Germany gripped the car wheel in front of him a little bit too tightly as his fingers were beginning to turn white. He felt his heart tightened when he notice the turn coming up to Italy's house, after a couple of days of thinking and finding the right things to say to Italy he finally decided it was time to go see the other man. He pulled into the driveway of the house and for moment he reconsidered talking to Italy. The voice in the back of his head whispered to him, telling him this was a bad idea, that Italy wouldn't want to see him after what he had said. Germany shook off those bad thoughts and got out of the car. He wished his heart would stop pounding though, it only seemed to fuel his nervousness.

He stopped at the door and after a moment he finally knocked. He could hear footsteps on the other side until the door opened and his heart stopped. The Italian man was at first confused and surprised until finally the tears in his eyes started to well up. He immediately jump onto Germany and clung to him sobbing into his shirt. Germany still frozen was shocked to say the least, but he found himself wrapping his arms around the other man bringing him closer.

He could hear Italy's apologizing in between sobs. Germany pulled away slightly so Italy could looked at him. "It's okay Italy, it's okay."

"It's not okay though!" Italy began. "I hurt you! I...I...made you sad...and...and then I didn't see you for days! I thought maybe you didn't want to talk to me anymore and we would never see each other again! And you wouldn't wanna come over for a siesta or to eat pasta with me or carpool to meetings o-"

"Italy! I'm...I'm not mad at you." Germany said cutting off the other man who he knew would go on forever. "But...we...need...there's somethings we need to talk about."

"Talk...oh...ok then..." He said he wiped his eyes and was about to turn so they could walk to the living room but instead he felt Germany softly take his hand.

"Isn't Romano taking his siesta right now?" Germany asked. "I wouldn't want him being woken up because of our talk."

Italy only nodded his head looking towards the up the stairs of his home where not too far his brother slept.

"Would you like to take a walk?" Germany asked.

"Si…" Italy nodded and together they left the house.

At first it was silent neither of them wanting to say anything. Germany, still trying to find the right words to explain things to Italy. Italy, not wanting to say anything that would hurt his friend anymore than he already did. After a good while of walking they found themselves at a park where the sound of little kids laughing filled the air. Germany spotted a open bench near a small pond in the middle of the park and began to make his way towards it. Italy following behind him.

Once they were seated Germany finally spoke.

"Italy. I meant what I said to you that day." Germany turned a bit so he could face the Italian. "With all my heart."

Italy looked towards the man with sad eyes. "I know…"

"And when you told me...about Holy Rome it hurt."

"I know." Italy covered his face with his hands ashamed. Germany however gently pulled Italy's hands away from his face. "But I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" Italy sniffed a bit doing his best from crying.

"I...understand that you love Holy Rome. You made a promise to him. I can't force you to break that promise because of how I feel."

Italy looked away. He pulled a hand away from Germany and held his chest as if he himself was trying to stop the pain in his heart.

"I promised...that I was going to wait for him...that...that once the war was over I was going to be there to welcome him home." Italy his voice just above a whisper. "It's a promise I've kept for a thousand years."

Italy paused swallowing the lump in his throat. "I...I...know…"

Germany raised a brow confused.

"I know he's never coming back."

"Italy…"

"I've known this for a very long time…it wasn't until I met you that I started to believe it."

Germany froze eyes widening hearing this. "You knew? How…"

Italy turned back towards him and brought his hand up to push back a stray blond hair he gave Germany a sad smile. "It may have been centuries, but I still remember that little boys eyes. So strong, so determined, so filled with love."

"So you know that I was…"

"Holy Rome? Yes." Italy pulled his hand away.

"Why d-"

"Didn't I say anything?" Italy finished. "Because...because it wasn't going to be fair to you!"

Italy eyes started to fill with tears as he continued. "You're not Holy Rome! I know Holy Rome is gone. And if I said anything I thought maybe you were going to think that I was your friend because of who you were before!" He sobbed. "I wanted to be Germany's friend because he was Germany!"

A few people glanced at their direction as the Italian continued to sob. Germany immediately pulled the man into a tight hug rubbing his back.

After a few moments the sobs quieted until finally Italy was just sniffing again. "I'm sorry Germany."

"Don't be...don't ever be sorry for wanting to be my friend."

"It's not just that though." Italy pulled away his head down. "There were times...where maybe I thought one day Holy Rome was going to come back through you."

Italy sniffed. "Maybe If I baked a cake or sang a song it was going to trigger something and bring him back to me."

"Oh Italy…"

"But…" He looked up. "But I didn't want to live in a lie."

"I didn't want to live like that. I didn't want to do that to you, if having Holy Rome come back meant losing who you are...then…"

"Then I couldn't live with myself." Italy looked up to the German man. "I couldn't live without you."

A silence fell in between them the distant sound of children was the only thing that was heard with of course the occasional sound of Italy's whimpering.

"Italy. I can't be mad at you for thinking that." Germany finally stated.

"You can't?" Italy asked confused.

"Of course not. You've love Holy Rome for over a thousand years. That love...that love runs deep, deeper than what we could imagine."

Germany again took Italy's hands. "I know it's hard to come to terms to the that fact that he's gone. It wasn't easy for me to believe that either. After my brother told me for days after I wondered if maybe he lived inside of me. If my dreams were his memories or if what I felt were really my feelings."

Italy stared at him wide eyed. "These are thoughts no human or nation ever had to deal with before. But…" He paused a tiny smile appeared on the German man's face. "But that's why have each other. So we can go through this together. So we could learn to move on with our lives. And…"

"Stop looking at the past…" Italy said.

"And start looking towards the future."

"Together." Italy finished a smile spreading across his face. Germany nodded a relief swept through him finally seeing Italy smile.

Italy hugged the other man. Germany held onto Italy tightly burying his face into Italy's neck and closing his eyes enjoying it. Once they pulled back Italy had a twinkle in his eyes.

"Germany?"

"Yes?"

"You love meee~"

Germany coughed and blushed not expecting the teasing. His whole face burned as Italy smiled at him. Who in turned giggled at the reaction. "I'm sorry Germany."

Germany only shook his head. "Nein, if we're going to be honest here, yes...i love you Italy. Nothing has changed that."

Italy brought his hand to Germany and lightly rubbed his cheek. "I think we need to figure somethings out within ourselves first before…"

Germany sighed and brought his hand up to hold over Italy's. "Ja, you're right."

"Does this mean you still want to be my friend?"

Germany rolled his eyes like that was the dumbest question he ever heard. Which it was. "Of course you idiot. I can't imagine my life without you being my friend."

Italy grinned widen and for a moment they stared at each other both lovingly and longingly. They were content to stay like that for a while until the shrill ringing of Italy's phone broke their comfortable silence. Italy pulled back and answered it but before he even got a chance to say hello the yelling of his older brother assaulted him. Germany couldn't help but wince.

"Ah...Romano! I know im sorry I forgot!" Italy continued to talk to his brother until finally the yelling decreased.

"Si, I'll be home soon…Goodbye." Italy hanged up and sheepishly looked at Germany. "I forgot that while Romano was sleeping I was supposed to be cooking dinner."

Germany shook his head.

"Oh! Germany! Would you like to stay for dinner? I'm making ravioli tonight and I bought some gelato to!" Italy asked excitedly.

Germany smiled. "I would love to."

And with that both men stood from the bench and started to walk back towards the Italian's house.

It wasn't until they reached the house did they realize they've been walking holding each other's hand. Italy smiled and opened the door and went in first to of course calm his older brother.

Germany watched the other man enter and smiled. He felt a warmth in his heart that replace the terrible pain he felt earlier. He knew it may take years, centuries even until Italy felt something for him. He knew Italy wouldn't be in love with him anytime soon. And he was okay with that, he knew Italy still loved him. Even if it was the friendly type of love. That's all he needed.

He was happy to be Italy's friend.

And nothing….

Nothing would ever change that.

The End~

I'm so proud of myself!

I ACTUALLY FINISHED SOMETHING!

This plot made me so sad though and I'm sad it's already over. But I already have another one-shot idea involving Romano! So stay tune~

~CP