~Inspired by comic strip (belonging to KanjiRagana) on Pinterest ~
Category: Humor, Friendship, not entirely serious, spontaneous bursts of Fluff.
Day 1 _ Venezia
She had never won anything in her life.
Lies, once she had arrived third in a school race during the Sport Festival and twice first in Math Olympics. Both times however had been because of what she had done, no pure luck.
So it came as an absolute surprise when an e-mail reply appeared on her post box. It came a contest she wad took part on a whim and just because she had noticed a strange curl on the design of the last "A" in "Italia". The banner had been "Visita Italia" [Visit Italy] and it offered a week all paid in Italy.
Of course it had been tempting. And of course seeing a prize like that, she hadn't been deluded that she could have been chosen among the hordes of participants.
But she had been chosen.
Was it because of the Hetalian answers she had given? Knowing her luck back then, she had preferred having fun instead and had answered the questions like she had been speaking of Italy Veneziano and Romano, specifying who would be who or do what.
So at first she had thought about a ruse, however seeing that the e-mail had also the digital signature of the Italian Government associated (and it was genuine, she had checked), she finally realized that she had won.
So, back to the matter: after her positive reply, the plan for the week had been sent... however it indicated only the starting and ending destination and the dates of them. When she inquired further about the between, the response was that the itinerary was confidential and too sensitive to be sent via post, either digital or paper one.
Okay... so a surprise in short. She could deal with that.
The only thing she had to pay after all was the travel to and back the starting point, but she didn't mind since nowadays travelling by train had become cheaper and faster. Beside the city in question was Venice, so... not bad at all.
Her guide was waiting her in St. Lucia Station with a signboard of the contest, but he gave off a government aura that spoke of secret agency. But why would an AISI (Information and Internal Security Agency) agent be assigned to her for just a contest? Was it for the confidential itinerary? Perhaps.
So she let him accompany her with a government boat to her destination: a Villa (manor) on Murano Island.
She tried to chatter with the "AISI agent" a bit, but the reserved man just told her that he himself didn't really know the place, but had heard of it as a national hidden treasure. That had picked her interest, so she decided to wait and just enjoy the canals sightseeing till their arrival.
Half an hour later she though the "national hidden treasure" title was well deserved: the villa was magnificent. There was so much Renaissance around that she thought she had been time displaced instead of just being accompanied to a place in Venice.
However... there was a checkpoint at the gate where the "secret agent" left her. There was a security guard who at first checked her luggage with an X-Ray machine, then she passed through a metal detector, finally being deemed okay.
Why so much security? Was it a museum?
Though the questions were abruptly silenced when the same absolutely stern and serious guard informed her that soon she would be "mochi-fied" as usual routine for visitors.
"Mochi-cosa? [Mochi-what?]" she then asked bewildered.
"Mochi-fied. You'll be turned into a living pillow-mochi. No human can really enter otherwise." he explained professionally.
"How's even possible?" she gestured wildly "Is it even safe?"
"I'm not a scientist, but I've done it several times, it's totally safe."
"Uh. How do I know you aren't going to experiment on me?" she crossed her arms.
"Boss won't allow it and even if usually he can be seen as weak, sometimes he can be terrifying. And we're not talking about his elder fratello." there was a slight shudder that seemed enough to convince her.
Why not after all? She had just graduated so she had nothing better to do for a long time anyway.
After a passage into a disorienting chamber, she suddenly found herself staring at everything around her: all had become so huge!
Stern guard retrieved her to let her look at herself in a mirror: she was a honest to book mochi. As big as a citron. With equal signs as eyes... Ah no, wait, she had just been squinting... No, false alarm, opening them fully hadn't changed much. Oh, there was a stray curl on the left side of her "head".
"Ve~, it's really familiar..." she hummed, trying a cat expression that came to her in an instant. "I won't be eaten, right?" she glanced at her stern carrier who denied.
He brought her to the villa door where a nervous couple of men in their 20s or less was waiting.
"Ecco boss, consegna speciale. [Here boss, special delivery.]" stern guard presented her to the younger looking one, a brunet man of average height (for her standards at least), slim body covered by a casual white shirt and blue pants. He was... squinting? so she couldn't really tell the color of his eyes. On the contrary the other man (probably the boss's brother judging from the look) had darker hair and olive eyes and was wearing a brown t-shirt and camo-pants. He gave off a tsundere air...
The mochi corrugated an eye ridge as delicate hands accepted her and the man beamed at her, tilting his head slightly to his left, where a gravity defying curl was bo-ing.
...The other male had the same thing on his right side...
"Ve~ Ciao! So you're the one who found and answered right to the hidden test! Congratulazioni! [Congratulations!]" he cheered, making her stare in disbelief.
"I-Italia Veneziano and Romano..." she breathed making the former nod and the latter grunt in assent.
It was no wonder (and she was justified) that she fainted right on the spot for being too overwhelmed by meeting her homeland personifications.
She woke up not much later on a pillow on a couch while two frantic brothers were discussing about what to do to help her.
She stared a bit at their familiar bickering, deciding to intervene after a while because she didn't want them to exhaust themselves. Her inner turmoil could wait.
"Buongiorno... [Good morning...]" she greeted, making them halt. "Scusate l'inconveniente... [I am sorry for the inconvenience... (formal)]
"Ve~ there's no need to be this formal! Besides it's not your fault, I guess nobody really told you anything about this or us!" Veneziano crouched in front of her who shook, well, her whole body in deny.
"Chigi, fucking security rules..." Romano grumbled, standing behind his brother.
"Not at all, I understand now the need of this much security! They don't want you to be in danger!" she hurriedly exclaimed, then blushed at her boldness. Had she always been this patriotic?
Oblivious to her embarrassment the younger personification cooed at her declaration while the older looked slightly miffed at the idea of being protected, but that was part of his tsundere trait.
"So... What's the plan?" she asked then shyly.
"We'll make a tour of the house and the garden, but if you're already hungry we can cook pasta!" Veneziano proposed, making both listeners perk up with a hopeful glint.
She noticed that, so gleefully called a "Pastaaaaaa~!" that made her homeland lit up and announce he would depart for the kitchen for his quest. Leaving her alone with Romano.
The wait would have been awkward if, after a few suspicious glares direct to the kitchen direction, the South representation hadn't let his "tsun" personality crumble a bit and finally kneel before her, mumbling a "Ciao." that was more insecure than hostile.
So she countered with the brightest "Ciao!" she could muster, taking aback the brunet who practically melted, but only because no other nation was watching and so could make fun of him.
Okay, this child deserves more love.
It wasn't exactly clear how it happened (and no one would ever utter a word about it), but half an hour later when Veneziano came back to call for lunch, he found his bro and mochi cuddled comfortably together for a nap on the couch.
An hour later, when the ruffled duo came to the dining room sleepily, the younger fratello kept silent and pretended to have just finished making the pasta, though once Romano had left to the bathroom, he had whispered to her that the photo would be slipped in her luggage before her departure.
After lunch they explored the mansion, Veneziano talking without brakes while his fratello occasionally commented, but without much of the usual sneer.
Is that mochi this good at mellowing people? the North-half had wondered at a certain point as the South one had claimed the right to carry their guest who now was perched on the top of his head, sometimes giggling and sometimes gasping in wonder. I could test it on Germany...
However what generated the most impressed response was the library section which was so huge that the Beast's one cowered in fear in comparison.
The mochi chocked on air and stilled, curl straightened in a sort of exclamation point: was this really a vacation or a dream come true?
"Oy, tutto bene? [Are you alright?]" Romano poked her, tone slightly worried, and that made her remember to breath.
"How many?" she asked instead, still star struck.
"Ve~, we never really counted, but the collection starts from a little before the Middle Age. We gathered all the books published by Italians then we joined the separate libraries when Garibaldi made us live together again." Veneziano hummed pensive.
"Barbuto bastardo... [Bearded bastard...]" the darker brunet certainly didn't pout at the reminder.
"Oy! Be nice, Italy's better how it is now." she hopped, trying to imitate a headslap. "The both of you together make us stronger!"
"But we're always bickering!" Romano protested.
"Appunto. [Indeed.] This condition makes you a more balanced nation in terms of personality. I mean, look at Russia! One moment he's all zen then the following one he's cursing someone! Being all alone can do things to people, you know. Nations aren't that different." she harangued sagely.
The next thing she knew was that the older fratello had picked her from his head and was holding her to look at her in wonder as much as the younger one was doing with his golden-brown eyes.
"Russia's creepy just because he's been isolated?" Veneziano asked, shaking her from her stupor.
"Ve~, it's very likely. That and being descendant from Asian-Caucasian population. They have different customs and traditions." she shifted, embarrassed for the attention.
Thankfully the left-curl-nation closed again his eyes, hiding that secret weapon, as he elaborated the information. "We could hang around a bit next World Conference to see if he gets less lonely and so less loopy..." he mused aloud.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! It's too dangerous! He's worse than England when we were enemies!" Romano turned frantic.
"Ahh, sorry sorry I wasn't thinking straight!" the younger personification shouted terrified, making the mochi sigh in fond exasperation and acceptance. Next time maybe...
They ended travelling along the shelves to observe the book titles and authors, which (of course) were scattered without a logic linking them if not for buying them and placing them randomly. And so the "Orlando Furioso" ["The Frenzy of Roland"/"Raging Roland"] sat beside "Tre metri sopra il cielo" ["Three meters above Heaven"], an occurrence which evoked her inner demon, making both siblings held her back as she demanded to "kill with fire!" the latter.
Beside that little incident, the evening passed cheerfully, leading to the other grand event: dinner.
This time it was Romano who took over the kitchen while the mochi-bookworm was seated on Veneziano's lap as they read an ancient manuscript. It was one of Galileo's works which, of course, was in Latin, but that didn't seem an issue as she declared that the dead-language she had studied in high school finally was useful for something.
Soon an otherworldly aroma filled the room and the duo started drooling way before the South personification called for a pizza.
The look, the parfume, the texture and taste were so... unable to be put in words that she just bowed before her plate with moved anime-tears streaming from her eyes.
"Grazie Romano!" the unspoken praise made a tomato out of the older Italy who grumbled and tried to hide it, succeeding only in making the other two occupants chuckle.
Washing after dinner was a brief matter, the mochi was reduced basically into a fluffy-pillow-mochi-like to begin with, so the two men took turns to never let her feel abandoned.
Afterward a separate bedroom was offered if she felt awkward, but she shrugged it off (she was a mochi now, she didn't really care) so the three of them ended sharing the king sized bed, with her cuddled on a pillow between the brothers dressed in shorts and camisoles.
If this was just the first day, the vacation was going to be great.
A/N. Happy birthday Italy! (/^¬^)/
As He-/Italian, I think it was the right thing to do and besides a plot bunny fiercely attacked me demanding to write this story. Dunno if it was the Flying Mint one though...
Anyway, if you are following my other stories you surely noticed something different: I wanted to try a new typing style and I admit it's more comfortable to write on a keyboard... Dunno if I'll change it in every other story though. Uhm, it's a real dilemma. u_ù
This story will have 7-8 chapters (I still haven't decided if I'll add an epilogue), one per each day of the vacation, and at least one of them will include spoilers for HetaOni, I will warn you beforehand tough.
My interpretation of Russia is entirely based on APH, he really seems so lonely... And Romano really deserves more open shown love (Veneziano understands the mochi intention, so he's not jealous apart from the fact he can't really do the same without being rejected).
Sorry if I offended Moccia's fans, but really? I was forced to read that book *shudder* in middle school for Italian class and I still can't believe what my eyes saw. But since it's written by an Italian author, it has to be somewhere in Italy's library, right?
So? What do you think? Please leave comments, I enjoy them very much!
Grazie per la lettura e vi scriverò presto! [Thanks for reading and type ya soon!]