Shoelaces

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia if I did it would have a lot more episodes.

Lovina didn't need to be protected and coddled; it was a simple fact. As Feliciana ran around making pasta and playing with stray animals Lovina took care of their country, she would handle the paperwork and deal with the unpleasantness of the mafia. Lovina could stand on her own two feet and be independent from larger countries. She had needed to fight Antonio tooth and nail to be united with her sister and she would not let anyone play knight in shinning armor.

That being said she was still her sisters' well… sister. When passing the children of her land she couldn't help but stop and give them the small candy she kept in her purse. Or when she worked in her gardens or the fields and the Italian Sparrows fluttered around her landing on her shoulders and singing their happy songs; she could be distracted by them for hours if she didn't keep track of time. The smell of pizza occasionally distracted her from her tasks but she always caught herself when she was at the doors of the pizzeria and dragged herself back to the desk.

It wasn't much of a problem unless her sisters' stupid friend was around. Ludwig that stupid macho potato moron seemed to honestly believe it was his job to watch over her along with Feli like she was unable to care for herself. It started back during the wars with him forcing her to join in with training. However after the wars he seemed to go out of his way to bother her. He started showing up at her house to spend time with Feli only for her idiot sister to disappear and Ludwig decided that he would "help her" with her yard work, which meant he took away anything she tried to lift that weighted more than twenty pounds.

"I can carry my own tools back to the shed." She snapped when he snatched them before she could lift them.

"Of course you can, however if you carry the vegetables and I carry the tools then only one trip will need to be made." Was Ludwig's logical answer as he nodded towards the basket containing the day's harvest. Before she could argue he took off back to the house and Lovina had to run with the veggies to catch up making her feel a little ditzy for giving him a chance to get so far ahead of her.

Then there was the miserable world meeting in Denmark. She should have been informed that it was still cold in June so she could have brought a sweeter. Since she wasn't after the meeting she ended up dodging Antonio who cheerfully yelled at her to "Let Boss warm her up!" which would have translated to hugging because the idiot still treated her as a child. Slipping behind a door with a sigh and a slight shiver before peeking around the corner to see if her old care giver was still after her. Suddenly a warm weight fell on her shoulders and she turned taking in the large black dress jacket and the figure of Ludwig who was quickly walking away. She felt something in his pocket crinkle and curiosity got the better of her and she pulled out a booklet of the local birds. Well if he was going to foolishly give up his jacket he wasn't getting it back, at least until she had gone to the park to see the wildlife.

Meetings in Germany were the worst. At least that is what Lovina had told her sister and Mr Macho when she had learned where the meeting was being held this month. Truthfully it wasn't a horrible place when it wasn't raining. That being said it rained every other day, so it was a fifty percent chance it would at least drizzle whale she was skipping the meeting. They weren't talking about anything importantanyway.

Slowly her feet lead her to a small ice cream shop and opening the door she realized the owners had been Italian before immigrating to open their own business. After eating the concoction known as spaghetti eis She happily left she shop just in time for the skies to open up and the rain to start coming down. Quickly she started back to the hotel only to be stopped at the sight of a child hiding under a tree looking rather pitiful.

She started to walk over only to be beaten there by the appearance of Ludwig himself who crouched down to try to look less terrifying. For a second she thought of leaving him to find the child's mother but then remember that the tall German man could be rather intimidating if you didn't know him. She walked over quickly to give a hand trying to ignore the fact that she no longer found him intimidating.

"Ich bin verloren" The girl said quietly as if unsure if she should be speaking to the stranger as Lovina finally reached them. Great she was lost. Lovina crouched down looking over the girl as she pulled out a small pack of gummy bears from her purse; the girl had brown hair and blue eyes the perfect picture of cuteness.

Ludwig leaned back on his heels trying to sort through his citizens to see if he could figure out where she lived. As he thought the tinny brunette child hesitantly crawled into Lovina arms eating the offered sweets without protest.

"Your mother is looking for you just a few streets down." Ludwig spoke suddenly standing up looking off to side where supposedly the mother was searching. Looking down he noticed Lovina for the first time and she couldn't help but snicker at the embarrassed blush that coated his cheeks.

The two easily found the frantic mother and the child was retuned. Then it was Lovina's turn to fight a blush when the idiot insisted on walking her to the hotel as thanks.

Sometimes she didn't know how other nations did it. There were stacks of paperwork to be done meetings to attend and grumpy politicians to work with. This month seemed never ending and she hadn't slept in what felt like days, instead trying to catch up in her office at night. However she had reached her limits and it was really obvious that she needed a weekend and of course because the universe had always loved Feli more that was when Ludwig the do-gooder; knight in armor wanna be, showed up. She was sitting at her desk and she had been crying because her shoelaces wouldn't stay tied.

Without saying a word he knelt gently taking her shoed foot and tying the laces firmly; ensuring they wouldn't come undone again. Then slowly and uncomfortably hugging her close.

"I don't need you; I can take care of myself. I can take care of all of Italy by myself." Lovina babbled still crying now into the big German's chest as she tried to decide if she wanted to push him away or hug him back.

"I know." It was said so softly Lovina nearly missed it.

"What?" Managing to look up at the blond who was still holding her she tried to figure out what the crazy Potato lover was talking about.

"I know you can take care of yourself, that you can manage the country without your sister fine. I know that you are strong enough to lift anything you need, I know you can survive without my coat. I know you don't need me to tie your Shoelaces." Ludwig said looking at her with a serious but kind expression.

"I want to though, I want to help you and I want to take care of you and I will support no matter what. That includes tying your shoelaces on the bad days." Ludwig promised looking down into her eyes before managing to pick her up and take her home where her sister had a warm pasta dinner ready for them to eat. He stayed for that dinner and slept in the spar room. The next morning when Lovina got to her office he was already there organizing the paperwork and reading though the less important files.

AN: I'm gonna leave it there because I like it like that, this was intended to be GerMano but I suppose if you really don't like that paring you can take it as friendship. I know I am supposed to be writing Underwater. The Word pad is open with the first paragraph of the new chapter and everything. I just needed to write this…

spaghetti eis= it is the best ever ice cream dish. Every time I visit my grandparents in Germany I get it it is vanilla ice cream with strawberry toping stuff that looks like spaghetti.

ich bin verloren= I am lost