Romano glared at Germany throughout the entire ride, not once paying attention to his partner, much to Spain's disappointment. Germany took care not to make eye contact with the elder Italy. Instead, he focused on his tiny friend beside him.

Italy had recovered from the shock he received when he realized what kind of ride this was. Now he was humming a little tune while splashing waves among the petals drifting in the river. To the ride's credit, it was a relaxing way to waste some time. Germany felt himself more at ease now than when he first came to this carnival.

"I vonder if the entire world came here?" he asked himself.

Italy overheard his pondering.

"What do you mean, Germany?"

"Vell, everyone's here. First China, then France, then England, and now these two lovebirds in front of us."

"We're not lovebirds, you hypocritical bastard!" Romano yelled out.

Germany felt his face flush, forgetting all about ignoring him.

"What do you mean by hypocritical?"

Romano's glare somehow turned a shade darker. How much colder could that look be before it started to snow?

"Why else are you here, with my brother? You fucking pervert."

Italy decided to speak up, "I was the one who wanted to, big brother."

Romano's face fell into horror, "No way! You're lying, Italy. Why are you lying? It's the potato bastard, isn't it? He's making you lie."

"I am not!" Germany glared.

Spain felt left out of this conversation. With a sigh, he tugged on Romano's curl ever so gently, but it still produced a startling effect. Romano let out a screech and turned toward Spain.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Don't get into fights, Lovi. Turn around and talk to me. Don't pay attention to them. Please?"

"You controlling asshole!"

"I'm just trying to get you to enjoy this ride. I'll give you gelato when we're done."

The underlying threat coupled with the bribe seemed to win Romano over. He turned away from Germany. They ride ended not long after. Germany watched in awe as Romano and a smiling Spain left without word.

He had never expected Romano to be the whipped one in that relationship. Then again, Spain could be rather assertive when he felt the need, as Germany had been informed by Prussia. Italy found a small machine on their way out of the ride.

"Look at this!"

The machine spout out two tickets. Once again, these were the tickets to free gelato. They only needed a couple more to have what was promised. Italy took the tickets with an ecstatic wave, and gave Germany his. Since he didn't plan on eating any, Germany threw his ticket away, but this time Italy took no notice.

"Where do you want to go next, Germany? Oh! Look! It's Japan!"

Germany looked in the direction where his small friend was pointing. Sure enough, Japan had his own stand. Germany paused at the sign above him. Goldfish scooping. What the hell was that?

Italy ran up to his friend and Germany struggled to follow.

"Konbanwa," the Japanese nation greeted.

"Hey, Japan. What are you doing here?" Italy asked.

"I'm hosting a goldfish scooping stand. You keep whatever fish you catch."

That sounded like the weirdest game for a carnival to have ever been thought up. Leave it to Japan to have something like that. Germany kept his mouth shut, for fear that stating such an opinion would insult his friend.

Italy smiled in excitement. He grabbed a small net.

"Alright, I'll go catch a fish and give it a name."

"You'll have to take care of it yourself. Don't expect me to help you," stated the German nation.

Italy offered the blonde a small smile.

"Don't worry about it. I know how to take care of pets, I have a pet cat at home. Here fishy!"

The fishes all seem to really like Italy, for they swam toward the net instead of away from it. Italy ended up catching fifteen goldfishes altogether. Japan seemed shocked, as well as nervous that Italy might actually take all of them.

"I did not know you were so good at this game, Italy-san."

"I guess they like me. Right Goldie number 6?"

The fish he was addressing smiled up at him. Or was that just Germany's imagination? Goldfish can't smile…

Right?

Germany decided not to think too much about a fish's ability to express happiness. He had to tell his friend, sternly, that he was not going to keep more than one.

"You can only take one of those."

He felt his heart sink when Italy frowned. He hated seeing his little friend sad.

"Why?"

The way Italy whined was like a puppy being refused a giant bone. Germany hated it when he did that, but this time he wouldn't let it get the best of him.

"Because I said so."

A hand tapped his shoulder, so Germany turned to look. There was a German man eyeing him suspiciously, then glancing at Italy.

"Sir, is this man bothering you?" he asked Italy.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw him ordering you around," the man glared at Germany, "Controlling relationships are not good, you know?"

Germany blushed red because he knew what the man meant by 'relationship.' Italy, who had no idea, stared at him in confusion.

"But Germany's my friend."

God dammit! Italy was not supposed to reveal their true identity to just any mortal! Only a selected few were allowed to know who their country personifications were. The German man gawked at Germany and took a step back.

"Wait! You're…"

"Nein. My friend, Feliciano," he put great emphasis on the name, "Just likes to give me that nickname. My name is Ludwig."

The man recovered, then smiled at Italy.

"Feliciano, that's a vonderful name."

"Thank you. Erm. Who are you?"

"My name's Abel. It's very nice to meet you. Let me know if I can do anything for you, Feliciano."

The way the mortal smiled at Italy made Germany's blood boil. He couldn't really explain the feeling, just that he didn't like the way Abel was eyeing his friend. Italy grinned.

"Okay! Can you take fourteen of these? Germany will only let me keep one."

Abel blinked as fourteen bags of goldfish was thrust in his hands. He gave an awkward smile.

"Um…sure. I would love to take care of them."

"Great! Come with us, Abel. We're going to another ride. Right, Germany?"

Germany wanted to decline, but he knew he had no reason not to let Abel come. And it made him more angry than ever to realize this.