Note: Okay, I love all you people who reviewed. Seriously... Also, all Italian used in this chapter was done through an online translator. Feel more than free to correct my grammar. In fact, please correct my grammar in anything, not just the Italian.
Note the Second: Italian fixed. Thank you, thank you, thank you StarsOfYaoi for helping!
The world meeting hadn't actually started yet – nations were just standing around or sitting in their chairs, waiting until everyone had shown up. Things were going as they always did before the meetings. America, England, and France were yelling at each other over something stupid. Russia was terrorizing Latvia, while Estonia was trying to act protectively towards the tiny nation without attracting Russia's attention himself. Poland was practically holding Lithuania hostage, talking to him excitedly. Greece dozed in a corner.
Germany scanned the room uneasily. Italy wasn't there yet, but he would show up. Although there were some nations who could quite easily skip a world meeting without any issues – Seychelles, perhaps, or that nation that was always carrying a little polar bear around – Italy wasn't one of them.
"Germany! Germany! Hey, Germany!"
"Italy?" Germany looked down in surprise that nearly bordered on shock as the smaller nation pulled him into a hug. In the few moments where the taller nation tried to rearrange his thoughts to the point where the current situation would even come close to making sense, Italy pulled back.
Italy spoke excitedly, only breaking stride to hiss a warning in between words. "Germany! It's so great to see you! I thought you were mad at me and don't even think about saying anything and you're not mad at me, right?"
Germany stared slightly, taken aback at how quickly Italy's mood had changed to fury and then returned to the side that Germany had always known. Or, at least, the side that Germany had always thought that he had known. It was unnerving, for more reasons than he could identify. "…I'm not mad," He finally managed to say. Italy stared at him with an almost calculating expression, before his face slipped back to bright cheerfulness.
"Ve, that's great! I'm going to go talk to Romano for a bit, okay? Bye!" Germany watched Italy bounce away; acting like absolutely nothing had ever changed or happened. The apparent normality of the scene was enough to send a chill down the blond's spine. It was unnerving how Italy's demeanor really wasn't any different than normal.
Before the meeting, Germany had been telling himself that what he had found, what he had seen, had only been a recent development. He had to tell himself that… but now he was proven wrong. For all he knew, this could have been going on for decades.
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The meeting started off as smoothly as they generally did, which is to say that chaos ensued almost immediately. America had come up with some idiotic idea, as usual, and triggered a yelling match that had been going for twenty minutes. Germany watched with annoyance – even though he knew the nations could do nothing without the consent of their bosses, he liked the meetings to at least pretend to be productive.
"Are you going to say something?"
Germany froze for a panicked moment before he realized what Switzerland was talking about. Looking over to America, who was still shouting, he said, "I probably should." He really should just yell at them, make them shut up and actually get something done.
Maybe he should tell someone about Italy. He really should, it's not something that should just be kept a secret forever – but Italy's warning still rang in his ears. He couldn't tell anyone, but he had to…
"Hey, bastardo! What the hell is wrong with you?" The all-too-familiar voice of Lovino Vargas cut through Germany's thoughts. The blond turned in surprise to look at the permanently irritated Italian.
"What do you mean?" He asked, not knowing what he had done to draw Italy Romano's wrath this time.
Lovino huffed in annoyance. "What the hell did you do to my brother?"
Germany's blood nearly froze solid in his veins. "Wh- What are you talking about?" He managed to ask.
"He's usually clinging to you like you're flypaper or something," Lovino growled. "And he hasn't come within three meters of you since the beginning of the meeting."
Germany frowned. "I thought you would be glad of that."
"Idiota!" Lovino shouted, mostly unnoticed because of the existing noise. "The only reason my idiot brother would avoid you is if you hurt him. Scoprirò quello che gli hai fatto, fottuto stronz, e pagherai per questo" Before Germany could say anything in response to what was clearly a threat, Lovino stomped off to yell at Spain about something.
Germany watched the chaos that was supposed to be a meeting continue for too many minutes. He sighed. There might as well be one thing that happened as normal.
"Everybody shut up!" He roared. The other nations fell silent in the face of an angry German. At least one thing could be normal.
---
Italy lingered for a while after the meeting ended, mostly as a way to avoid Germany. He had made sure that he wouldn't say anything about what he had seen. That was enough, for now. That was all that he could stand to do.
"You are all right, Italy?" The deceivingly childish voice of the Russian Federation asked, sounding concerned. Italy jumped slightly, not having realized that he wasn't alone.
"Ve…Non c'è niente che non va. Sto perfettamente bene," he replied, slipping into his own tongue for a moment. Realizing his mistake, he quickly added, "I'm all right. Why would you think anything is wrong?" and turned to face Russia. The larger nation was smiling as he always did, in his usual slightly disturbing way.
"Are you sure about that?" He asked, actually sounding concerned. Italy looked away while Russia kept talking. "You seemed to be avoiding your friend Germany, da? Did something happen between you two?"
Italy avoided looking back to Russia, and stayed silent. Why should anyone care if he didn't want to talk to Germany? It was none of their business, not their problem. They shouldn't care, just think that he was being –
"I know that you are not stupid, Italy." Russia's comment seemed so random that Italy looked at the larger nation in surprise. The larger nation smiled, but it seemed softer, more genuine than his usual expression. "What is it that has bothered you?"
"Nothing," Italy snapped, surprising himself more than Russia. "I should be going."
Quickly, before Italy could react or pull away, Russia grabbed hold of Italy's wrist and pulled the arm closer to him. "What do you think-" Italy started to say, but cut himself short when Russia pushed the long sleeve of his shirt back, revealing the scars. The larger nation didn't say anything as Italy turned his face away in shame. Another one, someone else knows. No. Don't look… Please…
"You are a good person, Italy," Russia said, pulling Italy's sleeve back into place and dropping his arm. Italy looked back at the blond in surprise, bordering on shock. Of all the reactions he could have expected, that was not one of them.
"Wh… What do you mean?" He asked, almost as a whisper.
Russia smiled a sad smile as he started to walk out of the room. Pausing at the doorway, not looking back, he said, "Even at your worst moments… You will only strike against yourself."
Italy stood alone in the room, wondering what had just happened.
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Helpful Translations
Bastardo - bastard
Idiota - idiot
Scoprirò quello che gli hai fatto, fottuto stronz, e pagherai per questo. - I will find out what you did to him, fucking shit, and you will pay for that.
Non c'è niente che non va. Sto perfettamente bene. - Nothing is wrong. I am perfectly fine.
