He fumbles with his tie, too preoccupied with his thoughts to focus on the fabric twisting under his fingers.

"West," Prussia calls over his shoulder as he fights with his own suit, prussian blue as he often liked to choose. "You'll be alright, right?"

Due to his unofficial country status, Prussia didn't always go to the world meetings, but today it seemed that Germany could do with some support.

Germany sighs softly. "I don't know." He grunts in annoyance when he realizes that, in his distracted state, he had done his tie crookedly.

Prussia grins when he sees, knowing very well how OCD Germany could be. He grabs the tie, insisting Germany let him fix it with his awesomeness, and as silence falls again Germany's face returns to that solemn look.

"Italy and Japan will get over it." The albino reassures him, taking his time with the tie.

"How can you be sure?" Germany asks. Even if he didn't display the pain it caused him on his face, it tinted his voice with gravel.

"Because if Hungary, Austria, and Russia hadn't gotten over the excitement I added to their lives, I might get more than a concussion and death threats every time I see them."

"That isn't very comforting..." Germany replies.

Prussia laughs with his familiar "Kesesese", then says, "You have to remember that all three can hold grudges like nothing else, well... maybe not Austria as much, but my point is, those two are your best friends. You might put them through crud, but there's no way you're getting rid of em forever."

He gives the tie a final tug and fixes Germany's collar, then steps back grinning. "Just look at the Bad Touch Trio! No ones ever tearing us apart and we all have our crimes against each other. Trust your bruder, West. Things'll work out."

Germany just nods quietly.

-.;

The entire meeting was tense.

The fighting had dropped drastically due to the others noticing Germany's mood, but they seemed unsure how to work without arguing and awkward silences dotted the time.

During one of the breaks, Prussia slips away while Germany isn't watching. Using his self-proffesed "awesome skills", he manages to find Japan alone in the hallway.

"Hey! Japan-guy!"

The Asian turns and blinks at him in surprise, and the brief pause before he smiles was barely noticeable... Unless you were looking for it.

"Ah, hello Prussia-san. Is there something you wanted?"

"Ja, actually there is." Prussia's grin borderlined a smirk at this point, and Japan was made slightly uneasy by it.

"You know, I find it funny how you still talk to the awesome me, yet you basically ignore my less awesome bruder now. Like, what's up with that?"

"Eh..." Japan, with his skill in reading people, felt like Prussia knew something. "Well, Italy and I... We recently had a bit of a falling out with Germany, sort of. But its OK."

"Is it?" The albino's red eyes seem to bore into the smaller Asian, and Japan was feeling very unnerved by now. "The only time I've ever seen that little Italian stop clinging to West was during World War two, after West started getting scary. Even I was a little startled by it... But I had gotten scary as well, hadn't I?"

Japan backs up a little due to how threatening the Prussian sounded now, only hit the wall. Prussia leans forward slightly. "Listen Japan. I know exactly what went on with you three."

"You want me to forgive him then?" Japan replies, letting a tinge of defensiveness seep into his voice.

"No."

Japan blinks in surprise as the albino stands straight again, giving him breathing room.

"What I want... Is to remind you that I'm not Aryan either."

That's right... Japan realizes. Neither his silver hair nor scarlet eyes would classify him as "perfect". "What are you getting at?" Japan asks curiously.

Prussia grins wider. "I'm saying that its not impossible to forgive. He's mein own bruder, and when they decided I wasn't good enough I got to say 'hi' to all the other 'imperfections' I myself had thought as unworthy."

"You... You were sent to a concentration camp?!"

"Ja!" The way Prussia laughs makes it seem even more outrageous.

Japan can't help feeling dumfounded. "But... Then... Wait, do you or do you not wish for me to accept his apology?"

Prussia smiles toothily. "Neither."

"Eh?"

"I'm just saying it's possible. Whether you decide yes or no is your problem." He lets out a loud "Kesesese!" And walks away, leaving Japan more lost than before.

Spotting the Italy brothers, one looking angry and protective, the other doing a remarkable impression of a child whose puppy was run over (three guesses which is which?), Prussia strides over.

"What do you want, Potato-eater number two?!" Romano snaps and steps in front of his brother.

"Kesese! Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the tomato!" Prussia says and dodges his fists with a laugh.

"Listen you Potato-freak, last time one of you Potato-freaks talked to my brother you made him cry! So why don't you just go back to the rest of your potatoey kind and leave us alone?!"

Behind him, Veneziano begins to whimper.

"Now look what you did! You made it worse!" Romano yells. "Go on, shoo, before I kill you jerk!"

Prussia rolls his eyes and turns to leave, not willing to deal with Veneziano's brother. Whatever. North Italy was as bad at hating people as South was at smiling. Surely Germany and he would make up just fine without help?

"P-Prussia?"

Prussia turns back at the sound of the soft voice and sees Italy watching him hopefully with those sad eyes of his. Romano looks like he wants to butt in, but keeps quiet so not to accidentally break his fragile brother.

"D-do you know... Wh-what hap-ppened?" He asks.

Prussia nods. "Ja. West told me."

Italy sniffles a bit before continuing. "C-could you tell me... I-if he was ever r-really my friend?"

Prussia breaks into his trademark smile. Ja! This is better than I thought! "Ja Italy! He's been absolutely miserable over you and Japan!" Prussia says out loud. He widens his eyes for dramatic effect and adds, "he can't even drink beer! Not even my awesomeness can cheer him up!"

"But was he my friend?"

Prussia pauses, startled by the simpleminded Italian's not-so-simple reply. He hadn't even suspected that Italy would question if Germany's depression had ulterior reasons. He's clearly put a lot of thought into this.

Germany could be simply be upset about losing his "dog". Other countries had rumored about him having ulterior reasons for becoming the Italian's ally, and after losing his faith in Germany, it would be too easy for Italy to be affected by them. Plus, Prussia could be flat out lying to Italy about Germany's grief to get him back on their side.

There were so many things to consider about this, and this simpleminded Italian... Or maybe not so simple... Had gone ahead and thought through them. Prussia couldn't help feeling a bit at awe and maybe a bit proud too.

"Ja Italia." Prussia smiles seriously. "I've never seen Germany so attached to anyone, besides the awesome me, than he is with you. Do you think he saved you all those times for fun? No! Saving you is a real pain! But he does it anyways coz he's your best friend and he'd jump in front of a tank for you!"

Prussia bends down slightly to go eye level with North Italy. "West is heartbroken, but he won't say anything coz he's a stubborn dummcopf and he thinks he deserves it. Do you think he deserves it?"

"He... He wouldn't hurt us now, would he? Since he's not a Nazi anymore...?"

"Nein! You know West! It kills him just to see you upset and gloomy! And you know we're too paranoid about the past repeating to go Nazi again!" Prussia laughs. "There's no way West would do that! He told you coz he doesn't want to hurt you guys!"

Italy's face hesitantly brightens and he gives a soft "ve~!"

Mein work here is done! Prussia turns and walks away, calling, " See you, less-awesome Italians!" And immediately receives several enraged shouts from Romano.

-.;

"Where were you?"

Prussia smiles, hoping to hide his awkward unsurity on how to answer. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that! You vanished during the break and I couldn't find you anywhere!"

Prussia takes note of the despair hidden to the untrained eye still on his face and feels bad, despite knowing he had been trying to help his bruder.

He feels even worse knowing he can't answer truthfully.

"I was just looking for beer. Couldn't find any and it ticked me off!"

"Prussia, the beer was in the same place it always is." Germany replies with a scowl.

Prussia's eyes widen in shock. "What?! Well, not my fault! I never go to boring meetings enough to know!"

Germany sighs and turns away. "Just sit down. The meeting's starting up again."

Prussia complies uncharacteristically. Five minutes in has Germany glancing back at Prussia in confusion.

The albino wasn't harassing people or distracting his friends. He wasn't interrupting the speaker either.

He was just sitting there silently.

Germany continues to stare until Prussia begins balancing a pencil on his nose and smirking at Denmark across the table. He sighs in relief. So East hadn't snapped. That was good.

There was only so much abnormality Germany could take.

In his house, everything had a place. Everything was organized and consistent. For years, though he may not have made many friends, he had had Japan and Italy as constants, and it made him content.

Now that they had become strangers, sitting far away from him at the table, it no longer mattered how clean and tidy his surrounderings were. Everything always felt out of order and wrong.

Sitting back with a sigh, Germany wonders if he should try and talk to his former friends.

Maybe it'd be best, though, to just not bother them.