So this is week 1 of the writing prompts. There will be a new story each week for these prompts if I update properly.

I'm sorry for any mistakes about pirates and pirate-like things, and headbutts are included, though I don't think I put headaches in there. I tried to make it touching but then I failed. Please excuse any spelling, grammatical error, I haven't revised it yet.

xxx

If Romano knew any better he would've gotten onto the ship earlier so that he could find a secure place to hide. But now it was too late and he was left to dash from one area to another, hoping he was quick enough to avoid the attention of the crew. Being fairly small in size, he had no problem fitting into small places, but it was still a challenge to find one that hid him well.

Then again, he wouldn't be in this situation if the bastard Spain had willingly let him onto the ship instead of telling him he was too young and naive to handle the life of a pirate. To be clear he didn't want to become a pirate, he wanted to be brought along so that he could protect the idiot. Romano had seen the way Spain would return each time from his trip out at sea with bandaged wounds, cuts, bruises, and deep scars that gave him chills. The older country had looked so fragile with all those marks and Romano couldn't have that.

It's not because he cared though! He just…just didn't want Spain to be weakened like that because then he couldn't serve Romano when he became a grown country! So he had to keep an eye on his future henchman. Or else, or else he might lose him…

So there he was, on a ship he barely knew his way around of, and constantly paranoid that someone might see a part of him peeking out from his hiding place. And hungry, did he mentioned he was hungry? It must've been hours since he's eaten anything since they've left the port and he was clearly not going to be able to keep this up if he didn't eat.

It was near evening now and the crew were slowly heading off for dinner, leaving him more room to run around and hopefully find something to eat. But as far as he knew, the galley (kitchen) was the only place with food and well, it wasn't very empty right now. His stomach grumbled at him, demanding to be fed and if not, threatened to grumble louder and attract attention to its owner. Romano shushed his stomach, peeking out from his hiding place to check if anyone was around. To his luck, the majority of the crew had left the deck.

Romano ran to where the cabins were, ducking whenever he saw someone passed by and tried to find the one he knew that belonged to the Spaniard. To his dismay the room was locked and though he had tried to use all his strength to pull the door open, it stayed stubbornly shut.

The frustration of the day and the hunger welled up in Romano's little body to the point where he wanted to cry. Gripping at the hem of his dress while his body shook from trying to hold the tears back, he cursed softly under his breath.

It was all stupid Spain's fault! If he had just let Romano onto the ship, he wouldn't have this problem in the first place. He was serious when he had said he was capable of keeping the other safe, did Spain think that he was not strong enough?

Sniffles became sobs and Romano found himself stuck where he was, wiping at his tears and snot with the apron on his dress. In the mess hall, where all the crew members and captain were enjoying their meal and sharing stories, a little cry could heard. Everyone halted their conversations to listen intently, ready to defend if it was an intruder but it was so soft and high pitched it couldn't belong to an invader.

To Spain on the other hand, the cry was familiar, far too familiar until something clicked in his mind and the realization dawned upon him. It could only belong to one person and while he was sure he had made sure that certain someone wasn't on the ship, he quickly stood from his chair and went to locate the owner, ordering the crew to stay behind. Following the cry to where it was loudest he spotted a child with auburn hair on the floor curled into a ball in front of his cabin door, "Romano? Romano what are you doing here?"

The little ball uncurled slowly and a face peeked from behind the other's knees, wide, watery Amber eyes stared at him before he was hit with a powerful impact to the stomach. Spain fell onto the floor with an umf! and rubbed at his throbbing head, reminding himself not to curse in Romano's presence.

"Spain, you stupid idiot, why didn't you let me on the first place? Why did you make me do this? Bastard! Idiot!" Romano shouted at the Spaniard while he continued to cry and bang at the other nation's chest.

The man propped himself up with the weight of the child on his stomach and gently grabbed ahold of the little hands. Romano wanted to pull his hands free but the Spaniard wouldn't let him. Instead he set them down and released them before cupping his henchmen's face and tried to calm him down before he could say anything.

Once he was calm with a slight hiccup, Spain wiped at the boy's face, clearing away all the runny snot and tears.

He began softly, "Why are you here, Romano?"

"B-because you wouldn't let me! I keep telling you I could but you -hic- wouldn't believe me so I snuck on and I -hic- got tired and hungry because of you!"

Confused at first, Spain didn't understand what Romano was talking about until he remembered an earlier conversation that they had together and he smiled, though he should be scolding the other instead, "Oh Niño, is that why? I know you want to protect Boss but I can't let you get hurt like that. I want you to be safe, Romano, bringing you with me won't assure that."

"But, but if I don't you get -hic- hurt too! You can't hide it from me, I can see how much you get hurt when you go back to your -hic- ship. A-and each time you come back, they just get worse, what if, what if you never come back one d-hic-ay? What if that scary eyebrows get you, -hic- if I'm there I can distract him so you can get away!"

Spain shook his head and rubbed at the other's soft cheeks with his thumb, not because he was dismissing Romano's courage, "don't worry, Romano, I promise you I will always return from my trips. Boss is strong remember?"

"Do you promise?"

"I promise, here," Spain removed his hands from the Southern Italian boy's cheeks and undid the ribbon that held his long hair in a ponytail and fasten it into a bow underneath Romano's dress collar, "there, hold on to this for me. Every time I come back, I'll buy you a new pin for it, and you can count the amount of times I've returned safely whenever you're worried."

Romano looked down at the red ribbon, the smooth silk felt cool under his fingers. He looked back up at the Spaniard and the nation nodded with reassurance with an eye crinkling smile on his face.

The small nation murmured under his breath, "okay."

The moment would've last longer if Romano's stomach didn't interrupt them with its loud grumble, making him blush a little.

"Are you hungry Roma?" Spain asked as he picked the child up and off of him before taking one of the other's hands in his.

Romano nodded, putting his free hand on his stomach, quieting it mentally.

"Ah that's great! You can join us for dinner, I don't think the crew wouldn't mind you there!" Actually knew they wouldn't mind because they wouldn't dare protest his, the captain, decisions.

As they walked back to the mess hall, Spain continued, "You can sleep with me in my cabin for the night and in the morning we'll head back to home to drop you off."

"But I want to stay here!"

"Romano…"

End.