Perfect

There was nothing wrong with him. At least, his grandfather always said so. His beloved fratello would have a million things to say otherwise, but that was just him to randomly throw insults and hide his love for that person. If he asked Japan, he would just turn away and politely offer to make some rice balls, so innocent Feli took that as a no. So if there was really nothing wrong with him, why did he keep worrying about what Germany would think of him?

With every trip and slip, Italy would find himself blushing furiously each time Germany came over to help him up. Every time he made pasta, he'd quadruple check that it was absolutely perfect. Whenever he and Germany played football, he tried to catch every ball that flew towards him and ended up ashamed after each ball he failed to catch. Feliciano tried not to think too badly of himself, but he really didn't want Ludwig to think he was weak and useless and leave him behind. So, Italy decided to check himself multiple times in the large golden mirror Grandpa Rome had given him before nervously heading out the door to continue his carefully planned schedule for today, starting with a world conference.

___________________________________________________________

As usual, the world conference began with America pestering England, the Baltic nations trembling under Russia's cold stare, France flirting with some of the other nations, and Greece sleeping peacefully. After finally reaching his seat and nodding to Germany, Italy braced himself as he screamed orders at the nations and demanded their full attention. He smiled as all the nations immediately stopped what they were doing and scrambled to get back to their seats, intimidated by Germany's strong, demanding voice.

"Today, we'll be discussing the issues involving…" Germany's voice along with the other noises of the world was tuned out as pasta began to take over Feliciano's mind. Images of ravioli, linguini, spaghetti, and other kinds of delicious pasta kept flowing into his mind until-

"PASTAAAAA~" Every nation's head was turned towards the ecstatic form of Italy, Germany's face distorted in annoyance. Realizing the position he was currently in, Italy silently shrank back into his seat.

Germany sighed and began to rub the bridge of his nose. "I think it's time we all took a brief intermission. Italy, I would like to have a word with you." The nations casually flowed through the doors of the conference room to leave the two nations in their awkward atmosphere.

Italy fiddled with his thumbs as Germany watched him with his arms crossed and brows furrowed.

"…I'm sorry." Italy could think of nothing else to say. He truly was sorry for putting on such an embarrassing display while Germany was in the middle of speaking. He heard a chuckle and looked up to Ludwig's warm smile. "Don't worry too much about it, Feli. It was actually quite interesting."

Feli blinked. He didn't think Ludwig would react so positively to his outburst. He expected Germany to scold and yell at him, just as he'd done all those other times. Feli tried sorting through his memories for an explanation to this reaction but was quickly snapped out of it by a large hand being offered to him.

"Let's go get something to eat. I could use some wurst." Feliciano beamed and eagerly took the hand, allowing it to help himself out of his seat. Overjoyed that he didn't screw up too badly, he thought about his schedule. Next on his schedule was training.

___________________________________________________________

Italy held back every complaint as he passed the three-mile mark. He was pretty sure that his legs were ready to give out any second now, but with Germany right behind him, that wasn't a choice. Italy tried his hardest not to let his limbs flail, not to look unappealing in any way. Germany was giving him a funny look, so he thought of what else he would have to fix about his posture until the concrete beneath him had suddenly decided to make out with him.

"Italy!" Germany immediately ran to his side, looking over his fallen form for any serious injuries. "Ow…" He barely heard it slide between Italy's bruised lips. He sighed and knelt beside Italy, who was covering his face with both hands. "Let me see." Feli hastily shook his head. Germany grabbed both of Italy's wrists and tried to gently pry them off. "Come on, show me where it hurts." He still kept a firm grip on his face, refusing to budge. Germany sighed again. Looks like I'll have to try a different approach.

Feli's muscles relaxed as Germany removed his hands from his wrists. That meant he was no longer interested in- He immediately tensed after hearing Germany's knuckles crack. He knew what this meant.

Germany firmly grasped Italy's arms and shook him violently. When all else had failed, all there was to do left with Italy was shake him to get him to cooperate.

Italy didn't bother keeping his torso from flopping around. He was fine as long as his face remained hidden from Germany. Suddenly, he felt himself slipping out of consciousness. Although Italy wanted to stay awake to make sure that Germany wouldn't see his face, there was nothing that could be done.

Germany felt Italy become completely limp. "ITA-" He stopped and looked at the sky. The sun was pretty high up and it looked like it was a little past midday. He looked at his watch. It was 3:00; siesta time.

Germany let out a sigh of relief and picked him up, ignoring the hands that were slowly sliding off Italy's face. Italy could be such a damn troublemaker at times. Germany was well aware of that fact. He was also an idiotic pasta lover who was practically scared of the world. But that was the idiot that Ludwig loved, and there was no denying it.

___________________________________________________________

Germany slowly drove into the parking space beside his house. Despite the continuously falling leaves during autumn, it was incredibly clean in front of his house.

He carried Italy up the even steps of his home and unlocked the door, revealing three large dogs pushing each other out of the way to greet him and barking loud welcomes to him.

"Stoppen daß!"

Germany turned his head towards the origin of the slurred command. "Can't I spend one night without having to listen to your damn obnoxious barking?" As soon as he gained sight of Germany and Italy, Prussia immediately lit back up. "Ah, hello, bruder! How're you doing?"

Germany sighed. "Good as long as I don't find France in my bed or Spain sprawled across the floor again."

Prussia laughed. "Why would the awesome Prussia disobey his brother's rule-"

CRASH

Prussia immediately turned pale and stood as still as his slightly drunken body would let him. Germany simply death glared at him. "Prussia, move over and let me put Italy down on the couch."

Prussia nervously spread out his arms to block him some more. "B-but why? Italy looks so comfortable there in your arms! Y-you wouldn't want-"

"Bruder. Now."

With that tone in his voice, Prussia knew better than to continue his charade. He slowly (and sloppily) stepped aside and Germany strode towards the couch. He knelt down and gently placed Italy down on the leather couch. Just before leaving Italy to beat the shit out of the trio, he looked over his injuries. There was a large bump on Italy's head and his lips were slightly bruised, but other than those simple flaws, Italy looked just fine. He sighed, and then turned to his brother.

"You are in so much trouble."

___________________________________________________________

Italy watched through the miniscule opening between his eyelids as Germany walked towards the noise. As soon as he left the room, Prussia frantically searched it for some place to hide. The dogs all followed him with wagging tails.

"Shoo! Go away! Leave me alone!" He hissed at them. They still continued to follow him as he tripped over himself. Feeling a bit bad for Prussia, Italy decided to help him.

He whistled and the dogs were immediately at his side. Prussia gave him a confused look and then scrambled for the closet Italy pointed to. He looked both ways, then whispered, "Thank you~" before quickly closing the closet door at the sound of approaching footsteps.

___________________________________________________________

Germany sighed. "When will they ever learn?" France and Spain were piled atop each other, unconscious. He walked towards the living room and stopped as soon as he saw Italy sitting up.

"Oh, Italy," Italy turned his attention towards Germany. "When did you wake up?"

"Just now." Italy turned back towards the rambunctious canines that were continuously nudging his hands. "Sorry if I worried you."

Germany didn't want Italy to see bruised faces and broken bones right after waking up, so he simply snapped his fingers and the dogs obediently lined up by the door. "It's alright. Just as long as you're fine now. It's time for me to take the dogs for a walk. Wanna come?"

Italy nodded his head. He hesitantly got off the couch, thoughts consumed on how imperfect he'd been.  As he walked slowly yet elegantly, he saw Germany's eyebrows twitch. Italy sighed. Just how many more flaws did he have to fix?

Germany stood by the door, all three leashes in hand. As Italy walked towards him, he noticed that rather than the ecstatic and careless skipping he was used to, he was watching a much calmer Italy walk towards him with steps that couldn't seem to be taken without practice.

I wonder what's been going on with him… He opened the door carefully as the dogs pushed past each other to get into the fresh autumn air. He kept an eye on Italy as he stepped outside, immediately struck by the cool breeze. Expecting the usual routine of Italy tripping and falling on his way down the steps, he stood at the bottom of the stairs, right in the center and a foot away from the last step.

Except this time, Italy would make sure that wouldn't happen again. It looked stupid and was certainly unappealing. So he held onto the railing and began walking down, slowly and carefully. He looked to Germany who was standing at the center of the end of the steps.

That's an odd place to wait for someone- He tripped on the third to last step and fell into Germany's arms. Italy didn't know whether to be grateful that Germany was there to catch him or to be upset that he was there to see him fall.

Italy sighed. Why did he have to be such a mess?

Germany carefully stood Italy back up. At least he was still clumsy. Whatever was going on with Italy, it was changing that idiot Germany enjoyed taking care of.

Italy was incredibly disappointed in himself. "Sorry about that…" he mumbled. "I'm such a klutz."

Germany just smiled and put his hand atop his head. He'd gotten so used to this ritual, that he really didn't care anymore. Screaming at him never worked, so there was no purpose in doing so anymore. "No need to worry. We all make mistakes, don't we?"

Italy looked surprised, but nodded his head and walked along. It's been a while since Germany's yelled at him now that he thought about it. Did this mean Italy had finally reached his goal of perfection? But he still falls and blurts out 'pasta' in every world conference. That surely isn't perfection.

He decided to drop it due to his growing headache and looked over his schedule once more. All there was next was dinner with Germany.

___________________________________________________________

The front of the restaurant was surrounded by dazzling lights and happy humans. Germany had prepared himself with a large variety of cleaning utensils. He knew Italy was bound to make some sort of mess during dinner. He'd also packed himself some novels since he expected Italy to be a couple of hours late again.

He took one of the open seats in front of the restaurant and opened up one of his books. He began to read, but then his thoughts trailed right back to Italy. Why was he acting so strangely? He'd usually bounce right back after something went wrong. Now he just apologized and mourned over his stupidity. Could it be something Romano had said to him? Germany thought of when and how he'd go ask Romano about it. He was just about to turn the unread page until-

"Hey, potato bastard!"

He looked up from his novel, eyebrows rising as he gained sight of a scowling Romano glaring down at him. "What are you doing here?" he slowly asked, his venomous tone causing eavesdroppers to immediately retreat.

"I'm waiting for someone." Germany calmly replied. Romano no longer bothered him. He'd gotten extremely used to this cruel routine as well. Except this one wasn't changing drastically.

"Romano~!" Spain tackled him from behind. Romano's face turned as red as the tomatoes they were ready to eat, both from frustration and embarrassment. "G-get off me, bastard! Don't you know what personal space is?"

"No, what's that? …Oh, hey, look! It's Italy!" Germany flinched at that statement. Italy? On time?

___________________________________________________________

Italy got himself out of the car, making sure that he didn't step into anything gruesome. Smoothing out his suit, he looked to the restaurant where he saw Spain waving frantically, Romano scowling as usual, and Germany looking as if he saw a ghost. What went on with those three? He wondered, watching the three conflicting emotions across the street.

Italy carefully made his way across the road, making sure that Germany wouldn't have to jump in front of another car for him. Ugh… he felt sick just thinking about how he used to act. He was so careless and stupid. Completely useless. He was the reason Germany was always in danger. Getting captured by England, pelted with tomatoes by Romano, even shot at a couple of times by Switzerland. So Italy reasoned that if he changed, all of this would change for the better as well. Germany might even finally return his love.

He greeted Germany, Spain, and Romano and occupied the seat next to Germany's. "What happened while I was away?"

"I bumped into Romano and Spain while I was here, but other than that, nothing big," Germany stated. He was still shocked to see Italy actually arrive on time. Something was definitely going on. And he was going to find out what it was. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Italy asked him about the restaurant he chose.

"It looks incredible." Germany had to admit, the restaurant Italy chose was a good one. The décor was stunning and the food smelled delicious. The music he heard coming from inside the restaurant was also appealing to his ears.

"Well, are we going to eat dinner now or what?" Italy asked. He couldn't wait to go inside and sit.  Yes, he was hungry, but there was another reason he seriously wanted to be seated. This was where he would tell Germany that he loved him.

___________________________________________________________

Italy and Germany were seated at a large table with an elegant scarlet tablecloth. The small candle at the center of the table worried Germany a bit, knowing how clumsy Italy could be, but he loosened up a bit when he saw how close they were to the fire extinguisher. Italy sat across from him and stared at the empty plate in front of him, looking a bit tense. "What's wrong?" Germany asked.

Italy looked up at Germany. "Oh, nothing." He gave a small smile to try and indicate his neutral status, but then returned to his thoughts. He was extremely nervous. He really wanted Germany to know about how he felt about him, but he didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Italy sighed. He wasn't sure if now was the time or not. What if it ended as their first date had? Germany had randomly frozen and stared at him after he finished taking his odd actions.  Italy still wondered to this day what had happened then. He figured at the time that it was a result of stress.

He was brought back into reality when the waiter came and took their orders. Italy, of course, hesitated when seeing all the different types of pasta he was being offered. The excellent pasta selection was another reason he'd picked this restaurant, but he'd forgotten about the difficulties of choosing just one. He looked over the menu and tried to eliminate a few, but he was somehow left with even more he wanted to eat. Italy closed his eyes, and tried putting his finger down onto one choice randomly. He opened his eyes to reveal that he'd missed the entries completely and was pointing to nothing. He sighed. "I'll just have baked ziti." The day wasn't going as planned.

"Okay, and you, sir?" Germany looked at Italy who didn't appear his normal happy self. He was at a great restaurant ordering his favorite foods, yet there wasn't even a small smile on his face. "I'll have the same." The waiter walked away too slowly as Germany waited to be alone with Italy.

"What's wrong? You haven't been your normal, happy, ecstatic self lately."

Italy was shocked by that question. He didn't think Germany would care about his old, idiotic self. Of course, there couldn't be much harm in answering it. Germany would be proud of him for changing for the better, right? "I decided to turn myself into a more serious and cooperative person. The old me would always get the Axis into so much trouble. I was completely useless and stupid and after realizing what was, I figured that changing was the way to go-"

"Stop."

Feliciano watched Ludwig in curiosity. He had his eyes closed and brows furrowed. He sighed heavily and slowly said, "Tell me the real reason you decided to change."

Italy opened his mouth to say he was telling the truth, but decided not to since Germany could apparently see through his lies. "Alright, I changed so you would like me back. I was pretty sure that you hated me, and I couldn't stand that. …Ti… Ti amo, Ludwig."

Germany sat still for a while to think the situation through. So this is why he was acting so strangely. He stood, walked over to Italy, and gently placed a hand on his soft hair. "Italy, how many times have I told you already that I didn't hate you? And you don't have to change to get me to like you.  Besides…. I-ich liebe dich, auch, Feliciano."

He suddenly felt his waist being strangled by two rather thin arms. "Ve~! You do?! I'm so happy!" Italy's face was covered with tears of joy and the biggest smile Germany had ever seen. He couldn't help but smile himself. "I'm glad as well."

Italy returned to his normal personality for the rest of the night which really did make Germany happy. But that didn't mean it wasn't annoying when Italy said "ti amo" every five minutes no matter the amount of food stuffed into his mouth. Despite Italy's occasional idiotic behavior and incredible stupidity, Germany still saw a perfect nation seated across from him.