A/N: So, I'm alive. And have rediscovered my passion for Hetalia (and my ships). Yay?
Apologies for any rampant OOCness.
Big thanks to a friend of mine for proofreading this.
Based off a prompt from otpprompts on Tumblr.
It was a perfectly good summer day. The sun was shining high up in the sky. It wasn't humid nor too dry. The weather was just perfect for lounging on a deck chair and taking a siesta in.
"Here you go!" His grandpa dumped a pile of wooden boards by his feet. "That's all! Happy building!"
Of course, fate had other plans for a certain Lovino Vargas.
"Why do I have to build this goddamn treehouse in the first place?" he grumbled to himself as he angrily slammed his hammer against the nail that was going to bind the two boards together. "Stupid ditzy nonno, stupid spoiled fratello..!" The nail finally nestled itself snugly in the wood. Somewhat satisfied with himself, he moved onto the next plank. "I can't believe Feli even wants one of these cheap things! He's not five anymore, dammit!"
Lovino continued to grumble to himself. However, his complaints did nothing to change the fact that he was to spend the next three hours of his precious summer afternoon building a treehouse for his little brother in the tall oak tree in his grandpa's backyard.
"That bastard better pay me for this," he grumbled as he continued hammering the wall into place. "I could be having a perfectly good siesta right now, or eating a tomato and not giving a fuck about anything. But no, stupid little Feli has to have his goddamn precious treehouse!" He reached for another nail. "And nobody even bothers to help me, goddammit!" He angrily bashed the nail into the wood. "Who the hell just hands their grandson a hell ton of wood, nails, and a hammer and just tells him to build a fucking treehouse!"
After an hour or so into the day, Lovino quit complaining. Rather, he began scolding himself for messing up on the alignment of the boards and for almost bashing his fingers with the hammer. When Feliciano danced out into the backyard to ask if he wanted something to eat, Lovino yelled at him to go away, goddammit, can't he see that he was busy building his fucking treehouse?
In three hours, Lovino had someone managed to finish almost the entire floor and put up half of a wall. All that was left of the floor was to finish laying the part that covered the part of the tree that hovered just a little bit over the fence bordering the neighbor's lawn. However, Feliciano had chosen that moment to run out into the backyard and beg him to come down and take him out for some gelato.
"Fine," he grumbled. "Let me finish this part first."
"Yay!" Feliciano cheered and danced around in a circle.
"Stop that, bastard!" Lovino snapped. "You're fourteen, not five, for fuck's sake!"
"Hurry up and finish, fratello!" Feliciano giggled. "Or else I'll just go with Ludwig and Kiku!"
Lovino's hammer slammed onto the nail with a little more force than he originally intended. "Don't you dare go anywhere with that potato bastard!" he yelled. But Feliciano had already danced back into the house.
Lovino set his hammer down. He looked over at the next spot. Maybe it is time to stop, he thought. With a sigh, he set his hammer down next to the box of nails. He leaned back to take one last look at his handiwork. Unfortunately, leaning back required him to take a step back onto a spot that did not have the board he wanted to lean back on. His foot slipped and, being the uncoordinated, awkward teenager he was, he lost his balance and slipped out of the treehouse, screaming.
To him, he seemed to fall for hours, even though in reality, it was but for a split second. During that time, a million thoughts had flashed through his mind. He could only remember thinking, "I'm going to die!" and "That fucking treehouse better be worth my life, Feli, you bastard!"
Then he landed.
"OW!"
"OOF!"
There was a brief moment of silence. Lovino kept his eyes squeezed shut. He wanted to just make sure he was alive at first. He could feel his back and legs throbbing from the surprise fall and landing. Maybe if he pinched himself, he'd be able to check to see that it wasn't just his imagination.
And then he fell again.
He felt pain, but it was a lot more subdued compared to the pain from the initial impact. However, he found it impossible to keep his eyes closed any longer when he landed the second time.
He found himself lying on top of another boy, who was currently sprawled on his back on the ground, chuckling softly at god knows what. The person didn't look like Feliciano or Grandpa Roma, though, nor did it look like anyone Lovino knew.
Then it hit him. He had fallen into the neighbor's lawn. He had fallen right on top of his neighbor.
Fuck.
"You okay?"
Lovino looked up. The boy was now sitting up and running a slightly tan hand through his messy brown hair. His emerald green eyes were looking at him curiously with a smile.
Normally, when one falls on top of a neighbor they've never before, they'd get off immediately and apologize profusely, worrying about whether or not they caused their neighbor any bodily harm. They wouldn't want to get off on the wrong foot, after all.
However, in Lovino's case, he could only sit there, stunned, uncharacteristically thinking, oh no. He's cute.
The boy continued. "It was a real shock when you fell! I wasn't expecting that to happen. Luckily I was there to catch you, eh?"
Lovino quickly broke out of his trance. "Well, you did a piss poor job of catching me, didn't you?" he snapped, referring to the fact that they were sitting on top of one another on the ground.
"Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I?" The boy laughed. "Lo siento...uh..?"
"Lovino," he grumbled.
The boy's eyes sparkled. "Lo siento, Lovino, for dropping you. You just fell so suddenly! It was hard to keep my balance. But you're not hurt, so no worries, right?"
Oh great, he's just as chatty as Feli.
"Sure," he grumbled.
"Now, uh...could you get off of me?"
It took Lovino an extra second to stop staring and register what his neighbor had said. When the words finally sunk in, he crawled off of the other boy as quickly as he could. The boy stood up the instant he was able to and held out a hand to Lovino with a smile that could blind the sun.
"I'm Antonio!" he said cheerfully. "Nice to meet you, Lovino!"
I'm not sure how the hell falling on top of someone is a nice meeting, Lovino thought, but he took Antonio's hand and let him pull him to his feet anyways.
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
"You should be careful next time," Antonio warned. "Next time you fall out of a tree, I might not be there to catch you!"
Lovino felt his temper flare for a brief moment. "Who the hell said I'll always be expecting you to catch me?"
"You were building that treehouse, sí?"
Lovino followed Antonio's hand up into the tree looming over them. He could see the floorboards and the leaves that nearly hid the wall he had built from sight. He had to admit, from this angle, the treehouse looked a thousand times better than he initially thought.
"Uh, yeah."
He could practically feel the happiness radiating off of Antonio now. "It's very nice! I bet it will look muy fantástico once it is finished!"
"Sure, bastardo."
To Lovino's surprise, Antonio didn't look even the slightest bit fazed by the insult. Rather, he smile widened, giving off the impression that he was happier than he had been before.
"Well, if you need any help, just let me know!"
Lovino was shocked. He had met this boy five minutes ago and now he was offering his assistance as if they were friends or something.
"I-I'll think about it." Lovino suddenly remembered that he had to take Feliciano out for gelato before he ran off with his potato bastard of a friend. "Shit, I've got to get back…"
"Oh?" Antonio raised his eyebrows. "I suppose climbing over the fence is the fastest! The gate here opens up on a street completely different from yours."
"Fantastico." Lovino looked up at the fence, which was fairly tall. In fact, it was only a few centimeters shorter than him. If he jumped, he could probably haul himself up and over, but considering the fact that his upper body strength was almost nonexistent after working all day, that was out of the question. "How the fuck do I climb this?"
"I can help!" Antonio held out his hands, which had been crossed palms up. "I'll give you a boost!"
Lovino stared at him as if he had suddenly turned into an alien. "You're kidding me."
"What?"
"Are you serious?"
Antonio shrugged. "Do you want to get over the fence or no?"
Lovino debated his decisions. He could either spend ten minutes going out the gate and back all the way around to his house, or let this idiot help him over the fence by giving him a boost.
He decided to swallow his pride and take the second offer.
"Fine!" Lovino snapped.
Antonio smiled and knelt down with his hands still outstretched. "Alright!"
Lovino carefully stepped on the boy's hands. To his surprise, he was able to push off with relative ease and get a decent grip on the fence. He clumsily swung himself over the wooden panels and tumble into a strip of bushes in his backyard.
"You okay?" Antonio asked.
"I'm fantastic!" Lovino grumbled as he stood up. He brushed some needles and leaves off of himself. "...Thanks, I suppose."
He heard Antonio laughing on the other side of the fence. "De nada. But don't make falling out of trees a habit, mi amigo, okay?"
"Shut up!"
"Aww, you look as red as a tomato!"
Lovino whirled around and saw Antonio looking at him over the fence.
"Don't fucking say that!"
Antonio grinned. "But you look adorable!"
It's been five minutes since we first met and he's already calling me adorable? Who the fuck does that?
"Don't fucking call me that, bastard!"
"Fratello, who are you...oh! Hello!"
Lovino spun on his heel just in time to see his little brother waving wildly at Antonio.
"Don't wave to strangers, idiot!" he snapped at Feliciano.
Feliciano frowned. "Eh? Strangers? But he's our neighbor, Lovi! I mean, we haven't met him before, but still!" He then turned his attention back to Antonio. "So what's your name?"
Antonio laughed and waved back. "Hello! I'm Antonio, Lovi's friend!"
Lovino glared at Antonio. "We are not friends, dammit! And don't call me Lovi!"
"Oh, I didn't know fratello had any friends!" Feliciano beemed. "It's nice to meet you, Antonio! I'm Feliciano, Lovi's brother!" He then tugged on Lovino's sleeve. "Come on, fratello, I wanna get some gelato!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming, dammit!" Lovino shook his brother off. "Go get the keys."
"Yay!" Feliciano waved at Antonio once more. "Oh, oh, you should come with us, Antonio! Any friend of Lovi's is a friend of mine, after all!"
Antonio laughed and waved his hand. "I'd love too, but unfortunately, I've got some work to do first. Maybe another time?"
"Yes, definitely!" Feliciano nodded. "Well, I'll see you around, Antonio! Ciao!" He waved before running back into the house, no doubt to find Lovino's car keys.
"You have a nice brother," Antonio remarked.
Lovino snorted. "Only if you consider having a spoiled, childish little brother nice." He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "I'd better go before he leaves for the potato bastard's house. Ciao, bastard." He headed back towards his house.
"Hasta luego, Lovi."
"Don't fucking call me that!" Lovino snapped before slamming the deck door shut behind him.
Antonio hummed happily to himself as lowered himself from the top of the fence. He winced as a jolt of pain shot up from his feet, reminding him to never stay on his tip toes for that long ever again.
"Antonio, are you finished yet?" his mother called from the house.
"Almost."
"Hurry up, then!"
"Yes, mamá." Antonio glanced back over towards the spot where he had caught Lovino and couldn't suppress his smile.
"Aww, you look as red as a tomato!"
"Don't fucking say that!"
"But you look adorable!"
"Mamá, is it alright if I go out later?" he suddenly asked.
His mother opened the window and scowled at him. "As long as you finish your work and don't go anywhere near those two delinquents you hang around."
Antonio turned away and smiled. "Yes, mamá."