Hey luvvies! Go-chan and Haya back once more! W00t! What a shocker, Haya should totally not be working on this right now xD I should be working on my 19 page outline for APWH and then start studying for the test tomorrow… but this is more fun x3 I really want to get started on TaTaoTL too… *sneaky ninja eyes* Shhh I'm working! Anywhos, I have a question for you guys before you skip over this and start reading… Who can we pair Italy up with? DX We're desperate here! Poor Feli has no one to love him so we're looking for opinions from you guys. A total crack pairing? An OC? HALP!


Chapter Two: Nutty the Lot of Them

Light squeaks and movement next to him jarred Romano from his deep slumber. He could still hear rain hitting the roof, but the weather was completely forgotten as his brother arms, which had wrapped around his neck somehow in their sleep, tightened their hold as he squeaked again, obviously dreaming about something disturbing. He was probably just dreaming he ran out of pasta…

Romano sighed as amber eyes cracked open. Sure enough, Italy's face was scrunched up in displeasure as he muttered in his sleep and tried to nuzzle into his brother. Not particularly wanting to be Italy's teddy bear, Romano untangled himself from the slumbering Italian and rolled over to face the other side of the bed. A green eyed smiling idiot was waiting for him.

With a yelp, Romano sat up and backed away, over the sleeping Italy, to press up against the wall. "Wh-what the hell are you doing?"

A head of curly brown hair tilted to the side while still cradled in tan palms riding clothed knees. Antonio was now situated in a pair of black pants and his well known white shirt with brown ties loose and undone at the bottom of his collar. On top of getting dressed he had finished cleaning his kitchen while the two slept, but it took a fair while due to his stopping every few moments to check on them. With that done he had pulled up a chair beside his bed, a mere foot from the sleeping Romano, to watch them with his cheery smile.

"Buenos días, dormilón~" Antonio greeted, straightening up in his seat. He laughed. "That's not very nice." What he was referring to was the scrambled over Italy who was slowly waking up… Slowly.

"Veeeeeee, sono ancora stanco…" Was said in a whine, Italian curling in on himself more.

"Well maybe you shouldn't be a creep and stare at people when they're sleeping!" Romano said with a deep scowl. Stupid Spain! He looked to Italy with a sigh crawled next to him and pat his head. "Sorry Feli, didn't mean to wake you. Blame that idiot. Just go back to sleep."

Italy instantly took him up on his offer, moving to wrap his arms around his brother's waist and nuzzle into the outside of his hip and rest his head in his lap.

"Heeee," Spain breathed in a breathy giggle, face turning a faint pink at how cute it all looked, "tan adorable~"

"Ah hey, I didn't mean..." Romano sighed and rolled his eyes, gently running his fingers through his brother's hair with a light blush on his cheeks. Stupid Italy too... He looked over to Spain with a pouty scowl and hissed, "Get that stupid look off your face."

Still the contented smile remained on the Spaniards face. "Qué? What stupid look? I'm just watching you~"

"Yeah you look stupid when you're doing that!"

"Well then stop being so cute~" As if it were even possible.

"Yeah, I'll gladly do so if that means you'll fix your mental defect." Romano rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance, but his blush unmistakably darkened a shade.

"But I wouldn't know what tools to use in the first place!" Spain exclaimed, totally missing the point of his statement. Not the he knew, or cared. Now all he wanted and in turn did was crawl onto the bed and wrap his arms around the shoulders of a blushing brunet then tug his body towards him. A nose turned to nuzzle into the head of auburn hair. "Estoy muy felíz de que esteis a salvo, Romanito."

Romano scowled and locked his eyes on Italy as he felt his face grow hotter. "Oh course I'm safe idiot. It wasn't that big of a deal..."

He received a tightening of the arms around him.

"Te amo. It's that big of a deal when someone tries to hurt mi Romanito." Spain's smile faltered and he moved to set his face into Lovino's shoulder. "Te amo, so I don't want you to die," he repeated Italy's words.

It didn't matter how often Spain proclaimed his love for him or that he said the same thing to everyone and about everything; Romano's heart never failed to skip a beat and then send a wave of hot blood coursing through his veins at the sound of those simple words out of Spain's mouth. He never allowed himself to believe that this 'love' Spain was always so willing to blurt out was exclusive to him, for Romano knew he would not be able to deal with the disappointment that would come if his beliefs were proved wrong.

And yet there was always that shard of hope that deluded his mind into thinking that estranged thought that maybe Spain truly love loved him, which made his heart skip that beat and his face flush that red. It was always because of that shard he didn't pull away and merely kept his gaze trained on his slumbering brother as he muttered, "I'm not dying stupid."

"Calling people stupid isn't very nice, nii-chan," Italy murmured into Romano's lap, bringing his head and one hand up to rub the sleep from his eyes and yawn. "You're talking," in a whine.

"Aaaah, lo siento, mi amigito," Spain laughed heartily, petting the sleepy boy's head of slightly messed brown hair. "But you're both awake now, ? Are you hungry, or do you want those showers?"

"I don't care," Romano muttered as he wiggled, wanting to pull out of the two's hold.

"Will nii-chan take a bath with me?" Italy requested, suddenly fully awake and looking up at his brother with hope filled shining eyes.

Oh no, not that look. Romano stared down at Italy in terror, knowing there'd be no way he could say no without severely disappointing the big baby. But he also knew that a certain idiot would find some excuse to watch them because they 'were so cute.' Sighing in defeat he nodded and said quietly, "yeah sure, if you really want..."

"Yaaay!"

"Can I join you?" Spain had his chin curled over Romano's shoulder, grinning widely.

To this Romano's still red cheeks somehow managed to grow redder. "Of course not!"

"Porqué?" In a whine Spain asked this, pouting and looking up at a reddened face through his lashes. "I used to bathe with you all the time."

"I don't mind!" Italy stated excitedly.

Romano shot a glare to Italy and then turned the glare to Spain. "N-no be-because! You just can't!"

"I can't?" The words were repeated with a tilt of the head. "Will something bad happen if I do?" He gasped dramatically, "will I melt!"

"Noooo!" Italy cried, finally releasing Romano in favor of skittering across the bed so he could tightly hug the waist of a Spaniard hugging the other Italian. "I don't want Spain nii-chan to melt!"

"Of course he won't melt!" Romano screeched as he started wiggling violently to get away from the two idiots. In these motions to free himself from the confines of a set of strong arms the sleeve of the T-shirt he had slept in rode up and, in time, revealed the bandage beneath. Even in his dense and stupid ways Spain did not let this go unnoticed.

"Romie, ¿qué es esto?" Romano found himself released as he had wished, but not in the hoped manner. Now he was turned to face Antonio, who was inspecting the clean bandaging. He had been hurt, that wasn't just some little cut! Why had he lied to him? Antonio was just worried, scared for him. Tears sprung to his eyes. Romano had been hurt! "Romanito, you said it was nada! This is not nada!" Anxiety and pitch was rising with each syllable. "Por favor, let me look at it. It got wet in the rain, probably! It needs to be changed."

Crap. This was exactly why he didn't let Spain know in the first place. He knew, he knew, the idiot would freak out and, god, start crying. Romano hated it when Spain cried, he was supposed to be always smiling... With a scowl, the injured Italian pulled his arm away and looked away. "It is nothing. It's fine. The doctors took care of it and I'm capable of changing the bandage myself. No reason to cry stupid."

"B-But Romie, you're so clumsy! It's muy adorable, sí, but it hardly makes for good caring of w-wounds," he whimpered, "por favor, let me do it."

"No! You're just gonna keep getting stupider! I'm fine!"

"Nii-chan, you always say I have bad gammar when I add –er to something! Don't say stupider!" Italy whined, breaking the air all at once. "And nii-chan says he's fine, right?" At this he brought a hand up to pat his brothers back approvingly.

Italy wasn't to blame, really. How was he supposed to know that Romano's bandages extended from his upper arm to wrap around his shoulder? Romano had done his best to make Italy worry as little as possible, so he hid the fact that he was a tad more injured that originally thought. He would have been fine keeping up this charade if it weren't for the fact Italy was patting right on his injured shoulder.

Tears instantly sprung to Romano's eyes as he forced a smile, shying away from the offended hand. "Y-yeah, as Feli says, just fine."

Under the power of his laughter and smile that could easily melt any iceberg Antonio's tears dried, or at least began to. This was why his Romanito was so cute, right? Always so unwilling to let people take care of him or be worried over. The way he always blushed was so adorable. That said, it was also very disconcerting when you were honestly fearful of his well being and he continued the act. Course, he always continued his ways when you were trying to be serious about something… Not that Spain would know what it meant to be serious. At least, that is how most people saw him, when in all honesty he was serious a great amount of the time. He was quite serious in his telling Romano he loved him.

And because he loved him, Spain would let this pass. For now. And it was made quite easy for him when Italy whined. "Bath?"

A stupid Italian and a stupid Spaniard shared a grin.


"This was not what I meant."

The three were situated in the large marble bath of Antonio's master bathroom. Set into the corner of the room, it was expansive, fitting the three of them easily, though allowing for little in the way of full out elbow room. A hip would rub together once, shoulders touch twice. Not that the two grown children of the trio minded. Italy and Spain were having the time of their lives playing in the water, trying every now and then to get Romano to join in on their fun. Spain even produced a few old rubber duckies to play with, squirting water at everyone and getting absolutely nowhere in the cleaning department, but earning major points in that of fun and getting Italy back to being, well, Italy.

Although at first Romano squished into the corner with his arms crossed doing his best not to get included in these idiocies, it was only so many squirts of water a guy could take before cracking. Romano had had enough just as yet another misfire ducky squirt managed to hit him in the face. "That's it!" he yelled as he grabbed a duck of his own and drenched the two idiots with a rain of duck squirts.

Two sets of eyes, one a caramel brown and the other evergreen, turned in widened stated to stare at their attacker, their hair dripping and falling into their respective faces. Had Romano just... Joined in on their fun? They looked at each other with continued shocked faces... Then, again unison, they broke into wide grins, squealed, and glomped the infuriated brother. "Nii-chan!" "Romie!" They cried, nuzzling him.

Oh he regretted that now. "What the hell are you doing?" Romano screeched as he tried to wiggle out of their unified hug.

"Oye, you'll hurt yourself, Romanito~"

", nii-chan. Get over it and let us hug you!" They both nuzzled him happily.

"No, ugh! Dammit you two are so stupid!" Romano stopped squirming, but only because he didn't want to get any idiot in his wounds, and crossed his arms in a pout. "Why the fuck are you hugging me? I was supposed to be getting revenge dammit."

"Because you're so cute, of course~ And you seem well enough to play along with us," Spain replied, pulling back so he could pull a smile into his lips, not a few inches from Romano's face.

"O-of course I'm fine..." Romano looked away from Spain and wished dearly his brother wasn't attached to him so he could pull away. The Spaniard was just so damn close... It'd be so easy to lean forward and... The red on Romano's cheeks grew as he mentally cursed himself out. Now was the worst time to let his mind wander.

A giggle came from Spain as did a mischievous glint in his eye. So cute and embarrassed. Oh, he just couldn't resist, even knowing what may happen if he gave into temptation. He leaned forward that last bit to kiss the reddened cheek. In his pulling back there was a grin on his face whilst he looked his lips. "Romanito is sweet~"

Fortunately for his brother, currently frozen at the spot with his face ablaze and giant eyes staring into the distance, Italy pulled Spain's attention away just then by asking what kind of shampoos and other bath supplies he had.

It took a few second, but control over his body slowly started returning and the first thing Romano did was cover his face with his hands. Damn that bastard Spain! So stupid and, UGH! Romano slid under the water and squeezed his eyes shut in total mortification. How had he known that was on Romano's mind?

"I dunno what I have, to be honest," Spain mused from the other end of the tub, back to the steaming Romano. A finger was to his lips in thought. "Franny likes to give me all those fancy shampoos and things, but I don't use them because I prefer to just use what I'm used to…" The finger slid to his cheek as he tilted his head and looked up, still thinking. "Some of it may be a little old, I have no idea. You can take a look if you like."

Italy nodded, now quite interested to have a look at Spain's collection. After the tanned male gestured to a cabinet at the other end of the bathroom, Italy rose, tugged his brother out of the water, and ran to open its doors and inspect the confines. Not that one could. Imagine, an entire cabinet filled with various brands and scents of bath supplies collected over a span of years. "You know, now that I think about it, I always get weird looks when I leave the house for a long time and hire someone to clean it while I'm gone. I ask them to dust all of it but not throw anything away, because that would be mean… You think I should have told them they were all gifts?" Antonio asked, blinking over at them.

"You're an idiot," Romano muttered as he defiantly slid back under the water, despite his brother's attempt to keep him from drowning. Life just wasn't fair sometimes.

"But he's so cute~" Antonio cooed as he missed the point completely for the millionth time, sitting with his arms atop the lining of the tub and his chin resting over the damp skin. He watched Italy, smiling as he always was. It continued when he brought his head up to call out to him. "Ita-chan, you do remember you have no clothes, ? And that you are wet? Don't stay out long, you'll get a cold."

", one more minute~" Italy replied, simply ecstatic as he continued to survey the choices. "Vee, nii-chan, is there a scent you want? There's everything you can think of here!"

The stupid comment from Spain had brought Romano out from under the water to glare at him, so the question posed by Italy was heard. He turned to his brother and peeked over the edge of the tub shyly. Looking not quite at Italy, just over his should so it seemed as if he was looking at him, Romano muttered, "I-Is there a tomato scent?"

"Veeeeee," Italy elongated the syllable, his finger rising to rest at his chin and his body leaning forward, eyes searching. When nothing of Romano's wishes came up he frowned and turned to look back at him. "Sorry, I don't see any tomato scents…"

"I expected as much..." Romano turned his back to the side of the tub and slid down so the waterline tickled his chin. He crossed his arms and his bottom lip slowly stuck out in a small pout. "I don't care then. Whatever you want Feli."

"Kay! I'll find another good one, then!" And he was back to looking.

Finally Spain turned from watching Italy to stare at Romano. "Is Romanito disappointed?" He cocked his head, blinking.

"What! No! Of course not!" Romano glared at Spain from the corner of his eyes, pout still in place. He sighed and slid just a tad deeper into the water as he muttered, "I wasn't expecting anything. I can't be disappointed in something I knew wasn't going to be true in the first place."

Spain felt a frown tugging at his no longer grinning lips. Those words tugged at him, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was just because he didn't like seeing an unhappy Romano. "Romanito-"

"Aha!" In a victory cry as if he had found an enemy camp, Italy produced a package from the cupboard and bounded back over to climb into the tub and present it to Romano proudly. "Ocean!"

Ever thankful for Italy's timing, Romano looked up with a crooked smirk. He didn't want to think about what he had just said. Dammit, what was it with life threatening situations that made his mind filter faulty? He really needed to just go bury himself in a hole for a while before he blurted out something he'd regret... "Not a bad choice Feli."

"Vee," he chanted, happy for the praise.

Spain was back to hanging over the edge, though he has his neck craned back to look at them with the rebirthed smile. "See, Romie? This isn't so bad."

"What are you talking about? This is horrible!" And despite the scowl in his voice the smirk on his face remained and there was a teasing twinkle in his amber eyes.

Spain simply stuck his tongue out lightly through his smile at the cheekiness of his former subordinate. He was enjoying the scene for what it was, letting himself falter to watch the two with his airily contented smile.

"Horrible? That's not good! C'mon, nii-chan, I'll wash you, then it won't be horrible!" Italy reached for a nearby cloth at the edge, happily sudding it up with a bar of the ocean scented soap.

"Wh-what? No I'm perfectly capable of washing myself Feli!" Romano exclaimed as he made a move for the cloth.

But it was held away from him by a grinning, giggling Italian. "Uh-uh-uh~ Nii-chan is hurt in the arm, sì? He needs help washing himself!"

"What? That is the most illogical and stupid suggestion I've ever heard! Nothing is keeping me from washing myself other than you!"

"Just let your brother wash you, Romie, unless you want me to do it," Spain cooed chidingly, grinning.

Romano spluttered and stared at Spain in disbelief, but did not doubt one bit he would back his threat. With a huff Romano sat in the middle of the tub, legs and arms crossed. He glanced to Italy and stuck his tongue out. "Do whatever you want, I don't care."

Had it been most any other time Spain would have pouted in response to the refusal of his little tomato to let him wash his body for him, but as of now his smile just softened as he watched Italy rub a cloth up and down his back and so forth, 'veeing,' all the while. As much as he wanted to tease and love on the Italian he supposed now what he needed was brother time, and he was more than willing to oblige if he got to watch it unfold in all it's cute splendor. He remembered Austria nagging at him for always just watching him play whenever the two bosses/parents brought their charges together to play. But how could he have held a conversation when not too far away two totally adorable little boys were being, well, adorable? Antonio always wondered why some people liked to call him a 'pedo'...

Yes and it was this 'creepy pedo' smile that sent shivers down Romano's spine as Italy covered him in ocean scented suds. Oh he knew Spain was staring, there no doubt in that fact. Any other day he'd start yelling, really, but today? He could let it slide for now; after all, Feli wasn't too bad at rubbing his back...

And so Feliciano continued, sweet as candy smile held within his lips everlasting. When he was done with his back he leaned forward to press his front against the newly cleaned backside to do his brothers front. "Ti amo, nii-chan," he sang merrily, finally pulling away to instead squirt shampoo into his hands before they were pressed into the brunet haired scalp.

Bright red and highly embarrassed Spain was witnessing this, Romano kept his mouth clamped. His eyes soon followed in the closed state, not particularly wanting to get soap in his eyes.

After he was satisfied with his work of getting the shampoo to the roots and properly washing the hair Italy took a cup from the side of the tub and filled it with water to then be poured right back into the water after it had been overturned onto Romanos head and left to drip down all of the washed away suds. "Nii-chan is all clean," he said joyously. "Does he feel better now?"

"I was feeling fine before," he muttered, running his hand through cleaned hair. "Grazie..."

Still giggling, Feliciano hugged his brother. "Any time, nii-chan~"

"How about you show your gratitude by returning the favor?" No, he was not enjoying the scene too much to let it stop. He wasn't that creepy. Where did you get that idea?

To this Romano scowled. "If I'm too unwell to wash myself what makes you think I could wash him?"

"So you have no problem with letting me wash him, then?" Spain began to straighten and move from the side.

"Of course I do!" Romano wrapped his arms around Italy's waist and pulled him away from the Spaniard. "You'll rape him!"

"Vee?"

"Me duele, Romie," Spain whined profusely. "That's not very nice at all. Don't say that! I wouldn't do that," he was whimpering now with his kicked puppy face.

"Pah! Don't think I didn't feel your creepy grin on us this entire time!" Romano stuck his tongue out at Spain then turned his back to him. "Feli where'd you put the cloth?"

"Nii-chan, I can wash myself."

"Mi Romanito is so mean..."

Scowl firmly in place, Romano glanced about for the cloth or at least the bar of soap. "You insisted on fucking cleaning me and now I'm trying to be nice and return the favor and you're saying no! What the hell Feli?"

"N-No, I'm sorry," Feliciano faltered with his smile, "I don't mean to be mean. I'm sorry... I washed you because you're hurt, not so you would wash me! I would have say so. Nii-chan."

Two above water exchanged glances and frowns, then shrugs. They supposed there was no way to pull Romano from his stage of pouting, if at least for now. Instead they enjoyed themselves by washing each other, Spain first and then Italy. Spain pretended to have gotten shampoo in his eyes and said he went blind, getting laughter to the point of tears from Feliciano. It was when they switched that the problem, if it even was one, started. With the washing of the Italian's hair Spain managed to brush against his ahoge once, twice, really quite without meaning to.

"Veeeeee," Italy mewled, wriggling and squeezing his eyes shut ever tighter.

Out of nowhere came Romano, practically tackling Spain in his attempt to get him away from his brother. He was flushed and water was streaming into his face from his hair. "What the fuck are you doing to Feliciano? You know better than to fucking do that!"

After the surprised yelp at being shoved away and pressed to the side, Spain simply stared with large eyes, "qué?" It didn't click until his eyes roamed to fall upon a blushing Feliciano, panting. Green eyes blinked a few times. "Ah..."

"Ah is right you idiot! See this is why I didn't want you doing anything to Feli! I knew you couldn't keep your pedophilic hands where they're supposed to stay! Pervert! Bastard! Idiot!" And the cursing out continued.

At first hesitantly, then heartily, Antonio laughed at Romanos outburst. "I am no pedo, Romie, you know that~ I never did anything to you, sí? You're such a joker."

"Nii-chan, please don't be mean," Feli called, his breath returning to him, albiet slowly.

Romano growled, but then froze as a fire consumed his face. He was on top of the Spaniard and both of them were stark naked... The Italian yelped as if it hurt to touch Spain suddenly and hurridly scooted to the other end of the tub. "Y-You two are both idiots! Just leave me alone dammit!"

To the yelp Spain responded almost immediately, rising up to then move to the side of one who most certainly did not want to see him now, not that he knew in the severe density of his character. "Romie, are you alright?" Antonio questioned, thinking something was wrong with the bandages or Romano had hit his shoulder on something without his noticing. "We're done, we should get out. Then I can change those wrappings properly."

As much as he wanted to protest, Romano meekly nodded as he glared at the floor. Earlier, he had promised he'd let Spain change the bandages after the bath to make the idiot shut up. Closing his eyes in exasperation Romano muttered under his breath, "Idiot."

When there was no defiance or continued objections Spain broke into a grin. "Yay," he breathed softly, tilting his head a tad bit in his remaining smile. After a moment that he spent simply smiling at his wounded charge, as if doing that would help the healing of whatever was beneath the bandages he had yet to know the purpose of, the water was sloshed then began to drain in his movement to pull the cork from the bottom. Barely a second after he had done so the bare bodied tan male stood and exited the top to procure towels for the lot of them, wrapping one round his waist then holding out two more to be used by his guests. Italy bounded out and accepted one gratefully, jostling his hair about with it to rid the strands of most clinging liquid and then also snugly tying it around himself.

Feigning nonchalance, Romano grabbed the offered towel and wrapped it around his waist, making to effort to actively dry anywhere, as he stood. He stepped out of the tub and crossed his arms, praying to god that neither of the idiots could hear his heartbeat. To say the least, he was terrified of how Spain would react to his injuries... Sure they weren't that bad as he had been saying all this time, but he hadn't exactly gotten a good look at them yet... With a sigh Romano stared at Spain expectantly waiting for directions.

Directions that didn't fully come, really. Spain appeared a bit perplexed by the gaze he was receiving, as if Romano was expectant of something. "Lovi, you have clothes here, ? Would you mind sharing them with Feli? He doesn't have any, after all." A grin of a fairly foolish and impish nature formed. "I moved them to the bottom drawer in my room~ But first, to the kitchen!" Puzzlement had fallen to randomness and juvenile behaviors he was known for. The sound of his laughter follow after him as he pushed the two along down the hall to their destination. As they walked he suggested maybe later, as the rain was now dying down, they could go out to check and see how well his plants had fared through it. Feliciano seemed to like the idea.

"Up!" As if Romano were the child he was years ago. Again Spain brought him up to sit on the counter like one would a child when inspecting a skinned knee. The thought made him smile. He loved those memories. "Now let's get these changed, ?" With his box of first aid items sitting right beside his patient, open and ready to be used, Spain leaned down to begin carefully pulling away the soggy cloth. As he did he could not help but notice the shallow cuts that littered the boys torso, having been otherwise near unnoticeable in the tub due to the steam, water, and his usual pose of crossing his arms and crouching beneath the water level. Another act he could not resist was the biting of his bottom lip. The strong and passionate heart in his chest twisted at the sight.

Although there was only one major wound, Romano's back spreading down across his shoulder to his upper arm was littered with scratches of varying depths, each looking more painful than the last. But nothing was worse than the stitched gash between Romano's shoulder blade and spine. It was bright red and inflamed, the stitches seemed as if they were straining to keep it closed. It didn't help that dried blood had attached itself to the inner bandages, pulling at raw skin as the binding was removed.

Romano had grown rigid the second Spain started pulling the gauze away and a hiss now escaped his lips as the open air stung his wounds. In a strained voice the Italian all but yelled, "Stop admiring me and get me all fixed up like you were so adamant about doing in the first place!"

"L-Lo siento!" You can believe that was almost a squeak released from Antonio's lips. So depressed and melancholy he had been in staring at the slits in Romano's beautiful skin he forgot what he was supposed to be doing until he was snapped back to attention by the pained and impatient boy himself. Witch-hazel was applied to a formidable cotton ball that was then dabbed over all of the cuts slowly and methodically. Maybe not so much on that last part. One found it hard to be precise and disciplined in movements when they were biting into their lip with great pressure to keep from crying himself. This was one of the times he wished he wasn't such a stupid sucker and could keep a stony façade and be serious about something… Maybe he could hang out with Luddy more or something. If he did, maybe he wouldn't have felt his throat constrict when he pulled the swab away to see it was already pink with dried, wet blood. He prepared another and moved on.

What a pitiful attempt it was, but he still tried. Antonio laughed to clear the air… Somewhat… Okay, maybe not at all. "I'm proud of you, Romanito. I remember you crying even with really little cuts and bruises when you were mi ninõ." Why did Italy decide now to be of no help and simply watch? If Spain would have bothered to look back at the intent Italian he would have noted a third near tears male in the room in reaction to Lovino's injuries.

Finally he was done and could reapply new, clean wrappings. As he did so Antonio was almost glad a large majority of his administrations were at Romano's back. It was because of this he had kept his expression hidden for so long. Long enough that he could swipe it beneath the mental rug and replace it with a smile. "Finished, Romie!"

"Took you long enough," Romano muttered as he rubbed at his cheeks vigorously, making all signs of the tears that had leaked out of his eyes disappear. Gingerly, the Italian slid off the counter and the second his feet hit the ground his crossed his arms with a scowl. "Now where are my clothes dammit?"

Maybe his smile was regaining some sincerity at this point. "I told you, didn't I~? In the bottom drawer in my bedroom!"

There was silence as Romano paused and flushed. He brushed past Spain as he stuttered, "I-I knew that dammit! I was just making sure you haven't developed some stupid memory loss problem! Don't smile like that you idiot!" On his way out of the room, Romano grabbed his brother and dragged him along to Spain's room as well.

Spanish laughter followed after them.

"S-So nii-chan is really all better now?" Italy managed as he was pulled along, eyes not on the floor, not on the ceiling, but cast aside so as to not be held on his brother to continue fending back his whimpers.

"Mio dio! Sì! What do I have to do so you quit asking me? Want me to do a cartwheel? A handstand? Run a marathon?" As they entered Spain's room, Romano relinquished his hold on his brother to go to the dresser. Rifling through the articles of clothing for things they needed, wondering in the back of his mind how the hell Spain had ended up with so many of his clothes, Romano said in a softer tone, "Really Feli, you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine dammit."

Slowly at first, but in due time, the cloud fell and the sun was out. Italy was smiling brightly again, a blush in his cheeks under the sheer power of it and his producing happiness. "Vee~ Buon," he breathed in words that were the exuding of pure joy. His fratello was going to be okay. With this in mind he let the thought fall away, as even know he couldn't stay on one topic for too long, to bounce over and peek over the searching shoulder.

"Vee? Nii-chan, what can I wear?" mustache

"Um... It's pretty chilly 'cause of the rain..." Romano finished rummaging to pull out some boxers and jeans for them, which was fine. What was annoying was the fact that the only long sleeved shirts in the drawer were of the same design, but different colors. If they wore them, it'd look like they were purposefully matching and dammit Spain would surely make a big deal about that... Sighing, Romano handed the forest green shirt up to his brother, keeping the olive one for himself.

Not wanting to spend any longer in the towel around his waist, Romano quickly got dressed into his clothing. The soft cotton of the shirt felt nice on his sensitive skin not covered by the bandages and he couldn't help but decide anything Spain could say would be worth the comfort the long sleeve shirt brought. He looked to Italy, who getting close to being fully dressed now, and went to the door. "Ready?"

"," Italy chimed, jogging up to his brother's side like an obedient – or at least when he felt the need to be – puppy dog. "Let's go see what Spain nii-chan is doing!" And he was out the door and down the hall.

What Spain was doing was inspecting the items held within his fridge, pondering over how dire the need was for him to go shopping now that he would be feeding three people on a regular basis for a while. It was not unusual for people to drop in randomly. On top of the Italian twins there was Francis, Gilbert and the now consequent Ludwig, even Roderich on rare occasions. He would have to take the two with him so they could pick out what they liked. Straightening, a hand came up to be run through his mess of chocolate curls, head tilted in thought and face void of expression beyond the small quirk in the corner of his lips that was honestly hard to get rid of in his case. Since the two had been occupying his bedroom as their changing room he decided to just find clothes among the clean laundry in the wash room – yes, he had changed to clothes before, but those had ended up a little dirty with his cleaning up, not to mention those had been left in his bedroom with their changing for the bath. This left him wearing a burnt orange hoodie reading Cadiz along its front, opening to simple faded jeans. With one hand still in his hair the other was rested at his hip, still thinking.

"Spain-nii!" Feliciano called upon his entrance, having gotten a bit ahead of his brother.

Despite Italy's head start, it was only a matter of second for Romano to come up right behind him. Staring at Spain warily as he sat himself at the kitchen table, Romano noticed the open fridge and rather empty state. "I sure do hope you're planning on feeding on more than that."

", of course! I can't let you two starve," he replied quickly, smiling his smile and closing the door finally to turn and look at the two just in time to see Italy move to sit beside his brother. "What do you-?" And then he stopped, blinking. What were they wearing? Like twins are often dressed by their parents as children, these two men wore shirts of the same make and brand in relatively close colors, just as their hair and eyes were in the sane spectrum but not the same. It was so...

"Adorable," Spain murmured, his grin gaining power each second he looked at them until his eyes were gone from view. "Tan adorable~"

"Yeah we match, fucking adorable," Romano said in disgust as he got to his feet. He knew this was going to happen. Stupid Spain. "Can we go now?"

"Heehee, don't say it like that. It's so very cute," he gawked over them like a child in the candy store being told he couldn't have any. If he hugged Italy Romano would call him a pedo, if he hugged Romano he ran a high chance of touching and worsening the injuries he had just treated. They were behind a glass wall he could not break, but that did not mean he couldn't smile giddily over them.

"Can we get pasta?" The glass cracked, shattered with Italy's elated hope, but the impenetrable wall was there. So sad. Whatever would have been left of the glass would have shattered in Antonios laughter.

"Sí, mi amigito, we can get pasta. Do we want to go right now? We don't have to."

"I'm hungry. I want pizza. Are there any tomatoes in your field?" Romano said with a small pout.

"You even had to ask?" Antonio returned, nodding and thus putting breaks between his chuckling. "Your jackets may be dry by now. How about we go check on them?"

"Veee," Italy nodded, a little disappointed it wasn't pasta, but pizza was second best.

Sure enough their jackets had dried and the extra warmth was welcomed in the chilly after rain air. The trio headed to the tomato field with a joyous air practically emanating off of Romano. Fresh tomatoes were the best. He couldn't help came into view. With a small laugh he raced ahead to start selecting which ones he wanted.

The vicinity of ripened tomatoes was fairly small now, only consisting of two real vines wrapping around the stand of lattice in their baring if the fruit. The one Romano stood before was the smaller of the two in terms of it's ripe children, the other holding more. Not that it would matter. So hung up Spain was on marveling at Romanos smile and laughter he did not care to notice the actions of the second Italian. Italy walked closely pinned to the side of the walkway, brushing up against the plants. Thus when he shot forward to join his brother after he had left them he managed to take out the whole vine of nice tomatoes with him when one shoe became a little stuck in the mud without his realizing, thus sending him face first into the ground whilst he caught the plant for support only to crush it.

Finally Spain stopped and stared, eyes of shock, disbelief, and fear in the size of the moon. "Ita-chan!" With his arriving the Spaniard helped him up and wiped away at the mud and debris clinging to the jacket of a now sniffling Feliciano. As he continued the laughter of one who laughs to keep from crying came from Spain at seeing his squashed tomatoes. "Eheheeeh... Está bien, Ita-chan." But in his mind he was sobbing about his beautiful red babies.

While Spain contained his despair, Romano had no such restraints. He dropped to his knees next to a crushed and bleeding tomato in disbelief. "Feliciano!" he yelled accusingly. "Why?"

"I-I didn't mean... M-Mi perdoni!" Italy spoke rapidly as he asked for forgiveness, twitching nervously in keeping from hugging Romano and bawling.

"There are still some left, ?" Spain was always the optimist, even in his grief. "Es bien, we can buy from the store too."

"B-but," Romano's bottom lip started quivering as tears built in his eyes. The beautiful tomatoes... "It's not the same!"

"Oye, está bien! Romanito," in a second Antonio went from comforting one Italian to the other, totally forgetting his own mourning. A hand warmed by a passionate Spanish heart came beneath a pert Italian chin to turn it and it's gaze from the carnage. "You're going to be here for a while, ? There will be more fresh tomatoes later for you to eat," maybe adding his smile would help.

Sniffling, Romano nodded and rubbed at his eyes. They were just squished tomatoes, no big deal... But they were so delicious looking, were. "Stupid Feli!"

"I-I'm sorry nii-chan," an Italian whimper.

"C'mon, let's go get nice store tomatoes!" Antonio helped Romano up.

Begrudgingly, Romano allowed Spain to pull him to his feet. Sighing heavily he said, "yeah I suppose..."

The smile gained a few levels. With one pouting and the other still near tears Antonio linked arms with the both of them, leaning down shortly to their level and beam at them. "Adventure, ? It's fun with other people!"

"Adventure?" The tearful boy repeated.

"! Life is an adventure, no? C'mon!" And he walked with them away from the crime scene, through the field of plants, and to the store.


Arms laden with bags of tomatoes, Romano was noticeably happier as the group made their way back to Spain's house. The store didn't disappoint with its supply of fresh tomatoes, and once they gathered ingredients for pizza and meals for the rest of the week, the little adventure came to an end. With a wide grin, Romano stared down at the tomatoes, practically drooling in anticipation of the delicious tomato sauce he would be making. His smile lessened just slightly as he came up to the locked front door, being forced to stand and wait for Spain

"Estoy llegando!" Antonio called, coming up quite merrily. His Romanito was happy, so he was even more happy than he normally was! Moving the bags to be held in one arm, he used the other to unlock the door. "Ita-chan, are you okay?" He turned his gaze back to Italy, coming along behind them slowly due to hid trying to finish the gelato he had gotten at a stand on the way back while still carrying his own assigned bags of groceries.

"Cooooming~" With his coming up Antonio smiled and openned the door, stepping aside to let them in.

Not even bothering to stop to get his jacket off, Romano made a beeline to the kitchen. With extreme care for the easily bruised fruit-vegetable, he started unpacking his tomatoes onto the counter.

"Romie! Take your shoes off at least, por favor!" Antonio whimpered at the mud now stark against his floor. Both he and Italy had stopped to do so just inside the door, also pulling their coats off before they took their own bags to the kitchen. "More cleaning..."

"Oh quit your complaining. Either shut up or go away, jeez." To say the least, Romano did not enjoy being interrupted when he was in a cooking mood.

"Eheheh, alright," Antonio smiled, almost frightened, "I'll just clean it while you cook then... Have fun!" And he was off to find his cleaning supplies, muttering something about it was fine since Romie wasn't good at cleaning anyway. As he passed him Italy waved one arm like a desperate student wanting to be called on in class. "Yes, Ita-chan?"

"Can I call Doitsu and tell him what happened on your phone?"

"Ah, of course. Good idea, actually. GilGil and Luddy's house are on speed dial, actually. Número seis." Antonio waved, gesturing to the phone on a table in the hall outside the kitchen, and then continued on.

"Grazie!" Italy sang after him, doing as he was told and speed dialing the sixth number and holding the receiver to his ear.

Halfway through the second ring the other line picked up. "Allo?" Said the unmistakable deep voice of his German friend. "Spain?"

"Veee, it's Italia."

"Feliciano?" Ludwig questioned, only somewhat surprised to hear his friend speaking on Antonio's number.

In the background Prussia's voice could be heard yelling, "What's Ita-chan doing at Antonio's?"

"Hi GilGil!" Italy yelled, as if it would reach Gilbert better that way. There was a soft hissing of pain from Ludwig, and Feli giggled at the image of him pulling the phone from his ear for a moment. "But yeah! I'm staying at Spain-niis house with nii-chan for a while, so don't go to ours!"

On the other end there was a pause. "Warum?"

"Ah, because our house got blown up! It made a really big boom, Doitsu."

"WAS!"

"Ciao!" And he hung up at that, smiling at the concept of finishing a job he had set out to do. From there he danced into the nearby kitchen. "Nii-chan, can I help?"

Romano looked up from his precise cutting of tomatoes with narrowed eyes. He was not trusting Italy with his precious tomatoes, that was for sure... "You can make the dough," he said with a shrug as he turned back to his cutting. After a few moments of silence he looked up again to ask curiously, "Who were you on the phone with?"

Singing to himself via multitude of 'vee's Italy managed to find flour to use. As he pulled it out he blinked at the question posed to him before laughing. "Doitsu, of course. Oh, and GilGil!"

What a shocker. Romano rolled his eyes and turned back to his tomatoes once more. "That was a pretty short conversation to explain what happened..."

"Vee? I just told him our house blew up, not to go there, and that we were staying with Spain-nii. Was I supposed to say more?" Italy questioned blankly, blinking. What else was there to say?

Idiots. Idiots the lot of them. Say more? Fuck yes say more! Maybe say how he was fine? How he wasn't critically injured? Normal things people usually said when informing their friend that they were bombed? Of course getting bombed wasn't too normal in the first place, but still... The stupid potato bastard would probably be calling back any second now for more information. Yes, sure enough, there was the telltale sound of the phone ringing. "Idiots..."


And again with the all on the phone basically! Aren't we bad~? It makes me crazy, though o.o I'm the type that loves to ramble when I write, and that's hard to do on a phone… I feel like I'm not doing situations justice . Or characters . Always so worried I'm doing charries wrong… Italy, psh, who can do Italy wrong? xD Toni, on the other hand… ^^;

For reals, though, y'all o.o Italy needs someone. He's basically the main character, yeah? That's not cool. AND NO SAYING GERMANY OR I WILL DROP KICK YOU! D I do like GerIta on occasion, but in our little world here it's the AWESOMENESS of Germancest *pantpant* Tut mir leid… German withdrawals… And upset that GerPru finally gets a page on the Hetalia Wikia pages but it's all [Coming soon]s T.T

… . . I don't think my short replies were helped by my snorting wasabi and soy sauce at lunch today… What can I say? I was bored, people oh so wanted to see how it would turn out, and I'm a beeping weirdo that loves to try out weird things… But DAMN did it burn

Nuts = Seems they mean stupidity XD Surprised Toni doesn't eat a lot of nuts too… Or maybe he does *snickers* ah, the joys of a pervy mind. Anyway, seeing as Lovi went around lamenting on the stupidity of everyone, as he always does, we though it fit

Buenos días, dormilón~ = Good morning sleepy head~

Estoy muy felíz de que esteis a salvo, Romanito = I am very happy that you are safe, Romanito

Romie, ¿qué es esto?= Romie, what is that!

Nada = nothing

Me duele = That hurts me

mi ninõ = My little boy

Está bien = It's okay

Estoy llegando! = I'm coming!

Número seis = Number six

sono ancora stanco = I'm still tired

Mio dio! Sì! = My God! Yes!

Vee~ Buon = Vee~ Good

Fratello = Brother

M-Mi perdoni! = F-Forgive me!

Ciao! = Bye!

Allo? = Hello?

Warum? = Why?

WAS! = WHAT!

Finally got some German T.T *sob*