Every. Single. Word."

Then, with cheeks flared and eyes sparkling, Lichtenstein gave a quick peck on Switzerland's cheek. Now it was his turn to look like a tomato! Smiling sweetly from ear to ear, Lichtenstein whispered, "Thank you, big Brother. I love you too!" Switzerland just nodded and crooked smiled.

"Let's go eat lunch now, Lily." Switzerland stood up from his kneeling position then held out his hand. Liechtenstein wiped away the remaining tears, straightened out her messy hair,and then took his hand. She was gently pulled up to stand; the two walked happily away, tightly holding each other's hand.

Ignoring the feeling that this was out of more than sibling love, Liechtenstein was too preoccupied with her thoughts. Thank you, Big Brother, she mused over and over again like a lulling chant.

However, her dear brother's thoughts had something else in mind. First thing in the checklist to do after lunch: load rifle and hunt down those bastards!

They had quite a nice lunch, so Vash wasn't in the mood to kill anyone after… Well, maybe he was a teensy itsy bit. Well, I'm completely high from the fluff that now so excuse me while I go roll on the floor, while hugging a pillow…. HRE STYLE!

AW! Aren't Liechtenstein and Switzerland the cutest OTP pairing evah?! X3 I can't stop the sweetness from giving me cavities! I hope I can write more fics of these two, but I'll die from the sweetness of fluff.

Please review, I appreciate them really.

DISCLAIMER: I no no own Hetalia! Hidekazu Himaruya yes yes owns Hetalia~!