Disclaimer: This is a Blue Exorcist AU with Hetalia characters. Some borrowings from Supernatural.

Warnings: This chapter contains religion (Christianity), mentions of food, implied ritual abuse, some swearing, and our fave pair of homos

Pairing: Spamano

Il Segnato

"Cinque, sei... Qui, gli vostri dinari. Grazie."

A common exchange, to anyone who happened to glance by. A pretty average-looking Italian, buying Italian bread, in Italian, in an Italian bakery, in Italy. The Italian - a teenager, actually - took his purchase, the door ringing a bell as he left. He pulled out his iPod, and messed around with the wires and adjusting the bag of wonderful aromas before getting the headphones snug over his ears.

It was a nice day out, and he took his time, walking along the ancient street, Gregorian chants reverberating in his ears. Maybe he'd make tiramisu later. He only swore off meat for Lent, not alcohol.

A figure dashed in front of him, and he stumbled back with a curse, barely holding onto the bag. "Cazzo-!"

"Lovi! I knew I'd find you out here!"

Lovino's headphones slid down to his neck, and his heart restarted as he recognized the voice and that absolutely beaming smile. "Cosa stai pensando, Toni?! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Heh, sorry about that." Antonio backed up a step to give him breathing space, still smiling wide. "But it's the Easter holidays! School's off for the whole week, and I can spend all that time with you."

Lovino scowled. "Yeah, and I'm going to be busy all week. I live in a church, remember? I have to help out." He started walking again, and to his chagrin, Antonio kept up right at his side.

Antonio's smile did not waver. "Aw, c'mon, Lovi. You're always busy with that cram school and extra classes. Take a break from it all, go on a date with me, have fun at a festival, go see a movie..."

Lovino blinked. "...what was that middle one?"

"Have fun at a festival?"

"No, not that one, the other- Che, forget it." Lovino paused the chants still going on at the edge of his hearing. "Why don't you come to Mass for once? We're having an Easter egg hunt for the kids, you can steal some chocolate."

That produced some hesitancy from his friend. Lovino glanced at him, and found him with a frown, looking away. He sighed. "Look, I know you don't like it. But you know the Church is my life. I'm going to be working with churches and holy-everything after I pass my exams."

Still Antonio hesitated, and they crossed a street in silence. "You can stay by my side the entire time," he tried bargaining, blushing about them being so close together, in a holy place. God, he was such a virgin. "There's a secret room in the basement full of cool junk. I'll sneak you down there during the egg hunt if you come."

At the mention of the secret room, Antonio perked up. Lovino hid his grin behind the bag of bread. Hook, line, and sinker. "Really?"

"But only if you come."

More hesitance. Lovino felt guilt creeping in at what he was asking for Antonio, but hurriedly shoved it away. He let out a sigh of relief as the answer came.

"Then I'll come."

Children of the small town ran around in the grass, baskets swinging from their arms, some of them overflowing, others with only a handful of plastic eggs. Screeches and laughter bounded across the Church yard, little kids slipping under yellow tape that delineated age groups, eager to get a taste of what the big kids hunted.

Lovino leaned back on the bench, watching with a chuckle as the kids enjoyed themselves. Parents watched from the sidelines, some of them accompanying kids with nervous issues. His brother, Feliciano, tended and comforted a little girl who'd tripped, skinning her knees and ruining her dress in the mud in the process. He was always better with people than Lovino.

Speaking of scared little kids, Antonio was nowhere to be found. He hadn't been there for the Saturday vigil. Lovino had been sure he'd find the Service of Light beautiful. Now it was Sunday, and at the egg hunt. He sighed and closed his eyes. Shouldn't have gotten his hopes up.

Someone sat beside him. He turned to face them and tell them to fuck off (unless it turned out to be a kid), but the words died on his lips.

Antonio shifted beside him, fiddling with an empty green egg, trying to find something to do with his hands. "Sorry I'm late." He still smiled, despite how skittish the atmosphere made him. "Hope you don't mind."

Lovino scowled, but couldn't stop a grin from breaking through. "Of course I mind, moron. You missed Communion."

He sheepishly offered the egg, as if that made up for it. "I found an egg? It matches your eyes."

"Your eyes are the same color as mine, dumbass. And an egg is not Communion." He put a hand over his eyes, almost groaning at his friend's stupidity. "...you ate the chocolate, didn't you?"

"Yeah, why? Was it bad chocolate? It didn't have anything I'm allergic to, did it?"

"It means you can't fucking take Communion. You can't eat in the hour before."

"Oh."

Lovino wanted to slap him. Wasn't this common knowledge?

"...but I came, so that counts for something, right?"

"You're on church grounds, but not inside the church," Lovino pointed out. His eyes flicked to Antonio's sweater and jeans with a scowl of disgust. "You're not dressed for it, either. Come on."

Lovino stood up, and Antonio scurried to catch up, egg dropping in the grass. "Does this mean I have to go home?" He instantly felt terrible at the hint of hope in those words.

"Nah, I'll lend you some clothes. We're going in through the back door," Lovino said, hands in the pockets of his long black coat. "My bedroom's upstairs." He opened the wooden door, lavish inlays of iron decorating it, and paused, seeing Antonio hesitate again. "It's not like it's going to burn you."

Lovino closed the door after Antonio entered, and led him around the homely kitchen to the stairs. "Well..." He bit his lip, seeing Antonio stop again, this time to stare at the stairs leading down. He sighed and grumbled, "I said I'd show you the secret room, I know, I know."

He could hear the skip behind him as they went down the steps, and smiled. Showing him a few Exorcist supplies and relics was worth it to help Antonio get over his fear of all things Catholic. A few sleepy Coal Tars stirred from their cozy niches. Lovino brushed the possessed dust puffs away as they drifted over to investigate.

Author's Notes

It is with regret that I bring this story into being. This story has eerie similarities to my old WoW story, Cherish. Which I never want to be reminded of again. Anyway, this was inspired by a picture on Instagram showing Lovi and Toni in the clothes of Blue Exorcist characters. As you know, Lovi and Feli can often be seen as twins, and they have only an old man to call family, parents mysteriously missing, and an obvious tie to the Church, the Vatican. Now throw in Antonio, and let's see what happens.

I didn't want to copy much, so this isn't going exactly by the BE anime. Many changes have been made, mostly so I don't have to keep rewatching and rereading stuff, a mistake I made with other crossovers.

I haven't edited this chapter much bc I'm lazy. Might edit it in a few days.