A Weekend With Romano
Main Pairing: None
Rating: T
Info: Slightly AU (first installment in my "Love Lessons" series). I've always seen young!Romano getting along well with the Benelux siblings. He puppy loves on Belgium and Netherlands beats up Spain… which is something I'm sure Romano appreciates every once and a while. Obviously dunno about Luxembourg, but eh. Since I'm several chapters ahead on my other story that updates on Fridays, I really wanted something short and sweet to update earlier in the week.
Warnings: Young!Romano still has a foul mouth.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, obviously.

Chapter One: Friday

"What the hell is taking them so long?"

With the same sheepish grin a normal man would give when his child calls a stranger in a market store something particularly rude, Spain meekly waved to the human lady who had paused in passing to stare at the tiny nation at his side. Once she continued on her way, shaking her head ever so slightly, Spain sighed and looked down at the pouting country. "Romano, that isn't very-"

"I don't care." Romano turned his furious glare to the street. "Bastard." Yet another bus passed their bench by, and the young nation bit his tongue to keep from flying into a full blown tantrum. He finally had the chance to leave, and now it looked like they had forgotten him… Then Spain gave his hair a friendly tussle, but Romano simply knocked the other nation's hand away. "Leave me alone."

Same old Romano. Spain grinned and went back to watching for the bus. He had a feeling that this trip would do little South Italy a great deal of good. Maybe getting to spend a couple days with Belgium would soften Romano up a bit. He wasn't expecting him to come bouncing off a bus Sunday evening ready to read a few chapters of Luke, but at least it would be a start. Not to mention Spain could use the time to clean up the destruction Romano had wrecked upon his house…

Another bus was coming, still coming, slowing down… Romano leaped from the bench with a cry of joy, hardly even noticing when Spain grabbed the back of his shirt until he realized that he was not getting any closer to the street. "Hey, let me go!"

"Don't run toward the bus while it's still moving, Romano!"

What if they weren't on that bus, either? Romano watched the doors open and the first few passengers were stepping down onto the sidewalk before he noticed that Spain still had a hold on him. "Let me goooooo!"

"For God's sake, would you please not smoke while he's with us?"

That voice! He knew that voice! "Bella!" Spain must have released him because Romano was finally able to run toward the bus to where Belgium and Netherlands were stepping onto the walk. As soon as he got to the siblings, however, Romano pulled to a sharp halt and looked up to see Spain had followed him.

"Bella, Holanda, bienvenido!"

It was like someone had flipped a switch, but instead of a dark room being lit, it was Spain's face. As he welcomed his two former subservient nations, it seemed that the former haggardness all but disappeared. His green eyes, so much like Belgium's Romano realized as he stared at the two older nations side by side, almost seemed to dance. It took Romano a moment to understand, but Spain was happy. It was the same when he used to say something that Spain thought was particularly adorable or such, but that was not so often any more…

"You ready to go, Romano?" Belgium bent slightly so that she was at eye level with him, her lips turned up in a warm smile.

Romano took a step backward as a sudden pang of shyness overtook his previous excitement, his cheeks flushing a rosy pink. "Y-yes, let's go!" With that he took his backpack from Spain, slung it over his shoulder, and gave a short nod. "Ready!"

Belgium nodded. "Right-o! And, here, you're going to need this!" She fished a bit of knitted fabric out of her purse and gingerly handed it to him.

It was a knitted, tri-colored hat. Romano stared at it for a second, instantly realizing that the colors were likely from that of a nation's flag, but… 'Red at the top, white in the middle… Blue on the bottom.' Romano looked up at Netherlands with a wide-eyed stare. It sure looked like the Dutch flag, but something was off about it… "Blue," he said simply. "It's the wrong blue."

After a moment of confused silence between the adult nations, Netherlands seemed to connect the odd comment with the fact that Romano was staring at him. "That's not my flag," he said, almost indignantly. "It's Luxembourg's."

"Since he couldn't be here to pick you up, he wanted to make it up to you somehow," said Spain as he took the hat from Romano's hands and tugged it over the little nation's head. "It will be cold where you're going, so you should thank him when you see him next!"

Romano gave Spain a thoughtful frown and tugged at the older nation's sleeve. "I don't like the cold."

"It'll be all right," Belgium said, tweaking Romano's nose with a grin. "You'll be having so much fun that you won't even notice the cold, especially since you'll have your new hat!"

For a moment Romano simply stared at her as if trying to decide whether he believed her or not. Finally he nodded, though he jumped when Belgium then gave him a bear hug. He looked away from the other two male nations in an attempt to hide his reddening face.

"Aww, look at how adorable they are~"

Too late! He had been seen!

"Did you see his cute little face, Holanda? Es mi tomatito!"

"Don't touch me."

"Pero, Holanda… ¡Mira!"

"What did I just-"

"¡Mira!"

Belgium let go of him just in time for Romano to see Netherlands elbow Spain in the face, which sent the dark-haired nation to the sidewalk in an instant. "Spain?" Romano stared at his guardian. Had Netherlands…? Tentatively, Romano inched closer to Spain…

"Aiya, Holanda!" Spain shot up into a sitting position, a hand pressed to the side of his jaw.

Romano, startled, ran back to Belgium with a shriek of terror. "Bastaaaard!"

"Come on, you two, settle down," Belgium chided, giving Romano a gentle pat on the head. "Besides, our next bus should be here soon, so you should go ahead and say good-bye, Romano."

Romano watched as Spain stared indignantly at Netherlands, who merely ignored him. He gave a small sigh and shuffled back to Spain, who still hadn't bothered to get to his feet just yet. "Ciao."

Just as Belgium had done mere moments before, Spain grabbed the small nation in a hug. "Adios, Tomatito. ¿Hasta luego, sí?"

In an instant Romano was a whirlwind of flailing limbs, but he settled at the sound of the soft Spanish words. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered as Spain drew away. "I hate you."

Belgium helped Spain to his feet just as a bus came to a stop right near them. "All right, this is our bus. Come on, Romano, we don't want to miss our flight!"

As Belgium ushered him on to the bus, Romano caught sight of Spain giving a halfhearted wave. He turned away with his nose in the air, though he couldn't help but feel just a little… sad.

::...::

Romano slept through most of the flight, and Belgium was immediately thankful that they, as nations always did, had the opportunity to fly coach. The little nation's legs were sprawled over the armrest in Netherlands' lap (it took a few choice words from Belgium to keep her brother from pushing Romano off the seat) and his head was nestled against Belgium's side. The green-eyed nation set her arm gently on Romano's side in a protective hug. She was glad that he would be spending the weekend with them… Not only was it an opportunity to get her brothers together for once, but Romano was always a bundle of joy to have around, anyway.

Netherlands didn't particularly think so. Aside from Romano's sudden interest in the tall nation on the bus ride due to his rough handling of Spain, they hadn't particularly gotten on. Hadn't talked at all, actually.

Belgium blew her bangs from her eyes in frustration as the plane bounced once, twice and then landed smoothly on the runway. She had to admit that she was a little surprised that she had been able to persuade Netherlands to come with her to pick Romano up at all (after several hours of bothering him, of course), but damn it all if she was going to just let him brood the whole weekend! "I think he likes you, Holland," she said softly, adding a small, forced smile for effect.

Netherlands was not impressed. "He bit me when I tried getting him to put the damn seatbelt on."

"That was because you pulled the belt too tight, you oaf! You're just grumpy because you can't smoke. Besides, he hasn't once called you a name or given you 'the glare'." Although she had noticed Romano's tendency to dislike every male nation he came in contact with… Hopefully, over time, he would open up a little bit. Belgium looked down at the young nation fondly. As the plane slowed and then came to a stop, she gave Romano's shoulder a gentle shake. "Hey, wake up, little man. We're here."

"Uhhh, wha?"

When he opened his hazel eyes, Belgium pointed over her shoulder to the window. "We've landed. We're going over to Luxembourg's for the night. We want to be well rested for tomorrow, don't we?"

In an instant his grogginess seemed to disappear, and he scrambled into a sitting position. Somehow in that one chaotic movement he managed to both kick Netherlands in the stomach and quickly cop a feel on Belgium's chest… though that must obviously have been an accident.

Belgium shot her brother a hesitant smile that was returned with a frown. Well, at least they knew they could agree on one thing…

It was going to be a long weekend.

AN:
In all my nation fics, they don't have human names (although Spain used Antonio as a name in the past), so they just sort of get creative to not sound like total dorks to the human passersby. As I found out when writing World Cup fics, Belgium being called Bella when Spain is around is always a fun coincidence (though of course we silly Spanish-speakers pronounce it differently).

I have a cousin who, when excited, starts babbling in Spanish. It's very endearing, but frustrating to our non-Spanish speaking friends and relatives. I thought it would work well with Spain, so that is why I finally allowed myself to have a nation actually speak its national language (I usually only reserve that for greetings and such).