East Germany got home late that day, bringing a new book and sprouting a fresh black eye.

"Hey," he started with a smile as West approached him. "Sorry for being late, I had a run in with Soviet."

"Why do you act like nothing happened?" West asked him, as he's handed the book.

"Because it's not your problem to deal with. Now, did you already have dinner?" East asked, still smiling.

"Uh... No... I made dinner for us, but the soup's cold already," West said.

"Next time, don't wait for me, just eat dinner. It's better warm," East explained as the two walked into the kitchen.

"It won't taste good unless you're here," West said as he sat down, East's smile faded for a bit.

When East sat down, he grabbed the spoon and ate as if he hadn't eaten all day. He probably hadn't.

"You know, America really isn't that bad, we just had a little fight."

"You always say that."

Neither spoke as they continued to eat.

Once they were done, West picked up the book again and started to read.

"Ah, it's past your bedtime already, you should get to bed now," East said, closing the book.

"I'm not tired."

"I know. How about we have a sleepover tonight? We can go to your room and sleep on the floor together again. How does that sound?" East suggested.

"I guess I don't mind," West said, a small smile painting his lips.

"Great, then go brush your teeth, I'll drag the mattress over."

East jumped up from his seat and put their bowels in the sink before leaving for his room. West slowly walked to the bathroom.

---

West Germany looked outside, unsure of what to do. It was another day he had all to himself. Another day he had nothing to do. He'd read all the books at least 3 times, had cleaned the house spotless and now was just waiting for his brother, holding that wooden bear that he made him.

It was quiet, he wished he was allowed to play with the other kids, but if the allies found out, he'd get in trouble.

So he observed the outside. People were working or sitting, children were laughing or crying, all while working. He felt like he wanted to cry, but that was normal. At least he assumed.

This wasn't fair, but life had never been fair to him. So there was nothing he could do.

As he walked to his room, the telephone downstairs started to ring. He ran to it as quickly as possible, and picked up.

Before he could even say hello, he heard America's voice on the other side.

"I need to speak with your brother," America said, clearly knowing who was on the other line.

"He's at work- Why?" In the past, West had been too afraid to ask why, but now, he wasn't scared anymore. The worst thing America would do was yell. He'd never hit him or East.

"I don't care, UK wants to see him and England's breathing down my neck about it," America said.

"Again, he's at work, I can't do anything about that," West responded. He really couldn't. He didn't even know where his brother worked, or what job he had.

"Ugh, fine," America said before hanging up.

"What?" West asked out loud, before putting the telephone down. He took a deep breath, before leaving for the kitchen. Maybe he should eat something, that usually helped him.

When he grabbed a bread from the basket however, the doorbell rang. West put the bread back, and got a chair so he could see who was at the door. It was a woman he recognised from the pictures his brother had around, so he opened the door.

"Hi, I'm Austria, you're West Germany, right?" she asked, getting down to his height.

"Yes, why are you here?" he asked.

"No real reason. I just wanted to discuss some things with you and your brother," she said.

"He's at work."

"That's okay, can I come in for now? I brought kipferl." Austria said, showing the basket she was carrying full of what West knew as croissants, or at least they looked like small versions of them.

"I'm not supposed to allow strangers inside," he said.

"I'm not technically a stranger, I helped raise you when you were very little you know," Austria said.

"Sorry miss Austria, I can't let you in," West explained, shutting the door in her face.

He sort of regretted this, but he couldn't risk anyone coming inside. So he simply went to grab some bread for himself and a cucumber.

---

That evening, when East Germany came home, he was surprised to find Austria sitting on his front steps.

"Ugh finally, I was waiting for you," Austria said.

"Guessing West didn't let you in?" East asked.

"Can't blame the kid, he didn't remember me," she explained, offering a kipferl to East.

"Yeah, I'm surprised he opened the door. But then again, I do have a picture of us around somewhere."

"Aww, you put a picture of me up? Didn't expect you would after... Everything," she said.

"Yeah, it wasn't until recently that I realised you weren't at fault for anything back then," East said as he opened the door and yelled inside that he was home. West came out of the dining room, greeting East.

"You're still here?" West asked, looking at Austria.

"Yup, I told you I wanted to talk, but don't worry, I wouldn't have let a stranger into the house either," Austria explained as she took off her scarf, coat and boots.

"Yeah, don't worry, she's used to the cold too," East said and Austria rolled her eyes dramatically.

"So, let's start talking then," East said, after he took off his boots and coat.

The three went to the dining room, where they sat down at the table and Austria sat down her now half empty basket.

"I ate most already," she said as East grabbed two kipferl, handing one to West.

"You can eat them," East said at his brother's hesitation.

The kipferl themselves were sweet, if a little stiff.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Austria?"

"First, just call me Marie. We're still friends. Second, I'm sorry for blaming you two, when your government and people were the ones at fault," Austria said, mentioning her human name.

"Then you can still call me Finn. And I'm sorry for blaming you too," East said.

West paused, he'd never heard his brother use his human name with anyone but him, so Austria must be someone very important to him.

"And I wanted to tell you, Soviet is planning to take you into his house. I won't let that happen though, I promise," she said.

"You're not an empire anymore," East said.

"Neither are you, yet you still managed to stay in this house. I'm sure we'll figure something out," Austria said.

"Maybe we can appeal to America, he doesn't like Soviet anymore either. Soviet's grown unstable," East explained.

"Expected, he controls too much land," Austria said with a knowing smile.

"And he's doing it alone. I don't know how Russia has remained so stable honestly," East explained.

"She's grown used to it, but Soviet's still young. If he weren't a country and a union, then he'd be fine, but you know how it is. I just wish he would at least stop going through puberty," Austria said with a laugh.

"You know he won't be able to do that and with the tensions..." East trailed off, preferring to take a bite over continuing.

West understood what they were talking about all too well. He knew what Soviet was like, he knew how Soviet used to be, he knew what Russia was like. It was almost scary how much control it took to occupy that much land. But he didn't let it show that this thought scared him.

After a longer pause, Austria spoke up again. "So, I really hope you wouldn't mind it if I stayed the night, I don't want to drive home in the dark."

"Yeah, you can stay in my room, I'll sleep in the living room."

"No, I'm sleeping on your bench, you need a bed. Your country is doing worse than mine."

"Alright, but don't complain about back pain tomorrow," he said, knowing the living room bench was quite uncomfortable to lay on.

"Oh I will, but I'll mostly be complaining to Hungary," she said with a smirk.

"I'm glad to hear you two are talking again. But you know I wouldn't mind a good complaining session," East said with a light laugh.

"Good, then you won't get me to shut up tomorrow morning," Austria said with a laugh.