Shreds of Modesty

All Austria wanted to do was go shopping, but then Germany just had to go and insist he take Prussia with him. Damn Germany and his strategically placed study room.

If he were any other nation, it would have been called sneaking. But he wasn't any other nation. He was Austria; a sophisticated and dignified nation. Sneaking was below him. He was merely leaving the house. Whilst making a conscious effort not to alert anyone to the fact.

So far, it was working.

He'd reached the entrance and was reaching for the door when a voice broke the silence.

'If you're going out, take my brother with you,'

Austria froze, his hand hovering over the door handle. He turned slowly. Sure enough Germany stood in the doorway of his study, looking slightly amused. Austria wondered just how long he had been standing there for. For the sake of his pride he hoped it was only a minute or two.

Damn Germany and his strategically placed study room.

'That's not neces-' he began to protest, but the other nation cut him off.

'It gets him out of my hair and you won't have to worry about getting lost,' Germany explained with flawless logic.

Austria was irritated by the slight. It was just a few times (in the past fortnight), why could Germany not let it go?

'But won't you be lonely?' Austria wondered aloud, 'I know, I'll call Italy to keep you company,' the threat had worked in his favour numerous times before.

'He's visiting Japan,' Germany replied readily. Austria felt his irritation rising.

'I'll just stay home then,' he huffed, beginning to shrug off his coat.

Germany looked a little smug, 'Did I mention that France is coming over in about an hour?'

Austria paused, feeling torn; Prussia or France? Both of them tried his patience.

France was an unabashed pervert.

Prussia on the other hand was just downright insane.

Be molested or driven to insanity?

'Fine, I'll take him.'

Prussia was stomping through the snow as if each deep footprint he left was a testament to his overall manliness. In contrast, Austria was walking perfectly normally, subtly trying to distance himself from the madman. Situations like this always got him thinking that Germany should have been the older sibling. Perhaps then the Prussian would be at least a little bit sane.

'My birthday's coming up,' Prussia said suddenly, turning to give the Austrian a broad grin.

'I had no idea,' Austria replied mildly.

It was a lie of course. But he wasn't going to tell the Prussian that the whole reason he'd wanted to go shopping in the first place was to buy him a present, because the result of that conversation would probably have been much more annoying than the current situation.

'Are you gonna get me something?' still with that stupid grin.

'I suppose,' Austria replied in a tone that he hope didn't imply any sort of real commitment. With Prussia one had to be careful.

Prussia paused in his stomping to examine him critically for a long moment. Then he grinned again, 'You totally are,'

Austria sighed, resisting the urge to run his hand through his hair in frustration, 'I promise I will if you promise to be very, very quiet for the rest of the day,' he suggested.

'Hmph,' Prussia sniffed, 'I'm not a kid,'

Austria raised an eyebrow, managing to express his beliefs were to the contrary with that single motion. Prussia made a face at him, further disproving his earlier statement and without another word ran ahead a short distance to examine a snowman one of the local children had made.

To Austria's relief and amusement Prussia didn't speak again until they reached the town centre. They passed rows of small, tidy cafes and shops, stopping at none of them. Since his plan had been foiled from the very beginning Austria was content to wander aimlessly and return home without buying anything. Prussia's birthday was tomorrow, but his party wasn't until the afternoon so he could always go out in the morning and get something.

Prussia had other ideas.

'Buy me that!'

Prussia made a show of pointing to a hoodie displayed in the window of a clothes store on the other side of the street. It was a blood red that matched his eyes and had the words 'I'M AWESOME, DEAL WITH IT' scrawled across it in an impossibly arrogant script.

'It would totally suit me, because I'm awesome just like it says,' Prussia was looking very pleased with himself.

Oh yes it suited him perfectly, Austria just wasn't going to admit it.

'Can't you at least try to be a bit modest?' Austria appealed as Prussia grabbed him by the arm and, ignoring traffic, dragged him across the road.

'Bah, someone as awesome as me has no time for weak things like modesty,' Prussia answered, offhandedly as they reached the shop.

'Modesty isn't a sign of weakness, nor is vanity a sign of strength,' Austria replied, prying himself free from the other nation.

'Oh really? That's a bit rich coming from someone who styles their hair every day and wears glasses for no real reason,' Prussia cast about the shop looking for the hoodies, and didn't meet his eye, but he still looked smug.

Austria was slightly flustered, 'I do not-'

'It's common knowledge, young master,'

Austria pressed his mouth shut in annoyance and Prussia shot him a smirk. Then he spotted what he was looking for and dragged Austria after him as he crossed the huffed, but allowed himself to be led. They came to stop before the rack of hoodies and Prussia rummaged through them searching for his size. Austria stood a little off to the side, trying to give the impression that he didn't know the albino.

'It works for you though,'

'I'm sorry?' Austria had no idea what Prussia was talking about. Not that that was unusual.

'The sophisticated look,' Prussia stressed, removing a hoodie from the rack and pulling it over his head.

'...Thank you,' Austria replied slightly surprised, it was a rare compliment.

Prussia made a face at him, 'You're meant to say "not nearly as well as the bad boy look works for you, o'awesome Prussia",'

'...Bad boy look?' Austria raised an eyebrow.

'Naturally,' Prussia grinned admiring himself in the display mirror.

'I got more of a...' Austria tried to think of a way of phrasing it and then gave up.

Prussia sniggered, 'What's wrong?' he teased, 'Am I so attractive that I leave you speechless? It's okay, I have that affect on a lot of people,'

'I think it's your insanity that leaves me speechless, not your attractiveness,' Austria replied, crossing his arms in irritation.

'So you do think I'm attractive,'

'I didn't say that,'

'But you implied it,'

Austria felt a strong urge to wipe the smug grin from the idiot's face. With his fist.

Prussia seemed very aware of it. And absurdly pleased. He grinned and sauntered away, leaving the Austrian to fume.

Austria had just about recovered when Prussia seemed to materialised beside him. Before the other nation could speak Prussia seized him by the arm and dragged him to the other side of the shop.

'Prussia, what-?' Austria began but Prussia cut him off.

'Buy this!' he said, pointing animatedly to a pale purple coat that hung on the rack in front of them, 'It would suit you!' he pulled it from the rack a thrust it towards the other nation.

'That's a girls' coat,' Austria stated eyeing the item of clothing that was being held towards him.

'Yeah,' the way Prussia said it suited the words "so what?" more than any tone of agreement.

'You're implying that I have a girly appearance?' Austria raised an eyebrow and tried not to be too offended, Prussia had said worse things about him in the past after all.

'No, I just think it would really suit you,' in a vague kind of way Austria supposed Prussia was trying to be nice, 'Try it on!'

When Austria protested the Prussian set about forcefully stripping the other nation. Face reddening Austria became aware of the increasing number of people the commotion was drawing.

'Okay, okay!' Austria cried breaking free of the other nation's grasp. Prussia grinned in triumph and handed him the coat. Austria put it on, trying not to pout, and turned to look in the mirror.

Damn that Prussia, he was right.

It did suit him.

Very, very well indeed.

He tried to ignore the reflection in mirror of the watching crowd, all of whom seemed to agree with Prussia.

Damn it all.

'Told you so,' Prussia was grinning from ear to ear.

A shop assistant pulled herself from the crowd of admirers and approached them, 'Can I help you gentlemen?' she asked. She too, seemed to appreciate how well the coat suited Austria.

'Yes, he'll take the coat and this,' Prussia answered before Austria could say anything, giving the girl his hoodie.

'I never said I'd buy either of them!' Austria protested. Prussia put an arm around his shoulders and offered the shop assistant a wink.

'He's just embarrassed that it's a girls' coat,' Prussia was leaning on him quite heavily and Austria found it hard to move.

The girl was blushing, 'You shouldn't be embarrassed!' she exclaimed, 'It looks just wonderful on you!'

Austria tried in vain to dislodge the Prussian, 'I'm not-'

'That's what I'm always telling him!' Prussia ignored him, speaking instead to the shop assistant, 'He's just so modest about his appearance, I don't know what to do,' he was gesturing dramatically with his other arm, 'He's such a cutie!' he pinched Austria's cheek.

While the shop assistant babbled in agreement, Prussia fixed Austria with a look that left no doubt he would be more than happy to continue the act until Austria caved.

'Fine,' Austria sighed.

'I'm sorry?' the shop assistant stopped mid-sentence. She seemed to have forgotten he too was capable of speech.

'I'll buy them,' Austria said in resignation.

'Oh that's wonderful!' the girl exclaimed.

Prussia didn't even try to hide his look of triumph as Austria handed the shop assistant the coat and followed her to the cash register.

Prussia wouldn't shut up. He was strutting through the snow now, which would have been an improvement from stomping in Austria's eyes, had the strutting not involved an arm around Austria's shoulders keeping him uncomfortably close.

Prussia was wearing his new hoodie and Austria his coat. Prussia had insisted.

'You can let me go now, you know,' Austria muttered. He still reeling from how much the coat and hoodie had cost him.

'If I do, you'll just try to take it off, run back to the shop and return it,' Prussia replied. He hadn't stopped grinning from the moment they'd left the shop.

'Damn right I will,' Austria huffed.

Prussia's grin changed from pleased to puzzled, 'Why?'

'Because,'

'Because why?'

'Because because!'

Prussia stopped walking and Austria was forced to do the same. He'd finally gotten rid of the grin, and replaced it completely with curiosity.

'That's not a proper reason,' he said tilting his head slightly to examine the Austrian.

'I don't care,' Austria turned his face away.

'You don't like it?' he asked.

Austria didn't answer.

'Are you really upset that it's a girls' coat?' Prussia continued.

Austria still remained silent.

'I wasn't joking when I said it looked good on you,' Prussia put a hand to Austria's face and gently turned him so they were facing. Austria's eyes were dark with irritation. Prussia tried again, 'I think you're really cute in it,'

'And I think you're completely insane!' Austria said sharply pulling away.

Prussia looked more relieved than hurt, 'Oh good,' the grin returned to his face, 'I thought you were angry at me,'

'I am angry at you!' Austria replied, annoyance clear in his voice.

'Whatever,' Prussia waved it off, 'You know you love me,'

Austria pouted, 'I love you when you're not around,'

Prussia smirked and Austria found himself regretting his choice of words.

'So you do love me,'

'I didn't say that,'

'But you implied it.'

Austria gave up.

He didn't know why he even bothered.

Prussia liked to make dramatic entrances almost as much as he liked to stomp through the snow.

'Hey West!' he yelled, bursting into Germany's study, 'Look what the young master bought for me!'

'Hello brother,' Germany greeted, watching as Prussia went through a series of poses to show off his new hoodie, 'I take it you had a good time,'

'Sure did,' Prussia agreed, 'Come and look at what else I made him buy,'

Germany obliged, following his brother out to the entrance. He had learnt long ago that the best way to deal with his brother was to indulge him.

Austria was just coming in the door now, Prussia having run ahead as he often did.

'Nice coat,' Germany commented, raising an eyebrow, 'Is it new?'

Austria fixed him with an ill tempered glare. Prussia threw his arm around the Austrian and pinched his cheek.

'Doesn't he just look totally cute in it?' Prussia grinned, seemingly ignorant of the black aura emanating rapidly from the other nation.

Germany wisely chose not to say anything, but couldn't quite hide the amused look in his eyes.

'Oh,' Prussia said as if just remembering something, he looked at Austria, who still struggled in his grasp and pinched his cheek again, 'By the way, I love you too,' he laughed and released him, racing away before Austria could recover.

Germany raised an eyebrow, 'You know, if you'd just said you were going to buy him a present I wouldn't have made you take him,'

'You know he's insane, right?' Austria asked venomously, his glare intensifying.

Germany gave a non-committal shrug, 'I was vaguely aware of it,'

Huffing Austria straightened himself, adjusting the coat that Prussia had knocked askew. Without another word he stalked past the German and headed for the stairs, and presumably his music room.

Germany watched his retreating back. Then something occurred to him.

'Austria?' he called, 'Isn't that a girls' coat?'

Wow, so. I typed this decent length AN and only now realised that it didn't save. Damn that's irritating.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!

This is probably the longest oneshot I've ever written. And most difficult. Honestly I had so much trouble trying to get their personalities right. I hope they're not too ooc...

When I started the ending was going to be different, with France making a brief appearance, and it was going to be a solid Prussia/Austria. But in then end, I dunno, it can be Prussia/Austria if you want or just a reflection on their friendship, it's up to you^^

Hope you enjoyed it, thank you for reading and please review!