Disclaimer: Hetalia © Hidekaz Himaruya

The lack of light from the sun was enough to sour Lovino's mood for the day.

When the season changed to snow and cold wind, the need for warmth and light from the sun or anything that radiated heat was very important. While humans can adapt with ease, plants had less adaptivity and would die off easily. It did not help that the weather this year was colder than the usual. He had used artificial light and even bought an extra heater to help, it did not stop the leaves from turning a shriveling yellow.

'Just one more month.' He sighed at the sorry sight of the tomato garden. 'One more month before spring comes. The plants have to survive until then.'

The thought was comforting for a bit, but who knew what would happen.

He huffed, one hand coming up to mess at his hair, doing something to let off steam. He tugged harder in his frenzy and managed to bump into someone in the process.

"HEY, WATCH W-" He stopped himself as he came to face with multiple plant pots. No wonder the person did not notice anyone before them.

Not to mention the incoming drop in total.

Hands shot out to steady the pots that almost fell out of the other person's hand, he sighed in relief of managing to avoid breaking anything. Now that the accident was successfully avoided, maybe a lecture should be in order.

"Ah, thank you." The other person interrupted before he can say anything, "Sorry about that, you can stack it back up."

"Did someone ever tell you it's a bad idea to carry bunch of things at once?" He huffed, holding the pots steady in his hands "I'll help. Where to?"

"I can ha-" The other person objected, but given his glance, they paused, "Sorry, thank you. I'm bringing these to the storage."

Good, cause he didn't want to start any arguments.

The girl seemed to be someone new or not a regular to the club at least, as he did not remember meeting before, despite the familiarity. Perhaps it was because of the uniform that vaguely alike to Kiku's, or the same shade of dark brown hair near the color of the night, combed neatly into a ponytail. The only difference is the bright golden shade of her eyes.

"I did not expect anyone to stay back so late." She started, her voice clear in the silent surroundings. He jumped, not expecting her to start the conversation. Crap, he do hope she did not notice his staring.

"You were also back pretty late, you know." He shot back, eyebrows raised.

"Point taken." Leaning the pots on her knees, she used her free hand to open the storage room. "We're here."

"Why did you bring so many pots? It's not the time for new plants." He commented while eyeing the pots in his arms. While there were plants suitable for this season, but they would have been growing already.

"I wanted to stock up for the season. That, and Kiku asked me to bring over some seeds from my place."

"You should have asked for someone to help, this is a bit much for one person to carry." She's certainly a friend of Kiku, huh?

"Ah, I-" For a brief moment, there was a troubled look on her face before her cheeks turned red. "I didn't think the pots was that heavy, so..."

The sight of her getting embarrassed also caused his cheeks to heat up as well and he whispered to himself. "Cute."

"Did you say something earlier?" The girl paused and glanced at him. Oh god da-

"Hey, what's kind of seeds did you bring?" He tried to distract her from his slip up, sweating internally. "I haven't seen those before."

"They're Lotus seeds. It's a flower from my homeland." The name kinda rang a bell.

"I think I've heard of that before. Vietnam's national flower, right? Ah, so you're..."

"Yes, I'm the representative of Vietnam." She set down the rest. "We've met before, though this is the first time we talk."

"I see," He answered lamely. "I'm the representative of Romano, as you would have known, I suppose."

Of course she would know, unlike him, someone who had completely forgot people who he had met before except for people who occasionally annoy him and friends! Argh, was this not a bad impression to not able to recognize people you had met?!

"I know, after all, I have always wanted to talk to you."

He blinked at what she had revealed, wondering if he was hearing things. While there had been girls who approached him, most would ask him about his stupid brother. That annoyed him greatly, and his glare usually send them away, mostly.

His eyes grew in size as he absorbed the meaning, continuing to blink dumbly at her.

"I mean, you are really passionate about plants, which really showed in how you grew them." She did not meet his eyes, choosing to look out at his now currently wilting plants visible by the glass window the storage had. Almost all windows and doors in this greenhouse was made of glasses, making everything transparent, but this was not the current attention here. "I thought you would be someone really interesting to talk to."

He felt really flattered, really. No one ever said that to him before, though...

"I'm pretty sure the tomato bas-Antonio - that Spanish guy who also frequented here was more enthusiastic and skilled than me." He looked down at the ground, hands unconsciously turned to fists. That fact stung deeply, but it was also the truth.

"I don't think you should compare such a thing." Her voice cut in the silence, casually like she was stating a fact. "Passion is not something people can measure."

"I mean, you are you. I think you are plenty special." She looked quite flustered, and awkward. "Eh, well, chin up, or so that goes. You should be confidence in yourself."

"Sorry, I'm not that good at comforting people or-" The sentences became softer at the end as she glanced between him and the window.

The reaction was not something he expected threw him off. He felt a fleeting need to run away in embarrassment and then he was a bit touched that she had noticed.. Perhaps his friends had done the same, but they stopped trying after he was too stubborn.

"Thank you." He answered back in a small voice, but she seemed to catch the meaning. Her eyes narrowed and crinkled slightly, creating a pleasant expression, not close to a smile but enough to give his heart a slight skip. W-What kind of sneak attack is this?!

"I just expressed my opinion. There's nothing to thank me for." Now that the atmosphere lightened up, she turned back to check the bags one last time. "I'm sure your friends feel the same, they are worried about you."

"My friends? What do you me-"

"It's getting late now. I'll be leaving soon. Do you need help with closing up?"

"No, I can handle it myself. I was going to close up earlier."

"Very well, in that case, I'll be leaving soon. Thank you for your help."

"W-Wait! Let me walk you home, at least!" He tried to stall for time, or at least ensure that she would be safely back home. In addition, there was that curiosity about what she had mentioned.

"Someone will be picking me up today. Thank you for the offer nonetheless." She shook her head. "Please do take care when walking home."

"Goodbye." With that, her silhouette disappeared through the glass door into the night, leaving him with the task of locking up. He wondered if he would see her again.

For the next morning, the girl was seen in the garden taking care of the plants, her shirt now spotting the symbol of the gardening club.

A/N: Thank you for reading! This is my part for the art trade with Jenykhuong (that I delayed for so long ahuhuhuh gomenasaiiii). She's a great artist so if you love hetalia related fanart go follow her there at !

This is the first time I tried Romano's POV so I hope nothing is too OOC

Any comments and feedback for improvement will be greatly appreciated!