Ascendant

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"Hola mi hermano~" Antonio called walking into his brother's store.

The man, who was busy flipping idly through a magazine behind the counter, looked up to shoot a glare at him. "Get your damn tomatoes and get out Antontio."

Picking up the food as instructed, the younger man took the time to pout at his brother as leaned on the counter the other hid behind. "Aw, is that anyway to treat your hermano? I moved here just for you, you know."

Putting aside his magazine, the Portuguese man scoffed. "I didn't want you here. You should have stayed in Spain just like mamãe!"

"You better watch it mi hermano, I'm getting angry and neither of us want that;" the Spaniard threatened as he gripped at the ledge of the counter.

Glowering at the younger, Henrique eventually grabbed his scanner and used it to read the bar code attached to the tomatoes's stem. "Get out of my sight," he hissed. Before things could get any worse, the opening of the sliding of the shop doors and the squeak of feet against the floor's tile drew their attention;

"Oi! Do you have any lemons? Uncle Marcellus wants some!" A teenager shouted as he walked into the little corner-shop.

Behind him, the teenager's twin followed; "Do you really think you should talk to Mr. Henrique like that fratello?"

"I'll talk to him however I want! I can get the Mafia to bust a cap in his knee!" The brother snapped.

Sighing, Henrique pointed to the crate not far from where the boy's stood. "I have some in there Lovino." The man looked back to his younger brother then, lips open and ready to warn him; but it was too late.

"Lovino!" Antonio cried. "How are you today? You look as cute as always!"

Face red, the teenager shoved back the man and snapped; "Back off you sicko!"

"Aw..but you're so cute! Your face! It reminds me of a tomato..." Antonio whined as Lovino continued to battle him off. Watching partly in amusement and mostly in pain, Henrique cancelled his brother's purchase and kept an eye on the other twin as he leaned down to inspect the lemons.

The boy, his fiery twin's opposite, smiled and sang to himself as he picked out a few lemons. Once done, the boy brought them over-still grinning. "Good morning Mr. Henrique!" Feliciano greeted.

Smirking, the Portuguese fellow typed in the fruits's number and smiled at the youth. "Hello Feliciano, how are you?"

"Very well!"

Putting the lemons in a bag, he said to the teenager; "Tell your uncle hello for me, alright? Oh, and remind your Marcellus you two belong in school at this time-not running errands."

The brunette laughed and pushed back his bangs. "I know, I know...but his feet are bothering him again and well, we don't mind!"

"I bet," Henrique winked. "Antonio and I never passed up a chance to miss school."

"You...two?" Feliciano frowned; confusion clear. He'd never known them to be friends. Never seen them do anything besides fight and glare at one another; it was impossible to see that their relationship could have ever been called anything besides "rocky".

Clearing his throat, the man muttered; "Yes, um-hey! Hey Antonio! You remove that hand right now or say goodbye to it! Lovino and his brother have to go."

Hasta luego Lovino! Feli!" The Spaniard shouted after the boys as they trotted out of the store.

Shaking his head at the younger, Henrique wagged his finger. "You need to stop doing that! He's the same age as Francis's boys! It's creepy!"

"But he's so cute," Antonio whined.

Picking up his magazine and turning back to his page, the older grunted; "One of these days the kid's going to get one of his mafia friends to put a bullet in your ass." Looking up, he nudged the tomatoes toward the end of the counter. "Now get your damn tomatoes and leave Antonio."

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"Uncle Marcellus!" Feliciano called as he stepped into their home; "Lovino and I have your lemons! We're going to go to school now!"

A moment later, the old man hobbled out from the kitchen and smiled a gaped-tooth grin at them. "Grazie boys," he told them. "Such fine young men you are!"

"Uncle.." Lovino part-whined, part-grumbled. "We aren't 'fine young men' we are members of the Mafia!"

The old man's eyes clouded some. "Yes...yes, I haven't forgotten. But it doesn't change the fact you went out of your way to get me the lemons when you both know you are disrupting your own learning not to be in school right now;" he explained.

"But Uncle Marcellus, we like when we miss-" His twin threw his hand over Feliciano's mouth.

"Yeah Uncle Marcellus, it's real kind of us. But you're our uncle! I'd do the same for Feli even though he's an absolute idiot! You've gone out of your way for us-like taking us in when grandpa died. It's what family does for each other, right?" The frowning teenager declared as he managed to finish pushing his brother behind him.

"You make a good point Lovino," Marcellus agreed as he took the bag from his great nephews. "Now grab your school-bags and get on. You have History in twenty minutes, don't you?"

Doing as told, the boys stooped to pick up their satchels where they left them by the door earlier and hurried out.

"See you uncle Marcellus!" Feli cried as he waved goodbye.

"Goodbye boys!"

Poking his head back in, Lovino told his great uncle; "I'll be back later tonight alright? I have football practice!"

The old man nodded. "You brother?"

"Cooking club's tomorrow!" And with nothing else to say, Lovino disappeared and the door finally closed.

Alone once more, the man couldn't stop himself from looking at the picture of his older brother that hung proudly on the wall. He was younger in the picture, a handsome man with a flirty grin and his arm slung around a good friend's shoulder; a blond, Northern fellow. It always felt like a tragedy to know what happened to the two, even more so when he thought of the two boys he'd been left to raise. They had admired their grandfather, despite his faults, despite his life choices and despite what he did to people-strangers and friends alike. Now that Feli and Lovino were older, the mafia that their grandfather started all those years ago had now begun to ask favors of the twins they'd taken an invested interest in all these years...

Since taking the boys in, Marcellus had done his best to instill god, morals and love into them; he felt it might be impacting Felicano these days, but Lovino...sometimes he simply had too much fire in him. He was short-tempered, slow to think and quick to act; but most of all, he had the added belief that everyone liked Feliciano more. And with an idea like that going through his head...well, Marcellus feared the day the boy thought he had to prove himself. It would end prettily for no one.

Stepping forward so he could pick up one the smaller, different photos settled on the table beneath his brother's picture; the old man traced one of the tiny, round infant faces he held in his hand.

"Oh you poor boys...I wish things could have been different for you both."


Hey there guys! What did you think of this chapter? And what about the relationship between Spain and Portugal? Also the Italies interaction with The Vatican City? As well as the Vatican's thoughts on his great nephews?

To reviewers, Summer Leigh Wind and 0ptimisticNihilist; thank you for reviewing. It means so, so much and I appreciate it!

I'll be going on vacation in the upcoming week and what that means is this won't be updated again until I get back! In the meantime, you can check out some of my other Hetalia fics such as:

Then I was Young and Unafraid

or

If I could (I'd be There)

Thank you all very much for reading and pretty please REVIEW!

P.S. Vote on the poll I have on my page, it would help me out a lot! Thanks.

Characters:

(Mr.) Henrique-Portugal

Antonio-Spain

Lovino-S. Italy

Feliciano-N. Italy

(Uncle) Marcellus-Vatican City