Atelier of Memories | One-shot

Inspired by the short comic strip of the same name by Sires R. Black. I wouldn't be applying any accents for this story. I do not own Hetalia.

~Atelier of Memories~

"I knew you and your brothers have lots of things in the storage, especially the miniatures of historical landmarks or figures, but I didn't know you have this many separate rooms just for your artworks! Not to mention, this room itself is huge!" Japan exclaimed as his eyes roamed around the huge room that Italy has brought him in. Paintings on different mediums littered the place, pottery is placed high on the shelves while other sculptures stayed on the ground. 

The Italian grinned proudly, showing his a victory sign with his fingers. He then walked around the room as well, taking a deep breath of the stale air in the room. He pushed open the windows, allowing the fresh air to come in. 

"Art is extremely significant to our history, be it visual or performing, sketching or composing music. They played a big role in our history. You're the same, right?" The brunet replied. 

The Japanese chuckled, now leaning over some of the paintings that showed the beautiful places of Europe. There is a picture of Mister Austria playing the piano as well. Just then, an interesting picture caught his eyes. He picked up the painting and looked at his companion seriously. 

"Why do you have pictures of nude women?"

Italy froze, but let loose when he realised that his friend was just joking. He answered lightly, "I love to draw humans, due to their expressive expressions through their actions."

Japan hummed, resuming his browsing action through the heaps of fantastic artwork. The brunet ran to another collection of paintings and turned them over gently, revealing detailed pieces of works he has drawn. Some even dated back to the 1500s, which was so long ago. It is a miracle how long they could last, though they were yellowing a little. 

Just then, a familiar picture appeared from behind a painting of a fairy. It was a painting of a little boy, his blond hair tucked under his hat, electrifying blue eyes and he donned a black cloak with gold linings. The crest of an empire was stitched to his collar and he had a naturally stern expression. 

Italy took a deep breath and smiled, picking up the painting. He recalled the day when he drew this painting in an open field when the skies were very blue and the air was really fresh. 

"Teach me how to draw, Italy!"

A little boy about his height charged at him, canvas and brush at hand. Chibitalia jumped in shock then quickly soothed down his skirt. Tears started to gather in his eyes, fearing what the boy wants -that boy is his superior after all. The boy cloaked in black flustered almost immediately, his arms waving as he had no idea what he could calm the "girl" down. 

With next to no idea what to do, he shoved the objects in his face, with light pink dusted on his cheeks. He requested for the Italian to teach him how to draw. Still startled and afraid of the boy's expression, his voice quivered as he asked. 

"W-what do you need? Master Holy Roman Empire?"

"Teach me how to draw, Italy."

He stopped crying instantaneously, pleasantly shocked by the boy's sudden demand. He rubbed his tears away and smiled at him. 

"Of course, Master Holy Roman Empire."

"That's a mouthful, dear Italy."

"Then what should I call you?"

"...Erm, just keep calling me as it is."

They had a tiny argument about what to draw at first, but in the end, they both decided to draw each other. That afternoon was one of his most enjoyable, out of all of his days under the Holy Roman Empire. 

At least, till the day he never returned. 

He smiled at the picture, only to drop it when the door to the room was slammed open all of a sudden, and an angry German came barging in. 

"I had been looking ALL over the place for the two of you because your dear brother Romano," the blond raised an accusing finger at the brunet. "Had kindly requested for our help to clean this place! And here I am, catching the host idling around instead of working!"

Italy sent the newcomer a wave while Japan bowed as a greeting. 

"Sorry Germany, but we're just admiring the arts. Right Japan?" Said personification nodded. 

Germany sighed, brushing his apologies off before inspecting the place. The other two followed his line of sight. 

"This room is cleaner than many of the other rooms, but that could be because you two love to draw. However, its cleanliness isn't reaching the standard yet."

He trudged over to the biggest "mess" in the whole room, which consisted of numerous art supplies and lots of canvases. 

"Japan, can you please come here and help me for a second?"

"Sure!"

The raven head went over, and the blond quickly put the canvases in his arms while relaying some instruction to him. Italy was simply far too into his thoughts to even hear them when at that moment, eureka struck. He leapt off the high stool he was on and ran to his friends. 

"Wait wait! Can we use those materials to draw, since we have the canvases and materials for art? They hadn't expired yet but they soon will be. This would be a great opportunity to use them!"

Germany and Japan shot each other a look, but before they could say anything else, the brunet had taken the canvases they tidied on the shelves and pushed it to them, the latter promptly dropping the cup of brushes he had in his hands. 

Soon, all of them began their artistic spree. A certain blond personification tried to run from the activity, but the brunet was faster, stopping him with his usual pushy attitude when it comes to art. Germany wondered why he would not apply it during training.
"Come on, Germany! Draw something!"

Said man stared at his materials, his mind blank. Every country is capable of drawing, just that some have a harder time perfecting what they want. The blond is natural when it comes to art. Prussia said that the Germanic countries excelled at the arts, performing or visual. 

Yet, his mind is still blank even while staring and having all the materials needed right in front of him. Japan noticed his stiffness, now leaning over his art -a beautiful monochrome sketch of a dragon.

"Mr. Germany, are you at a loss of what you can draw?"

Italy stopped working as well, setting his paintbrush in the cup. He tilted his head up as if questioning the youngest as well. With his cheeks flushed with red due to embarrassment, he nodded meekly. 

"I admit."

The Japanese chuckled, slightly revealing his pearly white teeth while smiling gently. 

"Look around you, there's plenty of things to draw. You just have to look at another angle."

The older two simply smiled. 

Time passed quickly and the trio had a lot of fun handling art. They propped their artworks on the easel stand, clipping it tightly so that the wind will not blow them away. Japan drew an overly buff version of Germany, causing the blond to scrutinise the work heavily while trying to recall how he looked like. Contrary to the German's picture, Italy was drawn with a more cutesy feeling. 

"You drew us according to our aura, didn't you?"

The Japanese chuckled, dipping his head in reply. He stared at Germany's work, noting that they were done with lesser sharp lines, more gentle and calming, in contrast to his own character. Japan barely controlled his laughter. 

Italy stared at his own masterpieces and the other's works, then to that picture he drew years ago. A warm smile surfaced in his mind. 

"Thank you, Italy."

"Hey hey! Check out mine!" He spoke up, now dashing to his friends while showing his artwork of them to them proudly. 

That picture sat at the corner of the room, now glowing faintly as a distant beautiful memory.