Italy was having a day entirely to himself. Technically speaking, it was another day to himself as the days prior had also been similar but this was hardly phasing him any. Romano was elsewhere in the house, contentedly humming and cleaning and organizing and this had warranted a need for the younger of the brothers to shut the door to his bedroom and bury himself beneath the pillows of his bed. So far, this plan was succeeding in allowing him to stew in both his misery and anger.

With a huff he pushed himself further beneath the bedding and grumbled as it didn't help stop the sound of Romano who had switched from humming to singing in a loud and slightly off-key manner. This moping about wasn't suiting his new and improved self-image but he didn't particularly care as he tried to sort through his inner thoughts and feelings. He loved Germany, he was sure of it, but at the same time he was down-right angry with that large, handsome, overly muscular nation with amazing eyes and try as he could, he wasn't able to get passed it. Not only did the German manage to trick him not once, but twice in the space of a week. It was morbidly embarrassing and something his weaker past self would have been prone to.

So entranced into his thoughts, Italy failed to notice Romano had stopped crooning and had begun knocking at his bedroom door in a manner that seemed to be following some unknown tune's rhythm. At first he tried to ignore it, but the longer it went on the louder and more annoying it became to the brunette gritting his teeth against the intrusion, until he finally couldn't take it anymore and shot upright to growl a "What do you want?!" at the door.

Romano stuck his light blonde head through the gap he created with the door and grin widely. "Hey fratellino! How are you today?"

"Great until you showed up." Italy muttered angrily, folding his arms and focusing on the blanket on his bed.

Romano pouted a little at the statement but said nothing more at it. "Want something to cheer you up?"

"No."

"That's great because I have just the thing." Without any further warning and not listening to any objections, Romano flung the door open wider and shoved a clearly nervous and awkward looking Germany through it. Italy immediately sat up straighter and Romano took happy note of it. "If you two kids need anything, snacks or anything more~," he threw his younger brother a wink and received a forearm jerk in response, "you let me know!"

The door was rather forcefully shut and Germany began to sweat now that he was trapped in small in closed space with his ally. Italy raised an eyebrow and fixed the blonde with a stern look. "Have you come to apologize?"

"…Yes…?"

Well that significantly brightened his mood, and he switched to a charming and lustful smile. "Care to sit?" he asked sweetly and rubbed a circle on the bed beside him. Germany hesitated before slowly making his approach and warily awaiting for the sweet smile to disappear and Italy to pounce on him and add another scar as a memento. He remained tense as he eased himself down beside the smaller nation and froze unsure where to go next.

Italy regarded how nervous the other was and tilted his head to innocently look up at the blonde. "Are you going to tell me how sorry you are for being so mean and leaving me at the mercy at our elder brothers?"

Germany's voice hitched as he was caught in Italy's fuchsia gaze and he barely managed to stammer out the speech he had practiced all morning. "I-Italy, about the p-past few days… I… I would like to settle things between us. Fo-for the sake of… for the sake of our alliance and our p-people, can we put it behind us…?" And to finish off his spiel, Germany put on his best smile in what he hoped was a sign of good faith.

Italy watched in bemusement at the forced, slightly twitching, and partly angry-looking smile on the nation's face held there hoping for some sort of sign that it could be released from its uncomfortable position. It really was fascinating how the other could have so many difficulties with something so simple as a friendly grin. Leaving him hanging for a while longer in sheer amusement, Italy finally formed his own smirk at the blonde's efforts. "I will accept that for now."

Germany's face wavered between relief and panic for a moment much to Italy's delight before he began to rummage through the pockets of his coat. "I also brought you something…" Curiosity piqued, the brunette leaned forward to eagerly see what it was as Germany turned back around and held an object out on the flat of his palm. Italy's eyes widened slightly in shock as he registered the item offered to him. "You, uh, left this behind the other night."

Without giving any sort of clue as to what was happening inside his head, Italy silently accepted his knife, plucking it out of Germany's hand, only the barest of contact occurring as his fingertips grazed the other's skin and ignored his guest's deep-set blush while he ran a thumb over the blade's handle while examining it. It would spoil the moment to remind himself that nation had probably sought help from his housemates on what to bring so he decided to put that thought aside and focused on grinning while sidling closer. "That was wonderfully thought full of you, Germany~" he purred while pressing ever closer to the suddenly tensed blonde.

"I… uh…" Germany stammered as the Italian invaded his much needed personal space. He thought he had kept it together fairly well until the smaller nation easily climbed into his lap and he was faced with the uncertainty of what was now going to happen. On the one hand, Italy seemed pleased at the receipt of his gift (even if said 'gift' was originally his to begin with), but now he had gone and made the situation more awkward than it needed to be.

And what was worse, the blonde nation wasn't sure where to put his hands. At first he had lifted them out of the way as Italy easily perched on his legs and leaned against his chest, but then he no longer knew what to do next. Did he place them on Italy's back in some sort of hug fashion? But what if he placed his hands to high or (and his mind nearly shut down at the thought) they ended up too low? After hopelessly failing at coming to a solution that did not have him unsteadily waving his hands above Italy's back, he settled for attempting to rest them at his sides, but jolted as they brushed against one of the other nation's legs in the process.

If only that was only where his troubles ended, but Germany had no such luck. While he had assumed Italy had been happy, he was now seriously concerned that wasn't the case as the smaller nation pressed his lips against the driving pulse at the blonde's neck. Visions swam before his eyes of Italy's teeth tearing at his carotid and leaving him to slowly bleed out while small marks were dotted across his pale skin. There really was no hope for any sort of rescue.

"How are the two of you doing-?"

A loud thunk resonated from Italy's knife burying itself into the wooden frame of the door hardly an inch from Romano's head. Romano didn't even flinch at his near death encounter, his smile only faltering slightly as he looked over the blade and turned his grin up full force to meet the dark glare he received from his younger brother. "Veneciano," Romano began with a light air that still managed to hold a slight chill, "do we need to have another chat about your unnecessary use of violence?"

Italy held his death glare as he possessively clung to the frozen German. "You interrupted."

Romano took in the slightly compromising scene with a smirk as he adjusted his tinted glasses. "I can see that. Perhaps another time since I'm clearly not needed!" Romano retreated back behind the door, hesitated, and then stuck his head through again. "Unless you are not sure how it works between men."

"Get out!" Italy screamed back, quickly eyeing his surroundings for more ammunition. The closed door did little to stifle the happy giggle that sounded behind it.

Maybe now Germany would no longer be the target of Italy's rage as he studied the fuming nation still in his lap and tried to comfort him by pulling him into a hug. Italy liked hugs in the past, so why not now?

Fuchsia eyes fluttered closed as Italy hummed against Germany's shoulder and wrapped his arms around the other's large torso. Germany glanced down at the nation in his arms and smiled slightly at the sight, glad he had taken the advice given to him.

"Really, you should have seen them. Completely adorable how Veneciano was wrapped around that macho potato. Adorable I tell you." Romano twisted the cord to the receiver around his fingers as he chatted cheerfully. It was gossiping at its finest and the stylish blonde had the juiciest information for the next week.

"I see." The recipient added carefully and Romano's face practically split as he grinned further.

"We did pretty well getting those to make up. You should have seen how Veneciano moped around the place lately. It was dreary and really took the mood down."

Stilled silence followed Romano's comment, before Japan sighed. "Yes, I believe this should work out of the best."

Romano waited only seconds before he felt the desperate need to talk once again. "You want more details?" he taunted through the phone, knowing full well the other was going to readily agree to hearing more about the current status between the two members of the axis. And Romano easily launched into full descriptions of what he had seen, filling up the afternoon with pointless chatter until Japan pretended there was a problem with his phone and hung up.