Not the Man I Thought I Knew

Julchen smirked as she snuck up behind Lovino, pouncing on his back and making him yelp in shock as he dropped the book he had been flipping through. He turned to glare at her, a pout on his lips. She grinned, hugging his arm and holding tighter when he attempted to flinch away.

"Prussia what do you want?"

"The usual."

"No."

"But-"

"No. It's bad enough we're stuck here together while fratello and that-" she dug her nails into his skin, making him hiss. "What?"

"You were about to call my sister "macho-potato"."

"Feh." he huffed. "That's exactly what she is."

"Is that why you're scared of her?"

"I'm not-" he faltered when he saw the look on her face, deciding instead to look away. "Okay look, I'm not exactly a fan of Germans at all and frankly, that includes you. Stop trying to ask me out on dates okay? I'm never gonna agre-"

"I've never had real pizza before. Or spaghetti."

"Fratello makes that stuff all the time though."

"He puts in German stuff when you're not paying attention." she grinned, knowing how he would react. Lovino had a look of pure horror on his face, and it let her know she had him right where she wanted him. "Maybe... you could make me some."

"That traitorous little... fine, fine! Come with me!" Lovino didn't seem to realize he had grabbed her hand, leading her out to his car. She slipped into the passenger seat as he got behind the wheel, quickly starting the engine. Julchen snickered quietly, relaxing in the seat as he drove (like those crazy Italians drive) to his house. As soon as he was parked the two were going inside, and Julchen was just a tad bit surprised when he opened the door for her. The woman gave him a nod as she went in, pausing a few feet in the door to let him lead the way to his kitchen. She sat at an island bar, watching him pull off his jacket and tossing it to her before he starting darting around.

"Alright, forget pizza, you're getting culurgiones, and some caponata... seafood farfalle." he looked up, then walked over to a wooden door she hadn't noticed on the other side of a cabinet, returning with a bottle of Vernaccia di Oristano.

"Sounds like I'll be gaining a few pounds before I leave."

"If I do my job right, you'll be up at least two sizes when you leave." he smirked, and as soon as he had poured them both a glass of wine he set to cooking.

It left Julchen awestruck: watching him move around the kitchen was like watching a professional dancer on stage. He was so... graceful.

"Wow..." she hadn't realized she had taken on that look, the look of a high school girl who just fell in love with popular guy (you know that look, don't deny it). Lovino gave her a confused look, glancing back at her from the stove.

"You okay Prussia?"

"Julchen."

"Eh?"

"My human name. Julchen."

"Oh. Mine's uh." he scoffed. "Lovino."

Julchen smiled, and that's when he looked away (though she didn't miss the bit of pink on his ears). "Thank you for telling me."

"Yeah, yeah, uh, you too..." he turned his full attention back to cooking all the food, not noticing (or ignoring) the click of Julchen's heels as she walked over to watch him. Lovino was able to multitask so well, he was like a completely different man than the one she was so used to.

She stepped aside when he finally finished his work, moving quickly to plate everything while she returned to her seat. Lovino couldn't help the smug grin he had on his lips when he sat her plate down in front of her and saw her eyes light up in excitement. Julchen gave him a childish look, almost as if she were waiting for his permission, and started to happily eat when she saw him already digging in. Another wave of pride washed over him when he saw her expression change to one of pure delight, the woman actually slowly down to enjoy every bite of the food in front of her. Lovino had never seen her eat so cautiously before, used to her just plain digging in and wolfing down whatever was given to her. It was pleasing, to say the least, to know that she enjoyed his cooking so much that she actually wanted to be able to taste it.

"Can you cook more often? Please?" she looked at him, halfway through her given portion of culurgiones. "I'll even help you buy everything you need. I'll even go to the market to get it."

"I'll think about it." he smiled, picking up his napkin to gently wipe some food remnants from the corner of her mouth. "At least you have good taste in food."

"You've never tasted my black forest cake. I don't care if you don't like German food, you will fall in love with my cake."

"Hm... how about we make the next date a desert sampling?"

"How many each?"

"...Three."

"Deal."