Very random little ficlet with a good ol' ItalyXJapan pairing. A laid back read with just enough plot to keep your mind acitive while obviously steadily leading to the hot smex at the end XD ItalyxJapan was scarce, it needed some more yaoiful goodness.

Enjoy!

"And that, my fellow classmates is the ultimate importance of pastaaa."Italy sighed, stretching out the last word as if it was the key to the world's direst problems, which of course to him, it was. He smiled dreamily as he stared smugly at the ceiling. "Pasta is life, and you know, it can do much more than just be eaten. For example-"

Austria stood suddenly from the teacher's desk, his eyes as blood shot and red as all the rest of the classmates. "We have a new student today!" He said raggedly, looking around the room like a slightly deranged psychopath. "So…stop talking."

Italy looked eagerly around. "Where??" He grinned. "Ohhh I can't wait to meet him! I hope he likes pasta! Pastaaa…"

Austria tried shrugging the terrifying image of another Italy running around before walking to the door. "I'm going to go get him." He said all too quickly. Racing towards the door he slammed it behind him, and his agonizing scream could be heard as he tore down the hallways.

Italy turned back towards the class, half of which were sleeping, the other half traumatized from listening to 2 hours of pasta talk, and currently singing to themselves while rocking back and forth in their chairs. He smiled happily and played with the dial of the pasta machine he had brought to history class for his presentation.

Sometimes he got the distinct impression that no one at school liked him, that he annoyed everyone at his prestigious school, home to all the children of top government personal, like prime ministers or presidents. But that thought made him sad, made his green eyes flicker with discomfort, so he pushed it away, ignored it.

A few minutes later Austria came back and in his tow was a tiny teenager, nearly as small as China, who was ironically the oldest boy in class. Italy stared at him curiously. "This class," Austria boomed, pushing Italy and his pasta machine out of the way, "is Japan. He just transferred here from…I'm sorry, where again?" He said, turning to Japan.

Japan looked up at him, blushing, then back to the ground. "J-Japan." He said.

"Yeah. He's transferring from Japan, which as you all know, we will be studying next term. Now as you can see, he is somewhat of a midget, so…don't squish him. That will be all."

Above head the bell rang, and the class raced to stream out, shoving both Italy and Japan against each other and against the blackboard.

Italy smiled brightly. "Hi!" He said. "I'm Italy." He struggled to get his hand from the uncomfortable position it was in between their two bodies and then held it out. "Nice to meet you."

By now the stream had ended, allowing Japan to breathe and get at least a couple inches away from Italy. "Hello." He said stiffly. "I am Japan, China's brother."

"Ohhh…that's why you're so beanie." Italy said intelligently. He looked down then gripped Japan's tiny hand in his. "Time for lunch. And pizzaaaaa!" He outstretched his arm dreamily before turning to smile at Japan, whose eyes were slightly wide. "Pizzaaaaa."

Later-

"He was soooo nice, Germany." Italy cooed, leaning over the island counter that separated him and Germany. "He didn't laugh at me, and he listened to everything I said all day long!"

Germany glanced up before resuming his cooking of spaghetti and garlic bread. "That is a feat." He said grudgingly. "But don't be too disappointed if he moves on once he gets other friends."

Italy pouted. "Germany, don't be so mean!" He said, eyes brimming with tears. Germany sighed and took the spaghetti off of the stove. "I'm not. I just don't want you getting hurt, that's all. Some of those boys at your school are real assholes."

Italy beamed, then rushed up to Germany and hugged him from behind. "You do love me!" He cooed, rocking back and forth. Germany stiffened. "Of course I do." He said gruffly. "I have to. I'm…I'm your guardian."

"He let me hold his hand alllll day, and I got to sit beside him in class, and he was my partner in Chemistry when I asked him. He actually said yes!" Italy's eyes were starry. "Jappppan."

Germany poured the steaming sauce over the spaghetti, looking at Italy suspiciously over his shoulder. "Do you….like this boy?" He said.

Japan blinked slowly, and then cocked his head to the side in thought. Finally he flung his hands into the air and spun around wildly. "Of course I do!" He beamed. "I love him! He's my bestest friend! We're bestest friends now!" He screeched happily, bouncing around the room.

Germany sighed as he stirred the pot. "I didn't mean-"He broke off, shaking his head. He had the feeling that this wasn't going to go very well. When Japan got obsessed with something…

"Pastaaaa…."Germany said in a wary, gruff imitation of Italy.

…it was usually bad.

*-*

"Japan, Japan, I brought something for you!" Italy stormed down the school hallways, knocking various other countries down in his efforts to get to Japan. He reached behind him into his satchel and pulled out a large amount of crumpled papers, thrusting them at Japan. He was beaming brightly. "See? I drew you pictures!"

Japan blushed at the first picture of him and Italy sitting together at a table eating from the same plate of pasta. The next picture was of the two standing with a giant meatball on the beach. All the following were images of Italy and Japan, with various foods loved by Italy.

Italy smiled expectantly. "I worked on them all night for you." He explained hurriedly. "Do you like them? Please like them!"

"They're incredibly realistic." Japan said quietly, still staring at the pictures. "Although strangely surreal. Do you draw often?"

"All the time!" Italy said, waving his hands wildly. "And now I have someone to share them with at school! We're going to be best friends, right?"

Japan was still blushing. "I've never really…ok, w-why not?" He said, looking shyly at the ground

Italy squealed and grabbed Japan's hand in his. "It's going to be so great to have a friend." He said wistfully. Around them the other boys began giggling, and Japan's brows furrowed. "Why are they laughing at us?" He said quietly. "I don't understand."

"Oh, they're laughing at you because you're hanging out with me and they're laughing at me because I'm funny!" Japan grinned ignorantly. "And they like to laugh at everything I do."

Japan didn't say anything about that, although he knew that wasn't the case. "I don't really like being laughed at." He said. "It makes me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable, both of which I hate."

Italy frowned and put his finger to his lip. "Hmmm…" He said. "Well, when we get to class everyone will stop laughing, ok? But you kind of have to get used to it, because since you're my best friends, everyone is going to laugh at you!"

Japan's eyes widened, and his heart sank. He didn't like the sound of that at all. But Italy's hand in his was firm and tight, his smile warm and inviting. Maybe being friends with him wouldn't be that bad after all…

Later that Day-

"I didn't mean to sir! I don't know how the magic potions went boom." Italy shrugged, twirling his curl round his finger.

Japan cringed as the entire class whispered and giggled around them. He and Italy were covered in soot and the table was covered in an alkaline mixture gone bad. Well, more like an alkaline mixture flung together by Italy as Japan tried to stop him gone bad.

"As I have said a countless amount of times," Austria twitched. "These are not 'magic potions', there are delicate chemicals that you have to be extremely careful with. If you don't do your homework then how do you expect to know what to do once you get to class?"

Italy put his finger to his lips and thought carefully. "Japan can tell me! Japan knows everything and he's very smart. He's perfect!"

The class went up in a chorus of 'ooooh' and sniggers of 'Italy's got a boyfriend' could be heard as well. Japan blushed furiously as he tried to brush the dirt off of himself. This was not how he pictured his first week, filled with this crazy boy and his annoying stigma as an ultimate freak. He had wanted to blend in with the crowd, maybe make a few friends and try to get through his high school life.

Not this.

Why this?

As the bell signaling the end of the day rang and the students began filing out, Italy and Japan finally finished cleaning their work-table. Italy looked dejected as he packed his bag and as they stood at the front of the school with the rest of the students, private limos lining up to take each of the students home, flags of each country fluttering on the hood, he spoke.

"I'm sorry. I know that you don't want to be friends with me anymore." He whispered, looking down at the ground. "It happens all the time when I get too excited with my new friends. This is why I have no friends. You can go and be normal with everyone else now. I understand."

Japan opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a passing America and England. England knocked Italy's books from his hands before smirking. "Thanks a lot for making us all late to leave class, you klutz." He said before the brothers stuck their tongues out at him simultaneously. Canada, wide-eyed and lost as ever, clung to America's hand needily as they headed towards the car. "Yeah…"He said softly, trying to emulate his brother's bad example while clinging to his teddy bear.

Satisfied with their jeering the triplets got into their limo and pulled away from the curb. Japan looked at Italy, who was unsuccessfully trying to pick up all his scattered books and drawings, before sighing and settling down to help him. "It's ok." He whispered, though he knew that this would result in a long and bumpy ride. Japan looked up at him, tears already forming in his eyes.

"It's ok." Japan repeated. "We can be friends. I'd like to be friends with you." Italy was silent. Then he dropped everything and grabbed Japan in a hug, nuzzling his chest happily. "Best friends?" He said, eager to seal the deal before Japan changed his mind.

Japan hesitated before seeing the hopeful look in Italy's eyes and nodding. "Ok." He said uncertainly. "Why not?"

Italy beamed before hugging him close again and finally, after a long calculation, Japan reached up, put his arms around Italy, and hugged him gently back.

*-*

"And then he hugged me on the ground in the middle of the grass in front of school and he didn't care what anyone thought!" Italy said, hugging himself with the sheer joy of the feeling. Germany looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, wondering why he even tried to do anything once Italy got home.

"Did you blow up anything today?" He inquired seriously.

"Only in Chemistry." Italy pouted his defense. "And only once."

Germany sighed. "I assume they'll be sending me the bill by the end of this week." He folded his newspaper and laid it aside, allowing for Italy to snuggle into his lap, with he immediately did. "And Japan stayed with me the whole time." Italy informed. "He didn't care that everyone was laughing at us."

A blond eyebrow shot up. "Well maybe…maybe he'll stay around for a while." Germany said cautiously, not wanting to get Italy's hopes up. "Maybe."

"He loved my pictures! And he put them into his bag and he didn't throw them away!" Italy was shaking so much now that Germany's teeth were rattling. "But you'll meet him soon because he's going to come over one day."

"Is that so?" Germany said, already feeling a throbbing headache coming on. This couldn't be good.

Three more chapters to come! Review...

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