Romano was not particularly fond of dogs.
That wasn't to say that he disliked dogs. He just wasn't as fanatic about them as some other people could be. People like Germany, and, unfortunately for him at times, Spain.
It was less a matter of Spain obsessing over the creatures like Germany did and more a matter that he just got along with them. To the point that they couldn't walk through the park without several dogs bounding up to them, as if they sensed that Spain was such a dog person. Romano hadn't realized it was possible to be jealous of an animal until he watched Spain kneel down in the park surrounded by hounds, hands kept busy petting them and voice cooing over each of them.
But Romano was an adult. He knew that it was stupid to be jealous. That didn't keep it from happening anyways, on occasion.
This was one of the main reasons he had been adamant that they didn't get a pet of their own, although he'd never admit it. That, along with the fact that it would doubtless ruin their furniture and get hair everywhere and be too much responsibility.
So when he returned home one day and opened the door to see a dog sitting on his goddamn couch he was obviously less than pleased.
"Spagna!" The call resounded through the house, and within moments Spain had appeared from another room.
"Hola, Romano!" He said happily, either ignoring or oblivious to the clear irritation in Romano's voice and expression. "You're home!"
"Yes." He said stiffly, glaring at Spain before returning his leer to the dog. "Why is that mutt on my couch?" The dog seemed to realize that the conversation had switched to the subject of it, and it looked up, tilting it's head and regarding Romano coolly.
"Oh." Spain glanced back at the animal, shrugging helplessly. "Germany asked if we could watch his dogs for the weekend! I thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal, so I said of course! Ah, I didn't notice that they were on the furniture, but they're nice dogs, they shouldn't do anything."
Maybe they wouldn't purposely destroy the house, but that didn't mean the thing wasn't getting hair all over their couch. And watching Germany's dogs? Multiple? As if he'd want to do anything for that muscled potato, anyways. He threw his hands up as he hurried over to the couch, trying to shoo the dog off. However, it refused to heed any of his orders to move, and cursing obviously didn't work either. When he tried to push the dog off, he found that it was much heavier than it looked, and he refused to tire himself out fighting a dog over the couch. He crossed his arms, frowning at it.
"Damn dog." He muttered, whirling to stalk away to the kitchen. Spain was standing by the sink, an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry, amor. I didn't realize it would be such a problem..." He started, but Romano cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Whatever. It's too late now." He grumbled, moving past the Spaniard to grab a glass for wine. He definitely needed some right now.
"It's only for the weekend though!" Spain offered. "Then they're going back."
Romano nodded. There was that at least. He made a noncommittal sound of resignation as he poured himself some wine. He could at least hope the weekend would go by quickly.
Unfortunately, not even that evening went quickly. There were only three dogs, apparently, but Romano could have sworn that every time he turned around there was a dog sitting there. On the couch, under the dining room table, lying in the hall. Hell, one had even gotten into the bathroom while he was in there!
Spain on the other hand, had been coddling the dogs. Playing with them and constantly petting them. Sneaking them pieces of the dinner Romano had made, which he did not appreciate at all. At least Spain had been smart enough to realize that Romano would have nothing to do with taking the dogs to the bathroom. Which had left Romano alone in the house every few hours when he went to take them on a walk.
He wouldn't dream of saying anything, but he felt a bit depraved of Spain's company, seeing as how he was devoting all his time to those mutts. So he was actually quite eager to go to bed, and hopefully lock the dogs out of the room.
Any hope of having Spain to himself, however, was immediately dashed when he finally stepped into the bedroom. Spain had gone to bed before him, and was sprawled snoring over the entire bed as usual. What bothered him was the dog that had somehow managed to sneak in before him, and had curled up right next to Spain- where Romano usually was at night.
He stood staring at the dog for a moment before marching over, a furious scowl plastered onto his face.
"Get off." He hissed, attempting to pull the dog off by the collar. It only looked at him lazily, pulling back a little. As bad as Romano wanted this dog off his bed, he didn't want to choke it to death trying to pull it off. He reached for it's leg, hoping to be more successful there, but was immediately given a small snarl of warning. He recoiled, face reddening. "Get off the damn bed!" He growled lowly, trying not to wake up Spain. He pulled on the collar again, and again met no success. "Scendere! Baja! Whatever get off is in German!" The dog continued to stare calmly back at him. Romano was less calm, and gritted his teeth, his hands clenching into fists. "Fine! Stay on the fucking bed! Fuckin' dog..."
He glanced back at Spain, but still didn't want to resort to waking him up. It was bad enough that Romano couldn't get the dog off. He didn't need Spain's help, or even worse, for him to let the dog stay.
He also refused to move around the dog to go to sleep, though. He felt his heart drop a little when he realized that he would have to go somewhere else if he wanted to avoid that. He ducked into the closet to grab an extra blanket and pillow before stepping out of the bedroom and back into the living room. He gave the couch a small kick as he approached it, as if it was at fault for him current predicament. Curling into a ball under the blanket on the cushions, he let out a small huff.
Yeah, right now, he was definitely jealous of that damned mutt.
He closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep, but it was understandably difficult. The bed was definitely more comfortable than the small couch. So when sleep still hadn't found him twenty minutes later, he was about ready to go to the kitchen and drink until he fell asleep that way.
Before he could put his plan in action, however, there was a small creak from the bedroom. He turned on the couch to look, praying that the dog had gotten off the bed and was off to ruin something else of his, but that was not the case. Instead, Spain's silhouette was outlined in the doorway. He was rubbing his eyes, and Romano heard a small yawn from across the room. Peering into the room, Spain gave a small grumble before calling quietly, "Romano? Why didn't you come to bed? Why are you on the couch?"
Romano had half a mind to throw his pillow at the idiot. "That dumb dog was in my spot! There is no way in hell that I am sharing my bed with some dumb mutt!"
Spain crossed the room, looking slightly surprised. "Oh. Roma, you could have just gotten the dog off. Or I could have helped..."
Romano turned to face the couch cushions, his back to Spain. "I wasn't going to wake you up." He grumbled hesitantly after a moment. "And I wasn't going to choke the damn thing to death trying to drag it off. I swear, the thing must only speak German or something."
Spain was quiet for a moment, and Romano wondered if Spain had actually gone back into the bedroom without him. But then he heard a small shuffle behind him, and suddenly he had been pushed gently over on the couch, and Spain was lying next to him. He frowned tightly as he felt arms go around his waist, and Spain's voice was quiet in his ear. "Then I'll stay here with you tonight, ok?"
Romano stiffened, but didn't push him away. Instead, he just rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go get the dog off the bed, huh?" He retorted. "Or just go sleep you with your dumb mutt, instead." Despite his best efforts, there was a twinge of bitterness in the last statement, and Spain froze behind him.
Why did he always notice these small things when it counted?
"Romano... are you jealous?" He asked slowly, and Romano could practically hear the grin through his words. He scoffed.
"Of course not. Why the hell would I be jealous of a stupid animal?"
"You are! Romano, there's no reason to be..."
Romano was tempted to point out all the time Spain had spent with the dogs today instead of with him, but bit his tongue. That would only prove Spain's point. Instead he stayed quiet, a small unintelligible grumble escaping him. Luckily Spain seemed willing to drop it as well, his breathing evening out behind Romano as he seemed to fall asleep. Romano was almost asleep as well, when a small jingle sounded at the foot of the couch.
A jingle that sounded suspiciously like the tags on a collar.
He shifted as little as he could to still be able to see what had made the sound. Just has he'd suspected, one of the dogs were by the other end of the couch, and his eyes widened slightly as it put a paw up on the cushions, as if to jump up.
"Don't you dare." He hissed, narrowing his eyes at it.
It just looked back at him, Spain, back to him, and clambered onto the couch. Before Romano could move to shove it off again, it had pawed it's way between him and Spain. He blinked, taking a moment to consider the fact that now, instead of Spain holding him, there was a wall of fur between them.
"God damn it!" He exploded, sitting up. There was a small noise from Spain before he opened his eyes and saw the dog as well, brows coming together and eyes focusing blearily on the intruder.
Now, without having to worry about bothering Spain, Romano wasted no time in trying to push the dog off again. Bracing himself on the back of the couch, he shoved the dog solidly away, and this seemed to be enough to send it clambering back over Spain and onto the ground. Spain let out a small yelp as a paw landed in his crotch, letting out a breath as he turned to watch the dog slink off again. He turned back to Romano with a sorry look. "What..."
Romano didn't let him finish, pulling him back solidly onto the cushion so that they were pressed together on the couch. His face buried in Spain's chest, he ignored his burning cheeks as he felt Spain's arms return to his waist. There was no fucking way that a dog was going to mess with them again, even if he had to embarrass himself a little to prevent it.
"You sleep with me, not the fucking dogs, alright?" He muttered against Spain's nightshirt.
There was a low chuckle, and he felt Spain's lips press to the top of his head. "You were jealous."
"Shut up!"
"It's cute~"
"I said shut up!"
There was a pause. "Buenas noches, amor."
"… Buonanotte, Toni."
And they both drifted to sleep, this time uninterrupted, by dog or otherwise.
A/N: Inspired by an au given to me by a friend. The dogs like Spain! But unfortunately he doesn't like to share.
The dogs probably took over the bed that night. Romano probably made it abundantly clear that he was not to be neglected similarly the next. The dogs lived, Romano lived, it was all good.
Thank you for reading! Please review!
