Disclaimer: Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz
A Thousand Paper Roses
"We're poor too, and we're stuck in this war," Romano says. "So what's your excuse?" But his fingertips, tracing the petals of a paper rose on the coffee table in Spain's peripheral vision, pray: would to God I were poor enough to pluck tissue paper instead of grenade pins.
Romano threads the flower into his lapel, as if to see how it looks with his uniform, and with his chin tucked against his chest his words are almost lost under the endless crinkling of paper. "You know, that Japan guy says if you fold a thousand paper cranes, you'll get a wish." He pulls the rose from his collar and twirls it between his fingers. "What's the point?"
He leaves the flower on the table and the door shut behind him. Spain doesn't stare after him, just keeps twisting red paper on stems, and he'll fold a thousand and a thousand more until he's climbed out of poverty on a mountain of roses and can stand in Romano's kitchen once again, tucking a flower back into that buttonhole with his own two hands.