Sorry it took so long to write this! Some of the themes of this story are hitting a bit too close to home...break ups can leave a nasty taste in the mouth. But I'm over it so I can focus on other things (like school...which I am avoiding). Haha. Ha.

Maybe it's still fresh. You poor guys only get a short chapter. But the awkward transition phase is almost over...I can only type anything on campus now. Laptop's busted, internet is equally broken. Updates will be slow.

Chapter 9: Forgiving the past

"I have to do this. I can't keep running," Romano thought to himself. He slowly looked up from the table and faced the doorway, the blanket falling off of him and onto the back of his chair. "I have to face my brother. Better to get it over with now, right? The idiot will just keep trying to talk anyway. Like yesterday, with his stupid ass postcards and stuff..."

"Are you sure you're ready?" asked the man on the other side of the table. Romano felt his eyebrow twitch in aggravation.

"Dammit, stop bugging me, Japan. I can handle myself."

"If you believe so, then I will."

Romano snorted in disbelief and Japan fell silent. The Italian could hear footsteps approaching the kitchen. His brother was coming closer. "Guess we'll find out now," he muttered as he pulled himself to his feet.

Romano's eyes locked onto his brother as the younger Italian hurried into the room. He looked...normal. As he always had, Romano supposed. After all, it wasn't like Veneziano had changed. The Italian's younger brother interrupted his thoughts by rushing over and hugging him tightly. Same old North Italy. Nothing had changed. Well, almost nothing.

Veneziano pulled back and looked at his brother's face, surprisingly thoughtful. "Toni said that you were going to leave with us. Are you?" When did he stop calling him 'big brother Toni'? Was it before or after he had started to date the Spaniard? In the end it didn't really matter. The only one who would be hurt by such musings was Romano himself.

The older Italian shook his head. He couldn't let his brother see his weakness. He mustered up his courage and twisted his face up into his usual patronizing sneer. With as much annoyance as he could muster Romano asked, "What? Don't believe him?"

"Well, it's not that...you didn't really want to talk to me yesterday." The accusation held no malice. It was just a plea of a younger sibling to an older one, wanting an explanation, knowing something was wrong but too stupid to realize what it was. Veneziano hadn't tried to hurt Romano, not really. He didn't want to hurt his brother. He just wanted acceptance.

And Romano really had to stop thinking like a psychologist. The older Italian sighed and muttered softly, "Goddammit, of course I didn't. You think I really care what you and...Spain do on your vacations?"

"I thought it would be fun to talk about it though. And we hadn't seen each other in over a month!"

"We talked on the phone."

"B-but fratello, that's not the same!"

"Shut up, your voice annoys me." Veneziano opened his mouth to argue further but Romano cut him off. "Come on. We're leaving." The Italian pulled his brother out of the kitchen and towards the front door. Suddenly, avoiding Spain and North Italy didn't seem necessary anymore.

As soon as Romano pushed his brother and his suitcase out the door he felt a hand on his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow and looked back. To his surprise, Japan was staring back, a look of worry plastered onto his normally calm face. "Romano-kun," he stated hesitantly, "I-I thought you were going to stay? As evidence that you were-"

Romano harshly pulled his shoulder out of the Asian man's reach. "Shut the hell up. I make my own decisions, and I decided to go! So lay off." He stalked off towards the car, then stopped and turned again. With a forced calm Romano stated, "I have to...move back before I can move on, or something. Maybe I'm still drunk. Just fuck off and leave me alone."

"If you are sure-"

"I am."

Japan stared down Romano for a very long time. Neither looked away. Eventually Veneziano noticed and tugged on his brother's sleeve. "Hey, fratello? Aren't we going to go?"

"...yeah. You put my stuff in the car?"

"Yup! I think we're just waiting on Toni to get out here. And you and Japan to stop having a staring contest."

Romano grumbled in annoyance and mild amusement. He quickly turned away from Japan. "Just waiting on one now."

"Oh, did you lose?"

"Yeah, something like that. Now get in the damn car. I want to go home."

Within ten minutes the trio of Mediterranean countries had packed the last few things into the trunk and said their goodbyes. Romano had claimed the backseat and stolen his brother's sunglasses before they had left Germany's house. The blond nation hadn't said much to any of them that morning. He had only muttered something incomprehensible to Veneziano, then to his brother, then wandered off upstairs. Japan had excused the behavior by Germany's lack of sleep, but they all knew the real reason. The empty beer bottles, while cleaned and put away, were a dead giveaway.

Spain and Veneziano talked animatedly in the front of the car as they headed south towards Austria. The older Italian brother chose to ignore the two idiots he was stuck with and watch all of the trees go by instead. Soon he would be back in his native land and out of the country of ugly, terrible sounding people-otherwise known as Germany.

Romano turned to look out the other window and winced. He reached up and rubbed a sore spot on his neck as he thought, "Note to self: Germany makes an awful pillow...as if I would ever be caught dead doing something like that again. Shit." Thankfully the Italian was already facing away from the other two Mediterranean countries so they didn't notice his bright red blush.