"You know, in a weird way, finding Japan and taking on what could have been a very dangerous threat was one of the best things we've ever did," Romano spoke mostly to himself as he laid back on the bed in reminiscence. "We could've been signing ourselves up for a lot of fighting. Someone could've came and..."
"Yeah," Veneziano laughed. "Except the only fighting going on was between me and you because you wanted to get rid of Japan."
Romano sat up and glared at his brother. "I don't remember that," he said, stiffly.
"I do!" the younger nation sang as he began typing rapidly on the keyboard.
"Just what we need!" Romano yelled as he began to pace furiously. "A runaway! He's too young to be this far away from his mentors! What will China say!" Romano blocked out most of what his brother said next. The only thing reaching his ears was the... cuteness of the way his brother was talking... as if to a baby. He only snapped back to the real world when Veneziano said, "Can we keep him?"
Romano could feel his eyes almost bug out of his head, and as he began to argue with his brother he could already feel himself losing. Veneziano was looking up at him and pouting his best pout. His eyes were round and his lip jutted out. The older nation could feel his defenses falling the longer he stared at his brother. The only thing for him to do was somehow find a good reason to find Japan to stay until he could finally get his brother to send Japan back to Asia.
The idea finally came to him. If they kept Japan long enough they would be able to make friends with him. He would be on their side. He could help keep fighting away from them. Even if he was little now, he would grow up to be a strong nation.
"Let's go!" Romano said, walking quickly away from the park.
Veneziano looked down at the little nation and picked him up, surprised at how heavy he was and followed his older brother home.
"Okay," Veneziano said, laying Japan down on his bed. "I'm going to see if I can find something to cook for him. He's probably hungry. There's no telling how long he's been out there. Especially if he was walking. How long does it take to walk from China to Luxembourg?"
Romano rolled his eyes. "A long time. You go cook. I'll see if I can wake him up."
He wasn't going to kid himself, Veneziano was a little surprised when Romano offered to wake Japan up, but he was more surprised when he ran back into the room to see Japan dripping wet. Still, the most surprising thing about that day, besides Japan apparently not knowing they were nations, was Romano actually begging for Japan to stay in the house.
Romano pushed his brother away from the computer and stared angrily at the screen. "I did not beg for Japan to stay with us! Anyone with half a brain could see that!"
"Hey! This is my story Romano!" Veneziano defended himself.
"Your story? This is our story! And I did not beg for Japan to stay. I only asked him to because you wouldn't leave me alone about it."
"Aha! So you admit you put up a fight when it came to Japan staying with us!"
Romano glared at his brother. So this is what that was about? "Fine, I put up a fight! Just get back to the story," he said, throwing himself angrily onto the bed.
That night, they made plans to go to Denmark and ate pasta until Japan looked almost-healthy again. Still, color may have returned to his face, but a sadness lingered around Japan, a sadness that made Veneziano surprised that it wasn't raining over his head. However there was something far worse than his sadness.
Veneziano stood in front of Japan's closed bedroom door with a look of deep worry on his face.
"Are you listening again? Geez. Just leave him alone," Romano said, clearly exasperated as he walked past.
"He's having nightmares again," North Italy commented. "I can hear him tossing and turning. And he talks aloud every now and again."
"There's nothing you can do about it," his brother said, lowering his voice a bit. "He's obviously been raised to know he should sleep in his own bed." Unlike some people, he added silently to himself.
"I should go in there and wake him up."
"People only remember dreams if they wake up in the middle of them. If you let him sleep he won't even remember it."
"Maybe remembering bad dreams is better than not remembering them. If you don't remember them you can be left with a bad feeling and..."
"Ven, I'm going to bed. You can't hover by Japan's door all night. You'll be exhausted in the morning."
Veneziano nodded. "You're right." He walked quickly into his room and returned with a pillow and a blanket.
"Wait," Romano grabbed his arm. "You can't sleep in Japan's bed with him. It'll probably freak him out more."
The younger nation pulled his arm free. "I know. I'm going to sleep on the floor. In case he wakes up, I don't want him to feel alone. So, if he feels the need, I'll be there to comfort him." Opening the door just enough for him to slip through, Veneziano disappeared into Japan's room.
South Italy stood in the hallway for a few moments, wondering why his brother thought he could fix everything with just a few simple tasks.
"Well," he mumbled to himself as he entered his room and climbed into his own bed, "at least that means Veneziano won't be anywhere near my bed when I wake up in the morning."
