It briefly crossed the blonde's mind that he should not have made an appearance to the small residence he found himself standing in front of. Most of the day had been spent in the company of Austria and it had taken their combined efforts to come to a conclusion. Austria insisted that it was a proper invitation and that if it were rescinded he would have received some sort of clear notification from either of the Italian brothers prior to when he was due to arrive. Germany had gladly accepted that explanation, sighing relief at having an answer… until Prussia stuck his head in the room and added to conversation with "But what if they thought that you knew that they knew that you knew…" and continuing until he was chased from away by his angry and much larger younger brother.

Still, before he had left Austria had reminded him that general politeness would have meant a call to cancel their plans and since the phone had been oddly silent all day he had left his house feeling nervous and confused at the situation. Well, to be more honest, this was just another instance to add to his growing list of things he didn't understand recently. And he really should be focusing more on what was happening in the war than what his comrades were doing.

With large strides he approached the front door and lifted a hand to knock, but his knuckles never collided with it as it wrenched open and he found himself face to face with hazel eyes directing the worst of evil stares in his direction. "Get inside bastard."

Germany mutely followed the order and stepped past, keeping Romano always within view and watching with curiosity as the brunette glanced behind him and then shut the door quietly. Germany cleared his throat, not sure where to begin on tonight's adventure. "I would like to thank you for your invitation-"

"Shhh! He'll hear you!" Romano cut him off and nervously looking towards the other room. When it was deemed safe he turned his murderous glare back towards his guest. "Do you have any idea what a stupid thing you did?"

Germany thought about it for a moment and drew a blank at to what the other was talking about so he slowly shook his head, his wide blue eyes never daring to look away from Romano's face.

"Oh, you don't know? Really? You idiot! You told him!" Romano hissed, moving closer so he could look directly up into Germany's stunned face. "Veneciano wasn't supposed to know! And you went and fucking told him!"

Germany dismally wished he had found a way out of tonight's plans, as it looked like this evening was off to a bad start. He never should have accepted the offer in the first place if this was what was going to happen. "You didn't say…"

"You know what he did after you called him and told him?" Romano continued in a whisper, acting as though the other's interruption had gone unheard, "He showed up to Spain's house and tricked that idiot into letting him. And Spain was pissed about what happened to his place and kicked us both out. Like it was my fault that Veneciano trashed it." The brunette huffed and crossed his arms in irritation as he finished his tale and looked up at Germany expectantly for some sort of explanation to his actions.

Germany ran a hand over his face and continued the motion over his slicked back hair. "Then why did you call me?" He had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

"This is your problem and I want you to fix it." Romano spat at him a bit too loudly and there was noise from the other room.

"Romano? C'è qualcuno?"

The brunette visibly flinched and moved to hide behind the German's large frame. "S-si! Germany's here!" He called and gave the nation a rough shove in the direction of the kitchen. "And make sure you do it fast." He added in a hushed tone, carefully treading his way alongside Germany as they made their way together into the next room.

Italy smirked as Germany appeared in the room, rounding the table that had been elegantly set and slinking slowly forward in a confident manner. "Ciao Germany." The Italian breathed, lacing his words with allure and coming to a halt just in front of him and holding out his arms. "Greet me with a hug?" he asked sweetly, before adding "Or would you prefer a kiss?"

Kissing was out of the question for safety's sake in case whatever Italy had come down with was transferable, but Germany figured a hug would be fine and so carefully enclosed the smaller nation in his embrace. Italy hummed in appreciation and pleasure and sent a very pointed glare to Romano over the blonde's shoulder so that the other wouldn't see. Romano winced and fled the room quickly not looking back as he made himself scarce.

Germany frowned as he released the brunette and cast a glance over the table. "I thought the table would be set for three…" he stated slowly, turning around and searching for the other missing Italian.

"Romano won't be joining us." Italy grinned, snaking his arm around Germany's and leading him towards his seat. "It will just be you and me." Somehow that thought was of little comfort.

Germany stood dumbfounded as Italy pulled out his chair for him and held it out waiting for him to take it. He stared at the gesture, feeling awkward at what it meant, until Italy frowned and let his fuchsia gaze make it very clear that Germany was to take that seat and smiling as the large nation followed his silent instruction. He easily circled the table and found the bottle of wine and began to fill their glasses while Germany watched his every movement with a critical eye in hopes of understanding what was happening. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the French script that adorned the bottle, but said nothing at the observation.

As the Italian moved to severing their appetizers Germany figured now was as good a time to shed a little more light on the situation. "Why would Romano invite me to dinner and then not appear himself?"

Italy chuckled as took his seat and picked up a fork to dig in. "It seems fratellone was trying to set us up together by asking us both to have dinner." His lips curved into a small smirk as went to take the first bite. "It was actually rather cute."

With apprehension and then only because he felt it would be polite, Germany stiffly joined in eating the prepared meal chewing slowly while attempting to determine if there was anything amiss with it. Everything tasted the same as it always had and their routines fell into a somewhat normal appearance where Italy chatted throughout the course while Germany nodded and made the occasional appropriate grunts and voiced thoughts to show he was listening. The biggest difference was their topic of conversation which seemed to focus less on Italy describing the cute cat he had seen that day to ones of military strategy.

"What would you think to a direct approach?" Italy offered during the main dish, fixing his guest with lidded eyes and a small smile.

Germany shifted slightly in his seat. "Direct?"

"Si." Italy casually stood and picked up the wine again to refresh their glasses. "If you want a country," he started, slowly pouring and leaning so he began to invade the German's personal space, "you should just take it, don't you think? And what country," he added with a pause so that he could turn his full attention to Germany, "do you want most?"

The room suddenly felt too hot to the reddening German. They were still talking military strategy, correct? "How would you suggest a more direct approach than what we have already tried?" he asked, attempting to carefully skirt around the previous question.

Italy seemed pleased by the question as he set the glass bottle on the table and, much to the blonde's shock, moved even closer. "How? That's easy." He replied slyly, grasping the blonde by the wrists. "You need to get your hands on the representative, and once you do," he smoothly lifted the large hands and placed them around his own waist, "you can do whatever you wish with them." Germany stared at the new position he had found himself in, internally debating whether or not to rip his arms away and remaining rather stiffly where he had been left while Italy trailed his finger tips towards the other's elbows. "Do you understand what I mean?"

Germany was absolutely sure there was something else going on and whatever it was making him increasingly more uncomfortable. Italy picked up this and smiled down at the flustered blonde. "How about some dessert?"

"Yes. Dessert sounds nice." Germany replied quickly, sensing he could be released from this peculiar state and waited patiently as the brunette picked up their plates and gracefully left him to his own musings. What had occurred was… odd and just thinking of it was not helping the deep blush that had crept up his ears and seeped into the roots of his hair. He tried to focus on his breathing in an attempt to calm his racing heart and in doing so was startled when Italy appeared beside him and placed a small plate of tiramisu in front of him.

"I made this myself." Italy told him while picking up the spoon that rested unused at his place setting to gingerly scooped some and held it out. "Try it."

Germany opened his mouth to the offering and let the Italian guide the spoonful to his lips. A new shade of red appeared on his skin as he murmured his praise of dish and found himself staring at the table rather than at the brunette. Italy accepted this, leaving the German nation's spoon on his plate and taking his own place opposite him before striking up another topic of conversation.

Germany, for his part, was silent for the rest of the dinner.

AN: I, uh, *cough* have heard you all like this version of 2p Italy...

C'è qualcuno?: Is someone there? (according to Google translate so for all I know it means something else entirely)