España's Princesa

Chapter 4

The next morning, Lovi had woken up way before Toni, as usual, but what woke Lovi up was another story entirely. Someone was poking him. It was from a small finger to his cheek. The poking that cause Lovi to wake up left him a tad annoyed. But, he was used to it; he did live with Feliciano after all.

"What do you want, you little creep?" Lovi groaned, and sat up.

But, when Lovi looked down his annoyance turned into extreme embarrassment. He blushed a dark red and was stuttering so bad he couldn't even conjure an actual word. If you're wondering why this was happening, it was because Lovi was straddling a half-naked Toni. Thank God there was a blanket on them cause Lovi wasn't sure if either of them were wearing pants.

Once some of the shock wore off he looked back at the small human before him. "U-uh, g-go back t-to the bedroom f-for a sec, okay?"

For a second Lovi feared she wouldn't listen because of that damned blank stare of hers, but, she eventually nodded and scurried off. Lovi waited till he heard the bedroom door shut before punching Toni in the chest, hard, his embarrassment turning to anger.

"Wake up cazzo!" Lovi was never so thankful for Toni's thick walls.

Toni shot up with a yelp, sending Lovi flying backwards and hitting his head on the armrest of the couch.

"Lo siento señor crema de hielo; No quise decir que lamer usted! (I'm sorry mister ice cream; I didn't mean to lick you!)" Toni shouted in surprise, obviously waking from a strange dream.

"What were you- you know what, never mind. I don't wanna know. Get your clothes on idiota, the kids awake." Toni rubbed his eyes and stretched.

"¿Eh? El niña? Ah, te refieres a Rosa! (Huh? The kid? Ah, you mean Rosa!)" Toni mumbled through a yawn.

"Speak English dammit! You know I don't know what the fuck your sayin when you speak Spanish!" Is what he said but everyone knew, even Toni, that Lovi absolutely loved it when Toni spoke Spanish. The Italian was just too tired for it today.

"Trist- uh, sorry…" Toni muttered with a nervous chuckle.

Now, something everyone knew about Toni when he first wakes up; he can only speak Spanish. Growing up, Toni was only allowed to speak Spanish and the adults only spoke to him in Spanish. It wasn't until he went to middle school that he started to learn English. He still, to this day, reverts back to Spanish when half asleep or tipsy.

"Where is she then?" Toni asked, looking around the room for any sign of the girl. When he looked back to his lover, Lovi was already dressed.

"I sent her back to the bedroom so we could change."

Toni chuckles to himself. "You're so modest mi amor."

"Sh-Shut up idiota. I just don't wanna scar the kid for life!" Lovi just glares at Toni when the Spaniard looks at him in confusion.

Toni's confusion quickly turns to horror when he realizes what time it is. "I have to go! I'm gonna be late to work!" Toni frantically pulls on his pants and starts brushing his teeth while gathering all the things he'll need for work.

"Wait you bastard! What am I supposed to do with the rat?!"

"If you don't want to watch her take her to Gil or Franny's house. If you do watch her, she's real behaved and quiet. You just have to help her brush her hair. I know you can do it mi amor." He kisses Lovi on the cheek then, finally, pulls on a shirt. "You guys can come visit me on break. Te amo mis queridos~! (I love you my darlings~!)" And he left. Just like that, he was gone.

After hearing the front door slam shut and Toni's quick farewell, Rose came out of the bedroom and poked her head around the corner. She was covering her eyes with one hand while using the other to feel for anything in front of her.

"Papà…? Papà? Voglio che il mio papà~ (I want my papa~)" Lovi pokes her on the forehead and she stumbles back slightly and uncovers her eyes.

"How do you know Italian you little brat?" She doesn't answer and just grabs Lovi's leg like a lifeline. "Hey! Get off me monello (brat)!" Lovi only stopped his protest when he heard her choke back small sobs while mumbling for her papa.

Now Lovi just felt like an ass. "Hey, come on, d-don't cry." He carefully picks her up, her little arms immediately wrapping carefully around his neck. "Papà will be back later, okay piccolo (little one)? For now we're gonna stay here, sì?" She calms down some at Lovi's word but does not release him or remove her face from the crook of his neck.

"Let's get you washed up and dressed." She nods and Lovi carries her to the bathroom and sets her on the counter. "Stay here a sec."

Lovi runs back to the bedroom and grabs one of the outfits that Toni's niece had left; Lovi knew where everything was in Toni's house. He pulls out a simple tee shirt and skirt with shorts sown into them. 'This is what little girls wear right? Seems to be good enough.' With a shrug he takes the clothes back to the bathroom and set them on the counter behind Rosa, who is still sitting there silently, gently kicking her legs back and forth. Lovi grins. 'This should be easy.'

"Okay, I'm gonna fill up the tub then I'll help you brush your teeth, si?" She nods.

Lovi walked over to the tub and turned it on; making sure the water wasn't too hot or too cold before going back to the counter. He grabs a tube of toothpaste from one of the drawers. The he went on to look for a toothbrush for Rosa to use. He could only find Toni's which obviously meant he hadn't bothered to get her one.

"That moron didn't get you a toothbrush. Does he want you to get cavities? Do you even have all your teeth yet?" She shrugged.

"Well, he's gotta have extra around here somewhere." While Lovi looks under the sink Rosa continues to sit quietly, her legs folded together so as not to accidentally kick Lovi in the head.

"Aha! Found one!" Lovi shouts triumphantly once locating a spare toothbrush, standing carefully.

After a few moments of struggling to open the packaging containing the toothbrush, several muttered curses and hitting his elbow twice on the counter Lovi finally opened the toothbrush. In that same moment of victory a sudden realization hit Lovi like a ton of bricks. He had forgotten to shut the water off. Luckily it hadn't overflown but it was a bit too deep so he had to drain some of it. Lovi quickly brushed Rosa's teeth and undressed her, not wanting the water to get too cold too soon, and put her in the tub. Strangely, as if knowing what Lovi was doing, Toni texted the second Rosa was in the tub.

If you give her a bath she likes to play a bit before getting clean. Te amo~

Lovi decided not to respond and just sat on the toilet while Rosa happily played. 'Fucking creep.' Lovi was about to go find something else to do when he started worrying about whether she knew how to swim or not and what would he do if something bad happened to her when he wasn't looking. Lovi had, at this point, put himself into a panic as his mind began to wonder further into the dreaded 'what ifs'. This surprisingly pushed the slight discomfort he felt about being present while a little girl bathed in front of him.

~Time Skip~

Lovi successfully bathed, dressed and was currently brushing Rosa's hair. Well, trying to at least. Lovi never grew up around girls. His mother died when he was about 7. After that it was just him, his father and his brother, and Lovi never really associated with those of the opposite gender, or same for that matter, growing up. He didn't bother styling it cause fuck that. He just let it hang freely; he did however put a small purple bow in her hair on the right side of her head. She seemed to like it. It was about one by the time they were both ready and time to go see Antonio.

"Go see papa?" This was now the fifth time she had asked since they left the apartment. Lovi sighed, a slight twitch starting at his eye in annoyance.

"Si piccolo, we're going to see papa." She nodded to show she heard but for some reason she doubted that it was true.

They had walked a block now and Rose was having a hard time keeping up with Lovino. She wasn't tired or anything but she was so little and Lovino took such big steps. That and she kept getting side-tracked looking through shop windows or staring at the occasional pet on a leash and she would have to run to catch back up with Lovi. She wanted to hold his hand but was afraid he'd refuse. Maybe he'd just carry her like papa would when she was tired. As far as she knew he wasn't really paying attention. He hadn't looked back to see if she was following or anything since they left.

Little did she know, however, that Lovi hadn't stopped watching her since they left. Lovino was used to Feliciano, who would run off every chance he got, so he had learned to watch from the corner of his eye. Every time she strayed too far behind he'd slower his gait until she caught up. It honestly never crossed his mind that he was going too fast for her, she hadn't complained. Only when she stopped to stare at another dog and tripped trying to catch back up did Lovi turn around. All he heard was the faint thud and a few gasps from onlookers. He quickly spun around and knelt in front of her; she didn't move and for a second he thought she hit her head and passed out. Then he heard a sniffle and sighed in relief.

"Piccolo? Are you okay?" He gently helped her up but she refused to meet his eyes.

She just looked at her little hands in her lap. They were slightly skinned. Lovi couldn't see her face but he could tell she was crying by the way her shoulders shook slightly.

"Piccolo, there's no need to cry. Venire qui. (Come here.)" He didn't wait for her to come to him before scooping her up in his arms and picking her up.

She sobbed when Lovi picked her up, mostly because she wanted to cling to him but her hands hurt. She tried to grab his shirt but it stung. It stung so much and she sobbed more because it stung and she couldn't hold onto mama. Mama rubbed soothing circles on her back as she sobbed and whispered reassurances in Italian. They soon made it to the small café Antonio worked at. It was larger on the inside, lots of room to move around and sit, but it wasn't big like a regular restaurant. It was owned by Lovino and Feliciano's grandfather, Romulus. Francis and Arthur both worked there as well but Arthur was taking time off to take care of Peter and get him into a routine.

"Ma petite fleur, what 'appened? Why're you crying, chéri? (darling/dear?)" Francis just so happened to be on break at the time the two walked in.

"She fell on the way here and skinned her palms." Lovi balance the girl on one hip and showed Francis one of her palms.

She didn't like him touching her injured hand but she didn't say anything; she did tense up though. Francis took her hand and ran a thumb over the area that was skinned. She took in a sharp breath and pulled her hand away as if burnt; which it felt like.

"Ma chéri, I'm so sorry! I did not mean to hurt you." His apologies went on deaf ears as she curled deeper into Lovi's chest.

"Come here and Oncle Francis will patch you up. How does that sound, mon petit fleur?" He held his arms out for the girl.

She hesitated a bit before leaning towards him, wishing to be passed on. Lovino complied and handed her to the Frenchman.

"Ton amour is in the back~ Enjoy~!" With that Francis trotted off cooing and fawning over Rosa, which she enjoyed a lot and Lovi was left in entrance of the café. A slight wave still hanging in the air, ignored by the one it was meant for. His little girl.