Germany smoothed the pages down as he reread the passage once more. He had seen it many times, but was growing nervous and desperately hoping he was not forgetting something important from it. The words looked exactly as they had before:
The first thing you must do is gain the attention of the person that you are attracted to.
Germany paused his reading to sigh. He already had the brunette's attentions, but the title of the cleverly named book promised to help build a better relationship with your partner and he was going to follow all the steps that it told him to. How could this possibly fail? Light blue eyes eagerly returned to find the page once more.
Remember, you need to make your love feel wanted. Grandiose displays work well for this, but before you get to the stage of large planned dinners start with the basics. Compliments tell the other that they are appreciated and that you are thinking of them. Explain that they look attractive today with examples of what you like about your partner. Is it the way their eyes light up or the particular outfit they have on? Expand and embellish on that point and it is okay to exaggerate a little so long as you mean what you say.
The blonde closed his eyes as he thought it through again. He imagined the brunette nation smiling and laughing, clinging to him when frightened but grimaced when he realized he was thinking of the wrong one. He needed to think of compliments for this new Italy and soon as the other was due to arrive.
He scanned the page for what felt like the hundredth time with a little desperation. Italy's laugh was not the same so he could not use that, and he couldn't recall the last time he had made a huge pasta meal enough to feed them, the dogs, and most of the surrounding town. What about his eyes? They were bright and unusual. Maybe that would work...
"Ciao la mia patata." said nation of his musings announced as he marched through the doorway.
Germany jumped at the sudden intrusion and hastily tried to hide his book beneath his ever growing stack of paperwork. "Gutten Morgan Italy." he stammered out as papers shuffled in his not so subtle attempt to hide what he was up to.
Italy's lip curled as he noticed the German's actions. "What's that?"
"Nothing!" The blonde responded quickly trying to lean over it to further hide it from view.
"Nothing?" The Italian laughed, "then you wouldn't mind showing me that nothing, would you?"
"No!" Germany cried out then shook his head. "I mean, I have nothing for you to see."
"Don't be like that," the brunette teased leaning over the desk to see what he had hidden. "Just let me take a look!"
At that moment, several panicked things went through Germany's head and he latched on to the strongest one. Now would be a good as time as any to that the book's instructions.
"Italy! You look very attractive today!" the blonde blurted out, flush taking over his face more so than it had with being caught with his book.
Italy paused his assault to regard the other carefully. It was a distraction for sure and it wasn't as though he would actually forget about the hidden object, but was surprised this was the avenue that was being used. "Grazie, Germ-"
"That is to say," Germany continued, not acknowledging that Italy had replied at all "that you do not look attractive on other days! But that today you look especially so!"
The Italian blinked and stood up straight. What was happening here?
"Your choice of uniform today suits you well, though on other days you still dress very well, only that this one is very nice!" Germany kept up , clearly on a role. "Not that you don't look nice all the time, because you do!"
Now a grin began to spread across the other's face as he caught on to what Germany was trying to do. He settled for silently enjoying what was about to happen.
Good, thought Germany as he internally congratulated himself seeing that it must be working and Italy did look pleased, now the thing about the eyes...
"Your eyes are very bright in colour!" he continued in his overly enthusiastic manner, "And... they are very pink!"
Now he was starting to have problems. What else should he use to make a compliment? He stammered and grew flustered, muttering something about his hair looking soft followed by a quick attempt to retract the statement before returning to repeating that he had already used.
Italy watched in nearly giddy joy at the German's attempt at flattery. It was so incredibly awkward and yet one of the single greatest things to happen in his life. A memory he wanted to hold onto for years to think of from time to time: the way the other's face was flushed a deep red or how his lips twitched as he tried to hold a wide smile. It made everything so real; that Germany was solely his.
Finally after sputtering "You do look good on other days as well," a few times the Italian decided to call an end to the blonde's suffering and held up a hand. "Grazie Germany," he offered a sultry smile and leaned across the desk to give a quick peck in thanks. "You know how to make someone feel special." He threw in an extra wink in his lover's direction just to convince the poor nation that he had given an honest effort.
Germany relaxed at the statement and the tension released his face to form a small but genuine smile. This only made the brunette laugh. He really did try too hard.
That and as Italy retreated off the desk he managed to catch the corner of what Germany was hiding. A book? Interesting.
He would have to steal it later.
AN: Thank you everyone who puts up with me and my crazy antics and thanks to Andovia for being the 200th review. :) Until next week!