Romano x Reader: Besame
"Hey Lovi?" you began, your tone obviously curious. He shifted slightly from his position laying on the grass to look at you. The two of you had planned to hang out today, but neither of you had come up with any plans as to what to do with your time. So you did what you always did when no one had any ideas. For some reason you always ended up at the park, under the huge old maple tree. Not that it bothered you much.
The park was peaceful and relatively quiet, with the exception of the occasional bus-full of children on a field trip. Plus right now the weather was perfect. It was just in-between seasons, not too hot or too cold. You reached for a nearby wild flower. Pretty soon it'd be too cold for flowers or visits to the park. It was best to enjoy them now while you could. Curious to see if you still remembered how, you plucked another flower and began tying them together, quickly adding more flowers as your hands recalled old movements.
"Yeah?" he answered, his tone light but a little wary. You'd come to expect that from him. Lovino had always been a pessimistic sort of guy and tended to fear the worst. If he'd really been worried he would have pretended not to hear you. Not that you typically asked him things that made him nervous. You held up your growing flower chain for him to inspect. "Is that all? What are you, five?" he asked, unimpressed that you still remembered how to do it. You shrugged off his attitude. Most found it abrasive but you knew he wasn't trying to be mean. It went hand in hand with the pessimism.
"Nah, that wasn't it," you explained, tying off the last flower and turning your chain into a circle. Feeling carefree, if more than a little silly, you placed it atop your head. "I was wondering, you spend a lot of time with Antonio, right? Ever since you were a kid?" He frowned and let out a half hearted 'hurmph' of contempt. You fought the urge to giggle at him. He treated Antonio like the Spaniard was a total nuisance, but you were pretty sure their relationship was more brotherly than that. Antonio certainly seemed to treat the Italian like a little sibling. A noisy, rambunctious, extremely ungracious little sibling.
"Yeah, so what?" he asked defensively. You started on another flower chain, this one being for Lovino. The odds of you getting him to wear it were pretty slim but perhaps you could guilt him enough to do it. That alone was worth the effort. "Do you know any Spanish?" For some reason the question made him blush and turn away from you. Which of course only made your curiosity worse. "So you do know some? What, did he only teach you dirty words or something?" That would explain his reaction. But then you realized that it wouldn't explain anything. Lovino cursed like a sailor without provocation on a regular basis. Why would a change in language suddenly make him all bashful?
"No, that's not it." He was still determinedly keeping his gaze away from you and your prying was making him blush even more. You might've felt bad if it hadn't been so cute. "Then why are you acting like you're embarrassed?" you teased, your tone not at all serious. He muttered something in reply but it was too quiet for you to pick up. "What was that?" More muttering, only this time it was ever so slightly louder. It still wasn't loud enough for you to hear though, so as answers went it was entirely unsatisfactory. "Come again?"
"I said I only remember one phrase!" He shouted, flushing even redder, sitting up so as to better avoid your gaze. You simply stared at him despite that, waiting for the rest. It might not be quite as effective as staring down at him from above, but you were sure you could get him to tell you. He floundered a bit, hoping you'd leave it at that, but of course you were not going to be dissuaded. Eventually he gave up trying to dodge the question. "Look, all I remember is 'Besame', okay?" You tilted your head, your flower chain sliding dangerously close to falling off. It sounded familiar, but not enough to place. You only knew a few important phrases in Spanish, like how to ask for the restroom.
"What does it mean?" Lovino glowered at this lap. You leaned in closer, hoping the added pressure of your nearness would make him spill the beans. You couldn't figure out why he was acting so off about one little word. Had he said it to someone in the past and gotten in trouble for it? That might explain his reluctance, but it was just you two. He knew he could trust you just as you trusted him. It wasn't like he did have some of your most embarrassing moments to hold over your head if he so chose to. Finally he let out an overly-grumpy sigh, which you knew meant he had given up fighting your questions.
"It means 'kiss me'," he mumbled unhappily, his face still flushed. You blink a couple of times. All that fuss for that? Then a wicked little grin spread across your face as an idea suddenly hit you. "Can you repeat that? I missed it." He grit he's teeth in frustration but complied.
"Kiss me!" he said only a few decibels away from shouting. Your grin widened and you mustered up all the daring you had. "Well since you insist," you giggled, snatching up the collar of his shirt and planting one on him. After a few moments where Lovino did nothing in response you pulled away again. Maybe you'd gone too far? Surely if he'd liked it he would've kissed you back? You tried to keep up your smile but there was a slimy, disquieting feeling crawling up your gut that indicated you'd messed up. What if he was too uncomfortable to hang your with you now? What if you had just completely ruined your friendship?
Lovino seemed to snap out of his weird trance, though he was still blushing like mad. "You-we, I mean, I-" You felt your heart sink at his confused babbling. You hadn't exactly expected a hugely romantic reaction or anything. It was Lovi after all. But it seemed you'd kissed him into inarticulateness, and not in a good way. "Lovi, it's okay. You don't have to-"
"You mean to tell me all I had to do was ask you and we could have been kissing all this time?!" It took a few seconds to process what he'd said but once it sunk in you felt practically giddy with relief. Thank goodness. Nothing was ruined. Even better, it seemed Lovino definitely wanted to kiss you again. Which was rather fortunate, seeing as you certainly wanted to kiss him again. You answered him by doing just that.
The sun was beginning to set when you both decided to take a break from the kissing. But you both basked in the knowledge that this was only the beginning and there would be many more kisses to come.