((I do not own Hetalia: Axis powers and THANK YOU doodle-booty for this amazing AU and to my all time fav Amiga 2. We have been collabing for some time now and we couldn't get anywhere without each other.))
Lovino wasn't really sure when his problem started, but he was pretty sure it was at the beginning of senior year, when a new neighbor moved in next to him. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo was the single father of two adoptive children, and was the hottest, most charming man Lovino had ever seen. Lovino had innocently been watering the front lawn a couple days before school started when the new neighbor had walked out in nothing but his boxers to get the mail.
Lovino had choked on his breakfast bar so badly he had to kneel in the grass to catch his breath again, and by the time he looked up again, the man was gone.
This guy. Just who the hell did he think he was? Walking around with an ass like that and a body like a marble statue. Luckily he hadn't noticed and Lovino was able to continue his watering, but his face was constantly stained red whenever he thought about the incident.
That's when, to Lovino, it all went down hill.
He and his brother, Feliciano, had planned on visiting the new neighbor the day after he moved in. Feli had been bouncing off the walls the whole damn day before, flipping through cookbooks at light speed and rattling off cake recipes whenever Lovino passed by. Truth be told, he had probably seen the incident the other day and wanted to tease Lovino about it, but he wasn't going to go there, not now.
They had eventually decided on a plain vanilla, after remembering that allergies were indeed a thing. Lovino was cleaning up and Feliciano had just finished decorating with a few simple swirls (Lovino wouldn't let him do roses) when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Lovino called, putting down his dishrag. He quickly wiped his hands on his jeans and ran a hand through his sweaty hair before opening the door.
And there he stood, Mr. Hot Dad himself.
"Hi! I'm your new neighbor, Antonio. These are my sons, Francis and Gilbert." He gestured at the two children holding his legs. "They're a bit shy, I'm afraid, but they wanted to meet you too. I hope I'm not intruding at all?"
Lovino's face flushed red and he felt somewhat paralyzed with embarrassment, but before he knew it he was clearing his throat and holding his hand out for a handshake. "Not at all. I'm Lovino, and this is my brother Feliciano. We live here with our grandfather and our younger brother, but they're away right now. It's nice to meet you," he added belatedly, and there was an awkward silence before Lovino remembered he should probably let Antonio inside. "Oh, um, yeah, would you like to come in?" He stepped aside, nearly tripping over himself in the process.
Antonio chuckled and nodded. "Of course!" He motioned to his children, almost herding them inside. Feliciano immediately took them all to the living room, offering them drinks and making small talk as he did.
Lovino could feel the shit eating grin on his brother's face before he even turned around. He chose to ignore him completely and moved to sit across from Antonio.
"It's nice to finally meet some of my neighbors. It felt so awkward not having the time to drop by, but I had these two to watch." He chuckled as Gilbert and Francis whispered frantically to him, both trying to get their word in. Lovino nodded as Feliciano joined them with the cake, smile wide on his face.
"We were just about to come welcome you, actually! We made you a cake, vanilla since we didn't know if you were allergic or anything." He set it down on the coffee table, laughing when the children's whispers increased in frequency. "There should be enough for all of you, but perhaps Lovino and I should make another, just in case? He was rather set on making a fancy one, but most of his favorites contain nuts."
Lovino was suddenly startled from his internal battle not to stare at Antonio, nervousness increasing exponentially when he saw the conspiratory grin on Feli's face.
"Um, what?" He tried not to look at Feli, but the only other option was Antonio, and he was smiling amusedly at him. Shit.
"Feliciano was asking about allergies, and I'll let you know only Francis has a nut allergy. Peanuts, mostly, but we avoid everything to be safe. He had also mentioned that you liked kids, and wanted some job experience for your resume, I believe? I need a babysitter for Francis and Gilbert, and if you aren't too busy it'd be a great help." He smiled absentmindedly and patted his son -Gilbert?- on the head, who crossed his arms and huffed.
"Um, yeah! I guess I could. I don't think I could say no." He rubbed the back of his head. How the hell could he say no to that? This man was the most attractive thing he'd ever laid eyes on, and that kind of overloaded his brain at the moment.
But he's married-
I don't see no shiny ring-
He's got kids-
"Dad, can we go now? I wanna play." Francis finally spoke up, tired of sitting, and tugged at his father's shirt. Gilbert nodded rapidly in agreement and joined him.
"Yeah, let's go!"
Antonio laughed and playfully shoved the two off. "Well, I guess we'll be leaving. Thank you very much for the cake. I brought you guys something too, actually, it's homemade. Bring the pot back whenever, and we can talk then." He offered them both one last smile before scooping his children up, walking out the door with both of them in one arm and the cake in the other.
The moment the door shut Lovino rounded on Feliciano. "What the hell have you done?"
"Lovi, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. I'm just helping you with your resume."
"Feli, that's bull. You saw me yesterday, didn't you?" Feliciano merely looked to one side, struggling to contain his grin. Lovino threw up his hands in exasperation.
"You can go setting up seventeen year olds with married men on your own time. Godammit, you just made this five thousand times harder for me!" He groaned dramatically and covered his face, not seeing Feli's surprised expression.
"Oh! That's what you're worried about? He said they were adopted. I mean, he said that when we were talking, I'm not just pulling this out of my ass here. Were you really too distracted by his face to pay attention at all?"
Lovino huffed and growled at Feli. "Oh, shut up." He pushed past him and began stomping to his room, dirty dishes be damned. Feli only laughed in response.
"We're having what Antonio made for dinner, so I'll let you know when it's done. Also, you could probably take the pan back tomorrow. Remember, Antonio wants to talk to you." He sang the last few words, grinning when he heard Lovino's indignant squawking from halfway up the stairs.
"Shut up!"
Lovino was in his room for the rest of the evening, finishing up his summer history homework. To his annoyance and mild discomfort, he kept getting distracted by thoughts of his new neighbor. Paragraphs about governmental structures kept blurring away into images of Antonio's laughing face, and he quickly found himself losing chunks of time to daydreaming.
"What an annoying bastard…" It was nighttime by the time he was done reading. Exhausted from struggling to concentrate for so long, he did little more than pull off his shirt and flop onto bed. Thoughts of Antonio edged on his mind before being immediately shoved down, and he willed himself to sleep.
He woke up to Feliciano's grinning face hovering over him, and almost had a heart attack.
"Lovi! I have the pot clean, you can take it over now!"
Lovino looked blearily at the offending tupperware, and then at his brother.
"Feli, what the fuck?" He stretched, joints popping. "I'm not even up yet."
Feliciano scoffed at that. "Lovino, it's almost twelve. Antonio's gonna start worrying, and what if he decides to come over here instead? At least put a shirt on."
Lovino cringed and reluctantly got up. "Fine fine. I'll take it over." He snatched the container from his hand and started getting ready.
A few minutes later and he was knocking at Antonio's door. He fidgeted a bit with his hair and shirt, and quickly put a smile on his face when the door opened. And then his mind went blank.
Antonio was soaking wet and in nothing but swim trunks, and that's all Lovino's brain could process, really. Antonio ran his hand through his hair to slick it back and smiled brightly at Lovino.
"Hello! Come on in." He moved aside, calling to Francis and Gilbert to wait for him outside. "We were swimming, sorry if the floor's wet."
Lovino nodded dumbly and walked in. "I, um." He cleared his throat and tried very hard to think about non-sexy US history things. "I brought your food thing back."
"Ah, thank you! Just let me put this away, and we can get to talking. Francis and Gilbert are still in the pool, I think. I can't wait for you to get to know them!" He rummaged around in the cupboard to put the container away, giving Lovino a full view of his backside.
Alexander Hamilton was the secretary of state. He implemented the bank system. Or some shit like that. Oh, I'm so fucked.
"So, I never got to ask, how much money do you want per hour? Is twenty dollars good?" He rested his hands on his hips and looked at Lovino.
"Oh, no, I couldn't. This is just for my resume. I don't need any money, I promise." He shook his head and stuttered on his words, caught off guard.
Antonio nodded uncertainly. "Ok, but if you ever need anything then just ask, alright?" He gave him an easy smile, then looked outside through a screen door. "I better get back to them, they'll cause trouble if they're not busy. You're welcome to join us if you want!" He ran outside laughing, taking his boys by surprise and throwing all three of them into the pool with a huge splash.
Lovino nodded and as he watched him go, then smiled as the three laughed together. Hopefully he wouldn't have to do a lot with them, Gilbert though already seemed to not like him. He decided to walk home after leaving his number on the counter so Antonio could text him… For business reasons only of course.
He made his way home not really wanting to get into that mess today. Watching Antonio in only swim tunes was inviting, but the mud, children, and running were not.
He could tell though as soon as he walked in the door that Feliciano had been waiting for him the entire time.
"Sooo? How did it go?" Feliciano seemed to barely contain his grin as Lovino stormed passed him up the stairs.
"Fuck you, it went fine!" Lovino huffed and ran to the safety of his room, locking his door as he went. US history couldn't save him now, not after seeing exactly what a hot, sweaty, extremely half-naked Antonio looked like. With a groan, he flopped back on his bed and tried to sleep.
When he woke up the next morning to his cell phone alarm, he noticed a text message from Antonio.
"Hey Lovino. I was thinking you could join Me Francis and Gilbert at the park. It's the last day of my vacation, so it'd be the ideal time to tell you all the babysitting details."
Lovino shot up immediately. "Sure, when?" He rubbed his eyes a bit and yawned, startled when his phone buzzed again.
"Meet at my house in half an hour? We're still getting ready"
"Gotcha."
Lovino stared at his phone for a moment, and then jumped out of bed. Calm your thirsty ass down, Lovino, the kids'll be there. A quick shower was all he really needed, before brushing his teeth. He threw on his clothes in record time, ran downstairs to shove some kind of breakfast into his mouth, and was out the door before Feliciano could even say hello.
Antonio was locking his front door, Gilbert and Francis already buckled in the car. Lovino walked up nervously and waved to them, watching as Gilbert shot up out of his seat and rolled down the window.
"Daaad! Lovino's here!"
"Ah, hey there!" Antonio quickly walked over to greet him. "Thanks for coming on such short notice, I just figured it would be the most convenient time."
Lovino tried his best to make eye contact, but it was a little difficult when Antonio was wearing skinny jeans, of all things. "Good morning," he mumbled, trying to meet Antonio's cheery smile. Antonio quickly opened the passenger door, motioning for Lovino to get in. "After you," he said cheekily.
Once Antonio had buckled himself in, he turned to Lovino. "I'm glad we got to meet so soon after I moved in. I was worried about finding a sitter in time before when my job started, so you're a real godsend." He smiled at Lovino quickly before pulling out of his driveway.
Lovino shrugged, desperately trying not to let on how flustered he felt. "It's no big deal, I was looking around to volunteer anyway." He looked out the window, too nervous to look at him.
The trip took all of five minutes, to Lovino's relief. Antonio had to help Gilbert and Francis out of the car, which gave Lovino some time to collect himself. Gilbert was having some trouble unbuckling in his excitement, while Francis calmly slid out of the car without a problem.
"C'mon dad, let's go!" Gilbert rushed out of the car after Francis, who already had a head start.
"Make sure you two don't go too far, or we'll have to go home," Antonio yelled after them. He chuckled at their twin looks of horror, and laughed when the two started sprinting back. "Honestly, they tire themselves out so quickly you won't have any trouble," he muttered to Lovino. Lovino chuckled nervously in response, a shiver running down his spine at the sound of Antonio's voice so low. Maybe I'll die, and then I won't have to worry about this anymore.
"Nooo, dad! We can't go, we just got here. Marcher wants to play!" Gilbert held his toy dinosaur up, shaking him for emphasis.
"Well then, wait until Lovino and I find a spot to sit and then you can go and play." Before Gilbert could retort, he ruffled his hair. "I just need to be able to keep an eye on you two, and then you can have fun, alright?"
Gilbert turned to Lovino with a frown and huffed "fine!" while Francis walked happily alongside his father.
Lovino resisted the urge to frown back at Gilbert. The boy already didn't like him, and although he couldn't tell what Francis' opinion of him was, he knew this wasn't going to be easy. But being close to their dad? That was definitely worth it.
Antonio quickly found an area of the park he liked, with a bench by the wall so that they had a wide view of the area. He motioned to Gilbert and Francis and bent down to their height.
"Alright, this is our stop. Be careful, and don't talk to strangers! If you want to go anywhere, you tell daddy first. Okay?" He looked at them sternly until they nodded, then ruffled their hair playfully. "Well, go on then! We'll be right here."
Lovino watched them run off to the playground, a slight smile on his face. They didn't really seem so bad, when they were having fun like that. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
"So, questions?"
Lovino managed to only flinch a little. "What times am I going to watch them?"
"Well, they go to daycare but usually they get out at one. I was wondering if you could pick them up?" He glanced distractedly at the boys before looking back at him. "There's a carpool so it wouldn't have to be every day, but it usually takes a while to get around the neighborhood."
Lovino shrugged. "I don't mind. I don't have much else to do." He wasn't lying for the most part; all he did after school was study and do homework.
"Great! Everything after that is pretty basic, I wrote down some notes but it's not a lot." He sat down on the bench with a sigh, stretching a little. "You'll be just fine."
Lovino allowed himself to smile at that, absolutely ignoring the heat on his face. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Antonio smiled, for a moment looking like he wanted to say something. But first he glanced back at the playground, and he instantly shot upright off the bench.
"Gil- Gilbert, get down from there! Mierda- Hold on, I'm coming-!"
Lovino blinked. Welp. He hoped what Antonio said was true, because from the looks of it, taking care of these two brats was going to be a handful.
((Yes! Its finally ready. A whole bunch of stuff happened in the last month including school drama, a trip to Italy, a hernia, and most recently surgery. I'm so glad to finally have this up because it was so fun writing it and I'm already halfway through the second chapter! Now for my other story Another Reason to Kill it will take some time because each month another newspaper comes out with more info on the mafia I'm basing Lovino's off of. I want everything to be accurate so it's a lot of journaling and mapping out, but i've started the 4th chapter. Along with this I've had a second chapter for If it kills me for some time now and hopefully that'll be posted soon. I love you guys!))