I spy

One-Shot

Pale orange coated the sky, decorated with a few pink clouds that had slept, now drifting calmly through the air, castling long and dark shadows as a child's worst fear began to worm their way through the Earth, starting with the outside. Including the small playground.

It wasn't an empty playground either.

The plastic orange that had been shaped to form a small dome, like a summer igloo, was turning brown from the fading sunlight, but it still miraculously crept through the entrance shaft, highlighting a small boy who was curled up into a ball. He looked no younger than five.

The boy had dark auburn hair, though it could have been lighter in the sunlight. A small curl was stubbornly sticking out and shivering as the boy's fragile body shook; yet failed to disturb the tattered brown shirt that clung to the slightly tanned skin, it was the same for the dark trousers he wore.

His eyes were scrunched tight as he rocked himself back and forth, oblivious that the happy shrieks and taunting laughs had faded, taken as the children had left when the darkness began descending on them, retreating to the safety of their houses before the shadows turned into monsters, baring sharp yellow teeth and crimson red eyes that took their lives away.

But they didn't scare him. Oh no.

The boy had his own nightmares, reflected in his olive green eyes as they opened when he rested his head on his shivering knees. Taking deep calm breaths as if he had been crying. But he never let himself cry. Never.

'Odio la vita.' It was a mantra, a protection from giving in and showing weakness. He remembers the stories his grandfather would tell him. He couldn't show weakness, no matter how tempting. It a constant reminder of what used to be, interrupted only by the shuffling outside, causing the boy to freeze, breath stilling and not making a sound.

The shuffling continued.

The boy's hand unconsciously went to a stick that had been left by one of the children earlier during the day. A variety of possibilities spinning through his head. Death. Demons. Vampires. Wolves.

The boy stood up shakily and despite all his terror, found curiosity worming in through his brain - after all, there were so many possibilities.

He poked his head out of the little shaft, catching a glimpse of the sky where the orange had slowly shifted into a disgusting, revolting dark yellow that stood out against the now grey clouds that were darker, more threatening. Screeching swings on the other side had turned into a dried blood, glinting as the moonlight that was rising taunted him with the colour as the wind rocked the empty seats back and forth. The concrete was no longer a dark blue, now a dark black, like a void threatening to swallow him whole as he shuffled outside, scanning the area where the trees no longer looked alive but slumbered, waiting until you came close and then -

The shuffling paused, and then continued, now behind him.

The stories drifted into his mind once again, stories of those who were foolish enough to do such an act where they either succumbed to an endless slumber, or would continue with their lives, prevailing against the dark they had faced. The dark was his light, the light his dark. Did that make him a monster?

The shuffling turned into scraping, causing the boy to turn around, getting a full view of the dome where a figure sat, his little feet scraping against the plastic.

"I spy with my little eye, a little friend who's lost!"

The boy shrieked, dropping the stick in all of his surprise as he fell to the floor, scrambling back a bit and ignoring the void that seeped through the cracks his hands were pressed against, all of it vanished from his mind as he stared at the luscious green eyes that stared curiously at him, slightly jarred by brown locks of messy hair. He wore a simple orange shirt that stood out against the dark blue jeans of the modern age.

The scraping came once again as the intruder's trainers collided with the plastic as he slid down, approaching the frozen boy with interest, "Are you lost?"

There was no answer as the olive-eyed boy scrambled over, not getting up and running though. Never. Green-eyes looked confused,

"Are you scared? Don't be! I promise I won't hurt you." No answer. "My names Antonio. What's yours?"

Green-eyes - or Antonio, watched as the other slowly stood on his shaky feet, gaze fleeting over the abandoned stick for a moment before it switched to Antonio, then at the cracks in the floor. Antonio tilted his head, curiosity captivating him in a similar way it had the boy, "Where's your family?"

A pause where images flashed through the boy's mind, 'Odio la vita. Odio la vita. But show no weakness.'

"I don't need a family, jerk!"

Antonio's eyes widened in surprise, but understanding flooded through them just as fast, "I spy with my little eye, someone who needs a friend."

The boy stared, his mantra forgotten as he allowed confusion to etch itself onto his face, everything but his voice asking a heap of questions, "Cosa?"

Antonio smiled at him, unfazed by the sudden change of atmosphere and mood, "I spy with my little eye, someone who needs a friend."

"I spy with my little eye a jerk who speaks in riddles!"

"What's a riddle?" Antonio tilted his head at the boy, curious confusion radiating off him, before his gaze tilted upwards at the sight of blue. Rain. The boy looked up too,

"It's raining, damnit…"

"Then why don't you go home?" 'Odio la vita.'

"…I don't have one. Why don't you, jerk!"

Antonio didn't looked too surprised, his wide eyes softening slightly, "I left mine."

There was a pause, a short second in which the air was laced into a tapestry of confused understanding, "…What?"

"I left mine. It's scarier than the monsters."

The child nodded in agreement, before realising he was shaking. He glanced over at Antonio, who simply watched with a curious expression, "We need to find shelter…You never did tell me your name."

"No shit…Sherlock." Antonio gasped,

"That was a swear!"

"Never!"

"It was! It was a swear!" Apparently Antonio had not been introduced to sarcasm, unlike the boy who rolled his eyes, wondering how he could have even thought he was a monster,

"Whatever jerk. It's still raining."

Antonio's trainer hit the ground repeatedly as he paused in thought, "We could go back in your dome."

"Cosa?"

"You came out of the dome right?" Antonio gestured to the dome of orange plastic, "It'll do right? It means there's no monsters, si?"

Another few moments paused as the olive-eyed boy considered it. "Si…"

Antonio had actually been right, they could still hear the rain clashing against the plastic as the boys gazed upwards not paying attention as the outside world got darker and darker.

"Hey, Romano."

The olive eyed boy stared at Antonio curiously, eyes narrowed as he glared, "My name isn't Romano. The heck?"

Antonio leaned against the cold plastic, "My grandfather was from Italy and his name was Romano. You sound like him and you never told me your name…"

"That makes you from Spain then."

Yet another silence filled the dome, broken only by the clattering of rain and the shuffling as Antonio edged closer to the boy, searching for warmth, but just as he was about to drift off, a single word punctuated the silence,

"Lovino."

"I spy with my little eye, a tomato for Lovi~!"

"Damnit, I told you not to call me that you jerk!"

"I spy with my little eye -"

"Not this again…"

"So, this was your house?"

Lovino stared at it, "Yes. It was."

"Why did you leave?"

Lovino ignored the question, walking towards a small painting in the corridor they were stood in. The painting had only two figures, "I spy with my little eye…A figure missing in this painting…"

"I wasn't wanted damnit."

"So, why did you leave your house?"

"I didn't want to see the bruises anymore…"

"Bruises? - Oh…I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, Lovi."

Lovino stared at the reflection that stared back at him. He looked almost exactly the same as he did when he first met Antonio, though more matured and his features more sharpened.

There was one fault.

The olive green eyes that had once betrayed all of his emotions were now empty, like a broken mirror where al the cracks in the reflection seemed so flawed. Just like his was now.

The glass was cold when Lovino's hand touched it gently, as if he was scared that it would shatter almost instantly, in a way it did, a single tear appearing in the reflection,

"I spy with my little eye…Something that is broken."

"Lovi?" Antonio called as he levelled his gaze with Lovino's. It was almost like he wasn't staring back, just staring through him and then beyond the walls and into oblivion. His eyes were empty, promising just that. Oblivion.

"Lovi, you're scaring me…" He said softly, reaching out to brush some of the dark locks out of Lovino's face.

He'd never felt so useless.

Realising, there wasn't much he could, he stood up too walk out but as he turned, his eyes widened as he realised Lovino was staring at a small knife that lay in his hands, taking in every dent and every jewel,

"I spy, with my little eye, my destiny and my doom."

"What do I do?"

"Why do you ask us, mon ami?"

"Who else am I supposed to tell!?"

"Wait! So I'm just a last resort? Not awesome!"

"Gilbert, now is not the time…"

"Antonio?…I'd go back to our little game but it's kind of hard…In this case…I spy, I spy…Look…I'm sorry."

Beep.

"L-Lovi? Lovino!"

The room was dark. Really dark, but the monsters of long ago stayed at the edges of the room, uivering underneath the furious Spanish man's glare that would soften every time he stared at the Italian in his arms, who fisted his shirt and tried not to cry, "Why c-can't I do it d-damnit!"

A glance managed to locate a discarded blade, the same blade Lovino had been staring at earlier, glinting devilishly in the darkness, clean and empty. Antonio hated it but pushed it aside to hold Lovino close, "Sh…"

"Why do you even stay?" Antonio blinked in surprise at the question, but Lovino was pushing away, turning to face the long mirror on the wall, a crack visible, "I spy with my little eye…Something that is broken…"

Antonio merely smiled as much as he could as he walked over to Lovino, wrapping his arms around hi in a hug, "I spy with my little eye, something that I'll fix."

A/N: I odnt own Hetalia.

So, I guess this is the result of boredom. The start is like so detailed and then the end in like...pfft. xD I think this would make an interesting multichapter fic but...I just cant be bothered, maybe one day, *shrugs*