Table challenge: Germany/Italy, Romance: #19: Journey
Title:Road Trip
Author: kira
Claim: Germany, Italy
Character(s): Germany, Italy
Table/Prompt: Romance/ Prompt #19: Journey
Word Count:2252
Rating: PG 13
Summary:Germany and Italy go touring through the Black Forest area…
Author’s note: Thanks to my beta, Jen, for looking this over for me…
Germany loaded up Kübelwagen for their trip to the Black Forest area. His little buddy, Italy, had expressed a desire to visit the area where his favorite German dessert came from. They decided to make a long weekend out of it, since Prussia volunteered to do any paperwork that needed to be done in his brother’s absence. Germany had planned out a scenic route, one that would take them on the Badische Weinstraße to the tiny town of Durbach, where they had booked a room and would spend the weekend visiting the area, especially the wineries.
“Do I have everything, Italy?”
“Yeah! There’s just the picnic basket,” he brought it over to Germany, “and we can go.”
Germany took the basket and put it in the back of the Kübelwagen. As he walked around toward the driver’s side, his brother came out of the house.
“Bye, West, Itachen!” Prussia sauntered over to them. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” He chuckled Italy’s wide-eyed expression.
“But…?” Italy frowned.
“But nothing. Goodbye, Brüder.” Germany got into the car and started it. Italy got in too and as soon as his little buddy was settled, he backed out of his driveway and onto the road. Their little trip, which Prussia had insisted was a romantic getaway despite Germany’s protests to the contrary, had just begun.
It was a pretty uneventful journey to the Badische Weinstraße, which was a very scenic and slower drive than on the Autobahn, through the Black Forest region. Feeling hungry, they pulled over. Germany drove the Kübelwagen off road for several meters, before he parked the car and they got out. Taking the picnic basket and a blanket with them, they walked from there to the shade of a small copse of birch trees. Setting the blanket out on the ground, Germany sat and opened up the picnic basket, while Italy looked around.
“Italy! Don’t go too far!” Germany called out.
“I won’t!” Italy looked around for a few more minutes at some of the pines that gave the area its name. He turned around and headed back to find Germany had laid out their lunch. There were Schwarzwälder Schinken sandwiches, made from the region’s smoked ham. It was a nod to Italy’s prosciutto sandwiches, which they had eaten while traveling through the northern most part of Italy that bordered on Austria the last time Italy had invited his friend over to go touring. Germany had also made some potato salad and there were large, soft pretzels and gingerbread cookies for dessert, since there was no way they could take a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte with them, much to Italy’s disappointment.
“This place is so beautiful, Germany!” Italy sat down on the blanket.
“Thanks. I like to come here when I want to get away from all the paperwork.” Germany handed him a sandwich. “Help yourself to some potato salad and I have beer to drink or water.”
“A beer would be nice.”
Germany reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a couple of Beck’s. He opened one and gave it to his little buddy, opening the other one for himself. Unwrapping his sandwich, he took a bite, washing it down with a mouthful of beer.
Italy ate with gusto, and since meeting Germany, he had grown to love German food as much as his friend loved Italian food. Finishing his sandwich, he reached for another. “This is a really pretty place to picnic, Germany!” he said between bites. “I wish I had remembered to pack my watercolors, I would have loved to have to have done a few quick paintings. Even my sketchbook and couple of pencils would have been nice.” Italy sighed.
“Oh…” Germany frowned as he thought it over. “Perhaps we can come back in a few weeks and when I can take some more time off to travel and you can paint the countryside.”
“Yeah? I’d love that!” Italy smiled. “Ve…. Germany? Maybe we can visit that San-place Prussia’s always talking about.”
“Sansouci?” Germany said, referring to Frederick the Great’s summer place. Prussia loved Berlin, and he was always dragging Germany there, especially during the height of the summer, to visit the place that held such fond memories for him. As he sat there, enjoying his lunch, and thinking it over, Germany came to the conclusion that inviting his little buddy along would be a lot more fun than going with just his brother.
“Yeah! That sounds like it.” Italy drank his beer.
“I think my brother would enjoy it if you came along when we go there again this summer.” Germany helped himself to another sandwich.
“Yeah?”
Germany nodded and reaching for his beer, he drank some. “It’s very beautiful there; you must bring your paint box and some canvas, and paint the gardens. At night, Prussia’ll want to show you around Berlin. The nightlife is exciting, although it’s not as decadent as it was just before the War. There are also a lot of museums you might like.”
“That sounds like so much fun, I’d love to go! Grazie! Grazie!” Italy bubbled over with excitement as they made plans to go on holiday this summer while they finished their lunch. As they packed away the empty beer bottles and paper wrappings from their sandwiches, Italy said, “Ve… Germany?”
“What?” Germany stood, dusting some imaginary dirt from the back of his pants. Leaning over, he picked up the picnic basket.
“Can we take a siesta? Romano takes them all the time with Spain…” Italy made that cute, pleading face that his friend found hard to resist.
Germany sighed. “Alright, you can sleep while I read my book for a bit, but it can’t be a long nap, understood? We need to get there by four and we still have a way to go before we get there.”
“Okay! Grazie, Germany!” Italy took off his jacket, before lying down. He covered himself with it like a blanket.
The corners of Germany’s mouth briefly twitched upwards into a smile. Shaking his head, he walked back to the Kübelwagen. When he got there, he exchanged the picnic basket for his book and glasses, before coming back to the blanket. Germany sat, and opening his book, he began to read. By the time he had reached the end of the chapter, he noticed he could hear Italy’s soft snoring just above the sounds of the forest. Looking up, Germany watched his little buddy sleep for a few minutes, thinking how peaceful he looked there. He was sorely tempted to join him, but Germany dutifully went back to reading his book. It was only when he realized he was reading the same page over and over again, that he closed his book and gave into temptation. He took his glasses off and put them back in their case, before setting his glasses case on top of the book. Germany stretched and lay down on the blanket for what he told himself would be a short catnap.
Two hours later, Germany awoke with a start. Not that spooning in behind his little buddy had been bad; he had often woken up like that at home, but the fact that he had overslept had him mentally kicking himself. He sat up and ran a hand over his face and behind his neck, where he rubbed at the kinks. Sighing softly, he leaned over and gently shook Italy. “Wake up, Italy, we have to get going.”
Italy rolled over and mumbled in his sleep. “Ve…”
Germany shook him again. “Italy!” he said in a tone of voice, he hadn’t used since the War.
His little buddy’s eyes flew open. “W-what?”
“We have to go; it’s later than I thought.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah. We can sleep at the hotel or if you’re really tired, you can sleep in the car. But we have to get going… Now!” Germany stood up to leave. Reaching down, he held out his hand for Italy to take.
Italy took his friends hand, letting him haul him to his feet. He yawned and stretched while his friend picked up and folded the blanket. He followed Germany tiredly to the Kübelwagen and the two of them got inside. A few minutes later, they were on the road again.
They drove for an hour, although it felt like ten minutes, when Italy started whining about needing a bathroom. Germany sighed and pulled over to the side of the road for him to use a tree. Thinking it was a good idea, he joined him. They stood against the tree, letting nature take it course.
“Ve… ve… ve…” Italy said softly as he relieved himself. He looked over to his left and down, sneaking a peek at his friend.
Drawn by the soft sounds his little buddy was making, Germany looked down and over at him. It was not like he had not seen him before, since Italy has moments when he liked to be “free” as he called it, it was just idle curiosity he told himself.
Suddenly the two of them felt the other’s eyes on them and two sets of eyes, one brown, the other blue slowly looked up the meet each other in a moment of pure awkwardness. They both looked each other in the eyes for what felt like an eternity, before quickly looking away. Finishing up, they climbed into the Kübelwagen and drove off. They were making good time, Germany keeping to the speed limit, despite the curvy road, while Italy did his best to stretch out the unscheduled pit stops.
The scenery was beautiful and it reminded Italy of story his grandfather had told him about visiting the area. “Nonno Roma said the forest got its name because the legionnaires found the pine trees blocked out most of the light.”
“It’s possible. Prussia said that Vati always referred to the place by that name after meeting your grandfather.”
Italy nodded. “Your brother always used to visit Holy Roma until he passed…” Italy trailed off softly. His sad smile brightened. “I’m glad he turned out to be your brother. He was always very nice to me whenever he visited, and Holy Roma and I used to look forward to seeing him.” Italy chuckled. “He always gave Signor Austria a hard time.”
Germany laughed. “He still does.”
“Yeah!” Italy agreed. “Ve… Germany?”
“What?”
“Can we stop in this town and look around? It’s so pretty!” Italy said. “Please?”
“Okay,” Germany replied. Truth be told, the little village they were driving through was very picturesque. “I bet the local bakery has a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.”
Italy’s eyes went wide. “Hurry up and stop!”
“Yes, sir!” Germany said and his little buddy laughed. They pulled over onto the side of the road and got out. It felt good to stretch their legs as they walked around the tiny village in search of some Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. They walked around, noting the quaint scenery of the small, almost forgotten town. Small as it was, it did boast a Biergarten, a bed and breakfast, a small café, and a gas station, indicating tourist did apparently stop there. It also had a small winery and a general store, where one could get the usual touristy things like t-shirts and cuckoo clocks. As luck would have it, they actually found a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in the town’s only bakery, much to Italy’s delight.
Ecstatic, Italy carried the cake back to Kübelwagen. “We’ll have some as soon as we get to the room in Durbach, okay?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Germany replied. He hoped that once they reached their destination, they would be able to pick up some paper plates and plastic silverware. Germany had the feeling that if they didn’t, it would not stop his little buddy in the least. Italy now had a real Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte and he was determined to have a slice in the region that gave it its name, which Germany found rather cute. They got into the car, but when Germany went to start it, the Kübelwagen engine refused to turnover. He got out and opened the rear hood to have a look at it. “Italy?’
“Yeah?”
“Can you get out and try starting the car?”
“Okay.” Italy got out and after putting the cake on the backseat, he walked around the Kübelwagen and got in the driver’s side. He tried starting it and nothing happened. Germany had him try several more times before he gave up in disgust.
“I think she’s dead,” Germany said as he closed the hood.
“Ve… Does that mean we’re stuck here?”
Germany nodded. “I could call Prussia to come and get us, but as for going on to Durbach, I think we’ll have to save that trip for another time. I’m really sorry, Italy.”
“Don’t be!” Italy smiled. “I got my cake, I had a lovely drive here with you complete with a picnic, and who cares if I journey ends here?” He shrugged. “I think I got farther than Nonno Roma ever did when he visited here.”
“Really?”
Italy nodded. “Yeah… So it’s okay if we don’t get farther than here, and maybe we can try that onion tart for dinner? And stay in a bed and breakfast?”
“Okay.” Germany’s lips twitched briefly upwards in a smile. “How about we find someplace to stay overnight and after I cancel our reservations in Durbach, I call my brother and tell him to come and get us in the morning.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
“Yeah…”
Author: kira
Claim: Germany, Italy
Character(s): Germany, Italy
Table/Prompt: Romance/ Prompt #19: Journey
Word Count:2252
Rating: PG 13
Summary:Germany and Italy go touring through the Black Forest area…
Author’s note: Thanks to my beta, Jen, for looking this over for me…
Germany loaded up Kübelwagen for their trip to the Black Forest area. His little buddy, Italy, had expressed a desire to visit the area where his favorite German dessert came from. They decided to make a long weekend out of it, since Prussia volunteered to do any paperwork that needed to be done in his brother’s absence. Germany had planned out a scenic route, one that would take them on the Badische Weinstraße to the tiny town of Durbach, where they had booked a room and would spend the weekend visiting the area, especially the wineries.
“Do I have everything, Italy?”
“Yeah! There’s just the picnic basket,” he brought it over to Germany, “and we can go.”
Germany took the basket and put it in the back of the Kübelwagen. As he walked around toward the driver’s side, his brother came out of the house.
“Bye, West, Itachen!” Prussia sauntered over to them. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” He chuckled Italy’s wide-eyed expression.
“But…?” Italy frowned.
“But nothing. Goodbye, Brüder.” Germany got into the car and started it. Italy got in too and as soon as his little buddy was settled, he backed out of his driveway and onto the road. Their little trip, which Prussia had insisted was a romantic getaway despite Germany’s protests to the contrary, had just begun.
It was a pretty uneventful journey to the Badische Weinstraße, which was a very scenic and slower drive than on the Autobahn, through the Black Forest region. Feeling hungry, they pulled over. Germany drove the Kübelwagen off road for several meters, before he parked the car and they got out. Taking the picnic basket and a blanket with them, they walked from there to the shade of a small copse of birch trees. Setting the blanket out on the ground, Germany sat and opened up the picnic basket, while Italy looked around.
“Italy! Don’t go too far!” Germany called out.
“I won’t!” Italy looked around for a few more minutes at some of the pines that gave the area its name. He turned around and headed back to find Germany had laid out their lunch. There were Schwarzwälder Schinken sandwiches, made from the region’s smoked ham. It was a nod to Italy’s prosciutto sandwiches, which they had eaten while traveling through the northern most part of Italy that bordered on Austria the last time Italy had invited his friend over to go touring. Germany had also made some potato salad and there were large, soft pretzels and gingerbread cookies for dessert, since there was no way they could take a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte with them, much to Italy’s disappointment.
“This place is so beautiful, Germany!” Italy sat down on the blanket.
“Thanks. I like to come here when I want to get away from all the paperwork.” Germany handed him a sandwich. “Help yourself to some potato salad and I have beer to drink or water.”
“A beer would be nice.”
Germany reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a couple of Beck’s. He opened one and gave it to his little buddy, opening the other one for himself. Unwrapping his sandwich, he took a bite, washing it down with a mouthful of beer.
Italy ate with gusto, and since meeting Germany, he had grown to love German food as much as his friend loved Italian food. Finishing his sandwich, he reached for another. “This is a really pretty place to picnic, Germany!” he said between bites. “I wish I had remembered to pack my watercolors, I would have loved to have to have done a few quick paintings. Even my sketchbook and couple of pencils would have been nice.” Italy sighed.
“Oh…” Germany frowned as he thought it over. “Perhaps we can come back in a few weeks and when I can take some more time off to travel and you can paint the countryside.”
“Yeah? I’d love that!” Italy smiled. “Ve…. Germany? Maybe we can visit that San-place Prussia’s always talking about.”
“Sansouci?” Germany said, referring to Frederick the Great’s summer place. Prussia loved Berlin, and he was always dragging Germany there, especially during the height of the summer, to visit the place that held such fond memories for him. As he sat there, enjoying his lunch, and thinking it over, Germany came to the conclusion that inviting his little buddy along would be a lot more fun than going with just his brother.
“Yeah! That sounds like it.” Italy drank his beer.
“I think my brother would enjoy it if you came along when we go there again this summer.” Germany helped himself to another sandwich.
“Yeah?”
Germany nodded and reaching for his beer, he drank some. “It’s very beautiful there; you must bring your paint box and some canvas, and paint the gardens. At night, Prussia’ll want to show you around Berlin. The nightlife is exciting, although it’s not as decadent as it was just before the War. There are also a lot of museums you might like.”
“That sounds like so much fun, I’d love to go! Grazie! Grazie!” Italy bubbled over with excitement as they made plans to go on holiday this summer while they finished their lunch. As they packed away the empty beer bottles and paper wrappings from their sandwiches, Italy said, “Ve… Germany?”
“What?” Germany stood, dusting some imaginary dirt from the back of his pants. Leaning over, he picked up the picnic basket.
“Can we take a siesta? Romano takes them all the time with Spain…” Italy made that cute, pleading face that his friend found hard to resist.
Germany sighed. “Alright, you can sleep while I read my book for a bit, but it can’t be a long nap, understood? We need to get there by four and we still have a way to go before we get there.”
“Okay! Grazie, Germany!” Italy took off his jacket, before lying down. He covered himself with it like a blanket.
The corners of Germany’s mouth briefly twitched upwards into a smile. Shaking his head, he walked back to the Kübelwagen. When he got there, he exchanged the picnic basket for his book and glasses, before coming back to the blanket. Germany sat, and opening his book, he began to read. By the time he had reached the end of the chapter, he noticed he could hear Italy’s soft snoring just above the sounds of the forest. Looking up, Germany watched his little buddy sleep for a few minutes, thinking how peaceful he looked there. He was sorely tempted to join him, but Germany dutifully went back to reading his book. It was only when he realized he was reading the same page over and over again, that he closed his book and gave into temptation. He took his glasses off and put them back in their case, before setting his glasses case on top of the book. Germany stretched and lay down on the blanket for what he told himself would be a short catnap.
Two hours later, Germany awoke with a start. Not that spooning in behind his little buddy had been bad; he had often woken up like that at home, but the fact that he had overslept had him mentally kicking himself. He sat up and ran a hand over his face and behind his neck, where he rubbed at the kinks. Sighing softly, he leaned over and gently shook Italy. “Wake up, Italy, we have to get going.”
Italy rolled over and mumbled in his sleep. “Ve…”
Germany shook him again. “Italy!” he said in a tone of voice, he hadn’t used since the War.
His little buddy’s eyes flew open. “W-what?”
“We have to go; it’s later than I thought.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah. We can sleep at the hotel or if you’re really tired, you can sleep in the car. But we have to get going… Now!” Germany stood up to leave. Reaching down, he held out his hand for Italy to take.
Italy took his friends hand, letting him haul him to his feet. He yawned and stretched while his friend picked up and folded the blanket. He followed Germany tiredly to the Kübelwagen and the two of them got inside. A few minutes later, they were on the road again.
They drove for an hour, although it felt like ten minutes, when Italy started whining about needing a bathroom. Germany sighed and pulled over to the side of the road for him to use a tree. Thinking it was a good idea, he joined him. They stood against the tree, letting nature take it course.
“Ve… ve… ve…” Italy said softly as he relieved himself. He looked over to his left and down, sneaking a peek at his friend.
Drawn by the soft sounds his little buddy was making, Germany looked down and over at him. It was not like he had not seen him before, since Italy has moments when he liked to be “free” as he called it, it was just idle curiosity he told himself.
Suddenly the two of them felt the other’s eyes on them and two sets of eyes, one brown, the other blue slowly looked up the meet each other in a moment of pure awkwardness. They both looked each other in the eyes for what felt like an eternity, before quickly looking away. Finishing up, they climbed into the Kübelwagen and drove off. They were making good time, Germany keeping to the speed limit, despite the curvy road, while Italy did his best to stretch out the unscheduled pit stops.
The scenery was beautiful and it reminded Italy of story his grandfather had told him about visiting the area. “Nonno Roma said the forest got its name because the legionnaires found the pine trees blocked out most of the light.”
“It’s possible. Prussia said that Vati always referred to the place by that name after meeting your grandfather.”
Italy nodded. “Your brother always used to visit Holy Roma until he passed…” Italy trailed off softly. His sad smile brightened. “I’m glad he turned out to be your brother. He was always very nice to me whenever he visited, and Holy Roma and I used to look forward to seeing him.” Italy chuckled. “He always gave Signor Austria a hard time.”
Germany laughed. “He still does.”
“Yeah!” Italy agreed. “Ve… Germany?”
“What?”
“Can we stop in this town and look around? It’s so pretty!” Italy said. “Please?”
“Okay,” Germany replied. Truth be told, the little village they were driving through was very picturesque. “I bet the local bakery has a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.”
Italy’s eyes went wide. “Hurry up and stop!”
“Yes, sir!” Germany said and his little buddy laughed. They pulled over onto the side of the road and got out. It felt good to stretch their legs as they walked around the tiny village in search of some Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. They walked around, noting the quaint scenery of the small, almost forgotten town. Small as it was, it did boast a Biergarten, a bed and breakfast, a small café, and a gas station, indicating tourist did apparently stop there. It also had a small winery and a general store, where one could get the usual touristy things like t-shirts and cuckoo clocks. As luck would have it, they actually found a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in the town’s only bakery, much to Italy’s delight.
Ecstatic, Italy carried the cake back to Kübelwagen. “We’ll have some as soon as we get to the room in Durbach, okay?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Germany replied. He hoped that once they reached their destination, they would be able to pick up some paper plates and plastic silverware. Germany had the feeling that if they didn’t, it would not stop his little buddy in the least. Italy now had a real Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte and he was determined to have a slice in the region that gave it its name, which Germany found rather cute. They got into the car, but when Germany went to start it, the Kübelwagen engine refused to turnover. He got out and opened the rear hood to have a look at it. “Italy?’
“Yeah?”
“Can you get out and try starting the car?”
“Okay.” Italy got out and after putting the cake on the backseat, he walked around the Kübelwagen and got in the driver’s side. He tried starting it and nothing happened. Germany had him try several more times before he gave up in disgust.
“I think she’s dead,” Germany said as he closed the hood.
“Ve… Does that mean we’re stuck here?”
Germany nodded. “I could call Prussia to come and get us, but as for going on to Durbach, I think we’ll have to save that trip for another time. I’m really sorry, Italy.”
“Don’t be!” Italy smiled. “I got my cake, I had a lovely drive here with you complete with a picnic, and who cares if I journey ends here?” He shrugged. “I think I got farther than Nonno Roma ever did when he visited here.”
“Really?”
Italy nodded. “Yeah… So it’s okay if we don’t get farther than here, and maybe we can try that onion tart for dinner? And stay in a bed and breakfast?”
“Okay.” Germany’s lips twitched briefly upwards in a smile. “How about we find someplace to stay overnight and after I cancel our reservations in Durbach, I call my brother and tell him to come and get us in the morning.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
“Yeah…”