“Ooooh~! Doitsu let’s go ice-skating~!” Italy said. He was facing an outdoor skating rink, and there was a good amount of people there. There was still room for more people.

     “But it already started to snow…” Doitsu, a.k.a. Germany, said back. He had wanted to go home and drink some tasty holiday beer.

     “Pleeeeeeease Doitsuuuu~??” Italy pleaded. Germany sighed. He didn’t want to make his best friend sad.

     “All right, let’s go.” He said, reluctantly. Italy cheered, and pulled Germany towards the rink.

     They went through the doors inside the center where their winter shoes were stored away safely into lockers and were temporarily exchanged with perfect-fitting ice skates. The two put the skates on and wobbled carefully to the edge of the rink, where they stepped onto the slippery ice.

     Italy gripped one arm on the end bar of the rink, the other holding onto Germany’s arm. Germany stepped onto the ice after him carefully, preventing falling.  He steadied himself until he gained a good balance. “Now Italy,” he said, “stay at a distance in which I can see you, okay?” His friend agreed as he took off, holding onto the bar for support.

     He didn’t really notice this before, but looking now, Germany saw that Italy was a pretty decent ice skater. He isn’t as clumsy as he is on land, he thought. He skated slowly next to the end bar, the snowflakes falling softly on his light blonde hair. His eyes darted off to the side, admiring the tall buildings afar, seeing how they were decorated for the winter season, with snowflake lights and miniature Christmas trees on each corner. He gave out a sigh, which his breath formed a white frost cloud near his mouth. He then felt a sudden urge to not skate anymore and take a walk along the sidewalk along the buildings.

     At that moment, he thought about his friend, and he glanced quickly across the large skating rink. It was crowded now, so he couldn’t looks very good, but he didn’t feel like calling Italy out either. Skating carefully Germany kept his sharp blue eyes out for his carefree buddy.

     Alas he spotted Italy, but he didn’t seem alone. In fact, Germany noticed that beside him there were two girls, one redhead and one blonde, happily skating along with him. Italy had the usual happy dazed look on his face. This sight made Germany very irritated, and he skated over in a huff behind Italy. He grabbed the hood of his jacket, telling him it was time to go home. Italy reluctantly followed his friend back inside to claim their shoes and went outsides towards the street to catch a taxi back home.

                        ~~~~~~~~~~

     Germany and Italy got out of the taxi to face Germany’s house. The two walked up the long flight of stairs up to the front door, which Germany opened, and went inside. The temperature had a drastic change, from the outdoor 25˚F to the indoor 80˚F.

     “Ahh~! It’s so warm!!” Italy said, taking off his winter jacket, hat and scarf and throwing them on the floor.

     “Italy! How many times do I have to tell you, hang your clothes up!!” Germany said in his usual boss tone.

     “Ohh! Sorry Doitsu~!” He did what he was told.

     Germany walked into the living room, and he was surprised to see not his older brother Prussia, but France, Spain and Romano with him. He had started to say something, but he was cut off by his brother.

     “Oi, West! Wasn’t thinking you’d make it in this weather! Here, have a beer on your return!” Prussia said, grabbing a beer bottle from the fridge and handing it to Germany.

     “Uh….danke,” he replied, “but…why are these guys doing here?”

     “Ah, I was bored, so I invited a few friends. I would have got more but I didn’t feel like it. Also Austria wouldn’t come and that really pissed me off.”

     Italy walked into the room and immediately saw his own brother Romano. “Fratelloooooooo~!!!” he shouted, running over and glomping him. Spain laughed, which caused Romano to spank him, but he hugged his brother back. France laughed and the sight as well.

     “So, where were you that made you come back at this hour?” Prussia asked his bro.

     “Erm….ice skating. Italy wanted to.” Germany replied.

     “Ohreally~” he said back, “How long did you stay?”

“Ah…about an hour or so, I guess.”

“Really? That long? Usually whenever I see him with Romano they go for hours on end! Whatever did you do to make him leave?”

     “Dragged ‘em. I was tired, you see. And he was  with strangers, and I didn’t trust him to be with them.”   

     “Oi? What kind of strangers. Girls, may I ask?”

     Germany was getting irritated again. “So what?” he said, “I didn’t want him to be with them.”

     Prussia smiled a sly smile. “Ah, don’t tell me…you’re jealous!”

     Germany looked at him angrily. “Whyever would I be jealous! There is no way!” he said, rather loudly.

     “Hey, I’m jus’ sayin’, okay?”

     “Leave me be for now, Prussia.” Germany said, leaving the bunch and made his way upstairs going to his room. He closed the door and sat upon his bed. He has yet to make it neat, and he noticed Italy’s clothes from the day before in a messy pile on the floor. He grunted as he bent down to pick them up, fold them, and set them neatly on a nearby chair.

     Getting up from the bed, Germany exited his room and went to the bathroom; same floor. He went towards the sink and the cold water, splashing some on his face. Looking up at the mirror he studied his reflection. Besides the water dripping from his chin, he saw wrinkles on his forehead. He reached his hand up to touch them. He sighed, and turned the water off. He wiped his face with his shirt sleeve rather than his towel, and made his way back downstairs, so be wouldn’t feel lonely, and also to keep an eye on Italy.

     When he reached the bottom steps, however, there seemed to be a few extra people there. Apparently, someone had decided to invite some girls over, and Italy was in the middle of them. There were four very pretty girls and they were most likely French, telling by their accents. Germany noticed that Italy had that same dazed face from before. He gave out a loud huff of breath at the sight of him. He walked up to his older brother and asked why these ladies were here.

     “Oi, they’re here to liven things up. It was France’s idea. But they all like your little friend there; they’re all saying how cute he is and stuff.”

     “….Ohreally………”

     Germany overheard one of the girls talking to Italy. “Hey, how about we go outside for a walk? It has stopped snowing, and I bet the sunset is going to be très beau!” He saw that Italy had agreed to the idea, and he and the four French girls went to put on their coats. Then they walked out of the house.

     “Wait…where are they going?” Germany demanded.

     “I dunno,” his brother replied, “I have no business in this whatsoever.”

     “I do not really trust those girls. You can never trust the French,” (France was appalled by this statement) “I am going to follow them!” Germany’s mind was set, and he was about to make his way to the door when Prussia stopped him.

     “Hey! You can’t just go out like that! You need a cover up! And I wanna come with you~!”

     He sighed. “Fine, fine. Whaddya got?”

     Prussia smiled. “I got just the thing!”

                        ~~~~~~~~~~

     “Do I REALLY have to wear THIS!!!” Germany growled, fixing the black long-haired wig on his head, holding up the long ends of the poufy pink dress he was wearing. He felt like such a fool wearing women’s attire.

     “It’s the best thing I had for you~! And don’t sulk! This fake mustache I’m wearing is soooo itchy…!” Prussia replied back.

     “It’s not as bad as this……” Germany mumbled to himself, attempting to walk in the high heeled shoes that came with his ‘outfit’.

     “Hey, don’t worry- if you fall, I’ll catch you!” Prussia winked.

     “Argh, focus!” Germany whispered, “We’re supposed to be keeping track of Italy and those girls!”

     The German bros hid behind a building, cautiously peeking out from it to see Italy and the others. It looks like he’s have a good time with them, Germany thought to himself, but I’m only doing this to protect him…if those girls ever do something to him…t-that’s all…

     “C’mon West!” Prussia broke into his brother’s thoughts, “They’re leaving. Let’s go catch up with them!” Seeing that Germany was worse than a snail in the heels he had, Prussia lifted Germany up, bridal style, and followed the Italian with him in his arms.

     Germany kept his eyes on his buddy, and he noticed that they stopped in front of a half-frozen stream. The gate was closed so no one can fall through. “Quick!” he said to Prussia, “In those bushes. NOW!” They took cover in the bushes, peeking out from the branches of them to keep Italy in their sight.

     Germany didn’t like to be in the crouching position he was in; these shoes were oh so PAINFUL! He fell over to the side on top his older brother, who had noticed and quickly caught him just in time. Germany held onto his brother for stability.

     He couldn’t make out what the French girls are saying to his friend, but he can see that they were all happy looking; they all had a smile of some sort on their faces.

     Suddenly Germany caught hold of a sight he didn’t wish to see. One of the French girls had leaned in very close to his best friends’ face and planted a kiss on his lips. The other girls decided to do the same thing as well.

     He felt his breath get heavy, and Prussia can hear it. He felt a strange feeling he hadn’t felt before. It was like pain, only it wasn’t like physical pain he was used to. He decided he didn’t want to be there anymore. He clutched his brothers’ shoulder, leaning into his chest. “…I want to go home……I cannot be here anymore…” Prussia knew what his younger brother was talking about; he had seen it too.

     “Okay West.” He said quietly, picking his brother up and carrying him out of the bushes in the opposite direction of Italy and the girls. Germany had a strong urge to look back at them, but he fought against it. He has seen enough for a day.

                        ~~~~~~~~~

     Germany ran through the doors of his home, not caring that he had knocked into France carrying full glasses of wine, or that he tripped over Prussia’s uniform that he wore all the time. He ran up the stair s two at a time up to his room and slammed the door closed. He ripped the dress off him, yanked the wig of his head, and kicked the shoes off his feet, all in such an enraged manner. He forcefully pulled his dresser drawer open, nearly pulling the whole shelf off. He took out a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt out and put them on, not caring that they were mismatched. He jumped into the bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. He didn’t have a care in the world for anything at the moment. All he wanted was to forget what he saw. But it’s things like this that never seems to escape…

     He then realized, this wasn’t the first time he had felt this way. He had realized that he never liked it when he knew Italy was with someone else besides himself (and sometimes his brother Romano as well). What if…….what if I really was jealous, of those girls, and all those other people Italy hangs out with….well besides his brother, but still… he thought to himself. He didn’t know what to do with a feeling like this.

     Just then Germany heard his bedroom door open. “…Doitsu?” he heard someone say. It was Italy, only he ever called him by that embarrassingly cute nickname. “Oh, hiii Doitsu~! You tired?” Germany did not reply. “Oh, then you must be~.” Italy said again.

     Italy took off his clothes, leaving only his shorts and an undershirt on, and climbed into bed next to his bestie. He was facing Germany’s back. “I wish you would have came with me, Doitsu,” he said, “it was pretty fun.”

     “Hmph, ohreally.” Germany replied, rather stiffly.

     “They had such an interesting lifestyle too. It’s so different from mines~!”

     “Interesting.”

     “And they were pretty too…”

     “………I see…”

     Italy knew something was wrong; he just didn’t know what. “…Um, Doitsu, what’s the matter?” he said timidly.

     “Heh heh,…what’s the matter, you ask? Nothing’s the matter! Absolutely nothing!” he said, ending loudly.

     “But…but then why are you shouting…”

     “I AM NOT shouting!!” Germany replied. The irritation feeling was coming back to him. He sat up in bed, looking down at the covers, his hands in tight fists.

     Italy sat up in bed too. “Aww, Doitsu~! Please tell me what’s wrong, please!”

     Germany sighed a long one. He didn’t feel like asking his question, because then Italy would find out what he did. But he didn’t want this feeling to be cooped up inside him forever. So he risked it and asked it.

     “Why………”

     “Why what?”

“Why…why…did they…why did they kiss you……?”

     Italy was shocked. “Wha…? H-how did you kno-“

     “I followed you,” Germany confessed, “I didn’t want anything to happen to you, so I followed you secretly. With Prussia, but he has no blame on this. It was all my idea.”

     “But then, why didn’t I see you?”

     “I was in a stupid disguise, dressed as a woman, thanks to Prussia…”

     “Oh……”

     The two were silent for a long while after that. They had no idea on what to say to each other after that. They were coming up with something to say.

     Germany then broke the silence. “Where are those girls anyway…?” he asked.

     “Oh, they wanted to go back home. For some reason what I had said to them had made them all sad and I-“

     “What did you tell them??”

     “Oh, I, um…well, after they, uh, kissed me, and I was surprised but then I felt really bad. I mean, it was okay, but I had someone else on my mind. I had told them that…that I was in love with someone else…”

     Germany looked at him. “You told them that?” he asked, “Did they wonder who?”

     “Yeah,” Italy replied, blushing a bit, “I told them…that I was in love with…with you…”

     Germany froze. Was he hearing right? Was his ears playing tricks on him? Italy- he was telling the t-truth, right? “Who…did…you say…you were in…l-l-love with…?” He asked slowly.

     “I said I told them that I was in love with you, Doitsu~”

     It was a good thing it was nighttime, that the room was dark, so Italy wouldn’t see Germany’s blushing red face. “O-ohreally…” he stammered.

     “It’s true, Doitsu. I really love you~” Italy whispered, reaching over to hug his best friend. Germany flinched at the sudden touch. But, he was really, very, very happy inside. He was such in a secret joy. Italy had confessed to him! And with the other events of that day aside…wow, what a day!

     “Do…do you really love me too, Doitsu?” Italy asked in a timid voice. Germany smiled

     “Oh, Italy, of course I do. I do really love you too. You are all I ever want…” He whispered softly, wrapping his own arms around his best friend.

     “Oh, I’m so happy, Doitsu~!!” Italy said, with obvious glee in his voice.

     Germany turned his head towards Italy, and he lifted his head up by his chin so he’d look towards him. He closed his eyes as he lowered his own head, and his lips met Italy’s soft, warm ones. He felt Italy wrap his arms around his neck and pulled himself up very slightly to kiss Germany better.

     This…this right here, Germany thought to himself, is perfect. Just perfect.

     They were so deep into each other’s love, they didn’t notice a calmly smiling Prussia peeking through the door.

     But then again, there was no one who dare disturb this perfect couple on this (absolutely) perfect night.

                         ~THE END~