Hidden Feelings

Chapter 4

Training was utterly exhausting. It wasn't so much the exercises that exhausted Germany. No, it was keeping Italy from goofing off that was the hard part. It wasn't long after Germany had first met Italy that he discovered Italy had the attention span of a five year old. There wasn't anything that DIDN'T distract Italy. For example, when he saw a cat and just HAD to play with it, or saw a pretty butterfly and just HAD to chase it. Even the simplest of things, like a goddamn regular little flower he absolutely HAD to smell. It was annoying. But even so, though he would never openly admit it, Germany thought it was actually kind of cute. Japan was very quiet the whole time, and just kind of watched as he usually did. Though he struggled at times because of his size, Japan usually did what Germany told him to do in training which made him much easier to deal with. He was much quieter and wasn't all over the place like Italy.

Then, finally, it was time to call it quits. Germany let out a sigh of relief. He had developed a headache, and he would have ended the training session sooner if he weren't so strict about sticking to his schedule.

"Alright, thats it for today." He announced to the two he was with. "You're dismissed."

Japan bowed silently and walked away while Italy still buzzed around running his mouth about something or another. Probably something about pasta or pretty girls, but Germany wasn't really listening. If he did it would most likely make his headache worse. Especially the part about the pretty girls. Italy was constantly flirting with girls, and it secretly made Germany kind of jealous, though he felt a bit silly beacause of it. He highly doubted that Italy ever even considered starting a serious relationship with any of these girls, but even so it still worries him sometimes. What if Italy does find a girl he likes enough to start a relationship with her? Germany doubted his heart could take it.

Germany sat down on the grass and pulled out a can of beer from the cooler he had brought. Italy sat down next to him still talking a million miles a minute and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler for himself since he refused to drink any alchoholic beverage other than the finest of wines.

Germany was worried about something else too. Italy was laughably weak on the battlefield. Italy would always just retreat or be saved by Germany. Sure, this had been the case for a long time now..., but what if he was put in a bad situation where neither of those things would be possible. He wouldn't be able to defend himself. He would be injured badly or even worse. He could die. Just the thought of it made Germany sick to his stomach.

"Yoo-hoo earth to Doitsu. Are you there?"  Germany realized that Italy was waving his hand in front of his face. " Ve~? Are you okay Doitsu? You got this really serious look on your face like you were worried or something."

Germany sighed and got up. He turned his back to Italy and started gathering up his things. " Listen Italy, your lack of effort during training is unacceptable. You would be a lot stronger on the battlefield if you would just listen to me and do your exercises the way you are supposed to do them. Right now you're an absolutley pathetic fighter and you're not going to win the war if you retreat from all your battles and mass produce white flags. If this dosen't change you're going to get yourself - " Germany turned around to look at Italy, and the look on his face made him go silent.

Large tears were forming at the edges of Italy's eyes. Fuck. He hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. He hated seeing Italy cry, and he hated himself more because most of the time he was the reason Italy cried. "Italy-"

"No." Italy interupted him. "You're right Doitsu. If I wasn't such a screw-up you would like me better, wouldn't you? But I'm just an idiot and a weakling, which is why you hate me." Large tears rolled down Italy's cheeks, and he fell to his knees sobbing.

Seeing this broke Germany's heart. He knew his words had been a bit harsh, but he didn't think they were harsh enough to make Italy think he hated him. This made him very angry with himself. "Italy, I don't hate you." He said kneeling down and pulling the sobbing man into a warm embrace.

Italy sniffled and looked up at the German, "You don't?"

"Of course not. I want you to get stronger so you don't get hurt. You're my best friend, and I would be devastated if anything were to happen to you. It's not that I'll like you if you become strong, its that I want you to become strong because I like you. It's because I love y- having you around." Germany's heart pounded. He had almost just revealed his feelings. He was so relieved he caught himself at the last second.

Italy smiled a huge smile up at him. "Really? You really feel that way?"

"Yes, Italy."

Italy threw his arms around Germany's neck making Germany's heart pound even faster. He swore if Italy didn't leave soon he was going to have a heart attack. "Wow, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Doitsu." Italy pulled away slightly from their embrace to look at Germany. To his surprise, Italy's eyes were actually open for once and it took Germany's breath away, as it always did. His eyes weren't just brown, they had a sort of light honey color to them and he had a soft gaze that was caring and innocent. He could stare into those eyes forever. Germany wanted to tell him how he felt so badly. So, so, badly. 

Italy stood up. " Thank you, Doitsu. I feel really happy now. And I'm definitely going to try harder now in training. I'll go home now and make us dinner, okay?"

" Okay." Germany showed one of his rare smiles again. 

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Hello fellow Hetalians! So, do you like the story so far? This was a rather flufftastical chapter don't you think? XD My idiocies aside, leave a comment if you enjoyed or if you didn't enjoy, I take constructive critisism. Welp, thats it from me, hasta la pasta!